themanupstairs

"Ahidara"

I'm not too concerned by Defoe's injury, he's in a bad run of form as is Adebayor.

 

My guess is that Dempsey will play as the sole striker and Holtby will start in the VdV role that Dempsey has failed to successfully fill.

 

With Bale and Lennon in good form and Holtby by all accounts being sensational in training, I think Spurs might have just enough to scrape a win.

Here we go again

Thanks for reminding why I hated Spurs for so long

I banged a swedish bird once. She was off her tits.

Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews

Police uncover criminal conspiracy which has fixed 380 European matches involving 425 corrupt officials and players in 15 countries #ssn

Guardian sport ‏@guardian_sport

Europol: investigators identify 380 football matches fixed across Europe and 425 corrupt officials, players and criminals

Match-fixing: Champions League tie played in England 'was fixed'

 

A Champions League tie played in England is one of 380 matches across Europe investigators say was fixed.

 

European police did not reveal the identity of the match they believe was corrupt in England.

 

But Europol did say that they had uncovered an organised crime syndicate based in Asia that was co-ordinating the operation.

 

Some 425 match officials, club officials, players and criminals are suspected of being involved.

 

At a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Europol claimed:

 

- The fixed Champions League tie in England took place in "last three or four years";

- The identity of that match cannot be revealed due to "ongoing judicial proceedings";

- Other "corrupt" matches included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and "several top football matches in European leagues";

- In Germany-based matches alone, criminals wagered £13.8m (16m euros) on rigged matches and made £6.9m in profits

- Officials fear this is as the "tip of the iceberg".

 

Rob Wainwright, director of Europol - the European Union's law enforcement agency, said:"This is the work of a suspected organised crime syndicate based in Asia and operated with criminal networks around Europe.

 

"It is clear to us this is the biggest-ever investigation into suspected match-fixing in Europe. It has yielded major results which we think have uncovered a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe.

 

"We have uncovered an extensive criminal network."

 

Europol, which has been investigating for 18 months, said suspected matches included World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, two Champions League ties and "several top football matches in European leagues".

 

In addition to the £13.8m wagered on Germany-based matches, payments of £1.73m are thought to have been paid to those involved. The biggest payment to an individual was £121,000, according to investigators.

 

Europol believes a crime syndicate based in Asia was liaising with criminal networks throughout Europe. It believes match-fixing has taken place in 15 countries and 50 people have so far been arrested.

 

In total, 30 countries and close to 700 matches worldwide were examined. Many of the allegations involved matches in lower divisions around Europe.

 

Criminal convictions have been secured in Germany, Finland, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria following investigations.

 

Asked specifically about the allegations surrounding the Champions League tie held in England, Wainwright declined to identify the match because of "ongoing judicial proceedings".

 

However he did say it happened in the last three to four years, before adding: "The focus has been on other countries, not the United Kingdom. However we were surprised by the scale generally of the criminal enterprise and just how widespread it was.

 

"It would be naive and complacent of those in the UK to think such a criminal conspiracy does not involve the English game and all the football in Europe."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21319807

We on two - West Brom and Chelsea? Spurs doesn't count, surely.

Why on earth not?

Is Sissoko being consciously used as an attacking midfielder? Or was it more he just so happened to be up for the attacks for his 2 goals? Because at 6.0m-ish, he'll be a bargain.

He was the furthest man forward at times, and spent most of the game past the half the way line.

72 pts this week again!

Thanks to Lloris, Walker, Sissoko, Mata, Walcott, Rooney© and Sturridge who all did their bit.

Dafuq was Reina doing? Diabolical goal keeping.

Absolutely disgusting cheat is Suarez. Tip-toeing forward dragging Sturridge forward with him in the wall for thet City free kick. Filthy filthy human being.

Hopefully nowt serious but good for us if Defoe's injured for a bit.

You've finally seen sense and turned!! 

Welcome aboard buddy

What do the French ventilateurs think of all our Frenchies, Jeremy?

 

French people and the media are happy to see "frenchies" in Premier League, for us it is the best league in the world and we are glad to see our players "the France team" become stronger. In France we love Arsenal. Now, we love Newcastle and Arsenal  .

 

Sissoko is not our best midfield in "France team", Matuidi is the best !

 

Les Français et les médias sont content de voir "des français" en Premier League, pour nous c'est la meilleure ligue du monde et on est content de voir nos joueurs de" l'équipe de France" devenir plus fort. En France on aime Arsenal. Maintenant, on aime Newcastle et Arsenal .

 

Sissoko n'est pas notre meilleur milieu en "Équipe de France", Matuidi est le meilleur !

Are you mimi in disguise?

So possibly no Defoe and no Adebayor for them next week?

Ouch! Painful turn of the ankle there for Defoe

Spurs' away kit is disgusting

No offence to you Skirge but NUFC Fans do my head in.

No chance you're editing this 

if we win I'm gonna stand where i am and p*ss 360 everywhere

did you do this Willow?

He reminds me of our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

 

Possibly an exaggeration, Jesus lacked acceleration.

Good on crosses though...

Different player to what I was expecting. I was expecting maybe just an upgrade on Tiote, but he could be for us what Yaya Toure is for Man City.

 

That's not saying he's anywhere near that level by the way, just that sort of player.

Why are people terrified of likening any of our players to other clubs' superstars? How do you judge if Sissoko is better than or inferior to Toure? As far as I'm concerned, if Sissoko had Toure's name on his shirt yesterday, it wouldn't look out of place. We just might have a couple of players who are as good, if not better than the top players at the "top" clubs.

How many minutes did he spend on the pitch?

He's a very ordinary player but I think him playing instead of Anita does make sense in a lot of ways. When Perch plays in CM it's clear that his job is to be the holding midfielder. He'll sit in front of the defence and try and move the ball on as quickly as possible when it comes to him.

 

The major plus of this is that it allows Cabaye to play a more expansive game as he's got a partner in CM who he knows is going to be holding position, protecting the CB's.

 

When Cabaye and Tiote play together they seem to often end up trying to share the holding/creative responsibilities and the end result is that neither of them does anything very effectively. I'd worry it'd be the same if Cabaye and Anita played together, neither are really what I'd classify as holding midfielders.

 

Really hope that Pardew will have the sense to use Tiote in the role we saw Perch in today. Cheick's quite poor when we have the ball but when our opponents have it he's immense, we need to start using him in a more effective way.

 

Tiote/Perch and then two from Cabaye/Sissoko/Anita moving forward IMO. Maybe in home games against lesser opposition you could start the latter three together.

 

Anita isn't an attacking player though, i keep saying it and it keeps falling on death ears.

 

He's a straight up DM and the only reason he was playing so far forward before because he was more creative than any other player we had fit and quite frankly was quicker and technically better too.

 

When he plays DM( mostly from Ajax days) he hardly goes past the half way line, he just wins the ball gets it and gives it in a very economic manner in a Busquets style if you will.

 

It really does worry me how poorly he's being used and it depresses me that Perch is in front of him as he could do what Perch has done in last couple of games and better in his sleep.

 

I have not seen him used correctly since he joined this club and hope that changes in the near future.

 

 

 

What about his performances thus far in England lead you to believe this, though? I understand how he played in Holland, but Afonso Alves played liek Robert Van Persie in Holland, it doesn't always translate especially from that league in particular. The calibre and physicality of players is of a higher level in England.

Aye that BVP was something special 

His celebration embodied everything that I felt today. Never seen a player go ape shit as he did having scored. Beautiful feeling for him, and couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

is there a better feeling in the world than being in SJP when it goes mental at a result like this. 

So so so so jealous man 

The home support was fantastic today. Soon as Chelsea's second went in, the fans picked the players up.

 

 

Gouffran tbh - There's something about this guy, something very understated but composed. He gives us a patient and calm in attacking that has been missing. He has so far ignored any instructions (if there have been any) to hit the front man at the earliest available opportunity. His primary concern is retaining possession, and finding a black and white shirt. That's not to say that he is Joe Allen/Scott Parker-esque, making useless passenger-y five yard passes either. He just gives us a nice balance and helps us to dictate the tempo - something rather alien to the side in Pardew's tenure thus far.

 

 

 

agree with all, although I thought Cabaye had a brilliant first half dictating the play.

The highlighted bit

Massively important point. Has been the key difference in the past two games imo. Obviously Sissoko has been very influential, but Gouffran's contribution to out tactical game has been immense.

No words to describe him today.