He had no involvement in the second goal and if, say Dele was on the pitch he may have closed down their player who equalised. He has had two years and more to improve...under 4 managers...sorry but I have lost patience. As for the support issue... I do not dig at fans when I go but to suggest I am negative cos I ain't impressed with his patchy (at best) and piss poor (at worse) performances makes no sense to me. If you think he is the way forward and is worth £60m plus on his performances that's fine but I don't. Oh...and why would I want us to lose?
I agree with you about Ndombele. Based on his play tonight, what should happen is to play him in attacking role. He's not good defensively and never has been. On the other hand, he had Spurs' best attacking moments, maybe with the exception of Kane's pass to Moura. He had something to do with many of Spurs' goals last year. While I agree he doesn't and didn't close down well at all, the bigger problems defensively were Rodon and Tanganga sitting 5-10 feet inside the box and giving Rennes players open shots at the goal...and Gollini, who I've disliked almost from his first minute and have gotten to dislike more and more.
OK...fair enough... although the deflection had more of an impact than him...but it doesn't answer my other points tbh. Think you are as blinded as you seem to be accusing others of being.
Very little to be positive about, but we drew what in theory was our most difficult match in the group with a number of players absent again. Trouble is difficult games now come thick and fast, if we get away with anything better than a 3 goal defeat on Sunday I will be amazed, the League cup tie is likley to be a lottery with 2 teams playing a lot of 2nd choice players then its the goons where a defeat will likely take them above us, and given the difference in starts we had that will be massively negative message. I can see nothing to get excited about in manager or players this will be a long dispiriting season that will make last season look like a joyful experience.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of Ndombele's performance, I think there was a larger issue. Starting him in a midfield 3 with Skipp and Gil when he's had no pre-season was silly.
As I said after the Palace match, the biggest issue with Ndombele was that Poch signed him for a team that did not exist anymore If we signed Ndombele at any point between 2014-17 he would have been Dembele's understudy which was a player we needed as injuries were already ruling Moose out of a chunk of games every season which is why we bought Sissoko to play in the same role The problem was that we signed Ndombele in 2019, and by that time our entire system had changed and the Dembele role was obsolete, yet we spent big on him in spite the fact that our midfield no longer needed a Dembele to be the glue that held it together but a player in the mold of Scott Parker, Michael Carrick or Ngolo Kante who would dictate from the centre of the pitch but in a different way, because we were losing our ability to transition from defence to attack when injuries were taking their toll on both Dembele and Wanyama and needed to address that issue head-on, but instead we bought the wrong personnel and adopted a terrible system to try and halfass it which only wound up with Poch getting sacked, the ubermensch failing to address the exact same issue yet blaming everyone but himself for him failing to address it, and now Nuno's getting roasted for what he inherited because he's not Big Name™ enough
Yep... Just feels like it's same old, same old though now. Half forgotten what it's like to watch good football when Spurs are involved.
On a side note, against Pacos and tonight we've had referees who seem content to turn a blind eye to a rugby game which is breaking out on their watch - but, more than anything else, the attitude to this is "It's the third-tier competition, what do you expect?" While it is unrealistic to expect UEFA to start assigning their best officials to the ECL until the quarter finals for obvious reasons, that's no reason to accept deadbeat refs who don't care what happens on the pitch as long as they get paid at the end of the night
The ref was Halis Özkahya, if anyone's wondering. Seems to have been around for quite a while, despite only being 41. Doesn't get many notable games in Europe and seems to get cut off quite early on every year.
I really feel for him, as he's been dealt a **** hand and he seems a really genuine guy.. He may well survive til October / November even if the next 3 games go South, but on current form and (lack of) style if he does that will be more to do with the lack of an alternative solution. But if I was a negative type....
I hope it works out for him but whatever happens sacking him before the season is out would be a joke.
I think this sums up the issue with Ndombele all too well: he beats 0 defenders and passes the ball backwards, yet people make out that it's majestic because he did some stepovers
Totally agree. The managerial bed has been made and the club has to hope that the sheets aren't bri-nylon!
Yeah but the clip looks good on social media and YouTube which is all that matters on Twitter. Twitter fandom is rotten to the core. Nuno will get a season, if nothing else because hiring a decent manager will be impossible mid-season, especially because nobody is going to want to work at a club that fires a manager after such a short period of time. It’s widely agreed that it takes at least half a season for a coach’s methods to become really ingrained so I’m reserving any real judgement until the new year, but it’s been a mixed bag so far. He’s been dealt a **** hand in many ways but I don’t think he’s played it 100% correctly.
I think most do, he genuinely is a top bloke and in many ways I feel sorry for him stepping into this mess but equally fans won't put up with this Jose-esque football for another season and I don't think the club will, rumours are that Levy had to be persuaded by Paratici to hire Nuno due to fears over his style of play and so far the only game we've truly attacked was Pacos in the second leg. The City game was perfectly executed and the only way you can realistically play against them but other than that it's been dire performances, some with fortunate wins, others without. I think one way or another he'll get a solid amount of results to get us in or near top six, he's experienced enough in the league to be able to do that I'd say but I don't think it'll be enough to keep him at the club beyond his current contract unless some serious changes in his style are made. Fans are already bored with it and we're not even 10 games in and unfortunately many expected this too, I certainly did.