I decided to rewatch the match in Spanish, since my Spanish oral comprehension needs work. I thought I'd watch the front line and see how they did. Here are my not 100% accurate impressions. Kulusevski: decent to good. Plusses: created the winning goal. Forced a couple of corners. Had a couple of shots. Passed well, and managed to retain possession once when few people would have. Was active and looked dangerous. It was the threat he posed that made Sarr make a run for the far post. Presciently. Minusses: the shots were both straight at the keeper, and he used to be good at finding the side netting. Looked surprisingly slow. There were a couple of balls I thought he'd get to and didn't. Son: bad, but not as bad as I've seen him. The year before last I saw a study of expected versus actual goals. It showed Son had the biggest gap in the five big leagues, so you can fairly call him the best finisher in football. (It's because he's preternaturally good at scoring from tight angles.) He's among the world's best team members. He'll come up with a killer pass from time to time. But...he contributes absolutely nothing other than that. Black hole of possession and turnover machine are phrases which apply to him. But this game he wasn't awful, just bad. Plusses: active the first and third half hours. (He and Richarlison took turns being anonymous). Didn't lose the ball right, left and center. Had a couple of shots. Was involved in one of the prettiest sequences. Looked like a good captain in that he kept his poise well, which he didn't used to do. Minusses: no goal creation. No corner creation. If he wasn't awful passing, he wasn't good either, or even decent. Shot straight at the keeper. Arguably set the Spurs tone for the first 20 minutes by utterly effing up a pretty volleyable volley. Looks like he may be past it. Richarlison: My lord. Plusses: He held the ball up under pressure once. Minusses: No goal creation. No corner creation. No shots. Looked drunk. Awful hold up play. About half the time he received the ball, he lost it immediately, once kickstarting the move which resulted in Man U hitting the bar. Misplayed1/3 of his passes, some of them routine. His confidence is completely shot. As big a fan as anyone may be, there's no question he needs at least a spell on the bench, because he's getting worse by the minute at this point. 30 minutes in, I noticed Sarr, Porro, Udogie and Bissouma all start attacking the box. It looked as if they all decided they needed goals, and they clearly weren't going to get them from Son and Richarlison. Spurs would have been better off with two reserve midfielders or defenders. Anybody who could pass the ball decently, like Emerson, Skipp or Davies, and could provide cover while the others bombed forward.
Good read and agree with 99% of it. The only bit I'd add/ change is from your last paragraph in that with the likes of Sarr and co making runs into the box, that's actually part of Ange's system and not just because of the faltering forward line, as both Hatate and O'Riley at Celtic were encouraged to take up scoring/ attacking opportunities when they presented themselves. It is somewhat strange now though that after years of our forwards bailing this club out, it's now possibly the weak point in our side due to the loss of Kane, the form of Son and Kulu, and the inability of Richarlison. The midfield's looking really good and whilst it's still early days, the defence on paper seems a damn site better, it's just the forward line that's got question marks now I'd say. It goes without saying but we must have a new striker/ centre forward in before the deadline and someone who can go straight into the XI too. Due to pre-season, the loss of Kane and going off of the first two league games, I'm trying to think what type of player is needed; either an Orban type who'll need just a couple half chances a game to score or maybe a Firmino-esque centre forward who can link play between the front three. Kane was obviously both rolled into one which is what made him so special but it's now trying to see which part of Kane's game is most needed - his goals or his linkup play - initially I thought the former but knowing that Ange encourages multiple players to take up scoring positions to share the goal burden, a linkup type of player may prove more beneficial in the grand scheme of things. Tough one though, as I would be very excited about signing Orban, who really does seem the next goal scoring prodigy.
Good point about the system. I at least want someone who's good in possession and passes well. Two more good passers in place of Richarlison and Son would make for a team that could run some other teams pretty ragged. Spending big on a striker is tempting, now that the team looks good enough to get somewhere near the top four...after two games. But I'd rather get another couple of less expensive/less well known players, since it paid off so well with Udogie and Sarr. An expensive striker had better be able to handle pressure well, because it will be enormous if he goes a couple of games without scoring. When Bentancur comes back, would it be crazy to try Sarr as a second striker? There was another tall, thin, very talented DM who worked out there for a while. And Bentancur may have been the second best player after Kane last year, so I think both he and Sarr have to play, as do Bissouma and Maddison.
I still think Sonny can recapture his old form but it can’t be denied there are some concerns we’ll never see top level Son again. But to give him the best chance of doing so he needs that striker/ centre forward who’ll be able to link play with him and Richarlison’s hold up play is non-existent, so when you couple that with a below par finishing ability then it really does beg the question why the Brazilian’s even starting games. I have little issues going for less expensive/ lesser known players but I just want whoever to come in to basically go into the XI. Ange says Veliz likely won’t play in the first half of the season but I’d have no qualms if he changes his mind and throws him in the XI vs Bournemouth, likewise if he done so with Scarlett, I just want to see something different there as I feel like we flogging a dead horse in Richarlison. As for changing Sarr’s position when Bentancur’s back, I think I’d rather just enjoy having the competition for spots rather than looking to move people about. Between Maddison, Bissouma, Bentancur, Sarr and Skipp (with Devine possibly getting cup games too), there’s plenty of minutes and game time to share between them and after initially our midfield being our second weakest area for some time, Ange’s coaching, the addition of Maddison and the shackles being released from Bissouma (and Sarr) now probably make midfield the strongest area of our team in this system, two games in it’s controlled the game for large periods against two good teams and I’m really enjoying what I’m seeing from them all, Bissouma especially, whom I think everyone on this board predicted was going to be in for a good season.
Veliz not starting immediately makes sense, what with the Argentine season running between January-July (or, to put it another way, ending about ten days before we signed him) so, much like Sandro when he arrived, we should use him sparingly until the December-January glut of fixtures which is when we unleash him fully The thing with Sonny is against man Utd he was playing more like a Deki/Lamela type winger who is more a wide attacking midfielder, and he was making chances - the issue is they weren't finished, as this handy stat bomb demonstrates please log in to view this image And here's the thing about that stat: for the past 2-3 years that's the opposite of how Sonny played, as he was usually the end point of moves be it H setting him up to break through or one of the world class assists from Super Jan, but Ange seems to turning him into one potential weapon up front while the ubermensch and Conte preferred a coin flip of him or H
As passmaps go, this one's a little extra please log in to view this image Romero is a proper libero here, managing to find Maddison, Sarr and Richy as well as the percentage balls to van de Ven and Porro Udogie/Sonny and Sonny/Maddison already look to be useful combinations down the left flank, too
He was definitely better against Man Utd, both from a visual and a statistical degree but this still isn’t the Son we all know that for years was a major thorn in opposition sides. Though your post does further highlight why we need a better player alongside him. Whether that be a potent finisher or a linkup forward to relay those passes back into Son to finish.
After I posted my impressions of the front line, I finished watching the game, and saw Son make a successful challenge, win the ball, start the break, and roll a well-weighted pass to maybe Udogie on the left. I thought to myself, rightly or wrongly, "He never does that." So I agree he was playing a different role than his accustomed scorer/turnover machine. My analysis of him as bad was probably unfair as well. Fair would have been more like it. He was better in the second half, as if he grew into his role. As I mentioned before, I thought he did pretty well in the role of captain as well. The problem remains, who can replace Richarlison, if it's too early for Veliz? I like Solomon. He reminds me of Lennon. But he's very much a winger. Sticking Son back as CF does him no favors, particularly as he may be growing into his new role. So that leaves Scarlett. It would be throwing him at the deep end, but better that than more Richarlison, IMO. He at least would have an easy act to follow. It's that or Kulusevski-Son-Solomon, which I also wouldn't mind.
Here's the thing: putting all the eggs into the striker basket isn't necessarily the way to make it work, as Ange's system has the frontline and the midfield Zerg Rush the final third which means having midfielders who can finish is just as important given they are just as likely to get played into a good chance - which Maddison and Bissouma can certainly benefit from That being said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Jonathan David has started being linked more strongly in the last couple of days, because when you look at how he plays not only does he have the pace and movement to create the pockets of space that can be exploited by any of Sonny, Deki, Maddison, Bissouma, Porro or Udogie, but he's also very useful at dropping into the space between where the CF and AM should play to play quick one-twos to bring teammates into the game
It’s not about putting eggs in one basket, it’s simply improving on a clear weak point in our team. Most of our issues have been addressed from a first XI perspective this window but the loss of Kane has left a black hole devoid of quality up front now. Son’s game was so entwined with Kane’s that it formed the deadliest partnership in Prem history but I think subconsciously he became too reliant on it and now needs someone who can at least replicate one of Kane’s attributes - whether it be finishing or link up - to start getting him back firing. The number 9 spot is now comfortably the weakest area in our XI, improving it gives us better chances of better results, it could’ve been the difference between a draw and a win against Brentford the other week.
The weird thing is CF isn't actually a weak point in our team per se, as there's enough potential goals in the team to spread out the scoring That's ultimately where the ubermensch and Conte were undone, as they prioritised the Kane & Son partnership to such a degree that it actively nerfed other areas of the team, hence only one player per season other than those two managed to score at least 5 league goals (Bale in 2020-1, Deki in 2021-2, Bentancur in 2022-3) which underlines the issue that there were goals in the team, but their tactics and/or stubbornness was removing them from games, and when teams figured out our very predictable patterns things went south PDQ Compare this to the hard carry the Keane/Berbatov partnership was doing, and how their being tapped-up in the same summer left Juande Ramos realising that it might have been a good idea to have these things called "tactics" instead of assuming the main goal threat would win games regardless, that's why a CF isn't the gaping hole in our team that it could have been as, while Richy is probably not going to score more than 15 goals this season, there's potential for several of the squad to chip in with at least 5-10 goals
It is a weak point though because the player currently occupying it isn’t very good and the drastic difference between having elite finishers in Kane/ Son and Berba/ Keane to what we have now is too big of a drop in quality. Whether we hope to spread the goal burden across multiple players or not, we still need a good player playing ST/ CF. Good players improve the team and its chances of success, average/ poor ones hold it back. Kyogo finished top scorer and won SPL player of the year last season for Ange. We need as close to an equivalent of that this season as possible to give Ange the best chance of doing well. Who that is though is for Ange and the scouting department to determine.
That camera angle of the foul on Romero! FFS! I was 60/40 on it before seeing that, but now 100% convinced it was a penalty. As the phrase goes.....'anywhere else on the pitch'
The infuriating thing about that is that in the same passage of play Martinez both takes out Cuti for what is a pretty blatant penalty (which Oliver just shrugged off) but seconds later Martinez also takes out Maddison and that challenge certainly looks to be the culprit for his foot injury
It probably was the cause, but all the angles I've seen so far of that showed Maddison kicking Martinez' boot, so I wasn't so riled by that one.
