Spurs (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[citytill1die84]

Woke up and yep still pissed off :(

 

[Bigga]

He stands up for himself when he's getting fouled and receiving little or no protection from referees.

His disciplinary record is good.

How many times have you seen our midfielders get caught up rows with players on a regular basis?

Here's my thing; I'm not against Grealish being a central midfielder, I want better discipline from him in the middle to lead the mid and taking responsibility to make progressive passes.

When have you seen him do that on a regular basis? He carries and safely goes to a close team mate. I cannot recall him making a slide rule or clever blind pass that was memorable!

I'm sure you'll remind me from the midfield position?

 

[balotellishaircut]

Very little end product for so much possession....no left foot and sooooooo predictable.

No change from day one but he was no better or worse than anyone else yesterday.

One unforced mistake and the width of the cross bar separated the teams.

57 points to play for including the arse who we’ve already beaten

Bring it on till it’s mathematically impossible !!

51 points to play for mate, Pep looks lost so don’t see anything changing anytime soon.

 

[Blue Theatre]

Who is the guy who's been wearing number 17 for us in recent weeks ? I don't recognise him, but his passing is terrible & he keeps getting caught in possession.

 

[halfcenturyup]

he only referred to Belgium team overall and slightly about himself not City

Well yes I know. Still found it a bit of a strange attitude before a WC. May be nothing, of course.

 

[citytill1die84]

Doesn't make sense that, you are trying to push a positive situation and end with players dont want to be here, why not?

Well it shows despite this team coming to its end we can still compete.

Bernardo, Laporte & Gundogan (50/50) like Cancelo all want to leave. We should have cut our losses with Bernardo in the summer as hes been wank.

We've lost a lot of our leaders in the last couple of years and we need new 1s.

Pep knows what's need and no doubt the club will see to this in the summer.

Our squad is also massively thin.

 

[give it to gordon]

Does Pep not like naturally left sided players lol. No natural left back no natural left winger !.

Lewis didnt look comfy there and I actually felt sorry for him. He seems to be getting very little support from our senior pros

 

[The perfect fumble]

Can't argue with much of this.....

 

[shevtheblue]

But why is it OK to assume players who have come good for us too many times to count have all either gone to shit ability wise or become problematic personalities all at the same time? I'm not saying it's all on Pep, but how exactly is he blameless? Does anyone really believe that throwing so many champion players under the bus is going to make other top players come here?

Agree, he's definitely to blame for this. It's new territory for him as well, I think he's tried to force something and it just wasn't needed. Gently making adjustments was all that was required as we had a way of playing already, he's tried to change the way of playing (which he's admitted himself) which has taken years to perfect. At the end of the day he's the boss and its his job to make changes where he thinks they're needed, but i think he's gotten this one wrong and is just digging now. He made a point in that Chelsea game where we were shit to say he was playing the team/structure that everyone wanted him to play, and it didn't work. Taking off Walker and Cancelo at half time IIRC, to prove his new way was the best way. But it's just not the case, there has been a conscious movement away from our principles and even when Walker and Cancelo have played, the team haven't been told to play how they would have previously.
The point i was trying to make is that is not because of Haaland, there has been talk in the media of Haaland forcing Pep to change the way we play. When we have used Alvarez we have played the same way, and we 100% would be in a much better position if we had just kept the system the same and made slower adjustments to it as time went.

 

[Tb1981]

Which suggests it might be a tactic?

Opponents aren't letting him turn, asking the striker to drop in and man mark him.

In doing so, Rodri is forcing it, trying to get us out with risky passes closer to our own goal.

Teams in Europe used to do the same with Yaya, stop him turning and getting his head up.

Rodri's mistakes are in the spotlight because the team is lacking enough creativity to take the onus off him and the back four.

Another reason why Stones is so vital in the build up.

To a lesser extent, Laporte's ability to switch the play long out to the Mahrez flank.

Bernie used to be that recycler but his race seems run. Kev can come and collect but his high risk passing gives us the same headache as Rodri's.

The signing of Phillips has been a disaster. He can pass from deep but Pep clearly doesn't trust him.

Now that the league has gone (for me we are nowhere near good enough to catch arsenal at present) it’s worth giving Phillips a run and actually see if he is any good