I didn't expect Carroll to start this one, but I guess his performance against Monaco ticked the boxes for Pochettino. Looks like another example of those grabbing limited opportunities getting starts when they show what they can do. It's a very useful tool for the manager, in my opinion.
I think Poch's reasoning here is that ultimately the harsh truth is that we've struggled to break teams down. WBA, Everton, even United in the first game. Teams know we'll tear them to shreds a la B'mth, City, Monaco etc if they open up. So the default option is to put 10 men behind the ball (or 11 if you're Chelsea) and hope to catch us on the break. The bottom line is that if Tommy 'works' alongside Dier, we will finally have the creativity and movement needed to more or less beat anyone. My concern here isn't that he is starting, as I'm more than curious to see how it goes. I'm worried by our lack of pace as there's not much point having the vision of Tom and Eriksen on the pitch with no-one to run on to the threaded balls.
I suspect position will count more than pace and in Kane we have a proto Sherringham who has the right kind of nose.
"It's a very useful tool for the manager, in my opinion." The Dec-Jan fixtures are quite packed. Pochettino needs to have an idea of who he now trusts, because he will have to rotate the starting XIs more effectively before the EL kicks off again.
Need to break their hoodoo at our place...last time out we gifted them a second half goal in about 7 seconds in our 2-1defeat and the year before we had bout 30 attempts without scoring in the 1 nil defeat! Would be great to win well and be in the top 4 tonight
How the **** has Smith seen that as a 50/50? What a prick. Studs up with both feet, FFS. It's not forceful, but it's a crap challenge.
"Walker hurt himself" says Alan Smith after Walker is hit in the shins by a toon players studs And the ref stops walker taking a throw in until he steps on then back off the pitch?
