Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley (7/12/19) (3pm)

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I thought Davidson was quite good, actually. Blocked that Wood chance early, very good at “simple” defending, which is what Jose wants from him. He’s looked quite good the last 5 matches.

Maybe not “steller” as you say but improving under Jose for sure.

As will a lot of them
 
We win, score five, concede none and this thread is only 52 pages, why? Because once you get pass the pre match 'brains-trust' telling us Son and Lucas don't press, Kane should be dropped, Dier and Moussa can't play football and you get into the match itself our resident super fans (we all know who you are) had absolutely nothing to whine and whinge about ... page after page of pure joy and celebration ... what a pleasant change.

We won a game 5-0 with less than 50% possession, it's the same players but a massive tactical change from the Poch era ... Poch was very good but he wasn't Jose good, you don't win >20 trophies by being a bad manager let's hope he once again proves that.
True. Lots of egg on people’s faces after moaning so much when the team selection came out. I share the frustration regarding N’Dombele and LoCelso not playing but it was obvious Mourinho was saying to the team that lost to Utd to go and put it right. And they did.
 
That has to be one of the best performances, if not the best, for Spurs for a year or more.

And imo, a lot of it was down to the players not being tired, and really up for it - and lasting for 90 minutes at a fairly high tempo throughout. Probably nobody epitomised that more than Kane who like the team had his best performance for a year or more.

There's been a number of comments that Poch's training sessions were brutal and might well have been the underlying reason why the players have looked tired during games and we haven't always lasted for more than 60 or 70 minutes.

I'd guess that Mourhino has reduced down the intensity of training and the Burnley game is the first where we have seen the results - players looking fresh.

Hopefully most of this team will be rested for the dead rubber on Wednesday, and that in turn will mean that the team will be more refreshed and ready for the remaining 22 PL games and maybe 10 cup games (CL and FA Cup). Its still early days for Mourhino but if he can continue to refine training, rotate players to rest them whilst perhaps introducing some of the other players who we haven't seem too much of who will play on Wednesday, we may find Mourhino has breathed new life into the existing squad that can turn the season round.

Maybe add one or two players in January too.

The future could still be Lilywhite !
 
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That has to be one of the best performances, if not the best, for Spurs for a year or more.

And imo, a lot of it was down to the players not being tired, and really up for it - and lasting for 90 minutes at a fairly high tempo throughout. Probably nobody epitomised that more than Kane who like the team had his best performance for a year or more.

There's been a number of comments that Poch's training sessions were brutal and might well have been the underlying reason why the players have looked tired during games and we haven't always lasted for more than 60 or 70 minutes.

I'd guess that Mourhino has reduced down the intensity of training and the Burnley game is the first where we have seen the results - players looking fresh.

Hopefully most of this team will be rested for the dead rubber on Wednesday, and that in turn will mean that the team will be more refreshed and ready for the remaining 22 PL games and maybe 10 cup games (CL and FA Cup). Its still early days for Mourhino but if he can continue to refine training, rotate players to rest them whilst perhaps introducing some of the other players who we haven't seem too much of who will play on Wednesday, we may find Mourhino has breathed new life into the existing squad that can turn the season round.

Maybe add one or two players in January too.

The future could still be Lillywhite !

Sonny was running his nuts off till the final whistle as well. And ‘Lilywhite’. Sorry for my pedantry.
 
Haven’t read anything and just finished the game. My impressions.

Dominated the air and the second ball. Fast flying and scoring more goals than we used to.

Jose has installed a game that utilizes the runners we have had in our squad. Kane is officially a target man and when on form, can get the first head and send Son, Alli, or Lucas on to win the second ball.

The game plan worked today, which was nice to see. Some truly brilliant counter exchanges today. Fast and flowing,

That being said, I am not of a fan of the favored way of playing, The long ball tactic should be in your kit, but it shouldn’t be the sole way of moving the ball forward. I do want to see some more tiki taka in order to maintain tempo. We haven’t shown the true ability to manage a game played with this new style. It goes to the keeper who sends it or Toby lines one up. Then it is a race to the second ball.

Rinse repeat for large stretches of play. This way of playing is like ping pong, long furies of quick successions of play where slip seconds can change games. Today we dominated those split seconds.

One player I think Jose likes for this style is Dier. He is a big body that can win a lot of headers. He played rather well In his role because his strengths were played to. He was helping bring the ball under control and kept it simple. Yet, he still managed to look like a fool when asked to think in tight spaces. He just can’t cut it in the middle of the park for a top four team.

I really don’t know what my point is, but I guess it is that we played rather well, and we deserved the score line. Breaking at pace. It should have been 10-0. (Realistically 7-1)

I do want to see us control a game more. Slow it down. Play some fancy pants football. I think we will need to see that if we want to challenge in the future, because we will not always win that second ball.

Edit: as a caveat to the above, part of why I love and hate the way we played today is because we are leaving two players on our bench that I think allow us to have more breadth to our style. This really sours me because Ndombele could be one of the best midfielders in the world and I just don’t see him fitting into the way Jose is currently rolling the team out. He doesn’t like being a header of the ball. He isn’t going to to muscle like Sissoko and Dier will for the second ball.

I feel pretty much the same, but to be fair, NDombele was injured yesterday.

I don’t want to watch midfieldless football either, and Mourinho does have some worrying penchants in his back catalogue. He does love a midfield unit. Ok when they can play a bit of football too (Matic, Motta, Khadeira etc) but ours (Dier, Sissoko) can’t.

I do worry that if Mourinho can’t see past a CM2 system then it’s worrying times for NDombele, who could just about do it in Ligue1, with a busy cunt like Tousart next to him, but will find it hard going in this league, just as someone like Pogba looked half the player when Mourinho kept asking him to play in his CM2 4231.

What’s been worrying until yesterday is how, despite picking fairly non footballing midfields, we’d been failing to shut games down, even after we’d had them well won. At least we did that.

That game yesterday was very formula Mourinho - he likes his teams to exert early, get ahead, then shell and counter.

I like that Mourinho has immediately identified some areas of tactical weakness and has made subtle but shrewd changes to strengthen them.

We are no longer exposing both FB’s at the same time. He has the pace of Sanchez covering the flank that he is exposing. Moura, when starting, is no longer being used centrally and getting under Kane’s feet, Son as the wide forward cutting in but also working harder without the ball than he’s ever done. Alli is back as a false 10/9 hybrid, getting on the end of things instead of fucking up the beginning of things.

Now, if we could just find a Makelele to balance off NDombele and Lo Celso we might be contenders....
 
A positively purring Mourinho...

Just on my way home, after enjoying a brisket burger and a fruity cider ;)
Four excellent goals, one tap in, a clean sheet - as I said at half time, what's not to like :)
His face when the clean sheet is mentioned. :moursmall:
Jose: Props to Lucas for defensive commitment.... Awkward for some.
I can't be alone in preferring 5-0 To 6-1... (even though Nutter-Naylor Nutter-Naylor was secretly hoping for 7-1... as long as Lennon scored theirs!)
 
Arm by his side perhaps? Ball hit his arm, rather than lifting his arm to meet the ball? Dunno, I’m as confused as you - seems to be different rules for defenders and attackers.
it is. any handball by an attacker that leads to a goal, no matter how accidental, leads to a free kick. defenders, they still have to consider intent
 
Checked out the Ronaldo goal Mourinho was talking about...


He didn't run as far and the finish was messier, but look at how many times that first defender either kicks him or pulls his shirt and he still got away....also did you notice who got the assist...our very own Gheorghe Popescu, he left us the season before this.
 
Just in case there weren't ENOUGH highlights from yesterday... the reception Aaron Lennon got was true class... yes, we were 4-0 up at the time (and let's face it, had we been 0-1 the reception may have been different) but I'd like to think that after all the problems he's had, the 'Welcome home' he received made him feel truly one of us.... 'cos that's how it was intended.

...and as for the applause on 12 mins for Harley Watson.... don't even get me started!

Sheer, unadulterated class.
 
I feel pretty much the same, but to be fair, NDombele was injured yesterday.

I don’t want to watch midfieldless football either, and Mourinho does have some worrying penchants in his back catalogue. He does love a midfield unit. Ok when they can play a bit of football too (Matic, Motta, Khadeira etc) but ours (Dier, Sissoko) can’t.

I do worry that if Mourinho can’t see past a CM2 system then it’s worrying times for NDombele, who could just about do it in Ligue1, with a busy cunt like Tousart next to him, but will find it hard going in this league, just as someone like Pogba looked half the player when Mourinho kept asking him to play in his CM2 4231.

What’s been worrying until yesterday is how, despite picking fairly non footballing midfields, we’d been failing to shut games down, even after we’d had them well won. At least we did that.

That game yesterday was very formula Mourinho - he likes his teams to exert early, get ahead, then shell and counter.

I like that Mourinho has immediately identified some areas of tactical weakness and has made subtle but shrewd changes to strengthen them.

We are no longer exposing both FB’s at the same time. He has the pace of Sanchez covering the flank that he is exposing. Moura, when starting, is no longer being used centrally and getting under Kane’s feet, Son as the wide forward cutting in but also working harder without the ball than he’s ever done. Alli is back as a false 10/9 hybrid, getting on the end of things instead of fucking up the beginning of things.

Now, if we could just find a Makelele to balance off NDombele and Lo Celso we might be contenders....

Mourinho did not keep asking Pogba to play in a two, Pogba started the 2017/2018 season in a two with Matic and was playing well, United, were scoring three of four goals per a game, Pogba got injured some time in September.

When Pogba came back in Dec 2017, Pogba started playing up as the papers and pundits alike kept barking on that Pogba can only play on the left of the three, when the truth be told both Allegri and Conte tried Pogba on the left of a three in a 4-3-3 and it effected the balance of their team so they both went back to the tried and tested 3-5-2, with Pogba starting postion as a central mdifielder, drifting out left.

This power play between Pogba and Mourinho continued till the end of the season, Jose actually played Pogba in a three in the midddle of Jan 2018, and Pogba was no better in his application or work rate.

Jose continued to play Pogba in three and sometimes a two thru Feb, until the champions league resumed, and if you cast your mind back to the incident of Jose and Pogba argueing on the touchline, as Pogba was not following the managers instructions, Jose tried to discipline Pogba, and as a result had to field Fellani in the middle of the park against Sevilla.

The truth is Pogba thinks he is a Messi or Zidane, and when challenged about his work rate, his response was nobody questions Messi work rate,

Pogba skillset is not that of a 10, hence the reason why he always gets disposed so often, whether in a two or three.

Pogba is not quick enough in the head to play the role of a 10 role in the mould of an inform Ozil,Isco or our very own Dele Ali, Pogba does not move about enough to create space or options, Pogba’s pressing is also half hearted.

Pogba needs time and space to play his equisite passess, so playing him deeper makes sense, where he can see the full spectrum of the pitch.

If you think this last statement is false, ask yourself, if he went to Real Madrid, where would he play in that team, I would say he would be tasked with replaciing one of Modric or Kroos, who both contribute to the defensive aspect of the team, Modric, more so than Kroos.


As for your comment on yesterdays game, there is nothing wrong with getting an early lead and seeing out games, it actually teaches you about building character, focusing on the task at hand, and being confident and assured that no matter what life ‘football’ throws at you, you can cope.

Even Jurgen Klopp has taken leafs out of Mourinho’s book of tactics, building on a strong defence, confident that the team can see out games, look at what he done to us in the Champions league final, killed the game, to win the trophy,something that Pep has failed to learn and could have been 5 nil down against Man U, last night in the 1st half, by neglecting the defensive side of the game and Pep can’t understand how his team has 20 plus chances and still lose or draw.

Alot of people want us to play a 4-3-3, but that would shunt Ali to the wide forward role or a deeper role, where the game would hamper his strength, also people have been banging on about Le Celso, whose best position is the attacking midfield centre role, in which Ali currenly occupies, Jose wants his attacking wide men, starting position to be closer to the touch line.

Yes we could opt for the 4-3-1-2 role if needed, thus accomadating Ndombele alongside a ball winner and deep lying or central playmaker, with Son alongside Kane, meaning the purchase of Le Celso would be seen as redundant, as would the services of Lamela,Sess and Moura. If we choose or decide to opt for the 4-3-1-2 formation, we would need full backs who can defend, aswell as support attacks if and when required.

Hopefully Ndombele will make the grade, he has the skillset, his passing will improve, as this is one of his strong suits, but this is the premier league, and if you are tasked to ply your trade in the midfield then you have to be a good tackler and reader of the game, or simply focus on just reading the flow of the game, making interceptions,tackling now and then.
 
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