Sh*thousery

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

It's good to see us supplement our attractive, technical and possession-based style of football with a healthy dose of 'game management tactics', or 'shíthousery' as I like to call it.

Aarons may have accentuated the contact, but there was contact nonetheless. Hanley, after being fouled, taking off his boot and unlacing/relacing it in front of the referee. Injury-time substitutions. Taking as long as possible to take our throw-ins, and switching the taker to kill a few extra seconds. Making sure someone stands in front of the ball when we give away a free-kick (we're particularly good at that one).

And also, giving the referee space to make his decisions and not haranguing him and surrounding him. It can definitely affect you as a referee if one team is behaving awfully towards you and the other team is letting you do your job.

If we were employing these tactics alongside Hughton-esque bus parking or pig-ugly Pulisball, it'd be borderline unpalatable. However, in conjunction with our bully-boy desire to dominate possession, pass in triangles around our opponents and selectively press high up the pitch, it just shows our complete dedication to the subtle art of marginal gains.

I've woken up this morning every bit as much in love with this club as I was when I went to bed last night.

[lake district canary 4,531]

Binner

🙂

[BroadstairsR 2,159]

'Streetwise' is the term I'd use.

": possessing the skills and attitudes necessary to survive in a difficult or dangerous situation or environment."

We became more streetwise the minute Farke walked through the door.

Edited December 17, 2020 by BroadstairsR

[kirku 1,332]

5 minutes ago, BroadstairsR said:

'Streetwise' is the term I'd use.

 

We became more streetwise the minute Farke walked through the door.

Yep - was very noticeable. We'd been far too "nice" (read naive) for years.

[WD40 720]

It’s not a part of the game I particularly like but getting a glimpse inside the Spurs dressing room in the All or Nothing documentary, Mourinho keeps emphasising week in and week out how important it is. 

[Mello Yello 2,289]

'Gamesmanship'.......

[dylanisabaddog 4,909]

In the words of Jose Mourinho on his first day at Spurs - 

You're a great bunch of lads and you play lovely football. I'm going to turn you into a bunch of c**** that win things

[dylanisabaddog 4,909]

1 hour ago, Feedthewolf said:

 

Aarons may have accentuated the contact, but there was contact nonetheless. 

https://streamja.com/5r0d0

Sorry, but I can't see any contact there. 

Actually, I'm not sorry at all 🙄

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,429]

Classic comment on Sky last night - something along the lines that Max “was expecting “ contact . 
I’ll take this all day long because this is where football finds itself . But in truth not very long ago Football looked for trips now it looks for contact . Or in the case of last night , expected contact . 
 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,429]

By the way VAR would have ruled out their equaliser has the ball hit the third reading player on the arm. 

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

31 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

https://streamja.com/5r0d0

Sorry, but I can't see any contact there. 

Actually, I'm not sorry at all 🙄

I'll admit that it's not 100% conclusive either way, but even if the player's studs grazed his boots, that's still a foul.

[WD40 720]

3 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said:

I'll admit that it's not 100% conclusive either way, but even if the player's studs grazed his boots, that's still a foul.

It was a lovely bit of movement to shift the ball to the left from Max, but he was always looking for contact. He very well could have had a shot from the position he got himself in.

Rub of the green...for now. 

[sonyc 5,510]

9 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

By the way VAR would have ruled out their equaliser has the ball hit the third reading player on the arm. 

Their goal was about the only chance they had until about the 92nd minute with the freekick. And the goal was so lucky with two deflections, the second off the arm. McGovern had literally nothing to do. We defended right up into their half. Reminded me of our game at Leeds. We pressed like tigers. So, I agree we are game managing better and we've "learned" the Premier League way of capitalising on fouls. Yet, my main point is that we are now playing so competitively (dare I say like Liverpool do....) and the other team is 'squeezed' out of the game. Last night Reading were 2-1 down going into the last quarter but could barely get out of their own half. 

Such a satisfying win.

[Midlands Yellow 3,970]

5 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said:

I'll admit that it's not 100% conclusive either way, but even if the player's studs grazed his boots, that's still a foul.

I guess we can’t cry when the next one is given against us if grazing of the boots is a foul. 

[king canary 7,599]

14 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

By the way VAR would have ruled out their equaliser has the ball hit the third reading player on the arm. 

Yeah that is the balance isn't it- it might have chalked off our pen but it would have chalked off their goal.

[lake district canary 4,531]

19 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

By the way VAR would have ruled out their equaliser has the ball hit the third reading player on the arm. 

F*** VAR.

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

7 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

I guess we can’t cry when the next one is given against us if grazing of the boots is a foul. 

No, we can't. Laws of the game are pretty simple: "If an offence involves contact, it is penalised by a direct free-kick."

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

9 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Their goal was about the only chance they had until about the 92nd minute with the freekick. And the goal was so lucky with two deflections, the second off the arm. McGovern had literally nothing to do. We defended right up into their half. Reminded me of our game at Leeds. We pressed like tigers. So, I agree we are game managing better and we've "learned" the Premier League way of capitalising on fouls. Yet, my main point is that we are now playing so competitively (dare I say like Liverpool do....) and the other team is 'squeezed' out of the game. Last night Reading were 2-1 down going into the last quarter but could barely get out of their own half. 

Such a satisfying win.

Agree with every word of this, that second half was truly fantastic. The best half of football I've seen from us in quite some time. Probably since the Spurs FA cup away win last season.

If we can keep the bar that high with Dowell and Cantwell regular features (and Krul to come back of course), then we will absolutely run away with the league. Exciting times!

[Ken Hairy 3,769]

54 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

https://streamja.com/5r0d0

Sorry, but I can't see any contact there. 

Actually, I'm not sorry at all 🙄

Get yourself off to Specsavers lad 😉 100% penalty, why would Aarons dive when he was about to bury it?? 

[Ken Hairy 3,769]

15 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

I guess we can’t cry when the next one is given against us if grazing of the boots is a foul. 

Nope, because like ours, it'd be a penalty (of course we will moan though being football fans 😁) 

[ron obvious 1,502]

1 hour ago, WD40 said:

It was a lovely bit of movement to shift the ball to the left from Max, but he was always looking for contact. He very well could have had a shot from the position he got himself in.

Rub of the green...for now. 

Have you ever played football? If you change direction at full speed any contact is going to knock you off balance

Same in rugby. We had a winger who was small but very quick; he used to knock over charging forwards twice his size by diving in at ground level & tapping their ankles. He did end up getting concussed though.

Edited December 17, 2020 by ron obvious

[NFN FC 1,123]

🎵We're a sh1t house, 

We're mighty mighty just letting them fouls play out 🎵

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,809]

****housery is the sort of thing that when the opposing team does it, we'll swear about it on social media until the cows come home about how it's anti-football, against the spirit of the game and possibly even cheating, so we hope that such a scummy club doesn't go up this season (or goes down, depending on what they're fighting for). When your team does it, it's brilliant and it's intelligent. It's total hypocrisy that some on this forum are guilty of; you either can't complain about it when clubs do it against us or you can't praise it when we do it.

Ultimately, it has always happened and will always happen. This is what gets success, unfortunately, and Jose Mourinho has built his entire career on using this type of game management and ****housery as his primary tactic. It has worked.

As for the questionable refereeing decisions, I can't blame the referee on either. After ten replays, in normal speed and slowed down, from various angles, I still can't conclusively say the ball hit Semedo's arm. Similarly, whilst there's no conclusive evidence of contact for our penalty, the manner in which Moore flew in was reckless and dangerous, leaving Aarons little choice but take evasive action to avoid getting his ankle broken. That's a foul.

[WD40 720]

1 hour ago, ron obvious said:

Have you ever played football? If you change direction at full speed any contact is going to knock you off balance

Same in rugby. We had a winger who was small but very quick; he used to knock over charging forwards twice his size by diving in at ground level & tapping their ankles. He did end up getting concussed though.

Played football for many years. What I should have said was Max was looking for contact, didn’t find it, but went down anyway. In my opinion. 

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

Still think we're missing a few tactical fouls when the press is broken, but that's just my opinion.

[Indy 3,297]

5 hours ago, Feedthewolf said:

It's good to see us supplement our attractive, technical and possession-based style of football with a healthy dose of 'game management tactics', or 'shíthousery' as I like to call it.

Aarons may have accentuated the contact, but there was contact nonetheless. Hanley, after being fouled, taking off his boot and unlacing/relacing it in front of the referee. Injury-time substitutions. Taking as long as possible to take our throw-ins, and switching the taker to kill a few extra seconds. Making sure someone stands in front of the ball when we give away a free-kick (we're particularly good at that one).

And also, giving the referee space to make his decisions and not haranguing him and surrounding him. It can definitely affect you as a referee if one team is behaving awfully towards you and the other team is letting you do your job.

If we were employing these tactics alongside Hughton-esque bus parking or pig-ugly Pulisball, it'd be borderline unpalatable. However, in conjunction with our bully-boy desire to dominate possession, pass in triangles around our opponents and selectively press high up the pitch, it just shows our complete dedication to the subtle art of marginal gains.

I've woken up this morning every bit as much in love with this club as I was when I went to bed last night.

Indeed, I said a few weeks into his time with us Farke style was excellent, just the players he had to work with were awful. Now he’s developed the team into a very attractive style, but I do wish sometimes we’d move the ball forwards quicker, we’re unplayable at times when we pass and move.

[Haus 259]

I hate all this stuff to be fair, I try to ignore it or it ruins my enjoyment,  Hanley is bad for it too, looking for an excuse to go down at any opportunity.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Haus

[Nuff Said 5,118]

5 hours ago, dylanisabaddog said:

https://streamja.com/5r0d0

Sorry, but I can't see any contact there. 

Actually, I'm not sorry at all 🙄

I think I can see contact, Max fairly clearly gets his foot clipped. But, should there be some magical way of proving it, I could also believe it if it turned out that I was wrong and there was no contact. What I do have trouble believing is the number of people who are adamant that it wasn't a pen when none of us really know. None of the camera angles show enough to prove it one way or another.

 

Having said that, Max holding his shin rather than his foot doesn't help the case.