The ball to kwp was a pretty straight forward simple pass which professional footballers should be able to control. Was really poor from kwp.
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Hugo - 6 did what he had to do. could've done better with that goal I might add.
Rose - 7.0 gritty defending, all over the pitch and knows how to get forward but at times needs to forget about shooting and look for the forwards.
Jan - 6.5
Toby - 6.5
KWP - 5.5, looked nervous as expected and really needs to work on first touch and crossing. needs to work out in the weight room with all that time in the world because he looked terribly weak.
Winks - 6. too many mispasses but did okay holding the ball
Sissoko - 7 his ability to impose his physicality was a sight to see.
Dele - 6 didn't really do much. Tried to execute some decent passes but didn't feel like he made much of a presence.
Eriksen - 7.0 would've given him an extra .5 but he left his shooting boots in London. Passing and vision was spectacular though.
Son - 6 created viable scoring opportunities all on his own at times, but frustratingly also forgot to bring his shooting boots.
Kane - 6.5 missed some opportunities to make it 1-1 but it looked like all our starters up front couldn't finish to save their lives. However, his ability to create opportunities is uncanny.
Lamela - 6.5 immense workrate
Moura - 7.0 scored the goal to take us to the round of 16.
llorente - n/a
Rose - 7.0 gritty defending, all over the pitch and knows how to get forward but at times needs to forget about shooting and look for the forwards.
Jan - 6.5
Toby - 6.5
KWP - 5.5, looked nervous as expected and really needs to work on first touch and crossing. needs to work out in the weight room with all that time in the world because he looked terribly weak.
Winks - 6. too many mispasses but did okay holding the ball
Sissoko - 7 his ability to impose his physicality was a sight to see.
Dele - 6 didn't really do much. Tried to execute some decent passes but didn't feel like he made much of a presence.
Eriksen - 7.0 would've given him an extra .5 but he left his shooting boots in London. Passing and vision was spectacular though.
Son - 6 created viable scoring opportunities all on his own at times, but frustratingly also forgot to bring his shooting boots.
Kane - 6.5 missed some opportunities to make it 1-1 but it looked like all our starters up front couldn't finish to save their lives. However, his ability to create opportunities is uncanny.
Lamela - 6.5 immense workrate
Moura - 7.0 scored the goal to take us to the round of 16.
llorente - n/a
Rubbish.
The problem was Sissoko misjudged how quickly Dembele was closing in - as he's very fast - and that caught KWP out. Lots of players, even experienced ones can get caught out.
I could also comment that Sissoko had the ball as a result of a relatively poorly taken free kick by Eriksen (the FK being won ion part by KWP by the way). So its a sequence of events where things aren't perfect from players .
On the ball he's great but he's a ghost when we are out of possession. He did recover tenaciously when he misplaced a couple of passes to atone for them, but he will not hold down a place in the first team if he doesn't improve what he does without the ball. He doesn't need to be Dier, Dembele or Wanyama either, he must get his positioning right he can stop/slow down an attack just by reading where the passing lane is.
Despite hitting more passes than anyone on the pitch, he had a completion rate of 91.6%. Only a couple of players (non defenders or brief subs) on either side misplaced less. Eriksen 91.9. Alena 96.4 (but hit 20 less)
Whilst the result last night was superb, Barca hit the upright twice. We shouldn't brush that under the carpet in my opinion.
I agree, he needs to improve, but there's signs that he is, and I think he was generally very good without the ball last night, which was one of the reasons we conceded fewer chances to Barca than we have in most league games with Dier there. And Iif Wins is going to play that well with the ball, it gets a bit like Jorginho at Chelsea, we controlling things so well, the defensive aspect becomes less issue.
We also missed a bucket load of chances, on chances we should have won the game.
Have to disagree, the main reason Barca didn't take control was they didn't have the players in midfield to do that. Their midfield was weak to non-existent. Don't confuse this as we were shit in there, we weren't our midfield edged the first half and practically all of the 2nd half.
It was great and brave tactical play however from Poch, it was the right call to back Winks, perhaps knowing that Barca might play that midfield that we could aim to dominate, from the moment the teams were released it was clear where their deficiency lay.
...as we saw early on with KWP, it only takes ONE mistake to get punished...
From the 8th minute to the 94th EVERY ONE OF THEM had to be totally on it, and focussed.
We literally couldn't afford to make one more mistake for the best part of 87 minutes... which we didn't....
So '10's all round for me!!
Even KWP who could've crumbled and gone missing after the start he/we had , but cruicially didn't!!
From the 8th minute to the 94th EVERY ONE OF THEM had to be totally on it, and focussed.
We literally couldn't afford to make one more mistake for the best part of 87 minutes... which we didn't....
So '10's all round for me!!
Even KWP who could've crumbled and gone missing after the start he/we had , but cruicially didn't!!
Generally agree but thought KWP had to do better in a situation like that
Dembele is quick and took his goal well but KWP had time to move ball on so hope he learns
Yes was disappointed with Erickson free kick not clearing the first defender
This usually happens with his corners
Eriksen passing in second half world class as was Sissoko down our right flank
IMO both Sissoko and KWP got 'done' by Dembele's pace.
With 20/20 hindsight Sissoko might have done better to head the ball out (safety first ?) or to someone further away from him than KWP, who had nobody defending behind him. - but he didn't, and in haste slightly under headed it. And KWP maybe should have just booted it, rather than trying to place a pass which takes a little more time - but he didn't. So Dembele was onto him very quickly, took the ball with no back up behind KWP........ So things to learn for sure.
As I said in my original post on the subject, otherwise Sissoko did well, Eriksen was fantastic from open play (although most of his set pieces were not) whilst Rose seemed to roll back about 18 months when he was one of the best LB's around.
Think Poch must have had a quiet chat at half time because in the 2nd half Barcelona couldn't cope, especially with Poch putting on 3 attackers !
Do you seriously believe that?
What did you think of his defending when Coutinho hit the post?
Come on Guido, that midfield still had Rakitic, Arthur, Coutinho - Dier's done a shit load worse against much weaker midfield's than that, and that's with the likes of Dembele holding his hand.
I'm not convinced Winks is the ultimate, long term solution as a 6 or and 8, but I know Dier isn't. He's a solid enough unit, but he lacks dynamism defensively and footballing dexterity offensively.
Shots - Spurs 18 Barca 14
On Target - Spurs 7 Barca 3
Saves Cillessen - 6 Hugo 2 (none in the second half)
So brush away .... hitting the outside of the post is still missing ... just not by much ....
Top marks to every last one of them, including the manager and coaching staff. It's a team game and one individual can't do it on his own. Struggled again to name a MOTM, which is a good thing as then it shows that we are not a one-man band, but if I have to, then Christian would just have the edge for me.
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Have you ever played football?
Sissoko has been running up and down game after game in an extremely congested period.
For him to do what he does is testament to his athleticism because he's not a small guy either.
Yeah in an ideal world he gets back to make last ditch tackles and also is helping up top with runs in the final third but this isn't FIFA mate you can't just hold sprint.
Sometimes you have to respect your body's limit and trust your teammates.
Late to the party man but wow that was some hog roast .
Kane great lay off but a little quiet in the first half . 7
Son busy but wasteful .6
Ali worked hard 6.
Winks 5.
Sissoko 7
Rose 8
Toby 7
Jan 7
Eriksen 8
KWP 6
Kane great lay off but a little quiet in the first half . 7
Son busy but wasteful .6
Ali worked hard 6.
Winks 5.
Sissoko 7
Rose 8
Toby 7
Jan 7
Eriksen 8
KWP 6
I'm not talking about fucking Dier, I'm talking about WINKS!!!! Why do you obsess so much about certain players and use those certain players to reinforce opinions on other players? Just rate the player that played. What they did well, what they did poorly, what you think they contributed to the team performance.
Coutinho wasn't in their midfield, Alena was (Arthur 22yrs 5 La Liga apps, Rakitic, Alena 20yrs 9 apps) Winks is a better substantially more experienced player than Arthur and Alena. AGAIN, I'm a massive fan of Winks, he's fantastic on the ball, he has tempo to his game, quick passes (a decent variety and range too) and has an energy that he sustains throughout the 90mins and love his ability to carry the ball quickly into space, there is a confidence to his game too he shows for the ball and isn't afraid to take the ball while under pressure from oppo.
Obviously given his age there is loads of development still to come, namely in cutting out the odd poor pass from deep which can be very dangerous (but do love that he often atones for this by doing his utmost to win it straight back). This will all come in time, he already has it in his locker it's just a mental thing, the game will slowdown in his head the older he gets.
The number one issue for me is what he does without the ball, specifically positioning and decision making (reading the game), he needs to know when to engage the oppo, when to jockey, track and stay with a midfield runner or put himself in the way of a pass to that runner. He presses well when the play is in front of him (the team did this very well against Barca the other night) but with a technical oppo who can pass through midfield he's a ghost and offers nothing to the team, in some cases it hinders the defence as he is the reason for the confusion (just that one video clip posted elsewhere showed this in effect).
Bar Rakitic Winks was the best midfielder, it was a fantastic and brave piece of management from Poch to leave out Dier and paid dividends mainly in the tempo that Winks brought, both when pressing them and quick distribution of the ball, Barca really struggled with this.
Winks (same age 22) only has 7 more senior appearances (51) Arthur (44) has. In three seasons, and Winks has still only started 17 (3 -16/17, 8 -17/18, 6 -18/19) PL games.
Yes Barca played a 433 with Coutinho in that forward 3, but just like our format, it was fluid and Coutinho spent plenty of time dropping in to help his FB and midfield.
I mentioned Dier because, obviously, Dier would normally be the player playing in that role. Therefore it's the most viable comparison to make, and moving forward it's a choice we now have to make. I wasn't suggesting you are a champion of Dier or hold a vastly contrary opinion.
Like you, I think there are defensive compromises with Winks, but like you, I also think there are proactive gains. My point was, I think there are also defensive compromises with Dier (slow to turn, not very dynamic, not great on the press, not great when we are being pressed high).
I said in my OP, and you have echoed above, it was a brave line up tactically, and got even braver on the hour mark when we played Erikssen/Winks/Alli - but I've been calling for Poch to be braver for months. I'm not sure there's much more risk with that than any CM2 containing Dier?
Dier is by far superior to Winks as a DEFENSIVE Midfielder, it's why he plays week in and week out, also have the ability for us to tactically switch things up with him going CB in a 3 or 4, or for him to play at RB all without Poch having to make a sub.Winks (same age 22) only has 7 more senior appearances (51) Arthur (44) has. In three seasons, and Winks has still only started 17 (3 -16/17, 8 -17/18, 6 -18/19) PL games.
Yes Barca played a 433 with Coutinho in that forward 3, but just like our format, it was fluid and Coutinho spent plenty of time dropping in to help his FB and midfield.
I mentioned Dier because, obviously, Dier would normally be the player playing in that role. Therefore it's the most viable comparison to make, and moving forward it's a choice we now have to make. I wasn't suggesting you are a champion of Dier or hold a vastly contrary opinion.
Like you, I think there are defensive compromises with Winks, but like you, I also think there are proactive gains. My point was, I think there are also defensive compromises with Dier (slow to turn, not very dynamic, not great on the press, not great when we are being pressed high).
I said in my OP, and you have echoed above, it was a brave line up tactically, and got even braver on the hour mark when we played Erikssen/Winks/Alli - but I've been calling for Poch to be braver for months. I'm not sure there's much more risk with that than any CM2 containing Dier?
But Poch threw this out of the window knowing that our Midfield would be better, bigger and more experienced than theirs. I should have phrased better re Arthur's experience, I was specifically referring to top-flight games, so with Barcelonalona, (hard to count the Brazilian Serie A League as a top league) therefore we are talking 9 appearances, his debut being against us in pre-season.