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Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea

Discussion in 'Tottenham Hotspur' started by PleaseNotPoll, Sep 17, 2021.

  1. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    Pass map time

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    I mean we can see one obvious issue there, namely how Son and Lo Celso are both playing higher up than Harry Kane, but more than anything else you see what I've said is the issue plain as day when you see the lines from all of our wide players - and not just the wingers, but all our wide players

    * Reguilon is finding Sonny and has plenty of interplay with Dele and Hojbjerg, but nothing to Kane
    * Emerson is having plenty of interplay with Lo Celso, but none with Ndombele and nothing to Kane
    * Lo Celso is regularly getting the ball from Ndombele and Holbjerg is finding him enough, but nothing to Kane

    The exception to this is Sonny, who is finding Kane (and getting the ball from him too) yet the issue is that Reguilon is the only other player getting the ball to him reliably enough, and realistically we need one of Dele or Hojbjerg to be finding Sonny to get more fluidity into our attacking play (or, to put it another way, introduce unpredictability to our attacking play)

    And this is the aggravating thing: we have a clearly defined shape as opposed to the flat line we had against Palace, we're progressing the ball from defence to midfield so much better than we did under the ubermensch because not only is Hojbjerg dropping back to receive the ball from the CBs but Dier and Romero are reliably finding Dele and Ndombele respectively (and Dier is able to get a few crossfield balls to Ndombele too), and we're getting the ball out to Reguilon from Dier, Dele and Hojbjerg to bring the left flank into the game well even though the lack of similar activity on the right flank does have to be highlighted, yet because nobody is pushing through the middle be it Kane staying up or Dele/Ndombele moving into the space Kane is leaving behind it's undermining our tactical plan because after getting the ball forward on the flanks there's nobody in the middle to aim for while there's also nobody occupying defenders in the middle to allow Sonny or GLC to break into the box
     
    #161
  2. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    Our squad cost more than Palace and they battered us.

    We had just 2 attempts against them.

    They were the better team throughout.

    City have a vastly better squad but we deserved our win over them.

    So it is too reductionist to say we were not able to play good football cos they spent more imo.
     
    #162
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  3. littleDinosaurLuke

    littleDinosaurLuke Well-Known Member

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    Tuchel has the huge advantage of being able to spend very big to improve his squad - as he has done.
    It then becomes a lot easier to motivate them - which he is proving very good at.
    Nuno has spent money in an attempt to prevent the squad being weakened, with no real prospect of actually improving it.
    His attempt to motivate is to create a siege type mentality based on being defensively sound and hard to beat - which is more akin to Burnley than Chelsea. It looked good to begin with, but is proving to be unsuited to players he has, just as it was for Mourinho.
     
    #163
  4. PowerSpurs

    PowerSpurs Well-Known Member

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    Who?
     
    #164
  5. PowerSpurs

    PowerSpurs Well-Known Member

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    On average the money wins. Anyone can have a good or bad match. Occasionally a team can have a good or bad season.
     
    #165
  6. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    You have an attacker that is apparently worth £200m on the pitch most games plus Son and Deli who were reputedly worth a fortune too.
     
    #166
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  7. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    The point is we need a midfield that can control games, something we've lacked since Dembele and Wanyama went into rapid decline during the 2018-19 season, and that issue was exacerbated by the ubermensch deciding the midfield is just the first line of defence if we were 1-0 up and somehow never figured out that maybe that strategy wasn't a very good one

    This issue is being addressed to a degree, as our midfield certainly has the solidity to it that it sorely lacked at any stage since Poch introduced The Formation That Shall Not Be Named, but the solidity only pays off if the key areas of the team needed in the final third (namely the FBs, wingers and CF) click with what the system requires, and this is the issue because the last few games have had at least one of those not do that
    Chelsea - Kane playing too deep
    Rennes - no like-for-like replacement after Bergwijn & Lucas went off
    Palace - the wide players playing too deep, which meant Kane was dropping into central midfield and playing almost as deep as Harry Winks did

    As a result we always find a way to not occupy their defenders, for example today Chelsea's CBs had all the time in the world to deal with whatever Son or Lo Celso aimed into the box as Kane wasn't occupying them, Rennes' LB could relax after Bergwijn & Lucas were taken out as we effectively switched all our attacks to our left flank, and Palace's defenders may as well have brought a deck of cards

    The obvious question is whether players are adapting to the tactics but doing so at different speeds, whether players have picked up bad habits which they're shedding at differing speeds, or the third option where they're being drilled into very specific tactics that their minds are occupied on the tactics and not the situation they're playing in
     
    #167
  8. Dier Hard

    Dier Hard G'day mate!

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    He won the Champions League with Lampard's team as he never made a signing in the January window.

    He's only signed one permanent player so far in Lukaku, granted for a lot of money but Chelsea only spent about £40m more than us this window. Both teams signed players on loan with options to buy and those future fees would cancel one another out.

    Nuno isn't going to win over fans or players with his current approach, he's not motivating anyone and he's sucking the life out of our two top stars, if it continues he won't even make Christmas.
     
    #168
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  9. PowerSpurs

    PowerSpurs Well-Known Member

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    We controlled the whole game in the first half but then gave them two goals. What happened after that isn’t important as we had to take risks which left us wide open to the counter.
     
    #169
  10. BobbyD

    BobbyD President

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    think we spent less than you this season. Granted, none who would have been guaranteed starters (zouma, abraham, tomori went for around 95m). Lukaku has made a giant difference though as he can hold up the ball and run with it.

    Everyone else we played up there last season were weak as piss as well as have no ability to go past players (well werner can kick and run but not very well)
     
    #170

  11. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    We were awful v Palace, Pacos (a), Rennes, and fortunate against Watford and wolves.
    None of those are spending anywhere near as us financially.

    I never complain about not consistently being in the top 5 or about not winning trophies but a lack money does not excuse the non performances that we have seen against teams such as Brighton (x3), Watford (x2), Palace (x2), Fulham (x2), Everton (x4), West Ham (x3), Leicester (x2 or 3), Arsenal , villa (x2), wolves (x2) Norwich (x2), Southampton (x2 or 3), Newcastle (x2), Colchester, rennes, paccos, Liepzig (x2) Zagreb, Bournemouth (x2) Sheffield United (x2)the past 18-24 months.
    I haven't included any of the top 4 teams. And the Watford and wolves games from this season are not included.
    That list is off the top of my head.

    It clearly shows that we are not in a good state and ain't been for 2 years.

    Like I said ... over reacting is an issue but so is denial.

    There is no reason that we should be playing turgid football against these teams if it is a money issue.

    Our players are not producing the goods against teams with far less money on a regular basis
     
    #171
  12. Dier Hard

    Dier Hard G'day mate!

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    We spent around £60m which was on Gil, Emerson and Sarr. Romero and Gollini are here on loan at the moment with purchase options, similar to you lot with Saul.

    Net spend though you’d have probably spent less.
     
    #172
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  13. BobbyD

    BobbyD President

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    Sorry i should have said netspend but yes we splashed it on a missing piece of the Jigsaw whilst having a relatively strong team already.
     
    #173
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  14. Dier Hard

    Dier Hard G'day mate!

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    Yeah just edited to take net into context, lol.

    We didn’t sell anyone of major value, Toby, Foyth and Sissoko went for about a combined £20m-£25m. Winks refused to leave, no one wanted fatty and we seemingly didn’t even bother putting dross like Dele or Lo Celso up for sale.
     
    #174
  15. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    You sound like the giving of two goals was incidental.
    They got a lucky deflection but once they scored the first I feared the worst because we do not attack enough as the stats show.
    The 2nd half was poor by any standards imo.
    And it follows on a long pattern of not being able to string together two good halves on even a semi regular basis...this has been the case since before Pochettino was sacked.
     
    #175
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  16. Bullet tooth Tony

    Bullet tooth Tony Well-Known Member

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    Big mistake....Huge.
     
    #176
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  17. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Yep, man asked for backing so Levy sacked him. Since then he has had to back Jose and Nuno plus pay for the sackings <doh>
     
    #177
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  18. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    Not accurate tbf.
    To be clear I was against sacking him.

    That summer we spent close on £140m
    On Pochettino's main targets of
    Sessegnon £25m
    Ndombele £60m
    Lo Celso £40m
    Jack Clarke £10m

    We crashed and burned throughout September and October (including our worst home defeat ever ... 2-7 in the CL and losing to Colchester).

    Tbh our domestic form had been abysmal from January 2019 until November 2029 with the CL run to the final papering over the cracks.
    From Xmas 2018 to November 2019 we got something like 35 points from 30 league games.

    None of the 4 signings did a thing (and still haven't) which added to the pressure.

    I think he should have been given til the end of the season but these are the actual facts behind the sacking...appointing JM was plain moronic
     
    #178
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  19. Diego

    Diego Lone Ranger

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    Then my **** up <ok>
    I honestly thought they were Poch's picks but bought after he left.
     
    #179
  20. remembercolinlee

    remembercolinlee Well-Known Member

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    Nah...all came in Summer 2019.
    Lo Celso was on loan with an agreement to be made permanent.
    Can't think of 4 worse wastes of money for what they've delivered so far!
     
    #180
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