I think we are where pochettino was in 2014-15 season...the basis of a decent team ... some decent young players ... some good performances and a lot of inconsistent moments. Today we got a bit lucky but tbh we were very unlucky v Leicester, Toon and Arsenal...so I'll take that. I'm expecting more disappointments and more great games just like in 2014-15
Funnily enough, there weren't all that many 'great' games in 14/15. Aside from the 5-3 against Chelsea which was incredible, only the NLD at home springs to mind. We were too good against the weaker sides but lost to almost all the stronger teams, often heavily. We also won very few games by more than a single goal. I personally think we're closer to the Spurs 15/16 side, albeit in a much harder league due to the fact that all the big clubs were crap that season.
I'm quite happy with that, considering the circumstances. Ridiculous mistake from Dragusin, but the players recovered well, got on with it and got the result. Somehow kept a clean sheet too, despite having a few dodgy moments. The ref was one Willy Delajod, a French real estate agent, which explains why he was such a massive ****. He's part of Clement "Dick" Turpin's team quite often, I think. Proper Vardy penalty decision: Solanke's supposedly not 100% yet but he seems to be getting his confidence at fitness up. Holding the ball up well and both creating and taking chances, but ran out of steam. It's a real shame that we don't have another fit striker to rotate with him right now.
Gurban Gurbanov sounds like a **** Bond villain that gets killed in the prologue. please log in to view this image Not doing a lot to dispel that notion in that picture, either.
Certainly a calmer 2nd half, which was needed after watching 11 headless chickens in the first. Agree with PNP, given the circumstances, it was a very good result. After 8 mins I thought we were going to see a scoreline akin to the Chelsea game, and against PL opposition, I’m sure we would have. The gulf in quality was massive (even with our brain fart moments), and Qarabag only have themselves to blame for not taking their chances. - 2 or 3 absolute sitters, including the terrible penalty, which has almost reached Mars. Whilst Dragusin’s mistake was dreadful, I feel we need to work out how we give him more game time to prevent this situation of throwing him in. Players need minutes, and he’s one of the more senior ones (in a young squad), and we need to also ensure the Romero and VDV aren’t over used. This style of play is relentless. On the flip side, if Dragusin isn’t rated by the manager, then we need to use someone who is. If we’re saying that Ange’s style is stubborn and he won’t change, he’s going to seriously need to focus on an effective rotation plan, as well as his use of subs (which can be baffling) to get the most out of the squad, our general performances, and our subsequent results.
I've only seen the highlights, another day we could have lost this 3-5 or more , disappointed that Moore or Lankshear couldn't get some game time in front of Werner
Great result, and a strange match where the players in the main did ok, of the 10 who played the majority of the game, Vicario, Gray, VdV, Davies, Udogie, Bissouma and Solanke all performed well. The first 2 particularly well and I hope that Vic in particular takes some confidence from the game which was certainly his best for a while. After being critical of him in the first half Sarr gave us more in the 2nd half and Kulu gave us more control than Johnson who did take his goal well. For the neutral I expect it was good to watch, but it was a game that we allowed them to be in from minute 1 and as others have said better sides would have punished us for the chances we allowed them, but that is going to be the story under Ange and I can see the European journey being quite bumpy with some high scoring games along the way. Dragusin was stupid, and this is the tournament where I was expecting him to get his time and now he will miss another game he should have been playing in. All in all delighted with the result, but the score flattered us, but having said that we have played better this season and lost!
Davies should be tbh. Vicario is certainly enthusiastic, but he needs to learn to control himself at times - both as a player and as a potential leader. Maybe Ange thinks this new responsibility will assist that process.
Werner was anonymous when he came on. In fact, his only 'contribution' was to get in the way of a good break down the left that could have released Moore.
I'd normally agree, but he's just back from injury and I'd rather we not risk it just yet. Maybe in the next one?
It was said by one or two journos that Ange wanted a new culture at the club. Davies, along with Lloris, Kane, Son, Dier and Hojbjerg were part of the old leadership regime and Ange felt we needed a new direction. I think it was a bold decision and to be honest I quite liked it. It definitely showed his thought process of wanting to largely move away from any old habits. I guess part of the reasoning too is that he probably expected Davies to have left by now as well just as the others did.
Agree with this in principle, but Dragusin is getting the Carabao cup games and Europa league games. I don’t think any of us would want him starting premier league games if Romero and Micky are both fit and available. So I think this is the best Ange can do right now unless he were to switch to 3 at the back which I can’t see him doing. I’m sure he will get his chance in the premier league as it’s likely there will be a period where there are injuries and he needs to come in.
Should’ve played with the 21s then though the other night. As should Moore have done really. We’re practically doing what we did with KWP by taking them out of youth football yet barely playing them at senior. Not sure how we expect them to develop.
I think the plan to give them some minutes went out the window with the red card, unfortunately. The Europa squad is a mess though, due to the lack of club grown players.
Something that’s really impressing me of late is Johnson’s finishing. It’s very, very clean. Seems to know how to pick a spot, Son and Kane would be proud of some of his goals. If he could improve the ability to be more involved in the game, because after his goal we barely saw him, he could definitely become a very good player. Has the speed and stamina, just seemingly needs the bravery to utilise it more along with his finishing. Could have a future as a CF, plays there for Wales a bit IIRC.
Moore wasn’t utilised in the Coventry game either though. If his thought process is giving them sub-ten mins in sporadic games only when we’re comfortably winning, I think they’re better off playing the full 90s with the 21s and then finding them a loan in January. Other managers are seemingly having little to no issues throwing academy players into XIs or giving substantial minutes. Ours almost seems allergic.
I think it's too early to judge, along with Lankshear's injury, but if Richarlison can get fit then the signs aren't good. Our loans aren't generally getting a lot of time either though, apart from the senior players, so the whole thing's a mess.
please log in to view this image Made a couple of really good saves and the tackle and pass that he made at the end of the first half were excellent. Rescued what could easily have been another red card after dawdling by a defender.
