Question.Is Llorente just unlucky or just unable to hit a barn door if inside it? He has football skills and good with his head,but he isn't a goalhanger or does he chase hopeless causes like most goal hungry players. So.....which is it? ......and being a naughty boy (be it an old boy!) I thought as Sissoko's pass went in in/off,this would be the only way he would score.So,maybe,he earned his pay packet today!
From tonight... 1. Wembley Stadium is ****ing freezing. 2. I've remembered how good Coco Lamela was before the injury. We've missed him. 3.Juan Foyth isn't anywhere near ready for first team football. 4. We should never spend money on a striker again. At least, if we burned the money for Soldado, Vinnie and Llorente, Wembley Stadium wouldn't be so cold.
Good points but i have to disagree about Foyth though. He made one suicide pass into midfield very early on but after that i thought he was excellent. Very composed and assured. He is still raw of course , but the way he is progressing i think we have a real talent on our hands.
Didn't see the match as I was working, how did Toby play and does he look ready to start on Saturday?
He started a bit slowly and a couple of passes went astray then after about 20 minutes he was back to his normal self and didn't put a foot, or a pass, wrong. He's still the best central defender in the world.
I'm sure that Foyth will develop but he's quite a way off at the moment. He grew into the game yesterday, but looked far from comfortable at times and needs to strengthen up. He'll hopefully get a few opportunities in games like these and as a sub, but I'm with Brian in terms of his level to be a PL or CL regular. But learning from Toby & Jan is close to as good a school as a young CB could hope for
Gulp. Here I go. I'm going to defend Llorente esp the second half. The 2 misses weren't that easy - a header that he had to generate all the power and then a volley that missed by inches. I would defend him cause he got into goal scoring positions and had a decent stab at them. I'm more critical when he doesn't even look like scoring. I shall be offline for a while.
As you will surmise, it wasn't the toughest test to go by. Looked good/ready to me though. Possibly depends how he reacts to the run out, played 90 mins.
Jan has been better than him for the past two seasons. Comfortably the most underrated CB in the world and, unlike his compatriot, is very rarely injured.
Nice and comfortable performance, bettered by the fact we had players returning from injury getting valuable game time. Sonny and Lamela stood out. Barring a silly pass in the opening minutes, Foyth probably had his best game. Think I've said on here before that in terms of technical ability he's already at a great level but physically he needs some major work. You'd **** yourself if he was having to defend against the likes of Deeney, Carroll etc. Toby took about 15 minutes to shake off the rust and then looked like he hadn't been away. I'd be all for seeing him start in the NLD, Dave's been great for the most part but is still a way off from being at Toby and Jan's level. Aurier looked good too considering he'd missed a few games, we'll probably go with Tripps for the NLD but I wouldn't be disappointed if Aurier was selected. Rose looked ok in periods but rusty in others, injury has massively hit him this season, looks a yard or two slower and I feel like he's packing a bit of weight, doesn't seem as "streamlined" as he has been in previous seasons. Davies is miles ahead at the moment. I'm going to side with @SpursDisciple as well in defending Nando. The header was somewhat impossible to score really and the fact he generated the power to make it look like a good chance shows his aerial strength. The volley was inches wide, those sorts of misses are exactly what happens to a guy low on confidence. I thought his general play was impressive, I think for the first time since Madrid away (which was his best game by a mile), we actually utilised his aerial target man skills and I swear he must've have won about 14 out of 15 high balls. I don't get why we don't do this more often when he's on the pitch, maybe Poch is being naive in thinking Nando can emulate Kane but that's ridiculous, signing Nando to me gave us the option of a Crouch-esque type in which if we're chasing a goal or looking to change to a "plan b", we have somewhat to lump the ball up too and this is what he thrives at. Really hope that if he gets more game time we start playing to his strengths, he can be a real asset in this second half of the season if we do. Happy days overall, only "negative" you could say is that it would've been nice if one or two more youngsters were involved, though the fact Poch had a crazy powerful bench somewhat signalled his intent to do well in the cup, which is reassuring.
Beg to differ. Jan is the second best central defender in the world. But there's not much in it. I would suggest that the are relatively equal when it comes to defending, but Toby edges it due to his passing ability, I would go as far to say that he is Hoddlesque occasionally. However, we are truly lucky to have the two best central defenders in the world playing for us.
I'll go along with the Toby and 1/4 comments, 1/4 needs to join Kane in the Gym and he will be a star. The Rose comments as well, looked good in bursts but need to shed 6-7 kg. Can't agree with the Nando comments, as I said earlier in the thread, Sandra would have got that one. He should have had a hatrick and got nothing. He needs to learn to stay onside as well. He doesn't 'bust a gut' enough for me. I do agree though that we don't play to his strengths, nor Vincent's, nor Soldado's. Sissoko had a half decent game, actually completed quite a few passes, I'd like to see the stats. Lamela was the class of the field closely followed by Sonny. Deli was a class above the opposition in his short camio, having said that, he should be, the money he is paid. Loved the nutmeg, hopefully it will have given him his confidence back. Good call by Poch to give him a few minutes. I hate long balls being classed as 'Lumping it', to me it's a valid tactic, particularly to turn a defence that are defending high. It generally the only way a team will beat us. Bypassing the midfield is a better way of saying it.
It was interesting watching Dele. He is just different to any other player we have. Seems to create space, makes space for others. Can pass, dribble and score. He is not at last season's level but he would still scare me ****less as an opponent. Watching the subs warm up at half time was also interesting. Kane's ability to control the ball is just amazing
When I got in last night, I watched the game back. At the moment, Llorente looks totally devoid of confidence. When he signed for us, he looked every inch the big money signing with a huge confident smile. Right now, he looks haunted and his whole game has gone to rat ****. There's something in his eyes that looks almost like fear. It's hard to understand how that happens to such an experienced player but we've got to get something out of him, if we're to win something and make Top 4. The narrow volleyed miss was the worst for me. He had half the goal to aim at. Just get your foot over it and steer it into the right hand side and you can't fail. He hit it too hard, in my opinion. Also, he doesn't have the famed 'good touch for a big man' and I felt the ball bounced off him a fair bit. Against Newport, it's not the biggest problem in the world. Against Citeh or Juve, it's another matter. Apart from Rochdale and any other lower league team that we might draw in the FA Cup, he can't start. For me, he is now a 'Plan B Only' option when we're chasing a game. Get the ball onto his head, in the box and he can cause the opposition nightmares. He might not score but other players can off the second ball. Other than that, he's a write off for the rest of this season, at least. Shame, he seems like a really nice bloke and looked a clever bit of business.
More than the 2 misses, it was the apparent inability to control the ball that worried me most about Nando. If he cannot execute a basic target man role against Newport County at Wembley then there's a problem. In that first half he managed a single decent lay off FFS!! He does look totally devoid of confidence and as Brian says - we really need him to be a viable support option for the rest of the season. Hopefully, Poch will turn him around!
