Wolves (a) 18/19 ratings

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Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part, but caught ball watching allowing them to score what should have been a good goal, but was incorrectly chalked off for offside. As bad a bit of defending as anyone did in the game.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.
 
Last edited:
---- Why bother? ---- Sissoko is shit, I don't blame him but then I will .... blah, blah, blah ....

Same song different day .... tedious .....

Listen to Poch's post match interview, he probably has a better idea than you ... just a heads up ...

Seven away wins in eight games ... so I just hope this piss poor, clumsy, ropey, meh level,continues and that Poch, who doesn't coach, selects the wrong team, and plays the wrong tactics can keep doing the same thing ...

and even better, that Blakey gets run over by a feckin' bus ......
 
Another messy win . We dont win ugly but have mastered winning frantically.
Central midfield does nothing all game . Winks doesn't create going forward , Sissoko bounces around everywhere like a bull in a tea shop . Yes they seemed outnumbered and were overrun for large parts of the game but we are seeing this whoever plays all season .
Foyth's appearance was spoilt by his two stupid penalty give aways .
Toby played very well considering he had little cover from central midfield.
Full backs are mid table ability and we really suffered again from their below par crap play .
Lloris was magnificent today , pulled off a series of great saves to keep us ahead .
Lamela was our man of the match , drove forward with intent , has a little magic and gritty desire to unlock their back line .
Lucas was ok but sometimes looked a headless chicken running into trouble but was a threat .
Son 20% good the rest pretty shit .
Kane not at his best this season , played with effort but not finesse. Still scored so no complaints.
Eriksen l hardly noticed .

Well we won , so Poch sort of got it right but another somewhat clumsy ( disallowed goal ) lucky victory . The story of our season so far .
 
Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.

He should’ve brought Skipp on for Dembele for that very reason.

I understand why he didn’t (too early, only young etc) and actually thought Son had a really positive influence whilst on. But that’s supposedly his position so at least it’d be him and winks in there. Suspect it might’ve happened had it been Dier rather than Winks on.
 
Good review, but I think you're being harsh on Sissoko. Davies was so poor, just a passenger. Guy can't defend and doesn't offer anything offensively either. CM and left back has to be priorities in the coming transfer windows. Hopefully KWP and Aurier get some chances with how Trippier has been performing
 
Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.

A quick observation, when we play well you literally write half as much as when we aren't at the races. We didn't hold the ball well yesterday and both of their goals came from passages of play that we had control of, ultimately leading to our huffing and puffing over the line but it's another 3 points, away from home against a potential banana skin.

As a side note you say about Pochettinos choices but we had the following players injured or unable to start due to some quickfire games in succession played:

Rose
Vertonghen
Sanchez
Dier
Wanyama
Dembele
Eriksen
Dele

8 players who a season or so ago would have all been starting for us. It was very much a 2nd string team out there last night as I genuinely believe that Trippier, Alderweireld, Foyth, Davies, Sissoko, Winks, Lucas, Lamela are closer to being just squad players than they are main starters when everyone is fit. 8 players out of our first XI is a bit of a slab to miss and even though we almost hit the self explode button all in all its 7 wins from 8 away games played which is pretty good going for anyone's standards.

Not champagne football but it does surprise me that someone who's a fan writes twice as much about the team when they don't play well compared to when we do have a good game. Just an observation I've made over recent weeks pal
 
Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.

Just checked, your West Ham away ratings write up was 27 lines long, with one line given to Sanchez were you literally said he was excellent, he was MOTM, no reasoning, no explanation as to why just he was great, onto the next one.

This Wolves write up you focused on the majority of negative again and was able to muster a 117 line write up. Not being funny mate but 90 lines more when you're digging them out compared to when there's not a huge amount to shrug about is a fair old whack for someone who supports the club. I think you're missing a trick when it comes to certain pleasures that you're entitled to as a fan of a team like Spurs.

All in all as insightful as ever but dish out the good if you are willing to fork out the bad. We're 3 points off top with over a quarter of a season of not getting out of 2nd gear done pal, let's enjoy it and see where it takes us because ultimately it's all out of our control as fans. It could still turn out to be a very interesting season yet
 
Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.
Another superb post match analysis. Unbiased and unafraid to firmly hit nails on their heads. Great write up.

Here's my ratings

Hugo 8
Trippier 6
Toby 8
Foyth 3
Davies 5
Winks 4
Sissoko 4
Lucas 7
Lamela 8
Son 6
Kane 6

(Eriksen 4 Sanchez 5)

3 MotM candidates for me.
Hugo. inspired performance and showed just why he's still a class act.

Lamela. Driving force behind everything going forward. Now a vital part of the machine. Now gives me a stalker seeing his name on the teamsheet.

Toby. When you have a calamatous rookie as your CD partner, and that rookie clumsily gives away 2 penalties, you need a strong , reliable rock to hold it altogether. Toby was that man. Remarkable performance under the circumstances.

Toby narrowly gets my vote.
 
Lloris MOM and not in your ratings table.

The rest... At 0-3 I thought we might hit 5. Then we gave up. Midfielders strolling around as if they owned the place; mishit 'passes'; defence in panic. At that stage we needed a Keane, Adams, Terry, Roberts figure who would verbally (and even physically) shake us out of our self-satisfied torpor.

If Trippier had tried that ridiculous showboat and Keane was on the field, he would have ripped his head off.

What we needed last night was an an field captain.

Anyway another streaky one gal win. On to PSV.
 
Lloris - 7 great saves
Trippier - 5 decent assist but at fault for the first pen and slightly for the second
Toby - 6
Foyth- 6 poor lad was decent
Davies - 6 not enough confidence
Winks - 5.5 tried moving the ball, but him and Sissoko alone is too thin
Sissoko - 6 made some decent runs but he's so predictable
Dembele - X
Lucas - 5.5 decent goal, one good dribble, bur relatively quiet
Lamela - 7.5 great goal, great assist, could have had more
Kane - 6.5 should have had an hat trick

Son - 5.5 not his best
Eriksen - 5 not dominant enough
Sanchez - came on looked a bit nervous
 
Midfield Wanted, apply within.

There seemed to be this narrative in the match thread that everything is Trippier's fault. Lets get this fucking clear. What he did, trying to nutmeg their guy in the corner, was really fucking stupid, deserves criticism, but there was still very little danger. Foyth gives away a very stupid and clumsy penalty. He then compounds this by giving away another very clumsy penalty, again, when there was almost zero threat to our goal. But apparently that's OK, apart from two stupid fouls that cost us two goals, he was great. Apart from a stupid nutmeg, Trippier was actually OK, not perfect, not faultless, but OK, set up a goal with a lovely ball, played a part in build up to the other goal, defended well first half, second most tackles (5), but when we were a fucking shambles as a team, was, like all the defenders being exposed by the players ahead of them, ropier. Davies also had some really iffy moments and was lucky not to get punished when they had a good goal chalked off for offside.

But here is the thing. Defending doesn't start with your back four. And what's been going on in front of them is fucking shambolic. Piss fucking poor when we don't have the ball. And this isn't just about the World fucking Cup, Injuries or New White Hart Lane. It's about coaching, tactics and selections of Pochettino.

If we are going to give him credit for the good stuff he does, and we have, then it's only fair to criticise the less than good stuff. To recap, because I haven't done it much lately (since being on here more) I think he's the best coach in my life time, I think he's turned us into the best version of us that I have seen. Given me some of my favourite performances of my time watching us, the first manager to really make us a complete team, a team that can not only play good football, but be good without the football, do the shitty stuff, compete, earn the right to play as well as play.

The defence wasn't the root of the problem today, even if we could improve on any of them. The midfield was, or to put it another way, the vacant vortex that Poch created there was. I mean, what the fuck was he thinking leaving Winks and Sissoko there on their own. These two managed zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes between them. Sissoko completed 28 fucking passes in 90 minutes (Winks 49). I am struggling to remember the last time a CM of ours managed to so fucking much nothing as what Sissoko did in this game.

But the thing is, Sissoko has rarely ever played as a CM in a CM2, he did it a handful of times in the early days at Toulouse before Casanova (his manager) quickly realised it wasn't a good idea, and mostly used him as an AM battering ram in forward areas in a 4141 diamond. At Newcastle and France he's mostly been used as wide right AM/WF in 433's or 4231's, very occasionally RM in a CM3. It's just piss poor game management putting him in that position, his pressing is lax, doesn't read the game intelligently, his movement off the ball lacks intelligence, his passing is perfunctory at best. Then to pair him with another player who's weakness is also what he does without the ball, having already given our forwards permission to not press the ball any more, was just a clusterfuck recipe for the performances and pressure we are continually putting ourselves under almost every game this season.

I don't blame Sissoko for being a shit CM in a CM2, I blame the coach that is putting him in that role. I don't understand why he put Skipp on that bench, if when a CM gets injured, you don't reach for him, but another flakey mercurial forward. And then second half when it was clear wee were getting over run and outplayed, still leave the busy tenacious little fucker sitting down. Eriksen came on but isn't exactly the type to start flying into tackles and winning duels, snuffing out danger, and didn't get told to play CM in a 3, but just played predominantly as an AM, barely influenced anything, because we barely had the ball second half. A 60/40 possession first half had virtually evened out to a 52/48 game. Their x/g was 2.67 ours was 1.39. We are getting points, but we are getting them the Tim "best PPG" Sherwood way. It's lottery football, and that is not what we love Poch for, any fucker can do that.

Not only weren't we winning the ball high up, but we were incapable of winning it in midfield too, because we were outnumbered and had the two worst midfielders we have without the ball playing there. If you allow this much pressure on a defence, it will buckle.

I get that we won. Injuries, WC, Pre season...all factors. But Poch is still making some very poor and counter intuitive decisions. Personnel. In game. Coaching. Why do we not press the ball any more cohesively as a unit. Trippier and Davies aren't the greatest defenders, so why actively expose this. Protect them.

I'm sure some will say the change Pich made, abandoning his planned structure, contributed to us scoring, but there's no doubt it contributed to us conceding goals and chances too. An errant linesman's flag is all the separated us from not winning, and that's been a recurring theme of this season.

I just hope that this is a hiatus, a blip, a hiccup, because in the same way that I can understand people not always enjoying the way we clocked up points under AVB, I struggle to suck the enjoyment out of of clocking up lottery points.

I don't give a shit about trophies, I really don't, I don't care if Poch ever wins a tin pot. I will back him to the hilt if I believe in what I am seeing. A team that looks like a team, clear coached ethics, not like a Harry Redknapp, good as gets lottery ticket.

Individual

Lloris - Good game.

Trippier - Really fucking stupid mistake. Very good first half, including excellent ball for Moura's goal, ropey second when we were under pressure throughout. Probably his worst week in a spurs shirt.

Foyth - Whatever else was going on, the penalties were his mistakes, both of them clumsy poor defending. Apart from that he was generally OK, but like Trippier, was found a bit wanting under real concerted pressure.

Alderweireld - Decent enough for the most part.

Davies - Pretty poor throughout, and unlike Trippier, isn't even offering much in forward areas either.

Sissoko - Piss poor. 0 Tackles, 0 Interceptions, 0 key passes, one cross that nearly cleared the stadium, 28 completed passes out of 41. But he shouldn't be playing as a CM2 at this level.

Winks - Did see a bit more of the ball, as you'd expect, but was defensively poor. Again, not a single tackle or interception. But again, the blame lies with Poch for putting him into this situation.

Lamela/Moura - both of these were pressing at times, but it's no good if we don't do it cohesively as a unit, Again, not always their fault, this is about coaching and drilling. Lamela was probably our best forward player, scored one, set one up and is generally looking like he's capable of contributing something tangible, which you can't say consistently for the others.

Son - Flickering moments of good, a lot of fucking meh though.

Kane - Was pretty fucking meh for the most part. Didn't always hold it up well enough, didn't always press well, was greedy once or twice, but scored the obligatory goal.

What?
 
Wow man that was really heavy . Great leadership got us through in the end . Outstanding build up play for the goals .
Sissoko was dominate breaking there play up. Winks was pulled everywhere but hang on in there. Lloiris showed he's the best goalkeeper in the world .
Tripps masterful in setting up that goal , but needs working on a bit in defensive .
Davis cool and collective . Lamela brilliant . Kane back to his best .
The team was tired but there spirit got them through a very tight game.
COYS
 
bus-conductor bus-conductor I'm afraid your unconditional love for Frodo will be your demise, my friend. I doubt he will attend your funeral either, he will be too busy waving his hands in the air blaming you.

Tripps was an utter calamity, he was at fault for both of their pens, completely sold Foyth down the river. Sure no doubt you can come back at this and say that Toby wouldn't have conceded a pen in the same scenario, well sorry Tripps is an Snr player, Snr players look after those around them, this was Foyths PL debut. Let's just do a MOTD style analysis and jump straight to the pens. First Pen: Don't think this needs explaining at all, what a cunt piece of football. Second Pen: Tripps is screaming at Winks, whilst he is doing so his player runs off him and behind him (AGAIN the space behind him is routinely attacked), he DOESN'T track him, he in fact dose NOTHING other than waft out a leg in a vein hope to stop the pass, Foyth is now fucked 2v1. Oh ans some of his passes to those arround him are so poor, puts a lot of pressure on them to hold onto the ball and oppo press.

I thought his cross to Lucas was great, picked him out rather than lumping it into the mixer as is his usual. That was it. I agree with you and Raiders Raiders about not providing cover out wide, you say midfielders didn't and Raiders said our wide AM's, I think it's both, however, I'd say what was missing was what both Dier and Dembele do very well and that's spot a runner, track the runner and slow them down and show them out wide. This didn't happen from Sissoko or Winks today, I don't think Winks can do that either. BUT we played a back four yesterday and that doesn't require the midfield cover as much as it does in a back three, the onus for cover is more on the AM's and most importantly on the ability of the FB to defend his space, Tripps simply didn't do this, he is incapable of doing this because he's a shite defender, this isn't a one-off, it's every single game!!

I do agree with you about the midfield and our forwards, but I think your comments are coloured by predominantly the last 20-30mins, but before that, we had control of the game, not dominance but control. I thought Wolves were a highly aggressive side and well excellent at breaking up any chance for us to work the ball, but we combatted that with our own aggressive play and we moved the ball with a good tempo much of it one-touch. This is with Winks and Sissoko in the team, it really wasn't the doom and gloom picture you paint. THE LAST 20-30mins IT ABSOLUTELY WAS & AGREE WITH MUCH OF YOUR COMMENTS.

Our Midfield was without Dier (I know you can't stand him, perhaps you can now get to see why Poch plays him every single game) Dembele & Wanyama these are our specialist DM's, drilled, drilled and drilled in their roles and responsibilities within the team. Whatever injury/form issues that exist with these players we would have had a far better last 20-30mins that we did today had only one of them played (Dembele's injury was a real kick in the nuts).

But I'd say you have forgotten about the first half, many, many moments of some lovely football all without Dele, Dembele, Eriksen, Rose, Dier, Vertonghen and Sanchez. I thought the team we put out stood up well to Wolves, who are a very good team. Yet another away win.

If we put this team out against any of the top 6 we will lose, but there is enough there to beat everyone else, this is a good thing.

Lloris - 8 great saves
Trippier - 1 got a point for his cross, the only one he completed
Toby - 7
Foyth- 7 Would have been higher were it not for the pens, Tripps at fault for BOTH
Davies - 4 He's going through a bad time, despite this still makes it hard for the oppo, unlike Frodo
Winks - 5.5 Lightweight performance but first half wasn't exposed as he was in 2nd.
Sissoko - 6 first half was OK, 2nd half overran (not solely his fault but positionally thought he was poor)
Lucas - 6 still can't work out if it's him or those around him, probably bit of both but his interplay with those around him isn't as sharp as the others by comparison. Wolves were still scared of him though and his ability to get behind when on the ball is so valuable to break oppo lines.
Lamela - 8.5 MOTM - A game of everything, intensity, aggression, skill, work rate. Hard to ask for anything more
Kane - 6 Quite game but his presence still takes defenders into areas they don't want to go, Son exploits this space better than Lucas. Give him a yard and he will remind the oppo they need to mark him tight.
Son - 6 Linked up well with some lovely fast one-touch football with Kane and Lamela
 
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bus-conductor bus-conductor I'm afraid your unconditional love for Frodo will be your demise, my friend. I doubt he will attend your funeral either, he will be too busy waving his hands in the air blaming you.

Tripps was an utter calamity, he was at fault for both of their pens, completely sold Foyth down the river. Sure no doubt you can come back at this and say that Toby wouldn't have conceded a pen in the same scenario, well sorry Tripps is an Snr player, Snr players look after those around them, this was Foyths PL debut. Let's just do a MOTD style analysis and jump straight to the pens. First Pen: Don't think this needs explaining at all, what a cunt piece of football. Second Pen: Tripps is screaming at Winks, whilst he is doing so his player runs off him and behind him (AGAIN the space behind him is routinely attacked), he DOESN'T track him, he in fact dose NOTHING other than waft out a leg in a vein hope to stop the pass, Foyth is now fucked 2v1. Oh ans some of his passes to those arround him are so poor, puts a lot of pressure on them to hold onto the ball and oppo press.

I thought his cross to Lucas was great, picked him out rather than lumping it into the mixer as is his usual. That was it. I agree with you and Raiders Raiders about not providing cover out wide, you say midfielders didn't and Raiders said our wide AM's, I think it's both, however, I'd say what was missing was what both Dier and Dembele do very well and that's spot a runner, track the runner and slow them down and show them out wide. This didn't happen from Sissoko or Winks today, I don't think Winks can do that either. BUT we played a back four yesterday and that doesn't require the midfield cover as much as it does in a back three, the onus for cover is more on the AM's and most importantly on the ability of the FB to defend his space, Tripps simply didn't do this, he is incapable of doing this because he's a shite defender, this isn't a one-off, it's every single game!!

I do agree with you about the midfield and our forwards, but I think your comments are coloured by predominantly the last 20-30mins, but before that, we had control of the game, not dominance but control. I thought Wolves were a highly aggressive side and well excellent at breaking up any chance for us to work the ball, but we combatted that with our own aggressive play and we moved the ball with a good tempo much of it one-touch. This is with Winks and Sissoko in the team, it really wasn't the doom and gloom picture you paint. THE LAST 20-30mins IT ABSOLUTELY WAS & AGREE WITH MUCH OF YOUR COMMENTS.

Our Midfield was without Dier (I know you can't stand him, perhaps you can now get to see why Poch plays him every single game) Dembele & Wanyama these are our specialist DM's, drilled, drilled and drilled in their roles and responsibilities within the team. Whatever injury/form issues that exist with these players we would have had a far better last 20-30mins that we did today had only one of them played (Dembele's injury was a real kick in the nuts).

But I'd say you have forgotten about the first half, many, many moments of some lovely football all without Dele, Dembele, Eriksen, Rose, Dier, Vertonghen and Sanchez. I thought the team we put out stood up well to Wolves, who are a very good team. Yet another away win.

If we put this team out against any of the top 6 we will lose, but there is enough there to beat everyone else, this is a good thing.

Lloris - 8 great saves
Trippier - 1 got a point for his cross, the only one he completed
Toby - 7
Foyth- 7 Would have been higher were it not for the pens, Tripps at fault for BOTH
Davies - 4 He's going through a bad time, despite this still makes it hard for the oppo, unlike Frodo
Winks - 5.5 Lightweight performance but first half wasn't exposed as he was in 2nd.
Sissoko - 6 first half was OK, 2nd half overran (not solely his fault but positionally thought he was poor)
Lucas - 6 still can't work out if it's him or those around him, probably bit of both but his interplay with those around him isn't as sharp as the others by comparison. Wolves were still scared of him though and his ability to get behind when on the ball is so valuable to break oppo lines.
Lamela - 8.5 MOTM - A game of everything, intensity, aggression, skill, work rate. Hard to ask for anything more
Kane - 6 Quite game but his presence still takes defenders into areas they don't want to go, Son exploits this space better than Lucas. Give him a yard and he will remind the oppo they need to mark him tight.
Son - 6 Linked up well with some lovely fast one-touch football with Kane and Lamela

With regards your Dier point, Dier’s actually been playing in most of the other games where we’ve been a mess, lost control and in some cases lost leads this season. Very much not the panacea to any of our ills.

My self confessed anti-Dier-in-midfield bias is completely surpassed by your anti-Trippier-anywhere bias. Blaming him because Foyth made two stupid challenges is just plain daft. He was to blame for giving away possession in a stupid area, but had absolutely nothing to do with Winks giving the ball away for the second goal. And on both occasions your blue eyed boy Foyth committed completely rash and needless fouls when there was no danger to our goal.

I don't have unconditional love for Trippier, Ive called out what he did badly in his last two games, have always said I don't think he's always brilliant defensively on occasions, but for me it's always been about compromise, as it is with most of our players, we accept if they were world beaters, they probably wouldn't be with us. I don't think Trippier has generally cost us much defensively, and his midfield and attacking play is productively better than most in this league. Again, we won that game partly because Trippier created the best chance in that game. Trippier has the highest key pass average of any player in the CL this season. You cannot just ignore his positive contributions. I also used to watch Walker (and Rose) do stupid things defensively (Poch did improve this somewhat but he's still doing them) and more recently Aurier. If we can upgrade Trippier for a player who defends brilliantly but is also as productive creatively then I'm all for it.

Alderweireld made a bigger error and was saved by a linesman.

I also didn't say the lack of cover was just down to the midfield, but also the front four.

It's kind of apt that following on from a great discussion in the youth thread over the last few days, we saw another great example of Poch not walking his talk of his book and being "brave" with the young players anymore. What we were absolutely crying out for in that game was the tenacious defensive dynamism and industry of Skipp. If not immediately when Dembele went off, then clearly when we'd lost control that second half. And what we really need more than anything, and what would help all our defenders - because at least three out there got exposed and made bad errors - is Poch to get back to having us play as a cohesive team without the ball, not a bunch of individuals. Grow some bollocks and play kids better suited to their roles than plodders like Sissoko and Dier in midfield. Play with some fucking intensity again.
 
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A quick observation, when we play well you literally write half as much as when we aren't at the races. We didn't hold the ball well yesterday and both of their goals came from passages of play that we had control of, ultimately leading to our huffing and puffing over the line but it's another 3 points, away from home against a potential banana skin.

As a side note you say about Pochettinos choices but we had the following players injured or unable to start due to some quickfire games in succession played:

Rose
Vertonghen
Sanchez
Dier
Wanyama
Dembele
Eriksen
Dele

8 players who a season or so ago would have all been starting for us. It was very much a 2nd string team out there last night as I genuinely believe that Trippier, Alderweireld, Foyth, Davies, Sissoko, Winks, Lucas, Lamela are closer to being just squad players than they are main starters when everyone is fit. 8 players out of our first XI is a bit of a slab to miss and even though we almost hit the self explode button all in all its 7 wins from 8 away games played which is pretty good going for anyone's standards.

Not champagne football but it does surprise me that someone who's a fan writes twice as much about the team when they don't play well compared to when we do have a good game. Just an observation I've made over recent weeks pal

Just checked, your West Ham away ratings write up was 27 lines long, with one line given to Sanchez were you literally said he was excellent, he was MOTM, no reasoning, no explanation as to why just he was great, onto the next one.

This Wolves write up you focused on the majority of negative again and was able to muster a 117 line write up. Not being funny mate but 90 lines more when you're digging them out compared to when there's not a huge amount to shrug about is a fair old whack for someone who supports the club. I think you're missing a trick when it comes to certain pleasures that you're entitled to as a fan of a team like Spurs.

All in all as insightful as ever but dish out the good if you are willing to fork out the bad. We're 3 points off top with over a quarter of a season of not getting out of 2nd gear done pal, let's enjoy it and see where it takes us because ultimately it's all out of our control as fans. It could still turn out to be a very interesting season yet


Honestly, I was as unimpressed by the West Ham game as I was yesterday's debacle. I was just tired, had an earlier start the next day, and cared a little less about the League cup on Wednesday night. Don't read too much into it.
 
With regards your Dier point, Dier’s actually been playing in most of the other games where we’ve been a mess, lost control and in some cases lost leads this season. Very much not the panacea to any of our ills.

My self confessed anti-Dier-in-midfield bias is completely surpassed by your anti-Trippier-anywhere bias. Blaming him because Foyth made two stupid challenges is just plain daft. He was to blame for giving away possession in a stupid area, but had absolutely nothing to do with Winks giving the ball away for the second goal. And on both occasions your blue eyed boy Foyth committed completely rash and needless fouls when there was no danger to our goal.

I don't have unconditional love for Trippier, Ive called out what he did badly in his last two games, have always said I don't think he's always brilliant defensively on occasions, but for me it's always been about compromise, as it is with most of our players, we accept if they were world beaters, they probably wouldn't be with us. I don't think Trippier has generally cost us much defensively, and his midfield and attacking play is productively better than most in this league. Again, we won that game partly because Trippier created the best chance in that game. You cannot just ignore his positive contributions. I also used to watch Walker (and Rose) do stupid things defensively (Poch did improve this somewhat but he's still doing them) and more recently Aurier. If we can upgrade Trippier for a player who defends brilliantly but is also as productive creatively then I'm all for it.

Davies made a bigger error and was saved by a linesman.

I also didn't say the lack of cover was just down to the midfield, but also the front four.

It's kind of apt that following on from a great discussion in the youth thread over the last few days, we saw another great example of Poch not walking his talk of his book and being "brave" with the young players anymore. What we were absolutely crying out for in that game was the tenacious defensive dynamism and industry of Skipp. If not immediately when Dembele went off, then clearly when we'd lost control that second half. And what we really need more than anything, and what would help all our defenders - because at least three out there got exposed and made bad errors - is Poch to get back to having us play as a cohesive team without the ball, not a bunch of individuals. Grow some bollocks and play kids better suited to their roles than plodders like Sissoko and Dier in midfield. Play with some fucking intensity again.

It was so predictable that we would hit problems in centre midfield this season with Wanyama and Dembele both likely to get injured at any time just crossing the road or getting out of bed. I share your lack of enthusiasm for Dier as a midfielder. Now if Poch did not think Skipp or any of the young reserves could do the DM job then presumably he told Levy that if nothing else he needed a reinforcement in that area during the summer window. In which case Levy was the one who failed to grow some bollocks.

In the meantime maybe playing Foyth in the DM role may be one temporary solution.
 
And one other thing. Trippier is clearly much more suited to a wing back role than as a regular full back. So is Rose. Probably KWP too. If Dier gets fit he or Foyth could be the the 3rd CD.
 
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