All of what you’ve just said came from passes that come from out wide… it’s all we do: Keep possession in the middle, play a pass out wide and then cross. Where’s the long shots? Where’s the balls over the top? Where’s the through balls? Where’s the individual ability/ freedom to take a player on?
Baffles me when I see some of you say it was an exciting game and Spurs created a lot of clear chances.
The passes for the Son, Bentancur and Solanke chances were all through balls. Son took his defender on several times. We had our second best goals scored for decades last season...and created loads of chances last night. Our issues are much more to do with calmness in front of goal than lack of creativity.
They had two instances of a player through on goal. We had two very good chances plus a goal and lots of near things.
My problem with Sonny - and to fair I have been proved wrong with him before - is that he is clearly not as sharp as he was. Yesterday there were two very obvious cases in point. 1. The (great) floated free kick by Maddison in the 1st half that Johnson smashed back across the face of the goal. Sonny was slow to get in position at the far stick - the only place that the ball was likely to go for a tap-in. 2. In the 2nd half when he was on his heels to a through ball (again from Maddison I think) that he should have reached but was gathered relatively comfortably by the keeper. He is getting older, but both of those were issues of speedness of thought as much as pace.
I still don't think it's sharpness or pace - at least not yet - that's the issue with Son, I think last night was just one of those games that he's had many times since he signed for us, we've always known he can blow extremely cold and for me that was one of them. Overall I don't think the system always plays to his strengths but such is his quality he still had a very positive season last year. I believe he tends to be at his best running off the shoulder of the striker and also getting onto through balls with space in behind. Where our system is so heavily reliant on the extremely high press now along with the fact that in possession Udogie can at times be further ahead or in line with Son, I feel like we congest his area a bit too much and in return we don't get to see the balls played into his path for him to then do his usual magic because it's so focused on short passing that there's never an outlet for him to run on into.
I think it would help if Udogie overlapped a bit as well as underlapped. He’s such a powerful and threatening runner in those inside left channels but having him go outside sometimes will help Sonny be less predictable. I know some people are slating Johnson after last night but I do think him and Porro have a great understanding on the pitch, which makes the left side dominance of some of our play even more annoying. We should be getting the ball into those areas so the two of them can combine with a midfielder, then looking for the quick switches to get Sonny into those spaces where he is most dangerous. Adding more of that into our final 3rd play would help.
I think the right flank looks good solely because of Porro to be honest, more so than any relationship he has with any particular player. His defending is and likely always will be suspect just like Trent's but his technical ability and forward play really is of such a high calibre. I think Johnson's getting rightly slated because he really was abysmal. I tend to like reading reviews elsewhere just to see if I've either been too harsh or not and many journo's had him down for a 4 or 5/10 last night which I personally think is probably generous. He's got the pace and technical ability but we don't see it anywhere near enough. He shouldn't have started over Kulu as it was and he didn't justify it whatsoever. We know little to nothing about Odobert but if he's got the confidence to attack the wing when given chances then I think Johnson's in serious danger if he doesn't sort himself out.
Negatives Johnson was poor...should have been subbed at ht IMHO. Maddison was too inconsistent throughout Son was pretty meh and should have been subbed earlier. Werner...didn't improve us at all. Our finishing and choices in final third were really poor. Completely fell apart after they scored. Porro and Bentencur getting injured Positives The first 55 mins (bar the finishing) VDV, Bentencur, Vicario, and Porro were very good. Moore and Bergvail (sp?) as subs improved us. It was really good to see younger players finally getting a real chance ... hopefully Ange continues to use young prospects. We didn't lose ... last season I think we would have...and last time we played at their place they slaughtered us 4-1. We are a long way from challenging the top 3 so for me the real test of our progress is going to be how we do in the cups. Personally think we've improved the depth of the squad but not signed anyone who improves the first team so don't see the trophy drought ending soon.
Agree with pretty much all that, only thing I'd change is I think Maddison could've been seen as a positive, filtered out towards the end but a nice assist and made a few decent passes too. It was Gray and not Moore by the way - I wish we'd seen Moore but seems Ange wants to ensure we all remember how ****e Werner is.
Nah even I'm not stubborn enough to pretend that he wasn't atrocious. But I don't think it helps that Ange's approach to 'tactical substitutions' to change a game appears to just be chucking a load of players on almost at once at hoping for the best. We saw it umpteen times last season ans again last night. It is symptomatic of leaving subs too late, by which point the game has totally gone and it is no longer at all clear who or how can get it back again.
I also think Moore and Lankshear are playing in the U21 cup game tonight so were held back for that. Hoping we see them in the squad more going forwards, particularly for EL games.
It was more a generalised view on Werner than his performance, lol. Still baffles me why we brought him back for a second loan, one of the most unnecessary signings in yonks, it's annoying he's guaranteed to be taking a squad place this season. As for Ange, he's shown a lot of naivety which I think deep down a lot had semi-predicted when he first took over, even if there was a huge degree of excitement that we were getting a manager both likeable and with the intent to play attacking football. It's his first job in a major league so there was bound to be teething problems with tactics/ management but what sort of concerns me is the seemingly continued naivety, last night suggested to me that nothing's changed from last season despite his words before the season about being more ready and prepared. The defensive shape is still poor, the tactics are easy to read and the game management is again questionable. We'll see how the season goes along, there's gonna be a lot more scrutiny this time around, I really hope he pulls through as he's a guy you wanna get behind but ultimately whether you're a nice guy or a dick, fans only care about the football and results.
We were definitely doing our best work down the left in the first half, but the right was involved as well. Johnson had one saved well by the keeper, hit that ball across the box that someone should've put in and won a bunch of corners. Sarr got up and down the pitch well and offered width, but he was never going to be as creative as Maddison. The problem was that after the break Postecoglou tried to even it up by pushing Maddison into the middle. It destroyed our balance, opened up their escape channels and let them back into the game. We had them utterly neutralised, we were ahead and he changed the system. Ludicrous. If he was unhappy at what the right wing was contributing, then he should've given them 10 minutes, then made subs. Replace Sarr with either Bergvall or Kulusevski. Johnson for Werner or the ginger would've done, too. We isolated Son and Ugodie by removing the player that was linking them up, instead. There was no defending to be done on that flank in the first half, as they couldn't get out of theirs.
That’s where Bergvall will threaten Sarr’s starting spot IMO. Pape is a great ‘connector’ in the buildup and middle third and covers a lot of ground defensively. But he doesn’t impact the final 3rd enough so they’re a natural imbalance. He needs to work on his offensive positioning and comfort on the ball in tight spaces around the opposition box. If Bergvall can work on his fitness and replicate some of Sarr’s out of possession work, as well as have an impact in and around the box, then that spot will be his sooner rather than later IMO.
Footage of the Bentancur head injury, for anyone that wants to see what actually happened: Just nowhere near the ****ing ball. I thought that Fatuwa got away with murder in the first half, too. Also clearly dived in the second, trying to win a penalty.
Another huge problem was Udogie tiring as the second half went on, to the point that by the hour mark he was all over the place. Forgiveable, given that was his first proper game in almost five months. Less forgiveable is that we don't have a like for like replacement on the bench. If we don't intend to use Davies when he's needed, we need to sign a new LB.
