Not title contenders, because no matter how many times the opposition sits back and we get a scrappy lead when not playing well, the squad have no on-pitch nous to see the game out.
Because they worked harder than us. Our MF was dreadful and we deserved to lose. Credit to Watford. Disgraceful from us.
Fair play to Watford. Thoroughly deserved. Only match 4, but it’s fair to say our squad depth will be our Achilles heel again this season. Literally no one on the bench who could have made a real difference today. No one to replace Dembele, Eriksen, Alli or Kane, who all could have been subbed. Totally useless. Llorente, Winks and Rose. Two of which were brought on extremely late, and don’t exactly fill one with confidence of inspiring us in attack.
Eriksen and Dele need to have a good look at themselves today. Davies is half the player he was last year. Dembele looks like he's only able to keep going for a couple of games. Winks looked bright and worth getting some more game time.
Lamela and Son will be back soon enough, as will Wanyama. But when Eriksen goes AWOL it is a big problem. However this was mainly about Pochettino and his substitutions after getting the fortunate lead.
That defeat's been coming. There's a good case to be made that we could have lost all of our games so far. We've had times against Newcastle, Fulham and United where we've been hanging on and I've lost count of how many times teams have hit the woodwork. We've scored goals at good times and just about gotten away with things up to today. The players look tired. Most of them aren't fully fit yet, having had no pre-season and played into July. MP has to use his subs bench better and we need the walking wounded back asap or we're going to be ****ed by the time we start playing in the CL. Leaving Mousa on for 85 minutes was just ridiculous. Winks should have been on at half time. If we're going to throw Rose on, then at least give him 20 minutes or there's no point. It's not the end of the world but we played into a fitter, confident Watford's hands and they did us. Annoying.
Serious question... did Poch get the United game tactically right consciously or by fluke because how can he go from that winning formation and performance against a Mourinho team, to that negative ****e and not do a thing to change it? I have serious doubts.
Pochettino got a lot wrong today. Llorente has never done anything off the bench so that was a waste, Dembele needs to be carefully managed and clearly wasn't at it today, changes came too late. Players were well off it too. Total joke of a ref though. Moura got a 2 handed push in the area barely 10 minutes before Kane had a great chance stopped for a single handed push, no consistency. Marriner just likes to play it safe, when the crowd got on his back he folded like a cheap deck chair.
Sorry guys. Think Poch got the strategy wrong today - no need for 3 central defenders. Timing of subs was wrong - Rose on in 89th minute served no purpose. Llorente? Just why? Watford simply worked harder, looked harder and were too tough for the likes of Moura, Eriksen, Davies, Kane, Alli and so on.
Neither. Man Utd were not clinical in the 1st half, and the team were sufficiently alert to punish the gaps when they came. IMHO today was about a style of opposition play that undoes Spurs when certain players (Eriksen etc) do not seem to be in the mood to put in a shift. So WBA away last season, and Watford today. We shall see for the next such game whether Pochettino has learnt from the errors.
If anyone ever forgets why Dier is so crucial to our side, today was a reminder. Why he never started I'll never know. Piss poor performance, Dembele was knackered on 50 mins but played for 85 and partly cost us a goal from his sloppy foul. Davies, Toby, Jan and Dave absolute ****, Tripps wasn't even good either but marginally better than the rest of the back line, you can't have five at the back and concede the type of goals we did. Eriksen done his best impression of Ozil. Alli and Lucas worked hard but had no end product. Kane dreadful. Poch yet again, as I've criticised numerous times in the past, left it far too late to change things up, being reactive instead of proactive. He needs to learn from this. Winks the only real shining light and he played for about 6 minutes, says it all.
Pochettino got it wrong in the first half against Man Utd, then changed it a bit and got it spot on. It's understandable because they used a very different system to what they normally would and it surprised everyone. Watford's lineup and tactics were utterly predictable though, as they've used exactly the same team for the first three games. Our system wasn't working in the first half, we weren't creating anything and various players looked miles off their game. Dembele looked tired and Davies was just awful. Alli and Eriksen looked stifled and Kane got no service, plus he's playing too deep. Moura's been great for us, but he needs to play as part of the three and not play in advance of Kane in a two, in my opinion.
Because he’s injured, which happens to every team. As a result, we had nothing. We are all quick to get on Dele’s case when he looks lacklustre or tries too many flicks and tricks. We also castrate Eriksen when he’s poor, but Kane escapes far too much criticism IMO. Literally does **** all these days, other than holding off a defender with his back to goal. His movement is non existent and defences seem to have worked him out. Used to see multiple strikes at goal during games, but I can’t remember the last time I saw one from him that troubled a goal keeper. And his lack of movement makes us so rigid in attack, where the opposition know our end game is to try and find him with a cross. It’s all too predictable, there’s no fluidity, and we’re no where near dynamic enough.
Wouldn't disagree with that - Harry has picked up goals and looked ok on Monday, but in the other 3 games he's looked very slow. Didn't really watch how Watford played him, but he didn't do enough to support Lucas or the MF in providing space. The one chance he had to break away he tried to pass to Lucas, but you know that an in-form Kane would have gone on himself.
Thought Trippier was generally good today. Must have been bloody frustrating for him down that right hand side at times. Some of his corners were a bit deep and could have been better, but I actually thought him and amours worked their socks off today. Everyone else was dogshit.
You have to ask how long he’s going to be “off form” for, though. If we’re honest, he was **** for England too, despite scoring the 6 goals. Part of me wonders whether the ankle injury has had a bigger impact that we’re aware of, and it’s changed him as a player.
What stood out for me today was: Eriksen: wasn't prepared to put his body on the line, go in for tackles or be physical. It was one of his usual "don't mess my hair up" performances which really irk me. Davies: was woeful. Couldn't make a pass. Slow reactions. Just generally terrible all round. Poch: blind to the bleedin' obvious!
