We haven't got enough pace going forward compared to them. They're catching us on the break repeatedly and Walker is in for a very tough afternoon. I'd throw Njie on at half time then Townsend at the hour if necessary to give them something to think about.
2-1 HT. I think we've been the better side, but we're behind to two silly, easily preventable goals. Pochettino needs to make sure Walker's got better support in the second half. Montero's easily their most dangerous out ball.
Dont deserve to be behind but will be a difficult 2nd half...really needed to win today or at least draw to keep our run going
Not sure we deserve to be behind at half time, we've played pretty well but when you score a bizarre own goal like that it really doesn't have much to do with the game, just a moment of madness. We're still in this though, we've had some lovely interplay between midfield and attack with Lamela looking very bright again. Might be worth seeing N'Jie out there for the second half, see if he can do some damage in behind like Montero is for them.
Kane's OG was a bit of a freak. Eriksen's free kick was well done from him, normally he goes for the corners over or round the wall and the Swansea GK will have known that, so to hit it straighter and harder probably helped wrong foot him this time. We're well in this although I agree that N'jie might be a good call coming in for Chadli. He seems just a little more directly threatening, even if Chadli has a good habit of scoring goals even when he's playing a little invisibly. I'd send N'Jie out down the right to trouble their LB and force Montero to do a bit of defending. Lamela is playing well but his tendency to drift around is isolating Walker, and as quick as he is Montero is troubling him.
I don't know why but we seem very hesitant near the edge of the box. Scared of shooting. N'Jie and, dare I say, Townsend could be good calls.
Not sure about Njie...he looks so off the pace whenever I have seen us...thought he was very poor on Thursday night.
Saw a very interesting graphic on the NBC coverage just now. Montero has been the furthest forward player for Swansea all of the first half, very much pinned to the touchline midway into our half. By contrast we're playing quite centrally. We need to be sharper round the box and play more quickly with the ball. Goals like Ayew's will happen against good passing teams like Swansea who have the on-ball ability to make use of the pace their players possess in the right areas, if our pressing falls short, which it did in that case.
Two players against Montero and he still gets the cross in. That's so poor. Kane unlucky not to score at the other end before that, too.
I think we need to judge n'jie once he has had a few starts, its not always easy to.come on with 20 minutes left and change a game.
How soft is that foul by Kane on Fabianski? He must know that you can't go anywhere near keepers nowdays, though.
Agreed...hope I didn't come across too harshly on him ... just meant that he doesn't seem match fit tbh
We started this half well and flew out of the blocks, but Swansea have been better since. They're starting to control the ball well and play it around nicely.
Disappointed to see Lamela go off but he was just starting to look a little tired. I'd have taken Eriksen or Chadli off though.
