You may disagree with me, but I don't think Poch has helped himself on the options front.
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You may disagree with me, but I don't think Poch has helped himself on the options front.
The chance to run the rule over someone new/different, you cunt. New meat curtains to behold.
You know I agree with you. Why are you making me repeat myself?
It's about aggression, athleticism, and physicality. Those were our hallmarks when we were at our best.
Better tactical use of him? The guy is a sort of shadow striker. He is a heck of a compromise as a central midfielder. What did you want him to do better? To stop giving the ball away so cheaply?
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There is more than one way to skin a cat. Guardiola doesn't seem to understand defending all that well.
At that stage (Sissoko going off) I would have just put Skipp on for Sissoko. You know what I think of Sissoko, so you know having Skipp out there - as opposed to Llorente and what that meant tactically - was not going to scare me like it does you.
As I said earlier, I think if we'd put Skipp in, and we were still ahead in this tie at that point, we could have gone 451 with three across the middle put Skipp and Alli on Silva and KDB, blocked off the wide areas and still kept Moura and Son out there to chase counters, which would be more likely if we could force turnovers in midfield.
Two wins, seven consecutive semifinals with two different clubs, and never being knocked out at the group stage in ten years with three different clubs is a fucking incredible CL record.
We threw a guy who's never played that position before in there with a broken hand! It's not like the options were great.
But I'd agree that all things considered Poch made the right call. Alli's not a natural holding midfielder and it showed, but he's an extremely intelligent and extremely confident footballer, neither of which could be guaranteed with Skipp and both of which were essential based on the situation.
I rate Skipp and I'd have been excited to see him get his chance there, but Poch got it right.
I always want him to give the ball away less cheaply. But I think Poch has to take responsibility for some of this, he indulges him, lets him get away with fucking about. I thought toward the latter half of last year he was getting Alli working better and growing up, making better decisions on the ball, and early on this season, such as against Chelsea at home he got him doing a job for the team and he was very good, but lately he's been up to his old tricks, fucking about too much.
When I saw us line up with Alli as the left 8, I hoped that Poch had maybe got him doing a similar job on KDB. But no, he was farting around doing very little constructive with the ball or virtually nothing without it.
But again, this begs the question, would it really have been such a scary compromise to put some busy little kid out there, who'd at least work his arse off.
It is impossible for us to say that Skipp would have brought more to the table than Llorente. We had experienced players out there making a lot of basic errors in the cauldron of battle. I thought Llorente looked quite sharp against Huddersfield. I expected his hold-up play to be much, much better against City.
Alli was already doing a lousy job of reading danger. He has no recovery pace, he doesn't see danger, he doesn't press or tackle well, he was receiving the ball and turning into trouble, hitting easy passes straight at City players.
That is what I have been saying throughout this thread-that our alternatives were grim. Are you telling me that Alli has never played in midfield before?
You are taking hindsight and fortune-telling and conflating them.
Here's a theory-the reason he does that is because there is quite basic stuff that he cannot do well.
And feel free to answer the other questions I put to you over the last couple of hours. You're being evasive.
And by the time you get to semi finals you are invariably playing the other uber clubs, the Real's, Bayerns, Juve's, AM's etc. Easy to lose a knockout in these types of games, as we continually see.
No, it's not. He said that if they didn't win it this year, it ought to be regarded as a failure. He hasn't won it in 8 years, despite having incredible resources. When was the last time he won a knockout game in Europe away from home?
He's never been a holding midfielder in a defensive shaped 4-4-2 like that.
I'm not even sure what the nature of the argument is here. Asking whether Poch got the tactics right, especially after Sissoko got hurt, seems to be quite silly to me given that he was just MacGuyver-ing it at that point.
That's how it looks to me. You seem to be confusing me with Bus Conductor.
But that's all we can do isn't it? Use hindsight to predict the future ?
You know I lean toward agreeing with you on this, I think his first touch for a supposed "creative" or "flair" player can be atrocious, he can't move with the ball really, just nut meg and charge, but if Poch gets up him he can get a tune out of him in the right set up.
As far as Wednesday goes, what else do you think we should have done?
Shit man, cut me some fucking slack, I'm doing my best, which ones have I missed?
Less than two months ago at Schalke.
You slag.
This is the football forum equivalent of when Vertonghen needs an outball and Sissoko just stands and points at Winks.
Very much liked that 433 last night. I know it was a bit attritional on the night, playing Brighton (and their ilk) always is, and as such hard to evaluate the efficacy of the format truly, but I liked the balance to it, no need for the extra CB, retaining two full backs that like to attack, a proper robust DM meaning we could play two creative types as lateral 8's in Alli and Eriksen, with the pacey direct players Son and Moura pushed up as wide forwards hubbing off Llorente.
Llorente's immobility was an issue, in an ideal world it would be Kane there obviously, and I'd quite like to see the more zippy KWP as the RB. But I'd love to see us use this format going forward, especially in games which won't be quite as compressed in the final third.
Having two creative lateral 8's in Eriksen and Alli could offer a nice transitional balance - although while Kane's out I wouldn't even mind seeing Alli deployed as the false 9 and Winks as the other 8 (Sissoko/Skipp?)
Llorente's immobility was an issue, in an ideal world it would be Kane there obviously, and I'd quite like to see the more zippy KWP as the RB. But I'd love to see us use this format going forward, especially in games which won't be quite as compressed in the final third.
Having two creative lateral 8's in Eriksen and Alli could offer a nice transitional balance - although while Kane's out I wouldn't even mind seeing Alli deployed as the false 9 and Winks as the other 8 (Sissoko/Skipp?)
Where did he play against Palace a few weeks back?
Other than inexperience, I can't see the manager's reluctance in playing Skipp in the position that Winks normally plays.
As for Dele, in my view his best position is playing just off Kane. Stuck out on the left midfield like last night limits him, and reduces his goal threat. Only once last night did arrive late and almost get on the end of a cross from Eriksen (I think)
As for Dele, in my view his best position is playing just off Kane. Stuck out on the left midfield like last night limits him, and reduces his goal threat. Only once last night did arrive late and almost get on the end of a cross from Eriksen (I think)