The point I am trying to make is that if you have a playmaker in the team who is not performing then the rest of the team will look bad anyway.
Telling comments from Pochettino about the squad being unsettled because of the open window in Europe. This is maybe why MP is not celebrating goals and maybe why Jan is on the bench. Clearly this was a below par performance from Spurs, yes City are probably better than us BUT not by the margin we saw yesterday. In recent games between the clubs we have not been outclassed as we were yesterday.
So after the dust has settled ... The negatives : 1. That was the most atrocious MF performance I have seen in about 20 years. Winks. Eriksen, Spineless lack of fronting up or nous. 2. The passing out from the back. I do not object to it, but WTF are they so sh*t at it ?? Slow slow sideways slow. Nobody showed the nous to take a position to allow a safer pass out. On the few occasions they did it right, the ball moved thru MF quickly and the attacks began. 3. The injury time switch offs. Twice in 3 games against Citeh, and VAR saving Spurs both time. The positives : This fixture is now done and dusted, at a time when it is not of real consequence and with a result that has not seriously mashed squad morale. Summary : If Pochettino has what it takes, then : 1. The squad will get the hairdryer treatment for #1 and #3. 2. A LOT more training sessions will be going into improving #2. Spurs got away with it yesterday due to Citeh being poor in finishing, but the same MF maelstrom will occur in the NLD, and then we may not be so lucky.
The team look like they had lead boots on yesterday , I can't recall Rose making a single run forward and that was in part due to what Spurf had already raised , the cynical fouling that breaks up moves and City's pressing , the ball over the top was the obvious way out but we had no one to play it to The occasional burst from Sissoko was the highlight of our midfield , Kane was isolated and at points in the game dropped back into midfield to get the ball but then we had nothing up front The end of this European window can't come soon enough for me so we can sort out CE TA and JV , CE looks like he's gone to me and today's papers report that Real could come in with a late bid of around £60 million
We could have won that, when the citeh player did his hammy but had to stay on because they'd used all of their subs, why wasn't Lucas sitting on his shoulder with every ball going over the top?
How can Eriksen create if he’s not given the ball? Kane can’t score if he’s not given the ball so is that his fault he was poor? Bit of common sense here, Spurf, mate. Only one outfield player turned up for Spurs yesterday and that was Dave in the second half.
Come and GET the ball ?? Front up and FIGHT FOR IT when your team-mates obviously are not ?? The mindset to attempt to "take the game by the scruff of the neck" (that IMHO separated players like Gazza from players like Hoddle) ??
So Eriksen should be playing as a DM/ Defender by winning the ball from deep, then carry it 30-40 yards up the pitch and then create something? ok.
I’ve blamed the whole team for being ****. I’ve blamed Pochettino for picking a **** team. Once again you think illogically just to suit your agenda against one of our best players.
Of course you would, we may as well scrap the central midfield and just have a 4-1-5 formation because who needs CMs or DMs when Eriksen should be shielding the defence, winning the ball, driving through the middle and then creating for the attackers. I’d much rather have an agenda against a very basic player than against a guy who’s been one of our best, if not the best, for the past 6-7 years.
Here's one issue that was clear throughout the match: Ndombele was the only player looking for the positive pass instead of getting rid of it ASAP, so in theory Eriksen should have been receiving those - yet both Eriksen and Lamela seemed to mistime their runs constantly
Sad to be so, but I called it on the "Eriksen" article. Yesterday IMHO showed we do badly need that Danny or Dave type in MF, and some more Gazza than Hoddle (the latter notorious for going AWOL in exactly this kind of game) .
Eriksen should be shielding the defence, winning the ball, driving through the middle and then creating for the atta That's more like it. Where is that player?
