Spurs (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[willipp]

Just seen we have played 5 times at their new stadium, lost all 5 and failed to score a single goal. Not a place i will look forward to us going back to at all.

 

[fuskarn]

Just seen we have played 5 times at their new stadium, lost all 5 and failed to score a single goal. Not a place i will look forward to us going back to at all.

2 missed penalties and a red in those games as well.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

I don't think anyone was surprised by yesterday's result and performance and if they were then they've not been paying attention.

Lots more of that to come between now and the end of the season and that's not me putting a downer on it, that's just the state of play right now.

Buckle up, ride it out and look forward to the summer.

In the meantime, don't bother looking for scapegoats and easy answers. There's a malaise around City at the moment and we can all feel it. It happens every few years and it goes to show that the kind of form we've had over the last five years isn't sustainable forever.

We'll be back. The real us, that is. I just don't think anyone should expect it between now and the end of the season. Glimpses here and there but we won't be doing it week in, week out. That's simply not where we are right now.

This is where I am at. If we can see flashes of a system that we'll play next season come into view, finish the season strongly and get lucky in one of the cups, then great. But unless there is an historic Arsenal collapse I don't see us being consistent enough to put a run together that punishes even the small missteps Arsenal will have. I don't think we are terrible, and we'll finish 2nd or 3rd comfortably, but we are just off the standards that we've set for ourselves.

 

[SJT]

Pep's the elephant in the room here, tinker tinker tinker...everyone fucking totally pissed off, sick of not having a LB in the team - its BEYOND a joke, slow turgid sideways backwards build up - no Foden (ill my arse) cancelo gone, Bernardo wants off, Laporte pissed off, no KDB (only one who passes to Haaland) - Q, Whats the point of having a viking goal machine NEGLECTED at the front...hes lost the dressing room this is SHITE.

 

[Roachy]

This is where I am at. If we can see flashes of a system that we'll play next season come into view, finish the season strongly and get lucky in one of the cups, then great. But unless there is an historic Arsenal collapse I don't see us being consistent enough to put a run together that punishes even the small missteps Arsenal will have. I don't think we are terrible, and we'll finish 2nd or 3rd comfortably, but we are just off the standards that we've set for ourselves.

We look so ordinary, it's very frustrating. Dominating possession is masking our general ineffectiveness. Play it safe, play it safe etc. the goal will come. Never really looked like happening yesterday.

 

[spiny]

We need a centrally creative player, Pep seems to send anyone with the ability into the wide positions leaving us with an overworked Rodri to find the telling passes. Sometimes he actual doubles up with the wide players (Mahrez, Bernado)to create an overload which often leaves us open to the counter-attack through the middle.

Rodri had no-one to pass to apart from long balls. Bernardo did not show and Rico is too inexperienced. He was similarly left exposed when Spurs attacked.

We are weak in midfield and pose little threat from wide.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Pep's the elephant in the room here, tinker tinker tinker...everyone fucking totally pissed off, sick of not having a LB in the team - its BEYOND a joke, slow turgid sideways backwards build up - no Foden (ill my arse) cancelo gone, Bernardo wants off, Laporte pissed off, no KDB (only one who passes to Haaland) - Q, Whats the point of having a viking goal machine NEGLECTED at the front...hes lost the dressing room this is SHITE.

Oh dear, it's going to be a bad day for somebody

 

[Spanishbob]

When gundogan said the team were tired and the fire in the belly wasn’t there at the beginning of the season then the alarm bells were ringing.

 

[Bluemoon has risen]

One thing I am sick and tired of is the constant rotating at the back. Ake had a superb game at left back against Arsenal, completely controlling Saka and instead of sticking with it and just putting Laporte / Dias in at CB to replace Stones, Pep made 3 changes moving Ake to CB, Lewis to LB (a young kid who has never played there before) and putting Walker in at right back. It just felt very unnecessary. Sure I read a stat that we've had 18 or 19 different defensive combinations this season, which is ridiculous. Whilst some of it is forced due to injuries, some of that isn't forced and is tinkering for tinkerings sake. The one constant seems to be Akanji and I'd argue he's the weakest of all our CBs.

Pep needs to stop messing about and just stick with a backline for the rest of the season. I'm really not sure what Laporte and Dias have done but it does seem very strange that neither of them have played much recently. Dias especially hasn't had a look in since his injury.

The problems in midfield are obvious and that won't be solved until the summer until we buy younger, more dynamic players, but we have enough CBs to not make this more of a team problem with inconsistent teams selections.

 

[flb]

When you look to the games before the WC (bar Brentford at home) we weren't anything as bad as we are after it. Kev wasn't his scintillating best but he's become a shadow of himself whilst at and after the WC. What's also alarming is the talk/rumours that Walker has been unhappy -he's been the ultimate professional at his time with us, and what the hell has happened to Foden? Phillips hasn't done anything at all whilst at the club regardless of his injury problem. Why all of a sudden have we fell off the cliff in our intensity on the pitch? Ruben or Laporte aren't getting any game time on the pitch whatsoever, even Edison just doesn't seem himself with his distribution.
The only players covering themselves in glory are Akanji,Ake,Lewis,Rodri,Mahrez and Jack and obviously Haaland.
The rest surely cant have fallen off that much in the space of 4 months? Even Pep doesn't seem himself-he's one for studying body language-well from a fans perspective neither is his like it used to be. Something appears terribly wrong at the minute, where has the unity disappeared to?