Impressions from yesterday's match

[Shea]

The only impression I saw yesterday was our defence doing an impression of a bunch of drunken, mentally deficient divs.

Our defence is a joke. Only Newcastle and the bottom 3 have conceded more. Absolutely unbelievable

And that's with one of the 3 best keepers in the league between the sticks (equally as good as De Gea and Courtouis in my opinion, if not better)

 

[Spurger King]

@Everlasting Seconds - Nice post, but I don't share your concerns about Kane being the only player to score in our last three matches.

He's a striker. Scoring is his job. The primary role of our other attacking players is to create chances for the striker, which they're evidently doing fairly regularly. I know Eriksen and Chadli haven't scored for a while, but they've contributed healthy amounts over the course of the season, and both were very close to being on the score sheet again yesterday.

Bale did carry the team, but it wasn't so much that he was the only player scoring, but the type of goals he scored and the insufficiency of our strikers. Bale routinely pulled winning goals out of thin air without any real assistance from his team mates, whilst our strikers fluffed their lines over and over again. Kane provides a cutting edge that shows the effectiveness of our attacking play in general. If Kane continued to be the only player scoring for us, and did so on a regular basis, I'd say that would reflect very well on the rest of our attack, rather than being a cause for concern.

 

[Blackcanary]

So, rather than doing one of the usual "match reports and why the fudge does Townsend start"-posts, I thought I'd share some random snippets of other observations.

Stambouli is very much a part of the squad, despite not being amongst the 18. 1 hour before kick off, he was doing some laps across the pitch over and over again at 50-60 % speed (with the fitness coach). Other players not on in the squad were nowhere to be seen, but he was. I know what the kind of exercise he did is about, it's restitution.
You would do that either the day after a really specific heavy work out, or if you are in a general period of fatigue. So my suspicion is that Stambouli is on a special programme for now, and I'm kind of excited about him for the next season.

Rose is a (maybe the new) beast. He doesn't take shit from anybody, teammates, referees or opponents. He is an energetic fighter, with an improved sense of positioning. Rose is the package now ( I never thought I'd say that).

Walker isn't a bad defender, but he doesn't suit Pochettino's shit, which is funny because of his speed (which he has lost a part of after the injury). I think we may have sold the wrong Kyle.

The Defence operates as 4 individuals. There is minimal team work in that team section, and they hardly cover for each other. At one point, Bentaleb told Dier that he'd cover if Dier would take the ball up front. Dier was perplexed, for a split second he didn't know what to do when somebody covered for him. That's how unusual it is. The result was a magnificent attack led by Dier (and maybe Eriksen ?). Of course, the defence get's so little protection from the midfield that they have more than enough to worry about with their own spot never mind your team mates job too. So there may be acceptable excuses for the lack of interaction.

Speaking about Bentaleb, when he makes mistakes, they tend to be grave ones. Nothing to seriously came from them yesterday, but they looked nasty none the less. He is young and will grow, but that's where he is at presently.

Eriksen is still not bulky enough for PL. If you look at Kane, our best player, he is also the physically strongest. Eriksen isn't close to that level. Mason too, another success story this season, is also really physically fit. Eriksen has the body type of a successful goalie (ie. Lloris).

Speaking about Kane, the team hasn't scored for 3 matches. I chose these words deliberately, because for 3 PL matches, only Kane has scored. No other Tottenham player has scored in PL since vs. Swansea. So many took issue with AVB having Bale, and how AVB was lucky, and have Bale concealed all the issues in the team. If that was 100 % accurate, and let's say it was, what are we supposed to think now? In fact, all our 3 last head coaches got their butt saved multiple times by one single player.

Lloris' injury was profoundly avoidable.

Chadli's yellow card for filming was pure stupidity. It was unintelligent by the ref, at best. Chadli had a prime position, he had no reason to provoke a penalty and he was illegally taken down. Which brings me to the refs in general. I don't really think they all hate Spurs. But I do think they all are unfit for their job. The FA chooses experience (ie. old refs) over physical ability to keep up with the modern PL game, and as a results, we have loads of refs who are not up for the task anymore. There were always a couple of unsuitable refs, but now the unsuitable ones are everywhere. Next season will get really dirty if they stick with the same refs, because they are only getting older, weaker, slower and dumber.

4-3 isn't necessarily better football than 1-0. I'm easy to please, when my team wins, I'm entertained. But yes, I do like to see individual skill, masterminded tactics, great match management. And you don't necessarily get more of that with more goals, when the goals are in either end of the pitch. I think there were periods where we played really badly, vs. the team at the very bottom of the league. We would have lost yesterday 1-3 without Harry Kane. That is the bare truth of it all.

Paulinho looked really good yesterday. Only a fool would say otherwise. A part of me really hopes... but oh well.

Nugent is an adequate player. He is a daft prick, but an adequate one none the less.

I believe a deal for Soldado is more or less sealed. That is not based on observations, that simply gut feeling.

I'm glad we won, I was entertained, and I do like goals. But what stands out more than the win, is the work cut out for this team in the summer.

The only exercise i've ever done has been on a horse - can you explain a bit further the need for restitution or why somebody would be on a special programme? What does that mean?

Just on Bentaleb, because I think we've seen a tailing off from him recently that includes mistakes as you've mentioned there. I think we're seeing his inexperience at the moment, where nervousness in a team that's going through a dodgy spell has put him under increasing pressure that's manifested as a) mistakes (and silly things like slapping Ulloa) and b) conservative play (his passing is now much more likely to go backwards or forwards than earlier in the season).

I posted in another thread yesterday that there's benefit to sometimes taking young players out of the firing line, I wonder if that might apply here? He's going to be a monster player, but I don't think playing him relentlessly through his current form is constructive.

 

[Doctor Dinkey]

Bentaleb and Mason do not work as a pair. They offer little to no protection to the back 4. Sandro's injury is so frustrating because had it never happened, we wouldn't have sold him and we'd probably have one of the best CM pairings in the league with him and Bentaleb.[/QUOTEWhich injury? Sadly he's always injured these days, poor fella, and he's a long, long way now from the player he was when he was tearing it up for us under Harry.

 

[Doctor Dinkey]

Bentaleb and Mason do not work as a pair. They offer little to no protection to the back 4. Sandro's injury is so frustrating because had it never happened, we wouldn't have sold him and we'd probably have one of the best CM pairings in the league with him and Bentaleb.

Oops, reply went wrong.
Re Sandro's injury, which one? He's always injured these days and is a long, long way from the player we had who was tearing it up under Harry.

 

[Gilzeanking]

T
Just on Bentaleb, because I think we've seen a tailing off from him recently that includes mistakes as you've mentioned there.

there's benefit to sometimes taking young players out of the firing line, I wonder if that might apply here?

Everyone is hedging round the obvious . Seems our buzzing team of 6-8 weeks ago is knackered .We have burnout after our extra games (EL, League Cup) and double training sessions .

Poch has recently become fixated on the same 11 making things worse . There's fresh legs in the squad . Paulie yesterday was an example .(Ade, Stambo , Chiriches , Davies...Capoue even.. oh yea, Fazio !!)

The team were asking for extra rest days a couple weeks back ... .

What was Soton's performance like tail end of last season ? not great I believe . Burnout .

 

[thegreatap]

So, rather than doing one of the usual "match reports and why the fudge does Townsend start"-posts, I thought I'd share some random snippets of other observations.

Stambouli is very much a part of the squad, despite not being amongst the 18. 1 hour before kick off, he was doing some laps across the pitch over and over again at 50-60 % speed (with the fitness coach). Other players not on in the squad were nowhere to be seen, but he was. I know what the kind of exercise he did is about, it's restitution.
You would do that either the day after a really specific heavy work out, or if you are in a general period of fatigue. So my suspicion is that Stambouli is on a special programme for now, and I'm kind of excited about him for the next season.

he was doing the same at old trafford. interesting what you say about it being restitution.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Impressions from yesterday's match

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

"Walker isn't a bad defender"

Unfortunately, and for some strange reason, at that point i began thinking of the dead parrot sketch from Monty Python

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

The only exercise i've ever done has been on a horse - can you explain a bit further the need for restitution or why somebody would be on a special programme? What does that mean?

I'll be honest, I don't know if the word is used in English when it comes to physical exercise, in the same way as I intended to use it (?). If we look at what restitution does mean in English though (in broad and general terms), it is about when damage is made, and you need to implement actions to counter the damage and restore the situation to it's prior state.

I used to do that exact exercise (running laps across a pitch) under very controlled speed a lot. (Not as a football player though) I could have worn my self totally out on a hard training session the day before, and use that training to recover, or I could have gone through a hard period of fatigue. Once the body is fatigued, doing a kind of careful training is better than nothing at all.

Thus, based on my experience, and based on what I saw, Stambouli had either: Done a hard session on Friday or his body has taken a toll in a longer perspective and he is working on restoring it. Either way, he is obviously doing a different kind of programme than the rest of the team (thus special).

he was doing the same at old trafford. interesting what you say about it being restitution.

Interesting information. So it underlines what I'm saying. In terms of being a part of the squad, he is. (He travels to away games, too).

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

Chadli's yellow card for filming was pure stupidity. It was unintelligent by the ref, at best. Chadli had a prime position, he had no reason to provoke a penalty and he was illegally taken down. Which brings me to the refs in general. I don't really think they all hate Spurs. But I do think they all are unfit for their job. The FA chooses experience (ie. old refs) over physical ability to keep up with the modern PL game, and as a results, we have loads of refs who are not up for the task anymore. There were always a couple of unsuitable refs, but now the unsuitable ones are everywhere. Next season will get really dirty if they stick with the same refs, because they are only getting older, weaker, slower and dumber.

That was the worst dive I've seen in years and it made me embarrassed to be a spurs fan. I'm Glad he was booked and didn't get a penalty.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

That was the worst dive I've seen in treats and it made me embarrassed to be a spurs fan. I'm Glad he was booked and didn't get a penalty.

yeah, as I said, from where I sat id really didn't look like that. It actually looked like a nasty tackle. But I've accepted being wrong on that one, and I'm happy the ref got 1 decision correct in more than 90 minutes.

 

[whitelanefever]

So, rather than doing one of the usual "match reports and why the fudge does Townsend start"-posts, I thought I'd share some random snippets of other observations.

Rose is a (maybe the new) beast. He doesn't take shit from anybody, teammates, referees or opponents. He is an energetic fighter, with an improved sense of positioning. Rose is the package now ( I never thought I'd say that).

Walker isn't a bad defender, but he doesn't suit Pochettino's shit, which is funny because of his speed (which he has lost a part of after the injury). I think we may have sold the wrong Kyle.

Rose you say maybe the new beast, I say lacks discipline & control.. One word to describe Rose is a hothead.. I'll give him credit for the improvement he has made & has shown he can take tactical instruction defensively but to describe Rose as the package now is ludicrous... is he still likely to do something stupid every match.. Yes.. there was one situation yesterday where he went to ground in the box that was laughable & looked like something a 12 year old would do. Then there is the total lack of a brain in his attacking play.. he'll run forward until he reaches the box & then just stand there.. a pointless waist of energy, he's not dragging a defender away to create space & his crossing does my head in.. whenever he's in a crossing position ask yourself do you expect this to lead to a chance.. I don't 9 times out of ten I expect it to either hit a defender, be over-hit or a cutback to no-one. He is still better than Davies though who is awful. Rose has a lot of heart & great work ethic however if we really want to be a CL regular qualifier, he's not at that level.

Walker isn't a bad defender... No he really isn't a defender or footballer at all.. The guy has zero football intelligence, You say but he doesn't suit Pochettino's shit.. what utter B*ll**K*, If you don't have a football brain & cant take tactical instruction then forget about it. Positioning is basic 101 that you learn at 14,15 years of age as a fullback.. good players will take it on board straight away.. bad players will forget it & have to be shown over & over again & just don't get it. I look at Kyle Walker when the balls not near him & he's looking at his feet, he has no awareness, no intelligence. leading by 2 goals even as a kid your told what to do is to tuck in & don't give anything away cheaply. Real footballers make decisions on the pitch & change things themselves.. UTD players were great at that & backed each other up.. all players from a young age are thought what to do in certain situations, the ones that take it on board & implement it become top players.

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

I thought Chadli was neither a penalty or a dive. There was contact but he went down very theatrically like a muppet.

Theatrical or simulation, but I don't think it was a dive as there was an impact from behind?

 

[Danners9]

Walker isn't a bad defender, but he doesn't suit Pochettino's shit, which is funny because of his speed (which he has lost a part of after the injury). I think we may have sold the wrong Kyle.

...

Lloris' injury was profoundly avoidable.

I don't disagree about Walker not fitting the style, but he has been a bad defender in the last two games. As P Nev pointed out on MOTD, Walker is at fault for 2 of Man Utd's goals last week and Leicester's 1st yesterday, as well as a major role in the 3rd.

Vs Man Utd, he is out of position when Carrick plays in Fellaini, leaving Dier exposed (he should also do better). If Walker had tucked in a bit more instead of straying wide, Fellaini is blocked and you could suggest the pass to him isn't made as Carrick chooses another.

Speaking of Carrick. He is Walker's man at the corner. He lets him go, then can't get back and Carrick has a free header.

Yesterday, Walker is beyond Dier and plays everyone onside. Vardy is then ahead of him and Walker can't get back in when the cross comes in. Third goal, Vertonghen bottles it but Walker is drifting around and watching. As he's the right back, he should be supporting both centre backs, instead he is on the wrong side and not in a position to sweep up.

Plus side, his run down the right sets up the 2nd goal for Kane.

The Lloris injury, you are right, was avoidable. Not really to blame Walker, although he did make the challenge... hard to tell, perhaps he went in too hard, perhaps not. Linesman's flag maybe too late to halt play before he needs to make a challenge. Maybe his positioning is wrong and he panics to make up for it. Maybe it's just an error all round. Hope it doesn't keep Lloris out too long!

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

I thought Chadli was neither a penalty or a dive. There was contact but he went down very theatrically like a muppet.

Theatrical or simulation, but I don't think it was a dive as there was an impact from behind?

There was six clear inches of air between Chadli and the defender. Inexcusable.

 

[225]

I believe a deal for Soldado is more or less sealed. That is not based on observations, that simply gut feeling.

Random. Why?

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

There was six clear inches of air between Chadli and the defender. Inexcusable.

Ah ok, hadnt seen any replays other than those during a stream. Genuinely thought there was contact and then ridiculously theatrical fall.

 

[sebcole]

Chadli dived mate... Anyone not a Spurs fan with lilywhite glasses on could see that. It was embarrassing.

Kane's scoring, but I would argue that he isn't carrying us. The difference was, when Bale was scoring, he was pulling goals out of nothing and saving our necks. Kane wouldn't have the same amount of goals if he was playing in AVBs team. He's playing a system that suits him. And he's being set up for these goals. Bale simply wasn't. He was shooting from 30 yards and scoring. Big difference to Kane's goals.

Everything else I more or less agree with.

Yes, echoes my thought , apart from Walker being not a bad defender. Sometimes, hes a good defender, but he can certainly be a bad one too.

Also, Mason doesn't look any more built up than Eriksen IMO.

 

[sebcole]

Have to agree the scoreline was shocking only thing stopping me from having the hump was the fact we actually won.
I would rather have won one nil than what got served up toss of a coin football.

To be honest, I preferred the 4-3 MUCH more than a drab 1-0 AVB win at home, painstakingly dull but effective...