- May 26, 2004
- 4,797
- 2,139
We analysis the draw at West Brom, the win over Monaco, the loss to Newcastle and the win at Saints...
GOOD WEEK
Erik Lamela
A first career hattrick for the Argentine, and slowly but surely the former River Plate starlet is becoming a very good Premier League. First came the work rate, then the tackling, now the goals and also more upper body strength. That there is a sense there is still more to come from the 23-year-old hints at a great future for the lad.
Dele Alli
A couple of goals, an assist, and yet more headlines made from a player with a wonderful goal scoring instinct. He pops up in the right place so often that it is not luck. His runs forward give us something new, too, and such composure from someone so young.
Tom Carroll
Started and scored against Monaco, and started in the defeat in Newcastle. While his performances in all three of his appearances in this time have not been stellar - against Newcastle he was particularly found out - the fact that Pochettino has given him these chances makes this a good time for little Tom.
I thought he was sure to leave in January but his Spurs career has a second life.
Mauricio Pochettino's Plan A
How many regulation away wins have we had in the Premier League? How many Europa League matches have we cruised through?
There is something reassuring about Poch's Spurs team when it works. When we get that second goal we very rarely get in trouble, whereas I can remember not long ago the confidence of a four goal lead could be undermined by a 88th minute consolation.
The sackings of Monk and Mourniho, and Van Gaal's troubles, all have one thing in common - the managers seemed unable to turn things around. No matter what they did or did not do, another loss was around the corner, and even if they went on one, two, three game unbeaten streak, a defeat would knock them down even further than before.
With Pochettino's Tottenham it is the opposite. Every time we suffer defeat, every time there is a blow, we have the character and belief and the togetherness to recover and push forward again, both individually and collectively. Never in my life time has the club had such a positive aura and been heading in the right direction too.
Tottenham's set pieces
I remember when we scored one or two goals from corners a season - we are nearly in double figures already! Sure, it is still frustrating when a corner hits the first man, but it is nice to be thinking that we might score from our corners rather than worrying that the opposition were more likely to score!
Mousa Dembele
How the hell has he become so crucial to the team? It was barely a month ago that he was on most fans lists of player to get rid of in January.
Josh Onomah
First competitive start, equipped himself well.
BAD WEEK
Nabil Bentaleb
Has he suffered another set back? He was back for Monaco but then disappeared again. Has he dropped behind Carroll, as well as Dier and Dele?
Clinton N'Jie
Clinton's season has not got off the ground yet. Arrived injured, made a couple of bright sub appearances, couple of disappointing starts up top (which doesn't look like being his best position anyway) and then picks up an injury that could rule him out for a while. Chadli is coming back, Lamela is on good form, Son has returned - through no fault of his won, N'Jie could disappear from the picture.
Maurico Pochettino's Plan B
Pochettino has been in charge for 54 games, I think. In that time 6 goals have come from substitutes. From my basic research, three of those have been game changing goals. It's not that Poch does not make changes - he often uses the full three subs - but that most changes are like for like, and very rarely is the team shape changed.
A lot of the time, as mentioned above, Plan A is more than good enough. His 4-2-3-1 is solid enough to be competitive against the best teams, but also can allow enough fluidity and attacking impetus to beat those teams who are unorganized, unmotivated, or generally in a bit of disarray.
However, against those middling sides that are organised, disciplined, and in the frame of mind to keep things tight, take a point and try to nick all three, we can struggle. In the grand scheme of things it is a small point, and I'm confident that Pochettino will develop a slightly different tactical line-up for these types of games once he has a squad better shaped for it. At Southampton he played Lambert and Rodriguez together, and I can see a Kane and Berahino-type set up causing the likes of West Brom and an on-form Newcastle additional problems than we do at present. It is, however, something we need to develop.
NIMBYs (not in my back yard/not in place of an old crumbling building)
One step closer to a new ground, and the area of Tottenham moving forward about 200 years into the modern day
GOOD WEEK
Erik Lamela
A first career hattrick for the Argentine, and slowly but surely the former River Plate starlet is becoming a very good Premier League. First came the work rate, then the tackling, now the goals and also more upper body strength. That there is a sense there is still more to come from the 23-year-old hints at a great future for the lad.
Dele Alli
A couple of goals, an assist, and yet more headlines made from a player with a wonderful goal scoring instinct. He pops up in the right place so often that it is not luck. His runs forward give us something new, too, and such composure from someone so young.
Tom Carroll
Started and scored against Monaco, and started in the defeat in Newcastle. While his performances in all three of his appearances in this time have not been stellar - against Newcastle he was particularly found out - the fact that Pochettino has given him these chances makes this a good time for little Tom.
I thought he was sure to leave in January but his Spurs career has a second life.
Mauricio Pochettino's Plan A
How many regulation away wins have we had in the Premier League? How many Europa League matches have we cruised through?
There is something reassuring about Poch's Spurs team when it works. When we get that second goal we very rarely get in trouble, whereas I can remember not long ago the confidence of a four goal lead could be undermined by a 88th minute consolation.
The sackings of Monk and Mourniho, and Van Gaal's troubles, all have one thing in common - the managers seemed unable to turn things around. No matter what they did or did not do, another loss was around the corner, and even if they went on one, two, three game unbeaten streak, a defeat would knock them down even further than before.
With Pochettino's Tottenham it is the opposite. Every time we suffer defeat, every time there is a blow, we have the character and belief and the togetherness to recover and push forward again, both individually and collectively. Never in my life time has the club had such a positive aura and been heading in the right direction too.
Tottenham's set pieces
I remember when we scored one or two goals from corners a season - we are nearly in double figures already! Sure, it is still frustrating when a corner hits the first man, but it is nice to be thinking that we might score from our corners rather than worrying that the opposition were more likely to score!
Mousa Dembele
How the hell has he become so crucial to the team? It was barely a month ago that he was on most fans lists of player to get rid of in January.
Josh Onomah
First competitive start, equipped himself well.
BAD WEEK
Nabil Bentaleb
Has he suffered another set back? He was back for Monaco but then disappeared again. Has he dropped behind Carroll, as well as Dier and Dele?
Clinton N'Jie
Clinton's season has not got off the ground yet. Arrived injured, made a couple of bright sub appearances, couple of disappointing starts up top (which doesn't look like being his best position anyway) and then picks up an injury that could rule him out for a while. Chadli is coming back, Lamela is on good form, Son has returned - through no fault of his won, N'Jie could disappear from the picture.
Maurico Pochettino's Plan B
Pochettino has been in charge for 54 games, I think. In that time 6 goals have come from substitutes. From my basic research, three of those have been game changing goals. It's not that Poch does not make changes - he often uses the full three subs - but that most changes are like for like, and very rarely is the team shape changed.
A lot of the time, as mentioned above, Plan A is more than good enough. His 4-2-3-1 is solid enough to be competitive against the best teams, but also can allow enough fluidity and attacking impetus to beat those teams who are unorganized, unmotivated, or generally in a bit of disarray.
However, against those middling sides that are organised, disciplined, and in the frame of mind to keep things tight, take a point and try to nick all three, we can struggle. In the grand scheme of things it is a small point, and I'm confident that Pochettino will develop a slightly different tactical line-up for these types of games once he has a squad better shaped for it. At Southampton he played Lambert and Rodriguez together, and I can see a Kane and Berahino-type set up causing the likes of West Brom and an on-form Newcastle additional problems than we do at present. It is, however, something we need to develop.
NIMBYs (not in my back yard/not in place of an old crumbling building)
One step closer to a new ground, and the area of Tottenham moving forward about 200 years into the modern day