Totally agree, but supporting the players is one thing. Calling them heroes based on the current run of form is excessive and sends out the wrong message. This season has been tough, with the extended Wembley connection. But 'heroes' seems a bit extreme.
Agreed. I wouldn't want him hanging them out to dry in public. That's not what I said at all. By all means, don't publicly humiliate them but don't praise them either! What on earth has he seen over the past 7 weeks beyond 45mins of good play against Arsenal, 45 against Soton and another 45 today to draw the conclusion that they are "heroes"?! As a parent, I try not to criticise my kids when they don't deserve it but by the same token I also don't shower them with empty praise when it isn't deserved either. It just isn't healthy.
We didn't lose because of bad luck, we lost because Hugo made yet another clanger in a big game, his clanger wasn't down to luck but poor goalkeeping. We also lost because Sissoko bottled a 2 on 1 chance, again, not luck but poor decision making in a pressurised scenario. This is a 38 game season, at 31 games in we are 18 points behind Liverpool. Regardless of how close today's game was, it shows that there's a clear huge gap in quality between the two sides.
People reacting to the scoreline not the match. Understandable but doesn't reflect the balance of the game. Pundits have constantly reminded us all season that Liverpool are on a "different level" to us. That clearly isn't the case and the points difference can easily be attributed to luck and dodgy decisions.
I am not digging at you two but am using you as an example of both sides of the argument. I think that @vimhawk is too far one way cos by using that logic then Southampton are not that far behind us! I think that @Dier Hard is too far the other cos imho we have seemed like a marathon runner hitting the wall. We had a lot a players who went a long way in the world cup so have effectively had no break since August 2017. We have played away from home since August 2017 and that has been a huge slog...it was awful for the fans and (imho) it has been mentally draining on the players. Hopefully the new ground can givd the players a lift cos otherwise we will not finish in the top 4 snd that will massively impact on who we can attract in the transfer window.
I disagree on this a bit, Liverpool have certainly got the rub of the green a fair bit this season, with refereeing decisions and gaffes like that from Lloris today seeming to go in their favour a lot more often than not. But we’ve dropped off hugely as well in our own game since the turn of the year, and we were hardly flawless before then. They’ve benefited from the dice falling in their favour a lot, and that’s inflated the gap in perceived quality between our teams IMO. People forget we’ve had our good moments this season and were genuinely in the title race for a time. That said, I think on balance Liverpool are definitely a better team, and will deservedly finish ahead of us. Are they 18 points/6 wins better off? Arguably they don’t deserve to be at this stage. But they’ve been a much more consistent team this season, and it shows in the table. They’re definitely ‘on another level’ to us, I would just disagree about how far above us that level is. Not 18 points, that’s for sure.
According to the PL stats Lloris has only made one error leading to a goal this season before today. Allison has made 3. https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/error_lead_to_goal Looking historically Lloris has averaged about 2 per year. In other words there is no evidence for your claim.
I don't think you've had a good season. The demands of The World Cup and the failure to add to the squad (especially to replace Dembele) have been the main factors. This has been said by quite a few of you throughout the season. Earlier on you were grinding out results due to the reliability of the defence and key players chipping in with crucial goals (principally Son). Now the performances have just dropped enough for the opposition to be edging these games. There have a been a few defensive errors and those chances to change games are been missed rather that taken.
I've never said he was. But he has made more errors that concede goals apparently. You made a specific claim that Lloris is making mistakes in big games to the extent he should be dropped. List them!
Off the top of my head: Barcelona, PSV and Liverpool. There's probably more. Not forgetting the World Cup final for France either. That's just this season. In previous years he's ****ed up against Chelsea and Arsenal. Think Man City too.
I think he probably does make more errors than goalies of similar quality. But that doesn't mean he is a worse keeper or needs to be dropped. It isn't the right strategy for any player to minimise errors. Indeed that is the exact reason you are anti Winks because he plays too safe. A goalie who never makes a mistake will likely give away more goals by not taking risks.
I bloody hate arguments based on stats alone. There’s so many moving parts in a football game that various decisions, poor passes, communication or attitude can affect the game, yet go unnoticed. Lloris kick before Liverpool’s first goal was woeful. That alone put them in a position to develop the goal. But I bet that doesn’t get logged by the statisticians. Lloris general nervousness and erratic decisions is another prime example of how it filters through and gives our defence the jitters. That sure as hell won’t make the stats either.
not to forget the few times he passed it straight to our boys in the match (except we like to pass it around instead of shoot)
His quality isn't the same as it was a couple years back and that's the problem. His earlier high profile gaffs were forgiven or even forgotten because he was often so superb and consistent. His general level of goalkeeping has severely decreased, he's no longer as consistent and his errors are now more frequent and noticeable. I once said Hugo was the best in the Prem, nowadays I'm not even sure he's the best at Tottenham. There's easily a handful of keepers better than him in the Prem that's for sure. Not sure what Winks has anything to do with this, two completely different positions.
4 seasons ago it was Lesta getting lucky and refs 3 seasons ago it was Chelsea getting lucky and refs This season it's Pool getting lucky and refs No wonder problems don't get solved...it's never our fault
No-one is arguing that stats should be used alone or even that they are the most important factor. But it is a common failing in humans to see patterns that are not really there. If you ignore that when making decisions you will get more wrong than you need to.
Our problem is quite clear. We can't afford to buy the best players. We've done pretty well despite that. What we don't need to do is to exacerbate that by dropping the best ones we have or exchanging the poorer ones for ones who are worse.
