Everton have now been hauled in this match round. Next target is Chelsky (though that will not be easy given it means winning the game in hand away at Villa) .
They clearly need a Plan B. No offence to the bloke, but he's not Guardiola, MK Dons aren't City and I criticise them for not having a Plan B, so he should expect it, too. The Bald Fraud can get away with it, to some extent, as he can just keep chucking £50m players at the problem. Martin doesn't have that luxury, won't be given as much patience and doesn't have enormous resources to fall back on. Sometimes "trying to pass it into the net" doesn't work and you need to do something else. Having an overall style of play and a commitment to entertaining, attacking football is admirable. I'd much rather have that than a pragmatic, defensive, dour manager, a la Allardyce. There's a reason why people keep hiring the bloke, though. Horses for courses. Sometimes you can't pick the lock and you just have to boot the bloody door in.
Yeah but if we win it, just think... "First Europa Conference Pear League Champions, you'll never sing that!". Ballin'
And Mourinho will go round telling everyone who'll listen that before he came, Spurs had never won the Europa League Conference Pear.
please log in to view this image That's a lot of pears. Bit too vertical for a fruit bowl, though. Stick some flowers in it.
I just think we've left ourselves too much to do. All those stupid bloody dropped points. If we didn't have EL to contend with, I'd be more hopeful but...I think United and Leicester are just out of reach, while Chelsea are on a formidable run - unbeaten in 9 and just 2 goals conceded. Add to that we'd need West Ham, Everton, Liverpool and Villa to all either equal or fall short of our points haul in the run-in...it's a really tall order.
You haven't seen the Pear Trophy, have you mate? Europa League II final is played in Chernobyl, so the pear they present is the size of a basketball.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's right, but I do have to admire a young manager sticking to his principles even when he's getting heat from the press. That philosophy reminds me of Wenger in some ways . At least he knows what he wants to do, though. I thought it was interesting that he brought up City as an example that playing the same way can get you wins, despite a few minor setbacks. Firstly, as you say, he doesn't have the embarrassment of riches that City do. Secondly, as he even said himself, that was City's 1st loss in 22 games. They're still 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League. MK Dons have lost 3 and drew 1 of their last 4 and are currently in 15th. Thirdly, whilst City will win more often than not due to their immense quality, when Pep does slip up, it's usually in the same way each and every time. Teams that are capable of defending resolutely, maintaining a good shape, and can transition with speed and precision will always cause issues for them. They're not good at recovering the ball fast or counter pressing against good sides who employ these tactics, which is partially why United beat them so easily. And it's precisely why I think you've got a decent chance of beating them in the final. You know exactly how Pep will play and he doesn't have a target man in his squad to alter his strategy if his initial idea doesn't go to plan.
Already said that. We are now in the position of Goons 2018-19, without the guarantee of a PL top 6 finish. Still, the football Spurs play might actually be enjoyable on a weekly basis for the rest of the season.
Spurs, City and you lot let Llorente, Dzeko and Giroud leave without similar replacements and they all lost a dimension. Directness has it's place.
No system is perfect, nor comes up and running on day 1. Look at Barca and the "tika taka" . How many years from the first visions of Cryuff et al, to the fully formed nigh unstoppable beast ??
For this to work consistently, you need high-quality players in every position that are capable of executing. MK Dons will never get that. Doesn’t hurt to have more variety in your squad if a possession-based approach isn’t bearing fruit. Even with Barca, there were games where they could have done with a target man e.g. second leg CL semi-final against Inter Milan in 2010, both legs against Chelsea in 2012.
I'm not sure it is, honestly. It doesn't help, but Guardiola goes all Pochettino when it comes to these games. He'll progress through the group easily and then he overthinks things and starts changing things for no reason. They played a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 all through the season, then meet Lyon and go to a back three with Fernandinho in the defence. Knocked out Real Madrid fairly comfortably, but Lyon needs a tactical switch? What?
