Do Arseanal play the way we expect to be playing one day?

[ralvy]

Saturday game was a real eye opener for me, I finally was able to notice just how far behind we still are in terms of our own development as a team that expects to challenge for important things in the near future.

I was (and still am) under the impression that under Poch our aim would be to play pretty much like Arsenal did against us this past weekend: high pressing, quick little tiky-taka passing style game on 90% of the pitch to maintain possession and incisive passes once we reached the oppositions gaol keeping area. We showed some of that against Rangers, but against Arsenal we practically did none of that:

- Our pressing was mainly on our side of the field, barely doing it past the half line.

- Our passing game was virtually non existent, our players would retain the ball for way too much time before attempting a pass, which constantly lead them to attempt lots of low percentage dribbles instead.

The pressing thing may be explained by us sitting back and give Arsenal the ball as some claim we did (I didn't noticed much of that, I felt they simply wouldn't let us enjoy much of the ball), but what we did while we were in possession of the ball can only be explained by two things: either our own players aren't still feeling comfortable playing along each other against strong opponents or Pochetino's attacking approach is much different than I have originally imagined.

So what do you guys think? Is our lack of a dynamic passing game so far this season just a sign that our players still haven't been able to develop a strong enough chemistry between them to make such approach flourish or is it that Pochetino has a different attacking approach which isn't so passing dependent?

 

[Spurger King]

Ineffectively?

 

[JimmyG2]

There's more than one way to skin a rabbit.
We do not have a club style any more
but most Spurs fans have a folk memory of one.
The world has moved on and we would have been slaughtered on Saturday
had we tried to play Arsenal at their own game.
Pochettino has a game plan in his head but will have to wait
until he gets this lot under control or recruits people who get it.
On Saturday he opted for pragmatism with the available resources.
I don't think it will be like Arsenals but Pochettino might be gone before we master it.
Arsenal have had the same manager while we have had 15 and counting.
Who knows what style we will end up playing.
Barcelona are not the force they were, or Spain.
The King is dead long live whoever overthrows him.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Not right now they aren't, but they did, for quite some time.

 

[nicdic]

Poch outright said that the game plan was to sit deep and break.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

While Arsenal dominated possession and had lots of corners they never really got behind us and had clear cut chances like they have had against us in previous years. Even their goal was fortuitous how it came about with Lamelas miskick and Welbecks airshow. Of course they're way ahead of us at this moment but we all knew that before the game didn't we? For me this game just showed that Poch is willing to adapt his style which is a plus in my eyes. If we had any kind of semi clinical striker we would have won that game.

I don't expect us to play like that at home or against the rest of the teams away from home but it might be a strategy against the top teams away. I'd take that over a spanking.

 

[Jimmypearce7]

Tactics and game plans are important but what is more important is the quality of the players on the pitch. When we had Modric, VDV and Bale, we had players who could compete with and inflict damage on top teams. Now we haven't. We have got promise in that Lamela and Erikssen could be top players but it is a tall order even to get to our level of a couple of years ago, with the top teams, who have mostly improved since then, being even further away.

So i dont think it is only a matter of Poch imposing his style on the team.

 

[Mr Pink]

Poch outright said that the game plan was to sit deep and break.

Which I have been saying in the ratings thread, where are these quotes?

 

[thinktank]

Which I have been saying in the ratings thread, where are these quotes?

"But our plan, as you saw on the pitch, was to be compact, to be able to receive in the defensive line and, after we recovered the ball, to go forward quickly to surprise Arsenal."

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2014/09/27/5138881/-

http://talksport.com/football/pochettino-pleased-point-against-arsenal-after-stubborn-tottenham-performance-140927116057

 

[Kendall]

I think Arsenal's movement off the ball has declined over the past couple of years. They used to run rings around us, but I don't think they're anywhere near as sharp as they were.

 

[SpursDave88]

The one thing I noticed a lot is how much faster the Arsenal players were, both in moving with the ball at their feet and passing it quickly. Every Arsenal player seemed to have that extra half a yard of pace to get away from his man when running with the ball and it would consistently require an extra Spurs player to win the ball back. The opposite was oftentimes true for Spurs attackers. Second, what was particularly noticeable was our poor passing. Had we been incisive in our passing on the counter we could have been out of sight, in reality we readily turned over possession at every opportunity and invited pressure on. I really couldn't understand why, when 1-0 ahead deep in the second half, we didn't attempt to just keep the ball and slow the game down...rather we kept giving Arsenal the ball and irrespective of whether it was due to a Lamela mis-kick, the equaliser had been coming for a good 10 minutes, due to the manner in which we kept turning over the ball and dropping deeper and deeper.

 

[WestBelfast Spurs]

if we had been more clinical on the break we would have been out of sight and been 3 up before they scored

 

[stevenqoz]

Occasionally....more often, the further you go in competitions, you come up against a side who are literally out of your grade / class. This was what I saw Saturday. What this does, more often than not, is expose your weaknesses. Contrast our performances against QPR and Arsenal. Against the former they sat back and let us play. This is largely what we did against the latter. The only difference being the number of fouls / free kicks we were willing to concede to 'stop' the game. A lack of possession (39%) is like a lack of oxegen to a person....you start to suffocate. We were doing this against Arsenal....rushing, losing composure on the ball when we occasionally got it only to give it away. Part of the effect this has is to make the opposition seem quicker / sharper. If the game Saturday was played 10 times in a similar way, Arsenal would win eight or nine. Strangely, I do still believe we have players in our squad to reduce the gap but in truth they are playing in a different grade to us, ECL, while might flatter occasionally as possibly the best of the rest.

 

[Martinhotspur]

We were set up not get beat and to counter attack like 95% of teams that arrive at White Hart Lane do to us. Mourinho did this to Liverpool last year and nicked a win.

 

[CowInAComa]

One day?

wasnt we dominating possession but looking toothless as recently as last season?

 

[Lufti]

The pressing thing may be explained by us sitting back and give Arsenal the ball as some claim we did (I didn't noticed much of that, I felt they simply wouldn't let us enjoy much of the ball), but what we did while we were in possession of the ball can only be explained by two things: either our own players aren't still feeling comfortable playing along each other against strong opponents or Pochetino's attacking approach is much different than I have originally imagined.

We domianted possession in both our league games against them last year so I think if we want to control the ball when we're playing against them then we can. As others have said, it was clearly in our plan to let them have more of the ball, in particular in wide areas, pretty much the same way they did against us at the Lane last season. In my mind there are two ways to beat Arsenal. In a similar manner to the one we employed at the weekend, which nearly came off, or in a very high-tempo high-pressing manner, which is better deployed at home rather than at the emirates (see Dortmund, Liverpool etc). I think for where we are in terms of our development Poch was pretty much spot on at the weekend.

Also, Arsenal's style of football hasn't been all that since Fabregas left, just sayin'

 

[robin09]

Ineffectively?

Arsenal were useless on Sunday. Really surprised me, given they have Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey all available.

 

[aliyid]

Simple answer - No

We haven't got a clear style at the moment but the early signs are positive that it's moving in the right direction (even if results haven't been that good so far).

I think our style will be more suited to Borussia Dortmund with quick incisive counter attacks and moving the ball forward quickly rather than the constant probing ball circulation of Arsenal.

This article from last year is worth a quick 5min read if you're not familiar with Klopps style - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ical-mind-of-borussia-dortmunds-juergen-klopp

 

[StartingPrice]

What? Be totally toothless against teams that sit deep, you mean? We already do that

Though now we have discovered a way to cheat the goal-line technology, maybe we could take advantage of that more

 

[degoose]

One day?

wasnt we dominating possession but looking toothless as recently as last season?

and last week.