One of the strange things about our PL record over the last 15 years is that the scatter on our finishing position is so small. Chelsea have won the League three times but also finished 10th and 12th. That's clearly a much better outcome in practice than our record of never being higher than 2nd or worse than 8th. That's why I came up with the idea that we needed to take more risk. If that's actually possible then an inevitable outcome is some lower place finishes as well as some higher place ones.
What was this whole squid games thing? I've seen a few posters mention it but I wasn't at the game so maybe missed it. Was it on TV?
Depends what you mean by risks? Chelsea spend big and often. They also have a huge wage bill. Spurs don’t have any of that but are financially quite secure
A lot of nothingness really. Club’s just basically advertising for the second season of the show and had people in and around the stadium dressed as the guards. The pre-match video/ audio had the Squid Game theme too.
I am not really sure....they have always had a more expensive squad than us but have only slightly outperformed us on average. But the scatter on their finishing position is more than twice ours. If we could replicate that we would be more likely to win the League but also more likely to come in the bottom half. The obvious thing they do is change the manager more often....perhaps that is the key even if it seems counter intuitive.
Yet the reason why they did this was conveniently clipped out of the selective quote They targeted the right side of our defence not because they saw Dragusin as a weak link, but because there tends to be space down our right when Porro gets forward - and Porro being knackered at the moment means he doesn't have the energy for correcting his mistakes like he did in the first couple of months of the season, meaning the options are either Dragusin over commits or Bissouma...and there we see the problem Pretty sure at least four of their goals you can pinpoint Bissouma sleepwalking during the buildup swiftly followed by Sarr having to run full pelt from further up the pitch to try and get any body part between the ball and the goalmouth
Sorry to pick this bit out Bobby, but it's virtually the opposite of what he wants. His fullbacks don't overlap or go wide nearly enough and often come infield and crowd the middle. It's one of the reasons why I think we're having serious issues.
I'm guessing from the time, but this was the foul on Son, right? Absolute bizarre decision from the latest Northern Star of the PL match officials. He had nothing to do with the result, which could've been much worse, but he was bloody awful.
I was thinking the same. I can't recall a single cross or even cutback from Udogie, and a only handful of (mostly useless) crosses from Porro. Our FBs play like a pair of very confused attacking midfielders.
Yeah i remember people complaining about he winger nonsense, to be fair i havent been watching too much of spurs but yesterday when i was watching the game, half the time you were exposed its because the full backs had sprinted down the line and it was left with the centre backs and the 2 centres mid try and cover half the pitch
The solution isn't rocket science. We did similar under Poch where Rose and Walker would bomb forward at every opportunity, but as soon as we transitioned from defence into attack, Jan and Toby split and the DM (usually Dier or Wanyama) dropped deep to make a back 3. We never do this, although being brutally honest I don't think any of our current CMs can play that role. Gray maybe, the rest definitely not.
That's one of the issues with playing such a high line and no holding midfielders, unfortunately. We also have a group of wingers that want to cut inside and fullbacks that've been told to do the same. Everyone ends up high and in the middle, but not getting into the box unless it's a break. Leaves us a little lacking in creativity and extremely exposed on the counter, especially if it's played wide. Liverpool just spammed it relentlessly and pressed well, which worked brilliantly.
Yeah, just watched the highlights (doesnt show if you lost the ball in transition unfortunately) 2 from crosses (trents excellent first ball, one another cross but cause spence cant head and gray is a short arse so i can see him exposed szobolai got there first) of the 6 scored, 3 were from direct counters. 2nd goal - i cant see where your full backs are edit porro is there 3rd goal - spence is getting back, porro no where to be seen 4th goal i think - again dragusin is way out of position somewhere Would need to watch the flow of the game but i have no idea why the pool players are always outnumbering that much lol
We're the league's top scorers so the argument in favour is clearly: it works. But yes, the price we pay for it defensively is considerable. What struck me about our second and third goals yesterday (I know the game was gone by then so can't read too much into it, but still) was that they both came from situations where we actually didn't have that many players forward and were significantly outnumbered (6-4 and 5-3). The FBs and CMs are nowhere to be seen, all we have in the Pool area are players who are meant to be there, and with a combination of good movement and accurate passing, that was more than enough personnel to score two very well-taken goals. So I'd wonder if the FBs-come-AMs nonsense is more of a hindrance than a help up that end of the pitch too.
To be fair 3 players back plus 1 or 2 cms should be fine but everytime i watch spurs play you always seem so exposed. Only van der ven makes it work because he has super human speed. Spence looks a player, not sure why hes never had a look in before, fast, strong, energetic and confident on the ball. Maybe his positioning isnt right i suspect but hes like walker in that he can recover
I think it was largely down to energy, to be honest. The large number of missing players has taken a serious toll on the rest and they look knackered. Porro and Son shouldn't have started, especially when you consider that our left-winger needs to close down TAA. Why we started a right-back on the left when we had two left-backs on the bench is beyond me, too. Our squad's depleted, but Postecoglou's not using the remaining players effectively, in my opinion. I can understand his reticence over the kids, but our rotation has been virtually non-existent.
