League Cup 3rd Round

It could be worse - you could look like this hybrid MK Spud fan that north London's vilest are currently cultivating in Buckinghamshire................

 

Gomes is finito.

 

Gomes days have gone sadly, flaps at crosses and yes weak for the goal.

We should have given the young Swedish kid a game

Time for Chalobah to come back against Arsenal methinks

 

I'm disappointed. With Man Utd already out, Liverpool going tonight and us having the chance to put Spurs out, there would have been an opportunity to really go and push for some silverware and even a place in Europe.

I'm also all for giving people a chance and resting others but did we really need to make TEN changes? Do the likes of Gomes (who really is finished) and Mariappa (who was fine tonight but is nowhere near Kabasele's level) really need to play? Do we really need to rest Capoue and Doucoure in favour of playing a young centre back, who should probably be out on loan, in midfield?

Also irritated by Javi's subs again, as I was at Fulham. I have absolutely no idea what he was attempting to achieve by changing things at centre back when we were clearly crying out for Capoue to come on with both Chalobah and Wilmot knackered and the latter out of his depth. Needed a change in the middle, just as we did at the weekend.

Chalobah, Success and Quina all looked great, on the plus side. Sema, however, is absolutely useless.

 

Hmmm, we’ve played the same 11 in every league game this season, which in my opinion is a very good thing. If not in games like tonight when do these peripheral players get a chance to play? Surely this is the perfect opportunity to give them game time and give them the chance to show what they can do if/when we get injuries and suspensions?

With a couple of exceptions they all played reall well and gave a stronger team on paper a run for their money, I really don’t get what there is to complain about.

 

I think you're all a bit harsh on Gomes, he wasn't that bad. I also think Quina didn't do that well, a few promising & decent / flashy touches but nothing more. Like Sema, he is far too lightweight and needs to beef up a bit.

I did enjoy the way we used width tonight; plenty of balls sprayed from side to side. We kept them at bay pretty well and had more shots (and shots on target) I would estimate. We threw it away really when Sema got overexcited and totally missed his kick that would have made it 2-0.

Not too disappointed; plenty of fight even at 2-1 down & ten men. They didn't beat us in the match itself and ultimately, getting three points off them in the league is far more important!

Oh and as MK Dons stadium is far closer to me than the Vic I was home in 20 minutes!

 

Like I said I'm all for giving other players a chance, just not changing basically the entire team when if we get past Spurs there could be a real chance of going deep in the tournament, considering the teams that are already out.

Gomes has had his time here as has Mariappa, they are both back up and do not "need" to play. Wilmot also isn't going to gain much by being played out of position at a standard that is currently beyond him. Replace those three with Foster, Kabasele and Capoue or Doucoure, and I think we win that game.

Pereyra over Sema would have made a huge difference too. Still could have given Sema half an hour to try to impress.

 

https://twitter.com/BaitVic/status/1045071237217751041?s=19

This is spot on. Lee Mason has guessed the decision. ******* idiot

 

Didn't see the match, but I note that as usual we've gone out of the League Cup to a lower-placed team.

 

The League Cup is 4uc4ing w4nk. I couldn't give even half a toss how far we get. League performance is immeasurably more important. The only annoying thing about today is the absolute joke of the red card for Kabs 'cos it impacts the league matches.

 

Reading a few 'reports' of the match from various media outlets, and the spud bias is shocking - apparently it was a deserving win for the better team and Ali controlled the game???!!!

How anybody could watch that and come to those conclusions is beyond me. I guess 'Spurs get lucky against Watford reserves after refereeing howler' doesn't fit the current narrative of the spuds starting to pick up their form.

I've said it once in this thread and I'll say it again because it's so gratifying: Chalobah is so, so much better than Ali that vile MK rat.

 

Missed this one due to work - was the Kabasele red the wrong decision? Seems like it from some of the comments.

If so, then surely we can appeal it as a straight red?

 

Yes, we will be appealing. Gracia has said so in one of his interviews. I've now seen the incident, and it was just a coming together of two players. It looks as though Kabs won the ball as it changed direction after his tackle. Alli clearly dived, and it's fair enough for the referee to be conned by it. However, Mapps was a covering defender, so Kabs was not the last man. It wasn't violent conduct or anything like that. I just don't see how it could be possibly upheld. It will almost certainly be overturned.

Before the match, both myself and UEA called it with this referee. He's usually bad and we're likely to get a bad call or two on Saturday as we have Anthony Taylor, who always favours the bigger side.

It's a joke when a referee just guesses such a big call like a penalty and red card. Had our match been VAR, I doubt he'd have even given a penalty, let alone red card. It's the fear factor with officials like Mason, Taylor etc. They just don't want to go against the bigger side in case they get bad press the next day.

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...les-red-card-in-tottenham-hotspur-cup-defeat/

 

Was a penalty but shouldnt have been a red because be tried to play the ball

 

100% the wrong decision. Kabasele definitely tried to play the ball. Mason couldn't see what happened from his angle (see twitter link a few posts above) and has just guessed and sent him off.

 

The club has unsurprisingly confirmed they will be appealing

https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/1045080302123716613?s=19

 

The pics from the link in SLB's post above:



Ali did his usual thing in looking for contact in order to go down. He's very good at it and can make it look very convincing. It's intrinsic to his nature, and is why he is one of the most hated players in the game (by other teams - not the media who go out of their way to jizz over everything he does). Being one of England's 'big stars' is why he is able to escape the criticism he deserves.

And as for the ref - as pointed out above, no way he can see that. He guessed, 100%. With Ali's reputation, you'd think a guess would come down on the side of 'he's dived again'. Not with this ref.

But nothing will take away from the fact that our reserves outplayed this bunch of ********

 

When I arrived at the ground and seen the line ups I was fearing the worst, however that was a gutsy performance against a much stronger Tottenham team.

 

Just back from a cracking evening out in MK. I thought our B team played blinding throughout in a game Spuds were absolutely desperate to win. End to end stuff and we went toe to toe with them. What a finish as well, just a shame the penalties were not up to the same form as the team. It was worth the journey just to see Capoues goal go in at the death and sing to the Spurs fans, but then the away fans were superb throughout. Chalobah starting on Saturday would be lovely but I still think it's too soon.

Interesting to hear about the penalty on here, from the Watford end it looked stonewall.

First visit to MK, thought the stadium was superb, I'd happily have that at Watford. Turned out my parking research was top quality, from starting the engine we were on the A5 in 40 seconds and away. All in all well worth the effort.

 

Lots of pluses. Masina and Wilmot. Plus Chalobah growing strongly into the game. Some great efforts from range in the first half from Navarro too. Subs were awful from Javi again...

Sema. Oh dear.. ... Worse air shot than Success and four brasses.


As for Issac. What a promising effort. Much to like about his battling.

 

I look at it this way: the Super Spurs did well to scrape a draw against Watford Reserves.

 

Sounds like Sema is taking a lot of jabs tonight. To be fair, I've not seen too much of him, but was impressed when I saw play against Sampdoria and he's done ok in other cameo appearances. I think he's a good character as well, which is not always the case with players.

We sold Richarlison for £44m and replaced him with Sema who costs £1m, so you shouldn't really expect too much. He needs to get used to pace of the game in England, but I think there's a good player in there. I think we're going to have to be patient with him.

 

Actually why wasn't var at our game when it was at Liverpool v Chelsea?

 

Thought Isaac Success was brilliant - so happy for him.

Red card harsh - is it a DELIBERATE foul? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36047575

 

The point where the feet came together. 50/50 pen id say.. but he had a clear view.

 

It wasn't harsh, it was just wrong. Going by the laws of the game, there is nothing to cover the actions of Lee Mason. To give a red card was just an abuse of power as he made his own rules up to fit the event.

Sadly, we lose a game we should have won because of this. I doubt anyone will talk about it and it will be quickly glossed over. Had it been the other way around (which would never happen by the way), then it would be analysed for a week on all sport channels. This is why I believe weak referees (Moss, Taylor, Mason) will always side with the top 6 side, as they know they will be slaughtered by the media if they make a mistake which causes one of these sides to lose a match. With teams like Watford it's much safer, as there will be no consequence to it.

 

I only went as it was a first visit to the MK Stadium. Thought it was a good venue, well worthy of all the hype and far better than the former White Hart Lane. The £6.50 meal deal was vfm. Thought the desire of the team was so much better than last season. Success my man of the match. Was strong and energetic the full ninety minutes. My other top three were Chalobah and Kiko. Both obviously knackered after 70 mins. Hughes put in a good cameo. The two full backs were ok in the first half as was the boy Quina, but all three faded in the second half. Selma who looked ok when he came on as a sub in League games was terrible. Out of position, lost the ball and finishing atrocious. Disappointed about the penalty, pleased about the determination to claw back an equaliser. One of the more productive friendlies.

 

As an aside, I think the straight-to-penalties rule in this competition is really positive.

 

I think one of the best parts for me today, was finding out that Spurs painted the dressing room white, as MK Dons usually have it as red. Absolutely obsessed with Arsenal.