Dembele and Wanyama are fucked in their own different ways, Sissoko is not a holding midfielder and neither is Winks hence Dier.
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Dembele and Wanyama are fucked in their own different ways, Sissoko is not a holding midfielder and neither is Winks hence Dier.
If you fail to see the difference one can only laugh.
God help your players that you coach. I bet they love listening to you and your tactical take on the game, you must be such an inspiration for them.
You must be on of ENIC's best paid PR spin doctors seeing you can try and convince an eskimo to buy ice
Or start that new CM we never bought in 'the Window'
Oh, wait....
Hold on, didn't you leave already? Like 3 times since last night
Totally and utterly bizarre turn of events in the Dier thread.
You're the next Levy
Making a whole lotta sense this morning.
Its just so many excuses though.
Don’t you find it odd that he took Dier off and we finished the game with Winks and Sissoko in the middle and looked good?
You know, seeing as you don’t think it’s a possibility.
It’s too easy to say “Wanyama is fucked”.....he should have been reintegrated months ago by now. His form can’t improve if he’s not used.
I’ve got a feeling we won’t see Dier tomorrow night. If we spank West Ham without him, will you long for his return at the weekend?
Or laud Pochs new system in the middle and conveniently forget you said it wasn’t an option?
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I don't neccesairly think we need a defensive midfielder every week but I think Poch does.
I genuinely think we could play a midfield 3 of Winks, Sissoko and Dele and the lack of a true defensive midfielder wouldn't harm us. (some games it may do, but that's where Dier comes in)
In that midfield 3 right now you have energy. Ability to turn and run with the ball to beat any kind of press. You have hard workers, two of which are very underrated defensively (Sissoko and Dele) and a youngster willing to prove how good he is in Winks.
But I THINK Dier is one of those, like Trippier, who is 100% committed, works hard and Pochettino likes him. How many games does Dier miss? Even if he's off form? Very little. Even when Wanyama was having a great year he still had Dier in the team.
I don't really mind him. He's slow on the ball, but he isn't there to create. He's there to try and win the ball back and lay it off to someone better than him.
I genuinely think we could play a midfield 3 of Winks, Sissoko and Dele and the lack of a true defensive midfielder wouldn't harm us. (some games it may do, but that's where Dier comes in)
In that midfield 3 right now you have energy. Ability to turn and run with the ball to beat any kind of press. You have hard workers, two of which are very underrated defensively (Sissoko and Dele) and a youngster willing to prove how good he is in Winks.
But I THINK Dier is one of those, like Trippier, who is 100% committed, works hard and Pochettino likes him. How many games does Dier miss? Even if he's off form? Very little. Even when Wanyama was having a great year he still had Dier in the team.
I don't really mind him. He's slow on the ball, but he isn't there to create. He's there to try and win the ball back and lay it off to someone better than him.
He may feel its a safe option, Sissoko has been on form but neither he or Winks are disciplined DM’s and felt it a risk.
Should Dier continue to play badly and Wanyama be crocked then I guess we either play adventurous without a DM or buy one.
I have nothing against a Sissoko/Winks midfield if it works.
We have to try it to know if it works though.........and picking Dier every single game regardless of opposition or formation is not utilising the squad, or "being brave".
Why name Skipp in the squad if he´s not ready? Poch is doing the one thing I said would not fly in the summer.
Leaving players out that could help us.
The only reason weve seen large differences up top is due to Eriksen and Dele´s injuries.
Just be honest, do you hand on heart think our CM options are weak?
Dier
Wanyama
Sissoko
Dembele
Winks
You seriously think Dier has to play every single game due to not signing a CM in the summer?
There is absolutely nothing there the manager could work with, and no other manager could have that set of players firing?
Sorry, thats utter crap
Srsly?
I watched it with a mate of mine, and we were absolutely depressed seeing this catastrophe folding on the field. Not in terms of result wise but of how we played...
I have to apologize for not conforming with a "gang" or "group" view, but to me, this made absolutely depressing viewing. All wrong passes, gifting corners, getting beaten on flanks, inability to actually get out of own half without hoofing one upfield (basically the whole 1st half), having heavy touches, needing too much time.
And in the end - we managed to get ONE shot on target. In our home game!!!
If someone is saying this is even close to acceptable, then I say that those standards are just too low.
I am not saying we are totally fooked due to this game or smth. But as a performance, it was an absolute horror to watch.
sorry that it got out of the way of Dier's performance though. But I also disagree with your assesment of his game. Dembele and him had pretty much similar tasks on the field. I am not saying that he should have dived into every situation, but the thing is he was not even hassling the players nearly enough. Once he did tackle, he was seconds late and cost freekick from dangerous place. While Dembele helped us to regain posession much more with his presence...
Are you sure we are talking about Tottenham vs Manchester City game last night? If so then yeah almost everyone thinks we played well and deserved a draw from that game, including the City Manager. City were the better side in the first half, we were better in the 2nd (simplifying things here). It was by no means a classic example of fluid football, no one is professing this, it was a bit of a war in the middle of the park with both sides winning, then losing, then winning the ball. Probably to do with the state of the pitch. City edged us with the best chances and we didn't fashion many, but those chances that we did create were big chances.
Dier did his job. He stopped City (along with Sissoko and Dembele, it wasn't a solo effort) play like City can. He did this by covering a lot of ground and positionally preventing them pass their way through us with every attack (as they have done in the past 3 games against them), to block off a passing lanes stopping City ripping into us as we know they can. He was instrumental to us playing out through City's press in what I thought was one of the most pleasing things about us last night, can't recall us getting into a pickle once.
Again, I'm not saying he was a MOTM performance, it absolutely wasn't, what it was was a professional, disciplined & solid performance, largely nullifying Europes best football team. That's it, nothing more than that. But those saying he was shit simply failed to see what he contributed and fail to acknowledge why City were for the most part quite very quite by their usual standards.
I get what you are saying. We looked like chancers. Hoping to get something out of the game, but never really believing.
Totally agree. Yes lots of effort last night but until the subs were made we could have played to midnight and not scored.
We wasted at least 3 good opportunities in the first half, our full backs were awful and Dier was nowhere near it in the middle.
Second half, lots of huff and puff, man city wasting chances, most created by our errors and we had on effort on target. We improved when winks came on and again with Dele and Erik.
The other plus was davinson, thought he had one of his best games last night.
I try to be positive but last night showed how little quality we have to unlock teams when we have injuries.
This is pretty much how I saw the game as well. Deserving something from the game and actually playing well don't have to coincide.
He charges into way too many close outs and leaves the midfield wide open as he never wins that first tackle. Too willy nilly when he is trying to press and the whole unit isn’t with him. Plus he comes in charging from 20 yards out on a 5 yard pass. Just bad technique IMO.
Add to the fact he isn’t competent on the ball and is more or less byspassed for the majority of the game, I am surprised he has lasted this long. Been my gripe with the team for years as it is obvious we can improve on him and make our midfield more of a combative, ball playing midfield instead of a meandering, defensive first approach.
Add to the fact he isn’t competent on the ball and is more or less byspassed for the majority of the game, I am surprised he has lasted this long. Been my gripe with the team for years as it is obvious we can improve on him and make our midfield more of a combative, ball playing midfield instead of a meandering, defensive first approach.
I agree Dier looked inferior to Dembele and Winks last night.
He seems to really look good when playing at defensive mid for England though.
What is the difference in the way they are using him as opposed to how we are using him?
I feel like somehow our setup is causing him to play in a more subdued and ineffective manner.
He seems to really look good when playing at defensive mid for England though.
What is the difference in the way they are using him as opposed to how we are using him?
I feel like somehow our setup is causing him to play in a more subdued and ineffective manner.
International football is just a different level of football, a different style. Some players are more suited to it.
That's it? Nothing we could adjust to better bring out his strengths/mitigate his weaknesses?