There's no question that an in-form Walker is in a different league to Trippier. I just don't see the latter making as many heart-attack-inducing mistakes as the former when he plays. Until Walker cuts that out of his game, I see no reason to continue rewarding his stupidity with starts.
I think Trippier offers a bit more calmness and consistency. If both are on form then Walker makes the XI no questions but the problem for me is that Walker is just far too inconsistent, he started the season well in fairness to him but the mistakes are creeping back into his game and that concerns me, so many of his mistakes are unforced too, genuinely feel that his best season for us has been his first where he won the Prem YPOTY award, don't feel he's progressed much... If at all. I think at the very least Trippier deserves a few more games in the Prem, he's often played in make shift XI's and so it'd be harsh to truly praise/ criticise/ judge him, think it'd be fair to give him a go in the first team and then see how he fares over 3-4 games.
Well I've only got the MOTD highlights to go by, so just a few observations: - Trippier was in no-man's land for their goal. If you look at Sunderland's shape there was no reason why he was positioned so far in field and equally no reason why Alli was left to deal with Van Arsehole. Also no reason for Hugo to be beaten so often at his near post but he's the best goalie in the PL as far as I'm concerned so I can indulge one chink in his armor. - Kane looked monstrous today, doing exactly what I want to see a lone striker do which is craft numerous shots on target and display a healthy selfishness and confidence that shouts 'I'm on form, I will terrorise them every time I get the ball, leave this to me.' Excellently taken penalty. - That free kick that led to a 4 v 2 break that Defoe mercifully put wide has to be one of the worst set-pieces I've seen in 24 years of supporting Spurs. - Dembele's goal was so well taken. Last August I never thought I'd catch myself saying this, but we've missed him tremendously.
I think Lens or someone had moved inside, so Trippier stuck with him. Van Aanholt was Alli's man. I think it's consistent with the way all our fullbacks are playing, they seem to tuck in when it gets to our defensive third, unless their man has the ball. Alli got himself caught flat footed but hopefully he'll learn from it. Lloris was poor for it too, near post has always been his weakness and I'd not be surprised at all if Allardyce had told his team to aim there.
Hmm, I don't know YV. You can see as the ball is played forward that there's one player in that frame who serves basically no purpose. Yes, Alli is caught flat footed, but Trippier should be far closer to him instead of almost on Toby's shoulder. He is too far infield and a good few yards further forward than Alli making it extremely hard for himself to cover his own flank. Not good enough at this level.
Trippier will cross quickly when he gets the ball in, where other players tend to dither. He created an important goal a couple of weeks ago. Walker has a long history of making crucial mistakes against our better opponents. If that weren't as true as it is, or if he created a goal more than once in a blue moon, I'd certainly prefer him. As it stands, I think I like Trippier and Rose since they do more than either Walker or Davies to threaten defenses.
One's an obvious foul and the other's a clear dive, despite your protests to the contrary. I've criticised Rose for diving in the past and I'm sure I'll do it again in the future, but that's not one. Comparing the two is ridiculous.
Allardyce's post-match comments about his players costing him the game were rubbish. He made poor substitutions, one of which made a number of big mistakes. Defoe didn't have any support all game, either. He didn't address that. His failure to hold his hands up and accept responsibility is a bit cheap. Pickford had a decent league debut for them. There were rumours about us looking at him before and I can see why. The Premier League can be very unforgiving, though. Playing well isn't always enough.
I thought his comments a week ago when he moaned by Sunderland's heavy schedule last week with 3 away games taking in 2000 miles, was valid and I sympathised with him to a certain extent. But I do feel he then went and let himself down a bit yesterday, both before the game and then afterwards. His remarks pre- match about us not having the mental strength to win the league were unwarranted and pointless. I don't believe anyone anywhere, has ever said we are going to win the league. And afterwards, his comments had a distinct sour grapes theme about them. A manager of his experience should know better.
With Graham effectively playing left back and Johnson right back. I think his intentions were crystal clear. 10 behind the ball, win it back, and hoof it downfield and pray that JD can nick a goal. He almost got away with it too, from that complete balls-up of a free kick!
Just got back from Amsterdam with my daughter so didn't see the game and just found out the score. Read a few reports though and it sounds like Sam got the team selection and tactics all wrong for us. Also sounds like it was a comfortable result for you in the end. We didn't expect to get anything here, tbh. We had just beat Villa and Swansea previously and next we have got Bournemouth, if we can beat them then we are still on target to pull out of it again. Well done to you on the result and good luck for the rest of the season. I reckon you, Arsenal and Man City are nailed on top 4. I like your manager and I reckon your team at such a young age is showing enormous potential, keep them together for a couple of years, and bring in a couple of experienced heads who are used to winning trophies, I reckon you could seriously start to push for the league
"Just got back from Amsterdam with my daughter so didn't see the game and just found out the score. Read a few reports though and it sounds like Sam got the team selection and tactics all wrong for us. Also sounds like it was a comfortable result for you in the end." From what I have read he got his tactics right for a lot of the game, but unlike Leicester the resolve and luck did not remain for the full 90 mins.
Good luck to you as well, SAFC. I hope you stay up for the sake of your many fans and of course for Defoe. The truth is I like both you and your rivals, and would not want either one going down. I've got to say our fans singing Defoe's name was a clever tactic.
He set up pretty much as we expected. Ten behind the ball most of the time and long balls down to Defoe if you won possession. We gifted you a goal, but you almost immediately gave us one back - although to be fair to Cattermole it wasn't easy to deal with, but he should have done better, TBH. Once we went in front I don't think the result was in doubt.
Yeah, I'd agree. Could've been a much more frustrating result but they conceded straight after scoring. The subs Allardyce made, were right, he'll have seen the game at the SoL earlier this season and noticed that it was all going very well until they tired. Given the amount of travel they had it was important that they made subs fairly early on to get fresh legs in. He messed up with going 3 at the back though, I feel.
Playing Danny Graham completely upset the balance of the team, I've been told. Can't understand for the life of me, why he didn't play Borini or Watmore ahead of him Like I said though, fair play. You just need to stop the results like Newcastle and Leicester happening, then you can start challenging for the league...
