On the plus side Rose was decent again. Think he should be pushed forward on the left with Davies behind him if we wanted to make ourselves more solid.
Little chance of that. If Arsenal face Liverpool in the final, the top 7 qualify for Europe. Be tough for Swansea to catch us now.
The top four was already decided, long time ago! surprised that some actually believed we could sneak into the top four?
Well, I thought Davies was excellent. Two possible explanations for the game: changing up our 3, which had been scoring, didn"t work. The 5-7 teams are all trying on some level to avoid the Europa League. To be fair, it was a plan B. All I can say is, back to Plan A, please. Spurs games have been exciting this year, more exciting than anyone else's perhaps. But this was a very strong candidate for bore scoreless draw of the year.
We need to be decisive this summer. Paulinho, Chadli, Dembele, Townsend, Lamela - our options for the front 3 of midfield are just poor. We could realistically sell 3 of them and not notice, especially if Pritchard comes back next year. This squad overall needs some very skillful surgery. Trying to change too much at once would be difficult but on the other hand our first 11 lacks a lot of quality and arguably a new starting CB, RB, two or three MFs are needed. If you're gonna sell your best players every time big money is offered you really need to be a hell of a lot better at acquiring replacements than we have been. We've had some very poor transfer windows for years now and got a very deep, very average squad out of it.
1) Chadli needs a break...he has not recovered the form he had before his fathers death...lamela or townsend should have played out wide instead of him. 2) paulinio starting was unnecessary ... if we knew what he'd do or rather not do when the team was announced then poch should have 3) the players look short of energy and ideas...i think that is down to playing 50 games so far this season and in key positions not being able to rotate. .. No workable alternative for eriksen, kane, bentaleb, mason, rose...all 5 start every match when fit and are showing signs of needing a break. 4) no decent cover for walker so he plays regardless of how poor his form is. We need another creative midfielder...a striker...centre back and right back. I think we have addressed some of this with yedlin and ali and i think we have a couple of loan players who could be 1st team players next season.
Chadli had that run of form, was that the potential of his level? or was he just scoring goals to prove a point? We don't know yet ,as overall I would say he is a very basic footballer that offers very little to the team unless he offers end product but because of his personal tragedy you can at least excuse him (with reason) and he deserves to show us next year if he has a future and if he can produce goals/assist while improving his team play.
Because we could have. Every side in the race has gone through good form and bad form throughout the season, just because those above us have pulled away with some big results doesn't mean it was impossible.
Realistically, I don't believe we stood any chance of top four, during any part of the season, just like the saints never stood any chance of top four (if being realistic). YV, maybe I'm too cynical these days but we are so far behind the top four that often when it looks like we're close (points wise) it gives false hope we can finish there.
I'm old enough to remember when we used to play football! We're not in the top 4 because were nowhere near good enough. Simple as....
Sorry YV, but that's being too generous. Rose wasn't the worst by a long chalk but in the first half he was found wanting a couple of times despite not offering anything much going forward. In the 2nd his main contribution other than one short dribble in midfield was a poor dive which he was lucky not to be booked for. However, as compared to Chadli, I would agree he might be an improvement furthe forward. Davies looked sound at CB/LB however and probably deserves more game time.
I agree about the dive but little else, he gets up and down the pitch very well and was poorly utilised by the attackers as there was several times he made good runs or was free on the left and didn't get used. Defensively he cut out a lot of crosses at source and yes occasionally a Burnley player got the better of him but generally he was very solid. The only time a cross threatened from his side of the pitch was the mishit that Vorm had to tip over, that tells me he did a good job.
Kane being made captain shows the lack of leaders at our club. He's nowhere near ready for that and it was a wrong decision to promote him like that.
I did not see this match. Reading all these comments I thought we had lost 4-0 but I find out that we actually have a clean sheet for the first time in ages.
I can tell you're a "glass half full" sort That was the only positive you could take from the game - everything else was sub-par by a long, long way.
How many captains has Pochettino had this season? Be interesting to hear him describe his ideal captain.
Another shameful display by a group of so called professionals who really should know better. I have seen better team performances on Vicki Park on a Sunday afternoon after a stout lunch., amongst bus drivers, lady cabbies, fat bar tenders, plumbers and poor double glazing sales people.. Our lads today were dreadful....and thats being polite to them whilst at the same time being disrespectful to the lady cab drivers playing on Vicki Park. What the heck was Pochettino thinking. He didn't get a single managerial decision right all afternoon., cost me an absolute packet. Choose your favourite:- Promoting Kane to Captain; The Walker fiasco Sending on Townsend with about two minutes to play...wtf. etc., You see, my problem is that I don't believe Pochet is a complete numpty. However under the circumstances, he is steadfastly doing his best to change my mind. Every now and then exhibiting signs of bobbing along out of his depth. This game today is an example, so am not even going to mention the ploughmans tactics employed against a team of prime strugglers. 245 miles decent people travelled today, and for what... to watch a bunch of seemingly-would-be prima-donnas in-white-shirts look fking bewildered. Only to have to endure the Little Chef and motorway service stations for a further 245 miles back. Its those away fans I feel most sorry for because at least I was able to witness today's episode of foolishness with a large rum in my hand.
