Spurs (H) - Post-Match Thread

[Father Paul]

Watched the full 90 back for my sins last night. The 343 caused us issues. Their new lad kept Len honest which meant he wasn’t stepping in as much. That left a 4v3 in midfield and a lot of graft was needed. It also meant that they had 3 bodies on the break and we couldn’t cope with that. They had several breakaway and probably should have scored more. If our passing is not totally on point we can be broke upon because our system commits so many people forward. Usually we are very tidy with the ball but not on Saturday. Meh

Don't know how you managed to watch the full match again. We pay people to do that sort of thing .But I agree with your assessment about the 343. The problem I have is that the obvious issues were magnified after the break when Harry had a field day. Notwithstanding the problems we face when the passing is less than perfect we do need the ability to respond tactically to situations were the opposition are posing extreme danger on the break as was the case on Saturday.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

Don't know how you managed to watch the full match again. We pay people to do that sort of thing .But I agree with your assessment about the 343. The problem I have is that the obvious issues were magnified after the break when Harry had a field day. Notwithstanding the problems we face when the passing is less than perfect we do need the ability to respond tactically to situations were the opposition are posing extreme danger on the break as was the case on Saturday.

Had stream issues on Saturday so only caught about 70 mins!

 

[trevorriley]

probably not been as disappointed in the organisation of a game since chelski.

dragging our feet first 5 mins we go a goal down.
score the goal to go 2-2 and empty heads cant defend it against a not very good spurs team. Ederson glued to the floor for third goal, if he had been focussed on the cross and kane he would have known there was only one place the ball could go to beat him. Instead he was flat footed and watched the ball go in.
I dont know if pep gave any rollickings, but i imagine he was fuming as the 3 goals where because of a lack of focus.
Three points should have been nailed on but instead we let spurs do the business.

 

[Gray]

That first goal showed up our defensive frailties big time.

No body anywhere near Kane who chipped a peach of a pass down the left flank to Son in acres of space. Son with his pace was in our box in no time and he had time to think and unselfishly pick out a pass as Spurs players had outpaced our defenders.

Rank amateur defending by us, not winning the Chumps with that sort of display.

 

[blueparrot]

That first goal showed up our defensive frailties big time.

No body anywhere near Kane who chipped a peach of a pass down the left flank to Son in acres of space. Son with his pace was in our box in no time and he had time to think and unselfishly pick out a pass as Spurs players had outpaced our defenders.

Rank amateur defending by us, not winning the Chumps with that sort of display.

That's how we defend and under Perp will defend. As it's given us the best defensive record and got us to a final in the past, then yes we win the champions league defending like that.As we won't be changing how we defend if we don't win it then we don't win it but I think we will.

 

[Gray]

That's how we defend and under Perp will defend. As it's given us the best defensive record and got us to a final in the past, then yes we win the champions league defending like that.As we won't be changing how we defend if we don't win it then we don't win it but I think we will.

Good old Perp he thought we played well, whoever he is.

 

[Chi-town blues]

They had 10 players parked in front of their box. It’s difficult to score against double dickers bus parking cunts .

 

[NorthamptonBlue]

That first goal showed up our defensive frailties big time.

No body anywhere near Kane who chipped a peach of a pass down the left flank to Son in acres of space. Son with his pace was in our box in no time and he had time to think and unselfishly pick out a pass as Spurs players had outpaced our defenders.

Rank amateur defending by us, not winning the Chumps with that sort of display.

Dias leads our defensive line and had a rare off day. Have we so easily forgotten how porous we could be before he arrived? He gives us our cohesion; Cancelo was missing in action defensively, presumably acting under orders; Kane and Son are very good players if they get space and they did.

 

[xgorton]

Keith Hackett former ref says spurs winner should not have stood due to offside in the build up.He can't understand why var and the lines wasn't shown.

 

[Dax777]

I can’t think of a single reason why you wouldn’t bring on Delap for Foden when you’re spending the last 20 minutes lumping crosses into the box.

Because Foden has the ability to change things in an human instance that Delap doesn't have?

 

[blueparrot]

Because Foden has the ability to change things in an human instance that Delap doesn't have?

That and most likely Pep was on the sidelines trying to get them to stop lumping balls in, bringing on Delap would probably have encouraged it.

 

[Shaffer92]

Keith Hackett former ref says spurs winner should not have stood due to offside in the build up.He can't understand why var and the lines wasn't shown.

Looks on to me tbh

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I'm feeling a little better about Saturday - the Dipper fan on The Chase has been caught! Good on yer, SinhaMan!

 

[Tangled up in blue.]

I'm feeling a little better about Saturday - the Dipper fan on The Chase has been caught! Good on yer, SinhaMan!

Eh!

 

[BrianW]

I don't think Pep ever puts a youth player on when we are chasing a game. I imagine he thinks it's unfair pressure on them if they don't do well.

 

[Bill Walker]

Agree that Delap should have played part at some stage, especially with the crosses count being so high. The best hope for most crosses was that they would by-pass almost everyone and Bernardo comes in sniffing late to ghost one in-off. It got to a stage in the last 10 minutes where I wish Pep would have brought Stones on and played him upfront to cause some mayhem and distraction and nod a few in.

All those high crosses, Stones or Ake couldve headed a goal if he didnt want to throw Delap on.
Puzzles me sometimes does Pep, the game was crying out for a big 9, if he's not gonna risk Delap in those circumstances why is he on the bench ?

The last 2 games he's come on he's made something happen.
And please Pep we need to go back to Stones/Ruben.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

All those high crosses, Stones or Ake couldve headed a goal if he didnt want to throw Delap on.
Puzzles me sometimes does Pep, the game was crying out for a big 9, if he's not gonna risk Delap in those circumstances why is he on the bench ?

The last 2 games he's come on he's made something happen.

Absolutely!

And please Pep we need to go back to Stones/Ruben.

Please, Pep, let’s teach our full backs how to defend the back post cross!
Pretty please?!

Hell, we even use this tactic against other teams!! How many times have we seen that City chip over the top to the back post recently?!

And, then, while you’re at it, teach the CBs about correct positioning for defending under stress, including knowing where the runners are, and where the FBs are!

We have BRILLIANT “ball playing” CBs, but who are asked to do “everything” even when we defend with only TWO defenders on the counter attack. We saw it on the first goal (Dias got done, couldn’t get back, and Cancelo couldn’t cut out the ball to the new lad and got merged for the goal) and then NEITHER FB defended properly for Spurs’ 2nd & 3rd goals.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

All the more puzzling then when we put on about 200 high crosses in this game.

You've got a point.

 

[Prater70]

All those high crosses, Stones or Ake couldve headed a goal if he didnt want to throw Delap on.
Puzzles me sometimes does Pep, the game was crying out for a big 9, if he's not gonna risk Delap in those circumstances why is he on the bench ?

The last 2 games he's come on he's made something happen.
And please Pep we need to go back to Stones/Ruben.

Personally thought we could have put Rodri up for last fifteen.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Agree to a point (especially about the back probs, would give anything for a miracle cure right now), but I don't think we were that much off the pace and it's the media hype that sows the seeds. I try to disregard the post match hype because it all centres on a few seconds - a missed shot here, a goal conceded there - is all it takes for the media to make the difference between them saying something like "superb performance that you'd expect from the champions" to "masterplan from Kane" and so on.

In otherwords, without really changing anything on another day we'd have scored 2 more and they'd have scored 2 less. The way we play is always going to be vulnerable to the counter attack and the teams with better strikers are more likely to take advantage, so we're bound to lose the odd one here and there.

Again the media are hyping up the "title race back on" theme but it was never off, certainly not unless they think it's all down to one result. While we probably can't afford too many slip ups, I don't see Liverpool going through the rest of the season with a 100% record so I'm not overly concerned. Fact remains that to win the title, they still have to win their game in hand, beat us at the Etihad, match every other result we get, and better our goal difference. Not impossible but you'd be mad to take the bet.

We were much the better team despite being below our best. But what I notice is that when we're playing well, you barely see a misplaced pass. Against Spurs we misplaced a few passes more than normal, but still passed the ball at a level any normal top four team would consider to be outstanding. We tried to draw Spurs onto us - hence the slow play at times and they stuck with their small team low block mentality. And yes, we were inches away from two more goals. If we'd won, Spurs would have been slaughtered on MOTD for their park the bus tactics and four defeats in a row, but because we gifted them their goals it's a 'masterclass' apparently. Can't help but think Ferna would have had us in a formation to have stopped the counter attacks at source (with him no doubt making the telling interceptions) - Kane wouldn't have had all that space for his pass for the first.