Not only keep Soldado,but also bring in a goalscorer,Like Bony or Remy,even though he didn't score yesterday
If you remember last season, we played the exact same way against Newcastle at home when Krul had the most saves made by any keeper in a premier league game so this group of players has always had the ability to play quick attacking football if the opposition let them play. This is why we won't know for over a year if Pochettino will be a success, as even AVB had periods in his first season when we played quality football, kept clean sheets and at one point looked set for top four. But Pochettino clearly wants the players to play attacking football and strikes me as someone who is more relaxed in nature, he isn't as dour as AVB and initially I had reservations about him and Adebayor yet Ade appears to have learnt from that period last year and dare I say, is a changed man.
It was interesting seeing on MOTD2 that we strung together over 40 passes, keeping the ball for 2 and a half minutes in the build up for our third goal. Les reckoned that Spurs fans wouldn't have enjoyed all that passing around the back, even at 2-0 up, and whilst there probably were a few moany fans I think it misses the key differences between Pochettino and our managers last season. With Sherwood it was a white knuckle ride with an unbalanced side thrown on to the pitch and left to work the balance out for themselves(hence all the bad starts) and with AVB we had control of the ball but we were slow and ponderous, it would've taken us until half time to notch up 40 or more passes with the way we played. Pochettino's style yesterday fell somewhere between the twp of them, there were passes around the back to try and draw the opposition out but there were much quicker decisions, if the player receiving the ball didn't have anywhere to go, or a good pass on then it was sent backwards straight away, no dithering, and when the attack was on there was always good movement helping us open up the opposition in their half. You're right though, there were good games under both AVB and Sherwood but they were few and far between. Lets hope we're not looking back at this game in 6 months wondering why we haven't played as well as this since.
I'll add my wishes to Daws. Always liked him, gave his all and a good leader. I reckon he will be a good manager in time. For Hull he will be a good mentor to younger players as Ledders was for us and Ferdinand will be for Caulker. I am a bit concerned we will be left short of a CB though if we don't get Fazio. Even this Thursday, Dier needs a rest as does Kaboul and Verts. Leaves us with Veljkovic and Fryers.
I won't be reading too much into yesterday's result. Yes it was good to see us take our chances, press well to get the ball back, etc. Encouraging performances from a few of our players too. However, QPR were woeful - really awful. As Les Ferdinand pointed out, their pressing was non existent, their defence was all over the place, just to name two aspects of how bad they were. A far sterner test of where we are, and how far we have come, awaits next Sunday. If we can give a respectable account of ourselves in that game, I might feel a little more positive. I'm sure Pochettino is aware of it, but our high line defence is a perfect target for Liverpool's speedsters. How he plans to try and deal with that will be interesting to see.
It will be interesting,as our full backs are on slouches when it comes to speed,i think both sides will create chances,and it will come down to who takes them
You could say the same thing about other posts on here. There are lots talking about yesterday's game. I would add, as Boss alludes to, that I hope this Fazio character is quicker than his size suggests.
I agree with all of this. Townsend may never be the player we hope, but speed is such an asset he may still be very useful at times. Good dribbling runs tend to bring the crowd into the game as well. I've changed my tune, incidentally, on the big squad. Maybe having two players of similar ability at every position can give us an edge over a grueling season. I'm not as skeptical about Pochettino's ability to keep everyone reasonably focused as I was. I'm very glad we didn't get Schneiderlin. Capoue and Bentaleb have been key to both our wins. Bentaleb is putting in the dangerous passes I was hoping he would, and at nineteen could become an immense player.
The players who have come from Saints have done well for us ie Chivers and Bale so I thought Scneiderlin was worth the gamble. So far so good for the Poch epoch so Saints are good for us.
I might be overthinking this, but our current speculation would suggest that Dawson and Chiriches are basically being replaced by Fazio. Townsend's being sought by Southampton and we'd like to sign Schneiderlin from them. Sandro to Napoli looks to be on the cards and Welbeck's being touted as a possibility. I wouldn't be too surprised to see all of this happening, as it would balance the squad out quite a bit, including the HG quota.
The problem for Townsend, as I see it, is that he doesn't seem to fit automatically into the way Poch likes to play. I really do rate Townsend as a winger, but I don't think he has the ability to adapt to the midfield that Poch wants.
I can live with Daws (as sad as it'll be to see him go) and Vlad going if Fazio's brought in and as much as I'd hate to see him go, I could also understand letting Sandro move on but I'd like to keep Andros around. I think the balance of the wing players is fine right now and don't see the benefit in selling one unless a like for like replacement is brought in - which I don't see the point of. Schneiderlin as I've said a number of times is a pretty pointless signing in my opinion as I think we already have better options and I'm quite interested to see this Capoue and Bentaleb partnership develop as so far it's looked great but if Poch feels Schneiderlin can benefit us, then who am I to argue. Welbeck is a strange one, he's not getting much game time at a poor Utd side and if it's minutes on the pitch he wants, he should look elsewhere as I can't see him getting much more playing time here.
Welbeck and Schneiderlin do come across as players being considered solely because they qualify as HG - because most of our prospective HG players are still U21s so don't count (even if they have fulfilled the HG criteria)
if Pochettino is looking for three players to interact, interchange, play quick passes and support the striker then Townsend isn't his type of player, so if sold then that wouldn't be a surprise and while we poke fun at Welbeck, he does have good close ball control, link up play and would be more suited then Townsend to Pochettinos system.
In 5 preseason, two league and one Europa game, we've consistently looked reasonably good at least against anyone who tries to play football (Toronto, Seattle, Glasgow, Schalke and QPR), and crap against anyone who parks the bus (Chicago, West Ham & Limassol). While I give Pochettino high marks for the few games he's been around, the most obvious negative (which Saints fans have told us) is the lack of a Plan B. It seems obvious to me that pacy players providing width are the obvious means to get around the back of the parked bus, and Townsend (along with Lennon, Rose and Walker) are the obvious players to use. So I'd like to keep Townsend because he may be key to developing a Plan B, which Pochettino may have showed a few signs of doing. I don't see the point of Welbeck, to be honest, though I haven't watched him that much or that closely. He would be a decent backup option if Kane and Chadli got hurt, IMO, but I'm sure he wants to go somewhere he would start. He ought to go there and see if he can have a big year and change people's minds about him.
