Match Day Thread General Match Thread

[Dier Hard]

Gallagher is the type of player you keep around having developed him from your own academy. HG, good character, does a few things but nothing to an outstanding level. I’ll stand by my view that’s he’s a decent player but there’s absolutely no way we should have invested what we did in him, especially given the other needs we have!

Bentancur wipes the floor with all of them at his best, as you say. A fit Bentancur and Maddison transform this team.

I’ve just never really been sold on Gallagher. I remember we were linked when we still had Hojbjerg and I’d take the Dane all day long over him. I think the deal looks so much worse knowing he became our joint highest earner. In a series of consistently bad decisions by our board, I think that one is right up there.

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

No idea to be honest, either way it’s been an horrendous bit of business, one that quite a few us predicted as such too.

The most illogical thing is that Gallagher is basically a Sarr upgrade, or at the very least a HG Sarr...so if we'd signed a replacement for Sarr, why didn't we move on Sarr in January to free up a squad place for another player?

That space could've given us the wing cover we needed with Kudus and Odobert injured while Johnson was sold

 

[KingHotspur]

Gallagher very much feels like a club signing, like the board signed him knowing how much Poch likes him

If they bought him for Poch only to then panic and give De Zerbi a 5 year deal then the club really is run by idiots

 

[KingHotspur]

I’ve just never really been sold on Gallagher. I remember we were linked when we still had Hojbjerg and I’d take the Dane all day long over him. I think the deal looks so much worse knowing he became our joint highest earner. In a series of consistently bad decisions by our board, I think that one is right up there.

Add in the fact he’s proper Chels and it’s one of the worst signings by Spurs which is almost impossible considering the dross signed over the last 10 years.

 

[Citizen Kane.]

Add in the fact he’s proper Chels and it’s one of the worst signings by Spurs which is almost impossible considering the dross signed over the last 10 years.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if at FT at Stamford Bridge, having just lost and confirmed our relegation, he runs over to the home fans and changes into a full replica Chelsea kit a la John Terry. A light aircraft flies over the stadium trailing a banner that reads "Agent Connor: Mission Accomplished".

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

If they bought him for Poch only to then panic and give De Zerbi a 5 year deal then the club really is run by idiots

If anything it's emblematic of how the board were determined to not make an actual decision, as the board decided to
Step 1.) Sack off the season and hit the reset button in the summer
Step 2.) Keep the faith with Frank to nurse the season home

Apparently it was never explained to Kendall & Shiv that one guaranteed way to stop having players listen to a manager is to fatally undermine them by briefing the press about how that manager won't be here beyond the end of the season - yet to keep the manager in place

Considering it's questionable if the players were listening to Frank around the time anyway, given there were various examples of players deciding "**** it, I'll do it my way" such as Romero deciding to play CF against Newcastle, that only did further damage before Frank himself killed any lingering embers of authority by bringing Bissouma back into the squad right after his latest hippie crack incident

Basically, Tudor (or anyone) should have been in place sometime between the FA Cup match with Villa and the league match with West Ham

 

[Dier Hard]

The most illogical thing is that Gallagher is basically a Sarr upgrade, or at the very least a HG Sarr...so if we'd signed a replacement for Sarr, why didn't we move on Sarr in January to free up a squad place for another player?

That space could've given us the wing cover we needed with Kudus and Odobert injured while Johnson was sold

I don’t even think he is and I’d say Sarr has a higher ceiling too.

As for the latter paragraph, as I said, a Lange special. Bloke is so inept it’s annoying.

 

[Left on the Shelf]

I heard someone say the players issue is all in the head.
Frankly, from watching them, I'd say a bigger issue was in their feet!!
(Although their heading is pretty **** too)

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

I don’t even think he is and I’d say Sarr has a higher ceiling too.

As for the latter paragraph, as I said, a Lange special. Bloke is so inept it’s annoying.

If anyone's been inept this season it was Paratici: did sod all in the summer especially after the Gibbs-Whitenapping, recommended Tudor in November only to be brushed off, then bounced

Doubly strange since the belief is Kendall & Shiv wanted Paratici back

 

[Citizen Kane.]

Rio Ferdinand has said the one player he would sign from Spurs if we go down is Djed Spence.

Rio Ferdinand should be kept away from operating heavy machinery.

 

[KingHotspur]

If anyone's been inept this season it was Paratici: did sod all in the summer especially after the Gibbs-Whitenapping, recommended Tudor in November only to be brushed off, then bounced

Doubly strange since the belief is Kendall & Shiv wanted Paratici back

I’d take Paratici over Lange allday.

Yes he made mistakes but Lange is rotten

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

I’d take Paratici over Lange allday.

Yes he made mistakes but Lange is rotten

Lange has flaws, plenty of them, but he was doing his job. Kudus is certainly a Lange signing, for example

Paratici's job was to get the big pieces sorted and not only did he fil to deliver, but the real issue was he didn't have alternatives lined up for Gibbs-White or Savinho so when those failed to materialise we didn't have somebody else on the hook to negotiate with

Also worth pondering if Gallagher was a Paratici pick as well, since signing him from Atletico didn't feel like a Lange move (though, as I already said a few posts back, it was most likely pushed through by the board)

 

[Spurf]

Danso is reliable Romero is a loose canon. Reliability beats a loose canon in our position.

It's interesting that on paper our 2 centre backs are among the best in the league yet we have a really bad defensive record. Both of them have a self importance that just does not reflect their performances. Both can make spectacular tackles just as Vicario can make spectacular saves but all make bad judgements too often.

Much has been said about our poor attack where again the same situation occurs Richarlison can score spectacular goals (especially if he is played centrally) but too many times his first touch is appalling. Playing him on the wing makes no sense to me at all. Solanki played as an attacking midfielder might have worked better, his reactions as a striker have been too slow IMO.

Probably the three most effective players in our squad are Maddison, Kulusevski and Kudos and they're not playing.

We have a decent group of young players but they are not the finished article.

The squad needed additions in January and now we are paying the price for that fairly obvious piece of miss management.

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

Danso is reliable Romero is a loose canon. Reliability beats a loose canon in our position.

It's interesting that on paper our 2 centre backs are among the best in the league yet we have a really bad defensive record. Both of them have a self importance that just does not reflect their performances. Both can make spectacular tackles just as Vicario can make spectacular saves but all make bad judgements too often.

Much has been said about our poor attack where again the same situation occurs Richarlison can score spectacular goals (especially if he is played centrally) but too many times his first touch is appalling. Playing him on the wing makes no sense to me at all. Solanki played as an attacking midfielder might have worked better, his reactions as a striker have been too slow IMO.

Probably the three most effective players in our squad are Maddison, Kulusevski and Kudos and they're not playing.

We have a decent group of young players but they are not the finished article.

The squad needed additions in January and now we are paying the price for that fairly obvious piece of miss management.

Having a midfield which often resembles a sieve is only going to make any CB or GK look worse than they actually are, because they're going to be under more pressure than necessary for extended periods

Reasonably, defenders and the keeper should be getting involved for 30 minutes or less per 90 minutes (probably closer to 15-20 if we're honest) as the rest of the time midfield is handling things or the ball is in the opponent's half of the pitch - but it feels at times our defence is having to get directly involved for 30 minutes per 45 at regular intervals

Some of that can be placed to the ever-decreasing number of players who can actually do something with the ball anywhere past the halfway line, but plenty can be placed on having a midfield which can't seem to control the ball or win it back effectively

 

[Spurf]

Having a midfield which often resembles a sieve is only going to make any CB or GK look worse than they actually are, because they're going to be under more pressure than necessary for extended periods

Reasonably, defenders and the keeper should be getting involved for 30 minutes or less per 90 minutes (probably closer to 15-20 if we're honest) as the rest of the time midfield is handling things or the ball is in the opponent's half of the pitch - but it feels at times our defence is having to get directly involved for 30 minutes per 45 at regular intervals

Some of that can be placed to the ever-decreasing number of players who can actually do something with the ball anywhere past the halfway line, but plenty can be placed on having a midfield which can't seem to control the ball or win it back effectively

I don't disagree with your analysis I didn't mention the midfield because we almost don't have one.

 

[Dier Hard]

Danso is reliable Romero is a loose canon. Reliability beats a loose canon in our position.

It's interesting that on paper our 2 centre backs are among the best in the league yet we have a really bad defensive record. Both of them have a self importance that just does not reflect their performances. Both can make spectacular tackles just as Vicario can make spectacular saves but all make bad judgements too often.

Much has been said about our poor attack where again the same situation occurs Richarlison can score spectacular goals (especially if he is played centrally) but too many times his first touch is appalling. Playing him on the wing makes no sense to me at all. Solanki played as an attacking midfielder might have worked better, his reactions as a striker have been too slow IMO.

Probably the three most effective players in our squad are Maddison, Kulusevski and Kudos and they're not playing.

We have a decent group of young players but they are not the finished article.

The squad needed additions in January and now we are paying the price for that fairly obvious piece of miss management.

I think the reason our defensive record is so bad despite having very good defenders is something that I think either CK or HBIC (or both) have touched on in that our midfield doesn’t control the game well enough and so our defence is too often under pressure or exposed.

Jan, Toby, Walker and Rose were excellent but they also had Dembele and Wanyama/ Dier in front of them who could protect and dominate the midfield battle, it made their job easier and so top defenders having an easy job makes them look even better. None of our midfielders bar a pre-ACL Bentancur (which is long gone now) and Maddison have the ability to consistently boss a midfield.

 

[Spurf]

I think the reason our defensive record is so bad despite having very good defenders is something that I think either CK or HBIC (or both) have touched on in that our midfield doesn’t control the game well enough and so our defence is too often under pressure or exposed.

Jan, Toby, Walker and Rose were excellent but they also had Dembele and Wanyama/ Dier in front of them who could protect and dominate the midfield battle, it made their job easier and so top defenders having an easy job makes them look even better. None of our midfielders bar a pre-ACL Bentancur (which is long gone now) and Maddison have the ability to consistently boss a midfield.

Again I don't disagree but I still think both our centre backs have ego's which affect their performances. Maybe the pressure they take forces the mistakes, ok, but Romero often holds the ball too long. he does often produce a good pass but he has destroyed any momentum we might have had. I am happier with Danso.

 

[Dier Hard]

Again I don't disagree but I still think both our centre backs have ego's which affect their performances. Maybe the pressure they take forces the mistakes, ok, but Romero often holds the ball too long. he does often produce a good pass but he has destroyed any momentum we might have had. I am happier with Danso.

I think Romero’s head and shoulders above our CBs but his aggression obviously leads to trouble at times. But his outright defending can be very impressive.

Danso has definitely proven a very solid CB. Nothing special or spectacular about him but definitely does his job. He’ll give a 6/10 every week and every team/ squad needs those guys, Ben Davies is/ was like that.

Van de Ven’s disappointed me a lot though, outside of his pace to track back and tackle, his all round defensive game isn’t as good as the other two and I feel like he’s one of the players who’ve already clocked out. I won’t be too disappointed when he leaves like I would the other two.

 

[Citizen Kane.]

I think the reason our defensive record is so bad despite having very good defenders is something that I think either CK or HBIC (or both) have touched on in that our midfield doesn’t control the game well enough and so our defence is too often under pressure or exposed.

Jan, Toby, Walker and Rose were excellent but they also had Dembele and Wanyama/ Dier in front of them who could protect and dominate the midfield battle, it made their job easier and so top defenders having an easy job makes them look even better. None of our midfielders bar a pre-ACL Bentancur (which is long gone now) and Maddison have the ability to consistently boss a midfield.

You're right but event the midfield isn't nearly as bad as the stats say it is. It is made to look bad by the tripe in front of it and the fact that none of our attackers apart from a few who have been injured all season can actually keep an opposition team pinned back for more than 10 seconds.

We are so easy to defend against and play out through, so our midfield is under unrelenting pressure throughout the game, which gives the impression that it doesn't have control.

The point I make to back this up is the fact that we reached a CL final with Winks and Sissoko in midfield, which is bonkers on paper but not quite so bonkers when you look at who they had playing in front of them, which was so good it turned attack into the best form of defence. Most team were petrified of that quartet.

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

I think Romero’s head and shoulders above our CBs but his aggression obviously leads to trouble at times. But his outright defending can be very impressive.

Danso has definitely proven a very solid CB. Nothing special or spectacular about him but definitely does his job. He’ll give a 6/10 every week and every team/ squad needs those guys, Ben Davies is/ was like that.

Van de Ven’s disappointed me a lot though, outside of his pace to track back and tackle, his all round defensive game isn’t as good as the other two and I feel like he’s one of the players who’ve already clocked out. I won’t be too disappointed when he leaves like I would the other two.

This is the thing about the "hothead" discourse: in Conte's first season, Romero was only having to make one or two game-saving challenges per match so he could launch into the crunching tackles - but when there's an almost constant wave of players coming at you, then you can't go in with crunching tackles as instead of only needing two or three per game he needs 6-8

It's also not helped that Gary Neville keeps highlighting Romero's challenges on a seemingly weekly basis, while ignoring the likes of van Dijkhead or Gabriel (to name but two) make identical challenges weekly yet this doesn't get highlighted, and as much as refs would try to deny it of course that is going to creep into their decision-making