Spurs (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

Lee the Blue said:
Feels like Liverpool in 2022/23 when they dropped off and finished 5th - 20 odd points off the top. They then had to reset and bought a new midfield on the fly that summer.

That looks very much like us this season.

Gundogan & Nunes aren't good enough. Gundo's legs have gone, Nunes never was at top 4 level of player. KDB has also dropped off a cliff as Father Time has caught him - in any sane world we aren't offering him another contract. Bernardo has been piss poor this season too - looks very jaded.

Arsenal play pretty much the same system as us - the hold midfielder is the absolute key position to make it work. He has to be there to shut doors, shield the back 4 and keep the ball moving to the same coloured shirt.

They have Rice - if he's injured they have Jorginho as a reserve. And Partey. And Merino. 4 possibles options.

We have Rodri ..... and no fucker. That is the nub of the main issue here and until a genuine hold midfielder can again be plugged in once again, we won't be beating any quality sides at all. We dropped ourselves in this position btw falling asleep at the wheel in an act of complacency.
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Intelligent post in a sea of bollocks.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
You would think that would be the strategy when it’s Clear to everyone watching that teams will score if we persist with this current way of playing. Everyone other than Pep that is !

There was a point in the game yesterday where Spurs nabbed the ball during our attack and in one pass they were 3/3 which soon became 4/3. Fortunately they didn’t score that one but by the time they got the shot away we had still only managed to get one more player back.

The forwards and midfield are not working hard enough and playing a style based on possession is not going to work when we keep giving possession away.
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Not working hard enough ? come on matey

its just form. when you are flying everything is easy and things come off and the goals go flying in
I think the stats show we had enough chances to win many games, its football ? nobody ever stays champions for ever
 
simon23 said:
The problem isnt our wide players....you could ahve the best in the world out there they aint solving the midfield issues.....

Gundo, Lewis - both extremely poor defensively....People seem to be ignoring Lewis (because he is young and an academy graduate) but he was really bad yesterday and not for the first time.....People get on Walkers back (rightly so) but Lewis is equally as culpable whether at right back or in midfield. Gvardiol also had a stinker but he has been one of our better performers most of the season.
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Lewis is a 19 year old kid and should only be being phased in and out at this point in his development.

The current injury situation and the fact Nunes is dog shit has forced Pep’s hand.
 
ancoats said:
Not working hard enough ? come on matey

its just form. when you are flying everything is easy and things come off and the goals go flying in
I think the stats show we had enough chances to win many games, its football ? nobody ever stays champions for ever
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They aren't working hard enough out of possession and it has nothing to do with the concept of staying champions forever. There were multiple examples of the midfield jogging back last night - the defence has been shite but they get fuck all help
 
Stoned Rose said:
Lewis is a 19 year old kid and should only be being phased in and out at this point in his development.

The current injury situation and the fact Nunes is dog shit has forced Pep’s hand.
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Lewis is also a 19 year old right back getting played in every position bar right back when our current right back is absolutely awful.

Lewis is playing really bad but he’s being hung out to dry.
 
mexico1970 said:
When Pep verbally threw the league cup under the bus and will probably do the same with the FA cup it makes you wonder if it's all about Europe for him now and the shit world crap cup for the players.

We have had Rodri and Debruyne both out injured for some time that's a tough ask for any team but it doesn't explain how some of these players have fell away in form so much they are unrecognisable, the chemistry in the side seems a bit off to me.

Maybe they got bored of winning? Maybe the PL charges are getting to them? Maybe without both of our midfield stalwarts they fall apart?

We are playing shit but he still wont play McAtee but will see Lewis struggling but continues with him through thick and thin. Players getting injured easily is a concern too.

No easy fixes here and I can't see this squad of players working through it, the year extension isn't enough to rebuild a squad and if Pep does leave after a year and leaves us with these players would he be leaving us with the same problems the GPC left the rags with, an aging backbone of the squad and where Gill left the rags so has Txiki.
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Much work to do in the summer, we could do with a couple in Jan if anyone really good is available to get us in the CL again next year.

We have to be careful of panic buying average that we get stuck with.
 
hilts said:
Much work to do in the summer, we could do with a couple in Jan if anyone really good is available to get us in the CL again next year.

We have to be careful of panic buying average that we get stuck with.
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We’ve been panic buying average the past 5 transfer windows bar Gavardiol. Add to that just letting decent players leave without putting up a fight to keep them.
 
leithblue said:
I wrote a bit of a hissy fit post in the match thread at 3-0…so taken a few deep breaths since then.

It took us 7+ hours to drive there today. It usually takes 4/4.5hrs. With 4 kids. As we do every home game (to be fair, kids don’t do weekdays, though I do). My boys are 15 and 12 and had to push the car a couple of times in the borders as the snow hit and the A702 was hit with the blizzard. It probably wasn’t good parenting to put us all at risk to be honest, the roads were lethal.

We’re now at Carlisle on the way back, if the roads are halfway decent it’s another couple of hours out to East Lothian.

But that was dogshit. Utter dogshit.

Like I said in my other post, I’ve barely missed a home game in 40 years. I was there at Lincoln when we let in 4. And Anfield for both games when we let in 10 in the space of 5 days. But tonight was dogshit.

What annoys me is the players we had our tonight have won everything. I’m not hacked off at Craig Russell, Ged Brannan, Martyn Margetson or (showing my age) Gary Fleming. They’d not won a thing, they had nothing to prove, they did their best.

Tonight, I didn’t feel that team did their best and that’s unforgivable.

Anyway, rant over. Back to the M6 and M74 and getting home wired from the coffee whilst the players have been asleep for hours and I carry an 8 year old to her bed.

Melodramatic I know and I’ll be there midweek as always but I’m royally f*cked off tonight, more than I should be.
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That would make a brilliant Christmas film :-)

One of the kids gets left behind in the snow drift, you pick up a John Candy type hitch hiker en route.
You arrive at City starving to be told, "run out of chips"

And you are the only 6 people let in the ground at the full time whistle :-) (the hitch hiker has to blag his way in on a junior ticket).ha ha
 
In sum:

Rodri out - danger. He's our only real DM, emphasis on D.
Kovacic out as well - He's a semi-D mostly box-to-box/AM.

From there, we're in trouble as our mid won't be able to cut-out attacks as much as we need.

And then, as City, we play a very aggressive, possession-based, high line system. Our mid absolutely needs to close down attacks quickly - or at least quickly challenge for the ball - otherwise our high defensive line will be caught out. Coupled with the fact that our fullbacks aren't even in defensive position when we attack.
 
Mcfc1.9.8.0 said:
We’ve been panic buying average the past 5 transfer windows bar Gavardiol. Add to that just letting decent players leave without putting up a fight to keep them.
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Lessons learnt and new guy so fingers crossed:-)

We have done quite well.over those 5 years do you not think?
 
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