Spurs (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

roy.or.r said:
I wish some of the fucking boomers in this thread would stop lecturing about our past and focus on the current situation. I am astonished to see some boomers consistently bringing up how shit we were either to show everyone they are a top blue or to excuse the current issues in the squad.
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I think there's a balance to be had, absolutely the 'old' City should not be the benchmark against which we measure ourselves these days, but equally some of the hysteria on here is completely unwarranted. Saying 'well at least we're not watching Lee Bradbury' might not be great but then neither is throwing our toys because we might 'only' get a CL spot this season. Football is cyclical, both big and little cycles, the fact we are not currently emulating the Centurions in either performance or results is disappointing but hardly a cause for suggesting that we are complete shite.

It doesn't matter who you are, no one is entitled to win trophies we've seen the cautionary tale of the rags fanbase on where that entitlement gets you. For all the fact that we are misfiring currently and it would appear that some change is required to get back to our best, the reality is we remain second in the self-proclaimed toughest league in the world. So yeah, performances no cause to happy clap but equally we're hardly in D Fens territory.

For what it's worth I'm not writing the season or even the league off yet, that might change after the two Arsenal games but until then I'll withhold judgement. Something's not right but I don't necessarily buy the dressing room has gone type theories. Relative to other players in the league, our players are expected to perform a high wire act so I don't think it takes too much of a drop off for it to look quite dire. Equally some of our squad are aging but I don't think they're quite shot yet. There's clearly some issues (and I will buy the one that Pep needs support) and whether they are fixable within season I don't know, possibly not; but even if they aren't, we are too stable and well run overall as a club for us not to be there or thereabouts in the next few years so that's why I don't get too despondent after rubbish days like yesterday.

Edit: Just seen the 100 charges. Disregard the above, now is the time to go full D Fens :-)
 
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WorthlessPoster said:
Good post. Poch or Luis Enrique not on your list of candidates?
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I wouldn't hate the idea of any of them, but Pochettino especially I get the feeling that big jobs with big expectations just swallow him, a bit of a loser attitude. Enrique is very good from a style perspective, but there really isn't anything in his career that would make me sure we would be in the safest hands possible unlike say a Tuchel.

Replacing a once in a generation genius like Pep is hard, you need someone with slightly different ideas and the ability to get through to the players immidiatly. In our situation a potential manager needs to get the best out of Haaland and Foden as well for obvious reasons, and Tuchel history of getting the best out of Mount (only manager he actually lived up to hype under) and Aubameyang (not quite Erlings level but fairly similiar in style) bodes well for that.

I fear the best option and true heir to Pep went to Old Trafford in the summer.

Anyway, we've been here before. Circa november 2020 I was sure he was done, after one lacklustre season finishing a million miles away from Scousers and an even worse start to the season. The players looked even more mentally done with him then than they do now, and he looked depressed on the sideline. And then it all changed over night. I won't rule that out happening again
 
Benarbia’s Backheel said:
and don’t forget, our one attacking player with insane pace is constantly making great runs which are ignored by the whole team every time.

I also think Alvarez needs to play on the right to compete with Mahrez, not play centrally unless he’s the main man up top which will never happen while the big man’s around.

The whole LB scenario is nothing short of neglect. Having said that though, I still think we’ll win the league, but if we do we still have a massive amount of ins and outs to happen in the transfer window. I think there will be 4 out, and we need to replace them all, plus replacements for Gabby, Zinny and Cancelo.

Big year ahead!
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Teams have sussed out how we use Haaland. Stop the supply of through-balls from central areas & Haaland can make as many runs as he wants. They'll either close down the space, or cut out the pass.

Spurs had SEVEN players centrally in their 5-4-1 formation, totally surrounding Haaland. The only times he lost them was when he dropped deep.

Spurs also had 5 strung across the back, but crucially they kept their wingbacks wide, denying Grealish & Mahrez space & the chance to go around them.

It's simple. We were out-thought, plain & simple. It's the latest Premier League chess move to counter Guardiola. It's not something we haven't faced before, & I believe we're facing a 2017/18 scenario where big changes to personnel will be required.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Grealish isn't quick enough for the centre of midfield. His first touch is exactly why he gets fouled so often. He's need to play as a ten.
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To play as ten you need goals in you, I’m not sure jack has that sadly. He’s putting a real shift in for sure but he’s a 100m round peg in a square hole on LW. central attacking mid be much better for him especially when Bernie leaves in summer if agent actually comes up with a reasonable offer
 
ZanteWeatherman said:
On BEin Andy Gray (ffs) called Rico a continuity player. Maybe he was right for once. He's a hard worker and never gives the ball away, but he rarely if ever seems to pass more than 5 yards. The issue is that he is not creative, he will rarely assist or score.
I have no clue what the problem is, but yesterday was poor, with only Grealish and Ake having a decent game. The midfield were not at it, and I feel for Haaland. He makes the runs and........ back we go. Time to lighten up on this possession is all bollocks and start to take some chances in the final third. Imho.
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the lad is out of his depth in midfield, fuck knows why pep keeps on with this experiment god knows, its not like we are short of midfielders, we had three internationals on the bench ffs plus international defenders that could play in a back four
 
So Dias and Laporte at the centre of def - with KDB and Foden playing, wouldn’t have been better that that tinker fest...I mean please.
 
Dribble said:
I meant on the wing... :-/
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Grealish then, but we only get to see his pace when he's tracking back to cover the non-existant left fullback. Going forward, he's only allowed to walk before passing it backwards or sideways

What I'd like to see us try is swapping Grealish and Mahrez. We had it with Sane and Sterling, partly because the injury to Mendy meant there was no width from fullbacks. We've got a similar situation now and, whilst I know Pep likes his inverted wingers, back on their natural wings they've got the ability to beat a man and something in the middle to aim for. We don't have to do it every game, we don't even have to do it for a full game but could we try something different
 
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Dribble said:
Teams have sussed out how we use Haaland. Stop the supply of through-balls from central areas & Haaland can make as many runs as he wants. They'll either close down the space, or cut out the pass.

Spurs had SEVEN players centrally in their 5-4-1 formation, totally surrounding Haaland. The only times he lost them was when he dropped deep.

Spurs also had 5 strung across the back, but crucially they kept their wingbacks wide, denying Grealish & Mahrez space & the chance to go around them.

It's simple. We were out-thought, plain & simple. It's the latest Premier League chess move to counter Guardiola. It's not something we haven't faced before, & I believe we're facing a 2017/18 scenario where big changes to personnel will be required.
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A lot of good points but like against utd there was space for Haaland when he made runs but he was ignored numerous times
 
Bigga said:
I have my suspicions too.

I've heard nowt but deep negativity from this dude since I encountered him.
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What a load of shit. Try doing your homework on someone before talking out of your ass Chief. I suggest you open your eyes and your ears before making a fool of yourself. I'm a realist who is not afraid to post his thoughts or opinions. Most of the time highly optimistic or at most suggestive but right now we're experiencing a very problematic period that whether you agree or not can lead to longer term repercussions for the club and I'm going to post what I believe. You don't have to agree. And if you don't agree I won't call you a Red or a "Happy Clapper" as that would be your style ya mutt...
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I don't believe that. I saw no lack of effort or hunger yesterday.

What I saw was a team lacking in direction and a lack of belief in the system they were being asked to play by Pep.

Same lack of belief I had we would win the Champions League final when I saw Pep's team selection.

Pep is second guessing himself, far too preoccupied with what the opposition can do, rather than what we are capable of as a team.

It translates to the lack of risk in our general play, one of absolute control until the final 18 yards, if we can even get there.

We really only have to look at the lack of saves we ask of opposition goalkeepers these days?

It's written all over Pep's face each time the camera loves to cut to him, he's getting no help from his bench.

We have lost at Spurs, Liverpool and United.

It's a mentality problem starting with Pep.

We don't need to hear that Kane is one of the best strikers he has seen in his life, or Liverpool are the most dangerous team he has seen in his life, or United are back to where they belong.

And we certainly don't need to hear him publicly complaining about our fans, Kalvin being overweight, wrong body language in training, Chelsea spending too much money or the four hour journey down to London being exhaustive.

C'mon Pep, you're better than this. Let us die on our feet than live on our knees.

Don't cut your nose to spite your face. This team is at the end of its cycle but we can still have a dream season if you trust the players who have taken us on this wonderful ride of success.

Release the handbrake.
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Wierd
give it to gordon said:
We look burnt out.

We need Diaz and Foden back asap but in good form.

Diaz is a leader and Foden sets the tempo. Always on the half turn when receiving the ball to run at players. But Pep seems to be stopping that from Foden now !
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Foden may have bigger issues than work tbf
 
OB1 said:
I don't think we are shit to watch but I get why some people do. Personally, I can enjoy much of our possession play.

The problem is two fold, partly (I think), it is the squad we find ourselves with but the biggest problem is that the majority of our opponents play a variation on packing their defences and hoping to prey on our mistakes. Spurs have been particularly good at that. Teams more and more are adding in spoiling tactics to try and disrupt our flow. Spurs did a lot of that and ultimately had a player sent off but got away with it.

It's proving a hard nut to crack but seems we have another big problem breaking.
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To be honest our possession play hasn't been particularly good. It constantly gets pushed back and it's mostly sideways. I have come to the conclusion that teams are NOT parking the bus against us. We often just possess the ball at such a pedestrian pace that you'd have to be a lazy player on a lazy team to not get back on defense before we do anything.

The one or 2 times we made a quick play against spurs and attacked their defense early, they were in helter skelter mode.

We can't play so slow and then pretend the other team shouldn't get back In position to defend.
 
Craig said:
A lot of good points but like against utd there was space for Haaland when he made runs but he was ignored numerous times
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Haaland might have found space, but there was little space to get the ball to him, hence he was so isolated...

HOWEVER, is this it? Is City sliding through-balls to Haaland our only means of scoring now? This new found one dimensionalism is what I find most concerning. \0/
 
Dribble said:
Teams have sussed out how we use Haaland. Stop the supply of through-balls from central areas & Haaland can make as many runs as he wants. They'll either close down the space, or cut out the pass.

Spurs had SEVEN players centrally in their 5-4-1 formation, totally surrounding Haaland. The only times he lost them was when he dropped deep.

Spurs also had 5 strung across the back, but crucially they kept their wingbacks wide, denying Grealish & Mahrez space & the chance to go around them.

It's simple. We were out-thought, plain & simple. It's the latest Premier League chess move to counter Guardiola. It's not something we haven't faced before, & I believe we're facing a 2017/18 scenario where big changes to personnel will be required.
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I think the speed of our play is the problem. It's extremely risk averse ( except for In the one area when it should have been). So we spent an inordinate amount of time making safe passes sideways and backwards. Overtime, it becomes predictable to anyone.

The opportunities are still there Mahrez missing an open Greosh and Haaland, Bernardo slowing the pace down while Haaland makes a run. etc.

And these were there despite our pedestrian play.

Quicker more aggressive play is needed. Get the ball near the final third and take risks with skilled players. Grealish, Kevin, Haaland, Gundogan Alvarez and co. Then get the ball to Haaland in space early.
 
Dribble said:
Haaland might have found space, but there was little space to get the ball to him, hence he was so isolated...

HOWEVER, is this it? Is City sliding through-balls to Haaland our only means of scoring now? This new found one dimensionalism is what I find most concerning. \0/
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Yeah, was a worry when we signed him that it would be hard to utilise his greatest asset due to parked busses but there were a few clear examples in those 2 games where it was on. Half wonder against utd if it was due to fear of losing the ball. Very odd though as over hit it and the worst thing that happens is the keeper gets it. Get it right and good chance he scores.

As you say the lack of creativity in general is a big worry. KDB seems the only one allowed to take risks and despite his assists his general form has been average at best
 
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