Don’t Squeeze the Deuce and the Myth of Mousa

[The Fighting Cock]

It was a game that Spurs needed to win, but even more importantly, they couldn’t afford to lose. West Bromwich Albion’s usual end of season surrender to Woolwich had amplified the tension in the ground, but for once Spurs didn’t crumble, they were merely unlucky. Everton arrived with a game plan, something along the lines of sitting back, focusing on set pieces and keeping their fingers crossed for a bit of luck, it nearly worked. Tottenham dominated possession but as [...]

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[WookieD]

I'm glad someone has stuck their head above the parapet before me! There is such a thing as a busy fool and Dembele is running dangerously close to becoming that man in my opinion.

Now, this is probably unfair to say as it is good to see a player so confident on the ball, but yesterday saw an Everton side able to nulify a lot of his work by having a second player ready to track his predictable runs and pinch the ball off of him, often cuasing him to turn inside himself before he'd even managed to make up a couple of yards. Scott Parker, imo to his credit, has started to emulate what Moussa does with the ball at his feet to gain yards and relieve pressure. But it means that when they play together you have Moussa and Moussa Lite and the midfield really doesn't need two players pushing up forcing the oppossition deeper into their territory at every opportunity as we have no space to create.

The difference in our attack for the short moments that we had Carroll and Huddlestone on the pitch was stark. Siggurdson was being released, Dempsey started seeing more of the ball, there was more cohesion between the midfield and the attack and it actually looked like we would have won the game had we made those changes earlier in the second half.

I personally don't think that the Parker/Dembele partnership is effective as it lacks a passing outlet with clear vision... Especially when Dempsey is in front. I don't think putting Dembele into the AM role is necessarily the right option, just that he needs a passer next to him. But it would be interesting to have a go whilst we are short of options and maybe have Holtby next to Parker, for instance, with Parker resolutely told he is to hold.

 

[Hazza]

I agree about our midfield situation. We are lacking someone who can move the ball around and keep the opposition guessing. Parker is a good work-horse and committed defender, Mousa brings the ball forward well, has a few tricks and a decent shot on him and tracks back when he has to. But neither of them are genuine passing players, and we have been lacking that all season. Our team is filled with direct players who like to run at people and use their pace/dribbling to get behind them. This can work when there is actually space to run into, but when the opposition are well drilled defensively and close off all the gaps behind them, then our direct players are suddenly running into traffic and giving the ball away, or trying to have shots from a long way out. It's also an issue against teams who play really good possession football, meaning we can't a hold of the ball very often, and when we do manage to nick it we instantly try to run at them from deep positions and most likely lose the ball again as they close us down in numbers.

So I think we desperately need a natural passing player (or two) to allow us to quickly and accurately move the ball around to stretch the opposing defence and buy space for our runners, whether we are counter-attacking or trying to break down a resilient team. I was hoping that Tom Carroll would get a start against Everton, playing alongside Mousa and Scott in a midfield three. My thinking is that Parker would sit back as the holding player who primarily wins back possession and recycles it, Mousa would be the attacking one who primarily carries the ball forward and sometimes makes a run into the box, and Carroll would the roaming play-making one who zips the ball around either from deep position or from a modern number 10 position as needed. Obviously it wouldn't be quite that rigid, and there would be a lot of fluid movement and role reversals at times, but this is generally what I'm thinking could be a way forward for our midfield right now.

But regardless of that, I seriously think we need a major overhaul over the summer to bring in more natural ball players (i.e players who can pass the ball quickly and effortlessly, and can receive the ball in a congested area with a good first touch) and therefore speed up our possession game, cause for me that's the only way we can bridge the gap to the elite teams. You can't always rely on counter-attacking, dribbling past 4-5 defenders and/or wonder goals at the highest level of the game (although that counter-attacking ability is something we should maintain as part of our game); you also have to be able create chances from good possession in a more considered and effectively replicable way.

 

[Erik_Edman]

I agree about our midfield situation. We are lacking someone who can move the ball around and keep the opposition guessing. Parker is a good work-horse and committed defender, Mousa brings the ball forward well, has a few tricks and a decent shot on him and tracks back when he has to. But neither of them are genuine passing players, and we have been lacking that all season. Our team is filled with direct players who like to run at people and use their pace/dribbling to get behind them. This can work when there is actually space to run into, but when the opposition are well drilled defensively and close off all the gaps behind them, then our direct players are suddenly running into traffic and giving the ball away, or trying to have shots from a long way out. It's also an issue against teams who play really good possession football, meaning we can't a hold of the ball very often, and when we do manage to nick it we instantly try to run at them from deep positions and most likely lose the ball again as they close us down in numbers.

So I think we desperately need a natural passing player (or two) to allow us to quickly and accurately move the ball around to stretch the opposing defence and buy space for our runners, whether we are counter-attacking or trying to break down a resilient team. I was hoping that Tom Carroll would get a start against Everton, playing alongside Mousa and Scott in a midfield three. My thinking is that Parker would sit back as the holding player who primarily wins back possession and recycles it, Mousa would be the attacking one who primarily carries the ball forward and sometimes makes a run into the box, and Carroll would the roaming play-making one who zips the ball around either from deep position or from a modern number 10 position as needed. Obviously it wouldn't be quite that rigid, and there would be a lot of fluid movement and role reversals at times, but this is generally what I'm thinking could be a way forward for our midfield right now.

But regardless of that, I seriously think we need a major overhaul over the summer to bring in more natural ball players (i.e players who can pass the ball quickly and effortlessly, and can receive the ball in a congested area with a good first touch) and therefore speed up our possession game, cause for me that's the only way we can bridge the gap to the elite teams. You can't always rely on counter-attacking, dribbling past 4-5 defenders and/or wonder goals at the highest level of the game (although that counter-attacking ability is something we should maintain as part of our game); you also have to be able create chances from good possession in a more considered and effectively replicable way.

In a word... yep.