I was watching a talk show where the 4 pundits were asked which "good" team would come a cropper early in the CL. The first said Sevilla.Because they always drop to the EL. The second thought Lyon. The third suggested Leicester because of their immaturity The fourth picked Tottenham because he thought they didn't have it this year. It does look as though Spurs don't have it this year!
I only saw the 2nd half, and what a disappointment it was. Not sure why Dier was moved to RB when Walker went off injured but I think he was missed in his usual position. Spurs midfield looked in disarray today with no real organisation and there was simply no real service to the forwards. Liverpool appeared to overrun Spurs midfield. I think Spurs were fortunate to secure a point. Still, it's only 3 games in, with 2 draws and a win and nil losses. Chin up!
I wasnt suggesting it was all spurs, we had our moments, i just meant all over the pitch you seem a more aggressive tea especially in the middle, twas a compliment really.
They have a thug mentality tbh, I'd rather we didn't follow that. Ali should have been sent off for assaulting Firmino. Ali and Wanyana, well you won't get a more thuggish midfield pairing than that in the PL. Spurs were extremely lucky today to get a point. The stadium was like a library too, very odd for such a big game.
As we didn't have Trippier or KWP on the bench, the only real options we had when Walker went off were Toby and Dier as they were the only players with experience playing in that position. The issue isn't that we moved Dier to right back, more than we brought Janssen on, as that meant we had to make these changes: i.) Dier moving from the pivot to right back ii.) Dele moving from the attacking band to the pivot iii.) Kane moving from up front to the attacking band iv.) Wanyama moving from the Dembele role to the Dier role That's a lot of chopping and changing, and it went a long way to handing the initiative to Liverpool - but if we made a more subtle change, say brought on Winks, instead we'd have seen this: i.) Dier moving from the pivot to right back ii.) Wanyama moving from the Dembele role to the Dier role
I agree theres a few who can go that "thug" way, namely Alli and ive seen rose go in with a few tasty ones in a few games now when it gets heated, but i wouldnt say spurs have a thug mentality as such, most part they play fair imho, but they are an aggressive side when its needed, thats what i think we lack, not all the time just when its needed.
Positives... Matching results from last season Unbeaten Saved 2 points from losing positions Only conceded 2 goals, both from set pieces Better start to the season than the last 2 or 3 scoring in each game good second half recoveries against Everton and Liverpool Vorm reminding us why we bought him Negative Missing Dembele's drive Harry Kane not scoring Only scoring 3 goals and not more than 1 per match Janssen not scoring being out fought and out played by both Everton and Liverpool in the first half All in all I think its been a decent start to the season
We weren't at the races for most of the game. Thought Vorm was superb, I've already mentioned that it's no coincidence he's looked so much better having had a good pre-season plus a run of games and today was his best display for us yet. Expertly played the Sweeper Keeper role that Hugo is so renowned for and but for him, we could've gone into half time roughly 3-0 down. We picked it up in the second half but still didn't seem like troubling the Liverpool defence to any severe level, it'd be really nice if one or both of our strikers fancy chipping in with the goal tally anytime soon, though with Kane's record, he won't start scoring at least for another month or two and then just go bat **** mental in front of goal. Wanyama again was great, he's providing to be a very good signing already and while we miss Dembele, he's done a superb job in his own right deputising for him. Rose was lively and I was delighted for him to grab the equaliser. Eriksen really needs to have a word with himself, three games in and he's been utter dog ****, I hope he's dropped for Stoke because he doesn't deserve to be on the field at the moment, though Alli and Kane have hardly been great either. Ref was a joke, at the time I couldn't see the penalty incident from where I sit but on the replay I've seen on twitter, Firmino trips himself up and even if another angle shows differently, the contact would've been outside the box, so poor decision there, while he blew up for any time a Pool player wanted to fall over and **** knows how Mane remained on the pitch. It's stills no excuse for how we played but it makes things a lot harder to get going when the ref seemingly has it in for you. A point after a poor performance is a pretty good point, providing it's not a regular occurrence. Here's hoping we go to Stoke and play like we did there last season.
Calling us thugs is plainly stupid Sky...I get you are disappointed as you think you should have won but think back to past Liverpool teams ... you had hard players who could stick their foot in and would take the battle up. The same was true of Arsenal, United, Chelsea etc. Every winning team needs aggression. For years we were easy to bully as a team but now we are not but that's a world away from having a thug mentality
I didn't see the whole game, but from what I saw we were lucky! Pool played us at our own game. They pressed high and gave us no time, forcing us to defend. It's something MP is going to have to look at, as others will have taken note of what happened. Without Dembele we seemed to be totally incapable of grasping any control of the midfield. Wanyama is a solid defensive force, but lacks creativity. Which brings me on to our lack of creativity. We still seem totally clueless as to how to break down teams who pack tneir defence and then try to break quickly. Maybe that's why wingers have become flavour of the month again?
There were some tackles flying in. And Alli still needs to control his childish temper! But to counter you, I'd say that your Centre backs committed enough cynical fouls to have copped at least one card apiece too!
Usually the way, mate, isn't it? Fouls that should be punished aren't. Kick the ball away 5yds, and out comes the card!
Spot on. We were lucky today. At the end of the season that might well prove to be a big point, but itdoesn't alter that we were lucky. My goodness how much we missed Kyle Walker after he went off. And well played to Mr Vorm who kept us in the game in the first half.
I'm not here to annoy people, you know me lads! Maybe thug mentality was the wrong word tbh. Our new CB Matip looks the part though, we've missed someone like that for a while. Good luck lads, you'll need it
Thanks for explaining - I didn't realise there were no other viable alternatives for RB. It was a rather offensive-minded tactic from MP to bring on Janssen and move Dier to RB. Possibly too offensive-minded considering the opponents? I'm not saying Liverpool are to be feared, but by the same token, surely MP understands they are not to be under-estimated?
