Mahrez removed with a minute left on the clock? Why? If he keeps up this form, then he'll be removed from the King Power permanently.
1-1 FT. Probably just about a fair result, though we were the better team for most of the second half. We really struggled after conceding though and Leicester started the game well, so I can't complain. 3 games in and still no wins. Really not good enough and we don't look up to speed yet. Need some signings soon and for the one that we have to get involved in the squad.
All the criticism on here will be of Pochettino as usual but the players really have to stand up and take the blame too. That's twice we've shown a total inabillity to see out a lead. One of the players have to stand up and take control of things. We should've been frustrating them and sitting on the lead but they were all half asleep and handed Leicester the equaliser at the soonest possible opportunity. Pochettino needs to use his subs better too. Bringing Carroll on was a total waste of time, we were crying out for some pace in attack all game.
This is a terrible start to the season...defensively we are as weak as last season and weaker going forward
Well that was pretty dire all told. Bit of a late rally but that doesn't make up for 60 or 70 minutes of utterly turgid football. There is a time and a place to play Dembele and Dier in midfield - away to a top calibre team for example, or bringing them on to close out a game. They're strong players with good defensive qualities, who do a fairly good job of retaining the ball if we slow the pace of the game down. Yes Dembele got a couple of shots away but two shots in a game, one of which was straight at the keeper anyway, do not make up for the countless times he makes the wrong decision on the pitch. The time to play them, and a slow game with the ball in the safe areas, is not for 70 minutes of a game away to a thoroughly beatable, if also dangerous, Leicester team. Certainly not both of them at any rate. Lamela hardly had much of an impact either, and Chadli was sub-par. Of course the players have to take some blame for the situation, Vertonghen's defending was poor for the goal, and there were a number of occasions where if the players' execution had been better, then the game would have taken on a different complexion. But (and I come from a position of always having backed Poch), they are clearly being set up to play in a certain way that is not producing either winning or entertaining football, and above the manager the pre-season schedule and delay of the transfer business (after a promising and surprisingly fast start on that front) is causing problems now. On a positive note I'm pleased for Alli getting his goal, and I hope we see more of his positivity soon. And hopefully we get Eriksen back PDQ and Pritchard and Clint are soon in positions to make an impact on this team, which certainly needs some impact somewhere.
Davies was distinctly unimpressive today, but I struggle to criticise him too much, as he's got no protection at all. That's normally pretty bloody poor, but when everyone's well aware that their most dangerous player is in that position, then it's just stupid. Rose is far from perfect, but at least he'd have forced them to think about defending more. It's clear that we need some signings and our fitness levels are miles from what they were last season, but the mentality is so poor. Whenever we concede a goal we look like we're going to utterly collapse for about ten minutes. It's shambolic. The older players need to do more to stop that, especially when it's normally them at fault for the bloody goals.
I've said this several times before, but I'm going to say it again... I really do wish that Levy tells Poch to play the youngsters and to put in place a strategy for building a fantastic side for 3 or 4 seasons from now. It would, of course, mean, the board coming out and making a statement to that effect, and to relieve the manager, publicly, of any pressure of having to finish in the top 4. As we have seen, so very clearly, so far this season, we are a very, very long way off top 4. What is the point in the club pretending that it's a legitimate goal? Levy is fooling absolutely no one with any of that bollocks! It would be so much better for him to come out and say, "Look! I know we're no where near top 4, at the moment, so what I want to do is to develop our youth and create a side that, in 3 or 4 seasons' time, will be the equivalent of Busby's Babes." I'd respect him for that, and I'd have a lot more patience with the club, knowing, at the very least, that it had some ****ing idea of where its going!
I think the best thing we can do this season is try to get a mid table finish and really go for the Europa league, as there's no way we can get in the champions league through the league, we are so far away IMO. I see us as the same level as stoke, Southampton, villa even palace have more attacking threat than us. Leicester have showed so far this season that you don't need world beaters and have expensive players to be competitive in the premier league, you need a solid defence and pacey attackers who are looking to take on defenders.
I think many of this current lot, Lamela especially, have had their chance and failed. Give the youngsters like Alli, Pritchard, Carroll their chance. Can they do much worse? Alli, especially, is going to be a star!...
As bad as we were, I ought to say to begin, the main problem is confidence. The team looked tight and nervy. They’ll look much better when things are going better. (The fact that the team reacts poorly to both adversity and good fortune, on the other hand, indicates a need for, take you pick: a team psychologist, better coaching, or for someone to step forward and grab the team by the scruff of the neck.) Well that was awful. TBF, Eriksen has been the key to our team. But quite aside from that, last game highlighted a key and chronic deficiency, namely our tendency to roll out the red carpet after we score. Today it happened much quicker and just as disastrously. Pochettino has to be blamed for that. If I were him I’d possibly ban and certainly limit goal celebrations. Our players spent a minute rolling on the ground, and got up just in time to stroll back far enough to give them a good view of the equalizer. It was awful defending from Vertonghen, and all too typical of the way we cower back into the box with a lead, but were was Davies? We just scored what should have been the winner, they get the ball down on our left flank, and I never saw Davies at any point. Lamela was useless again. It’s probably time to see if anyone wants to take him off our hands. He had to have a good game today to indicate his confidence wasn’t shot, and instead he showed his confidence was shot. I’m not sure I would bench Dier and Dembélé at this point, mainly because other players deserve to be switched more, and Pochettino isn’t likely to swap out more than a couple of players at a time. Besides, they played reasonably well. I would definitely bring in Rose for Davies, and ATM Alli or perhaps Pritchard or Carroll for Lamela. I wouldn’t give Chadli more than another game like that, either. I’d say sub in N’Jie for him next week if he doesn’t score. Walker had a decent game, and created a good chance. Mason looked lively. Alli had some nice control, but a couple of badly misplaced passes, in addition to his very commendable goal. We haven’t had nearly enough players running into the box when they should, and that looks like his strength. He’s a bit like a Paulinho with fantastic control, though the giveaways are a concern.
Wasn't Davies forced to go for the header, which he lost? Simple flick on and Mahrez was on our centre-half, as the winger didn't cut out the long direct ball. I don't think I'd blame him for that one, as he shouldn't have had to challenge for it in the first place. Vertonghen then pissed about and let Mahrez cut in for the shot, rather than showing him down the line. Really basic ****.
The biggest problem is the style of football . A Spurs team raped of creativity ( even if Eriksen played ) . Youngsters or what ever, Pochs football is a perfection in boredom . Rigid , slow , no individualism , play to not loose . AVB or Pochy both are **** , well done Mr Slaphead . You can stick it up the Swanee .
It does seem as though Poch has become the new AVB with regards to his style of play, I'm sure Southampton were not as boring as we are to watch. Its strange for someone from Argentina to be so pragmatic, normally it's play with flair and win at all costs.
Alli is still a relative kid, and completely new to the Premiership. But, he plays without fear and with a freedom that we don't see in the rest of our squad. Sure, he's going to make mistakes, but I've little doubt that if he's persisted with and played regularly, he will develop very quickly. I'd take him over 10 Lamelas any day!...
How many 90 minutes games did you (and others) watch of Poch at saints? not a dig (as such) but it appears that many fans are looking back to his time at saints and commenting on their style based on MOTD highlights. Most level headed saints have told me while the football was (in periods) attacking, he was also very much obsessed with a system and when that system failed, he was clueless to react, he lacked a plan b (already sick of mentioning this) and much of why he was popular there was because of the change of style, showing an apparent "intelligent" system, in contrast to their previous manager (Adkins) Pochettino and AVB are very similar in terms of their beliefs, both want to a play a similar system, both want to dominate possession, inverted wingers, use full backs to offer width, but one crucial difference is that Pochettino is benefiting from young players, allowing some fans to place his flaws to one side and say "he needs time", while when AVB was here, he replaced a manager (no Redknapp talk) that had given us exciting football, so while I was no AVB fan, he had a much harder task then Poch, but essentially, very similar managers and the only reason he will stay in a job longer then AVB, is due to being lucky to be manager when youth players are coming through the system. I'm pretty confident that if Pochettino was handed the bale money to spend, he would also bring in duds and end up being sacked, yet hand a manager a young team and a long term plan, then it allows him to be viewed in transition for a longer period, but that doesn't mean hes the right man for the club long term.
The thing with starting Lamela is the arguments for starting him and benching him are equally compelling: it was logical to start him because, with Eriksen ruled out, Lamela is the closest to a creative outlet in our current squad - yet it is equally logical to say he shouldn't be a nailed-on starter right now because he missed the excuse for a pre-season we had, yet it's not like he needed a break as he played the grand total of six minutes in the Copa America. The biggest mistake we made today was not introducing any pace when Leicester started to tire in the last 15-20 minutes to put them on the back foot: N'Jie wasn't even in the squad, while Rose remained on the bench for the 90 minutes. Either of them on the flanks could've given us an added dimension and a sense of urgency we were lacking in a lot of our play today.
So who are these "top 4" that are so superior to us? Liverpool? Man Utd - both with a couple of lucky wins. Was United so far ahead of us when we played them? Has Chelsea shown any top 4 form so far? Man City are the only team that have shown real quality at this stage, so to that extent there really isn't that much in it and the team that can sort itself out into better form soon could well get top 4 this season, so why not us?
