It was a good game and our change of tactics is a reassuring sign from Pochettino that he is not hide bound and recognised, after the performance in the CL, that change was needed. Over all we controlled much of the game without looking too sharp in front of goal, which is, of course, no surprise following our recent lack of goals. As a team we looked assured and are at our best when snapping quick passes. Too often we start with the quick passes but become more deliberate as we fail to convert chances. Kind of opposite to panic mode but not very effective. Most goals come from the ball changing direction at speed so that defenders and keepers cannot react quick enough. Moving the ball quickly when going forward should be what we try to do throughout the game, only then will we address our poor goal return IMO. Arsenal going forward do this better than us and therefore looked more capable of scoring than we did, although having said that we had 2 off the woodwork to their 1. Based on that performance I think Arsenal have the better attack and we have the better defence and midfield. Hopefully the return of Kane will improve things.
Spurs have nothing to fear against the usual suspects, who usually come to try and play. The issue is that against the lower end clubs they accrue the points while Spurs are repeatedly frustrated or laboured.
It might not look pretty but we slowed things down at the right times imo. Arsenal were trying to press us by pushing up their midfield. When we got past the midfield it was great, the likes of Son, Kane, Eriksen and Rose and we got at Arsenal. When we passed it sideways or back it was because the right passes to do that weren't on. Better to keep possession than risk playing into their hands by conceding the ball when they press. There are 2 main issues that are undermining us at the moment, we're not making the most of the times we do get to run at their defence and the finishing still simply isn't there when we do. We had a lot of chances today that we could have done much more with. It would also help if we stopped hitting the bloody woodwork so much! I know Arsenal hit it too today but that's 4 times in the last 3 games for us and we had a few more against Bournemouth and West Brom too! It'd just be nice to see something that wasn't a bloody penalty hit the back of the net
I agree with all that NKNG but I still think we become too deliberate at times. Especially against teams without so many gifted players. Speed will kill the bus parkers more effectively than trying to walk the ball through. Our advantage over teams like WBA and Burnley is the ball skills of our players that should enable us to be quicker than them, if we don't use it we allow them time to defend and we have levelled the playing field.In fact we pass the initiative to them.
Arsenal have had six home league games and been poor in five of them so I wouldn't necessarily suggest Spurs tactics nullified us. Either lots of teams have worked out how to nullify us to some extent at the Emirates, or we're just a bit not quite as good as we think at home. Only against Chelsea have we looked impressive and that was when they were in tactical disarray themselves. Versus Liverpool we were mediocre and got dicked. Versus Swansea and Southampton we were lucky to labour to narrow victories . Versus Middlesbrough and spurs we laboured to draws that could quite easily have been losses. We've been struggling for consistent home league performances for a good long while now. 7pts dropped at home already in only six games is classic 'top 4 but not champions' material.
But as with Spurs ,you are getting the points and currently staying in the mix. When a gap opens up between you and those above is when you start to worry.
I agree but sides like West Brom, in particular, are very good at stiffling more creative sides. Sometimes it's better to keep the ball for a bit longer and try to build an attack rather than throw everything at them and leave ourselves vulnerable to the counter, which is what they play for. There are times we do it too much but today we had a good balance to our play.
I've been thinking about this a bit, in between chuckling over the thought of poor AKCJ all alone with his collection of memes, and if you think about it, it is actually quite a significant change. The one aspect of Wanyama's game that I'm still not overly convinced by is his ability to drop into the '3' when Rose and Walker push up. I may be stating the obvious, but Dier seems much more comfortable doing it simply because he is a CB by trade. Indeed, it is probably the only area of play where I still rate Dier above the Kenyan. Comparing the defensive display today to that of midweek, and even though the pissing about with the ball was alarmingly frequent in both instances, we seemed much calmer today. A large factor behind that is that Wanyama isn't as comfortable on the ball as many of our CB's - particularly with regards to the long-range diagonal passes that Toby, Jan and Dier use plentifully. Shifting to 3 fixed players at the back relieves Victor of these duties, at the same time as allowing him to really stamp his authority on the middle of the park, something that he has been doing more and more as the season progresses. The new system prevents him from getting 'stuck' in a drastically defensive position just because the FB's have crossed the halfway line, and instead gives him much more freedom to roam in more dangerous areas. We saw this today - him and Dembele were constantly winning the ball back deep inside the Arsenal half and if only our front men been quicker to show for the pass, we might've nicked all 3 points. Rose and Walker admittedly looked a bit thrown off by the system, but grew into it as the game progressed. There is no question that both players are good enough and fit enough to master it. I will also say that it may bring the best out in Trippier, as the FB's have less ground to cover at astonishing pace if they know that 3 players are covering them at the back. A line up of: Hugo Dier Toby Jan Walker Wayama Dembele Rose Alli Kane Son Looks pretty impressive on paper, and may well be the catalyst to remind Lamela and Eriksen why they were recently awarded new contracts. In any event, it is nice to have finally seen something resembling a 'Plan B' from Poch. Long overdue.
Decent game of football, 1-1 was a fair result, especially as both sides had decent chances to add to their tallies and both hit the wood work. The formation worked well for this one, it's not the first time we've played three CB's and I wouldn't be disappointed at seeing it again on more away games against the bigger clubs. Despite the ridiculous own goal, I thought Wimmer came in and done well for his first league appearance. I say ridiculous because while Arsenal may have had players in an offside position, at that exact moment a defender can never be too sure and I felt his positioning when heading the ball was just so wrong, leaning back towards your goal and eventually near enough facing it when connecting with the header was just a recipe for disaster. Thought Jan was superb again, he's really upped his game even more this season, especially in Toby's absence, marshalled our back line well and dealt with practically anything that came his way. Full backs were ok, both involved in the wars and hopefully Kyle was taken off as a precaution more so than an actual injury, as that'd be the last thing we need. Dembele showed no signs of fatigue - finally! - and was back to his best, bossing the midfield and then eventually winning the penalty - which was a clear penalty. He or Jan MOTM for me, close call. Harry coming back was beautiful to see, hate to say it but I feel there's currently a huge gap in quality between him and Janssen, don't get me wrong I like Janssen's work rate but Kane just has that "it factor" about him, the team tends to play much better with him leading the line. Make no mistake though, at 22 and being in his debut season in England, Janssen has plenty of time to improve and I believe he will with time but for right now, Kane is a cut above. Thought Wanyama had a poor game, his poorest in a Spurs shirt, lost possession a few times and didn't seem as beastly as he has been in terms of breaking opposition attacks. Son made a couple of good breaks forward but still isn't hitting his form of September. Eriksen again just failed to deliver, he whipped in one great cross and his freekick that ended up hitting the post was unlucky but just in general there doesn't feel like there's any point playing him as he seems anonymous in games and that's really disappointing for me to say because the older posters on here will tell you how much I was praying we'd sign him long before he was even linked with us. It's his worst spell at the club, I now feel he's had too long to be given the benefit of the doubt, it's time to drop him and make him work and earn his place back. Amazingly the international break is a welcomed distraction for a change, with Toby, Alli and Lamela currently injured, Walker hobbling off and the likes of Kane and Dembele regaining match fitness, some good hard work on the training pitch and rest for others is much needed. On the whole I'd have taken a point at the start of the game if truth be told. Form massively favoured Arsenal and we're just so depleted at the moment that it was looking like a sure thing for Arsenal to leave with the spoils, so knowing it was a very even affair in which no side dominated but produced enough chances to be satisfied with, it's hopefully a marker for us to now improve upon, especially when some of our lads return from injury. Although the media and journo's will never mention it, it must be daunting for opposition teams out there to see Spurs staying in the mix at the top despite playing below standard along with all the injuries we have. We've yet to have the luxury of being able to field our strongest XI all season so far thanks to suspension and injuries and yet we sit just 5 points off an extremely impressive Pool side - imagine what we can do when fully fit and firing on all cylinders! Good point, need a win in a couple of weeks against the pikeys though, by then we should have one or two back plus improved fitness from Kane and Dembele, so things might just be looking on the up.
It wasn't a classic NLD by any stretch of the imagination, if you had offered me a draw before we started I would have taken it without question, and in the end I think a draw was a fair result. When you consider that Arsenal had probably their first choice match day squad available and we had 5 missing, and Harry returning from injury we gave them a very decent match, they were good in the last 15 mins of the 1st half and as such probably deserved the half time lead. We were better in the 2nd half and earned the draw, I was concerned that their subs would have more impact than ours, but all 3 were relatively ineffective fortunately. Dembele was rightly named MOTM and Vertonghen once again ran him close still overall our best player so far this season, I also think Hugo was excellent today, not called upon that often but a very assured performance from him. Now lets withdraw Kane, Walker and Rose from England duty and give them a week off.
'Form favoured arsenal'? 'first choice match day squad available'? Give over. We've played rubbish football at home in the league in 5 of our 6 home games. Where's the 'form' there? Today was no exception. And without Cazorla our central midfield severely lacks guile and ball retention which is shown up against good teams like spurs. Come now. It was a dull game with a few, but not too many, positives for either team. We always seem to draw with each other lately which does us both no favours as we drop 4 pts each a season. Home wins would very more favourable for both teams instead of draws the whole time.
I agree. There should be some sort of agreement negotiated at the beginning of the season whereby both home games are 'declared' 1-0 to the home side, each team picks up 3 points, both sets of fans save on toilet paper, and the NHS isn't dealing with as many cases of heart failure. It's a win-win.
Oh I am sorry I forgot Cazorla, so you had 1 player, missing still a significantly more first choice 18 man squad than the one missing 5 players
Without him we play poorly. It happened last season for a big chunk and it's happening now. We could have our entire squad at full fitness (we don't) but he's probably our biggest miss when he doesn't play. Followed by Sanchez and then Ozil.
"I played 75 minutes. I have trained all week, I am ready to step up for England, I am feeling good, the ankle is fine." Fubbernuck's sake...
4 actually. We also lacked Perez, Mertesacker and Welbeck all who would probably be in our squad. Wilshere too if he hadnt been shipped off due to being injured the whole time. But they would be insignifcant losses compared to Cazorla
Sorry, you know your strengths and weaknesses far better than me (I don't watch you lot very often)! In addition - I will be honest I had completely forgotten about Welbeck and i agree he is a big miss, not sure that Mertesacker and Perez would make your first choice squad, but I have no desire to argue, but all 5 we are missing would be part of our best 18 although the jury is massively out on Sissoko at present
