We have been defensively inept all season. You could have driven a bus through our central defence tonight. Even when we beat Chelsea in January, the goals we conceded were shocking.
Like I said I'm actually strangely optimistic that our performance on Sunday will be very, very different to what we've seen over the last week. They will be fresh from a kick up the back-side, will be more focused, will know, deep-down, that in this game they have to give their all and that this really, really is *the* game of the season now. No-one's gonna be going into it with half an eye on the Swansea game to come. We've seen what we can do to Chelsea and Arsenal and the last few games don't convince me that we can't do it again. And that's while thinking that loads of our players have been absolute crap for a period of between one week and one and a half years (not naming names).
Well that was disappointing to say the least. Started off fairly brightly but then just seemed more interested in getting the game over with and moving onto Sunday, really poor performance in my opinion, one that echoed ones of earlier in the season where the players we just beginning to learn Poch's tactics. Credit to Fiorentina though, very well disciplined side and know how to take their chances. Thankfully, injuries aside, we won't have to see Soldado or Fazio again.
I get that totally, and come to think of it he could well still be injured after his exploits with the USMNT. But I'd also rather have a proper RB in the position no matter how raw he is. It helps the shape and balance of the team so much. We have improved so much after Walker has come back into the team - Yedlin is in a very similar mould to him. For what its worth PNP I think Davies can play that attacking LB role, but Rose is definitely more suited to it, if a little inconsistent with it. Davies has been sub-par recently though for sure. We will hopefully see more consistency in performance next season, when Pochettino (hopefully) gets more of a chance to build a whole squad to play how he wants, rather than the starting XI plus a few that he has now.
The problem with so many games and the need for squad rotation is that it's difficult to keep any momentum. Even when teams are winning consistently, there are usually two or three players who are key to that, usually forwards, who it is difficult to rest. Liverpool last season were not the same without Suarez and Sturridge in tandem (before that the Torres/Gerrard axis was vital). City need Aguero, Silva and Toure all in harness. Spurs have been reliant on Kane and Eriksen. Kane was on the bench tonight. You can't expect Soldado to step into Kane's boots and keep the goalscoring momentum going. Effective squad rotation is the hardest thing for a manager competing on many different fronts, especially with English teams, who have a ridiculously demanding schedule.. SAF was the master of it, but even he knew that certain players had to play and were not going to get the rest they needed ideally.
Pochettino's never experienced it before, either. Moyes had the same lack of European experience at Man Utd.
Trouble is that, we don't have enough genuinely different options, IMO. Well fullback choices are pretty different I guess but our current choices for DM revolve around players who can get up and down and aren't "simply" DMs though neither do any really add a great deal creatively going forward. Our wingers are now all players who like to play as inverted wingers. Eriksen on the left, Chadli on the left, Lamela on the right, Townsend on the right. We don't have a single player outside our fullbacks who like to get crosses in. Honestly I really think that performances like we've seen against Chelsea and Arsenal this year are great credit to Pochettino and his system. Because the players at his disposal really are not all that for the large part. And yet despite the fact that from the entire squad we have only Eriksen and Kane who have pretty much ever looked dangerous for us more than once or twice, we can feel like we can give Chelsea a game on Sunday.
Well,here we go again,just like Arsenal,out! The only difference is that Arsenal treat the CL like a first team affair while we treat the EL as a reserve tournament. I bet we had some fans over there too to watch it.Such a shame!Hope they get some compensation come Sunday!!!!! If we don't win this weekend,could we do our best to finish 8th and no more of this rubbish!
That's because it is a reserve tournament, thank god we're out. hopefully next season when we qualify again we'll go out in the groups
I'm "old school" and believe a club the size of ours, should be playing European football every season. I also believe we should be capable of playing a full strength side every weekend and every midweek. This mix and match eleven / squad rotation, never really works and tonight is a classic example of this.
Well, I don't know what to say about Soldado's mistake, I'm a patient girl but once I've fallen out with somebody it's the end and it's the end for me for him. I've been a big fan and always wanted him to do well but that left me in tears. Somehow we have to pick ourselves up and face a fresh Chelsea on Sunday. Winning will placate the disappointment of tonight and one trophy in Poch's first season will be alright seeing as if he had won two then we'd be expecting him to win two every season thereby increasing the pressure on him. I'm not sure I can watch on Sunday and if we lose I'll hand over to Thor for the rest of the season.
Well, that was certainly bad. All the teams we play are near enough to being on our level. We won’t beat them all with our best team. Not starting our best team for three straight games risked not winning any, and that’s what happened. Our play overall was poor, I think, though there were a few stretches where we played quite well. Soldado, Vertonghen and Fazio made terrible mistakes (and, interestingly, all were the same weak little pass). However, I thought Chiriches was good, actually. He made a number of good tackles in tight spots. Surely he was the best of a weak back four today. Lamela certainly has some bad moments, but not only does he work hard, he created the glorious chance that Soldado screwed up with a brillaint pass. By my count he creates more chances than Townsend does, even if Townsend looks better moment to moment. Fazio just doesn’t cut it in our system. I continue to think he could be excellent for a team that sits back. But not only is he far too slow to be a CB on a team that keeps a high line, he can’t handle the ball handling involved either. About the farcical officiating you’d expect in Italy--they pushed the envelope on selective vision in Fiorentina’s penalty box, and the call on Davies was a joke--but even though we controlled play, three disastrous mistakes and a performance that was lacklustre at best deserved no more than what it got. Defensively inept? Yes, but a good part of it is the downside of Pochettino’s system. If forwards and midflielders are constantly attacking the ball, the other team will get their chances against exposed defenders. To be successful, our defenders and Lloris have to do well, and our attackers have to take their chances (which, tbf, the system helps to create at a pretty good clip). Only Lloris was any good today. I would like to see a Plan B for variety’s sake, just to keep the other team from knowing exactly what their tactics should be when they play us. Well, it would have been (even) worse to lose with our entire first choice team, or in extra time. If you have to go out of the Europa, better now than screw up another few weeks of PL fixtures. This was about a 9.5 on the 10 point fixture congestion scale, very difficult to do well with, and certain to bring out the Monday morning quarterbacks if the results were not good. And so it has.
I don't get what people want sometimes. Do they really want a return to mid-table obscurity? Do they really think that finishing 10th and not qualifying for the Europa is a step forward? And if in it do they really not want to even try to win it? Of course we want to be in the CL (purely for the money - we'd have bugger all chance of winning it) but why would the club suddenly be able to cope with European football in the CL if everyone's so sure we can't cope with the EL and we should hope to get out of it ASAP?
