I thought we passed the ball more fluidly and kept it better, there was less backwards and sideways slowing down our attacks, it was no coincidence Sissoko was missing from the team. We could easily have scored more if we were more clinical, Lucas when he came on failed to see a pass, he really has zero vision and is basically a head down and run merchant. Overall a much needed 3 points, I hope this result was not just papering over some cracks with Varpool`s 13 men coming to town next.
Didn't watch the game, just saw the highlights. Good win and an unbelievable goal from Tanguy. Also by the looks of things Kane was in the mood and on a wavelength above everyone else on the pitch. One thing struck me about their goal and that was Dier's horrendous attempt to command the backline. Try to find highlights without crowd noise and you'll hear him shout "get out" while waving the line forwards just before the sheff utd player receives the ball to put in the cross. It visibly confuses Davies and Reguilon, who are both facing McGoldrick and more aware of his threat than Dier is. Granted, they should react quicker and move up as a unit but the call came just a second or two too late and for me demonstrates that he isn't the right player to lead the line.
Given our track record with Brazilian players, it's safe for most Spurs fans to say their reputation greatly exceeds their quality...
The thing that struck me about today was...that there isn't a team in this league that we can't contrive to concede a goal against. If we let this lot score, then everyone should be getting at least one against us. As our main tactic since West Ham has been scoring a single goal and falling back to protect it, I've been calling bullshit on that for some time and am hoping that we pack that **** in and try to score a few more goals before we fall back after half time and concede.
The difference I noticed was that we passed with speed most of the time, a lot with just one or two touches and players moved in front of the ball to receive it in the 2nd half instead of of staying behind it.
Think that's a result of: A) Having Tanguy deeper, he's a dictator of play with Dembele-esque skill but Modric-esque passing, so having him too advanced at times means we don't have anyone controlling the middle. B) Not having Winks and Sissoko on the pitch. One soils himself at the thought of a forward pass, the other doesn't have the technique to make a good enough pass. C) Sheffield Utd are pretty **** and thus our higher level of quality shone through. Which is what should've been the case against Fulham too but our line up prevented us from being as crisp as we were today.
Whilst his fitness has been/ still is a concern, I don't think it was a coincidence that Tanguy was able to play 90 mins today in a game where we generally controlled the tempo. He wasn't having to constantly chase the opposition around and tire himself out like what we've done in a lot second halves in recent weeks. We won't have it as easy today against others, we have to remember that but there's also a lot of teams in this league that we are clear of in terms of genuine quality and so ensuring we dictate those games is imperative. Against the City's/ Pool's of the world and also in big London derbies where the tempo is mad, it's understandable to be the team that does a lot of the chasing and countering but against the Sheffield's/ Fulham's/ Palace's of the world, we need to ensure they're chasing us for a good 85% of the match.
Harry Kane: "It's never been the manager saying that (we should sit back) it's been us on the pitch having a mentality where we want to drop and hold on to to the win. The most important thing is us as players to go and take responsibility, and we did that today”
Some of these so called media match commentators and TV pundits know next to sweet f-a. They wouldn't know their own ass(es) from their elbow(s). N'dombele plays well... so all you hear is:- 'it's all Jose's doing...credit to Jose'. They would have you believe Mourinho taught N'dombele how to play football, taught him close ball control skills, even give him power of sight together with a thorough kick up the ass for good measure.... lest he forgets.... of course. I'm amassed, amused and sometimes embarrassed (for them) by the level of ignorance that is spouted these days on match day. Some of the idiots are paid good money.
Pundits talking ****? Who’d have thought it!? To be fair though Jose never takes that credit from them. Always says it’s down to the player whilst he’s even admitted Levy got involved too. I respect that, another manager could easily take the credit and boast about it like they’ve worked wonders but he’s simply put most of the praise back on Tanguy.
Ndombele would have been out the door had Levy not intervened. Our Chairman and manager work on entirely different methodologies and timetables.
As a sort of post-postscript to yesterday's game, I just wanted to place on record my anger and frustration at the poor quality of the commentary on Sky. 1) They had an agenda (pro-Spurs) which they promoted throughout. 2) They both had inadequate mastery of the English language. 3) They indulged in private conversations for minutes on end, while ignoring events on the field, and therefore..... 4)... in particular, failed to record the quite numerous errors by Spurs defenders when Sheffield United were attacking threateningly in the first half. This links back to point (1). Nobody on here can doubt my loyalty to Spurs, I trust, but I don't want to be fed an inappropriately one-sided narrative. Rant over.