I was disappointed that the second half saw us play like the first. I think you could see that Ange had told them to move the ball quicker, and that was the answer IMO, but we soon dropped back into trying to walk the ball into the net. We got beat just like we used to beat teams like City with Kane and Son, replace them with Isak and Gordon and you saw the result. Any luck that was going did not go our way and that's why we COULD not should have been 2 - 1 in the first half, but Newcastle were on the ball just like Fulham. Do not give Spurs time to play, close them down and hit them on the break. They did it perfectly so well done to them. Nobody IMO should be on Ange's back he knew what was needed but the players, probably shell shocked to some degree, just failed to respond properly. I agree with PNP we do need to work on defending corners. I think Vicario has had his confidence dented stemming from the City game, when they targeted him. Other teams have followed suit. Everybody watches everybody in the PL and people don't miss a trick if they see a weakness. It will be interesting to see how we do against City, Arsenal, and Liverpool. because the shoe will be on the other foot with regard to respect. I doubt they will sit back against us and generally that works better for us. Having said all that I do not understand how Burn kicking Bentacur in the face is not a penalty and not even a look at it, or even a discussion by the pundits. Did I miss something?
I don't think it's got much to do with Vicario, to be honest. They played lots of balls to the back post and a few quite deep. Tons of free headers. We appear to have the wrong set-up, to me. Big men marking space. Attacking players man-marking the threats. It's stupid. Who knows? We'll never see it again to find out. It's not what they want to show. Getting a penalty would've been pretty funny too, as they're the only side we've got one against.
I just think we look very nervous on corners and thought it may come from Vicario. Goalkeepers should command their area and he is not doing that at corners.
I think it comes from the players knowing we're **** on corners. I'm nervous when I'm watching the set up before it's even been kicked. Brennan Johnson was repeatedly marking Dan Burn, for example. That's just silly. I don't know enough about Postecoglou to know if this has been a persistent issue for him. It's clearly one at Spurs, though. He should bring somebody in to help him. Other clubs have gone as far as hiring throw-in coaches. Every little helps. We don't get penalties and we can't defend corners. That's costing us points for nothing, really.
I don’t blame Ange for the individual errors but as I’ve said since his appointment, I have big questions on how adaptable he is and his in game management. Celtic fans love him because they played great attacking football and scored lots of goals. To think he can just copy and paste that with Spurs would be naive.
Yep I thought Johnson marking Burn was a joke. Perhaps he was supposed to grab him by the legs. It reminded me of the Liverpool Atalanta game when the pundits on the half way line were Crouchy and two tiny women players who were literally half his height. I called my wife to have a look and she cracked up.
I think it's got into their heads now. You can almost feel the tension as soon as a corner is conceded. Yep, that was a disaster of a performance today but hopefully they will come out with more fight for the next few games!
Totally agree with this. Vicario is a good keeper but he has reacted badly to that pressure (much of it illegal) being applied. He's rooted to the line - and he wasn't even being put under direct pressure today. The way we set up to defend corners though is also bizarre as PnP says...
Comment like aussie ardiles, that he is tactically clueless, that we've played poorly for months, that we play boring football, Ange can't cope cos this ain't a tinpot league... This (for me) is just the latest example about how our squad is not suited to the way we want to play. We have a lot of players who need moving on and need two strikers, two full backs, a defensive midfielder at a minimum.
Richarlison would have made life a bit more uncomfortable for NUFC. I think we have missed him more than we realise.
My issue with him is that he’s not playing a different way with Spurs than he did with Celtic and you can’t do that because of the different in league quality. FWIW I think he could it with Man City.
Guimaraes was marking him a lot, but they weren't firing the ball just under his bar, like most. You could see that the Brazilian started mixing it up as the game went on and stood behind him. Made Vicario look away from the corner to see where he was, anticipating contact.
But he certainly wasn't targeted today and if he's allowed past experience to impact his decision making across the board then that's not great.
