Drives me nuts when we get to wings at their end and,when it seems natural to cross the ball,we pass back...and suddenly we are at the halfway line. Is this coached to our players to keep possession whether we finish up in Wembley High Street or the station? Keeping possession is ok up to a point...but their goal is at the other end. Over to you Poch to instruct the fans what is going on......
On your Sissoko point, you name good players there and I agree that while Sissoko has improved this season (not difficult) we needed more urgency and penetration from our midfield, not more forwards and wingers on the pitch. Dembele, or the Harry Winks we saw for the first past of the season alongside Dier in CM would have kept us going at a good tempo and helped us wear West Ham down. I'd be happy to never see Sissoko in a Spurs shirt again, certainly after the end of this season once Onomah comes back, and honestly I am beginning to lose patience with Aurier too though that might be a bit harsh a statement given he's had less than a season with us yet and hasn't had or earned a chance to consistently start games.
Brilliant post match from Pochettino Refused to bitch at the ref just talked about us needing to be clinical and to learn lessons. Doesn't give the players a cop out.
We are too cautious... 2 DM's and 3 CB's to mark 1 attacker. Plus as much as it is great to see Wanyama back..I don't think we needed him in this game as a sub. We should be throwing on our attacking players. Poch can't expect much from going 2 up top with only 10 minutes remaining. Poch seems to fluff his lines when it comes to the crunch, that's one of my official red flags with him. Plus we should be solving the 'bus park' conundrum a bit better by now. I'd love to see us get Zaha. Get some real width. In game management needs improving and I'm forever complaining about not putting our chances away, more composure and concentration up top required. 3 points off top 4.... long way to go COYS!
I am not going to have a go at the players or manager on this occasion the scheduling of the match was as much to the blame as anything. I feel sure that if we had played Spam first as originally planned, the greater energy levels (of both sides) would have made for a better game. We have seen many buses parked in front of us this season but I have never seen a side sit deeper with more players behind the ball than the spammers last night. If their 1 shot on target last night had resulted in a win it would have the most incredible footballing injustice of all time.
This game wouldn't have been a problem for other teams as they might have had a penalty! You can criticise as much as you want, but conceding a goal like that cannot be legislated for. You'd give the opposition player the chance to score from there any day because he simply isn't going to (is he?) Just add that to the long list of teams that have scored their only chance or their one of two chances. That is unlucky, and if you can't get penalties at the other end you end up 1-1. Criticise the team as much as you like, they probably did enough to win the game 9 times out of 10 with that performance.
Someone pointed out that we’ve only got 1 penalty in our last 30 games. I’m not sure how that compares to other teams who frequently have the ball in the oppositions defensive 3rd, but if we’re not getting them, we’re not getting them. We need to focus on other ways in which we can ensure we score goals over a 90 minute game. If our opposition is going to park the bus similar to what we witnessed last night, are forced into 3 options when attacking. 1) putting crosses in from wider positions (which they’ll likely deal with all day long) 2) playing intricate passes on the outside of the box until a gap opens. 3) shooting from distance. Hardly easy, and we know all too well how much of a struggle that’s been for us, even with that moment of magic from Son last night. IMO, we need to ensure there’s more players with flair, intelligence and quick feet on the pitch. Not players who process scenarios so slowly. We had too much of a defensive line up from the outset last night and changes weren’t made quickly enough. Whether that means we need to sign someone, that’s up for debate. But we’re seeing these types of games regularly and don’t have a solution, so I don’t think it would hurt to have some extra variety to make us a bit more unpredictable, whilst also allowing some squad rotation for existing players.
I agree it's farcical to have so few penalties given to us when some of them were nailed on but we shouldn't rely on them to beat teams.I don't like having a go at spurs players but in games like last nights we all knew they were gonna park the bus so why pick sissoko he is never gonna create chances for us and as has been said on here already we were set up too defencive from the start .considering the injuries we have had this season in my opinion we are still having a good season also considering we are playing home games at the souless Wembley we are still up there fighting 2nd place is still up for grabs but please poch no more sissoko I've had enough.
Really??? I thought he had a much better game last night, particularly 2nd half Maybe I should book in at SpecSavers!!
Me too. As did Vertonghen and Davies. Other than his dodgy back pass, Sanchez brushed off the Swansea game well, too.
Ben was really bright all night and was pushing on into the box, finding space and tying up a defender. Think that part of his game in sometimes underrated. (His final ball from wide didn’t find its intended target often enough, but that was as much to do with the congestion caused by The Spammers tactics.) Aurier was doing the same more in the 2nd half. I’m still seething over Dean and Sissoko.
His good supporting and link up play with Son allowed him and Son to have more opporunities to run at Zabaleta or put crosses in, too. They complimented each other well last night.
Yeah it's true..the games were 48 hours apart and they scored a worldie. I don't see how any of that should stop Poch from using his management skills to make astute substitutions and give them something to think about by tinkering with the tactics in game. He isn't getting off that lightly. What was the point in sticking Llorente on with 10 to go? Lamela should have been on sooner for Sissoko. Drop Eriksen back. It might be a risk but be brave, take it. Our players are better than theirs and it wasn't a massive risk at all. Poch isnt brave enough and it shows. Yesterday's scenario was where the manager earns his corn. If it's a problem with squad variety then do the obvious and let's go for Zaha. Will we though? Will we ****. Get rid of GKN, what is the point...no point whatsoever. Pathetic purchase considering he replaced N'jie. Shoot the scouts. We need out and out Wingers! but I don't have faith since our transfer policy is utter ****e.
Spurlock has got the general jist. Far too cautious (a different style should come into effect the moment busparquet is detected in the opposition) . After half the season, no style of play has been developed for busparquet (that is a coaching failure) . And the management style needs improvement (I suspect he needs a dose of Fergie in him to make the final step to being a PL winner) .
Dean did his job last night. He was responsible for a dodgy penalty 3 days prior so the last thing he wanted to do was give another penalty as the focus would be on him again, regardless of whether he got it right or wrong. Pulling a ref who has made a high profile, controversial decision isn't punishment, it's just a sensible thing to do to let things calm down. Riley refuses to do this because he's incompetent. Mostly though, I'm just disillusioned. I'm fed up of going to games to see the same tactics in 2/3rds of our games. There used to be diversity in the way opposition sides played. You'd get the likes of Swansea and Soton and others who'd give it a real go, even the defensive sides set up differently to each other but now it's the same game being played 25 times over. Sometimes you win, sometimes you draw. It's the opposite of entertainment. Then there's the **** travel and crush of Wembley and those metal barrier monstrosities, stopping any fan from being less than 30 meters from the pitch because slightly reducing the small chance of a pitch invasion is more important than fans actually having a decent view and creating an atmosphere. Thank **** for the Champions league run, those 8 games(hopefully more) are the only time you get anything that feels like a good football experience. It's not a moan because we drew. We're only 3 points off where we need to be and 6 points off where we'd love to be. Considering our form has always picked up over the Christmas period and continues into the new year, we're in a good position. I'm just bored of football, results can only do so much. I said all this back in October and I think this is the feeling of the majority of fans. We need something to make things entertaining. I hope Pochettino can bring through a couple more youngsters soon because that's the only interesting thing we can get out of the season at this point(save a Champions League win ).
