Utd 2-0 up already and if it stays like that they go above us. If Chelsea win their game in hand tomorrow they too go above us on goal difference. City also have a game in hand on us but don't play in the league 'til boxing day. So we could be in 6th by tomorrow evening (whilst knowing that at some point in the future City can also potentially go above us), having gone into last Sunday top of the league. Lolz.
Chelsea could have gone top a couple of games ago and are currently 8th. It's all very tight at the top.We need to start playing football again at least until until we establish a lead.
Tbh this shows that the idea of a title push was a joke. We are a side capable of fighting for 5th or 6th...4th with a bit of luck...and a cup. I said at the time that signing Bale was a bad idea...he had barely played and it shows. He is incapable of producing in the premier league imho. No idea why Maureen is not rotating more...Vinicius hasn't started a league match and rarely comes on as a sub. We look toothless going forward everyweek at the moment and any half decent msnager knows how to kill our main tactic. 3 attempts on target (only 1 zfter going behind) is simply unacceptable for a side trying to fight for a top half finish, let alone one trying for a top 4 finish. But ... it is a slump...Everton had theirs as did Leicester but recovered...so now the manager and the team need to respond positively and grt going again
Just for the record, Sissoko isn't the problem and if you think he is then good luck to you. He does a job effectively on his abilities. Not his fault if he is expected to be more than that. That's a management issue. As is chasing a game 0-2 down and putting on Winks... The formation was negative at the start, compounded by individual mistakes and generally **** performances all over the park. TBH the Gooners are playing better football than the ****e dished up today. A bad day at the office? It's at least a bad week... And the next 2 or 3 games will likely determine how the season ends up.
Problem though is that based on experience we have a spectacular tendency to **** things up and so it's hard to be optimistic when: A) We're playing crap and our players look knackered due to poor squad management. B) History tells us that results like this, Palace, West Ham, Newcastle and Everton are the ones that we always look back on at the end of the season and say "if only".
Bale like any player needs time to become part of the team. The team as a whole has become one dimensional due I suspect to the success of Son & Kane, both have gone on off the boil or have become the prime targets for the other side to stop. Bergwyn does not convince me as goal threat, he just works hard. What do you need? You need something different and unpredictable we need to start with Dele & Bale IMO and mix our attack up a bit. Crap week but we always get them, every team does. Hopefully a wake up call.
That was like Everton on day 1 revisited. A total lack of coherence, game plan, game management and general quality. Leicester are a good side but they were actually not that much better than us on the day, Maddison apart who I thought was the one real class act to show up. Hugo probably had less to do than Schmeichel but they had the good fortune to come against old impetuous Aurier who offered his Christmas Gift a few days early and get a fluke own goal a present from the rest of the team. Unfortunately these last few matches will probably result in us running Kane and Son further into the ground by starting them at Stoke.
I don't get why we've changed things after getting to the top of the league. It's senseless. We were too defensive against Palace, then we switched the system against Liverpool and again today against Leicester. Starting Ndombele and replacing him with Lo Celso was working, so why abandon it? Even just reversing it would've been fine. Picking them both from the start and leaving Alli out of the squad completely made no sense. Leicester are a good team and we disrupted our own rhythm from the start against them. Having Lo Celso on the right might've made sense against someone that was going to park the bus, but they weren't.
Personally I don't think that'd work. I think you need an Eriksen type there over Dele to get the balls through to the three front men. Ndombele may be able to do so but neither he or Lo Celso have been a patch on a prime Eriksen in terms of creativity and now yet again Lo Celso's probably going to miss a spell of games. I'm actually done with him to be honest, just another Lamela. I'd honestly sell if we received an offer. Good player, made of glass, just like his compatriot.
A stupid penalty to give away but still, it was a mistake. The OG I blame on Moura as he lost possession (not for the first time) when Spurs were attacking and this led to the calamity of the second goal. The Winks sub and Sissoko going to RB I did not understand. Bale starting? He's a waste of space these days. I was also one of those who had my doubts about him returning to Spurs. I think I read somewhere last week that he said he wants to return to RM to see out his final year of his contract. Great, off you go! Moura is crap. He's not making much of an impact. Jose is too defensive - did we really need both Sissoko and Hojbjerg starting at home? Jose needs to remember "To dare is to do". He didn't do it today but these subs he keeps making where we end up with both LBs on the pitch is absolutely nonsense. Fortune favours the brave, carpe diem!
You may of course be right, dream line ups often don't work in practice but Hojbjerg and Ndombele behind should have the where with all to get the ball through and we have capable wing backs as well. Stop pining for Eriksen he went a year ago.
Sissoko does his job ok but a decent side wouldn’t have a footballer like him in their starting 11 Spurs have too many players still which aren’t at the required quality. Kane and Son can’t bail out the team every week.
It's not about pining for Eriksen, it's pining for an Eriksen type. We spent nearly £100m on two guys to replicate what he could do and they've not been a patch on him. We need a true creator, someone who can make the defence splitting passes and also be able to dictate a game. Until we get one we'll likely keep relying on Kane trying to do two roles at once and when he doesn't do one or the other we struggle. Dele is also done at Spurs. I think you need to get over this idea he'll come good again.
Giovani Dos Santos, Michael Johnson, Saido Berahino, Ravel Morrison, Federico Machedo, Jack Wilshire, Jack Rodwell etc say otherwise.
Depends on the type of system you play I'd say, he's got 65 caps for the current world champs and still gets call ups. I agree that from a technical aspect he's poor but he offers that strength, power and graft that makes him useful to a certain set up.
Son was surprisingly anonymous today ? ....... he hasn’t got to go delivering parcels after the game, has he ? Merry Christmas peeps !
