Spurs (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[skillman]

Akanji should be the DM option alongside Rodri.

He's not strong enough as a central defender, certainly in the air, but he is quick enough and certainly has the passing technique to help us higher up.

I would than go Walker, Dias, Laporte and Ake as the back four until Stones is back.

I'd drop Mahrez for Kev wide right, have Walker doing the donkey work foil overlaps.

Gundo in the ten and Phil can decide if he wants to fight it out with Jack on the left for now.



...............Ederson........
Walker...Dias...Laporte...Ake
.........Akanji....Rodri.....
De Bruyne...Gundo....Grealish..
... ............Haaland.........

Strangely...I like the idea. Pep tried Stones at CDM at some point didn't he so he has previous.

I think the idea of Walker doing the legwork to create space for Kev is the bit I like most really. Even if Mahrez plays instead, giving him space in dangerous areas is a big plus too.

 

[Tolmie scores]

Strangely...I like the idea. Pep tried Stones at CDM at some point didn't he so he has previous.

I think the idea of Walker doing the legwork to create space for Kev is the bit I like most really. Even if Mahrez plays instead, giving him space in dangerous areas is a big plus too.

Looked shit, never even score there so we move on.

Not one goal at tbe "new WHL' That's an amazing stat

 

[LongsightM13]

There's a lot of good points in the video.
It was said that only Gundogan and KDB are the players to provide fast and precise through balls to the attackers. However, oposition have recently man marked these heavily. And this has paid off in the recent games. My thought why these two didn't start, was that maybe Pep wanted to confuse the opposition by using them later, off the bench. And before that, play it solidly and with low risk (low focus on pace forward), with an unformiliar formation. Riding the storm and holding back the move to introduce the best attack serving midfielders could have paid off, however, the early goal against fecked up this plan.
If it had succeeded it would have been called a master stroke. Just a thought.

If essentially writing off the first hour is indeed the strategy then that is insanely high risk and one that is clearly not working

 

[chesterbells]

I note that we are now at the stage where a whole lot of true “City fans” think that if you don’t want Pep to stay until he is 98 then you’re clearly not a “City fan”…blind loyalty is so healthy

For me, I’m not so sure it’s blind loyalty. Wanting him to stay as long as possible is a rational and ‘healthy’ view imho, based on how much he has won with us since he’s been here. Taking the “dips and troughs” with that is fine, esp when the level of achievement we are talking about is already so high.

Taking a reasonable pov but then exaggerating it to the point of parody to make it seem ridiculous - I’m honestly not sure that works in this case.

 

[don84]

Could be. At this point who really knows but Pep. It just appeared that neither KDB or Gundo looked the least bit happy being on the bench. I would think if there were such a plan they would be in on it?

Pep alledgely don't discuss reasoning behind his plan with the players.

Pep Guardiola won’t explain reasons if he rests Erling Haaland from City duty​

Jonathan Veal, PA
August 30, 2022·3 min read
Pep Guardiola says he does not care if he upsets Erling Haaland or any other Manchester City stars by dropping them.
Guardiola has said that Haaland will not play every game during a gruelling upcoming fixture schedule and the Spaniard was coy on whether the striker will play against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
He accepts that he will never be able to convince some players to be happy with not playing, but that does not derail his train of thought.

Erling Haaland has hit the ground running at City (Nick Potts/PA)
“No, I’m not going to explain. I don’t explain the reason for my decisions, because I will not convince them, some players understand they are part of everyone and some never will understand me,” said Guardiola.

 

[don84]

If essentially writing off the first hour is indeed the strategy then that is insanely high risk and one that is clearly not working

Every game decision includes a risk. And you could argue it was just one mistake away from working. However this speculation is solely on me, and as always, any plan that fail is trashed and any plan that succeed is praised.
Something had to be done about the heavy man marking problems of KDB and Gundo.

The new trend is also more ruthless tackles on Erling from behind when he is unaware. It will escalate until the refs start rewarding cards for faul play on him. Apparently it's ok since he's a robust guy, but it is not ok at all.

 

[simon23]

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.

And he isn't good enough to play as a 10

 

[george22]

Poor showing, again. And we’re still right in the thick of it. For now. I guess we’ll see what they’re made of.

 

[coolcity]

but look at the players we have not playing, sat on the bench ?

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

 

[coolcity]

Pep has always said it’s not about formations or systems, it’s about the players, and we are finding that out in a big way, too many are suffering from Pep-fatigue, let’s not forget he himself is in uncharted waters having spent so much time with us, but I for one am fully behind the gaffer, he is the single most important employee at our club, and he needs our backing, we could also really do with a visit/some words of wisdom from Khaldoon. I couldn’t stand player power getting rid of one of footballs great managers from out great club, the fans need to come out and show him some support and loyalty

Totally agree. I just hope he doesn't read some of the shite that's posted on here, though if he did he'd probably have gone long ago.

 

[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.