Matchday discussion

One other thing I noticed today, I don’t remember ever seeing a professional footballer give the ball away as often as Regy in the first half. I’m not sure what the stats would be but would be shocked if he completed more than 50% of his passes. When he got booked, I honestly thought he would be sent off in the second half but what a great decision by Conte to pull him..just another example of how small things make big difference and the impact a decent manager has. I think Contes predecessors may well have left Regy on rather than put Doherty in that spot but it was the right thing to do as could have cost us the point if Regy had mistimed another tackle (which looked pretty likely).

 

The 2 points lost yesterday can be considered as a defeat given the physiognomy of the match ... Indeed, playing 11 against 10 for more than 45 minutes should have enabled us to win this match! If Conte has always been my choice since last June, and if I'm still very happy with his arrival at Spurs, I was disappointed with his tactical choices on Tuesday. These, in addition to the VAR, cost us the victory. Indeed, arriving at 1-1 at half-time and leaving for another 45 full minutes with one more player without changing anything tactically demonstrated his offensive reluctance. Keeping Dier, Sanchez and Davies in the same positions throughout the 2nd half cost us in terms of support from our attackers! To bring Doherty in on the left when he has only one foot .... the right one is also a bad choice. Proof, Doherty tried everything but badly because he was on his bad side. Why keep Hojberg and Son the whole 2nd half when they were really bad. Why keep Ndombele on the bench when he is perhaps the only one who has that spark that could have pierced the wall of Southampton? For me he should have gone to 4 players behind with Emerson on the right, Dier and Sanchez in the center and Davies on the left. This would have made it possible to keep 3 real players in the middle and to add Ndombele and also, and above all, to place Son on his left offensive lane where he feels better with Lucas entering on the other side .... What do you think?

 

It’s a tough one because the game came with very little rest and another game following soon after. The performance was pretty disappointing but we scored several times with 2 of them incorrectly ruled out IMO.

The shape change could have impacted the game but in the same token, given our performances earlier this season and the improvements we have seen recently, perhaps when you take the fitness and upcoming fixtures into consideration the decision to keep the shape was the best one in the moment. Doherty is terrible but with some game time, might generate more saleable value than never playing at all and replacing Regy when he was booked was the right thing to do (although shows a lack of quality in the squad depth).

I don’t agree with the comment on support for attackers though because for large parts of the second half, Sanchez, Dier and Davies all were camped in the final third of the pitch which in the main protected us from counter attacks which were all that Southampton could realistically hope for (Diers mistake apart).

 

Of course and I can only be happy with the performances since Conte's arrival. The team is more solid and we have found the qualities of some players which is already a victory in itself! However, to put my dear THFC into perspective 2-3 points, it should be remembered that the tempo of the fixtures is the same for Southampton and Spurs. That Southampton had a tough game until the last second at the Hammers last Sunday as we were able to quietly manage an easy home win against a 10-a-side again ... and that same Southampton played more from 50 minutes to 10 against 11 against us on Tuesday. The balance of physical forces is absolutely not the same and finding excuses related to potential fatigue is clearly not credible.

And insisting on the fact that the 3 center-backs also tried to support our attacks still makes me laugh. Sorry because I often appreciate your opinions THFC on this forum but it is neither Sanchez, nor Dier nor even Davies that we can qualify as creative players who can provide offensive support ... !!! It is rather ridiculous. Certainly they can help on a corner but nothing in the game .... Skipp or Ndombele could do this. Much more than any of our defenders.

It does not matter but I hope I can count on more daring the next time the opportunity arises ...

 

Sorry, I didn’t mean that they were creative, I was more saying that we had almost every player in the Southampton half which means they should have been more than adequately supported. You are right however IMO the problem wasn’t the shape necessarily or even the formation, it’s the quality of the creative players that we currently have which is a problem for us. My point was more, we have stuck to the formation in every game except 1 and it’s worked well so far which is probably why Conte stuck with it, given the quality (or lack of) of the replacements. I don’t think we will see much more of Ndombele or Lo Celso as Conte doesn’t really seem to fancy either of them and Dele will be with them.

 

Happy new year to all my fellow contributors

 

Happy New Year!

 

Half time 0-0 and does it show we need a creative midfielder,Final ball not good enough

 

Emerson’s final ball is dreadful yet again this week

 

3 points

Utter dross

 

Almost a dream we play absolute dross and get 3 points the Arse play really well and get no points.If we play like today and so do the Arse when we meet in 2 weeks we will get stuffed.Can we get the transfer of a class midfielder done quickly.How did we sign Emerson and let Arsenal sign the Japanese lad who wanted to sign for us who looks quality.

 

Happy New Year !

 

So true, no idea who made the decision but it was a really poor one

 

The performance wasn’t dross? We had 74% possession against a team that chose to sit 8 men on the edge of their own box. We had 21 shots/9 on target….think back 11 games where we went on a streak of not being able to get ourselves into shooting positions.

We were let down by the creative quality of the final ball, in particular Emerson and Regy but also through the middle. The positive is that Conte called it out immediately after the game (in terms of cross quality).

The performance was ok and the result great. With the players we have, they actually are better suited to teams, like Arsenal coming to attack (rather than sitting deep like Southampton and Watford) which means we may actually put in a better performance than expected and IMO, I certainly don’t think anyone will stuff us these days.

 

Happy New Year lads

An important win yesterday… though a couple of minutes less and there would have been much cause for regret

Nothing further to be said… THFC has smashed the nail on the head again

If you have any doubts then just listen to the manager… a very astute fellow… and one who owns his own tactics… unlike the buffoon who ruined our season last year

 

Tang anga is having a nightmare

 

As is Sanchez who can’t jump and Emerson who has a terrible final ball/pass selection

 

What a terrible performance, the worst since Conte took over. Tanganga made awful decisions all night and always looked like making a mistake. Emerson refused to drive forward, always turning back and never putting crosses of any quality in. Sanchez looked back to his old self, coming second best in most duals. Hojiberg consistently gave the ball away and timing was off. Son and Moura walked a lot with no intensity at all. Kane didn’t really hold the ball up all night and often tried the hardest of passes rather than keeping it simple. There was not much pressing from the front and generally, poor quality across the pitch.

 

I generally share your THFC opinion but I will be harder on Son who has been a ghost for about 2 months. He's slow and he's technically unsuccessful. He does not provide any defensive support other than running alongside his opponents. Conversely Lucas is able to regularly recover balls and it was one of the only ones in the 2nd half to bring danger in the Chelscum camp. The only good news is the interesting comeback of Ndombele at half time. I'm looking forward to the return leg ... or not

 

You are bang on about Son, if he doesn’t score, he doesn’t seem to do much else at the moment.

Ndombele was a funny one, his face looked generally disinterested and his desire and effort almost non existent but his natural ability is unreal, such a waste of a player