Not got much positive to say after that so I won't say too much at all given my "I'm waiting for January" pledge after the Brighton debacle. Poch seems happier than he was before the intl break, which I would imagine has a lot to do with Foyth, Sess and Gio returning to full fitness. I would imagine that he plans to integrate all 3 into the first team asap. One huge concern I have is how Davinson's form has gone off a cliff over the past 14 months. I'd like to think he just needs a run of games as he got in his first season alongside peak Vertonghen, but two things stand out at this stage: why is his confidence so abysmally low? And is there much to be gained from a run of games alongside two CBs who - 2 years on - are now very much approaching the end of their careers? I'm worrying about him because the 3 staged rebuild i'm now totally fixated on (it is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment) only calls for one new CB who will partner Dave in the new look defence along with Foyth and Sess at FB. If he cannot recover his form soon, we face the prospect of needing 2 top drawer CBs at an enormous cost.
You didn't get behind us enough which has been our main issue. Mind you thought Son was going to score !
Rose and Aurier were poor beyond belief at doing this ... you lot played well ... am amazed you ain't won a match this season tbh
Yes,those 3 center backs look ok in the air but very dodgy on the ground.We need a cb who can "sweep it up!" With our 2 full backs....a very dodgy defence! Winks seemed very active and reminds me a bit of Steve Perryman carrying the ball.
Both teams had penalty shouts not given by Chris Kavanagh (or VAR), that is the very same Chris Kavanagh who could not wait to give Sadio Mane a last minute penalty after his pathetic dive a fortnight ago against Leicester. The inconsistencies, bias, corruption or whatever it is, drives me mad.
Watched Seattle v Dallas this evening MSL Playoff. 3-3 full time. 4-3. to Seattle after extra time. Great game. Players going hard at it for all that time. If our players were watching it,I think they would have felt guilty for the crap they turned out today. It seems some of our players are just filling in the time 'til payday!
Don’t know what the answer is maybe. Davies and Walker-Peters aren’t it, IMO. Where’s Foyth? Surely he was supposed to be back by now? Maybe, if needs be until Sessengon is finally fit, we could switch Vertonghen to LB, put Sánchez and Toby as CB’s, and hopefully Foyth at RB?
Ben Davies can defend which makes him hugely superior to Rose yet he is always on the bench...makes absolutely no sense to me. It ain't like Rose is delivering going forward either...one assist and no goals in the past 18 months or so? He costs us goals and is regularly out of position...yesterday he got caught under the flight of the ball after completely miss judging it ... again...and they scored as s result. This ain't the first time yet he continually starts. Find it mystifying.
One small crumb of comfort is that, at least judging by the pass map, Dele Alli was offering an out ball for the left flank that has been conspicuously absent in the last few weeks please log in to view this image ...so now all we need is for all our opponents to put their entire team in the final third and our play will be a lot more balanced until we once again forget the idea of the game is to pass the ball to our forwards at some point
The other thing I noticed yesterday was how the crowd tried to lift the team...n previous years there would have been booing or jeering at ht and ft but instead we continually tried to lift them.
Thanks again for the messages guys. Didn’t wanna post too much on the game yesterday as I was naturally in a foul mood but looking back after a night’s kip and I don’t feel much different after another horror show. Zero creativity, despite having Coco and Tanguy available he decided to bench both. We know Watford aren’t as **** as their points suggest but ultimately they’re bottom. So he plays 5 at the back at home. The defender he sacrificed at half time is the one we should be trying to build the defence around. He also made the least mistakes out of the back five in terms of losing possession with 4, the others: Aurier 27, Toby 27, Rose 19, Jan 14. He spoke of a painful rebuild but so far it’s just been painful. Gotta be honest, I no longer care if he stays or goes, if anything I’d rather the latter so that a new manager has January to work with. I think he’s lost it and I don’t think he knows how to manage senior players. This was meant to be a promising season, I just want it over already.
He was blowing out of his arse in the Colchester game. Carried an injury for a season then surgery in the summer and zero pre season as a consequence. It's no wonder he is well short of match fitness. I think we'll see him on Tuesday night tbh and that will give a good measure of how well his fitness has progressed since that wonderful game against Colchester. Although in the long run, all of the whispers suggest that Poch sees Sessegnon as the future at LB, and will line up with a defensively strong FB on one side (Foyth) with an attacking FB on the other (Sess).
TBH he should be starting and when he runs out of puff then be subbed...Rose screwed up within the first 6 mins yesterday...it is so predictable it's like clockwork.
I think that's symptomatic of our lack of confidence. Poch must be concerned that we concede the early goal, so he tries to shut up shop, and let the lads play themselves into the game. As a tactic, I think it's solid, it's just that the players made yet another early mistake. If Poch had more confidence, he'd attack from the start, wish is what I wish he would do. As frustrated as I am with him, I still have faith in Poch that he's the man to pull us through this drought.
To me playing 3ATB wasn't so much Poch being concerned with defensive lapses, given they usually take 44 minutes to happen, but trying to find a system that brings the full backs into the game as they've been woefully ineffective this season in that regard Problem is that trying to bring them into the game doesn't prevent Danny Rose managing yet another Trippier Special or Aurier wasting approximately 93 crosses
