I didn't think that Bissouma was anywhere near as bad yesterday as everyone else seems to. He was playing a lot of the game in the old Dier midfield role and just recycling the ball. That's virtually all he can do against a low block side who are in front. Maddison not being right was a far bigger issue, as was Son's positioning and role. I'm sorry, but he's just not a lone striker for me and struggles without space to work with. He should've either spent more time centrally or switched with the wingers and he did neither. Not the player's fault and he got the winning goal, but it's not good for him or the team. Richarlison's clearly nowhere near 100% but his cameo was exactly what we needed. Forced their defenders to work, won headers, lead the line, pressed effectively and held the shape. I'm not saying that the Brazilian is the answer, but Son as a striker definitely isn't, in my opinion. The Kulusevski/Johnson issue is horses for courses, I think. Johnson's happier crossing it from the right, while Kulusevski wants to cut inside. There's nobody overlapping in this system, so it suits the Welshman more. He does seem to do better when coming on from the bench, though. Pace and directness against tired legs.
Just noticed that Bissouma got booked for timewasting for kicking the ball away after the goal. He was the only player to get a caution for that offence!
That`s ridiculous, the Luton players were time wasting all afternoon, up until the point they went behind, I kept track of one of their subs and it took 1 minute and 12 seconds from play stopping to restarting. The 9 minutes of added time should have been more like 15 minutes when you add up all the subs and time wasting.
All three have been at the club for a significant amount of time. The new manager clearly doesn’t fancy any of them (I agree with him) so it makes sense to get money for them. You can’t keep players you don’t want just because they’re club trained. Marcus Edwards could be a summer target if you’re going down that route though.
The ref ought to keep a separate tally of time wasted by both sides and then at the end of the match each team should be given the option of playing twice the amount of time wasted by their opponents. That would mean it was pointless to waste time so the answer would always be zero.
Money is only useful if spent on another player who is eligible to play. I would rather have Skipp and Tanganga available in an injury crisis than a 23 man squad. You also get a small chance that they will suddenly blossom into really good players
Tanganga needs a change of scenery - and TBH probably needed one sorted last summer - because Conte destroyed his confidence to the point he looked terrified at the sight of the ball at times last season
The manager clearly doesn’t rate them. Skipp hasn’t made 2 of the last 3 squads and hasn’t played a minute for almost two months, Tanganga is out on loan and the manager has already publicly said he’d like another CB to join Romero, van de Ven and Dragusin and Tanganga is older than two of those. Emerson only plays when Porro is injured and often puts in awful performances. It’s not too early to write players off when it’s clear they have no futures here.
How many seasons before you can write a player off? seems like they deserve a good 5 years plus according to PS…but none of them even get contracts for that long. imo they got 2 years max to prove themselves How long are these projects supposed to last?
Except, as I mentioned yesterday, when the team that was time-wasting to hang on to a win/draw concedes like Luton and then gets the 'benefit' of additional minutes. Maybe at that point, the ref should just ask the team who were not time-wasting whether they want the extra time or not.
Yeah 2 years max for first team signings I’d say. Some don’t even need that long before you realise they’re not cut out or not suited. We can’t be hanging on to players for multiple years holding on to the faintest hope a player will finally come good, it does the club no favours whatsoever, both from a competitive and financial POV. For every Emerson we sign we’ll hopefully sign a Porro. You keep the Porro for as long as possible and sell the Emerson as quickly as possible then replace in the hope you sign someone who can challenge or even oust Porro.
If the players know that time wasted is being accounted for, and will be added onto the 90, there is no incentive to do so. For those players (GK etc) who are too stupid to understand this, then as in basketball when either an individual or team incident count hits the threshold, the player at that moment gets a yellow card.
For a signing coming from an overseas/lower league, yes. The first PL season is sometimes "culture shock" for players (re Porro and what he said regarding his first few weeks at Spurs) . The second season gives you an opportunity to see if the "novelty factor" for the opposition has worn off (they consistently show they know how to deal with you) .
IMHO he was not coming back fast enough to offer the GK/defenders an easier out pass. Similarly when the "pivot trap" was possible, he was not there often enough to do it. Fitness aside, he just needs to watch the footage of himself in the first 10 games of the season to remember what he was doing so well.
Their goal is symptomatic of Bissouma's problems at the moment imo. Defensively he offers the resistance of a damp tissue and not for the first time in recent weeks and opposition player has almost walked past him leading to a goal. At the other end of the pitch he doesn't play enough incisive passes and can't/won't shoot, so the question begs asking: what is he good for?
I like that, if the ref can indicate to the offending team sufficiently in advance of 90 mins that this is the fate that is probably going to visit them.
So by that theory, Skipp and Tanganga should need even less time to prove themselves? Interested to know why you think they need more time than they’ve already had?
He seems to like Emerson quite a lot, just not enough to displace any of our starting back four. It wouldn't surprise me if we keep him or sell him in the summer, though. There's a case for both.
