Whats our best team/How do we go on?

[Buggot]

Dier is class but he would get absolutely eaten by costa if he was to start on sunday. I dont understand the arguement of " you dont see what happens behind closed doors" because to be frank i dont need to. I dont give a shit if lamela can turn on the ball 30 times in a row and paulinho scores from midfield, because anyone with half a decent football brain can tell if its coming off in a game or not. sammyspurs has made some brilliant points in this thread regarding the squad rotation however i do believe people like adebayor and kaboul must be poison on the players attitude. Yes they can still do a job footballing wise but what kind of example would that set to our youngsters ? I think poch is taking his time and making them work their way back in to anywhere near the first team, the same way he did with dembele at the start of the season. Thats one thing that has created this fight till the end attitude because hes cut down on the characters and made us a team from a pile of mercenary shit to be brutally honest . Its hard to imagine that with the players on our books our squad is so thin, but i think poch knows who is down for the cause and if your not then you can watch from the sidelines, it just worries me as our squad is so young if they can mentally bounce back if we do hit a bit of a patch. Fiorentina and the final are crucial this week and this will turn some of these youngsters from boys to men and some into legends. Whoever plays on thursday and sunday will need our full support no matter what because this is our season this week !

Preach brother. I'm using this font until both amtches end this week :vert:

 

[sammyspurs]

El flaco sammyspurs Spöörs

Genuine question here, what do you all see in Fazio?

I've watched him week in and week and just cannot understand what he offers.

I think his speed isnt that big of an issue when he has Walker and Jan alongside him. Plus he has experience and positioning skills which he uses to compensate.
He's made some great last ditch tackles, great for defending corners, is aggressive and strong.

Personally, I dont think any forwards look and Dier and say "oh shit, dont want to get into a collision with that"

 

[El flaco]

El flaco sammyspurs Spöörs

Genuine question here, what do you all see in Fazio?

I've watched him week in and week and just cannot understand what he offers.

Obviously the physical side but I also think he uses the ball well. What I would say is that I don't know if he's fit enough at the moment.

 

[Spöörs]

El flaco sammyspurs Spöörs

Genuine question here, what do you all see in Fazio?

I've watched him week in and week and just cannot understand what he offers.

 

[tbonepremier]

Lloris
Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose
Mason, Bentaleb
Dembele, Eriksen, Chadli
Kane

 

[Allan Nielsens Groin]

Haha, just been watching that for 5 mins straight, smiling more on each loop, ended up walking around the house to shake it off. Campbell looks so awkward and puny... Thx!

 

[Juicy Sushi]

I think his speed isnt that big of an issue when he has Walker and Jan alongside him. Plus he has experience and positioning skills which he uses to compensate.
He's made some great last ditch tackles, great for defending corners, is aggressive and strong.

Personally, I dont think any forwards look and Dier and say "oh shit, dont want to get into a collision with that"

Not yet, at any rate. I think Dier is the future, and he's got the pieces to be a fucking monster of a centre back. But Fazio has a lot of big game experience, and against Chelsea in particular, has taken the worst Costa can dish out, and given more back. And not gotten caught for it.

Fazio isn't perfect, but if you want a large bastard of a centre back, but want someone who isn't a subhuman ogre like John Terry, I think Fazio's a pretty great choice.

 

[Matias]

I don't know about "best", but the line-up I'd be least willing to see on the pitch on Thursday as a Viola fan is:
Lloris;
Walker, Fazio, Vert, Rose;
Mason, Bentaleb;
Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli;
Kane.

 

[Jayc1]

El flaco sammyspurs Spöörs

Genuine question here, what do you all see in Fazio?

I've watched him week in and week and just cannot understand what he offers.

His communication is great too. He points at people, shouts, tells people where to go and I feel like Dier just stands there and waits to be told what to do a little too much. It's only natural though, he's one of the youngest players in our squad.

Other than that, Fazio has loads of experience, his positioning is great, he wins a good 90% of areal duels, strong, good at blocking/tackles...Just not that quick and sometimes loses his cool. I don't think he's that great on the ball either, contrary to what others have said.

 

[ArcspacE]

Fazio is our second best performer statistically after Kane this season according to whoscored.com

:carrollwtf:

 

[Pairsy1882]

His communication is great too. He points at people, shouts, tells people where to go and I feel like Dier just stands there and waits to be told what to do a little too much. It's only natural though, he's one of the youngest players in our squad.

Other than that, Fazio has loads of experience, his positioning is great, he wins a good 90% of areal duels, strong, good at blocking/tackles...Just not that quick and sometimes loses his cool. I don't think he's that great on the ball either, contrary to what others have said.

His positioning is God awful, the number of times he loses his man is sinful. He spends the majority of the game wondering where the opposition striker has gone.

 

[BAE32]

Centre backs are often judged harshly on their few mistakes over their general performances and I think Fazio is one where people tend to remember his faults rather than his strengths. It's hard to look past a pairing of Vertonghen and Fazio with our defensive record being stellar when both have started.

 

[pleb]

His communication is great too. He points at people, shouts, tells people where to go and I feel like Dier just stands there and waits to be told what to do a little too much. It's only natural though, he's one of the youngest players in our squad.

Other than that, Fazio has loads of experience, his positioning is great, he wins a good 90% of areal duels, strong, good at blocking/tackles...Just not that quick and sometimes loses his cool. I don't think he's that great on the ball either, contrary to what others have said.

Better than Kompany?

 

[Mad Yid]

Centre backs are often judged harshly on their few mistakes over their general performances and I think Fazio is one where people tend to remember his faults rather than his strengths. It's hard to look past a pairing of Vertonghen and Fazio with our defensive record being stellar when both have started.

agree with this, especially new foreign centerbacks they get massacred if they make a mistake, fucking cliche time in the skysports super studio

plus being an Argy doesn't help him much in England

 

[Simmo]

8 goals conceded in 4 games and look at what a mess they are mostly. Lloris 'error' (by his standards, pitch didn't help), Rose dumb penalty giveaway, late Balotelli winner tidy enough by them but we had a lot of bodies around, Fiorentina ping-pong Walker nutmeg, Dembele gaff, offside/Rose stopping, Fazio and Vertonghen gaffs yesterday.

Very soft and no win in 4. The first team is tired in my opinion and we need to hope that we find a NYD or NLD performance on Sunday to have a chance.

 

[sammyspurs]

One week on and still a relevant question Id say.

The sad thing is, Chadli is a shadow of his former self, so we now have three ineffective AMs when you add Townsend and Lamela to that.

And instead of three strikers, we have two.

I think that Poch has made a few grave errors of judgment in how he used the squad since we beat Chelsea on New Years Day. The rotation has been choking in its limitedness, and inability to effectively change a performance for the better.

Too many players being dropped from existence for my liking. Hate Ade all you want, but would you prefer the option of Ade and Soldado on the bench, or just Soldado? Thats what it comes to.

No idea how we will continue now we are out of the cups, with no success. Hopefully a bit more variation, in terms of squad usage, and a total abandonment of the 442 we've been using.

Either play out and out wingers, or dont have two strikers on the pitch, because we are rubbish at it and too narrow.

Its all in Pochs hands, and eyes are on him now. He said lose in the EL, and lose today, and you are seen as a poor coach. I wouldnt go that far, but Im certainly not beating the "In Poch We Trust" drum too hard these days.

 

[Hazza]

I have no positivity right now. We are playing for nothing for the rest of this season, as far as I can see. We have no chance of getting in the top 4, with all the red shits in front relentlessly picking up points. As much as I hate that competition, we had to stay in the EL to have anything left to drive us on; we should have prioritised it above all else this week as it was the most winnable one. Another shitty season and ditto for the transfer window to come.

 

[docomospur]

We just have to wait for the summer, when Pochettino hopefully can bring in a few players he wants ( willing), and see how he does in his sophomore season.

Sigh, I agree with whoever it was who suggested we change our motto to "there's always next year" :llorisserious:

 

[sammyspurs]

I have no positivity right now. We are playing for nothing for the rest of this season, as far as I can see. We have no chance of getting in the top 4, with all the red shits in front relentlessly picking up points. As much as I hate that competition, we had to stay in the EL to have anything left to drive us on; we should have prioritised it above all else this week as it was the most winnable one. Another shitty season and ditto for the transfer window to come.

There are positives, but its been a terrible month for sure.

We looked good and clueless in equal measures, and are seriously lacking a clinical edge. Our attacks are stifled, and its no good talking about transfer windows.

We need to start really rotating, to stave off burnouts.

 

[Gothamizm]

Ultimately I think Chelsea beat us on nous rather than ability. Spurs embodied our motto while Chelsea embodied theirs ("win, even if you must cheat, lie, steal, be an awful cunt, sacrifice your family to darkness...do it all but win at the end")

There are too many average players in this squad for Poch to have realistically outmuscled them; but we have to see what the summer brings in terms of outgoings as well as transfers in. Most important may be how he gets formerly great players back to their best, or beyond. More or less every midfielder has blown hot and cold for more than a month; increasingly they're all blowing cooler than I would like. Bielsista tactics come with some degree of physical burnout but it's worrying that we're seeing it on a creative level as well.