9 games 5 cleansheets, 4 conceded. I don't begrudge Bournemouth a point today but we should be on more points, our attack is letting us down badly. Taking Son off was a mistake but it was still a much better performance in the second half, just need to stop getting our bloody shots blocked.
Worrying that we're praying for kane to come back, who before getting injured hadn't done eff all this season either!
We needed a win today because of the run of games we have coming up, that were discussed at the start of the thread. This next month is gonna be hideous. A win today would have been massive. But we know what Spurs are like, we struggle in games like this, but then go and beat City! Fingers crossed we can do the same to the big teams we have coming up in the next month, and west ham.
As per last year, too many draws will cost us. There's still too little goal threat from the 3 behind the striker. Lamela sometimes gets in the positions but doesn't finish well. Eriksen can finish but doesn't get into the positions. Does anyone know where GKN is? He could offer pace and can score. Time to be a bit more brave. Players must make runs into the box to take advantage of Walker and Rose's crosses. Too often there's nobody there and when there is, they're static and easily marked. Clean sheets are great if we score but no use to anyone if we don't. 38 draws aren't going to help us.
Unsatisfactory. Will not finish in the top four, based on this display. Disappointing result follows a confused performance. Janssen is looking more like the Soldado every time he plays.
Great to be still unbeaten. Great to get another clean sheet. Good to see us battle until the final whistle Disappointing performance Pochettino needs a plan B to cope with all 11 behind the ball and high pressure against us. And the players need to keep their discipline or we will get players sent off. No matter how **** a ref is, once a ref gives you a yellow, players need to behave. Lamela should have got a red and that could have meant we lost instead of drew. Sissoko could face a ban for his flinging of an elbow too. Lamela and Eriksen need dropping as they are not delivering and this has been the case for a few weeks. Final thing...is Nkoudou injured? He has scared defenders in the cameos he's had yet seems to have disappeared. I
Weren't too many of those today! Bournemouth did a job on us today and we had no plan B as usual. Lloris' save ultimately got us a point, but his distribution was again questionable and one particular roll out to Dembele near the end was suicidal Eriksen was anonymous and lightweight and Lamela is turning back into the prancing, pouting kid of his first couple of years with us. Needs to grow up and take responsibility. They may have had only one shot on target but I know which penalty box had the most scary moments - and whenever we got anywhere near a shot on goal it was always 'another pass'!!! Thought Dembele was good throughout and his chasing back also probably helped save our point. Just wish he would commit the opposition closer to their goal. Wanyama was decent and particularly as he was carrying a booking from early on. And the substitutions didnt make much sense at all.....
So naturally the BBC talk about our bookings and ignore the numerous ones Bournemouth should have been given Justifying that £145 yet again...
Somebody's got to score. Given nobody has been, lately, I was disappointed N'Koudou didn't come on. No doubt fixture congestion is not helping, nor did the international break, but there are always reasons for failure. So, since none of our players managed to perform a feat of considerable difficulty in one split second, the entire team's lost its way and the gaffer is clueless. Had they been able to, most everyone other than RCL would be all smiles. It's a great game. It does seem a little miraculous how we have the same number of potential targets, and Lloris is in theory trying to find one of them, and yet never seems to. Having said all that, it is impressive that we remain the only unbeaten team in the league for another week, and more so that we haven't conceded from open play.
I'd even like to see Marcus Edwards make the match day squad every now and again. In addition to GKN, the few mins we've seen from edwards have been exciting to watch and would help keep us unpredictable, as well as offering us something new when we're out of ideas.
It's this one dimensional aspect of our play that's starting to worry me. I'm concerned that teams seem to have sussed us, and as you say, there's no effective plan B.
Lamela seems to have come under a lot of criticism and while he has not been at his best he was still our main engine today. He was the one trying to make things happen along with Dembele who is understandably not at his best yet having only just returned from injury and suspension. I think I would ask more about Eriksen who has made very little impact in any of the games he has played in this season. His creativity is an important part of team and it's been missing. It looks to me as if his confidence is low judging by how easily he let Lamela take the free kick in what is usually his range. Remember though the best of teams go through periods like this and despite that we are still high in the table and unbreaten. We will click soon and the goals will start going in, it was similar least season wasn't it.
Think we were watching a different game again today Lamela for the last few weeks has slipped back into his old ways. He has continued to run around with great energy, but hasn't acheived much. He has so much potential talent but doesnt bring that to the table too often. The odd decent pass and some manic chasing around does not a great player make! Don't want to get too down on him and as you rightly point out, Eriksens contribution recently has also been underwhelming, but the risk with Lamela is that he is also likely to get himself booked and potentially (like today) get sent off. The league position is good but hiding a few truths well identified on here over the last few weeks. We all said that we didn't start the season well - partly the hangover from the Euros etc. The win over Citeh showed what is really possible but that makes the drop over the last 3 games in particular all the more surprising and slightly worrying. Sure we will come good in the end .......
He hasn't achieved because the team hasn't achieved, he can't do it on his own. The fact that he is noticed is because he is trying and the nature of his game means everything has to click and his team mates too for it to work. If you took him out today's team we would have been far worse off IMO.
Half of what I'd call the spine of our team is missing. I.e. Kane & Alderweireld. They are two big misses for any side, and particularly for us. If I had to pick our 'spine' , I'd say Lloris, Alderweireld, Dembele, Kane. Take any of those away and we're not anywhere near as effective.
Actually I think we should give some praise to Bournemouth for a terrific performance from them. I should say triffic of course
I agree with Spurf and if we were going to drop points against any premier league team then for me it would be Bournemouth. Just watched the Eddie Howe post match interview and he comes across so well. Class act IMO. England could do worse than him. Although if he has any sense he should steer well clear! They have won their last 3 at home so it's not an easy place to come. I think the Arsenal result puts it in perspective. We aren't going to roll over the so called weaker teams all the time. We didn't play amazing but we can't every week. I appreciate that the lack of goals is frustrating but any other team missing the premier leagues golden boot winner would as well. Still undefeated, only a point off the top. I'd have taken that before the season started.
