Zonal Marking on Man U- Spurs

He brings up the fatigue factor for Spurs. Now that the euphoria has died down, the fitness of the team is the one thing this season that worries me. They've had trouble finishing strong all season and it's only the first of October.

I might join you guys at the bar this time. Kinsale's in on the UES, right?

I am moving to NYC in a week or two, but my place is basically in Inwood so I'm not sure if the space shuttle program will be reactivated in time to get me down there.

Kinsale's is on 94th and 3rd, more or less.

Kinsale's is on 94th and 3rd, more or less.

Look for the GIANT Irish flag on the west side of 3rd avenue.

Zonal Marking on Man U- Spurs

God dammit. I'd come to believe that Cox wasn't going to analyze Saturday's game for some reason, so I shamelessly aped his style in writing up a tactics-y blog post last night for the same site that carried my NYRB-THFC match report. Then I wake up this morning to discover that, not only has he written something about it for the Guardian, but he's got a full analysis up on ZM.

On the one hand, it's nice to have a ZM breakdown on a game Spurs actually won (first time that's happened in at least two years). On the other hand, I'm going to look like a mug when my post gets published tomorrow.

He brings up the fatigue factor for Spurs. Now that the euphoria has died down, the fitness of the team is the one thing this season that worries me. They've had trouble finishing strong all season and it's only the first of October.

I'd say they finished pretty strong against Reading and QPR. Yes, they were totally gassed with 15-20 minutes left to play on Saturday, but I think there were a couple reasonable explanations for that.

One, they pressed very aggressively in the opening half hour and broke forward quickly as a unit when they won possession. All that running will take its toll; there aren't too many teams around that can maintain that ultra-high tempo for even an hour, let alone the whole game.

Two, United were just flat out fantastic in the second half. Spurs never had the ball for more than about ten seconds. They just couldn't keep it long enough to give themselves even a short breather. I don't know whether that was a cause of the fatigue or a symptom, probably a bit of both. With United pummeling them, Spurs were so deep and just didn't have the legs to be dangerous on the break or get up and support Defoe. There were about three or four counter-attacking opportunities where a fresher Bale, Vertonghen, or Demebele would have caused major problems for United, but the key pass went astray or a touch was too heavy and United was able to recover and win the ball back.

The other charitable interpretation is that it probably takes more than a few months to build up the sort of fitness levels required to sustain AVB's high tempo style over longer periods.

West Ham with an early goal from Matt Jarvis at Loftus Road. Told you he was worth every penny, RB!

QPR staggering down the road towards two points from eight games. And we all know what that means...

Winston Reid just got knocked the #### out by his own keeper.

QPR staggering down the road towards two points from eight games. And we all know what that means...

It's going to happen, isn't it?

It's not pretty, but West Ham's tactic of throwing the ball in the box and banging it around sure is working. Julio Cesar must be wondering what the hell he's gotten himself into. Meanwhile, 'Arry just told Sandra to pack him up some bacon sandwiches as he may be making a trip to London tomorrow...

Inwood to Kinsale's is really quite easy.

Depending on what is closer, take the 1 to 96th or the A to 125th and then the C to 96th and then take the 96th street bus cross town.

'arry for the R's?

In your heart, you know it would be hilarious.

An away win! Thank you, Matt Jarvis. Worth every pence and more!

EDIT: Mark Hughes not looking long for the job, since they have to travel to West Brom and Arsenal for two of their next three. Five points through nine games is exactly the kind of thing that gets 'Arry 'ired. I hope Tony Fernandes is ready to open the checkbook. I wonder how long it will take him to get Crouch...

'arry for the R's?

In your heart, you know it would be hilarious.

Hilarious, of course, but I think he could do a job for them. He could even get Parker and Dawson from Spurs in January, probably. Those two love Harry and they'd be automatic first 11 again.

Harry would have to pull Crouch out of Tony Pulis' cold dead hands, I think. And yes, that's as close to onanistic imagery as I care to get in a public forum.

Mark Hughes not looking long for the job, since they have to travel to West Brom and Arsenal for two of their next three. Five points through nine games is exactly the kind of thing that gets 'Arry 'ired.

QPR host Everton between those two away days, as well. I don't know if even five points from nine games is a real good bet at this rate.

It would, of course, be a 'triffic irony if Harry got hired at that point, because six points from nine games (from the 5-2 loss at the Emirates through the 0-1 loss to, who else, QPR at the Lane) is, as much as anything else, what got Harry the other kind of 'ired this summer.

Since being promoted QPR have already brought in new players from Tottenham, Fulham, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Marseille, Nancy, Lazio, Inter, and Real Madrid. How much more checkbook opening will they have to do?

The kind that doesn't involve Mark Hughes.

Euro 2020 to be split all over the continent

A pretty cool idea, if you ask me.

That's how Euros used to be before 1980. I quite like it, though realistically the reason it is happening is because nobody wants to spend the money on the Euros in a time of austerity.

Just in case anyone hasn't had their fill of blather about the Man United v Spurs match, my first stab at shamelessly aping Michael Cox has been "published".

Since being promoted QPR have already brought in new players from Tottenham, Fulham, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Marseille, Nancy, Lazio, Inter, and Real Madrid. How much more checkbook opening will they have to do?

They'll have to buy out Sven's contract in Thailand.

It seems there's a distinct lack of sunshine and lollipops in Basque country.

In an incident filmed by Basque TV station EITB, Bielsa halted a practice game to criticise what he had seen. After an exchange of views, Llorente walked off the pitch alone, and the session finished without him. The Spanish international later left the training ground without speaking to reporters.

[...]

Amid this unsettling situation Bielsa has used the powerful centre-forward sparingly so far this campaign, with six substitute appearances across La Liga and the Europa League bringing one goal.

They'll have to buy out Sven's contract in Thailand.

Not to mention covering the relocation costs for his wives.

Also, the last 20 minutes of Celtic-Spartak should be fun. Spartak down to 10, should get both sides pretty open.

Also, the last 20 minutes of Celtic-Spartak should be fun.

Well, well. Look at Nostradamus here.

Celtic top of their group! The Russian billionaire that owns Spartak must be pissed. Is Benfica any good? Could Celtic advance?

Benfica are decent, but flaky. Celtic have an outside chance, but have to play Barcelona when the result will still matter to FCB.

Spartak don't really have an oligarch.

United seem to be playing a 4-3-1-2 formation but its very fluid. Fletcher is playing deep closest to the defense while everyone else is pretty fluid. Looks like they're not quite used to it. Still vulnerable on set pieces.

Spartak don't really have an oligarch.

Yeah, let's not talk crap about Spartak, the greatest club in Russia.

Come on United! If you lose it makes Tottenham's win look much less impressive, damn it.

Speaking of oligarchs, BATE leading early against Bayern.

Pedro should have been sent off for a second yellow there.

RVP with a nice finish. Keeper should have gotten that.

RVP with a nice finish. Keeper should have gotten that.

Aren't these two statements contradictory?

I'm currently watching BATE-Bayern because of the shocking scoreline. Frankly, BATE have had the better chances in the second half so far.

BATE have been legitimately good. This is a deserved lead.

Looks like Puyol has broken his arm.

BATE Borisov up 2-0 now(!)

It was pass over the top that the keeper probably should have gotten. Instead, RVP got to it first and flicked it with his foot in.

BATE master Bayern.

3-1 the final.

Early reports are that the Puyol injury is "only" a dislocated elbow, which would be incredibly lucky.

BATE master Bayern.

3-1 the final.

Early reports are that the Puyol injury is "only" a dislocated elbow, which would be incredibly lucky.

Early reports are that FPH was dancing naked in the street.

It was pass over the top that the keeper probably should have gotten. Instead, RVP got to it first and flicked it with his foot in.

Thanks. I wasn't watching that game so those statements next to each other seemed weird to me.

Early reports are that the Puyol injury is "only" a dislocated elbow, which would be incredibly lucky.

Indeed. That was right up there with Rooney's leg for most gruesome injury of the season so far. Hopefully there won't be any more contenders.

BATE master Bayern.

And I just got this. Surprisingly juvenile from the bear, but funny.

Peter Ridsdale gets a pee-pee slap:

Football club chairman Peter Ridsdale has been disqualified from acting as a company director for seven and a half years, the Insolvency Service has said.

His sports consultancy collapsed in 2009 owing £442,353 in tax.

An inquiry found that the 60-year-old channelled payments from football clubs into his personal bank account instead of a company account.

Mr Ridsdale, now chairman of Preston North End, said his lawyers were studying advice he was given.

That last line makes no sense.

Yes, it's all a bit bizarre and, perhaps unsurprisingly, lawyerishly pedantic:

The ban prevents Mr Ridsdale from acting as a director, but also from taking part - directly or indirectly - in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said: "It is up to Mr Ridsdale or the club to decide what his work is and whether or not he is involved in the management or control of the club. We do not know what his terms and conditions are."

In a statement, Mr Ridsdale said: "I am currently undertaking a role of Chairman of Football at Preston North End but am not a director nor at any time have I sought to be one.

"The issues that have brought about this voluntary undertaking are currently in the hands of my lawyers who are dealing with all outstanding issues including the professional advice that was given to both myself and my personal company at the time."

Sounds like he needs to hire The Bobs from Office Space.

"So, Peter. What would you say...you do here?"

Anybody watch the Chelsea game yesterday?

I thought Michael Parkhurst looked very good for most of the game. He shut down Victor Moses and while I'm not sure how much he had to do with keeping Ashley Cole in check, you didn't see Cole in the Chelsea attack much. When Cole did make runs, Parkhurst kept him in check. On the offensive end, Parkhurst wasn't afraid to go forward and did a very nice job of making runs and distributing the ball once it was fed to him. He had two very good crosses that could have converted into goals for Nordsjælland. I was impressed with the distribution, more so because I would think the natural tendency would be to stay at home against an opponent like Chelsea.

That said, he committed the foul on Torres in 80th after getting muscled off and that freekick ended up being a David Luiz goal that made it 2-0. I somewhat excuse Parkhurst for that, he was trying to defend Torres after the defender that was marking Torres failed, so Parkhurst was put in a difficult position. I blame the other defender much more for getting beat by Torres in the first place than I do Parkhurst for having to foul him.

And the other big negative was that he probably was at fault on the Ramires goal in minute 89 that made it 4-0. I'm probably sounding like a Parkhurst apologist but I also think it's hard to blame him too much for this. He was sort of in no man's land. He was responsible for tracking Hazzard on the wing and Oscar ended up making a very good run and Parkhurst ended up being a bit too far away to switch to Oscar. He was being asked to mark two players. The central mid should have been tracking Oscar's run. I think that goal was probably more a result of a Nordsjælland team that had sort of given up being down 3-0 after really pushing it to Chelsea for a good portion of the 2nd half and looking like it would tie the game.

It's kind of hard to walk away impressed with a fullback's performance when he is responsible for giving up two goals but I somehow pulled that off. He was really good for 89 minutes and I think the two he conceded were as much the fault of his teammates than Parkhurst. If Klinsmann were to have watched the game, I think he would have liked what he saw. Especially since Cherundolo probably won't be in the picture much longer.

Anybody watch the Chelsea game yesterday?

Despite the final score (which doesn't reflect most of the game), I thought Nordsjaelland was quite good especially in defense. Parkhurst was extremely solid and did negate Moses for most of the match. However, the best player on the pitch might have been Okore. He's a really good young CD (20 year old) and I wouldn't be suprised to see a ManU or Arsenal go after him. Reminds me a bit of Agger in his aggressivness.

Hulk is amazing. Neither defense is any good. Abbiati the fascist is having a great game.

Agreed on Okore. He's was very good. I also thought he might have had a concussion. He really didn't look like he was there mentally as they were applying stitches to him on the sideline. I was shocked when he returned to the pitch.

And of course, I'd add Chelsea as a team that might go after him.

Poor finishing and good goalkeeping. Game should be about 2:2.

Man City certainly is giving us some entertaining games in the CL.