Look on the bright side....your night could have been worse My cat btought a live mouse in an kept letting the ****i g thing go so I had to spent the last 40 goddam minutes catching the ****ing thing ... when I eventually got it out from behind the fridge the ****ing cat couldnt be arsed to ****ing catch it ... what a **** night Mind you ... it says how far we've come that going second and the goons losing and only being 9 points off top spot doesnt stop me feeling pissed at dropping those points. We are drawing way too many games ... think its 9 so far...will come back to haunt us
At least Poch has some realistic and honest things to say from himself in his post-match interview. Although his version of the second half is somewhat rose-tinted.
Still, at least Levy was able to sign Isco for 10m while everyone else was distracted by the games tonight.
You might just have a point there with your Winks shout., but I fail to see how he (Pochettino) could bring on Janssen for anybody, at this time.
The way I saw it, there was not attackers on the bench that were better than the ones on the pitch so you either bring on an extra attacker or you leave it as. I thought we took far too long to get to that point and it was only after we made the stupid Sissoko for Son sub, which just made us worse.
I know people are probably on a downer after tonight, but I'm not too deflated. We drew against Sunderland, in a match that saw us travel the furthest we have to travel in the Prem, on a wet and windy Tuesday night, a mere three days after a bruising Cup tie. Arsenal lost against Watford on the comfort of their own turf ff! Sunderland are not a bad side when they put up a fight, especially on their own park, and I think they will prove to be a banana skin for our rivals. Chin up, lads.
On a second reading of my last post, it does seem to be overly chipper! Sorry about that, lads. In future, I will try my hardest to be my usual piss-taking self.
Lead story: Agents Younes and Winnie come through brilliantly. Kaboul played a ball off Aaron Ramsey's rear end into the goal. In other news: Disappointing, but you could see it coming. We were playing extremely well, and the City game knocked us off stride. I'm more inclined to be happy we're second, and hope we can turn it around fast. I can't be bothered to check, but it seems to me there's a very high correlation between AVB ball and fixture congestion. Lots of sterile possession. I wish Pochettino would call off practice for a day or two when we have two games a week. (For all I know he does, tbf). The Cubs did that last year. Their manager called it "American Legion Days." The idea was the players showed up only an hour before the game started (it's usually four, I think) so they had more time to rest, if they seemed run down. It's the legs that aren't quite fresh that are the problem, I think.
They had 3 days warm weather training last week in Barcelona. That's meant to counter the regular training cycle I imagine? 3 nights in Barca certainly gets me refreshed!!
Yes but your 3 day trip to Barcelona would involve bars nightclubs and swimming pools. Their trip will have been different. I hope.
What worries me is after the city match at WHL where we were excellent our form went to pieces. We only won 2 in the next 8 league matches (west ham and swansea) we drew 4 (west brom, Leicester, Arsenal and Bournemouth) and lost 2 (chelsea and united)..hope history ain't gonna repeat itself but since beating Chelsea we have only won 1 (west brom) in the last 3, drawing with City and Sunderland. Can't help thinking we will pay a very high price for these dropped points. We could look back and see where we lost a top 4 place with these results.
I know no-one likes an 'I told you so' moment but I did feel before the game that a 4-2-3-1 approach would play into Sunderland's hands. We've seen too many times this season and indeed last season (also a very high amount of games drawn) how against defensive teams that packed the box, we just reverted to AVB football minus Bale to produce a moment of magic from 25 yards out. It so plainly doesn't work and I amongst many on this forum came to see the switch to 3 at the back as the perfect solution. What struck me in the WBA game was that Rose and Walker's average position was beyond even Kane and Alli, something that really stretched a normally resolute and well drilled Pulis defence and led to him conceding 4 goals in a game for the first time in like 5 years. That was noticeably absent last night. Our most advanced players were Son - who at least played like he cared albeit with the usual lack of end product - and Kane, who defined the word 'anonymous'. With the 4231 system, we are much more reliant on moving forward through the central channels. The problem is that neither Dembele nor Wanyama are able to pick out a pass beyond 10 yards, so we have to physically dribble the ball for 50 yards; something that gives the opposition plenty of time to set themselves up and pack the box again. As much as I am fuming at the players themselves for such a pitiful display, the manager royally screwed up with his tactics and selections. A 3421 with Wimmer at the back and Son on the bench to change things would've made far more sense. When your side is desperate for a goal and Mousa Sissoko becomes the solution to that problem, you might as well give up.
One of those games you wish you knew what the score would be beforehand so you wouldn't have to watch it. Really **** match, not helped by Sunderland's lack of ambition on their own turf but we were well below par and deserve just as much to blame for a truly boring match of football, I feel incredibly sorry for those who travelled up there on a Tuesday night. Doesn't often get much wrong but Poch could've showed a bit more intent in the second half. He took the best attacking midfielder off (albeit all three weren't great) which really stifled our attack as Sissoko offered **** all when he came on and then he only brought on another striker with just 6 minutes remaining. With the way the game was going, we could've easily taken Wanyama off around 60 minutes as his defensive presence wasn't needed and we could've thrown Janssen on at that time to chase a goal with two strikers (Wanyama should've buried Son's cross though!). Performances aside, Lee Mason's refereeing was shocking, gave every 50-50 to Sunderland, even shoulder barges, while giving only a yellow to Rodwell for that terrible challenge was an absolute ****ing joke. Rodwell clearly intended to do damage there, he didn't go for the ball one bit and on another night that could well have ended Dembele's night or even season. What's worse is Rodwell won't even face any retrospective action, annoys me that challenges like that will go unpunished once they get a measly yellow card yet last season Alli gave a little dig to Yacob and gets a three match ban, Rodwell does a potential season ending, nasty challenge and gets a yellow card while he's free to play the next game. **** off. **** game, **** refereeing, **** night. Made worse by results elsewhere.
