Matchday discussion

Was winks playing what a risk by Mason

 

Aurier is a terrible right back

 

Toby MoM today for me with a brilliant performance although biggest letdown was Son who is far better than shown.

We desperately need a RB, CB and 2 x CM for the starting 11 then RB, CB, LB, CAM & CF for the squad.

Aurier (would bed first with Doherty), Lo Celso, Bale, Moura, Dier all have to go at the end of this season (along with the other usual suspects I think we all agree on).

 

Man City are a good team....... so thank goodness we sat off them until they gave us the ball!!

I'd cut'n'paste if I could be bothered to look.....but if Kane is in our team next season he's an idiot!!

We have too many sh!te players to be successful

 

I hate watching us play.
Thankfully I don't pay to watch this sh!te of a team.

If I think about the team..... and start at RB..... Aurier...... really..... he's meant to be a footballer is he!?!?...... well feck me...... EVERY RB in the PL is better than him.
The bloke can't defend or attack or control the ball or make a pass.

I give up after RB.....

 

I said that Mason was in a no lose situation but I am afraid that his team selection was wrong and his subs even more confusing.Decelso was just starting to show in the second half when he is pulled for Sissoko.Moura was probably our most motivated player and gets pulled for Bale.Why did Winks start.City by far the better team and a 3or 4 goal win would not have flattered them.Still we hung on until the proverbial idiot commits a foul he had no need to and we concede from the set piece.Sissoko jumps like he has lead weights in his boots trying to defend.I thought I had seen the last of Winks and Sissokoin the same midfield but apparently not

 

Don’t forget his amazing positional awareness which seems to be a curving forward run when any opponent plays the ball into the RB area behind him then a completely pointless hack as soon as anyone gets near the box. Sadly, Doherty is a clone in terms of ability so we can hope for any better from him.

 

Lo Celso was up there with Aurier for me for giving the ball/needless fouls away...what was even more annoying though,was Bale not attempting one sprint in the time he did have...he needs to sling his hook back to Madrid pronto as is a waste of a decent salary

 

How sad was this game. We could have written the full summary in advance, it was so predictable. No game, no desire, no aggressiveness ... For me, the defense was pretty good and Dier even had a pretty good match, unlike what I read on this forum. He's been bad most of the season but on Wednesday and especially today I found him good. No, what is serious in my eyes is the management of the substitutions made by Mason. Why did Winks start the match ...? But above all, why did he stay 93 minutes in the field? No offensive pass, no defensive intervention .. for a midfielder, it's shameful! Why take out Lucas when he was the only one who succeeded in putting the opposing defense in difficulty? 2 yellow cards on 2 defenders who had difficulty in controlling him ... And he is out in the 65th minute? Especially since at the same time, Son was transparent throughout the match. But where is his temperament, his races, his speed? Where did his smile and his joy go on the pitch? If he's not in good shape, why are we leaving him for 93 minutes in the field? Why ???? And what about the entry of Dele who is only a shadow of himself.
Shame on you gentlemen. You are not worthy to wear this magnificent jersey!

 

Sissoko, bad luck charm or just bad?

The line-up was about as expected, the match was mostly as expected with Man City dominating possession. The tactics appeared to be to allow Man City to have the ball out wide and since they didn't play a typical center-forward then the CBs would handle all that came in. Worked until set-pieces when their big guys would come up.
Am not a fan of Kane dropping deep as that appears to push the midfiels deeper. If/when there is another striker playing centrally then it works better.

The subs though....
Anyone who has watched Spurs will know that Moussa Sissoko is not the player to bring in to close off a competitive match. Within 5 minutes of coming on then he lost his man twice and could have cost goals. His defending of the set-piece was barely possible to see.
He is not a flair player, he is not a player for closing off matches. Possibly he is a good coach but if so then an expensive one.
Taking off Lucas Moura did not make sense to me.
Lo Celso wasn't great so maybe getting in Bale instead was the right thing to do.
But putting in Moussa Sissoko, the player who when he is in the squad then (by coincidence) his team does not win trophies, was an avoidable mistake.

 

Is it the players yet?

Is Arteta-lite the guy to take us forward?

Why was Bale on the bench?

Why was NDombele thrown under the bus?

Come on keep it consistent ......

 

Didn't they just need to be coached better?

Hypocrite

 

Sorry, but I've got to refer to Pochettino, because he inherited a dream squad, with a core of established internationals like Vertonghen, Lloris, Dembele and Eriksen, cheaply-bought future stars like Walker and Rose and, above all, the once-in-a-generation talent of Kane - how could he fail? But he did!
Today we still have several of his 2014 squad, but they're either physically or mentally broken, and the 'fresh blood' of the past five seasons has been disastrous, with a string of over-priced under-performers from Sissoko and Sanchez to Lo Celso and N'Dombele, with cheaper but equally hopeless second-stringers like Aurier and Janssen - the contrast between Pochettino's golden inheritance and today's utter shambles could not be greater, and how any one manager or coach, however wonderful his CV, could be expected to disperse the aura of pessimism and failure that engulfs the club in 2021 is quite beyond me - I think we're in for some very hard times before we get back into Top Four contention, and filling Levy's Folly while competing with West Ham or Newcastle for 'best of the 8th to 15th too good to be relegated; too **** to win anything' title, will be quite a challenge. I've got memories of Spurs at the very top (sepia and fading fast), but what motivates people with only the ENIC era to look back on beats me - you're heroes, all of you (but sadly misguided ones!).

 

Tough loss today... can't fault the players' effort

In the end we got beaten by a better team with better players... a technically excellent side pretty much 1 to 11 (their least technical player was our old boy Walker and he cost them 50 million)

They are also coached by a technically brilliant manager (the best manager of our time by a long way). If you ever watch them play then that should be evident... it is not just their skill nor their intention to play but their cohesive movement both with and without the ball which is most impressive. That sort of system is not plug and play... it takes some effort and time to implement and with specifically suited players

As to what we could have done better? It was a flawed team selection. I understand why Mason did so... when you play City you can expect to spend a good portion of the game without the ball. But you need to at least attempt to control it to a degree and go after them at times as well

Winks over Ndombele was a major major mistake... you can't bench your most exceptionally gifted midfielder for an average grafter if you wish to maintain some semblance of possession in such a match. It was a major red flag before kickoff... as it always is

And Bale should definitely have played instead of Lo Celso. We were only ever going to get a couple of moments today so you must play those who have the potential to do something special given half a chance... this most definitely applies to Ndombele as well

But none of that matters now... a disappointing day

 

They do need to be coached better and two games in with a temporary replacement with no experience won’t make much difference to that. Our performance wasn’t that bad but as I have said all along, we needed a better coach AND some new players especially Aurier which I believe YOU disagreed with so perhaps you should hold back your hypocrisy jibes.

I think if anything yesterday proved that some of the players that you have been slating all season are actually not as bad as you have made them out to be because acccording to you, all except a very small few are terrible has beens who are too old and are not good enough to play for any other side in the league which I think some showed yesterday is factually incorrect.

 

Thfc which players showed they were not as bad as Felon said they were apart from Lloris and Aldy.Surely not Winks and Sissoko and Aurier

 

Lloris and Toby were very good. Ndombele, Bale and Tanganga should have started. Kane had a decent 2nd half.
Regy and PeH were ok and Moura wasn’t terrible today (although still isn’t good enough to stay).

We need 4 x players at a minimum (RB, CB and 2 x CM) with some changes to the squad if possible (such as an additional RB,CB and attackers).

Hopefully a new coach will get some confidence back into the players we do have and our performances will improve

 

I think if you are trying to pick between Aurier & Doherty..... Sanchez & Dier & Davies.... Winks & NDombele & Sissiko.... Lamela & Lo Celso & Alli...... Moura & Bergwijn & Vinicius......it tells you what a sh!t show we have

 

For this club to move forward it needs to get rid of both Keepers, both RBs, 4 CBs, 1 LB, 3 CMs, 4 AMs and they all need to be upgraded

I wrote the above a few weeks back don't know where this I disagreed with you about Aurrier has came from.
He slightly improved for a bit but he's always been calamitous and proved that again yesterday.

The squad needs culling before any coaching is possible said it for all this season and have constantly fought the tide of opinion on here that this absolute joke n shambles of a squad is anywhere near good enough to compete.

Last time I checked looked like Sarri is bookies favourite, so while we're under Arteta-lite we can all be happy n forgiving because it's not the bad man in charge & then a new guy who will most likely be a Journey man Sarri/Benitez can be the next 'dinosaur' or you can get a Scotty Parker/Graham Potter in.

And guess what? None of them will coach this squad of losers better without aggressively getting rid of the sh;t n attitudes and proactively getting in much better players for their systems.
You know like proper clubs do.

 

Sorry, that wasn’t clear, not Aurier, the fact that all of our players are shite....We don’t need to replace all, we need to replace enough to build out our squad depth and then make better use of what we have IMO.
Lloris is good still so a replacement for Hart is needed, Toby, Rodon & Tanganga are decent but would be good to pick up a couple of CB to bolster that area. 100% agree on new RB as both shite. LB is ok for now. 2 x CMF are absolutely required. Also AMF to replace Bale, Lamela and Moura would be great.

If we can then get a coach who is able to fill those spots and can get a formation that can actually use players like Bergwijn & Son, we will bein good shape.

I agree that a lot need to be sold but selling all won’t realistically happen so if we can sell 8 and sign 8 (which is similar to other seasons) then we will be far better next season in terms of squad depth.

Aurier, Doherty, Dier, Hart, Sanchez, Lamela, Winks and Moura gone with Bale heading back to Madrid then replace with Aarons, Lamptey, Andersen, Konsa, Sabitzer, Bissouma, Saint Maxim & Johnston (WBA).

That will leave us with another 15 players (if Vini stays although that looks unlikely too) and hopefully a coach and system to take advantage of what we do then have. I know that Lo Celso and Sissoko remain in that but they can do a job and are good enough to rotate in and out. Bring back Sess to play on the left in front of Regy and we have pace and ability on that side. Ndombele is getting better and can still do a job for us and Alli with a bit of TLC and an improvement in his attitude might get back to his previous levels.

We just need some changes to benefit the squad not just the starting 11 and a manager who can play to his players strengths with a system that they all believe in and we will be a decent side.