We've lost games in the Champions League before and went on to have a good campaign.
It's all about what we do next now.
It's all about what we do next now.
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I haven't read a single post on here yet, so sorry if this is repetitive.
First off, result aside I really enjoyed the night. Absolutely blown away by the number of Spurs fans, I got there way too early and it was rammed, the sight of Wembley Way packed with yids 2hrs before kick off will live with me for a long time. Nice also to know that despite the result we didn't fight each other or boo the team.
As for the game I thought we lacked aggression & tempo to our game in the first half, well after their goal to be precise. We should have been at least 1-0 up by the time they scored from their first shot. Alli playing deep didn't work and Dier was easily bypassed. Defensively we were poor, particularly Davies who had a torrid evening and offered little in attack. When we leave Jan one on one there is only ever one winner and it isn't Vertonghen, why didn't he show his man down the line and let him come inside is beyond me. (He is excellent with the ball at his feet, one of the very best, but he isn't a very good defender).
Second half we were much better, in that Alli clearly was given a rocket at half time, he was far more aggressive and got into their faces. At least Poch made the right calls in the subs, obviously as Captain hindsight I could question the initial line-up. Kane was shocking, I gave slight criticism of him last year for not passing to team mates who were in better scoring positions than him, but when you score as much as him he kept me quite, but when he is not scoring he deserves to get heavily criticised, PASS THE FUCKING BALL! (Last year Kane's hold-up play and work rate were still instrumental in our performances when he wasn't scoring, I loved what he was doing and didn't care that he hadn't scored a goal, he was still adding to our game. I would drop Kane for Janssen and give him a run, unfortunately right now Kane offers nothing, no pressing, no energy, his work rate is way down. As for the technical side of his game, his first touch has deserted him and his decision making is abysmal). Thought we deserved an equaliser.
Monaco - Fair play to them. Thought they were very professional, they look a very good side and played intelligently. The way they played out the final 10 mins was particularly impressive. That said, they are beatable, they didn't out play us and in the 2nd leg we can, with the right balance and application, reverse the result. I am certainly not shitting myself. They had 2 fucking shots on goal as direct result of us defending poorly, whilst at the other end we created absolutely clear cut chances that should have put the game to bed.
Atmosphere I thought was fantastic, especially given the fact that we were singing on our own (imagine having a proper away team's supporters to bounce songs off) and we were 2 down. Always a challenge to get some songs going as stadium is so big but actually found it refreshing that there were 3 clear areas that got songs started (section in the corner same end to away fans, section in corner "home end" and section towards the back of lower tier "home end"). Been to many (most) WHL games where we go behind and our support is non-existent, thought last night we were supportive, trying to lift the team, I like that.
Been to Wembley numerous times and only once have I had a nightmare getting home and that was because I parked in the Multi-Storey car park which took over an hour to get out of (never again!). But what the fuck was going on last night? Absolute gridlock around the stadium took almost two hours just to get to the North Circular! Mates that went by train also said they had a nightmare.
First off, result aside I really enjoyed the night. Absolutely blown away by the number of Spurs fans, I got there way too early and it was rammed, the sight of Wembley Way packed with yids 2hrs before kick off will live with me for a long time. Nice also to know that despite the result we didn't fight each other or boo the team.
As for the game I thought we lacked aggression & tempo to our game in the first half, well after their goal to be precise. We should have been at least 1-0 up by the time they scored from their first shot. Alli playing deep didn't work and Dier was easily bypassed. Defensively we were poor, particularly Davies who had a torrid evening and offered little in attack. When we leave Jan one on one there is only ever one winner and it isn't Vertonghen, why didn't he show his man down the line and let him come inside is beyond me. (He is excellent with the ball at his feet, one of the very best, but he isn't a very good defender).
Second half we were much better, in that Alli clearly was given a rocket at half time, he was far more aggressive and got into their faces. At least Poch made the right calls in the subs, obviously as Captain hindsight I could question the initial line-up. Kane was shocking, I gave slight criticism of him last year for not passing to team mates who were in better scoring positions than him, but when you score as much as him he kept me quite, but when he is not scoring he deserves to get heavily criticised, PASS THE FUCKING BALL! (Last year Kane's hold-up play and work rate were still instrumental in our performances when he wasn't scoring, I loved what he was doing and didn't care that he hadn't scored a goal, he was still adding to our game. I would drop Kane for Janssen and give him a run, unfortunately right now Kane offers nothing, no pressing, no energy, his work rate is way down. As for the technical side of his game, his first touch has deserted him and his decision making is abysmal). Thought we deserved an equaliser.
Monaco - Fair play to them. Thought they were very professional, they look a very good side and played intelligently. The way they played out the final 10 mins was particularly impressive. That said, they are beatable, they didn't out play us and in the 2nd leg we can, with the right balance and application, reverse the result. I am certainly not shitting myself. They had 2 fucking shots on goal as direct result of us defending poorly, whilst at the other end we created absolutely clear cut chances that should have put the game to bed.
Atmosphere I thought was fantastic, especially given the fact that we were singing on our own (imagine having a proper away team's supporters to bounce songs off) and we were 2 down. Always a challenge to get some songs going as stadium is so big but actually found it refreshing that there were 3 clear areas that got songs started (section in the corner same end to away fans, section in corner "home end" and section towards the back of lower tier "home end"). Been to many (most) WHL games where we go behind and our support is non-existent, thought last night we were supportive, trying to lift the team, I like that.
Been to Wembley numerous times and only once have I had a nightmare getting home and that was because I parked in the Multi-Storey car park which took over an hour to get out of (never again!). But what the fuck was going on last night? Absolute gridlock around the stadium took almost two hours just to get to the North Circular! Mates that went by train also said they had a nightmare.
No he was simply played in a role further forward, and was doing well, then the manager decided in his wisdom to play him out on the wing and we went shit again.
Really. That's frustrating as it was not that more expensive than where we are ( Block 125 ). Oh wellNot a problem in the Club Wembley section. Beer was flowing.
Not as simple as as that, first half despite playing deep he was passive and lacked aggression (not the only one). We have seen him play well from deep with late runs into the box. His position will always be debated (further up pitch or deeper), we have seen him as a 10 and be shit as well as sublime. To be honest he was one of our better players on the night so feels wrong picking his game apart. But compare us to last season we are not fluid, we are not interchanging positions, this was one of our strengths last year with Erikssen as wide left and as 10, Lamela wide right and as 10, and then have Alli running through the line from deep or linking well with Kane further forward. When we stick with fixed positions we don't look potent.
That said over-ridding feature to our game is tempo and aggression, not positions. We were better 2nd half because we upped our tempo and were more aggressive. Alli, lead this change of attitude IMO.
Unlucky in the sense that they had 2 shots and scored both whilst we were in control of the game up until the opening goal and after it too. We couldn't score another if we played all night and that's unlucky. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't.
We will go again. Game away in Russia suddenly gets even more important.
I agree we could have played all night, aside from Dele's effort there keeper had nothing much to do. Thats not unlucky thats playing poorly, possession means nothing.
We were good for first 20 minutes of second half then did nothing, imagine if we were leading 2-1 with 15 minutes to go, we'd have been under all types of pressure from the opposition.
Dunno mate. Hard to predict if's and buts. "If" we would have taken our chances personally I didn't see how Monaco could put us under the cosh. Biggest surprise for me was Poch not putting more muscle in the team from the off, may be he was expecting this from both Dier and Alli in the first half and they let him down???
But genuinely don't see Monaco as a team to put us under pressure for prolonged period, no evidence from last night. They are very good and well organised and knew what they were doing.
Fully agree with your take on last night, me & my son were up I the gods at the East End of Wembley and had a mixture of singers and tourists which made it hard to co join our regular chants.
Behind the goal at the other end I assume was the 1882 group had assembled, but really couldn't see them starting to get up the crowd.
With buying the 3 game package I will have to sit with most of the same fans, but if this becomes our home for a year we need the club to allow fans to choose an area to whip up noise, with the rest to follow.
Still don't think Pococino knows his best side, and with 4 more new players it will take a while to get back up to speed COYS
Will probably get half off you disagreeing with me but if you think that was a good atmosphere last night then think we need to look at ourselves , I would class Inter Milan in the champions league a few years ago or West Ham at home last season a good atmosphere but thought last night was shit , people asking me to sit down and people around me just staring at me when trying to start a song, unless it was we've got alli or Everywere we go they wouldn't have a clue what I'm on about , I can take us loosing as I have always knows us to be shit, wouldn't let us in any pubs around be ground either , Seems like another Olympic Stadium situation with all tourists there and haven't got a clue about the atmosphere side of football , Pretty sure I will have a better time against Gillingham at home next week
Monaco were shit but clinical. Sloppy first goal, silly second goal. We looked shell shocked. We could (and possibly should) have been 2-0 up ourselves at that point.
Second half we pressured and missed another couple of great chances (KANE!) but they were very sharp with the ball and managed to avoid our pressing with quick, incisive passing. I thought the last 20 minutes it looked like we'd had a man sent off as they've always seemed to have a man spare.
One of the worst games I've seen Dier play. Lamela also poor. Davies looked very average. So did Vertonghen.
Dele excellent. Sissoko bright when he came on, as was Janssen. I'd have liked to have seen him start instead of Kane to be honest.
We can beat them away. Still very confident of qualification.
Second half we pressured and missed another couple of great chances (KANE!) but they were very sharp with the ball and managed to avoid our pressing with quick, incisive passing. I thought the last 20 minutes it looked like we'd had a man sent off as they've always seemed to have a man spare.
One of the worst games I've seen Dier play. Lamela also poor. Davies looked very average. So did Vertonghen.
Dele excellent. Sissoko bright when he came on, as was Janssen. I'd have liked to have seen him start instead of Kane to be honest.
We can beat them away. Still very confident of qualification.
Anyone unnerved about the pitch size? (apologies if this has been done)
Poch has previously said he wants a bigger pitch, that WHL is too small. But I just cannot see how bigger is better.
1. We press, get up in opponents' faces, get on them soon as they receive the ball. On a larger pitch, this is a) more tiring, as our guys have to rush forward that extra few feet each time (all adds up), and b) made more high-risk: if they can pass around us, which a more technical team might, their attackers are suddenly looking at acres of space to run into – with Verts or Toby having farther to sprint up to cover, rather than just side step into their path like at the Lane. Dier can boss the entire middle of WHL on his own, but was overstretched last night.
2. We have very little means to exploit space ourselves. Say WE pass around THEM, or nick it and spring it forwards, neither Kane nor it seems Janssen are able to get on the end of much. Maybe N'Koudou is the answer; if so, a pretty untested, single answer though.
Just can't see the benefits
Poch has previously said he wants a bigger pitch, that WHL is too small. But I just cannot see how bigger is better.
1. We press, get up in opponents' faces, get on them soon as they receive the ball. On a larger pitch, this is a) more tiring, as our guys have to rush forward that extra few feet each time (all adds up), and b) made more high-risk: if they can pass around us, which a more technical team might, their attackers are suddenly looking at acres of space to run into – with Verts or Toby having farther to sprint up to cover, rather than just side step into their path like at the Lane. Dier can boss the entire middle of WHL on his own, but was overstretched last night.
2. We have very little means to exploit space ourselves. Say WE pass around THEM, or nick it and spring it forwards, neither Kane nor it seems Janssen are able to get on the end of much. Maybe N'Koudou is the answer; if so, a pretty untested, single answer though.
Just can't see the benefits
The result wasn`t glorious, but this certainly was
Love the fact that we sold out Wembley and set a record but for those thinking the atmosphere wasn't that good I think it's bloody obvious that if you triple your normal attendance then the majority are going to be people who simply don't usually go to games/ haven't been for years. You could tell from the numbers of 90s/00s Replica shirts on fully grown men around Kings Cross - this IS what everyone wears to football matches these days? - Right?!?!
Liked where I was 135. Stood whole game, not too much singing but a lot of passion... perhaps a bit too much of a Ron Sunday League Manager vibe for my liking..... SECONDS! MAN ON!! LINE BALL!!! STAND HIM UP!!!!
Still confident that we'll qualify but need a result in Russia for me.
Liked where I was 135. Stood whole game, not too much singing but a lot of passion... perhaps a bit too much of a Ron Sunday League Manager vibe for my liking..... SECONDS! MAN ON!! LINE BALL!!! STAND HIM UP!!!!
Still confident that we'll qualify but need a result in Russia for me.
Fine margins Tomo
Just watched game again and can't believe how unlucky we were so all the melts like Scott can fuck off
Harry had several shots blocked
Just one has to go in and he's back on track
It shows his confidence is still there and yes he can be selfish at times
Most great strikers are like that!
At least 20 goals this season
COYS
Agree, although we never seem to ask questions of them defensively. The only time in the game, for me was just after we scored , there were a few minutes when we really upped the tempo and was pulling them apart-the support was at 12th man level. Unfortunately for us, the whistle blew for half time. we never reached that level again.
Yes those two with their pace wd have made a difference from the off and I thought Sissoko did OK when he came on!
Rose with his pace was a big miss for us
Davies tries but not in same league
The moose is back which is good news and I expect him and Sissoko to start against the Mackems
Not his goalscoring more work rate. Last season when he wasn't scoring he was running channels, pressing, linking, providing the focal point.
Recently he has looked much slower and less energetic, not sure if he is playing with an injury, tired or what. I'd rather Poch rests him and let's him build up again then we just burn him out. Guy has played a phenomenal amount of games over the past 2 seasons up front on his own as well for England.