Yeah no chance of relegation now after the 3 wins before tonight. The bottom three are all but down already. I get prioritising the Europa but realistically Spurs aren’t gonna win it despite the optimism of some here so writing off the league could see Spurs finish 15th/16th with no trophy which would be an horrific season.
Never winning the Europa under him or with this squad. Not enough winners or players who can drag the rest of them when needed.
Ange made clear his strategy was to try to conserve players now that he had more players available and this is what he did. After an uncoordinated 1st half we came out in the second half with clear instructions to close them down and get in their face more, by the time we made our subs. we were firing on all cylinders and creating chances. That is the sign of a good manager. We ended up with a good second half but like City in the first half, missed our chances. This could easily have been 3 - 3. Danso, Bergval, Gray, Odebert, Spence all looking like great young players. Even Johnson finally sprinted up the wing, with the ball, and put in a decent cross. We could do with seeing more of that. Oderbert and Udogie could make a great pairing as they get more familiar with each other.
Honestly, the quadruple sub sapped our momentum in the final third Spence obviously gave us a kick up the backside in our half, but Son and Sarr replacing Odobert and Bentancur made our play in the final third feel that noticeable bit slower than it was when we were looking threatening
Yeah he started the wrong players and then killed momentum by making too many subs. Another bad night for the manager for me and at his age and with his experience he shouldn’t be making mistakes like that.
A tale of two Australians. Postecoglou got it badly wrong in the first half, then Gillett did the rest. I don't know if our manager shagged his missus down under or something, but he's routinely ****. He definitely earned whatever bonus he was on tonight to not book any City players. The quadruple substitution was excessive, but bringing on Werner absolutely killed things off. Nothing to do with him in particular, it just wrecked our shape. Who was where at the end? Scarlett came on against Ipswich and got an assist, but he doesn't value them, apparently. One home league win since Villa on November 3rd is appalling. We've lost more home games in the league than we've won, too. Awful season.
I accept that the system (and Brennan Johnson) don't help him, but the evidence is piling up that Spence is simply a better RB than Porro.
In addition to the recent discovery of top Mysteron agent Miguel Arteta and Arsenal manager Captain Black never being seen in the same room at the same time, did anyone notice another possible resemblance from the crowd last night? I wonder if they might be in some way related?
Yesterday’s match was the penultimate nail in Ange's coffin for me. Somwhow, we got out of the first half only 1-0 behind, but it was a shambles. Yes, we've got 2 centre halves still out injured following the insanity of playing both of them when unfit to do so, but the way we set up is just so easy to play through. We're so wide open. I fail to see how any decently coached team left in the EL, who can defend well, won't be able to beat us over 2 legs. There's zero chance of the club investing the kind of money that we'd need to sort out the squad to a point where Ange's tactics would be successful on a regular basis. Although, there's enough there for a more pragmatic coach to work on. Ange can have the rest of this season, it's done, but if we go into next season intending to play like we have been doing, we're in for yet more failure. Please can we have a decent ****ing coach? I'm not even bothered who. Just someone who can get the best out of what we've got and not play like a primary school team. Since Poch left, the choices have been laughably unsuitable and incapable of arresting the decline. DO SOMETHING SENSIBLE FOR ONCE!
I don't think we played as poorly as others have said. Even in the first half we caused them a lot of problems but there was a distinct lack of joined up thinking in the final third, probably to be expected from a front line with an average of 20 and two of its players playing out of position (I'm not sure why Tel is so convinced that he's a 9 btw, he clearly isn't). We're missing Solanke there to tie everything together. Our second half performance warranted at least a draw and whereas so many times this season we've just faded as games have gone on, this was one of the first in a long time that we grew into and almost turned around. I take some positives from that. My main frustration is that we are still conceding such simple, preventable goals. Goals that the opposition barely need to work for. No one deals with Doku and then somehow Haaland manages to get goal side of all of Bentancur, Danso and Udogie for a tap in.
Shambles is right...that first half was an unmitigated disaster of selection and tactics (if any). The confusion lies in the fact that from around the 50th minute we completely dominated them with the same players and tactics: just more energetic and more positive all over the park. (Admittedly Spence was impactful as a sub). So while not making excuses for Postecoglou, that suggests there is real potential there. Just don't know whether Ange is the 'baby' or the 'bathwater'...
Agree with most of your assessment, but not this bit. The first half was awful. The only players in credit being Bergvall and Vic.
If we're throwing everything forward, like the cavalry charge at Balaclava, I'd expect us to create chances. The problem is that we don't take enough of them, whilst leaving the store open and scarcely protected at the other end. The risk isn't worth the reward. Unless we recruit another Harry Kane (or the man himself returns), the tactics Ange employs won't work regularly enough. The teams with better defences and more efficient forwards will continue to beat us. Get in a proper defensive midfielder, drop a bit deeper, use the pace we have in the team and play the fullbacks to overlap, leaving the wide forwards to come inside. It may be just as predictable, but it's less easy to play against and makes the best of the players we've got. The current set up is just not working...and it isn't going to.
I did notice last night that Johnson off the ball is a joke. He simply walks or jogs around casually with no efforts to win the ball back or defend. He was right behind Haarland when he scored but if he made some efforts prior to the pass from Doku, he could have intercepted the pass. There were many instances of Man City having the ball on our right flank and he simply looks like he can’t be bothered.
Our right flank is so open. Everyone knows it...and we do **** all to rectify it...game after game, after game. Even Levy must be able to see this?
Spot on! He has a complacent air about him that infuriates me and certainly doesn't help the players behind him.
Agreed, I’d always blamed Porro previously for pushing forward leaving the defence exposed but it’s evident that no-one is effectively supporting him on the right. Hopefully our new coach will rectify the glaring mistakes Ange is making. Man City were poor yesterday and they were beatable, especially whilst we were playing at home. Our players are allowing teams to come to our home ground and take the mick! Some years back, the home teams used to have more pride playing at home and were determined to prevent losses.
