Why so downbeat? We know we are better than how we played. The opposition forced us to play like we did. City were VERY good. Mourinho is a tactician and would go away to rivals with a negative approach and aim to get minimum 1 point and then win the home game. He would look at the game us a point accruing mission. I am happy we got the point against a top team who don't drop many. Let's judge the team and our performance after next week's match.
Because my expectations of the team are now higher. Not a delusional demand for a win, but expectation of a performance akin to the previous two fixtures last season. So should those on the team sheet yesterday be telling me that my expectations are unrealistic, or should they be taking a long hard look in the mirror ??
Don't think anyone's actually downbeat are they? We're all very happy to have gotten the point despite the below-par performance. There's just disagreements on personnel. Agree on City though, they were brilliant to watch, as expected for the money they've spent but nonetheless a joy to watch.
I think he will be. Citeh and the NLD away are two games you would not expect PL newcomers to immediately make their entrance on.
I thought he was back to his old self in the post-match interviews. He answered every question respectfully and looked pretty relaxed, especially compared to the end of last season and during the pre-season games. Yes, he's wary of losing players before the European window shuts. I'd expect nothing else. We've got a squad of 25 senior players but that includes Big Vic, GKN and Aurier, none of whom look like they'll be used, except in extremis, so are pretty much makeweights. If we were to sell any one of Rose, Toby and Christian Eriksen, we're looking a little thin. If we sold the lot, we've got some serious trouble. Of course, he's going to be nervous between now and the closure. When he's not being tetchy with journalists, he's always honest....often to a fault. I'd rather he kept such issues 'in house' but those days seem to have gone. Add in that Sessegnon and Foyth are injured, Sonny's been suspended, Lo Celso, Davies, Dier and Eriksen haven't had proper pre-seasons and Jan Vertonghen and Tanguy Ndombele lack fitness, we're doing okay. I still don't understand Lucas not starting yesterday, he's just about our only available, progressive player with any pace and we were Sloooooooow yeaterday. So slow. Other than that, it's okay, given that we're usually **** for the first half a dozen games or so....
Thanks VAR, not just because it's really funny for Citeh to get two injury time goals ruled out, but because it was the right decision. There's a lot of stuff been said since the match on the lines of how ridiculous it was to rule it out, but having had time to think about it I think it was right. The deflection off the arm was much greater than I first thought, and does set up Jesus quite nicely. Without that deflection it's not clear where the ball would have gone. Admittedly if it happened to us I'd be pissed off, but I still think it was correct - there was clearly a handball that benefited the attacking team QED.
Why was Oliver Skipp marking La Porte yesterday, regardless of the VAR outcome it seems to be a miss match for a corner
I still think our right back needs to be put on the bench and maybe replaced by Dier. Where was he when Sterling was standing by the post for a free header? He may be young but I think he is lower league.
And I'm sure they would have said something like the following words if the shoe had been on the the other foot as well. "The referee, Michael Oliver, evidently did not think a player being grappled to the floor was worthy of being penalised. Neither did the VAR officials, which was mysterious when this was precisely the sort of oversight they should be trying to put right." I can't find a video of the Rodri incident. But I watched it a couple of times yesterday and thought that while Lamela began to push the pen envelope by draping his arm around Rodri's neck, what happened next calls for the following words. 'The moment his chance to score passed, Rodri collapsed faster than a cheap folding chair under a falling hippo." I thought Rodri should have been booked for diving, and that Dele would have been.
VAR has it in for Citeh, but is yet to do a formal "Pleased to meet you, hoped you guessed my name" intro to the rest of the PL top 6. I suspect the Poool are feverishly copying the Twilight Zone "Nothing in the dark" episode to prolong the above event.
Maybe I’m reading too much into nothing but I’m just getting the impression there’s something wrong. The cynic in me says there’s nothing wrong with Jan. I thought he was no better or worse than anyone in pre-season so the talk of being below fitness levels I just don’t quite buy. As I said maybe that’s me being a cynic but I find it odd our best CB isn’t playing. His selections have also been very odd and nearly cost us, thankfully he rectified it quickly enough against Villa whilst I think it’s fair to say we had a footballing god watching down on us yesterday because I don’t think I’ve seen a Poch-Spurs side so massively outplayed yet not lose but I’d be worried if he goes for this diamond/ three CMs next weekend when there’s so many better options. I hope I’m reading him/ the situation wrong and there’s nothing to worry about though.
Yeah I would’ve thought Jan or Dier would’ve been the more sensible sub to make anyway. Nothing against Skippy but we were well under the cosh and an experienced player could’ve helped out a bit better than a rookie.
I'm having a problem with the diamond The big gaping hole in the middle of the diamond is giving oppo midfields so much space to exploit. You wouldn't think we had Sissoko and N'Dombele on the pitch yesterday. Personally I don't like the diamond. We should play to our strengths.
Yeah I hate it. Although I don’t even know what the actual formation was yesterday. Sissoko seemed to be like RCM/ RM until he was moved back to CM once Winks went off whilst Eriksen was seemingly playing LW with Lamela in a sort of ten role who drifted wide. Felt really lopsided.
The diamond is crap and it doesn't work. Our fullbacks get exposed far too easily and the midfield doesn't work. Pochettino needs to drop it now and go back to our proven system.
Last season: Players shouldn't be able to score if the ball hits an arm in the buildup to the goal. This season: It's not fair to disallow a goal if the ball hits a player's arm in the buildup to the goal. Top punditry. Looking forward to de Bruyne's ban for diving. That will definitely happen. Yep.
