As always, a fantastic thread, summing up everything about the game. Weirdly it's as nice to read the notes of sensible caution in here after a result like this as it is the positives after a bad defeat.
Among the few caveats I'd say that Spurs' defence had important injuries and thus played awfully against players they were ill-equipped to deal with. The high-line didn't help but it shouldn't be seen in isolation - I'll come back to that later.
I agree with Yorky too about Skrtel, Johnson and would tentatively add Mignolet into that too in terms of his distrubution. The latter is very, very good and has given us more confidence in that area over Reina, but his distribution isn't great and he's sometimes slow to react in that respect. Similar goes for Skrtel, he hides from being on the ball or taking responsibility with it, and it can cost us - and that penalty shout was a very good one and typical of the bizarre brain-farts that he just seems consistently prone to, bad mistakes not necessarily under any real pressure. I'd love to see Agger and Sakho given a chance together and, even more so, I'm really hoping Ilori comes good - height, pace and skill on the ball that may even exceed Agger's. He's a player of thrilling potential that, like Sakho, might be one of those who simply becomes undroppable after being given a chance - though that most likely won't happen this season or next. I'm not totally sure, to be honest, what Skrtel is bringing to the table now that's brought such a turnaround in views from the manager. As for Johnson, he's playing like someone who's mind and body are being forced through treacle - it's like he's playing stoned. Yards off the pace, giving away possession with alarming regularity and looking like he's playing by/for himself rather than integrated into the team, very frustratingly so because he's obviously such a phenomenal talent. It is frustrating to see us work the ball patiently only to have someone launch it straight to the opposition, and Johnson's done that far too much recently, and did so also against Spurs.
Last note of caution is that they did almost come back into it at 2-0 - a couple of chances they could have done better with, a penalty claim that we were very lucky to get away with, they were on top in that phase, even though we should have killed it ourselves with Sakho's header and also looked extremely dangerous on the break. Just that we've shown a horrible capacity to implode after conceding and Sunday didn't tell us anything new about our team in that respect.
But it's really boring griping too much after a win like this isn't it?
So instead I want to focus on Sterling, who impressed the hell out of me and who hasn't been spoken about lots on this thread yet:
Spurs high line looked horrible without pressing, but they did press at the start, and did put us under some pressure. Their midfield has been extremely solid all season. We earned the right to get at their back 4, and we did so because of our own pressing and ability to dominate that midfield. Now, our central 3 all played well to phenomenally well, and were a huge part of that victory, but it didn't seem to start there. It started, for me, with a small speedster on the right by the name of Raheem. Bloody hell - he seriously took the game by the balls from the first minute, and what's really impressive is he did it off the ball. He set the tone in terms of our pressing, and did it at a time when Spurs were actually a threat, he took that threat, neutralised it, then turned it round and absolutely destroyed a quick, strong and quality right-back with far more experience under his belt.
What I also loved about his display, in comparison to the English winger speedster mould a la Lennon and Walcott that we've grown used to watching , was the intelligence in his dribbling. Now pure pace is a lethal weapon, but most such players seem only to use that, seem only to know that. Beating a player is kicking it into space then doing them for pace, or being released in behind. Now Sterling's got that in his locker of course - so much so that he could easily have doubled his goal tally this season - but if you look at most of the times he beat Walker he isn't doing him with pace but skill, taking small touches, chick changes of direction and neat footwork, not just knocking it clear and making it a footrace. The lad has brains, touch and a serious work-ethic. A bit more belief and there's potential there to be a good few levels above what Walcott and Lennon are capable of, while also having everything in his locker that they already possess - and who among us would turn down either of those players as an option at the very least?
Final note - I think Donkeywan's spot on. This is a timeless result to savour, and I also think results like this can catalyse beyond the immediate three points. You may know, feel, be really sure that you can take on and beat anyone - but it clearly helps cement that knowledge a lot when you actually do, you know, take on and thrash a very solid team indeed - a team whose biggest strength this season has probably been our biggest weakness, namely solidity in midfield. We've got among the very best of the best all time up top - seriously, I doubt anyone my age (33) has seen a more outrageously gifted player for us in terms of that 'WTF!?' ability to do things that defy physics - and he allies that to a Roy Keane style mentality and capacity for hard work. He is an absolutely bonkers player. We've got top, top players dotted around the park in every position, we're gelling and growing as a team and with more to come, we have a progressive, intelligent and flexible manager who gets us, we've got sensible owners who understand what the words 'long' and 'term' mean, there's a hell of a lot to be positive about at the moment. If we can perform in the next few matches, if we can avoid our tendency to reach that threshold and then trip over it - hit a good patch of form before the next bad result - then we should be nailed on for top 4 and looking up from there.
Overall then: Woot!
