Spurs (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[coolcity]

He said very clearly since signing the contract that he won’t see it out if he believes the players stop responding to him.

It's called mind games.

 

[ancoats]

So you want the first XI to play 60 matches a season?

am not saying that ? what I was saying is the BIG games like spurs away, you want all the best players starting if fully fit, knowing it's a hard place to get points, also you field a young kid at left back Lewis ? he's not a left back and plays at right wing back,

 

[coolcity]

When it comes down to things like our dressing room I don't rely on suspicions and this smoke and fire thing you mention. You seem to be getting a bit over excited - drop in form 'Oh, there must be some drama going on.' You're entitled to your opinion but you have zilch/zero/no idea of the state of our dressing room. Every great team in history has poor runs - we're going through ours. And it's all relative - 21 games in and the table doesn't lie - every team is exactly where they deserve to be. We're second - we deserve to be second. Arsenal have played out of their skin - they deserve to be top but no medals are handed out on 6 February.

Exactly this. Most sensible post on the thread.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Look at the body language, the uncertainty around passing and shooting. The players look scared of making a mistake.
They're not playing with any real flair or character. The passion isn't the same.

If you can’t see there's something not quite right in the team/squad, you're not watching the game.

I think it very likely that the Cancelo situation has deeper roots than we've heard about. Things don't always run smoothly in dressing rooms, and they're quite rightly 'hushed up'. However, the more unhappy or disillusioned players there are, the more obvious it gets.

Things haven't been right since Pep failed to appoint a strong right hand man to work with the squad. He's becoming even more risk averse, is obsessive about possession to the point of boredom, has surrounded himself by yes men and is over-experimenting with tactics/selection.

He's becoming a very cautious / nervous coach. You can see it in his demeanour at pitchside and some of his interviews. His team's performance yesterday reflected that perfectly.

I disagree with your 'becoming a cautious coach' comment. On a few occasions yesterday we only had three players in our own half facing the counter attack. That isn't cautious is it - that's risk and reward. Spurs - a megabucks club with an elite coach and some elite players, yet they're happy to park the bus at home in front of 60,000 fans with 30-odd per cent possession. To me, that's cautious and it's pathetic. We gift-wrapped their goal for them but the media somehow are trying to make out it was a Spurs masterclass. But Rodri has been monumental for us since he signed - the guy has cohones/cojones - takes the ball under pressure every game.

The team selection may change, the formation may be tweaked, but our basic tactic doesn't change. We take the ball into areas of the pitch - we show the ball to the opposition (come and try and get it) and we try and keep the ball until the opposition come looking for it and lose their shape as they converge on us. We then switch the play with a diagonal to the opposite flank to the wide player who runs at the lopsided defence. At the moment that switch isn't happening, we're out of form - the players are human.

Pre-Pep, remember Nedum Onouha recalling how David Silva gave him a talking to because Nedum didn't pass to him ? Nedum said 'But you were being marked'. David responded by saying 'No, no, no, you need to give me the ball when I'm being marked. That's when I want it'. That movement still applies now. That's why Pep loved having David in the team.

Our playing out from the

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Good post. We look very jaded. Look at the dippers? Are they having disgruntled issues behind the scenes? No, theyre fucked. So are we but the difference is we have a better squad and better manager so we do better In adversity.
this is a season too far. We arent ready for 3 on the bounce.

Plus the fact that the dippers' best players are 30/30-odd and getting past it. They can't do the Klopp hard running thing year after year. Their succession planning has been poor.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Clearly something not right behind the scenes mate. It’d be too much of a massive coincidence for it just to be a ‘drop in form’

What are you speculating the problem is ? Alternatively, have you heard any factual accounts of behind the scenes stuff ? There are so-called reliable sources saying Cancelo squared up to Pep and the other players sided with Pep. But I have no evidence and there's so many conflicting accounts flying around that I can't believe any of them. I'm not going to speculate.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Clearly something not right behind the scenes mate. It’d be too much of a massive coincidence for it just to be a ‘drop in form’

A component of our drop in form is Haaland.

He's world class - but he's no false 9.

IMO - Pep needs to change his footballing philosophy to accommodate Haaland.

In past seasons - Pep has relied on ball control and deft passing. If we have the ball... they can't score.

This tactic, however, breaks down - if you have a true striker - and especially a striker who isn't particularly gifted at ball retention/passing - e.g., Haaland.

IMO we need to be much more risk adverse in our passing - willing to turn the ball over - hopefully temporarily - passing much, much, much more often to Haaland, even if this leads to a turn over.

In the risky pass to Haaland style, our press will likely need to be much more aggressive. We'll still play a high line - except that we'll now turn the ball over much more often. If we're not to be destroyed on the counter - our press will need to be immediate - fast players at every position.

This style of play is 100% not the way Pep prefers - but with Haaland - this style seems, if not mandatory, at the very least, best.

 

[neel]

 

[ayrshire_blue]

That's not normal.

 

[mancityscot]

A component of our drop in form is Haaland.

He's world class - but he's no false 9.

IMO - Pep needs to change his footballing philosophy to accommodate Haaland.

In past seasons - Pep has relied on ball control and deft passing. If we have the ball... they can't score.

This tactic, however, breaks down - if you have a true striker - and especially a striker who isn't particularly gifted at ball retention/passing - e.g., Haaland.

IMO we need to be much more risk adverse in our passing - willing to turn the ball over - hopefully temporarily - passing much, much, much more often to Haaland, even if this leads to a turn over.

In the risky pass to Haaland style, our press will likely need to be much more aggressive. We'll still play a high line - except that we'll now turn the ball over much more often. If we're not to be destroyed on the counter - our press will need to be immediate - fast players at every position.

This style of play is 100% not the way Pep prefers - but with Haaland - this style seems, if not mandatory, at the very least, best.

whats odd, is that we were banging them in at the start of the season. 4 against palace, 6 against forest, 6 against united. teams just seem to have sussed us and our levels have also dropped off massively.