Match Threads Spurs vs Man City - Match Thread - Day 1 - KO 4:30 pm

[Saoirse]

After all the supposed doom and gloom and negative dark cloud that was hanging over the club a few months ago I certainly didn't see it at the stadium yesterday, looked the total opposite to me. Dare I say that things are looking up now?

Absolutely. I think, especially when the team's fighting like they did yesterday, everyone's happy to be positive once they reach the ground and give it their all. It was incredibly special

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Great result with every player putting in a shift , as Nuno said in one of his interviews we have to do this every game. Can't wait for Sunday to see how the players perform away from home with a hostile crowd at Molineux.

 

[Kingellesar]

PEH as we know is an absolute beast, the way he geed everyone up in the tunnel, his constant talking to the young guys in Tanganga and Skipp , and pressing Mendy at every chance like he could smell he was the weak link. With him to learn from Skipp is going to be an animal.

Tactics from Nuno was spot on, narrow front three meant less line breaking passes, anything out wide we were comfortable with. Watching City wander around aimlessly with the ball and then hoofing it into the box was a joy to behold.

Above all the mentality was immense.

PEH was ridiculous yesterday, he really does look like a leader. Even my Mrs say surely he is the captain of the team? He just breeds confidence, I'm really looking forward to him and Skipp forming a partnership this season.

He was probably up there for player of the Euros, so it's no surprise he has come back and carried off where he finished for Denmark, we have a special player on our hands.

 

[wirE]

No panic costing us three points - all in all a solid effort and a good start to a new season. COYS

 

[dannyo]

Yesterday was brilliant - one of the best atmospheres I can remember and a hugely satisfying result. I think it was a perfect storm, given the opposition and their antics with Kane, plus being the first full capacity game for so long. Being part of that crowd was incredible and the noise we made must have helped the players. Similarly, their commitment and togetherness inspired us to make the atmosphere what it was. It won’t always be like yesterday and we won’t always have that same feeling of being so fired up but it would be great it we could make the place as intimidating as that for every team that visits. When it’s in full voice, that stadium is just an amazing place to be. Let’s keep doing our bit to help inspire Nuno and the boys and it could be a great season.

 

[Col_M]

 

[Spurslove]

Insane weekend,

My first child was born, got to the hospital to bring her home watched the game on my phone as we got her into the house sonny scored ?.

it all just felt a bit magical

What a lovely story to keep with you and your little girl for ever. Sounds like she's got perfect timing! Delighted for you both. ?‍
.

 

[Tucker]

I loved that bit.

 

[Tucker]

Interesting if this is true, from bluemoon:

"We created 2.24 xG yesterday and Spurs had a clean sheet.

Man United created 1.16 xG against Leeds and had 5 goals"

Goes to prove what utter shite xG is/can be, on the basis that ours was 1.08 - despite the Bergwijn chance and the clearance off the line from Lucas, etc.

Xg is one of those stats that isn’t really useful on its own. It’s good for seeing the direction of travel, and how well things are going but doesn’t always show the full picture.

 

[Spurslove]

Oh agreed. Just someone said City weren't missing anyone. I don't think son scores that goal with stones and cancelo over that side. But am buzzing and it's a team game and it is the most expensive side ever assembled. So couldn't give a monkeys. Was defo the best time to have to play City

I'd love to hear some of the stories from the Blue Moon message boards this morning....
.

 

[Mr Pink]

That's why fantasy football is shit...Lucas 9/10 performance...2 points lol

 

[Spurslove]

View attachment 94517
"So Pep, two games into the new season including the community shield. How many times have you lost?"





View attachment 94520

View attachment 94519

Does this wonderful little clip remind anyone else of Basil Fawlty...?

Actually, I noticed in Pep's post match interview, his shoulder-shrugs were showing signs of increasing too. I counted 33. He's right under pressure I reckon.

"Sacked in the morning, you're getting sacked in the morning..."
.

 

[Col_M]

Tactics. and shit

 

[Gassin's finest]

They simply couldn't handle Lucas yesterday. He drove them mad.

 

[Spurslove]

I can only imagine what the likes of Christian Romero, Pierluigi Gollini and Bryan Gil made of that INCREDIBLE atmosphere yesterday. If it didn't give them all chills like it did for me watching on TV, there's something very wrong with them somewhere.
.

 

[Spurslove]

I can only imagine what the likes of Christian Romero, Pierluigi Gollini and Bryan Gil made of that INCREDIBLE atmosphere yesterday. If it didn't give them all chills like it did for me watching on TV, there's something very wrong with them somewhere.
.

I've just come across this lovely YouTube clip for you all to enjoy...



.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Watching the MotD highlights back, you can see that the moment Man City stop getting through us, and we start controlling the game, is exactly when Skipp manages to adapt. First 10/15 mins he struggled with the pace of the game, and got caught out of position and possession. Once he got up to speed, he and Hojbjerg were nigh on impassable.

He's going to have a very good season.

 

[SPURSLIFE]

You in charge of recruitment then are you?

I'd like to be!

 

[Serpico]

Interesting that people are happy for Kane to leave and it seems like this is the case even more now since we won yesterday and the front 3 looked fluid but this isn't always going to work, we're not always going to play on the counter attack.

Some matches we're going to need a focal point up front, when you have defenders like Rudiger\Varane pressing up against our strikers Kane is the perfect players to relive pressure and hold the ball up.

Im confident that we will get someone in to replace Kane if he leaves, which I feel he will. We have been linked to a few forwards which will be near completion so pending if in the event Kane goes. They will be done quickly. We may have to pay a little more because of time limits but I really do feel we will get someone in. The focal point bit I don't agree but thats football.

 

[TheGreatOldOne]

I guess the best place to start is at the end of last season, when this place started to fill with "complete overhaul", "rebuilding" and "mid-table quality squad" posts (it hasn't stopped). I tried fitfully a couple of times to argue that there was nothing wrong with the quality of the squad that two or three new signings and some proper tactics couldn't cure, but it got drowned out in "funny" posts about giving away Sissoko and Winks for nothing and I soon gave up.

The title of the match review today just has to be "Same players, different coach". By the last couple of months of last season, as we coughed up one late lead after another and lost our grip on a CL place we would have won if we had played every match for 90 minutes, I was posting a lot about the lack of mental strength in the defence, but a voice in my ear kept going "they aren't fit enough", louder and louder.

They weren't fit enough. Back in the Pochettino days, we would outlast every opponent. Last season, every opponent would outlast us and, even in some games we had won, we would still spend the last 15 minutes withdrawing into a redoubt of 20% possession, camped out in our penalty area and with no control of the football. Now Nuno and his fitness coach have the same players fully fit. There's nothing wrong with them, they're quality Premiership players. They just needed to be fully fit and to play in a unified team.

Which leads one inevitably to the next point. That was such a rewarding match to watch in every way. Committed and coordinated defending for 95 minutes, opponents being properly marked by Sanchez and Dier, protection from Skipp and Højbjerg, bristling and fierce tackles from everyone, especially Tanganga and Skipp - but not dirty tackles.

We have a team to watch again, with a plan and a platform. I love watching good defending. It's why I always argue the toss with people here who want us to play reckless attacking football. The resolute teamwork, the concentration, the sense of space and distribution. Football is a team game and defending is its ultimate team aspect.

The first 15 minutes were one-way traffic, but the takeaway was not "this is going to be a massacre", it was "we look solid". Based on preseason and today, Skipp has an issue that he needs to address with starting matches slowly. He wins the ball and instantly gives it back. Then he settles down and plays with increasing fierceness and effectiveness as the match wears on. He was partly responsible for the heavy early pressure. But Man City had few clear chances and no shots on target.

Once we started to play and got the counter-attacks working, it unnerved City throughout the spine of their team. They lost a bit of ruthlessness and we defended with increasing ease as the first half came to a close.

A number of his former players have observed that Nuno's half time adjustments are especially effective. He gives very brief, very clear instructions to specific players that those players can easily implement. The evidence of this (and of the physical fitness of his players) is in the drastic distribution of goals at Wolves, where his teams would score something ridiculous like 72% of their goals after half time.

Today's evidence is consistent with that. We were starting to win and keep the ball with interceptions and Man City were getting a bit rattled at their diminishing control of the match, so we started slinging in hard tackles. I am guessing that was a half time instruction: the Portuguese version of "they don't like it up them".

And the longer it went on, after the goal, the more frustrated City got and the more confident we became. Which brings me to the last point. You could see the hesitancy of our entire team in the first fifteen minutes, not sure if they could compete. As the first half wore on, we gradually got a foothold. But after half time, we just took over. Sure, City still had most of the ball, but they were getting disrupted all over the pitch and they visibly didn't like it. Lucas was taking his bloody-nuisance qualities, his shithousing, to a new level, buzzing around, drawing fouls (so there, Jack Grealish), disrupting City's midfield and increasingly winning and distributing the ball to good effect. Skipp stopped losing the ball and started channelling his inner Nobby Stiles. Bergwijn, grievous miss aside, made himself impossible for City to mark - he was free to receive the ball, usually from Lucas, countless times.

It looked like a proper team discovering itself in real time.

Same players as last season. Different coach.

P.S. Tanganga, the man of the match, got a richly deserved standing O when he was taken off, which was due to him being exhausted and I think on a yellow card. And a loud round of "he's one of our own".

This. Exactly this.