The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[skaz04nik]

He was genuinely not as bad defensively as people are making out on Sunday.

Nope he was bad defensively
He made 0 tackles and 0 interceptions (Son btw made 2 tackles and 1 interception with 80%+ passing accuracy)

Robertson won 5 of 5 duels, TAA only 2 out of 9. Robertson lost possession 3 times less frequently than TAA

Whilst I fully support you that TAA was more dangerous with his crosses, I could hardly agree that CE made a decent job against Robertson.

 

[Primativ]

Our midfield is powder puff.

Asking a motivated focussed in form Eriksen to do a defensive job is bad enough, asking this 2018 - 2019 Eriksen to do that is a pathetic decision.

Look at Winks’s stats. 7 duels only 1 won. Utterly pathetic and Poch plays him as our DM.

Sissoko who is much derided still compared to Winks attempted 8 tackles and won 5. Attempted 4 dribbles out of 4 successfully. Winks had zero dribbles successful. Sissoko even had higher pass accuracy.

Poch has to set up against Everton with Sissoko and NDombele in CM with GLC in front of them.

If he picks Winks again and Eriksen and Rose I will lose my mind.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Our midfield is powder puff.

Asking a motivated focussed in form Eriksen to do a defensive job is bad enough, asking this 2018 - 2019 Eriksen to do that is a pathetic decision.

Look at Winks’s stats. 7 duels only 1 won. Utterly pathetic and Poch plays him as our DM.

Sissoko who is much derided still compared to Winks attempted 8 tackles and won 5. Attempted 4 dribbles out of 4 successfully. Winks had zero dribbles successful. Sissoko even had higher pass accuracy.

Poch has to set up against Everton with Sissoko and NDombele in CM with GLC in front of them.

If he picks Winks again and Eriksen and Rose I will lose my mind.

I think NDombele needs two MF's behind him,one as the DM (Dier) and one as a CM (Winks or Sissoko) and Ndombele can take Eriksens position and make things happen

 

[spurs mental]

Our midfield is powder puff.

Asking a motivated focussed in form Eriksen to do a defensive job is bad enough, asking this 2018 - 2019 Eriksen to do that is a pathetic decision.

Look at Winks’s stats. 7 duels only 1 won. Utterly pathetic and Poch plays him as our DM.

Sissoko who is much derided still compared to Winks attempted 8 tackles and won 5. Attempted 4 dribbles out of 4 successfully. Winks had zero dribbles successful. Sissoko even had higher pass accuracy.

Poch has to set up against Everton with Sissoko and NDombele in CM with GLC in front of them.

If he picks Winks again and Eriksen and Rose I will lose my mind.

He has to set up that way but he won't. I know by looking at him that he thinks he's right and he will remain that way until he gets sacked or accidentally falls into a winning formula, either by injuries or just pure luck.

 

[spursfan77]

We're talking about Eriksen not Eriksen and Sissoko unless you're willing to admit that Sissoko was significant in stopping Roberton as well, if not I don't get your point about defending Erisken or defending his inclusion?

Also comparing Son's role to Eriksen's isn't comparable really, Son was obviously instructed to get forward and catch Liverpool on the break, something with many coaches have been doing targeting TAA's weak spot, our best chances came from the Son's area so the strategy was clear.

Also Eriksen was statistically our worst player in possession and generally playing in more space than the others which is even more damming - although Alli did lose possession one more time and Eriksen:

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I know this by Lucas signing a new contract in August: Wants to be at the club
Sissoko signing a new contract last month: Wants to be at the club
Winks signing a new contract in May: Wants to be at the club
Lo Celso and Ndombele just signed this summer: I'm pretty sure they want to be at the club as well.
Skipp Can't imagine him not wanting to be at the club
Dier You may have a point there.
Eriksen Hasn't signed a contract for 3 years and openly said he'd like to seek new a challenge: Hmmm and this is before we get into his displays on the pitch and his form over the last 12 months or so.

This isn't conjecture, doubtful the rest of the squad championed his inclusion back into the team because he wasn't dropped in the first place, he was injured, that's a reach.

losing possession I sometimes find can be misleading. Dele and Eriksen will misplace more passes if they are trying to make more risky passes. It’s different than sissoko or Aurier trying a ten yard pass and giving it straight to an opponent.

I find this more noticeable with Dele because sometimes he tries to make forward passes that really are very difficult or aren’t on.

The difference now with Eriksen is that I’ve noticed him falling into the latter category. He gives the ball away when trying to make the easy pass. He never used to do this. That has to be down to a form or attitude problem because he’s a tidy passer of the ball.

My post is in agreement. I’m just saying the losing possession stat can be manipulated.

 

[spursfan77]

I think NDombele needs two MF's behind him,one as the DM (Dier) and one as a CM (Winks or Sissoko) and Ndombele can take Eriksens position and make things happen

I agree to some extent but he wasn’t bought to play that midfield role further up the pitch. He was bought because from midfield he Can pass the ball forward fantastically well from deeper positions and also travel with the ball from deeper. Two things we desperately need. I’d like to see him next to lo celso and winks/dier. That midfield intrigues me.

 

[Ronwol196061]

He has to set up that way but he won't. I know by looking at him that he thinks he's right and he will remain that way until he gets sacked or accidentally falls into a winning formula, either by injuries or just pure luck.

I think you are right about that. He thinks his system is right,I do think he wants to change things but Im not sure if he knows how. His security blanket is his system. He tried to push Dembele up against Bayern.It worked but he couldn't figure out how to place the defence so I guess he thought that NDombele should come back but he couldn't. He should have sussed that before the game and put in two midfielders behind NDombele but didnt. In the Red Star Game he went gung ho,made the right choices and we were fluid but this is Red Star not Bayern. Against Liverpool he went back to his system,left out Ndombele and relied on Eriksen and Dele to block the lanes,but failed to respond with changes early enough when it wasn't working.

 

[Primativ]

I agree to some extent but he wasn’t bought to play that midfield role further up the pitch. He was bought because from midfield he Can pass the ball forward fantastically well from deeper positions and also travel with the ball from deeper. Two things we desperately need. I’d like to see him next to lo celso and winks/dier. That midfield intrigues me.

Winks is not a DM! And unfortunately Dier has been absolutely useless for over a year now. So picking Winks in DM does not solve the problem.
Sissoko is the better option.

 

[Ronwol196061]

I agree to some extent but he wasn’t bought to play that midfield role further up the pitch. He was bought because from midfield he Can pass the ball forward fantastically well from deeper positions and also travel with the ball from deeper. Two things we desperately need. I’d like to see him next to lo celso and winks/dier. That midfield intrigues me.

Im not sure why he was bought for Spurs77 but I know what he can do. He makes us more fluid and direct. More so than any of our AMs
Dembele was great.Tough.Protected the ball and layed it off but never went near the final third.The result was lots of short back and forth passes by Eriksen and co while defences were getting set.
Does Poch want NDombele to play that role? Or would he prefer to by pass Eriksen and hit passes right through to Kane and Son?
I know what I would want

 

[Deleted member 29446]

Winks is not a DM! And unfortunately Dier has been absolutely useless for over a year now. So picking Winks in DM does not solve the problem.
Sissoko is the better option.

Actually think the game were Sissoko played DM alone, and he was told not to run anywhere was pretty good. 10 times better than Winks playing in that position at least.

 

[Locotoro]

I'd prefer to play the more direct style but we have to accept that teams will sit deep against us and employ two banks and try and hit us on the break. Currently we do have a system where we get the full backs involved enough to create that space.

You look at all of our good results this season and you'll see fullbacks who have played well

 

[Ronwol196061]

Actually think the game were Sissoko played DM alone, and he was told not to run anywhere was pretty good. 10 times better than Winks playing in that position at least.

Sissoko is always maligned by the things he cannot so but the things he can do are brilliant. His strength is second to none,his stamina too,his tackling is very good and when he runs with the ball he is a like a train. His passes are good too except when he is on a run gets near the box and had defenders around him,he often has no idea what to do or how to do it (though a few times he has showed his nimble feet side etc)
He has had a lot more confidence the last two seasons,when a lot of our players had regressed. Id use him as a DM over Winks any day

 

[Kspur]

From what I have witnessed, MP seems to have a weird thing about other teams tactics. It's like he doesn't feel like he should have to change the team to adapt to the opposition, and they should have to adapt to his tactics.

One thing which (I would be amazed if people denied it) that has been consistent over his tenure has been either not seeing, or completely ignoring, the tactical setups he could employ that would stifle the opposition.

I really don’t see this at all. A common complaint from folk lately is that he chops and changes too much. He’s played virtually every formation going and played counterattacking closing in our half against teams like Real. Vs high pres and intermediate styles vs other opposition, there’s the long used switch between 3 & 4 at the back with dier moving from DM to centre back, moving eriksen back to get more control (before he hung up his spurs boots). Etc etc etc. It’s hardly Mike Bassett ‘Tottenham will be playing four four fucking two’

He’s far from perfect but far from intransigent too. He does take too long to implement changes though in my opinion.

 

[Dharmabum]

...


We lost to Colchester and dropped points to so many mediocre teams
Really has Poch overperformed or underperformed?

I did not justify him - nor the players - for under-performing (even Spurs' 2nd team should have been able to beat Colchester, I know).... but in a competitive league like the EPL all players have to "switched on" for the team to at least "perform".
But it seem to me that Pochettino - as well as Levy - underestimated the impact of having so many want-away/"toxic" players around.

 

[dudu]

We're talking about Eriksen not Eriksen and Sissoko unless you're willing to admit that Sissoko was significant in stopping Roberton as well, if not I don't get your point about defending Erisken or defending his inclusion?

Also comparing Son's role to Eriksen's isn't comparable really, Son was obviously instructed to get forward and catch Liverpool on the break, something with many coaches have been doing targeting TAA's weak spot, our best chances came from the Son's area so the strategy was clear.

Also Eriksen was statistically our worst player in possession and generally playing in more space than the others which is even more damming - although Alli did lose possession one more time and Eriksen:

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I know this by Lucas signing a new contract in August: Wants to be at the club
Sissoko signing a new contract last month: Wants to be at the club
Winks signing a new contract in May: Wants to be at the club
Lo Celso and Ndombele just signed this summer: I'm pretty sure they want to be at the club as well.
Skipp Can't imagine him not wanting to be at the club
Dier You may have a point there.
Eriksen Hasn't signed a contract for 3 years and openly said he'd like to seek new a challenge: Hmmm and this is before we get into his displays on the pitch and his form over the last 12 months or so.

This isn't conjecture, doubtful the rest of the squad championed his inclusion back into the team because he wasn't dropped in the first place, he was injured, that's a reach.

I hear what you are saying, but by splitting hairs over whos awful distribution was the best on Sunday doesn't really make much of a point.

I also don't think you know what the squad thinks of him being included when he is. None of us do.

 

[Shadydan]

I hear what you are saying, but by splitting hairs over whos awful distribution was the best on Sunday doesn't really make much of a point.

I also don't think you know what the squad thinks of him being included when he is. None of us do.

It makes my point, he was the worst of our player for distribution on Sunday therefore he's offering nothing on the pitch and under performing. Despite the others having similar stats our no10 who ought to be ranking high in possession and generally plays football at a high level came off the worst which tells you all you need to know, we can only put it down to one thing and that his head isn't right and shouldn't be playing for our club.

I don't get where you're coming from on the 2nd point, I haven't said anything about what the squad thinks of him starting matches? I said him playing is of a detriment to the team and the players.

There's just simply no argument for Eriksen to be starting games for us unless we have an injure crisis which we don't.

 

[dudu]

It makes my point, he was the worst of our player for distribution on Sunday therefore he's offering nothing on the pitch and under performing. Despite the others having similar stats our no10 who ought to be ranking high in possession and generally plays football at a high level came off the worst which tells you all you need to know, we can only put it down to one thing and that his head isn't right and shouldn't be playing for our club.

I don't get where you're coming from on the 2nd point, I haven't said anything about what the squad thinks of him starting matches? I said him playing is of a detriment to the team and the players.

There's just simply no argument for Eriksen to be starting games for us unless we have an injure crisis which we don't.

No one was arguing that. I don't recall ever saying he should have started. We were discussing what happened during the game not why things should or should not have occurred.

 

[Ronwol196061]

I did not justify him - nor the players - for under-performing (even Spurs' 2nd team should have been able to beat Colchester, I know).... but in a competitive league like the EPL all players have to "switched on" for the team to at least "perform".
But it seem to me that Pochettino - as well as Levy - underestimated the impact of having so many want-away/"toxic" players around.

Its difficult to know exactly the way Poch thinks of that and what Levy thinks as well and what influence he has on the selections. Poch to me has overperformed a lot just like he did at Southampton.He took players that didn't cost a lot and made them fit into this team and system and made that system work. The question is it enough? He hasn't moved us forward for two seasons CL final or no CL final. Can he develop the team with our financial restraints or not, He still has a lot of good players at his disposal. Can he develop a team to compete at the highest or close to level? We will see. But the last two seasons don't give me a lot of confidence and its mostly watching the quality of our footie stagnate or go down. Ndombele is a huge bright spot,can Poch get it right? I think Ndombele needs two MFs behind him

 

[dudu]

Nope he was bad defensively
He made 0 tackles and 0 interceptions (Son btw made 2 tackles and 1 interception with 80%+ passing accuracy)

Robertson won 5 of 5 duels, TAA only 2 out of 9. Robertson lost possession 3 times less frequently than TAA

Whilst I fully support you that TAA was more dangerous with his crosses, I could hardly agree that CE made a decent job against Robertson.

I respectfully disagree.

Not because I love CE or am desperate to make a point about why he should be playing, but because despite Liverpool having quite a balanced attack on Sunday in terms of flanks, Robertson was kept to 5 crosses vs TAA's 20 and only one of them was from his danger area.

Let's look at the week before vs Man United, where Robertson got an assist I believe. This area is where their full-backs like to cross the ball from. It is by design. Robertson managed one from around that area on Sunday vs us, that cant have been luck.

 

[knowlespurs]

i read Carraghers autobiography and he talked in detail about Houlliers reign coming to an end, seems very similar, said he just starting make bizarre choices, become obsessed with the media and the strength he showed at the start binning players like Ince totally went and he was too busy asking what Carra and Gerrard thought, Poch is making bizarre comments and selections and think he needs a break from us as much as i think we need a break from him, i cant see his state of mind changing to turn this round, too far gone