Yeah he's pretty harmless, much in the same way a hobo sitting on a park bench shouting at pigeons is harmless. I just felt my IQ draining with each GIF of sweaty men in spandex so had to put him on ignore. It was for my own good.
Something else to point out about our midfield makeup yesterday: a large part of the issue with our inability to get the ball forwards was our CMs always seemed to pass in the direction which they were facing, which is an issue if they are facing towards our goal as the ball won't be going forwards - and this only changed when Bentancur and Lo Celso came on as both were more willing to take the ball on the turn and take on their man...so of course that's when our defence ran out of talent a couple of times, because of course it was That's surely why we're getting linked with progressive DMs at the moment like Andre Trindade and Son of Redondo, as they're players who can receive the ball from the back and look to take the ball forward as that sets the pace the second the ball is played out the back, which we don't get if Hojbjerg or Skipp are the deepest player and also gives us an option if Bissouma's having an off day which he's had a couple of this season
At risk of repeating everything I said about Spurs after the Palace game, Spurs recruited very well this summer. The loss of the two key signings (coupled with suspensions) for this game had a dramatic, but not unexpected effect on the team’s performance. The loss of van der Ven’s pace and ability to cover runners in behind the defence meant that playing a high line was potentially suicidal. So it was inevitable that the much slower and less mobile Dier and Davies would drop deeper. Maddison’s absence stifled the team’s creativity; there was nobody to take the ball higher up the field from midfield and hold on to the ball for spells. So the midfield sat deeper too and were unable to use the ball in areas which caused Wolves any concerns. The front three looked lively but need someone to provide the ammunition - which was lacking without Maddison. It’s difficult to play the same way without the two players who are key to making that style work. Ange will have to work out a way to get the team functioning until they return. His first big test.
I know a lot of people on here don't rate him, but he should've started Lo Celso. Hojbjerg replacing Sarr and Sarr replacing Maddison was far too negative. That was especially true in Udogie's absence, as our left side was basically nullified. Johnson did well to nick a goal coming in from that wing but that was basically it. Not having anyone to deal with Dawson was an issue, too. He was allowed to manhandle Son all day and took him out of the game. Hitting him in the face and stepping on his balls was fine, apparently.
Richy would've been perfect to deal with Dawson But we're supposed to think he isn't fit to play with the U12s or something
Last time I saw lo celso live was watching him away to Fulham in the cup in August. Good attitude but completely unsuited to playing in England. Requires too much time and can't cope with the physicality.
Sarr was pretty dismal against Wolves, though - but not as dismal as Bissouma And this is the issue with our midfield personnel at the moment, as it can very easily be broken down into two categories: players who pass in the direction they are facing, and players who look to turn their opponents That's where it went wrong against Wolves in particular, as our starting midfield was made up of players who pass in the direction they're facing with Hojbjerg in particular guilty of this - and as our midfield was often playing with their back to Wolves' half of the pitch, while our midfielders who look to turn were either injured (Maddison) or on the bench (Bentancur, Lo Celso), we got a repeat of Conteball Similar goes for the lack of physicality to deal with Dawson & Co, because our more physical players were either injured (Richarlison), suspended (Romero) or were having a 'mare (Bissouma) - and our solution was to sub on Bryan, who got bullied off the ball far too easily when we needed somebody to either bypass their cloggers with a pass or dribble or somebody to cancel them out, either way we needed Dawson on his backside at some point and never came close to even trying
