Was at the lane yesterday and a few things stood out... Firstly, I was sitting sitting high up in the upper tier by the corner flag in the East stand near paxton...from there you could see how little we closed down southampton, how few men we had pushing forward to pressure their defenders and how high our back line was throughout the first half an hour. Secondly, in the second half it was completely different...we had four front players putting pressure on their defenders and our defenders drop back a bit. Thirdly, it was very noticeable that sherwood made made a sub at half time (siggy for the very ineffective dembele) when previously he waited until around 70 mins before changing things. Finally it was noticeable how much of a lead that Kaboul was being on the pitch and he was also getting the crowd to make more noise. I wonder if tims self imposed exile away from the touchline at the beginning of matches is beginning to pay of in terms of him seeing things tactically that he wasn't before...I am not confident about Sundays trip to Anfield but it will be interesting to see how he measures upto that challenge. Oh and I am very impressed with how the fans didn't turn on the players during a very poor first half hour...stuck by naughton and continue to get behind soldado. Yesterday seemed a big step forward to me and shows that we do have potential for next season.
Agree with most of this RCL - the difference in the two halves was dramatic so Timbo must take some credit. And unless he was injured, taking Dembele off was also a brave move. He was very poor again, but it's never easy to replace a senior player at half time. Will be interesting to see whether there is a reaction from Moussa: hopefully a positive one. Mind you, 'Naughton' 'Potential' and 'next season' are not words you often hear in the same sentence
Didn't Timmy say Dembele basically said he wanted to step up for the cause, but he just didn't have enough fitness in his legs (hence why he was subbed) .
No idea.... Hope that's the case. But his performances this season have been consistently lacklustre, just a variety of the same-old, same-old, miss the quick pass then turn into trouble - and then turn again before either passing backwards or losing the ball. Pains me to say it, cos I harboured great hopes for Moussa at Spurs.
RCL, That's a pretty spot on summary of yesterday's game. Regarding the fans and Naughton & Soldado, I've made a lot of games this season - all the homes and around a dozen away - and the support for Soldado has been great throughout. Of course there has been frustrations with him but everyone gets behind him (when he plays!) On Naughton, the vast majority I know rate him more than Walker. He's had a few games as a right back of late and has looked a better defender than Walker (yesterday aside). The area that concerned me yesterday, and for most of the last 18 months to be honest, was left back. Rose has little or no support there so whenever he goes forward there are massive gaps left, not his fault as he is often isolated on the left There are a lot of positives to take from yesterday's game, a lot of credit has to go to Sherwood for his adjustments in the 2nd half and also the way the players stood up and fought for the victory. C.O.Y.S.
Agreed that the game was successfully changed at half-time by Tim but again, why is it that when the team is set out for the match initially and tactically, we get it so horribly wrong? We then have to make changes for a second half correction. Is Tim that bad at analysing teams before games that he can only make changes on-the-fly? Either his scouts are giving him poor reports or his naivety at this level of management shows he doesn't understand how to predict the nature of our opponents play and can only deal with them after seeing them play for 45 minutes. No team can continue and expect success based on such a strategy. It's been a common theme under Sherwood. Poor first 45 mins then corrected at half time with some successes but against the big boys, too little too late with us taking a hiding!
I have to agree with Junction8 on this one. Rose often looks crap because he's not given any cover or support. Walker gets away with quite a lot because of his own pace, but he also benefits from Lennon's as well as the winger's willingness to get back and cover, even if it's not always effective. Rose has had an injury disrupted season, but he's also playing with different players around him all the time when he's got a run in the side. Our centre-backs are ever-changing, which effects both fullbacks equally, but the left-wing position's been up for grabs throughout the campaign. He's had no time to develop an understanding with anyone and those that have been selected there are often either out of position, lax at defending or both. Eriksen's a fantastic talent, but if we're going to utilise him on the left, a la Modric in Redknapp's early days at the club, then he needs to do more when we don't have the ball. I'd prefer to see him given more freedom and played in behind the striker in a similar role to van der Vaart or perhaps Mata at Chelsea pre-Mourinho II. His lack of defensive awareness and physicality would be less of an issue then, I think.
On the whole I agree, but seeing him in the flesh yesterday I was very impressed by his covering back. He covered a lot of the pitch. I think he is starting to take this aspect into his game,
He is far too good to be stuck out on the left. He should be played where he can really hurt the opposition most, behind the striker. I'd be happier seeing Siggy on the left for the rest of this season, with instructions to stay out there and cover back to protect Rose.
I'd try Chadli on the left. His agent really ticked me off, and he had a couple of truly wretched performances. Other than that he's controlled his wing, created and scored goals at a good clip and has played well in our last two good efforts against Benfica and Southampton. Both he and Eiriksen do better in the center, it seems. It may be it would be better to have Chadli on the left against stronger teams, at least, though I agree Eiriksen seems to be tracking back better. It wouldn't be surprising if it's not that he can't do it, but that he doesn't have much experience. While I agree that Eirksen theoretically should be playing behind Soldado (I doubt Ade is available), playing on the left didn't hurt his influence last game. I know watching his Ajax highlights he often drifted or dribbled in from the left. It's a big plus that he's very two-footed. The other thing which should happen is that someone either needs to do some constructive whining about the way one of the PL's young, marketable stars is being fouled off the ball, or, given that our chances of winning anything are dim at this point this year, someone on the field needs to start making players who do foul Eiriksen regret it. I have someone in mind. Also, RCL, it's great Kaboul seems to be back to his best. I'm not sure what CB I'd take over him for his leadership, strength in the air and speed. I only hope he can stay fit.
Rose is a good full back,but with an injury disruptive season and as others have said different players on the left in front of him,when he goes forward,which full backs are expected to do,with no cover,he get's blamed for them scoring,even if it's no fault of his own
Yeah agree with pretty much all of that. Kaboul is still at around 75%-80% and is looking good, he marshals the defence superbly and he himself is without a doubt our best defender. The sub of Siggy for Dembele was arguably the catalyst towards our win, not only did Gylfi play really well, arguably the best 45 mins I've seen from him in a Spurs shirt and his goal was a blinder. I mentioned the fans in the match thread, it's the best I've seen WHL for a while, it's not often we out-sing an away support for most of the match so it was nice to do so, especially as for half a match we were behind and playing ****e. The support for Soldado has always been there, I think it's a case of everyone is smart enough to know that booing or argh-ing at him won't help so getting behind him is the best method. Agree with this too. I think with Soton's game aside Naughton's been really good too, even in the Soton game, taking the stupid mistakes aside he still played a composed game, many defenders would've crumbled after ****ing up twice like that. I don't think I'd go as far saying I rate him better than Walker - at least not yet - but if he can continue his good form while Walker's out then it'll be nice to finally have some proper competition for a RB spot. I've said for most of the season that Rose is by far the weakest link, he had a very impressive start to the campaign to be fair to him but since those early days he's been absolutely dreadful. His positioning is poor, his ball control for a former winger is shocking and his poor reading of the game is clear for all to see. I'd honestly rather see Fryers there at the moment, though a new LB should definitely be priority in the Summer. Tim without a doubt deserves credit, I've got on his back over the past few weeks (mainly because I've wanted him to do well and after an impressive start, seemed to have made some crazy decisions) but he made some brave calls Sunday and they turned out to be the right ones. Good news and vibes on the Spurs board for a change, who'd have thought it?!
The Pundit's on MoTD pointed out that Tim dropped the back four line deeper in the second half and we were better from then on
