We all can clearly see the positives and the negatives with Spurs. Positives Very sound defence...we have only conceded 5 goals in 10 premier League games and in total we have only conceded 9 goals (5 prem, 2 CL, 2 EFL) in 15 games (10 prem, 3 CL, 2 EFL). we have not conceded more than 1 goal in any premier league match and have only conceded 2 goals twice (Monaco and Liverpool...with a make shift defence) unbeaten in the premier league after playing City (h), Everton (a), Liverpool (h), Leicester (h). We are only 1 point behind where were last season when you compare results with the same teams. We have recovered 3 points from losing positions (against Everton, Liverpool and West Brom) Negatives We have only scored more than 1 goal in a match on 3 occasions in the 10 premier league games: Stoke (4), Middlesbrough (2) and City (2) and only once in 5 cup games, against Gillingham (5). We don't look like scoring in a lot of our matches. We are drawing too many games. We have draw against Everton, Liverpool, WBA, Bournemouth and Leicester. That is half our league games. We have now gone 5 matches without winning. We have not played any of the top teams away from home yet (last season we got 7 points in 6 matches against Chelsea, Arsenal, United, Leicester, City and Liverpool away from home) and have not played Arsenal, United or Chelsea yet (last season we only got 7 points from those 6 matches). What I find concerning is that our manager does not seem to know what to do in order to fix the problems we currently face. I am not particularly clued up on what is the best system to play (4,4,2 or 4, 1,4,1 etc.) but it seems obvious to me that we are not using the full width of the pitch, that we want too many touches of the ball, that we are playing tippy tappy football in midfield with no end product and that we are unable to cope if a team focuses on keeping Dele quiet and we look slow, deliberate and ponderous when attacking. Any ideas what needs to change.
We could do with a quick footed centre midfield magician who can pick out passes with one touch, Wanyama, Dembele and Dier (when he plays there) often take 2,3 or 4 touches before playing a simple pass, by which time teams are organised and back in position. We need to move the ball quicker, but the lack of form of Eriksen, Lamela and Alli (to some extent) is the main reason we are struggling for goals. Hopefully Kane returns firing on all cylinders.
Pass the ball FORWARD and FAST. Every sideways pass gives the opposition time to retreat and re-organise. Why do top-flight pros need a touch when not under pressure to control the ball before passing ?? That split second gives opposition time to retreat etc. I have no grounds for complaint if after an attempt to Barcelona your way thru the bus parked outside the opposition box fails, IF after they hoof the ball clear the ball is back at their box at most 8 seconds after. Similarly say 10 seconds after an attack in your penalty box breaks down.
I know what I would do and that is stop as many players as possible from flying halfway round the world to play for their country. This way, we would not see so many lethargic, tired, knackered players running on empty. We have looked sluggish on too many occasions this season and it will catch up with us very soon.
Had forgotten that after the city match there was an international break and our 5 match win less streak started then.
Any team missing its best player will suffer a dip in form. Take Aguero away from City, Sanchez from Arsenal, Hazard from Chelsea - they will also struggle. I think two key factors are at play here though: 1) This is the one I've been banging on about for a week now: Beyond simply being our best player, Harry is also our most essential. In the same vein as we all took note of Dembele's absence earlier in the season as missing the crucial link between defense and attack, Harry represents the crucial link between attack and goals. And the funny thing is, the link he provides is about much, much more than simply the goals he personally scores. I refuse to accept that Lamela, Eriksen and Alli's collective loss of form is unfortunately timed synchronised coincidence. The more likely explanation is that the absence of a striker who can play in any of the 4 'forward' positions, and do it superbly, has affected all of them. Harry can pick the ball up wide left, wide right, deep centre, up top...and he is equally as lethal with it in every position. This ability is what -more than anything - opens up the time and space for our other advanced players to exploit and start chipping in with goals and assists of their own. The downside of my theory is that it essentially says that Harry is irreplaceable. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a single player in the world beyond Messi and Bale who can do what he does - and even they lack his tenacity and work rate. And yes, I did just say Harry's name in the same sentence as two of the best players in the world. Because he is too. 2) Our transfer business - whilst overall satisfactory and unusually risque - left a number of problems unsolved. In Janssen, we acquired a desperately needed back-up up front, but one who is basically a player who shares some of Harry's strengths (two footed, tenacious, excellent work rate, holds the ball up and lays it off well), all of his weaknesses (not the quickest, often seems too eager to impact games and as a result misses out on taking up good positions and waiting patiently), and has more weaknesses of his own (can only seem to pass short distances with accuracy, not as good on the turn, simply not as intelligent with the ball, no where near as lethal). In other words, Janssen is an inferior version of Kane. I don't think that is rocket science. We really should've signed another striker with a completely different skill set to both of them, to really give us something different up top. Someone small, quick, skillful, poacher type. Oh yes, someone like Jermain Defoe. The reason he was so successful off the bench was that once oppositions defenses had the measure of us after 60-70 minutes, we simply threw on a player with a skill set totally different to anything else in that measure, and suddenly the opposition found themselves with tired legs and back to square one. In N'Koudou, we acquired another N'Jie. In Wanyama, we acquired another Dier. In Sissoko, we acquired...I'm not entirely sure yet. Bottom line: unless the enigma that is Sissoko hits the heights he hit with France, we signed 4 players who are too similar to their counterparts to give us 'something different' when a game is crying out for it. I hope and pray that these thoughts were on Poch's mind when he spoke about needing more depth to the squad after the WBA game. People moaning about a lack of a plan B have to realise that our squad doesn't exactly lend itself to having one, hence earlier on in the season our 'Plan B' was to just throw Janssen on with Kane and hope for the best.
Too reliant on an in form Kane. There is no viable alternative at present. It was the reason you didn't win the title last season. Whilst the total of goals scored was impressive, the distribution was more telling. There were too many 0s or 1s in games which resulted in dropped points. Only Kane delivered goals when it mattered (many of Alli's were the icing on the cake). It's difficult to find another striker who can sit on the bench for long periods and then score consistently when called upon. The alternative is for players to chip in from other areas of the pitch - which sounds simple given the ability of players like Alli, Son, Eriksen and Lamela, but in reality, when chasing an equaliser or winner in games where opponents are resolute, you can't expect players to suddenly find a striker's instinct. Match winners come with big price tags.
To expand on this a little, it would also help if we had a player who could bring the ball forward quickly and continue the momentum. For example, Dembele is superb at bringing the ball forward...but rather than look to play a through ball, instead he plays the conservative pass even though that pass is counter-intuitive to the move he was starting. As I touched on in another thread, we do have an outlet for fast, direct passes forward: Alderweireld. That leads to the obvious issue that, with him out injured, not only have we lost an out ball if our back line is under pressure, but we've also lost an outlet to spring quick counter attacks as not only do neither Dier nor Vertonghen have those sorts of chipped passes in their locker, they usually don't even attempt them in the first place.
What concerns me is the general lack of creativity and belief in the final 3rd and that cannot all come down to Kanes' absence. We bemoaned the effect of our end of season implosion and then the impact of the England debacle in the Euros. No doubt having 2/3 key players at less than 100% will cause problems, but all teams suffer injuries and suspensions - and international breaks - but a couple of key 'creative' players have not turned up yet: Eriksen & Lamela. Neither had the busy summer of their Euro-committed colleagues so it's less easy to identify reasons for their poor form. The trouble is that we don't appear to have any ready-made replacements to step in when these two need rotating. Not that it is easy to find these of course. I am proud of the club investing in young English players, but at some point they have to step up. From what I have seen, Carroll should be the Eriksen shadow but just isn't there and has run out of time. Winks is still a possibility but looks a long way off. Sissoko & N'Koudou may turn out to be good signings, but Kanes imminent return should help provide some answers. Janssen has worked hard and you can see a decent player in there - but it's not like he's had a heap of chances to miss. He's not been given the service. Not at all sure what the answer/'s is but have a feeling that unless things change in the next couple of weeks then we may be bringing in some new faces in the new year. Edit: And if bringing in an additional goalscorer is on the list, one that we could and probably should have signed last window will now cost upwards of £40m - as Moussa Dembele is now subject of a bidding war. Hope there was a good reason for not securing his services from Fulham when we were in the box seat.
Another crucial aspect missing is the Alli-Kane link that flourished so incredibly quickly last season. Teams are rightly identifying the youngster as the player most likely to make things happen for us, and are marking him out of the game as much as possible as Leicester did yesterday. Kane's industry will give Dele the pockets of space that he needs to wreak havoc in the final third. But I agree, lamela and eriksen have been mystifyingly poor this season. Both are more than experienced enough to step up even when Kane is absent. Indeed, their first 1.5 years at the club were played when Kane was still merely a glint in Sherwood's eye. I also don't think it has much to do with lack of competition for their spots as we have much more now than last season with Son, Sissoko and GKN all seeing plenty of game time so far. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but if there isnt a drastic improvement after Kane returns, we should seriously consider cashing in on one of them in January and going all out for someone like Isco.
If Isco was a realistic option then he would be worth a punt. Top player and seemingly exactly the answer to most of the points made on this thread.
Dembele seems to have gone back into his shell this season. The driving runs of last season to the opposition box have not resumed. Add that to Eriksen not fronting up, Lamela regressing 2 seasons and Son blowing hot and cold, you can see the attacking problems with or without Kane. "As I touched on in another thread, we do have an outlet for fast, direct passes forward: Alderweireld." Of all the CBs, Toby understands that the ball must be brought quickly back to the opposition half. Jan has a bit too much sideways tappy in him IMHO. This is where Pochettino has to start earning his MANAGERIAL (not coaching) wages.
Dembele needs time. That was his first full game for us in the league all season IIRC. I really hope he turns beast mode on for Arsenal as we'll need him and Wanyama to control the midfield. Lamela for me hasn't been awful; he's still working really hard and constantly looking to make things happen. Eriksen has been the real disappointment this season. Corners remain utterly shyte, free kicks are slowly degenerating into the same class of crud as the corners, work rate has gone, tenacity non-existent, and just seems to spend large periods of games wandering around aimlessly. Is he sulking because Juve or Madrid didn't swoop for him in the summer? I remember at the time that we signed him there was a Dutch poster called Clove or something who warned that for all of Eriksen's mercurial brilliance, he did have a tendency to drift out of games. We saw that semi-frequently in his first few seasons, but as the team around him has developed and grown in ability, he doesn't seem to be raising his game in tandem, and as a result the 'drifting' is becoming a more frequent issue. I'll cut him some slack until January but right now he is contributing nothing to the team other than useless set-pieces. But he'd be the first to go in my opinion: could could probably fetch a higher price than Coco and already has a number of potential suitors.
Firmino and Mane are great players, agreed. Especially in the system we play. But to suggest Dele is anywhere near Coutinho's level is a little bit daft my friend!
I find myself in almost total agreement with everything CK has said here. Eriksen is definitely doing nothing to warrant a place in the team at the moment. I too worry about our recruitment, we signed good players and I am pleased that they all joined, they have given us a better squad and in theory we should be able to rotate and keep players fresh because we now have like for like replacements that we lacked previously. But what we don't have are game changers, N'Koudou could be, but he will need time to settle and unfortunately even if we got Isco in January the chances of him arriving ready to be an instant game changer in the premier league are slim. I would still like a different style of striker someone quick and direct (Defoe but younger), and with experience in this league, but I am struggling to come up with a name.
Last season they looked neck and neck although this season I agree - the Brazilian has upped ante and is benefittting enormously from the form of the players around him. Give Dele until the age of 24 (4 years) and he'll be one of the best in the world, of that I'm sure.
