As self obsessed as all Tottenham supporters seem to be these days, it might be easy to overlook the fact that Liverpool, are a class act.
Whatever internal issues we have and they are well documented at this stage, The Pool are beginning to demonstrate this season the quality and the energy that ignited so many of their performances last season. So there.
What saddens me is the lack of spark from our midfield. And we have no width. We're crying out for a winger. Sod it, we need a pair of 'em.
Other problems? Our movement was poor, which hampered the passing. Fluid and assured passing is extinguished when the shape is wrong and options are limited.
I'm getting bored saying this so I'll be brief - we could be playing Ronaldinho and E'to up front and even they would hardly get a touch unless our distribution is fixed. Right now - it's broken. Jenas's miss was unforgivable, but why have 2 of our 3 goals come from this midfielder? Where is our 28 mill plus strike force?
******
As a footnote; what did incense me was the pre match 'Lament For Kuyt' interview that Jol put out in The Sun. What goes through that clowns mind? There are always going to be a few jitters before schlepping up to Anfield regardless of current form, but did we need our coach going public bemoaning having failed to sign such a top quality striker?? Are we to expect further Big Marty exclusives as the season unfolds, ' I Dream Of Drogba', 'Henry Makes My Heartbeat'?
65 comments:
Jenas sprinted 80 yards to support Davids run. You can't blame him for the miss. What I want an answer to is where were the strikers? Ever Defoe is being man marked out of every game or he is a lazy useless forward. Jenas has scored 2 of our 3 goals this season. He makes mistakes because he works hard to put himself into space. The rest of the team are lazy, slow and disinterested. I think that you should look at the otehrs before you all blame Jenas. At least he gives us 100% effort. None of the rest (expect perhaps King) seems to care very much. If the back 4 are so good how did they let in 3 goals.
We were doing OK (just) until Davids came on and from there on in we were absolute rubbish. Davids should be dropped.
Yes 100% can blaim Jenas! This was not 80 mins into the game..they train everyday all day so they are extremeley fit .. there is NO excuse. at newcastle he did exactly the same thing.. twice is unnaceptable.
Strikers i agree. Keane should not be used as a striker. He is an attacking midfielder. Not having a go at him as his workrte superseeds the rest of the team ten fold. however during attacks he will always involve himself heavily within the midfield thus leaving a as you mentioned heavily marked Little MAn on his own.
As regards Davids, I said as soon as he came on to the people watching with me.." there goes the game". And sure enough. Did make the excellent run to set up big little small head tho.
Zokora... class. Will be the man to take spurs by the scruff of the neck mark my words. I know everything!!!
"Harry Hotspur" - you're that numpty from spursforum and west ham forum.
Away ya loser - go and get a life for yaself!!
8.14 anon
No I'm not, I'm a totally different numpty.
Actually this is tame stuff from HH and much better, there are ways to do it by normal good hearted discussion without his normal fickle rantings and ravings.
I have supported MJ through this rocky start but the defeat to the pool can be laid squarely at his feet. First, what does he see in Murphy? Benitez sold him for 1.5M and Curbishley sold him for 2M. Is that the price of a 29 match winner? No that is the price of a journeyman one dimensional player who does nothing in either box! By playing Murphy,Jol forces Zokora to play too defensivly and shackles the player who shows the most promise coming forward. By playing Huddlestone we get a young hungry player who defends well and passes well and will let Zokora make more of those lung bursting runs from midfield. Next Davids, who's career is over and only he and Jol haven't figured this out. We bring him on and conceed 3 goals. The man refuses to track back and his passing is terrible. At least Taino worked his socks off. Finally Keane needs to be dropped. How can a striker play 6 games and have 6 strikes on goal in that time. He was unbelievable for the first half against the blades and since has done nothing. Finally we are terrible at defending set pieces and at taking them. We panick at the back defending corners (I think Huddlestone height would be a huge boon here) and I can't remeber the last time we scored from a dead ball situation-either corners or free kicks. Jol sort it out because the fans are very worried.
Personally, I think its great you guys are struggling down in relegation zone, but then I am a gooner so I might be just that little itsy bitsy bit biased, hahaha....
Anyway, from another biased view, I hope neither of us EVER gets relegated, it might be fun at the time for the team that doesn't get relegated, but boy, would I miss our two league matches every year. Its what football is all about, the winning, the losing and the rivalry... and the windups from the victors of THE BIGGEST LOCAL DERBY IN FOOTBALL. Its great, Long may we both reign !
Anon 8:24
I would never intentionally be tame. However I'd rather not repeat myself.
I absolutely stand by every comment I make. Some of them are even more relevant after yesterday.
Liverpool away are not Fulham at home.
We all dream of a team of ZOKORA'S!
as ive said on the shelf, until the 65th minute we actually played very well. jenas misses, they score, we capitulate.
the link between midfield is non-existent.
murphy showed some good touches. on another day we could have been 3-0 up at half time.
getting better spurs.
huddlestone, ziegler and lee for jenas, ekotto and tainio next time out.
does robbo need a rest? i dont mean drop him, he just looks too assured of playing even though he quite rightly is englands No1. give cerny a couple of starts to let him know no-one is automatic start.
and for all these muppets touting hoddle, curbishley and klinnsmann - wakey wakey. knee jerkers?
COYS
Reading thru this blog, it seems most people agree with the so called fickle rants! What were producing at the mo ain't good enough and that is a fact. I get bored really quick with people reminding me how bad we used to be. I don't work in a museum and I don't live in the past. We had a great 05/06 season and a great preseason and seeing as Carrick is doing fuckall at manure what IS our problem. The players seem totally lacking spirit and the tactics are dire. Those are facts. And they don't add up. Has anyone got Klinnsman's fone number?
seems to me Jenas ruuning 80 yards should not be an excuse for such a miss that really turned the whole game against us. He is not really justifying his 8 mill fe nor his wages, but at the moment he should play just for the fact that he can actually run 80 yards all day and becasue of the poor quality choices we have if you drop him.
yes 500% drop Davids and please dont have him on the bench, we lost all shape after he came on. Murphy should not have played in ront of huddlestone but when he did waht poss point of moving him out to the left just to bring Davids on.....this to me hides the real worry I have and its Jol....we do have a VERY good squad " in our terms" but he is responsible for getting the best from them by tactical decsions and motivation, evidence ( facts) is/are starting to show he may be not quite up to the challenge.
the game turned yesterday on two issues 1 jenas miss and 2 bring on davids
we could and should be better Zokora is looking genuine class and Huddlestone all say is very good so why not play him, see Lennon return thats three out of four then the coin gets flipped between Tianio Malhernia and Zieglar for the last lest position.
We have a good squad of players but do we have a good manager? I am starting to doubt that.
Robbinson is the last of our worries. It's the clueless mess in front of him that needs looking at
Is it fair to all the posters on here who shout out fickle so quickly that if we don't dismantle MK Dons then we fuck Jol out of it?
robinson is the least of our worries i agree, but confidence flows from the back of the team. it just seems that he is not as assured as last season - seems to stem from a poor world cup.
all i'm saying is rest him for a couple of games thats all. we have a big squad so use it, a la cech / cudicini at chelski. bring him back refreshed after giving cerny a couple of games. as for the rest of the problems - fuck knows!!
COYS
(well done for making this site more user friendly this season HH)
Hi all, I never left a comment before but now is the time as after yesterday I am furious with Martin Jol. Yes many of you will say I am mad but the truth is Jol has made some bad mistakes over the last few months. I have tried to be supportive but enough is enough.
Not buying a left winger was just plain simple stupid. Surely there are a few left sided players out there that could offer us more than Murphy or Davids on the left. Letting Routledge go to Fulham when we needed him was stupid. He played well pre-season!
Then we sign a player that is going to be injured for 10 weeks as part of the deal! What a brilliant move. We need the player now!
So now we are left with central midfielders!
Next praising Kuyt was just plain simple stupid. The team is struggling at the moment and needs the support from the manager. Maybe an article praising one of our players would have made more sense than one about the opposition! Why not praise King he has been brilliant. Yes I would also say why not praise Jenas! Hi work rate is so much better than most of our squad (Apart from king and zakora) and the reason he has scored 2 of our goals is he is always making runs and moving about, unlike our other players.
Lastly the question why we do not score from set pieces is very simple. Michael Dawson is the reason we do not score from set pieces. He is a fantastic defender and one of my favourite players. But he needs to stop coming up for corners. I have watched him time and time again with probably 80% of the headers from our corners, but not hit the target. When he comes up the opposition have an extra defender in there. If Jol opened his eyes he would see this and maybe take him aside in training and get him practicing to head the ball downwards and at goal. Get him working on it and he could be brilliant at it, as he always makes great runs.
Last and final thing, when we get a free kick. Don’t take a first touch, just hit the damn thing! Also it’s not about power. Jenas has scored a few great free kicks and he could probably do it again. We need to stop touching it and letting the defenders run on to us and then smash it and hope for the best. Another thing Jol could look at.
That’s my rant over.
A Yiddo for life. COYS!
well said 8.04am just one issue with this Keane is difficult to play IMO if you play 442 because i think he is exactly what you say he is....so if we agree that he must drop deep so in effect we are playing 451 ( nothing wrong with that) they key is to have the right person as the one...and i def dont see Defoe ( a box player) nor Mido (too slow and maybe just not good enough) as the players to do this....so that leaves Berbetov and who knows if he can be that man?
And you're so RIGHT
Spurs had poison food again and again and again and .............
JUST ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!
9.43 am
why are the pointless 4 year old ( at best comments) always anonymous?
we were not rubbish in the context of a 90 minute game yesterday in fact for 65 mins we were at least on par with Liverpool and for parts controlling the game, something then happened that changed everything....2 issues stop things like that happening and secondly if you cant stop them happening stop the bad reaction to them if they do continue....and sorry there was a third point 9.43am is a complete twat..
The trouble is, as I'm sure most of you will testify, Spurs fans have always believed their club is better than it really is. Sick bug or not, last season was a flash in the pan. You were the Everton of the previous season, just not as good.
My mate loyally / stupidly had £100 on finishing above Arsenal this year. Wigan or Middlesbrough is surely closer to the mark. Possibly Blackburn, but Arsenal would have had to sell the whole squad for that bet to pay off.
As poor as they are at the moment, West Ham will probably finish higher because they at least have energy, width and a little creativity.
Apart from the injured Lennon or the re-purposed Keane, theres little to offer and all I can see is more containing tactics, passing the ball sideways and creating the illusion you're in control before the opposition scores another past Robbo who gets worse by the week.
Yesterday was a classic example. You get two sitters falling to anyone but a front man and a great side like Liverpool slaps you. You can't hold a candle to the big boys and Berbatov is no great shakes, so don't get your hopes up. Just try to focus on a small European run before the first round of the Champions League ends and the big guns kick your arse.
It's going to be tough going this year......but then it normally is
Paul S 9.48am
In the context of a 90min game yes we were rubbish as we only turned up for 60min of them.
In the context of a 60min game we would have held on for a 0-0 draw. Which would have been reasonable.
Remember as a rule of thumb you cant tsop ttrying after 60mins ion professional football.
Jol needs to instaill some sort of desire or belief into this band of numpties, but I fear he is equally as lacking as them.
Alright,
I am a Liverpool fan and I hate playing Spurs as they are a difficult team to beat and often turn us over away.
You done very well up until about 60 minutes. Crowded us stopped us playing and defended well.
The problem I thought was the finishing. You could of really been 2-0 at one point.
I am sure Spurs will bounce back. Jol is a good manager. Can't wait for the North London derby : )
Nice one,
Christian
Why are people blaming Jol for the lack of signings? Do you forget that the person responsible for the activity in the transfer market is Comolli? Hes the one whos getting PAID to head the transfers and look after the squad. Hes the one whos 'in charge' of these things and its reflected in the signings we have made... Ekotto, Malbranque, Chimbonda, Zokora, Dervitte... a little French connection there? Makes you wonder that the same thing as is going on as when Santini was there.
Would these players be Jols choice (even as I think the full backs are going to be excellent signings) But Jol has stated people like Kuyt he wanted, he seems to favour the Scandinavian and less exotic player. I wonder if the root of this problem is the oiled machine that is suposed to be in place not working so well. We all know Jol and Arneson had a great relationship before he went off across London dazzled by the riches dangled in front of his greedy mug.
There must be some unhappiness amongst the players as alot of them are playing out of position or switching position in different games which we have no option in doing due to not having signed enough wide players-comolli.
Secondly we've had Bolton, Man U and Liverpool away never easy games or gaurunteed wins let alone when youre misfiring. We are still a developing side, and we are showing enough quality in our perfomances to suggest this is just a bad patch. Keep the faith!
Keane should be pushed up front where he can score goals like he did all last season. He is at his most dangerous playing on the last line of defence. Defoe shouldn't be on the team and for me, Keane has had to accommadate Defoe for too long now. Berbatov and Keane up front. Yesterday was the final straw with Defoe for me. He is useless. 1 goal in 17 games, he is greedy, runs in2 players. runs offside all the time. Let Keane play upfront and show him how its done. Very pleased with Zokora so far.
Oh my god!! Whoever it was saying Murphy was useless needs their brain examined. He was the only reason we had any chances at all!! He can cross and pass superbly and he's composed on the ball. Keeps things simple which is what jenas doesnt do. I do blame him for that miss cos he was the pillock who missed it. Who else are you gonaa blame. Davids? In the time Sisoko got a 7 out of 10 where as our man Zokora got a 5!! What game were they watchin. Zokora had Sisoko in his pocket for 75mins of that match. The only time he came out on top was after the 2nd goal. Clowns!Lookin at the facts,I always compare last season to the present one. We lost to Bolton and Lpool away. WSe beat a newly promoted side at home. So it was the other 3 games that went against us really. Fulham showed us we needed width cos everytime we went thru the middle it was comfortably dealt with by the 11 men they had behind the ball. Everton was shambolic fair enough and Man Utd, how we didnt get a point there god himself only knows. So Compared to last season weve dropped 7 points. (ie the draw at utd and home wins over everton and fulham). No disaster really, we'll come good. These bastard injuries havent helped. Oh and try Ziegler Jol you plonker or Ghaly instead of Tainio. Bit of creativity needed please
ecotto is rubbish bring lee back davids is finish merfi is not good in of for spurs .team.robo.lee.king.danson.cimbonda.jenas.zacora.tom hulestone.tanio.mido .keane.
Bit of inexperience from Ekotto but otherwise the back four was ok. Shame Chimbonda went to ground during their first goal otherwise he could have blocked the Gonzales shot and was Robinson out of position for the Rise goal? Not that it mattered, our heads were well and truly down by then.
Zokora looks class and whatever people say about Jenas he does cover some ground. Yes it was a shocking miss but at least he was there to miss it. Where were Defoe and Keane?
Taino goes missing too often for my liking and I'd much prefer Ghaly of Huddlestone. The big problem though is up front. None of the three strikers played since Berbatov got crocked look near scoring. Defoe is a complete waste of space. He is lazy and gives nothing to the team performance. We can suffer it when he is scoring every other game but those days seem well gone. He has to go.
I feel sorry for MJ as some of what is happening is not his fault. Had King scored before half-time it may have been all so different. However some of his selections, tactics and purchases have been very questionable and he had better get a few wins pronto or else we could become the latest members of the "too good to go down club".
There is a big confidence problem at present. The game was in the balance until the cruel moment when we miss a sitter and they go straight up the other end and score. Those 2 events lost teh game. jenas should have scored but as everyone says he made that run when no forward was there and should be applauded for that. Jenas was our best midfielder....
The diference in the game was finishing. Mido, keane , defoe.........what's going on? here should be fierce competition for the forward spots but you could drop all these 3 and not miss any of them. Maybe Jol should play Pekhart to give them a kick up the arse!! .
Although there can be no defence for jenas' miss i think the bigger problem is the lack of productivity from the midfield. Without lennon we pose no threat from the wings, jenas had one good game on the right against a poor slavia side. Now i read somehwere that lee-pyo plays on the wing for korea so why not stick him and ziegler in the side with huddle and zokora and stop messing about with central midfielders on the left. The thing i cant understand is the problems are so clear to us joe public but MJ cant seem to see it, now i love MJ b4 anyone starts abusing me but i cant understand why he keeps playing a midfield all of which arent wingers. Jol i love u mate but please listen to someone else just once!!!!
I thought Ekotto had some experience playing left midfield. Why not put him in Taino's place and bring back Lee in the defence, who does at least understand how to play somebody offside.
The jury is still out on Murphy. He only looks half decent because nobody else in the team can pass a ball properly. Yes we do need creativity but not just in midfield. Strikers like Andrew Johnson create chances for themselves not expect spoon feeding for every goal they score.
I hope MJ can come through but it is time to wield the axe and give a couple of the reserves a chance until the crocks get back from the infirmary.
So we're buying Sheringham and we're flogging Defoe.
F*ck me
Even though it was Liverpool, I am losing faith. Why did their heads drop like that after going 1 down!? The team of last year would have fought tooth n nail and kept the score respectable. Im not being fickle but the score is an indication that all is not well with the team, and we seem to have gone back to the lacklustre days of the past, although I admit we have our best squad for a long time. However the difference last season was, what we were missing in the skill and quality departments, we more than made up for it in the passion and self-belief departments. What happened?!...I know Carrick left and we had 3 new players in the squad on Saturday, but I can not work out how this is causing such a dramatic change in fortunes all of a sudden???. To this day I have been a staunch supporter of MJ and based on him changing our fortunes somewhat last season in his first full season with a completely new team. NOW, where has that man motivation gone?!...why do the likes of Defoe, Keane and various others look like they have not got a clue anymore?!...in my book it's not as if Michael Carrick was as important as Roy Keane and Patrick Viera was to their teams anyway, which BTW very impressed with Zokora, the one bright spot and with the right team around him could be as good as those forementioned. To summarise I think we are actually 5 points worse off than the same fixtures last season, and in such a tough league 5 points can be the big difference between success and failure, what kind of success and failure...only time will tell. Now I am going to be a soft touch and have a tiny bit of faith left in me that the team will go on to better last seasons points from the same fixtures last season in the next 3 games against Portsmouth, Westham and Villa...which was 5 points I believe. I am going to say we will get at least 7 points...if not 9!.This is based on the fact that a good team does not go bad overnight and certainly not just because of a homesick sissy called Michael Carrick. Then again dont listen to me as I'm biased, I'm a Spurs supporter for life no matter what. But if come the end of those 3 games we still have not won our second match, I'm afraid my faith and pre-season hope will have completely evaporated for the season and my tail will be so far tucked up between my legs that I will be squeaking!!!. Worse for MJ, we will see whether the big men upstairs in the boardroom have quite as much patience as some of us...would be a shame to see it all end in tears...but for now COYS!!! P.S. Harry, I know you're shaking your head at me thinking that my faith in MJ is blind, lets give him just a few more matches shall we? n see if we can at least start showing up some of these pretenders to our position as the fifth best team in England!
Monster post littered with good sense as ever, from Don Vincenzo.
Carrick was no Roy Keane - as Man Ure are seeing firsthand. yet we are seemingly left with a 'black hole' of ideas to fill.
It's a simplistic view that IF King's header had connected AND gone in + IF Jenas had managed to get his bloody foot round David's pass it would 've been a different game.
The reality is that there is a smell of defeat coming of us like roadkill in the noonday sun. The problem is like the Jewish origami expert - Mani Fold. Davids doesn't need dropping he needs deporting. I don't warm to his so called voice of experience in the dressing room cobblers. I suspect that his motivational skills are divisive.
The biggest sadness is the dropped heads and the 'giving up the ghost' routine. We are quite sexy on paper and unlovable on grass.
Jol is the best in a long line of Apologists In Charge we've had at The Lane since Burkinshaw. He ought NOT to be binned. However, I do demand he revisits video footage of Keane, Mido, Defoe & Co from the last two seasons and see if he can't recall what the 'plan' was prior to sending out the lads who achieved such great open play in those clips.
Now let's spank Slavia Prague!
HH
vinny. check out paragraphs. they are ace.
All the rage these days.
Nice one Harry!...good comments and like the analogies...Don Vincenzo tips his hat in your direction with respect. Really do hope we can begin our change of fortunes (in terms of prem form)starting with Pompey this Sunday, as I feel your namesakes (Harry Redknapp)team luck is just about to change for the worse, and ours for the better...at their expense...bring on the pompey pretenders!!! P.S. Again I really do hope this will be the case as my tail between my legs has squeezed my bollocks so much these days that Im starting to sound like Joe Pasquale!!!...can't take anymore of these bad results, they put drive me into a bad sulk for atleast 2 days and make me lose the inspiration to want to write about my beloved team...but still Tottenham..."Can't Smile Without You......." :)
Anon 11.15am - your havin a laugh mate, with Paragraph spaces added you would be scrolling down all day lol!
vinny - id better be careful what i say in future, dont want a horses head on my pillow !!!
right - lets stuff the fuck out of slavia prague, carry that form into sunday and give the judas a runaround then watch our season take off. with the knowledge that we havent got to go bolton, manure or liverpool this season in the league, we can relax. only chelski, arsescum, everton........sigh.
if cerny wasnt on loan from prague, do you think he would get a game thursday??
COYS
Love to see him get a run out.
Anyone know if halfredsson is any good haven't heard much about him since he arrived 2 years ago????
Jol's had a decent part of a season, a very good complete season and a bad first 6 games. Where's he going? Nowhere. If every board in the league thought that sort of form warranted a sacking the world of football would resemble a game of musical chairs, which it doesn't..........quite. Martin's doing his thing and the boys are taking time to figure it out. Big deal! We can't have everything whenever we want it no matter how much we grit our collective teeth in impatient frustration. It's at times like this when real 'supporters' get behind the team and push them on and the rest carp from the sidelines or give em the moody silent treatment from the stands. I know which one is a help and which is a hindrance.
See you at the portsmouth game.
COME ON YOU SPURS!
COME ON YOU SPURS!
COME ON YOU SPURS!
A good point well made. Let's get noisy!
yeah - noisy fans r us!!
how come paxton is getting so much stick on the shelf ?! and you're adding to it HH !!!
Central Midfield isn't our problem. Murphy and Zokora were good and Davids does his job too. The problem is that there is no width from the midfield. The strikers have to come out wide to get the ball, leaving people like Jenas, who had a howler of a game against Liverpool, to try to score. I'm glad to see Portsmouth lost yesterday, before that I couldn't see us beating them with the run they were on with that prat Redknapp in charge.
Dannyboy - don't worry, any fellow yid is one of da family.
Bungtastic
Maybe ol'Paxton should get his facts straight before posting that Ledders has bust his leg.
We're not 10 yearolds.
team tomorrow;
robbo
chimbonda dawson davenport benny
jenas huddlestone zokora tainio
keane mido
No Defoe for you then?
defoe is injured
It would help if i knew what i was talking about really
Is it his ankle?
its defoes ankle, but could be back for sunday - is on the official site.
Don Danniletto,
Cheers for the info mate!
hey - im now a don - wait til vinny hears about this :-)
You're not promoted - it's a question of recognition!
a point of interest. ive just noticed that we can field a full team as follows from our current crop of injured players, playing 3 3 4! (all from the official site)
burch
stalteri gardner king
lennon davids malbranque
defoe berbatov barnard dixon
lets hope this is only a temporary thing. i remember a few seasons ago when we used to have a constant stream of players with one injury or another and we could hardly field the same team 2 games running.
seems like bad news to me though - are the fitness trainers not doing their jobs properly? are the players just not fit? are a lot of them, bar lennon, burch and malbranque, just niggles and will be back for sunday?
it makes you wonder - well me anyway.
Jol quote:
Berbatov poss for sunday.
Lennon 3 & a half weeks.
King poss sunday.
Steed's begun running again. (didn't say whether he meant his legs or his arse).
Or nose
COME ON YOU WHITES! (BLUES? BROWNS?)
Yid army..........
The bubble blowers "wacked" by my Sicilian friends...hahaha...that will teach em for wearing those silly t-shirts!
The bubble blowers "wacked" by my Sicilian friends...hahaha...that will teach em for wearing those silly t-shirts!
In the first half against Liverpool Spurs were made to look reasonably effective, even though Liverpool controlled the game. The Liverpool tactic of playing throgh a narrow central corridr to Kuyt and Bellamy, who by their lack of inter*co-operability, contived to make the Spurs defence look better than it was to prove. But in the second, when Liverpool played down the flanks, they were revealed to be quite inadequate. If Defoe is fit he should not be picked; he was idle and ineffective. If he is unfit he must not be played. Harry Hotspur is correct to ring the alarm bells this early in the season. Whilst it was obvious that Spurs had a lucky escape in not qualifying for the Champions League, there was good reason to believe that they would continue to do well in the league and that they would acquit themselves with style in the EUEFA cup. Let us hope that they are not about to do a Middlesbrough.
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