I completely understand, mate. Me personally I'm just a ****ing idiot to be frank, I've already had covid once already so you'd think I'd be more wary than others but no, still the same stupid DH who acts like everything's normal, lol. Don't get me wrong, I mask up whenever I'm on a train and whenever I'm in a shop/ closed space (well, apart from when I go pub and that's where I ****ing caught covid during the Euros final ) but generally it's business as usual for me. Yeah football provides some class memories, even if you're a Spurs fan, lol. I always enjoy reading other's favourite moments on here. I think that's part of the reason why I'm still going games instead of making the smarter choice to stay away and avoid the risks. I don't blame a single person that's staying away though, I have quite a few family members who are ST holders - my Mum included - and most of them haven't been to many games since fans have been allowed. It's only me and one Cousin who've been going, along with our mates... You can tell who the dickheads of the family are
As MLS in America is end of season,isn't there a couple of bargains there we could use for some games? Can't be worse than what we've got!
There's this young right back, Anton Walkes, who could be a good backup for Emerson ...bugger, he joined Charlotte last month
I think this could actually be what's causing Hojbjerg to come in for some stick, the fact Skipp is so clearly our best CM right now and is nearing the level we as fans want/ expect, it's showing everyone else up. Last season Hojbjerg had Winks, Sissoko, Ndombele and Lo Celso to contend with, it was essentially a semi-pro boxer alongside a bunch of pub louts, so he easily stood out. Now we've got a young future champion alongside this semi-pro boxer and it's becoming clear that the latter - despite still being our second best CM - is actually someone who we could upgrade on. I think Hojbjerg will be a brilliant squad player - similar to Lucas - but both players are likely not ones you'd want starting regularly if you harbour hopes of being a top four/ six side, though you absolutely need them in your squad.
You've cited numerous examples from when he played under managers who had the tactical imagination of an empty cardboard box. It isn't at all surprising that a defensive midfielder with excellent stamina, work rate and ability to play short passes to more speedy, gifted players will do well under such managers. Now that Conte has come in and introduced a more tactically demanding system, you have cited half a game in which Hojbjerg has done well and even that was more for his attacking rather than defensive contributions as West Ham played through us like a damp tissue. So, 0.5 games and counting under Conte and my personal feeling having watched what Conte expects from his CM is that number ain't going to increase much.
You're changing the goal posts, your initial line was he hasn't performed against decent opposition, I proved otherwise now you're saying that he's not had many good games under Conte - which is a debatable statement again because he has. It's not just half a game he's done well in under Conte either, I listed the good opposition games he'd done well in as that's what your initial claim was against, if we're talking in general under Conte then he's actually played quite well in most, just as most of the players have. With regards to the West Ham game though, his defensive contributions were certainly noticeable too because it was in that game he bailed out Winks big time and was pivotal in us keeping West Ham out after they came on strong, you only have to go on the Matchday Thread to see people thought he played well. He was dreadful tonight and he didn't play that well against Watford but some of the criticism he's received is massively OTT.
I really don't get the sudden turning on Hojbjerg in recent weeks, which is especially evident in the Twitter and Reddit crowd, as it looked like they woke up one morning and the hive mind had decided he was the new lightning rod because of reasons Although I have the sneaking suspicion that Conte saying Ndombele is a midfielder and not much else may have something to do with it, as with him very publicly snubbed that meant he wasn't going to play - and that means somebody else needs to be blamed for everything
I don’t know that it’s necessarily turning on him as much as the things which have always been apparent about him becoming more stark. I think it’s way too far to say he’s the root cause of all our problems, either tonight or in general, but he was very poor in that game we just saw. He’s not part of the long term solution as a starter and I for one have definitely been holding off that judgement because thus far during his time at Spurs he’s been amongst the best of a bad bunch, as much for his attitude and fitness as anything else, which is damning on the rest of them. Now we have a better player alongside him in Skippy, and a more defined and effective way of playing, his shortcomings are becoming more apparent. I think it was Libby or one of the other Southampton posters who came on here when we signed Højbjerg to warn that he wasn’t entirely the player his excellent stats suggested and that’s proving to be a good call. He’s a top pro, but seems to be very much a systems player. He’s also suffering from being overplayed as others have said.
The sad truth is standards have plummeted so low over the past 2.5 years we have actually come to value players like Hojbjerg and Lucas when they are never taking us to where we aspire to be. Never. Same could be said about Dier, Sanchez and Davies after a series of decent performances. We'd be mistaken to assume that these players have magically become good enough to challenge for serious achievements after 3+ years of failing to do so. They are made to look good by the bilge we've accumulated all around them. I think Conte alluded to this in his pretty brutal post match comments today. He emphasised how Spurs' level has fallen really low over 2 years and that anyone thinking we've turned a corner is sorely mistaken. He essentially called us a bang average team and that is exactly what we are. A bang average team filled with bang average players, and Hojbjerg is firmly one of them. It is mesmerising that other posters can't see it but to each his own I suppose.
I guess the middle ground is that you don’t need 11 word class players to win a trophy. Especially a cup. You need 2/3 and for the rest to be reliable. The rest is down to coaching and how the team is set up. The issue for me is that there are probably 3/4 positions in the starting XI where I’d say the players aren’t even reliable, let alone more. Too many individual errors and inconsistencies both going forward and defensively. Issues with both technique and concentration/mentality. Klopp’s Liverpool at their peak were a great example of this. Top class keeper, fullbacks, wingers and one CB but the midfield were decidedly workmanlike. But they set up in a way to get the best out of what they had. I think Klopp is a ****er but he’s clearly an excellent coach. The two teams I can think of recently who were genuinely top class 1-11 were Zidane’s Real Madrid and Pep’s Barca, but even then there were 1/2 in each of those sides who wouldn’t be considered among the best in the world in their positions. It’s really rare to look at a team and see that though. Conte is right about how far we have fallen though. I was thinking earlier about Poch’s best team and how many of them would be considered amongst the best, if not the best, in their positions in the league. We’re miles off that now. We’re 3/4 players away from having a starting XI that would be reliably competitive against the top sides.
If you can see something the manager doesn't see until it's too late, you're unlikely to be very happy with the manager's performance. This match at least seemed to show that the 3-4-3 is too weak in midfield against the top teams, at least in conjunction with how the 3-5-2 played against Liverpool, and four at the back yesterday. Tuchel outthought Conte by adding a midfielder. While Conte did better than other Spurs managers in changing the system at halftime, he really should have changed it 5 or 10 minutes in. It also showed that in periods of fixture congestion, better to rotate with players of comparable ability than to run the usual lineup into the ground. You could always see when Eriksen was playing his fourth game in two weeks. Son has looked utterly exhausted for a couple of games now and has become where Spurs attacks go to die. Hojbjerg isn't much better. Those players of comparable ability include Bryan, Ndombele, Winks, Sessegnon, lo Celso and Dele. They don't include Tanganga and Doherty, at least when Doherty plays on the left. Why Conte subs Skipp before Hojbjerg remains a mystery. One of the problems yesterday was a general timidity so pronounced that players constantly underhit passes and seemed afraid to shoot. Ndombele's shot near the beginning of the second half, as woeful as it was, was a positive sign. And yet, you could see why Conte likes his 5-2-3. Spurs were battered and played wretchedly. Yet it took an atrocious pass + some atrocious defending + an own goal for the first Chelsea score, and and an unlucky deflection for their second. It's a hard system to score against, and seemed to him a good choice when 0-0 would have been a good result. But see above.
I always look for the positives in a performance as many of you will remember. I've reconsidered the match and concluded that we could easily have lost by a lot more goals than we did. There you go, a positive take on the result. Pip pip!
The extra mid came from Ziyech who tucked into the middle even though he was starting off on the wing. I guess you got to see if these things are one offs or a strategy then react. Conte’s only fault is to have 45 minutes faith in this collection of players. Their 2 goals looked extremely clumsy from our pov…embarrassing, the defence looked scared, on the back foot. Their eyes looked like they’ve just had to go up against a Pepsi World XI. They were a jittery mess and the weak energy made it nervous viewing. It’s a shame we weren’t playing anyone outside of the top 15, we might have looked like bosses then because that is their level.
Maybe just me but I feel embarrassed when I see Conte in the dugout managing a toothless set of footballers. I feel some kind of shame for the Cockerel like that’s what we give him when he decides to manage our badge true story
Cup tie over. Needed to have kept the GD deficit to 1, for the return leg (Chelsky will score at least once in that game) . No point in going over the 1st half performance (nothing there that we do not already know) .
Avert your eyes, children, it's passmap time! please log in to view this image Right off the bat you can see the obvious stepdown from Dier to Sanchez, because while Dier gets the ball rolling to both midfield and the other CBs, here we see Sanchez essentially passing the buck of that role onto Tanganga - which worked out brilliantly for their first goal. The fact that Hugo is getting the ball forward so much, with him finding Kane, Lucas, Tanganga, Davies and Sanchez also underlines the issue, given Conte's systems are reliant on the CBs building up the play. Would it have looked different if Rodon didn't have a rib injury and lined up in the middle? Honestly, it might well have, at least in terms of the ball moving from the back to Skipp/Hojbjerg The left flank, of course, is also a trainwreck as Doherty's barely getting forward coupled with the fact that at no point did he find a teammate with the ball, with Davies having to do two jobs down that flanks as not only is he linking up with Hojbjerg but he's also getting the ball to Son, while Doherty? He's probably looking to delete a few more tweets out there
Only one way we go through The fans up to them to set the bar of expectancy for the team by making some serious noise get first goal early and the roof should come off
Our team seems to lack game intelligence the decision making seems stupid on the whole manager after manager are failing to reduce this factor…maybe the players on the whole are just not intelligent enough. Wether we like the manager or not, wether we think he is past it or not, too rigid with formations etc etc…these players on the whole have been managed by serial winners, elite managers aswell as Nuno yet none of them seem to reduce this when we reflect on their time with us.
From a Chelsea perspective I'm disappointed. I'd have taken 2-0 before the game but the way it went I felt we could and should have put the tie to bed in the first leg. The next goal in the tie will be key but I'm hoping we can put out a strong team in the 2nd leg and see the tie out.
