There was a 20min period in the 2md half where we had City pretty much pinned back in their own half and were closing down with real energy. 'This is more like it', I thought to myself. Unfortunately this period, as well as our hopes of getting something from the game, came to an abrupt end when Lamela's excellent pull-back came to Winks, who instead of hammering it first time basically decided to dribble off the pitch
Yeah it's the same ones. Eriksen Alli and Kane seems to need a kick up the backside...you can tell our first team has no real competition. People will say that them 3 have been superb and they have but the consistency that true competition brings is lacking
I’ve said it before, and I end up going off on one. But to get to the point, there’s too many occasions where we don’t stretch the play (because we’re no longer proving to be dangerous in wide positions) so Eriksens space to create centrally is much more limited, resulting in certain passes not being on, or runs being made. (But yes, at the same time he’s has to take the blame for some poor decisions and loss of possession)
What worries me more is that none of them had any real competition last season either. Less if anything, with Sissoko worse than he is now and Lamela crocked. There's more going on here, and to my mind it is the early shock of being out of the title race, and certain individuals eyeing up other clubs. In that order. The bigger worry here, and it MUST be playing on some players' minds, is that every season the champions are getting stronger. What Leicester did was objectively blown out of the water by Chelsea. And now what they did is being shredded by City. I look at the level of our 'rivals' and can't see us there any time soon, injuries or no injuries. We're hundreds of millions away from City at the minute and that isn't something to be ashamed of. I'd rather earn success than have it handed to me on a silver platter. I feel this is the explanation behind Poch's pre-match remarks, which emphasised the fact that our is a long-term project, and that some players might not want to stick around to see that project come to fruition. My gut feeling is that we'll be building a squad and a stadium this summer. Rose, Dier, Alli, Toby, maybe Eriksen too...wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if none of them are at Spurs come August.
It's so disappointing when you lose games but some games are more disappointing than others. It colours our opinions and it colours what we say. My view is that many of us are too swayed by the result or performance of a single game. Yes I agree we are quite a way off our top level but we are not a basket case and we should still finish in the top 4. Maybe I just don't understand the modern game because I never played it. When I played football it involved a lot more contact; barging goalkeepers into the net while they held the ball was a legitimate way to score, for example. At the same there was I think a lot less cynicism or put it another way a lot less cheating. I'll come back to DeBruyne who everyone raves about. To me sprinting flat out 30 yards to 'bump' into a player who has the ball is dangerous and warrants at least a caution. It reminded of Gazza's last game for us in the cup final when he went berserk and split his cruciate with a similar mad rush at a player. When that happened everyone seem to agree Gazza had gone over the top by being too hyped up today ...nothing. I seem to be alone in that view hence I really must see football in quite a different way. As with the so called red cards that should have been. Were they prompted by the extremely aggressive 'closing down' that City adopted? In the same way that after a lot of provocation in that Chelsea game we received 9 cards for retaliating because there was no protection from the ref in the first place. Purely subjective but the ref looked really intimidated today. I remember the game when Liverpool played us at own game and closed us down, the difference was that it was done within the game rules. As for us all the strength in out team Wanjama, Toby and Dave plus a below par Dembele leaves us lightweight. I don't think City would have been so dominant with those guys in our team hopefully we will see that in the return next year.
I’m not saying he hasn’t spent but so have Klopp, Mourinho, Wenger and none of them teams are playing football anywhere near as good as Man City. Also ask Barca fans who their best manager has been since Cryuff and I bet most will say Pep.
My glass is half full we lost as I expected let's move on to the rest of the season we won't play against a better team than that all season. Let's go for top 4 and the f a cup and then look forward to moving back to the new stadium.
I expected that result too. It gives us a chance to see what the "make weights" do for the club to earn their "erm", wages. Are they playing for their club or themselves (when they try!). Is there anything mentally wrong with Ali this season?
It's days like today that make me bloody wonder why we didn't go all out for the cups instead of throwing them away
To beat them at present, every opposition player has turn up, avoid mistakes, keep the ball when they have it and create chances by exploiting their weaknesses in defence - vulnerable to pace and at set pieces. A number of your players didn't turn up and others made mistakes. You didn't play your usual game when you had the ball. Alli is in poor form; Dier doesn't look comfortable at centre half in a back four; Winks isn't experienced enough to play in central midfield against a team who are so strong in midfield; Eriksen seems to be resting on his laurels after his performance v Ireland, City have the fear factor over all opponents at the moment. Teams are frightened to play their own game for fear of being torn apart. The common tactic appears to be to try to nullify them, but they have found a way -through even if they've had to do it late in the game. Teams can't resist the endless pressure. City won't be caught now because they have that cloak of invincibility. Teams are beaten before they start because of City's reputation. Their brains scramble; they don't perform as they would do against other opponents. Like rabbits caught in headlights. We haven't seen this in the PL for a while (if at all). Ironically though, they do have weaknesses. Their defence is vulnerable if pressurised. I thought Spurs might cause them problems by having more of the ball than most opponents do and creating chances, but it wasn't to be.
In my 50 years of watching spurs we have always been labelled a cup side but recently we haven't in my opinion gone for it as we should do I have some fantastic memories of uefa cup fa cup wins and league cups .being there watching us lift cups was magical and will live long in my memory just wish I will see a few more before I depart this planet
Please don't take this wrong but in my honest opinion this is a massive over reaction. Rose will be gone...in fact apart from piss poor performances he has already left. I would be hugely shocked if the rest all left...the only one I can see being allowed to leave is Dier.
I'm seriously confused by the rules. Kane gets kicked in the face when standing fully upright and that is apparently only a yellow card. Dele gets to the ball before De Bruyne who is dangerously out of control such that when Dele slightly mistimes his touch on the ball and his foot slips over it it hits De Bruyne's ankle and the BBC thinks Dele is lucky to escape with a yellow. If Dele had been tackling De Bruyne I would agree with that verdict, but he wasn't. It was a loose ball and Dele got to it first. It was De Bruyne's lack of control that casued the issue
Let's bear in mind that our starters cost about £85m and their's cost nearly £400m with another £130m on the bench. We are still doing extremely well considering our disadvantage in resources.
2nd isn't/wasn't out of reach and we should be hungry for it. No point moping around because City are romping it. This squad has got alot to prove yet.
I think the studs first bit makes a difference. Kane got a side foot to the face when a player was trying to clear a high ball and git there second (high foot, yellow card), Dele went studs first and could easily have broken de Bruynes ankle or leg (red card). Kane could easily have walked for the same thing when he went studs first and actually straightened his leg once he missed the ball and went straight into the players leg (red card). From all the threads I have read on this board I thought you would have known that.
I dont understand why so many think we will be losing Dier, Rose, Dele etc and that they have their eyes on other clubs? Who would be buying them? At the moment they all have a lot to prove before they are classed as "Elite players" they all have to start performing consistently in the big games first when it matters.
Well we have been linked to Rose and Dier, I have absolutely no idea why (maybe Levy trying to get the price up) but there you go.
