At 5.25 precisely we had a power cut! I had been looking forward all day to our first match of the season. I dug out my old Roberts transistor and found the match live on Talksport. I was choked to find us 1 down already & couldn't enjoy it until the last 15 mins which was brilliant. Well done lads. I know you all have smart phones where you could probably see match but I'm still in the dark ages with my 15 year old non smart one. Just shows though the old transistors are worth there weight in gold sometimes! Power came back 3 hours later so MOTD for me. COYS!
Got the win we deserved in the end but the performance was still really disappointing. Pochettino seems to have acknowledged his mistakes in the first half and I hope that means we're ditiching the diamond for good. Whilst we weren't terrible, some moments were really amateurish, particularly the goal where Toby was in no mans land and Rose made a complete mess of chasing McGinn. Still, considering Jan, Dele and Son were all out, whilst it's too early for Lo Celso and Eriksen didn't come on until the last half-hour, it's a decent enough result. Still pissed off that Son got banned for 3 games after pushing a player, he's our best hope of beating City. KWP was great.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: if we want to play a three-man midfield, the diamond isn't the way to go - a 4321 is, at least until Sonny's back, as we get the solidity from the midfield three and a better support for Harry Also, the conservative squad selection was mildly irksome, as Parrott probably should've been on the bench instead of GKN in case we needed another forward, and maybe Tanganga too as having Dier, Skipp and Big Vic on the bench meant we had three DMs yet no real centre back
1. What is the deal with Vertonghen? Was he injured? 2. Really disappointed with Sanchez for their goal...terrible, terrible defending. 3. Winks and KWP were the only 2 players that did well in the first half. Rose did ok but his final ball was poor. 4. Really disappointed with the system in the first hour, no where near enough movement from Moura Kane or Lamela. 5. Was very disappointed in Lamela ... his workrate was good but he gave the ball away in dangerous areas and his final ball was poor most of the game. The same is true of Moura. 6. We looked rusty. 7. Was at the top of the wall of noise and was convinced there was a handball...was it shown on tv? 8. Please do not let Sissoko shoot. 9. We deserved to win...we dug out a win jn a gsme we could easily have dropped points in. 10. WTF do we fans have to be subjected to blatant time wasting that takes place from 20 mins onwards, whoch goes completely unpunished. It is getting worse and worse but is so easy to deal with if only the refs spplied the rules. 11. Grealish = cheating twat ... was looking forward to seeing him play ... can see why he's rated but his blstant cheating and constant whining is beyond annoying. Him being responsible for the 2nd goal was a great piece of Karma. 12. Hope Eriksen stays 13. No Vertonghen, No Lo Celsa, No Sessegnon, No Davies, No Son, No Foyth, No Dele but 3 points ... could be a lot worse. Lots to work on before we lose to city COYS
Poch got bailed out today big time. Missing a bunch of key players and decides to put our best player on the bench? Real smart. Whilst Eriksen is here, play him. Simple. As. That. Dropping Jan? Speechless. Coincidence that Winks goes off and we score three? I’ll leave that for others to decide. Tanguy showed signs of absolute brilliance but there were times where he took too many touches instead of releasing it. As debuts go though, it’s safe to say we’ve got a real ****ing talent on our hands. Thought KWP had a really good game. Kane... doesn’t really need any words. Doesn’t even need half a chance, a quarter and he still sticks it away. Leanest he’s looked in ages. Pray his ankles stay healthy. Great result in the end but a lot of head scratching for me, most of it with the manager.
Agree with most but not about winks. He played better than everyone else bar KWP in the first half. I do not know what it looked like on tv but he was everywhere in the first half making up for the poor play of others. The system needed changing but I was wanting Lamela off cos energy apart he was woeful. Think Pochettino was proved right as we won. Winks needed to come off as the team needed changing...not cos of his performance.
His performance is redundant to this team, Col. For a team like us, we need progressive players looking to make things happen, not a water carrier. When he went off, we were ten times better. Whether he played well by his limited standards or not is pretty irrelevant as he doesn’t suit what we need. If we had Eriksen on from the start with Tanguy and Sissoko in the middle, Villa wouldn’t have had a sniff today but by playing Winks we invite pressure as he doesn’t dominate a game from an attacking standpoint.
Someone who I did think had a decent game was the ref - I thought alot of the Villa players went down every easily and with the exception of not dealing with the time wasting that RCL commented on, I think he did a good job. The game was generally allowed to flow and you didn't really notice him which I always think is a good thing. What we did see was difference between EPL VAR and UEFA VAR - there is no doubt that in Europe the handball would have been given, but as long as those type of handballs are consistently not given then I am OK with that - though why we have to be different I don't know as consistency across all levels of the game would be better as far as I am concerned
I don't think you can really pin the blame on Winks for yesterday - like so many others he was far from perfect but the issues in the first half were deeper than his performance. MOTD produced one of those rare pieces of analysis last night that was actually in some way insightful, because they showed that our front 3 of Lamela, Lucas and Kane effectively played within the width of the two Villa CBs. Then look at how the midfield 3 played - again they were narrow, with basically only Winks being there to play 'quarterback', both Sissoko and Ndombele were playing in the final 3rd which certainly isn't the former's game, at any rate. The FBs were trying to get forward and stretch the game but weren't a constant presence there. The result? 5 players basically camped out in front of the Villa back 4 with minimal movement and only Winks and Toby trying to find someone. We played most of the first half in a space the width of the Villa box and the length of the final 3rd. Nobody is going to succeed in playing through an organised defence in that little space, unless you're one Lionel Messi, esq. Second half Lamela then GKN pulled wide left and first Sissoko then Moura stretched the game on the right. We saw more from Tanguy in midfield instead of just seeing him set up shop in the final 3rd and not do anything, and yes, Eriksen eventually came on to make the difference. We really saw the versatility of Sissoko playing off as he filled 3 different positions on the pitch yesterday and it showed how valuable he will continue to be for the team. This isn't really a post about Winks, its a post about the whole team yesterday, but like anyone else yesterday he needed to speed up his game and be more inventive, because otherwise he's just a homegrown Jorginho. But the whole team wasn't helped by how we set up to play first half. And though I completely agree that Eriksen came on to change the game and would expect him to start games this season while he remains at Spurs to help the team, I think you also have to acknowledge that playing the final half hour chasing a game is very different to playing the first 60 mins against a team set up to play on the counter.
I'd already given Tanguy a free pass for this one. He will take a while to get up to speed in the PL. But he looks a real talent and got stronger and more influential as the game went on. Eriksen changed everything - free rein to dictate play. Villa weren't able to track him, which created the holes. KWP was excellent, but lacks the attacking element. The GOAT had a good game as per usual. Winks...... If only he ran and passed forwards with the same energy he does back and sideways FFS!
Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that he made selection errors and he's right. The starting 11 lacked invention and goals. Whilst Ndombele is bedding in and we've no Lo Celso or Son, Eriksen HAS to play. The central pairing of Winks and Sissoko just doesn't create enough. That duo is for Citeh away, not Villa at home. One of those two and Lo Celso will be a different matter, though. He is going to completely change how we play. We are also lacking high quality service from our full backs, which will be a problem, unless there's improvement. A poor overall performance but lacking Sonny, Lo Celso, Dele and Christian Eriksen, it was not totally unexpected.
Deep down every Spurs fans knows that Eriksen is the key to this team They just pretend they don’t rate him to make themselves feel less sad when he leaves
Eriksen is no more "the key" to this team than Kane is. Or Jan, Or Son. Or ... He is an IMPORTANT cog in the machine, and so are others. However, when that cog is below par (for whatever reason) the machine suffers. No machine should have only one of each cog in the spare parts box. So Spurs went out and bought another cog to attempt to rectify that problem. If you look in the squad "box" , tis the one labelled "Lo Celso" .
I don’t essentially blame Winks, I blame the manager for picking him. Winks can’t help how he plays but the manager can help how he sets up to play. As Winks went off and Eriksen came on, our creativity levels increased ten fold and that’s what we need for players like Kane, Son, Lucas etc to thrive off. Tanguy grew with confidence at having the main creator in our side to link up with, he even capped it off with an unreal goal. Sissoko got moved back to CM and delivered a top class assist after driving 20 or so yards through the middle in typical Sissoko fashion and laying it off to Harry. If Winks didn’t start and we went 3-1 up by 70 mins, that’s when I’d bring him on as his ability to keep the ball would frustrate Villa as they try to attack. But at 0-0, 0-1, he’s one of the last players I’d want to see on the pitch and starting a game.
