This 100% Which brings us back to why the **** Nketiah didn't get a red card last week. It wasn't the raised leading right leg, studs up challenge that fortunately just missed Vic's leg, it was the other reckless contact that he got a yellow card for. Did he intend to injure the keeper? Probably not, but it was only a matter of luck and a few inches that prevented serious injury. Another bad decision by an official who doesn't appear to know a very important rule of the game.
This is exactly it. There were numerous mistakes on the weekend, but only one game is being discussed. Liverpool face Brighton next, who conceded two goals that shouldn't have counted. Good luck to the Seagulls on getting a decision.
I think it was definitely shaping up to be an interesting game. It’s a good matchup - Liverpool press well and have a number of very good players, whereas we tend to do better when teams come to press us as we rely on our buildup shape and strong ball carriers to play the ball forward. I was surprised at Richy being so effective on the left. Relatively so, anyway. It wasn’t such a surprise that we struggled more as you went down to 10 (Salah staying high 1v1 as a threat always concerns me but we have good players to combat that right now) and especially when you want down to 9 and played the 3 CBs. We’re still in early days of Angeball but the next evolution needs to be finding a way to break down teams who sit deep and don’t press. Obviously Liverpool usually wouldn’t do that but this was an unusual game. And we saw it took us until very late against Sheffield United. We lost a lot of momentum as the game went on and didn’t keep moving the ball quickly. It’s almost like without the threat of being pressed the players just slowed down a bit. Our squad depth midfielders aren’t particularly creative so having to take Maddison and Sonny off meant we couldn’t use Kulu as an 8 (as we did against Sheffield) and breaking down a low block with 3 quality CBs when your midfielders are Hojbjerg and Skipp is going to be a trial. Hopefully it improves if we can use GLC and Bentancur later in the season but it’s what we need to see next.
Part of the issue is Ange's backup plan is unworkable at present, what with Perisic out until March/April and Bryan still a few weeks from being signed off to play (and Harvey White sold in the summer) so we don't really have anyone who can reliably rain crosses into the area as his backup plan requires
Yeah I think a bit of a perfect storm with 3 wingers out of action and 2 midfielders who are more forward-thinking and capable than Skipp or Hojbjerg. Maybe available players will help fix it but it’s also a more general issue about pace of play from the back to the front.
We needed to get the fullbacks out wide more and get in behind or cross the ball. The goal came when we finally did that, rather than having everyone in the middle. I was sure that Klopp was going to bring on Nunez when Salah went off. His pace and strength would've given us issues on the break, even with 9 men. Going to 5-3-0 or whatever it was definitely worked, but I was relieved not to see Andy Carroll II.
seems rather strange thing to do as cannot see any reason to overturn (even though that type of incident isn't always given) and runs risk of an extra game for frivolous appeal
I'm not sure that they do frivolous appeal bans any more, though it's still on the books. Can't remember the last time that I saw it applied. I do remember Sunderland getting one by accidentally appealing the length of the ban, though!
He got the ball but his knee landed on the Liverpool player’s leg on the follow through. At the time I didn’t think it was a foul and suspected the ref thought it was time for spurs to get a yellow card for some balance as the yellows and reds were all for Liverpool!
seem lots of rules that they don't bother applying . last season i pointed out that most free kicks should lead to a booking and people said just stopping a "quick" free kick was no longer an offence just kicking the ball away . I gently pointed out that just because it wasn't being enforced didn't mean the instructions were still there in black and white - bit like shoplifting being illegal
I think the next steps for Angeball evolution is the first XI gelling further and the younger guys continuing to progress more towards their potential and then more importantly improving the squad, I think all Spurs fans acknowledge our squad depth quality is a real problem. We've got a good/ promising first XI thanks to a mix of top drawer talent and hungry high potential young players, more so when Bentancur is back but beyond that the quality drops significantly and when we're looking at players who can come on and change a game or help break a stubborn team down, the only one we really have (or had!) is now out for 5+ months, which is just typical of our luck. Gil could very well be one under Ange but until he's fully fit and being given chances we can't bank on it like we did with Perisic. Guys like Davies, Skipp and Hojbjerg are the solid pros and consistent 6/10 players who'll always do a job for us but they'll never really be a game changer off the bench. Guys like Dier, Sessegnon, Emerson, Lo Celso and Richarlison are who need to make way in order for us to start improving the depth at the club, if we can begin getting just one or two out, along with possibly big(ish) money for Hojbjerg and replace them in January whilst avoiding any key injuries to the first XI, then I'm hopeful we can have a strong end to the season assuming we build on this promising start. It's nice to feel optimistic again though, especially at the prospect of enjoyable football too.
As the laws stand, I think you (and others) are probably right. But it's harsh because it looked (in real time) like two players just stretching for a 50/50 loose ball. Nobody wants to see players injured, but equally we don't want to see the physical and competitive elements of the game eliminated either. A bad tackle or challenge is often a fraction of a second away from being a good tackle.
