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The Mauricio Pochettino thread

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ljinko888

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May 17, 2016
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We struggled to keep the ball and work it into good areas after they made it 2-2. At least in the first half we rode through their pressure and started to get a foothold which led to the two goals.

That tells me we tired after a lot of work over the last two games and needed fresh legs. And it's not the benefit of hindsight because many of us were saying at half time we were lucky to be in a position to HAVE A LEAD TO DEFEND. If Poch made the changes to bolster the team (personnel = Toby for Foyth / systematic = drop off and wait for the counter) we could have drawn Arsenal out as they pushed more and more on. Emery took a gamble by putting two up top at half time and narrowing their system when they had caused us problems playing very wide but it worked.....because we didn't respond to it.
 

rossdapep

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Emery won Europa League for three consecutive seasons with Sevilla. Poch has a long way to go.
And that's an excellent achievement but it should be noted that Sevilla had no chance of winning the title but were still able to comfortably get European football season after season. That's not the case in the Prem. I'm sure if it was easier for us to focus on the Europa League then we would. But there's the risk that should we switch focus then our Prem form will suffer and until we are settled in the stadium we are heavily reliant on CL football otherwise we could get left behind again.

There will come a point where excuses are no longer valid and this team needs to be winning things but I feel Poch is at a disadvantage to most of the other renown coaches.
 

danielneeds

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May 5, 2004
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We struggled to keep the ball and work it into good areas after they made it 2-2. At least in the first half we rode through their pressure and started to get a foothold which led to the two goals.

That tells me we tired after a lot of work over the last two games and needed fresh legs. And it's not the benefit of hindsight because many of us were saying at half time we were lucky to be in a position to HAVE A LEAD TO DEFEND. If Poch made the changes to bolster the team (personnel = Toby for Foyth / systematic = drop off and wait for the counter) we could have drawn Arsenal out as they pushed more and more on. Emery took a gamble by putting two up top at half time and narrowing their system when they had caused us problems playing very wide but it worked.....because we didn't respond to it.
We maybe needed some big voices in the dressing room to stand up and say to Poch that the legs were tired and maybe we needed to thicken up the midfield and just sit back and make it difficult for them and use Sonny on the counter who was causing them problems.

The team needs to become more streetwise and recognise there’s not just one way to win matches.
 

Sevens

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Apr 23, 2014
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It does make me wonder whether Poch's poor team selection and slow to sub decisions are designed intentionally to try and demonstrate to Levy that he needs more resources.

Either way it is nuts, but he has previous form for doing crazy things when it comes to rotation. Southampton is the game to rest players if need be. Not Arsenal.
 

shelfboy68

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Jun 14, 2008
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We maybe needed some big voices in the dressing room to stand up and say to Poch that the legs were tired and maybe we needed to thicken up the midfield and just sit back and make it difficult for them and use Sonny on the counter who was causing them problems.

The team needs to become more streetwise and recognise there’s not just one way to win matches.
Most of this team has been with poch 4/5 years and with three top 3 finishes, two semi-finals and 1 x league cup final appearance should they not be more streetwise by now.
 

danielneeds

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Most of this team has been with poch 4/5 years and with three top 3 finishes, two semi-finals and 1 x league cup final appearance should they not be more streetwise by now.
And yet they too often make the same mistakes at the crucial crunch moments. There’s so many good things about this group, but sometimes you just have to shutdown a game old-school Italian style when you’re not at your best. We just don’t seem to want to or be able to do that.
 

shelfboy68

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And yet they too often make the same mistakes at the crucial crunch moments. There’s so many good things about this group, but sometimes you just have to shutdown a game old-school Italian style when you’re not at your best. We just don’t seem to want to or be able to do that.
Totally agree that's why I don't mind when we don't play well but grind out a 1-0 win sometimes it's not about always doing the pretty stuff sometimes it just has to be plain ugly to gain a result.
I was hoping yesterday that second half we would shut the game down but instead encouraged them to pick up the initiative which they did, this isn't a young team now they should be more experienced than this.
 

danielneeds

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Totally agree that's why I don't mind when we don't play well but grind out a 1-0 win sometimes it's not about always doing the pretty stuff sometimes it just has to be plain ugly to gain a result.
I was hoping yesterday that second half we would shut the game down but instead encouraged them to pick up the initiative which they did, this isn't a young team now they should be more experienced than this.
All the 1-0 wins have generally been against inferior teams that just sit back though. When we come up against similarly talented or better sides we usually only have one game plan, which is to play our usual game, which sometimes works and sometimes we get battered. There’s never an attempt to go away to Anfield or the Emirates and play a bit of rope-a-dope.
 

shelfboy68

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All the 1-0 wins have generally been against inferior teams that just sit back though. When we come up against similarly talented or better sides we usually only have one game plan, which is to play our usual game, which sometimes works and sometimes we get battered. There’s never an attempt to go away to Anfield or the Emirates and play a bit of rope-a-dope.
I see to remember last year in the CL we had some success against Madrid and Dortmund away by soaking up the pressure the breaking it was a tactic that worked well I thought against decent sides.
 

Kilkenny Cat

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Nov 28, 2006
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We did grind out an ugly 1-0 as recently as last Wednesday, with Poch making the difference via his substitutions.

There are plenty of reasons to be unhappy about yesterday. But Arsenal were the fresher team after a far easier week, and that was one really big reason why they won.
 

brendanb50

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Jul 21, 2005
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We maybe needed some big voices in the dressing room to stand up and say to Poch that the legs were tired and maybe we needed to thicken up the midfield and just sit back and make it difficult for them and use Sonny on the counter who was causing them problems.

The team needs to become more streetwise and recognise there’s not just one way to win matches.

Perhaps with our younger team we do tend to lack a bit of nous in a tough game - completely agree though. Poch can't call everything, although he has the advantage of knowing the most in the context of what he's seeing.

As you note, sometimes that change/shift falls to the players out there. If you see your DM or FB struggling, you shift in to help cover for a spell and take the sting out of the game. I know you need positional outlets when back in possession but when you're under pressure you need to find a way to change up. We failed to do that when they got a bit more of the ball/momentum and whilst Poch is taking abit of the criticism for that, the players also need to match tempo and shift the game plan a bit quicker as well.
 

Lighty64

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one thing i dont get is if he rated foyth so highly then why did he not include him in our cl squad, which resulted in him being included today (because he had a rest in midweek)

don't know if you've read the last few pages but Toby was rotated apparently due to making sure he doesn't over do it with his hamstring.

Foyth wasn't included mainly due to HG rule, but also he wasn't fit at the beginning of the CL campaign
 

Lighty64

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Now I know why Poch was complaining about Foyth not being in the CL squad so much. Had he been, he would of started against Inter and Alderweireld against Arsenal.

But still don't get why he couldn't overlook a slight need for rotation at CB and come to the conclusion that experience should of been the key factor in the decision making process for a game of this magnitude.

Foyth could of started against Southampton. Furthermore CBs don't need to be freshened up as much as the midfield and attackers.

but what if Toby was carrying a slight knock and only used him to make the bench up in numbers. don't get me wrong when I 1st saw the team I thought it was wrong, though my concerns where for Jan.

like someone else said if he was going to change the system perhaps Toby on and it would of meant having Dier still in midfield to protect, which he could of done asap after they equalised. other than bring Winks on for Sissoko at the same time, or Moura for Son/Alli, it would of left him with just the 1 sub left. if there was 2 others playing with knocks that where making up the numbers, perhaps he held back. the Jan red card happened to late, and the annoying thing is Jan had already committed to his stretch/lunge before Lacazette was there which made it impossible to pull out.
 

daryl hannah

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Sep 1, 2014
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but what if Toby was carrying a slight knock and only used him to make the bench up in numbers. don't get me wrong when I 1st saw the team I thought it was wrong, though my concerns where for Jan.

like someone else said if he was going to change the system perhaps Toby on and it would of meant having Dier still in midfield to protect, which he could of done asap after they equalised. other than bring Winks on for Sissoko at the same time, or Moura for Son/Alli, it would of left him with just the 1 sub left. if there was 2 others playing with knocks that where making up the numbers, perhaps he held back. the Jan red card happened to late, and the annoying thing is Jan had already committed to his stretch/lunge before Lacazette was there which made it impossible to pull out.
I think we don't know. We don't know Poch's reasons, so can't judge. We want reasons, but we won't get them. That's fine. But will Poch go full strength in the cup?
 

Lighty64

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thing is we didn't know in the summer that come the 1st weekend of December we would have so many injuries to players that would of made the bench stronger. we already have a full squad, in fact we have 28 players 2 out on loan, and Janssen injured. without a crystal ball Poch doesn't know for certain we are going to be 5 men short, and how many signings should he of made and known they wouldn't be injured now
 

Lighty64

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Then we need to take a look at how we can get options on the bench. Which is going back to the whole no buys in the summer.


thing is we didn't know in the summer that come the 1st weekend of December we would have so many injuries to players that would of made the bench stronger. we already have a full squad, in fact we have 28 players 2 out on loan, and Janssen injured. without a crystal ball Poch doesn't know for certain we are going to be 5 men short, and how many signings should he of made and known they wouldn't be injured now
 

Lighty64

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I think we don't know. We don't know Poch's reasons, so can't judge. We want reasons, but we won't get them. That's fine. But will Poch go full strength in the cup?

nope I doubt he will. we are pretty thin in areas CD, CM which we all agree we should of bought. winning the CoC guarantees a cup and Europa League. if due to losing a player in the CoC that would damage any hope of a CL place we will lose mega money, and possibly players to go with it. if you asked every single player in our squad CL or CoC, they would all say both, if you went back and told them "no" you can only chose 1 they would go for the CL.

I tell you now, if we won the CoC and missed out on CL, Eriksen would definitely be off, and wouldn't be shocked if Alli made waves to go. I will also tell you Levy would sell them too for the right price. if we get CL next season there will be 62k every group match unless the opponents don't sell out. if we play EL every match will see around 30k max all at a reduced entrance fee. if we lose players and don't recruit the talent we might not recover.

I honestly want this season to be finished ASAP and prey for top 4. I think the only trophy we might go for seriously would be the EL if, we are 12+ points adrift by time the KO's start (providing we don't match Inter's result next week)
 

JCRD

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nope I doubt he will. we are pretty thin in areas CD, CM which we all agree we should of bought. winning the CoC guarantees a cup and Europa League. if due to losing a player in the CoC that would damage any hope of a CL place we will lose mega money, and possibly players to go with it. if you asked every single player in our squad CL or CoC, they would all say both, if you went back and told them "no" you can only chose 1 they would go for the CL.

I tell you now, if we won the CoC and missed out on CL, Eriksen would definitely be off, and wouldn't be shocked if Alli made waves to go. I will also tell you Levy would sell them too for the right price. if we get CL next season there will be 62k every group match unless the opponents don't sell out. if we play EL every match will see around 30k max all at a reduced entrance fee. if we lose players and don't recruit the talent we might not recover.

I honestly want this season to be finished ASAP and prey for top 4. I think the only trophy we might go for seriously would be the EL if, we are 12+ points adrift by time the KO's start (providing we don't match Inter's result next week)

A bit early to be too disheartened haha

Just out of interest - why? and what do you think may change in the summer that didnt happen last summer?

Obviously the stadium SHOULD be completed fully by then
 

Lighty64

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A bit early to be too disheartened haha

Just out of interest - why? and what do you think may change in the summer that didnt happen last summer?

Obviously the stadium SHOULD be completed fully by then

disheartened by everything at the moment "life" not just football. on the football side our last 2 seasons at the old WHL was like once a game finished, I wanted the next 1 to start straight away. last season playing at Wembley took the edge off even though we did great in the CL groups, but due to health going to Wembley for me equals a mare.

in the summer (winter would be nice) I just hope we are going to really strengthen, but worried how much this season has damaged us, and if we fail to get a CL spot it won't be strengthening it will be hoping we can replace.

the stadium hopefully once finished, we get a decent namings right deal, which again might depend on when we get it. I doubt it will happen till the start of next season now, and will depend on the comp we play in.
 

DCSPUR

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Apr 15, 2005
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But he had Winks on the bench, who he later introduced at the 79' minute. Why wait that long when we were crying out for someone to help manage the tempo and keep possession way before then?
because Winks has to be managed as well - I really like a lot of what you write which makes this type of statement infuriating!
 
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