Shaky win, but we can't ride our luck forever

There is something to be said in defence of the holding game from the defenders and the more defensive midfielders. That is this. If the opponent is sitting deep with everyone behind the ball having our back 4 say 10- 5 metres inside their own half and centre mids just inside the opposition half, passing about there can 'draw' some of the opposition midfield forward breaking their shape thus making in essence a sort of 'Counter' attack.

Here i use the word 'Counter' not in a quick or pacy term. But in a numerical term i.e. 'Count the attackers and count the numbers of their defenders and their midfielder now attack'. This would work if their say 4 midfielders pushed on our deep passing game, but our slick passing got us out that pressure and someone found a direct ball beyond the pressing opposition midfield. Leaving say Lamela, Erik, Kane and Chadli to do something against only the back 4 as their midfielders were 'drawn' out.

Its not a bad tactic and we often do this, and we are quiet good at it but its a tad dangerous, i would like to see our holding midfield players be a bit more creative with their passing, something though only the boss will instigate if he feels the squad are good enough to play that way and they aren't going to give away possession (a worse situation) which in fairness we didn't do that often, but another iffy performance. And Jan V giving away two needless pens would have been a disaster he needs to be strongly told he's WAY out of order. If i'd had made that trip to be undone by a childish pathetic bit of un necessary shirt pulling would have seriously rattled my cage. Jan GROW UP AND DEFEND LIKE A MAN. WE WERE IN NO REAL DANGER ON EITHER OCCASION. COYS.

Now the Pièce de résistance. Man U, Chelsea. Mine is 4 points lets see how they get on. Man U on fire i just got a nasty feeling it could be one of those 3 down at half time games if we are not properly up for it.

 

If there is indeed money to be invested in this window then I would urge the board to get signings in at the beggining of Jan rather haggle all month to save a million or two or completed miss out/run out of time to do the deal. The extra points gained by doing so can far outweigh the extra cost. I would certainly test the resolve of bony and benteke's clubs with a take it or leave it 25m bid on the 1st of Jan. Having said that although the problems seem to be defending and scoring goals it is my opinion that the major surgery needs to be done in centre mid as we lack any sort of quality in the area where games are won or lost! Once you gain control of the midfield you can control the tempo,rytham and direction of the game which in turns your defenders actually defend less as a result. The back four although not great are having to defend for unnecessary long periods in areas of the pitch they would rather not...highlighting how bad they are and causing mistakes more frequent!!
At the other end you will see us able
to get the so called flair players on the ball more and create more clear cut chances per game rather than harry creating and feeding off half chances. For instance if the midfield was for example bale modric parker vdv lamela with soldao up top on his own this team in this currently poor league are comfortably in third spot. Were dominating possession getting lamela on the ball in good areas of the pitch and soldado putting the ball in the net 15-20 a season. Even this dubious bk four start to look good!! At present come on bentaleb mason stambouli capoue chadli come on really!!

 

And while we are at it I'm fed up with this high line pressing game nonsense too. I was told at school to push up to the halfway line its a basic rule of defending!! How much farther do we want em to go with Jan and fazio I've seen milk turn faster. And pressing is that anything
new. I remember Joe Royles everton side dubbed dogs of war and the crazy gang who were awful mid table sides. Roy Keane paul ince viera petit were doing this ten years ago. Anyone can play with time and space. We sold two of our most hard working players in sygi n Sandro and now see dembele n capoue not even getting a match day shirt! Now we all love to see youth come thru but not for the sake of it and the obsession of it being the right blue print going forward. If they are good enough yeah by all means but not at the expense of top pro players with personality experience and know how. It breaks my heart to see sygi doing so well as the boy was NEVER played in his best position for spurs!!

 

I can only echo the general opinion - the current lucky streak is quite unbelievable, and I don't remember anything like it in more than 50 years following Spurs. In the league, our ONLY positive performances were against QPR and Everton; as for the rest, we've stolen wins against West Ham, Hull, Villa, Burnley, Leicester - so many that I've forgotten them all. Three points are three points (maths was always one of my best subjects), but improved performances would be nice too, and I share the feeling that the spankings already dished out by City, Liverpool and Chelsea will be repeated in the return games (plus United and a few others). For a long period AVB seemed to be lucky, but he eventually hit the buffers, and I'm far from convinced that Pochettino isn't going to follow him down that road.

 

Agree with most of the posts, that we were lucky to walk away with all three points. With Man U up next I just hope this lucky streak continues ! I hope we take our chances against them and set up to attack, as their defence is clearly their weakness their attack awesome. Obviously we have to outscore Utd so lets really go for it and make it a great game.They have converted players into wing backs playing three centre backs, so I would play wingers to really test them, lennon and townsend maybe to take on ashley young and valencia. Lets give it a real go, Kane to score again ! Coys.

 

Just a few counter points:

Luck is the attribute of a better team.

Poorly played win is always better than well played loss.

Should we start XI that are equal to Kane, Eriksen and Lloris we would be able to compete for EPL title. Only oil money can get it. Therefore COYS as ever and AS YOU ARE!!!

 

Lamela cost more than those 3 put together.