at the end of the day, the manager picks royal and then leaves him on. He was quite clearly having as bad as game as someone could have. He should have been subbed and wasnt. The setup wasnt wrong but the players didnt seem to really know who they were marking, the style of play in pressing or dropping. It was not one or the other. At 2-1 we should have been man for man marking but midfield were all over the place and royal was on one person but you can see in the replay 2 others spare running at him but then he doesnt go to one man or the other just ball watches and doesnt even attempt to meet it. Reggie, sanchez hojberg all awful and no way good enough. You rightly point out that there has been some games where doherty has come on and we looked better and some where royal has come on and we looked better but looking at the game he was having, why did Conte not just pull him out and change it. Worryingly it wasnt just individual mistakes, as you say the set up the half press half sit deep style of play was not working but that comes from Conte.I agree with some of this, the Conte part especially. Piss poor tactical and structural set up last night. And whilst not loving Emerson, I also think some of the criticism of him is not rational or reasonable, it’s just pure scapegoatism.
This was evidenced in the Leicester game when we were actually worse in the second half when we swapped Doherty than we had been in the first with Emerson. Our last minute miracle fed the scapegoat confirmation bias.
Neither Emerson or Doherty are great attacking RB’s, pretty similar in actual production (very little) but at least Emerson is more dynamic and is generally better defensively (though not great last night obviously) and technically.
We maybe could have done better than Emerson, but I’m not sure which world class attacking RB who is also world class defensively, and can play RWB and RB - we could have signed - when Bayern Munich have Pavard as a RB, it tells us something about the availability of quality RB’s generally.
But I can’t help but point out (because agreeing with that boreThe Mercurial No.10 is never a good look) you were pretty fond of scapegoating a previous spurs RB yourself.
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Irony overload with Blakey calling anyone a fucking bore btw.
I really think he is the least of our worries.
you think Emerson is the least of our worries?
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Emerson is quite possibly our biggest worry presently.
So i still didn't hear a suggestion who should play regularly at that position.
Somehow we managed to sign a Brazilian footballer with the first touch of a Leyland 4-tonne truck.
Well it’s time to bring in Dier and Lucas / Berg and delete Sanchez and Royal. PEH has been shot (for Benta), then Skipp for Winks
Its pointless singling out one player because the thruth is its at least 4 of them, Emerson, Sanchez, Winks and Hojbjerg. Even Davies whilst better than those 4 is pretty damn average. The problem we have is that currently at least 3 of those are first team players even when everyone is fit. Bugger all changes until they are replaced with very good top 4 or 5 level players.
Depends who's selection you're basing that on.....
Out of those 5; only Davies makes my first choice XI and I'd still be looking to upgrade him in the summer.
The notion that Moura or Bergwijn will defend situations like last night better than Emerson is laughable.
Moura was part of the defensive problem last night in the first half, he was just floating around like a fart in a trance and gave Emerson very little tangible help.
Moura was part of the defensive problem last night in the first half, he was just floating around like a fart in a trance and gave Emerson very little tangible help.
If Skipp and Dier are back, our next starting lineup has to be:
Loris
Doherty (
) Romero Dier Davies Reg
Skipp Betancur
Kula/Bergwin Kane Son
Loris
Doherty (
) Romero Dier Davies RegSkipp Betancur
Kula/Bergwin Kane Son
No way would they be decent at defending those situations.....but better than Royal quite possibly
A 3 man midfield would help shift some of the defensive impetus off of the WB position.
Also; if the CBs are properly martialed then Emerson isn't left in such shitty situations in our penalty box.
In that instance; I think Berg is up to the job.
The selection of the last few weeks really, not saying they should be but if everyone is fit i'd still expect to see Emerson, Davies and Hojbjerg in the starting 11. Hopefully the midfield will be Bentancur and Skipp for the rest of the season and personally i'd try Bergwijn at RWB but i doubt thats what we'll see.
If Skipp and Dier are back, our next starting lineup has to be:
Loris
Doherty (
Skipp Betancur
Kula/Bergwin Kane Son
I don't think 343 is gonna work unless you have elite MFs.
Peak Dembele & prime Wanyama (or Kante + a young Matic) is not a luxury we have right now.
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I'd like to think Bentancur will at least get a chance to make that 2nd CM spot his in the coming weeks.
Berg <> Emerson of course remains more theory than likelyhood atm.
Maybe on an easy day, with a 352, Bergwijn could do a passable Victor Moses impression, but I repeat, would not have been better in situations like last night, would have been worse.
And there aren’t many easy games.
I really don’t think there would be many occasions where the payoff would outstrip the payout of swapping Emerson for Bergwijn.
If you were the opposing manager and saw Sanchez and Royal on the right hand side , you’d make sure you attacked that area. Perfect example last night
I would feel more optimistic if we play Gollini