Trippier is gash He cost us the only goal against United too Poch's fault that he overlooks KWP...Poch needs to start being brave too. Ultimately we have regressed as a squad because when you start selling the best and replacing them with mediocrity or potential for the future then this is what happens. Our time is now...we can't build on this team once the stadium is built and paid everything off...too late and a whole new re build will be required by that time if the odd star keeps on trickling away...Eriksen next.
I mean, I'd be more than happy for him to leave you lot and join another club, preferably abroad I completely agree with D.G.C. Top post
Only issue I see is that Kane covers a lot of ground I do believe he ends up occupying spaces best left for others...he needs to try to stick in the box a bit more and try to get onto the end of things...play like an old school No9....he's got all the qualities Shearer. Shearer never used to drop deep as often as Kane does to collect the ball though. I really do believe this is what causes our problems upfront. We have 3 attackers behind Kane and one of our 2 mids is supposed to be a ball player. So really Kane needs to chill out and stop trying to do it all himself. That's the only issue I see and something Poch should be able to sort out really. I'd much rather have Kane playing the Nando role than Nando playing it as good as he has been for us in Kane's absence.
We saw the upside of not investing in the squad early this season - the players all know what the manager wants and know each others’ games. That’s important and we’ve seen both at our club and others how badly bringing in players en masse can go. However the other side is what we’re seeing now - some players are coasting because they know they are guaranteed a pick and are already mentally gone to their next club, some players are being rushed back to a starting slot out of necessity, and teams have worked us out tactically. The healthy middle ground is obviously the place to be and we’ve occupied it fairly well the last few years. But I think we’re due a refresh in the summer - Poch started with a clearout for phase 1 of the project and (assuming he’s staying) he’s going to need to do dome aggressive pruning of the squad for phase 2 once we move into the new stadium. Poch himself needs to do more as well, if that's bringing back the high press or a shift in formation or whatever. Playing the slow game and trying to dominate possession isn’t working for us, we’ve been found out the last two games and really since January have been barely scraping by, one or two good performances in isolation but they’ve been sporadic. Last night wasn’t an awful performance but we were sloppy all over the park and we looked disjointed, like the players hadn’t played together before. We’re in a right dogfight now make no mistake. Momentum isn’t with us and at this stage of the season it’s crucial to keep finding a way to get results. The NLD is now more important than ever and afterwards we just need to focus on getting to the summer with top 4 secured, and then maybe Poch can really show us how brave he is by cutting out the chaff from our squad.
The problem with Harry Kane is he's not match fit, because he's not played any games for nearly 2 months. When he is, we'd struggle to get anyone anywhere near half as good. Look at the dross Chelsea are reduced to buying. Selling him would be mental. The question is whether he should have come straight back to play 90 minutes on Saturday and then again last night? It'll get him fitter and we'll be stronger for it in the long run, whilst he's getting up to speed, we're not playing great, We've done the same with Ben Davies last night, chucked him into a game against one of the top sides and he's looked rusty. Trippier's carrying a groin injury and we always look worse defensively when Jan's not playing. However, I'm not sure what the better options are right now. Danny Rose can't play a lot of consecutive games and Serge Aurier is a gamble every time he goes on the pitch but at least there are options....no matter how limited some are perceived. It's in midfield that we are royally stuffed. Big Vic is a non-option and has been all season. Eric Dier's illnesses came on the back of his form slipping but we miss him hugely. Mousa's departure was right but we've only got Winksy and Moussa Sissoko, who have carried us for a couple of months but we were overrun in midfield by Chelsea's 3 and we had no way to combat it. At Wembley, Dele dropped deep to occupy Jorginho and Winksy and Sissoko took Kovacic and the other one. Eriksen can play deep but he tackles like my mum, for all of his running. Erik Lamela's not a central midfielder and his fitness is suspect at best. Up front, we have options but are not using them (as usual). We've wasted most of Llorente's time with us and Lucas is heading the same way. Both came on too late last night (again, as usual). llorente could bully Luiz and Rudiger in the box and Moura could make those crosses but we hesitated and lost.... Time to be brave on Saturday...
That turned out to be an unfortunately accurate question to pose. The answer was clearly no-one. Sadly.
I knew I should've tempered my optimism when a Chelsea fan I know said he hoped we'd win because it'd get Sarri sacked We don't do other teams favours...
If it was just top four aspirations you could sympathise and be more understanding but we're being told week-in, week-out in interviews by players and manager that we're aiming for the title and trophies. We talk a good game but we're certainly not walking one. I agree, we're not gonna get the summer we want because it's too much of a turnover. I'm ****ing dreading it to be honest. The absolute car crash of last summer and January will have lasting effects. More or less saying goodbye to Toby and Eriksen, so it's gonna be fun trying to replace those, especially as there's not a CB on the planet who we could buy for the £25m fee we'll get for Toby to replace him. Then the likes of Lloris, Trippier, Aurier, Davies, Winks, Wanyama, Lamela and Lucas (plus Janssen and Nkoudou) all need to either be sold or dropped down the pecking order due to a new arrival. Absolute clusterfuck mate, it really is. We missed a golden opportunity last summer to try and do exactly what Pool have done this season, yet instead we've been "brave", or in other words, stupid.
I think it is actually Poch we should be looking at. Every time we get close, something goes wrong and IMO that thing is the team selection. In the last two games , apart from questionable starting XI, his subs have been uncharacteristic. Llorente proved himself in Kane's absence and now MP is bringing him on as first sub and early on , whereas previously he wouldn't have even looked in his direction. He tries too hard. I don't want Poch out, I want him to learn from his repetitive mistakes.HE needs to learn how to win. He is a great coach but not a winning one.
Nothing to do with not strengthening your squad for 2 windows due to having a stadium £1/2b over budget then?
Remember when we sold Keane & Berbatov in the same transfer window? How well did we do after doing that?
No home fixtures, 9 players in the World Cup semi's...and yet we're third...again. I'm given to understand that represents you lots' best ever finish...ever..... I wonder who we'll get in the CL quarter final?
