Analysis of the goal conceded against Man Utd (20/1)

Great summary. I was more annoyed at how United got the ball after Naughton did a poor pass that went out for a goal kick in the first place. We have to be more careful when doing 400 passes that result in us easily giving the ball away.

Kyle Walker is not good enough... neither going forward or at the back. What Spurs need to buy in January is a new right back (and a partner for Defoe). Demsey is doing alright, but he should have scored 2 or even 3 goals against United.

Glad you highlighted Naughton (impossible not to). Too many jumped on the 'Walker is s***' bandwagon with that goal, but I thought it was Naughton who was particularly at fault for giving Tommy Average so much time to pick out his cross.

Where was Bale?

Do you think that Naughton has better positional sense than Walker and deserves a stint at RB? BAE is better used to handling Bale's MIA moments on the left than Naughton. I would like the following back four: Naughton, Dawson/Kaboul, Vertonghen, BAE. On another note, I wish fans would stop this bovine "he plays on the left" about Bale. All that Bale needs to do is to not get frustrated if he doesn't impose himself. So what if they double or triple team him: it just means he can drag more than one player all over the pitch; he also has the skill to dribble past players, but it means that players have to take up good positions.

And another thing: it was not a clear cut penalty. From the linesman's view it may have been, hence Rudolf's rant at him rather than the referee. I would argue that it was a false perspective and that the correct view was from the referee, who would have seen Rooney bring his left foot into Caulker's calf. That said, Caulker should never be thinking of tackling in that area and must learn from this.

The pivotal moment came when welbeck was carrying the ball across the edge of the box to pick the pass to cleverley. Dawson was ball watching rather than trying to re- organize the line and getting van Persie and the other united player at the back post tightly marked.

I could see the goal comming before the cross was launched. The problem is we have not had a settled back four all season and we don't work has a unit both Van Persie and Vallencia was offside before the cross came in then Naughton played them onside. A defense in tune would have moved up and left Van Offside but Lloris has one weakness headers he is not very tall the Header against Mertsacker was another one. dempsey played okay and if he had been playing more i think he would scored the first chance. Defoe is still creating chances but at the moment the bad weather is not helping and trying to make a partnership this far in the season is hard Ady missed sitters Defoe Ady and others. Lets hope we score more. This is my big worry Dembele is Modric a runner with the ball Sandro a tackler link player Parker the same where is our passer the Carrick type well hes on the bench with a load of hair waiting to score but still according to Stokes medical team not fully healed. If we can get his ankle back to where it was like Bales Ankle with Dembele we can create loads of chances. He hits the ball with backspin keeps it moving and can score but this Hudds is scared looks for the easy pass and won t shoot why . There can be only two things mental or physical i truly hope its mental and hes not like poor Ledley. There are not many passers like Hudds and with all these supplements and drinks defending is a lot manic and crowded you need fast quick passing to get in on Goal without our quarter back the ball is moved to slow only Lennon from the middle found space to create a chance for Defoe who split second thought closed the door with sliding Ferdinand. Make no mistake our next two games will see us playing Qpr style defending we need a passer even one ankle Hudds better than Daws long hopeful passes. I will put my vast football knowledge on the line Windy that Hudds will come good even if its with another club but i hope its with us.

Good stuff Windy, despite a good performance we got well turned over for the goal. It was why we didn't win and why your blog shouldn't be seen as looking at the negatives, but how we can improve. I felt one of the the two centre halves more culpable than Walker, though Man Utd switched the play and players well in the move, while Parker (I thought it was Naughton before reading this, I admit) didn't do enough to stop the cross. Not sure why so many got sucked into Kagawa, a bit like ball watching and unnecessary imo. Good point about Lloris assuming he'd go far post with the header. It was some header though. All told, Van Persie is brilliant and he's going to get away at least once in a game. Otherwise Daws and Caulker did excellently.

Walker has left the back post open either being too near or too far from the man this season, however it has tightened up. In this situation I agree that due to the player you would expect Dawson to pick him up but ultimately he has a 6 yard line to defend, if said player drops back he has to rely on the right back picking it up. Now lets be clear, Van Persie is more than a little bit good and picking up and dropping defenders is the key to his scoring, he's not a player who instantly looks like he has time on his hands, he actually does have the time, by picking up a defender, putting him where he wants him and then leaving him there. It's very elegant but does make even the best defenders look like clumps we've seen him do it at every level against all comers. Still I think Dawson and Walker should look very hard at their positioning. I think what Walker needs is a little less certainty that his place is assured, something that having benni back to free up naughton may well do. AVB seems to like keeping his CB's in pairs, I do too now i see it in practice, he may want a horses for courses approach with full backs, he may just switch them out on form, gut feeling or phase of the moon, either way, competition for his place is exactly what Walker needs right now i feel. Great summary as ever Windy