One thing that stands out, and has stood out for most of Poch's reign, is that he has a system - but if the system is missing a key component it falls apart. And that component? The Dembele. Back when we had Peak Moose there was an obvious difference in our performances for the games he played and the games he didn't, be it due to injury, suspension, or just being rested - and that was a key issue last season, as we barely had half an hour of Dembele in games in the first half of the season due to the injuries catching up to him, and in the second half we didn't have him at all as he'd gone to China and we were making do Why do I bring this up? Because we addressed this in the summer with the purchase of Ndombele...but he didn't feature yesterday due to picking up a knock in training, and as a result our bridge between defence and attack wasn't on the pitch, and that was exacerbated by Winks & Sissoko failing to make do as they were able to do in fits and spurts last season And this is an issue: Poch's system needs a Dembele/Ndombele but we only have one in the team, so if they're not on the pitch for whatever reason the system is missing a critical component. And this, more than anything, is highly problematic as we absolutely need to have somebody capable of playing that role in the squad but don't - instead the other options are a pair of Scott Parker clones in Winks and Skipp, a hatchet man in Dier, while Sissoko seems to be transitioning into more of a Wanyama role these days, and after that we're looking at raw youngsters such as Paris Maghoma or Armando Shashoua, which mainly serves to take us back into the conversation about players stagnating in the U23s...
What a day of contrasting emotions - I actually made a conscience effort to stay away from here last night - I was so happy about the cricket and then bought crashing back down to earth by Spurs - I can't add much to whats already been said, yes Mike Dean was hopeless but we knew that and a reliance on penalties is not a solution and Harry is due a miss anyway. Whilst I agree that we have had lots of poor performances this calendar year yesterdays felt different to me - Not one of the 13 players who played a significant part in the match could honestly say that they performed in a manner befitting a Tottenham player whereas every Newcastle player gave everything for their cause and just for that they were deserving of the spoils from yesterdays match. Play like that next Sunday and the Goons will take us to the cleaners if that happens I maybe gone for more than a day!
Chance would be a fine thing. We got 4 penalties last season and three the one before that. We've had one in this calendar year.
Yup. Then did nothing much from then on. Your tactics were both to be expected and spot-on. It is the easiest way to take points off us as so many teams have discovered over the past year. Your defending was superb. Everyone gave 100% and levels of concentration, focus and dedication to the task at hand didn't drop one iota across most of the match. So much more than can be said about our shambolic performance.
Different game, different set of problems mate. The Goons won’t park the bus, like Toon did, they’ll come at us. The upside is we should get plenty of opportunities to attack and score. Downside is our defence will have to try and cope with Auba, Pepe, and maybe Lacazette too. Luiz is a liability and we should look to exploit that. He won’t like Lucas running at him for starters.
I think Poch has got as far as he can with Spurs.He needs a new club with plenty of money and no expectantcy of honours. I think our visit to a CL Final was a flash in the pan and won't happen again. I think Levy should sit all his players down in a room and find out who actually wants to play for Spurs and who doesn't...and do the necessary! I think Levy should give all the Spurs fans who turned up Sunday their money back or free passes. I think Levy should send "that referee" a Spurs calendar hoping he'll have nightmares wondering how he can **** up Spurs the next time! I think Levy should insist the next manager might spend time telling his players don't have to spend 80% of the game passing sideways. I think Levy should tell his next manager it's not a bad thing to try winning the FA Cup,the League Cup or even the Europa Cup. It could make the fans happy!
Thought from the past :- I remember George Graham,an Arsenal man through and through,was over the moon when his Spurs team then won the League Cup under his tutorlidge.
What is funny....they are thinking Bruce is a wonder.They'll wake up soon to the fact that Spurs beat themselves and that Bruce is another Alan Pardew!
Yes. Yes. YES!! This is why I've been so keen to get Ndombele into our squad, he's the closest I've seen to having a skillset similar to Dembele. This is also what I mean when I've said that Winks and Sissoko are makeshift temporary options. Ndombele's pass for Lamela in the City match is a great example of what Winks or Sissoko won't often see or attempt. As for his goal against Aston Villa, I'm sure nobody could imagine either Winks or Sissoko coming close to such an approach. What worked well was a Dembele, Dier/Wanyama pivot. When all players were at their best. Winks and Sissoko pose absolutely zero threat on goal from their CM positions and the opposition knew it yesterday. Even Dier at his best knows how to supply a decent forward ball, or a long range shot on goal. Sissoko, as great as his improvement has been, sits in-between Zokoro and Wanyama (without even his goal threat). Great athlete, has bright moments while passing from range to uncrowded space (Ajax for example), but has a nose bleed when he gets within shooting range. and still doesn't quite boss and bully reliably in the midfield to shield the defence. (I'd kill for a peak Wilson Palacios 'regen' to partner Ndombele in this team.)
It was a poor performance overall, not helped by some mysterious team selection from Poch, but if Mike Dean gives either of those penalties we probably go on and win the game. Unfortunately though, after Poch called out Dean last season away at Burnley, we were never getting any decision like a penalty out of him, and we all know Dean referees some games with an agenda in mind. That blatant Kane non penalty seems to have been lost in all the negativity surrounding the overall awful performance and result, but if that penalty was given it changes the entire dynamic of the game.
...and continues papering over the cracks which have been obvious for a year now. That performance deserved zero points.
The thing with Winks is he's the modern interpretation of a DMF, namely not somebody who hacks down opponents all game long but someone who sits back and recycles stray passes that his teammates have harassed the opponents into making - similar to Jorginho at Chelsea, for the obvious example The obvious issue there is that Dier/Dembele could work as a two-man pivot, but Winks seems to operate better with two people harassing - and that's the issue, because while we can expect Ndombele or Sissoko to do that, either we have to play a three-man midfield to get the best results or we need someone pressing higher, which Lamela does - but he's not particularly well-suited to the number ten role
One person not mentioned Dier , not a season to remember last year due to illness and injuries but in previous years he was the player that gave Dombele the freedom to go forward and the backup for Wanyama and the back 3 if needed, I hope that the lad comes back fit after the latest injury, Eric was not going to sell many shirts but on his day he would be a player in the trenches I would look for . Dele is another player who suffered through physical and mental tiredness last season , bad luck has struck again with a continuing hamstring injury but as he showed in the CLsemi he unlocked the defence for Lucas , I'm not sure of the figures but his link with Kane and vice versa have been a plus for this side
Yes Dele's link up play with Kane is almost telepathic at times and both seem to suffer when the other isn't playing. The past 3 games have opened my eyes to how much we miss the Dele of 2 years ago and I also sincerely hope he can discover that form. As for Dier, I wouldn't mind trying him in a midfield two with N'Dombele as I think he more than anyone will give Tanguy the freedom to advance and hurt the opposition. Any other combo of CMs involving Dier lacks creativity and is counter productive.
I was very disappointed by the performance yesterday but I'm not sure what the solution is. We need to fit more creativity in the team but also more pace and more defence. Players who are better at all those things than the ones we have are very hard to come by. I watched the entire Liverpool v Arsenal match on Saturday. Arsenal are clearly a much better team than Newcastle but they managed to concede from a set piece and also give away a penalty that even Mike Dean would have to give while missing an equivalent chance to the one Newcastle scored from in the first half while the score was 0-0. So I have to suspect that if we had played Arsenal and Liverpool had played Newcastle, we would have won and they would have lost. Personally I think our best team is probably Lloris, Foyth, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sessegnon, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Son, Eriksen, Dele, Kane. Only four of those started yesterday. I won't criticise Poch for leaving out three of them and the other four are injured. Gazzaniga, KWP, Sanchez, Davies, Rose, Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Moura, Lamela, Parrott, Aurier, Skipp is quite a decent back up. Let's see what happens over a few more matches.
