I don't know how I feel about that one, against a strong Swansea team. We could have won it (I'd be tempted to say should have) in the end and the goals we conceded were down to very good Swansea counterattacking play for the first and a bit of a freak OG for the second, so I'm not too sure we can read too much into them. Generally speaking we we much better second half, Walker got a bit more of a handle on his defensive duties and we were playing with better tempo. Had a few situations where the Kane of last season would have but it away but he's still getting there this year. Townsend improved things when he came on but quickly reminded us all why he's such a frustrating player by butchering a few chances with his selfish play. I just don't understand the Dembele substitution. And the Dier yellow card - that leads to a suspension don't forget - was frustrating as I felt it was a reasonably legitimate tackle. Hopefully we have Mason back by the Liverpool game because I don't want Dembele anywhere near the pitch for that one.
Walker's was an accumulation, but Dier won the ball and wasn't over the top, so I'm not sure why it was even a foul.
Oh and poor from Vertonghen diving. I'd have given him the benefit of the doubt, had he complained as he didn't try and appeal for a foul and looked a bit off balance but I think he owned up to it. Poor booking for Dier though, he's out of the Liverpool match for making a perfectly good challenge. He'll be a big miss next weekend, especially if Bentaleb's still out.
Everyone was a threat when we attacked but he was far too predictable and when we were attacking 3 on 2 he really has to do a lot better. Maybe I'm being harsh as N'Jie had a bad cross and a bad shot too but I just thought he was wasteful and selfish.
I got a mate who feels he's a witty good looking charming womaniser when he's pissed...he's not. ..when he's pissed, he's a pisshead who sweats too much and has bad breath! So things aint as bad as they seem
I thought Vertonghen lost his footing as he hurdled the challenge actually, but maybe I'm just giving him a large dose of the benefit of the doubt. It was a pretty **** dive if thats what he was going for really, need to put a few more rolls in there to really make it convincing.
Superb save from Lloris at the end. Was that their second attempt on target? Thought a couple of games ago that Kane was possibly showing signs of a lack of confidence and he's definitely looking hesitant now. That needs to change and/or Son get back from injury. N'Jie is looking a bit of a loose cannon but we seem to be using his pace well - overall I quite like this idea of moving him up top and dropping Kane deeper for the last 20/30 minutes. Might help Kane play into some for to have another striker to find on the pitch and play off. A not-terribly good performance but we were away at Swansea and really if any team scored the winner it should have been us. Still have the same problems as last year in that we lack some cutting edge because players like Chadli, Townsend, Lamela are just not consistent enough goal threats. This year, however, I feel we're better-placed to remedy this. We have better options in CM and the addition of Son and N'Jie has given us more pace and directness if/when we need it. Just hope Son gets fit soon and Kane wakes up. Which he will - I have no doubt about that.
Watching Williams today and generally over the last few years, you have to wonder why some clubs haven't gone in for him. No offence to Swansea, but he's very good at the back in an open, attacking side and some of the top clubs have worse defenders. I know a few have been linked with him, but nothing's come of it. Probably their best player today. Eriksen really pulled the strings for us and it's interesting to see the difference in him when we're on top and it's an open game. He looked close to being back to his best, which he hasn't managed for a while.
Rodgers gone carragher what a p***k, "Liverpool have turned into Tottenham, think they're a big club but they're not"
Good effort from the boys today. I kept my forebodings of doom to myself, but I had many, including the tendency to let down after a big win, the trip to Monaco where we looked tired, our talisman getting hurt, and Swansea being overdue for a win against us, and probably still smarting from the loss last year. I also missed the second half, and was worried it could get embarrassing after the og, so when I saw we’d drawn, outplayed the eighth team out of eight and kept our undefeated run going I was pleased. Our point total is disappointing, but I really like the team this year, especially now that Eriksen is back to his best. In a game of fine margins, a trip to Europe that includes a game can easily make a goal’s worth of difference, and probably cost us a couple of points today. The defensive intensity was not there. The team looked like it had traveled to Europe and played a game during the week. In any case, though, I’m impressed the team managed to get a result in difficult circumstances.
He's as bad as brenda...can't say anything about about liverpool with mentioning us. At least he used to regularly score for us though
"carragher what a p***k, "Liverpool have turned into Tottenham, think they're a big club but they're not" Spurs don't go from 2nd to 6th in successive PL season. <consolidification>
We could play Wimmer with either Vertonghen or Alderweireld as DM. Dembélé ought to be a good DM, but never plays there. Another possibility would be to play Mason if fit with Alli, though I think that would amount to no DM.
I didn't see the entire game today due to a poor stream that was up and down but from what I saw, I thought we could have won today but as a fixture, think I'm overall happy with a draw and continued good form as it's been a pretty busy period. Kane's lack of goals and decision making is starting to become a concern. He's so desperate to score that he's overplaying, making the wrong decisions and just needs to chill, do the right things and the chances will come. Right now, he's trying to make things happen all by himself to prove a point when he doesn't have one in fairness. Most likely his age but I hope Poch takes him to one side and just tells him to relax a bit. He can't score a hatful every week and teams know who he is now so he has to be patient. I think it's clear that Poch knows his best eleven and judging by the subs performances, I'm not surprised. Like others on here, Dembélé is an enigma to me. He was barely on the pitch ten minutes and gave away possession too often and his passing and movement was overall sloppy. We've all had our digs at Lamela over the past couple of years (me included) but in fairness, Mousa has been a far greater disappointment on balance and when he comes on, I tend to watch the majority of the match with my eyes covered. I'm just waiting for him to inevitably give the ball away in a deep lying position that leads to an opposition attack and guess what... he did that today. He's too much of a liability to be a sub to help us keep a lead. He's more likely to do the opposite. Townsend's another who thinks that a run, cutting in and shooting is enough to be considered world class (or a clone of Bale). He's played the game long enough that you'd think he'd learn a little but his way of playing is so predictable that it becomes annoying after a while. Yes, he can sometimes beat defenders and get to the byline but seldom delivers any quality as a result. But overall, I think we have a pretty decent starting eleven but it does still concern me that options are limited if we get a suspension (Dier v Liverpool for example) or an injury that there's no one of equal quality who can come in and do a job. I still believe we are on the right track with Poch and I can see things developing now. We're clearly a much tougher unit to break down and some of the work rate of the players is incredibly commendable but we still lack cutting edge up front too often. Take Eriksen, Kane or Son out of that team and you do wonder where the goals would come from. Alli will chip in with a few for sure but he's too young for that kind of pressure. N'Jie I'm still not entirely sure about and Chadli seems to be going backwards from last season. A real concern. We're a good team but I'm still convinced we're 2-3 players short of real quality and with Chelsea's indifferent form, the Scousers firing Rodgers, I think 4th is up for grabs and we should aim for it.
That’s about how I see it. I might add that Alli is a huge bonus for us, and has already created a number of goals. He won both free kicks Eriksen scored from. His gives defenders fits in and around the box. We need a healthy Son back, but if we have him, I really like this team, though we need to a better job keeping players fresh. A number of them looked tired today, especially Lamela, who tbf has been running his socks off for a month.
I'm beginning to warm to Coco. He still needs to get his passing more sharp and decisive but his work rate and effort is very good. He tracks back far more this season and i think he's really starting to understand how the PL works and what he needs to do to improve. So for me, let's give the kid support and he may just become the player we thought we bought. He's honest and hard working so you can't ask for more from him. Dembele however can keep the bench warm cause I'm totally cold on him!
