Ratings vs Gent (2nd leg)

[THFCSPURS19]

Said this at the end of last season...



Poch has obviously worked hard on him to reduce his errors and improve his decision making and it's paid off to a large degree, but he just doesn't have a natural understanding of the position. He's had some stand-out performances this season tbf to him, but I stand by what I said last season.

It's difficult now as KWP will be brought along to deputise, eventually, when really we need a new Sheriff for him to be the deputy to.

Issue also on the other side as when Rose gets injured our effectiveness on that side drops 30-40% with Davies (and Rose could still do with decision making and crossing tweaking to improve even further).

Anyway, we definitely need to use Tripps more in games where he won't get jacked for pace..

I would like to point out that Walker has the most assists out of any defender in the league this season.

 

[thinktank]

I would like to point out that Walker has the most assists out of any defender in the league this season.

Yeah, 5 assists. He has improved, like I said.

Variables, margins, context and 'big picture' also go onto the scales though.

"it's very hard to do really big things with players like this."

I still stand by that.

 

[tiger666]

Yeah, 5 assists. He has improved, like I said.

Variables, margins, context and 'big picture' also go onto the scales though.


I still stand by that.

I wouldn't read too much in to it. You also said we should sell Rose.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Yeah, 5 assists. He has improved, like I said.

Variables, margins, context and 'big picture' also go onto the scales though.


I still stand by that.

There is not a single RB out there that we could realistically sign that would improve us.

 

[dannythomas]

It was still a system that at least tries to encourage Davies to get into better attacking situations than playing in a back four system, anymore importantly it allowed Walker to get forward constantly (just a shame he didn't use those opportunities well), it also stopped them being able to funnel us narrow, which in turn meant when we did come inside there was often more room, it got Eriksen playing a more pivotal role, instead of being pushed out wide, and we played well, dominated the game, created numerous decent situations and even created quality chances. The system worked because this wasn't Craven Cottage, against a very obliging Fulham team who play a high line and try to play themselves, this was the much more expansive Wembley against a very obdurate, deeper sitting, hard working team.

I would have liked Winks to start too, and would have been happy with either of Son or Alli starting, but not both in that system.

If Winks had started instead of Dembele we would have been hit on the break many more times than we were after Dele was sent off. Dembele and Wanyama both being on the pitch neutralized the numerical advantage they had and we saw what happened after Dembele went off. No coincidence in my view. I know you find it very hard to recognize when Dembele has a good game and last night him and Wanyama gave us a chance . There are times when Dembele holds on to the ball too long and there are times when we don't need 2 holding midfielders. But last night we needed their physical presence and Winks, good player though he is, doesn't give us that.

 

[EastLondonYid]

It was still a system that at least tries to encourage Davies to get into better attacking situations than playing in a back four system, anymore importantly it allowed Walker to get forward constantly (just a shame he didn't use those opportunities well), it also stopped them being able to funnel us narrow, which in turn meant when we did come inside there was often more room, it got Eriksen playing a more pivotal role, instead of being pushed out wide, and we played well, dominated the game, created numerous decent situations and even created quality chances. The system worked because this wasn't Craven Cottage, against a very obliging Fulham team who play a high line and try to play themselves, this was the much more expansive Wembley against a very obdurate, deeper sitting, hard working team.

I would have liked Winks to start too, and would have been happy with either of Son or Alli starting, but not both in that system.

Your correct that Davies would have been non effective in either system, but a back 4 would have allowed us to play Son ahead of him who has pace and would have given us more width and penetration, rather than Davies occupying the whole left side doing fuck all

Davies did absolutely zero going forward, at least in a back 4 we could have had the option of Son ahead of him giving us some pace and width instead of nothing from Davies, irrelevant of what Walker did on the right, we had no balance at all playing the way we did.

I would have even played Jan as LB with Son in front of him and dropped Davies all together. in a 4-4-2 , Son and Jan on the left or Davies on the huge wembley pitch?....... no brainer imo. .

At the end of the day, if Dele doesn't go we win, Gent were as poor as your gonna get at this stage in europe.

 

[sparx100]

Harsh criticism of Walker i think.
If we are dependant on our full backs to surge forward and set up goals and score goals then i am not sure where we find them.

Walker has improved on his delivery and has 5 assists to demonstrate this. His crossing last night was not great but are we completely dependant on our full back? What do Alli, Kane, Son, Dembele all need to do (Eriksen did what i expect of him).

Now i take peoples point that Trippier may have been better for this match but for people to whinge about our right back, England's right back then they need to come up with some alternatives. KWP may be a prospect but thats what he is. Find me a right back who would fit into a 3-5-2 better than Walker in the premiership.

 

[cliff jones]

Why the hell was he taken off? Gent couldn't handle him. I like Winks but I felt when he came on we lost our physical edge and our command of midfield.

I love the big man but no complaints last night or generally with the 65:25 split Poch uses, because I like Winks too and felt he did well as he always does when he came on.

We can all see the game was lost in both boxes, with our Euro 16 heroes chiefly responsible.

 

[djw1973]

This criticism of Dembele is becoming surreal. He absolutely monstered the midfield and was all over the pitch. Its almost become a badge of honour to criticise him. If you cant see what he contributed tonight then you are beyond hope in the critical analysis of football stakes.

I think Dembele is an immense talent and really contributes to our being able to hold the ball and tackle in the centre. If he can add the attacking nous to his game he would be world class. I think that is where the issue is for most people.

In 25 games this season for us he has 0 goals and 0 assists and has only created 15 chances all season. Just to compare:

Winks 9(18) - 1 goal 0 assists 3 chances
Dele 31(4) - 13 goals 2 assists 31 chances
Son- 23(10) - 11 goals 3 assists 29 chances
Lamela 10(4) - 2 goals 3 assists 18 chances
Rose 21 - 2 goals 3 assists 26 chances
Walker 29 - 0 goals 5 assists 32 chances
Tobes 23(1) - 2 goals 0 assists 2 chances
Eriksen 32(2) - 8 goals 10 assists 66 chances
Sissoko 10(14) - 0 goals 2 assists 16 chances
Verts 27 - 0 goals 0 assists 2 chances
Wanyama 33(1) - 3 goals 0 assists 23 chances
Trippier 9(2) - 0 goals 2 assists 2 chances
Dier 31(2) - 0 goals 1 assist 6 chances
Davies 15(5) - 0 goals 1 assist 6 chances
Janssen 10(18) - 4 goals 1 assist 12 chances
Kane 26 - 19 goals 3 assists 27 chances

 

[knowlespurs]

watching Walker last night there were so many times when Trippiers delivery would have been so much better, Davies is an average mid table left back who cant play wing back, he doesnt get forward with any conviction, always looking to stop and play a simple ball. sad inditment when 50m stayed on the bench when we needed a goal

 

[Bus-Conductor]

If Winks had started instead of Dembele we would have been hit on the break many more times than we were after Dele was sent off. Dembele and Wanyama both being on the pitch neutralized the numerical advantage they had and we saw what happened after Dembele went off. No coincidence in my view. I know you find it very hard to recognize when Dembele has a good game and last night him and Wanyama gave us a chance . There are times when Dembele holds on to the ball too long and there are times when we don't need 2 holding midfielders. But last night we needed their physical presence and Winks, good player though he is, doesn't give us that.

I would really have to watch the game again to be sure, but, in hindsight I think you could have a decent case for Dembele last night, defensively speaking. I don't really think he was marvellous last night when it was 11v11, and we weren't picking a team banking on going down to ten men, so I stand firmly by my comment that I would have preferred that Winks started, and I don't agree that Dembele going off and Winks coming on was the reason we conceded a second, we conceded a second, on the break, because Dier made a very basic error which was then compounded with some poor luck. We also conceded with Dembele and 11 men on the pitch.

I don't know if I even agree that we'd have been worse off with Winks than Dembele for much of the time, but I do concede that Dembele probably provided a defensive dynamic, once down to ten men, that I probably didn't give him enough credit for in my individual ratings.

 

[Twizzle]

When we can dominate a game like this with no end product, it just highlights the fact that to me we need more than Harry as a striking option, he has the weight of Spurs on his shoulder and we rely on one player far too much for mine.