I agree he's not as good as Modric which is true of everyone else on the planet in that position. But the only player in our squad who might make us better in that position is Lo Celso.
I agree with you about individual matches, but it's clear that we're no longer in that position. We've had more home stadiums than home penalties in the last two and a bit seasons. Man Utd have missed more penalties this season than we've had in the calendar year. We need to look at it because we're clearly doing something wrong. It's ok to **** up decisions against us in games. Nothing will happen.
I agree (if Gio is seen as an "8" rather than a replacement for Eriksen in the "10" role), although Tanguy is also that guy but this is partly why I've been so frustrated for the past 18-24 months because we've regressed so badly at CM. We should've sorted it sooner when Dembele's frailties were becoming obvious back in 2017. The drop from Modric to Dembele wasn't so bad. Dembele didn't have the vision of Modric but he had the ability to glide past opposition and then lay it off to a more dangerous player. Dembele to Winks however has been harmful. Winks can't beat a man whilst he can't play a dangerous pass like Modric. Retaining possession and making 5-10 yard passes isn't creative, it's dull and it's why we've lost so many midfield battles because we're unable to stamp our mark in the middle of the pitch. Team's feared Modric and Dembele, they don't fear Winks. Hopefully Tanguy can remain and improve his fitness, he looks a bit of a Modric-Dembele hybrid and is exactly what we need in the middle. If Gio also partners him, great, that's an exciting and forward thinking midfield duo, though I'd probably guess Gio is to be Eriksen's replacement. If that is the case, Tanguy's best partner will be Dier, who'll protect the back four and give Tanguy more freedom to roam, sort of like how Modric had with Parker and Dembele had with Dier/ Wanyama.
It's definitely a **** situation for the club as it feels we're fighting an uphill battle but the problem is what can we actually do? Poch already flipped his lid with Dean at Burnley last season and all that resulted from it was a touchline ban and a fine. I don't think Spurs as a club have that power like say Utd/ Pool have to sway decisions for and against. It's why I try - rightly or wrongly - to not focus on referees too much, I'd get more worked up than I already am when I'm watching Spurs perform like this every week
Pochettino backed down. It's the absolute opposite of what he should've done. We get **** decisions against us and everyone at the club just accepts it. That leads to more **** decisions. If the manager is going to get punished, then he should earn that punishment. Dean lied about what happened, took none of the blame and gets another one of our fixtures early on in the campaign, which he ****s up. What's going to happen? Nothing.
I tend to agree with most of this. Pretty much a spot-on analysis. And I agree Re Dier. If partnered with Tanguy or a deeper-lying Lo Celso, I can still see a use for him. In any other partnership he is far too agricultural, hence both Sissoko and Winks are preferred to him.
Even if he is fit he shouldn't play - now it's my turn to not type something that I can't believe is needed - but we should keep Aurier and show some faith in him he has better tools for the job than any of other current options - (Its Aurier or Dier for the Goons) and we need to play him there at least until Foyth is fit maybe find a club in Germany for KWP to go on loan to before the window closes.
Agreed. I would play Aurier or even Sissoko at RB against the goons. KWP needs to be eased in more slowly than this. Give him all the cup games and easier PL games. Throwing him in against City and Arsenal away is a one-way street to breaking his confidence permanently.
I can't go with Dier. He'd get destroyed by Aubameyang/Pepe for pace. He's scarcely played since December last year.. KWP doesn't inspire confidence right now. Foyth's injured. Serge Aurier......over to you.
The biggest problem for the upcoming NLD is that a number of the players that should actually start it are going to be so short of match fitness that’s it’s hard to tell what the right choice actually is - and this is a problem Poch has mostly created for himself. Our best (on paper) XI for Sunday is probably: Hugo Aurier/ Sissoko, Toby, Jan, Davies Dier/ Sissoko, Tanguy Lucas, Eriksen, Son Kane Aurier, Jan, Dier, Davies and Tanguy (the latter not so much if his injury was indeed minor) are gonna be nowhere near the required level due to a mix of the manager’s brainfarts and injuries. It’s such a clusterfuck to have going into the biggest league game of the season for us.
It's not the biggest league game, certainly not at this stage. And my gut feeling is that, as painful as it could be to hear, Poch has basically thrown the towel in until Sep 2nd. Our strongest line-up on paper is an unhealthy mix of unsettled players and player lacking sharpness as you say. If N'Dombele is fit to start I'd shift Sissoko to RB. Rose is by far sharper than Davies but has been woeful recently. And is that a surprise? Left out of pre-season following yet another stupid interview and now he knows beyond a doubt that the manager wants him as much as he wants the manager: somewhere between 1 and 0. Arsenal will smell blood. The atmosphere will be really hostile, much as it was there last season. Not the right game for Eriksen least of all if a bid miraculously comes in for him this week. I don't want two half-fit defenders walking in to our clusterfuck of a defense either, so it'll be one or the other. We'll need players with a fire in the belly for this more than anything - I'd bite your hand off for a hard-fought draw right now. For that reason I would persist with Winks and Lamela, and bring Alli back into the line-up to be replaced by Lucas (who is better as an impact sub anyway) when he tires. Hugo Sissoko Toby Jan (Dave if Rose starts) Davies (Rose if Jan starts) Winks Tanguy Son Lamela Alli Kane
I think one of Son or Moura has to come off the bench. Only for the reason that we need firepower off the bench...instead of both running on empty at the 70th minute mark whilst we chase a goal with Ben Davies waiting in the wings to replace one or the other
It’s definitely the biggest game. Arsenal will always be our biggest game. And at this early stage in the season where morale is already low for us, losing it will create a whole new level animosity towards players/ manager. Without Eriksen or Lo Celso (who’s likely not fit enough to start) in the XI it will be suicide - again. One absolutely must start.
Our downturn in form has coincided with the sale of Dembele, being the wrong side of 30 and niggling injuries aside, it appears we are missing him more than we imagined.
There was a point before his back-to-back ankle injuries where Winks was going for the Modric passes and, while I'm not going to say he was finding his man as consistently as Luka always seemed to, he was capable of pulling them off Which begs the question why he's so reserved with his passing now: is it because he's worried about a third major ankle injury so is shying away from making himself a target for the cloggers, or is it tactical on Poch's part considering he's certainly playing more like Scott Parker - and he's not alone in that regard, as Oliver Skipp is very similar
I think it's more down to several things happening to that 16/17 side at once, none of which could've been predicted easily but all of which could've been rectified to a greater standard and with a more sensible strategy. When you consider that the following happened across a period of no more than 6 months: - Walker leaving - Rose's season-ending injury (he hasn't been 100% since tbh) - Wanyama's season-ending (and career ending) injury - Dembele's niggling injuries getting the better of him All of that was too much for us to cope with at once - the criminal mistake though was to not even attempt to deal with it across the subsequent 3 transfer windows. We tried (and failed, but at least we tried) to replace Kyle. We ignored the problems at CM and LB. The only player we signed in those windows played in a position we had no real urgency to strengthen (Lucas), and so now here we are at Window #4, we've finally moved to strengthen CM and LB but in the interim 18 months, problems have cropped up in other positions (RB as mentioned, and now CB and AM too), which has once again left us with too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
The thing is each of those issues led to a domino effect afflicting central midfield - Sissoko should have been an easy replacement for Dembele...but his game relies on brute strength rather than guile - Dele was drafted in as a central midfielder...which removed his threat when making late runs into the box - Dier ended up as an emergency CM...which exposed his passing as being totally unsuited for this role - Winks could have been a metronome in central midfield...only for back-to-back ankle injuries to wreck that There's reasons why there were calls last season to give the likes of Jack Roles or Paris Maghoma a shot, it's so we had someone suited to playing central midfield actually play in central midfield - which would also mean Alli or Dier would be playing in their suited positions as well
Winksy is fast becoming a poor man's Ray Wilkins. They'll be nicknaming him The Crab soon!! I like the lad and he's Spurs through and through, but to be honest, he's always looked more creative playing for England than Spurs. the annoying thing is that I think there's a much more complete player in there somewhere. Mind you, I thought the same about Coco and that hasn't worked out well
This is making my brain hurt. Dave if Rose starts but Rose if Jan starts. Please tell me this is a typo before my head explodes.
