Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham
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Well played Fulham - played much the better football.
Spurs looked like a team of individuals having a kick-around after a hard day at the office.
Jose's luck looks like it going to run out again soon., but he knew it would one day.
Spurs looked like a team of individuals having a kick-around after a hard day at the office.
Jose's luck looks like it going to run out again soon., but he knew it would one day.
I got that beat: I've seen people willing to take CCV over two or three of our CBs...
Lamela was probably our best player and he only played about 15 mins.
It’s not often our forward players let us down, especially Kane but today all four were well below par. Thankfully the one good move between Bale, Dele and Son paid off massively, with a helping hand from Tosin. Kane should’ve buried Lamela’s through ball too, so off today. If it’s fatigue related (as he and Son did look leggy) then they should start from the bench on the weekend. Running them into the ground won’t do us any favours, more so if they end up getting a fatigued muscle related injury from it.
It’s not often our forward players let us down, especially Kane but today all four were well below par. Thankfully the one good move between Bale, Dele and Son paid off massively, with a helping hand from Tosin. Kane should’ve buried Lamela’s through ball too, so off today. If it’s fatigue related (as he and Son did look leggy) then they should start from the bench on the weekend. Running them into the ground won’t do us any favours, more so if they end up getting a fatigued muscle related injury from it.
Not for the first time this season, meh performance but a win is a win.
Quickly forget about this game and on to the next
Quickly forget about this game and on to the next
Dele, Bale/Lucas and Son all got deeper and deeper, we didn't leave enough upfront to cause them problems. Lamela just came on and was Lamela, thank ****, because the Sissoko sub was awful.
Love football. Love Lamela.
I’d take Titus Bramble out of retirement over them.
Given finances, you may get your wish.
Take the 3 points and run, it is not easy away at Fulham who have been in good form and scrapping for their lives, on a tight pitch and while playing 3 games a week. Fulham had more energy and were quicker to the ball, a result of our heavy schedule perhaps. Kane and Son were poor, wasteful and often taking on speculative shots when a pass might have been better. Lamela was bright when he came on , Lucas and Sissoko may as well have stayed sat on the bench. Hugo made a couple of decent saves, Sanchez had his usual comedy moment with that shiete clearance, but was rescued by a handball. Kane had his ankle clipped, if he was Salah or Fernandes they would have been blowing for a penalty there. Doherty and Davies are still bang average. Toby was probably our MOTM. On to Palace, 3 points against them will complete a terrific week.
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Fulham look quite decent but suffer from the same problem as so many relegated in similar circumstances before them - the can’t score goals.
And generally speaking, what’s happened to all the goals? So many recent games have been 0-0 or 1-0 when earlier on we were having regular goalfests.
And generally speaking, what’s happened to all the goals? So many recent games have been 0-0 or 1-0 when earlier on we were having regular goalfests.
Too many games. Players are knackered, which leads to more injuries, which leads to the remaining players being more knackered.
I think that there's also a mental factor, as these are young men without any normal means for release.
A lot of them would socialise regularly and let off some of the mental fatigue from the schedule and that's not happening.
Some managers are trying to play more conservatively to deal with it too, I think.
Clubs with small squads can't press relentlessly like they normally would, as they'll burn out.
Like Brighton, if they had a couple of strikers from Spurs, United, Arsenal or one of the other 'Big 6'. they could be competing for EL football. They're athletic and physical and well drilled but they just don't score enough goals from their good play.
A premium striker makes a huge difference. Kane's development made Spurs a CL team, without him, Pochettino wouldn't have made top 4 for 4/5 seasons, no matter what talent he had elsewhere.
Tonight's performance highlighted a couple of things we already knew but the manager needs to up his game to deal with effectively:
- Certain key players look shattered. I heard the commentators mention a few times that we've played more games this season than any other side across Europe's top 5 leagues. That's close to 100 teams which is mental. Must be around 45 games already and it is taking its toll.
- The drop in quality from Aurier/Reg to Doherty/Davies is staggering and I feel was to blame for our abysmal second half performance. When others are tired, you look to your rotated players to inject a bit of energy but the two of them offered feck all. Doherty is possibly the most limited footballer I have seen since his namesake graced these pastures. Surely switching this to a Doherty/Reg and Aurier/Davies combo would be more sensible?
- Bale isn't fit enough to start twice in quick succession.
For once I think the subs actually improved things, if only slightly. Sissoko added more of a presence in the middle (Hojbjerg looks fecked) and Lamela and Lucas pressed a higher line than we'd managed at the walking pace we adopted for much of the second half.
Oh and what has happened to Bergwijn? I make that 3 PL games in a row he hasn't even made the squad.
- Certain key players look shattered. I heard the commentators mention a few times that we've played more games this season than any other side across Europe's top 5 leagues. That's close to 100 teams which is mental. Must be around 45 games already and it is taking its toll.
- The drop in quality from Aurier/Reg to Doherty/Davies is staggering and I feel was to blame for our abysmal second half performance. When others are tired, you look to your rotated players to inject a bit of energy but the two of them offered feck all. Doherty is possibly the most limited footballer I have seen since his namesake graced these pastures. Surely switching this to a Doherty/Reg and Aurier/Davies combo would be more sensible?
- Bale isn't fit enough to start twice in quick succession.
For once I think the subs actually improved things, if only slightly. Sissoko added more of a presence in the middle (Hojbjerg looks fecked) and Lamela and Lucas pressed a higher line than we'd managed at the walking pace we adopted for much of the second half.
Oh and what has happened to Bergwijn? I make that 3 PL games in a row he hasn't even made the squad.
All excellent points.
I'm struggling to see why Mourinho (and Poch before him) would leave making substitutions until we are being ripped to bits, often making changes only after we've conceded. The ridiculous handball law saved us last night but we were being battered.
Can he not see that Harry Kane, Sonny, Hojbjerg and Ndombele were completely done after an hour? We all get that there's diminishing quality in the deep reaches of the squad, but unless we start to spread the load, players will get injured and we'll be playing our second choices week in, week out.
Finally, particularly, against the better teams, can we play 4-3-3 when Lo Celso's fit, please?
27 games in all comps and no goals this season probably has something to do with it. Severely lacking confidence, unfortunately. He’s at the bottom of the pecking order right now in quite a stacked position. Not looking great for him but he has time on his side.
Pass map time
Now, if you compare it to the pass map from the Burnley match, you very quickly notice three differences
i.) Davies is receiving the ball a lot deeper against Fulham than Reguilon was against Burnley, as Davies is level with Toby while Reguilon was level with Ndombele
ii.) Our central midfield is flatter, with Hojbjerg and Ndombele playing alongside one another, while against Burnley Hojbjerg was sat deeper while Ndombele was pushed further up
iii.) Kane was playing as the focal point of the attack with Dele behind him, while against Burnley he was playing in the AM spot while Lucas was furthest forward
Now these differences can be pinned on two very different things
Davies' positioning is because we went back to our system of last season where the RB had the free role (although the ball didn't vanish into the Bermuda Triangle, and that goes for Doherty too since he's getting the Lightning Rod treatment...) whereas against Burnley we had two FBs getting forward, but the obvious issue is that Davies was too static, as he usually pushed up to be level with midfield to bring them into the game yet here he's almost a third CB. Similar can be said for the differences between Dele and Lucas, as Dele was used as a more traditional AM which meant Kane stayed up top, while when Lucas plays Harry drops deeper to bring him into the game
On the other hand, central midfield is playing more conservatively due to Fulham's tactical switch in the second half putting us on the back foot, which we further obliged by going back to the old habit of playing one half of football and one half only, which pushed back Ndombele while also pulling Hojbjerg forward to try and head off attacks
There is something else to note compared to the Burnley game, too: once again we can see Hugo is finding Harry with his clearances with reasonable enough frequency that it shows up on these - which helps, since Toby has long been the usual source of balls over the top to the front line, but looking at the pass map all of his passes are sideways to Sanchez or Davies
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Now, if you compare it to the pass map from the Burnley match, you very quickly notice three differences
i.) Davies is receiving the ball a lot deeper against Fulham than Reguilon was against Burnley, as Davies is level with Toby while Reguilon was level with Ndombele
ii.) Our central midfield is flatter, with Hojbjerg and Ndombele playing alongside one another, while against Burnley Hojbjerg was sat deeper while Ndombele was pushed further up
iii.) Kane was playing as the focal point of the attack with Dele behind him, while against Burnley he was playing in the AM spot while Lucas was furthest forward
Now these differences can be pinned on two very different things
Davies' positioning is because we went back to our system of last season where the RB had the free role (although the ball didn't vanish into the Bermuda Triangle, and that goes for Doherty too since he's getting the Lightning Rod treatment...) whereas against Burnley we had two FBs getting forward, but the obvious issue is that Davies was too static, as he usually pushed up to be level with midfield to bring them into the game yet here he's almost a third CB. Similar can be said for the differences between Dele and Lucas, as Dele was used as a more traditional AM which meant Kane stayed up top, while when Lucas plays Harry drops deeper to bring him into the game
On the other hand, central midfield is playing more conservatively due to Fulham's tactical switch in the second half putting us on the back foot, which we further obliged by going back to the old habit of playing one half of football and one half only, which pushed back Ndombele while also pulling Hojbjerg forward to try and head off attacks
There is something else to note compared to the Burnley game, too: once again we can see Hugo is finding Harry with his clearances with reasonable enough frequency that it shows up on these - which helps, since Toby has long been the usual source of balls over the top to the front line, but looking at the pass map all of his passes are sideways to Sanchez or Davies
