I’m not too surprised we lost. Still gutted but it is what it is. We made a decent fist of it all things considered and might have had more of a chance if Bentancur hadn’t been kicked off the pitch. Villa have been talked up a lot and while I believe they were missing a few players too I don’t think they’re all that. Plenty of good players and a canny manager though. Still managed to create lots of chances but losing both CBs at the same time is what’s killed our momentum. Romero coming back soon will help. The City game will be damage limitation but after that I hope we can get back into our stride and tighten up at the back.
Think you are being way too harsh. It’s all hypothetical, but I don’t believe that playing those players would have made any difference.
Don’t want to dwell on it too much either because if we take our chances we win that game regardless. But the ref was not good again today. Cash a lucky boy to be on the pitch and the elbow on Gil not being given as a pen was ridiculous.
Aim for the Europa league I'd say that's a reasonable expectation. You can't be too unhappy with things given last season.
We don’t know either way but what we do know is that Emerson and Davies aren’t CBs and Skipp isn’t someone who’ll change a game at 2-1 down. The fact we’re so ravaged by injuries and still won’t give our star youth players chances is sending out a really poor message.
I'm not so concerned. We saw enough in the opening half an hour against one of the in form teams in the league to qualm any major concerns. City could get messy but after that 3 of our next 4 games are at home. With Romero back (I hope the little **** is watching on from the sidelines at what his recklessness has done and finally learns his lesson) and hopefully the latest Bentancur injury not too bad, I'm confident we'll get a win against West Ham to get things going again. The last two games have been real punches to the stomach in how they've played out but the total collapse many were predicting after Chelsea hasn't come close to materialising. I'm quietly optimistic.
Fair point, but on the flip side if we had played those players and get a real drubbing he would have been criticised as well. I’m very much going to defend Ange’s tactics 100%, as that first half, given all the players missing, was a fantastic watch and we should have been ahead at the break. That goal just before half time completely changed the game (and the Bentancur injury).
I’m not at all. You are ahead of us, as you are managing the injuries you have had better. You have had more time to build the squad and how you can still play missing key players and still get results. If we were to get Europa league that would be a step forward. Plus we play good football now which makes losses easier to take
One obvious difference in our play pre- and post-clattering was Bentancur was passing the ball to both flanks, so Johnson was as likely to receive the ball as Gil - but Hojbjerg seemed to pass to Gil and only Gil, making us more predictable going forward Not sure if this is due to three years of muscle memory telling Hojbjerg to get the ball out to Sonny or if it's down to how Hojbjerg seems to pass in the direction he's facing when he receives the ball instead of looking to create space and options for himself, but it does underline that Hojbjerg is a player for shutting up shop first and foremost
Bentancur’s injury was the sucker punch, no doubt about that. But I don’t think he would’ve got criticism for starting youth, because fans are always on the side of giving youth a chance, especially ones who fans are really excited about. We’re top of the PL2 at the moment with the reigning PL2 POTM and not a single player has been given a minute of 1st team action. Instead we’ve persisted with a few faces who, by and large, regularly let us down. He essentially even went against his own mantra today because bringing on a DM at 2-1 down definitely isn’t the whole “all out entertaining attack” he generally stands by.
You always make a good argument DH but I think we still need to keep the senior guys that we have motivated. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one! At least we have an easy 3 points next match…
As harsh as it sounds - **** them. Emerson is a horrific footballer, Davies is a mediocre steady-Eddie who should be backup LB and nothing else and Skipp for all his graft is never gonna change a football match from a losing position. If all three put in a transfer request I don’t think any Spurs fan would feel a thing to be honest. Next week’s a write-off, I said before the season I think Ange’s style will get gubbed by City, even more so now with half a team, lol.
Have to say I was very disappointed in Son today. In patches like this you need your captain and one of your most talented players to step up and inspire the rest of the team. But he fluctuated between being anonymous and more of a hindrance than a help in the final third. I feel that he is far too reliant on other players creating chances for him, we just didn't notice it because he had Kane next to him for so many years and then seamlessly replaced that service with Maddison. Both Johnson and Kulu look better at creating opportunities out of pittance, which surprises me.
One thing I wonder is if Yago Santiago getting a knock 2-3 weeks ago also played a part in the last couple of team selections While he has played mainly as a LW and occasional CF this season, given his passing and pressing he'd surely have been a bench option to cover for the progressive midfield role today
In a match in which we missed 4 or 5 (at least) sitters, had 3 goals disallowed, lost our main creative MF after 25 minutes and were denied a penalty, I'm not sure we should be targeting our two makeshift CB's for the defeat. Skipp for Gil was a poor decision, particularly as the other attacking players were running on empty and Sonny was anonymous all game. Some of our play in the first half was really good, but too often the wrong option at the end was taken - be it pass or shot. Disappointing to lose a game we should have won, but this season is a learner / builder, so take the defeat and move on.
