I'd say that limiting risk is a fair part of it. You're ahead, so there's no need to over commit to attack. Try and have a forward who can hold up the ball and play it to him or alternately, play a flyer and go long and have him chase the ball down and let the defence push out. If you attack, make sure (as much as possible) that the ball goes out of play, if you're going to lose it. That gives time to get back and set up defensively. Try to play to eliminate space and time to the opposition forwards but don't fall back too far and just hold a line around the penalty area. Play to feet as much as possible. On Tuesday in the last 5 minutes we were still chasing the game with passes anticipating runs that weren't being made. There's no need, just play the ball and keep compact. I think that's the key, don't let the game get stretched so that there's space and time. Make the opposition try the difficult or impossible. On Tuesday we abdicated cover on our right side. That's just stupidity. We should have had 5 across midfield with the back 4 behind, Instead, we had players all over the place. We encouraged that attack by leaving a huge empty space for a tired team to play into. I'd also question the wisdom of taking off players who are good at defending free kicks and other dead ball situation. Tired teams that are losing often 'go long' and Inter were diving for free kicks all over the place. We're iffy defending corners without bringing on Lucas, Winks and Rose to replace 3 taller men. If HK had to come off, Llorente should have replaced him.
That's the problem that our squad currently has: in the first few games we could bring on Dembele to do precisely that and it worked, but with him starting (and being less effective) that's not possible, and with Sissoko unavailable we lacked the option to shut the game out for the last fifteen minutes that he's proven to be effective at doing. So on the night Winks was the only option, but the issue there is Winks is currently between two stools: for the past few seasons he's been useful at retaining possession but has been criticised for being far too sideways in his passing, but this season he's been trying to be more of a Modric/Xavi player so he's been looking to hit the sort of passes they're known for (for example that ball to Trippier that set up the late chance against Watford) but he's not got the balance right because for all the highlights of Xavi or Modric splitting the defence with the perfect 30+ yard through ball, they also knew when to play the two-yard layoff to keep hold of the ball.
Think that reverts back to the point some of us were talking about yesterday in terms of lack of leadership. We just don't have an out and out leader in this side that can get us over the line when it really matters. Hugo, Jan, Harry, all great players and great pros (well, Hugo's debatable now) but they're not leaders, they lead by example but they don't lead a team, if that makes sense? When things are tough, we have no one who'll drive the team to get over the line and that's why I think in big matches, we often lose our bottle. Compare them to Ramos, Puyol, Terry, Gerrard etc. Not only are/ were these guys great players but they pulled their team over the line so many times. Ramos for me is the best captain I've seen in my lifetime, only truly began appreciating him a few seasons back. Aside from roaring instructions and keeping his team focused, he's more than happy to do the nasty things if it helps his side triumph. He sacrifices personal glory if it means the team triumphs, 99.9% of footballers don't have that mentality. He's a born winner.
I wonder if many of the modern managers actually want a captain. I think they prefer to try and play this role themselves from the touchline.
A lover here of Ramos - I've admired him for a long time. A fantastic footballer and captain. In recent times, I think for Spurs, Mabbutt was the closest to the type of captain Ramos is but without the sly (and clever) tactics.
Jose doesn't really change the shape of his side, or at least doesn't make them unbalanced when he makes substitutions. No problem with Poch bringing on defensive players to hold a lead but make sure the change is logical. A CM for a RW is certainly not logical. Especially when a) Lamela was one of our best players on the pitch and b) we lose shape in which up to 72 minutes, was perfectly fine and keeping Inter penned-in. Wanyama for Dembele or Eriksen would've made the most sense from a defensive standpoint, keeps our balance but makes us more defensively minded. What made the change even worse for me - and this is the players moreso than Poch on this one - was that Icardi was planted firmly in the centre when he hit his wonderstrike, how on earth could we have three CMs on the pitch yet he remained completely free of a marker? Ultimately, that substitution cost us big time, a terrible, terrible decision from the manager.
Horrible thought.....but perhaps we need to buy a couple of choppers for the bench and bring 'em on later in the game to cling to our 1 goal leads....and that's desperation (or maybe not!!!!)
The thing is that (on paper at least) Dier is the sort of chopper we need - yet his main contribution against Inter was failing to mark anyone for Icardi's goal.
What does Dier do? Personally I think he's very limited. Non entity of a midfielder..Sissoko has more presence than him in a game. Never influences a midfield...never dictates a game. He's a big lad ..yet rarely dictates tussles. I'm sure someone will tell me he's great at shielding the defence...our defence has been **** thus far. For me someone occupying a CM position needs to have some kind of attacking intent in them.
He's the hatchet man - the problem is that, while he was the exact sort of player we needed when he was first moved there, the team's evolved so Wanyama is more suited to the role, and if we're playing three at the back we should only consider using Dier as a centre back or he gets exposed horribly. It's similar to what happened with Palacios: when he was brought in he was the exact player that we needed to shore up midfield (because it sure as hell wasn't Zokora...) but within a year of signing him it was clear that we needed a DMF who could contribute going forward, which is why Sandro and Parker were brought in.
He’s in a dreadful patch of form at the moment that he needs snapping out of. I don’t know if fatigue has really taken it out of him, he’s probably played the most games out of any player under Poch with little rest in between seasons but something about him is off, which is a real shame because I think he’s a top class player when he’s properly on it. Needs to be careful though because if Wanyama can get back to full fitness and rediscover his 16/17 season form, Dier could become good friends with the subs bench.
So he's supposed to be like a destroyer....he's not very good at it I'm afraid. I don't even sense any aggression in his game...infact he looks depressed all the time.
100% agree with this. I think growing up having kids and other responsibilities helps you gain a bit or perspective!
please log in to view this image This is Klopp Spurlock We are not Liverpool????? Have I missed the point?
He looks absolutely knackered and Pochettino's been moving him around in the midfield, for no apparent reason. Started on the right of a midfield diamond against Utd, for example, and played higher than Dembele against Inter. He needs a bit of a rest and to then get back to being a very solid holding player.
