Southampton (H) | Post Match Thread

[HarrytheBlue]

Iv been thinking about this but if we had Kane yesterday we would’ve won before you go for your pitch forks calling him shit etc or he wouldn’t affect the game hear me out.

a striker in peps team doesn’t just score goals. They link up play they bring defenders deep for the wingers to have Space to run into, I was watching the centurion season Aguero linked up play brilliantly he let Sterling and Sane run into the space left behind. Which destroyed teams he didn’t get assists for it but he was vital to peps tactics working.

Now if you add Kane to yesterdays line up, Kane would drop deep holding the ball up for Raz and Grealish to run into space like he does for England. His passing range also would’ve helped break that Southampton defence. By not getting a striker I was pissed due to us not having a finisher but in a Pep team the job of the striker is to bring players into play. Bring the opposition defenders deep let the 2 midfielder run off occupy space where opposition fb have a choice to mark KDB or Gundogan then that gives wingers freedom to run in behind. Unless the person playing false 9 can do that you are missing a vital piece to our attacking play. Sterling yesterday couldn’t do it was bullied by their defenders. Jesus tries to but isn’t strong enough, Torres is learning but is not ready yet.

They are essentially playmakers as well. At Barca David Villa did it for pep , at Bayern Lewandowski did it. At City Aguero did it. We did win the league with false 9 but struggled against teams that defended deep, due to Agueros injuries we missed that vital piece that we had in the centurion season.

Great comment. Levy, by valuing Kane at nearly twice the cost of the superior Lukaku, is denying him the chance to compete for trophies and play in the Ch L until he hits the slide at the earliest. He's also denied him the improvement Pep would have brought. I can see a serious grudge forming between the two. Our four in the England team will be letting him see their medal collections. The sort of club owning dictatorship we used to see in the 60s and 70s.

 

[East Level 2]

Great comment. Levy, by valuing Kane at nearly twice the cost of the superior Lukaku, is denying him the chance to compete for trophies and play in the Ch L until he hits the slide at the earliest. He's also denied him the improvement Pep would have brought. I can see a serious grudge forming between the two. Our four in the England team will be letting him see their medal collections. The sort of club owning dictatorship we used to see in the 60s and 70s.

But Kane was complicit in this by signing a new contract at a time when Spurs offered nothing in terms of career advancement. If he's happy at Spurs then he's done the right thing, but otherwise he priced himself out of the market and locked his own door. Perhaps he needs a new agent, though it's probably too late.

 

[SleepingBlueTiger]

First of all, credit to Southampton, they played a great match. Great example how to approach a game where you have a physical advantage.

Now let's take a loot at our shortcomings. I'm gonna agree with Pep that yesterday wasn't a typical City dropped points performance you'd expect with plenty of control but lack of finishing touch that we have been seeing for years every now and then. The opposition frustrated our build up play better than almost any other team over the last 2 years. We hardly created a chance which is almost unheard of.

How come then? Combination of different factors I'd say. Tiredness of course, players being played in new positions with very little cohesion. Surely I'm not the only one who hasn't bought the Jesus is a prime winger yet, feel like Norwich and 10 man Arsenal have made us believe he is better there than he actually is.
Grealish is our best individual attacking talent at the moment but his play style means we lose some of our most consistent attacking threat of last 3-4 seasons: the left winger making constant forward runs. KdB threat is lowered as there isn't a running target for his crosses often, like there constantly was with Sterling, Sane or Foden there who keep making the left forward runs that Grealish doesn't too often.

I think we will get better as season goes on as players get used to new positions and the new structure. At the moment it feels like we need a set piece or something to go in our favor to unlock our game on the night.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

But Kane was complicit in this by signing a new contract at a time when Spurs offered nothing in terms of career advancement. If he's happy at Spurs then he's done the right thing, but otherwise he priced himself out of the market and locked his own door. Perhaps he needs a new agent, though it's probably too late.

And this is where Tottenham messed up, this is not the first player wanting to leave but getting priced out of a move, Tottenham and Levy have built up a reputation for playing hard ball to the detriment of players, and that means even the most stupid will be wary and in the long term costly.

 

[dadnlad]

I think we will get better as season goes on as players get used to new positions and the new structure. At the moment it feels like we need a set piece or something to go in our favor to unlock our game on the night.

if relying on a set piece our season is over poor at corners poor at free kicks and dont get me going about throw-ins lol

and yes southampton played ok but the play acting needs stamping out, poor officials adding 2 minutes at half time when one player was treated for 5 minutes the subbed and a keeper that was told he was adding minutes for time wasting and how long did VAR check take

 

[Bobby the blue]

I still hope that a lot of this tiredness and fatigue talk is borne out of the fact we didn’t have much of a per season. Otherwise there is little excuse this early in to be jaded. Still think we look unbalanced and in need of 2/3 new players. I think whacking poor teams like Norwich and Arsenal has masked a lot of issues in the side.

High energy high tempo teams like Leipzig and Southampton have shown we are going to be up against it this year.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

You're making a totally false equivalence.

We win league titles because we're the best on a macro level. But on a game to game basis, we rarely win games when we're not the better side and we rarely score late on. Just because they may be better than us at that doesn't mean they're better sides hence why we've won so much in comparison.

You end up in a bit of a circular argument, though. Yes, United were top of the table for points after falling behind last season, but when you fall behind regularly you lose more games because there's only so many games you can ride your luck for.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

But Kane was complicit in this by signing a new contract at a time when Spurs offered nothing in terms of career advancement. If he's happy at Spurs then he's done the right thing, but otherwise he priced himself out of the market and locked his own door. Perhaps he needs a new agent, though it's probably too late.

His brother's his agent and is way, way out of his depth. There are some new agents emerging on the scene - Stephen Ireland being one, who actually cares about players - young and old, and is properly supportive and still a player himself. He's been there, seen it, done it. I digress. Right now he's playing like someone whose mind is elsewhere - his career being reduced to personal success and no team success. Emotional blackmail, guilt tripping by his club ? I always thought Kane would be a one club guy (apart from his early years loans) - he doesn't have the out and out ambition to try something new. I could never seem going to Real Madrid and doing what the new galacticos have to and juggle the ball on the centre spot.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

if relying on a set piece our season is over poor at corners poor at free kicks and dont get me going about throw-ins lol

and yes southampton played ok but the play acting needs stamping out, poor officials adding 2 minutes at half time when one player was treated for 5 minutes the subbed and a keeper that was told he was adding minutes for time wasting and how long did VAR check take

Southampton were time wasting in the tenth minute......

 

[Northblue]

People will be queuing up to buy you one at the next game!

Pre match pint did it's job tonight mate!