The worry last night was how clueless we looked in the final third. Loads of sideways passing and players taking an extra touch, choosing the wrong option etc. For all our dominance, Fabianski didn't have an awful lot to do. Made some solid but fairly routine saves and that was about it. We've always struggled against bus parking teams but without Kane to conjure a goal out of nothing, we need to be much smarter. I felt like we were trying to score the 'perfect' goal - all that intricate passing and little flicks, it's as if we want to walk the ball into the net and draw comparisons with peak Barcelona, but we don't have players of the calibre of Messi, David Villa, Iniesta and Xavi. What we do have are a few players whose long range shooting is of a high standard (Son, Porro and Kulu), and our priority should have been to work positions from which they could get a sight of goal and let fly. From memory, only Porro looked interested in trying this approach and tbh overall I'd say he was our best player. Ange has said at times we look scared of scoring and I make him right. We don't have a single coldblooded ruthless goal machine - Son isn't it and never will be.
All managers tend to have their favoured way of playing and use that with tactical tweaks. Loosing your best players will always cause problems if it didn't you would have to question why we signed them in the first place. City with all their riches of squad depth clearly miss DeBruyne. We as we all know have lost the core of our team from back to front. No one system of playing has EVER been the only way to play. The league you play in is completely irrelevant to the system you use, What changes is the quality of the players and their ability to work with a ball. Ange has said it will take time to embed his methods. Methods that he has used for many many years and methods he knows work for him. Did you notice Mourinho or Conte change their methods at Spurs. They just complained about the quality of their available players. I think it's interesting that Spurs are the birthplace of 'push and run' football which lead to 'total football' developed by the 70's Dutch team. Ange is a manager very much in this tradition and there is no reason why he cannot win with this tried and tested method. Happily it is a much better watch than turgid defence based styles. I am very pleased indeed to see this football back at Spurs, a style that is in it's DNA and the reason many of us became Spurs fans in the first place. We have imported so much from the USA and most of it is crap IMO, included is the ethic that winning is the only thing. Utter bollocks, if that is the case then most games are not worth playing because most people are not winning. I would much prefer to see Ange and his team win or lose. Conte HAS to win because he does not offer entertainment IMO. March 1976 saw 14000 people turn up to watch Arsenal unbeaten in their last 5 games but with only 4 goals scored. Boring Boring Arsenal became the chant. hated that then and hate it now. Long may Ange reign he understands what football is for.
Porro was class last night, mate, as he has been all season, going under the radar for some reason but probably been our best and most consistent player. Not shown any signs of fatigue or anything just yet. Would’ve had a second assist in the game to his name if that useless pigeon done his job too. I’ve probably jinxed the poor bloke now though, expect a muscle injury against Newcastle
He says some good stuff here, glad to hear him say that results are important ———————————- Ange Postecoglou How To Turn Things Around: ️“There's no point in feeling sorry for ourselves, looking for a cuddle anywhere.” ️”There's only one way to change our circumstances and that is to come here on Sunday and put in a performance, not just play good football but go out there and show some conviction about ourselves as a team.” ️”Sometimes we can disguise how we're going by playing some nice stuff but like I said from day one, that's not what I'm about. I want to win and that's why I came to this football club and that's the message.” ️”We've still got a long way to go, I've said that from the start, we're still right at the beginning of what we need to create and days like today just give me further evidence and fuel of how much we need to do.”
What sets Richarlison apart is that we knew this would happen. Other players we've signed were either by a manager who wanted a very different role for the position (e.g. Royal), or we had relatively high hopes but it didn't work out (Doherty, Lo Celso, Ndombele). I don't know a single Spurs fan who was excited about the Richarlison signing - certainly not for the astronomical amount we paid. I really don't know who pushed for the signing - there are rumours it was Conte but lately there have been stronger whispers it was actually Levy doing his typical piss poor impression of someone who understands football. Apparently he wanted a 'marquee' signing to underline the club's ambition, Everton were desperate to sell a player everyone has heard of, Levy forgot that he knows a lot more about capital investment than football, and the rest is history.
I would guess ypu won't see any "tweaks" until Postecoglu has the system totally ingrained in the whole of the squad only then will he take time out to train them in various variations which may be used against certain types of teams. That would mean the it is next season .at the earliest imo
I personally won't get at all worried or concerned until I see us dropping defeats like we regularly did under Nuno, Jose and Conte. You know, the ones where we were completely outplayed, barely mustered a shot on goal and lost 3-0.
So despite the fact that Richarlison is on record that Conte persuaded him to sign, it's Levy's fault. Arneson and Commoli both also have said that Levy always follows the football staff advice on signings. Show me a single bit of evidence that Levy has ever behaved as you suggest. However, as I've said before, there is very little evidence that any club or person has an edge in signing expensive players, as about half seem to fail. That being the case, you ought to be able to give yourself a better chance of getting value for money by buying from a club in financial difficulties and driving a hard bargain. So I can see why we were tempted.
I'm happy that Ange has said what he has, but last night raised some real issues. We played some good stuff in the first half, but looked toothless in the final third and very ponderous in midfield. 2nd half was disastrous. Lack of energy, forwards were static making (particularly lo Celso's) task even more difficult. Passing was slow, sideways or back and arguably it was the weakness in MF that exposed the defence for both goals. Biss needs to seriously up his game, because he's way below an acceptable level. God knows why he started Hojbjerg for this game, but swapping lo Celso for Skipp was madness when creativity was needed. All the forwards were out of ideas. I'm pretty sure Sonny was injured early on which negated his threat, but Kulu and Johnson were just dreadful. Sarr actually improved things and Gil looked lively, but all far too late. Lots of lessons to learn and thankfully I think things will improve. Ange wants an improvement on Sunday. He's not the only one!
This is the issue our midfield has had not just post-Chelsea, but off and on for a good five years at this point Our midfield is often lacking in any form of press resistance, so the slightest pressure sees our midfield turn over possession with sloppy passes or just retreat into passing it backwards even if we're chasing a goal - with (depending on who you ask) two or three obvious exceptions i.) Bentancur ii.) Maddison iii*.) Bissouma Bentancur and Maddison can negate a press with a simple pass or flick that releases a player who the press were not targeting, while Bissouma is capable of driving through the press while retaining the ball (albeit his passing doesn't necessarily relieve pressure once he does so), and this is the problem from the recent run of games: Maddison got taken out against Chelsea, Bentancur got taken out by Twatty Cash and you could see the dropoff in passing unfold in real time, and Bissouma's been having a few bad days at the office lately
Spurly and Brian might be hiding behind a curtain But in general the vast majority of the fanbase knew it was a move destined to fail and I think that’s what’s make it feels so much worse. Pound for pound he’s the worst signing in our history and this is a club who spent £55m on a fat, lazy prick. We all had 5 years of seeing Richarlison in the Premier League to know he was nothing special and so upon his arrival for the money paid it left us with a feeling of we’d just “Maguire’d” ourselves. As for who wanted him, I’ve mentioned this in the past. Initial reports suggested it was a Conte demand but more and more have said it was Levy thinking he was pulling off some blinding deal, Everton’s recent moans about us exploiting them would point towards Levy thinking he was “Levying” them too, when in fact it was us being royally “Levy’d”. It’s set us back so much as well because £60m is the type of money you’d expect on a first XI signing that’d instantly improve the team, instead it’s made our squad worse and we’re stuck with a dud who’s not only taking up a place in the squad but preventing promising younger players from getting chances - though that is on Conte and Ange for not having the balls to play youth.
oh you're pushing it with "Evertons recent moans" by which you mean their desperate attempts to cook their books to avoid FFP punishments
I have only one point of disagreement with your post, Spurf: there should not be an apostrophe in "its" ["its DNA"]!!!!!! (Once an English teacher, always a bloody......]
Best bit about the deal is Everton probably had the genuine belief (delusion) Richarlison was worth £80m+. Made funnier that Levy probably did too, hence why he thought getting him for £60m was good business as he’d “saved” £20m, when in reality he’d overspent by a good £40m .
Couldn't agree more. We have had chances to win every single game this season, only to lose some by a strange combination of factors. We have played a lot better than the opponents for long periods of most games. I still think we will be very good when everyone is fit.
At least one team finding a weirder way to concede than we have.... Penalty given as defender handles ball while high-fiving keeper - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/67659554
I didn't post last night because the kick-off time meant that I got home rather late. I was pissed off with the result and the stupid way that it came about, but not the performance. I think that it's a learning curve for Postecoglou and the upcoming transfer window. The injury/suspension crisis has exposed the weaknesses in our squad. Most of us already knew what a lot of them were, but now the manager does, too. Some were obvious and others came via adapting to this system. We didn't replace Kane and it's incredibly apparent against low-block teams. Son's fine in the role when there's space in behind and he can exploit it. He struggles far more when trying to break down stubborn defences. Bissouma and Hojbjerg in the same midfield has it's place against some teams. The same principle applies as with Son playing as a striker. They don't have the creativity to unlock this packed defences.
