Spurs vs City post match

In reply to another thread I re watched the entire game yesterday.

There were several things wrong from our point of view e.g. missing players, team selection, poor individual performances & the fourth long distance away match in 2 weeks.

However despite the media this was nowhere near a stroll for the " best team in the league - Spurs " They got a pathetic OG from one of our worst players that definitely altered the dynamic. They were also gifted another sloppy goal. But for all that we competed well enough for the entire 90 minutes.

The standout factors from the superteam was their dirty, rough & old fashioned tactics. Rose was appalling & should have gone. They committed 20 fouls to our 10 & got away with many more, but it was the nasty niggling slow down nature of these tactics stopping City in mid flow as the Italians used to do. Then the not retreating 10 metres after a foul - again slowing it down. Then the keeping hold of the ball at our throw in etc. etc.

This reminded me of Cardiff City a couple of years ago slowing everything down to get even some sort of result.

Not sour grapes, just another view & perhaps we were not quite as bad as the media make out.
Can't argue with this.

But what killed us in the first half was Fernando.

Never moved to offer himself as a passing option (was completely unaware that he was marked and stood stock still on several occasions sometimes with a defender between him and the ball, thus cutting off passing lanes, or with a defender on his shoulder, making it suicidal to pass the ball to him), guilty of ball chasing instead of cutting off passes at least once, did not participate in pressing which lead to a scoring opportunity for Spurs, jogged back at 3/4's pace and then failed to cut off the pass from Son which lead to Spurs 2nd goal, when receiving the ball in the back failed to pass it forward most times, instead just passing it right back to a defender... I could actually go on and on and on about this.

Fernando was so awful as our pivot that he absolutely killed off 90% of our offense in the first half (no linkup from the back), and put our defense under huge pressure causing Zabba, Stones, Otters and Kolarov to make unnecessarily difficult passes often leading to turn overs,...
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But that said, credit to Spurs. They came in with a high press game plan and they pulled it off. Killed the game off in the first half before we could make appropriate adjustments.
 
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My biggest gripe with this game is simply the fact that we didn't land a punch on them. I still believe our starting XI had far more quality, and it was disappointing to see us revert to a Pellegrini type of mindset.

Don't get me wrong, Spurs played very well, but we played nowhere near the level we've seen on occasion this season.
 
Can't argue with this.

But what killed us in the first half was Fernando.

Never moved to offer himself as a passing option (was completely unaware that he was marked and stood stock still on several occasions sometimes with a defender between him and the ball, thus cutting off passing lanes, or with a defender on his shoulder, making it suicidal to pass the ball to him), guilty of ball chasing instead of cutting off passes at least once, did not participate in pressing which lead to a scoring opportunity for Spurs, jogged back at 3/4's pace and then failed to cut off the pass from Son which lead to Spurs 2nd goal, when receiving the ball in the back failed to pass it forward most times, instead just passing it right back to a defender... I could actually go on and on and on about this.

Fernando was so awful as our pivot that he absolutely killed off 90% of our offense in the first half (no linkup from the back), and put our defense under huge pressure causing Zabba, Stones, Otters and Kolarov to make unnecessarily difficult passes often leading to turn overs,...
----
But that said, credit to Spurs. They came in with a high press game plan and they pulled it off. Killed the game off in the first half before we could make appropriate adjustments.

Should have gone with Ali for the goal, instead he ball watched and by doing that got a run in on goal off the one two. Staying with your man and not moving towards a ball is absolute basics of defending.
 
My biggest gripe with this game is simply the fact that we didn't land a punch on them. I still believe our starting XI had far more quality, and it was disappointing to see us revert to a Pellegrini type of mindset.

Don't get me wrong, Spurs played very well, but we played nowhere near the level we've seen on occasion this season.

What is this?

Huge difference in our mentality between this fixture this season and last in my opinion. Last season when we went behind we lost our heads and capitulated and were lucky it was just a three goal deficit.

This season, despite struggling to implement our game in the first half and despite it looking like it could get worse before it got better, we stuck to the plan and actually could've got something out of the game in the end if we'd been more clinical.
 
What is this?

Huge difference in our mentality between this fixture this season and last in my opinion. Last season when we went behind we lost our heads and capitulated and were lucky it was just a three goal deficit.

This season, despite struggling to implement our game in the first half and despite it looking like it could get worse before it got better, we stuck to the plan and actually could've got something out of the game in the end if we'd been more clinical.

Completely disagree, we had a brief spell where we sorted ourselves out. Other than that heads went and our shape went completely out of the window.
 
Fair play mate. Just a quick one, is it just me or is the decision to switch to a diamond against Spurs the completely wrong decision? Considering the flying fullbacks they have it left us completely narrow and exposed.

It gave us more control in the centre where we got bullied first half.
 
I expected Clichy and Sagna to start. I'm not sure they are that much better though. A weak point in the squad.
Its horses for courses. Everyone knows Zabs & Kolarov lack pace, so why anyone would put them up against Rose & Walker is beyond me. In this situation and on reflection I think we would all agree that Clichy & Sagna should have started. This isn't to say Zabs & Kolarov are shit, they just lack the pace to be effective against rapid hard-working sides like Spurs.

Taking pace out of the equation, I think all 4 players are at a similar level, but in the real world pace cannot be discounted especially against teams like Spurs. Hopefully the rumours about Bellerin are true & I hope we're actively seeking to resolve our full back issues as the next stage of our development. If I had to choose two full backs to leave and be replaced, I'd still choose Zabs & Kolarov. Hopefully this is now a priority....
 
What is this?

Huge difference in our mentality between this fixture this season and last in my opinion. Last season when we went behind we lost our heads and capitulated and were lucky it was just a three goal deficit.

This season, despite struggling to implement our game in the first half and despite it looking like it could get worse before it got better, we stuck to the plan and actually could've got something out of the game in the end if we'd been more clinical.
Yeah I agree, I felt if we got the first the second would shortly follow, you could even feel the tension with me being next to the Spuds fans, they knew their team were blowing out of their arses and were glad to hear the final whistle.
 

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