*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Bayer 04 Leverkusen ***

[SpurMeUp]

does Kane really make chances for himself or were the AM doing a better job of making space and pulling defences around last season?

We're lacking Toby's pinpoint balls and calm in defence. Eriksen is not on form - could have scored two today. Janssen is new, as is Sissoko, Winks, Nkoudu.

 

[DubaiSpur]

fair enough

won't stop me applauding it either

Fair enough.

 

[Baleforce]

Actually I don't agree. Kane makes chances out of nothing. His shots are usually dangerous even if they don't result in a goal and he is often in the right place at the right time. I don't think any of these things apply to a Vincent. I really hope I am wrong and just fudged off about today.

i'm not so sure anyone in football does that, a player may collect the ball a fair way out and stick it in but whats lead to the pocket of space opening, a forward can only lose their defender when a teammate has caused a threat to divide attention of said defender

Janssen seems to have 2 cb's on him all the time because the rest of the team are doing naff all to create a threat

 

[Robspur12]

We're lacking Toby's pinpoint balls and calm in defence. Eriksen is not on form - could have scored two today. Janssen is new, as is Sissoko, Winks, Nkoudu.

We are also missing dembele's "drive through the press." We struggle against any team that presses us at the moment. Wanyama is a defensive beast but he doesn't drive forward as well as the moose. We will struggle with Kane, Toby and moose out. They are essentially our spine. Those 3 played most games last season and we were very good as a result.

 

[Baleforce]

We're lacking Toby's pinpoint balls and calm in defence. Eriksen is not on form - could have scored two today. Janssen is new, as is Sissoko, Winks, Nkoudu.

all true, but Dier can ping it about, Verts should be calm, he's as experienced as Toby and we had new faces last season as well

 

[SpurMeUp]

Haven't been this angry after a Spurs game since end of last season.

I get we were lacking a few first team players, that we're off form and lacking confidence with some new/squad players etc....what really upsets me was the rabbit in the headlights, slow passing, poor passing, lack of belief. Even second rate players should be able to do the basics and raise their game. Tonight we couldn't...In the big games we seem to capitulate.

 

[Rorschach]

Oh, well, we'll get better eventually. Probably not Sunday though, so that sucks. Can hope for us parking the bus and holding on to a draw.

Still, we're a young side still learning in poor form. We'll get better. Hopefully Poch sees that we need some creativity going forward though. We need someone for Eriks when he's not performing.

It is not just that though. I see no patterns of play going forward. The movement is awful and our propensity to take ten touches when one or two will do is killing any spontaneity. Our transition into attack from the back is so laboured that I'm beginning to wonder if we spend our whole time on the training ground doing defensive drills.

 

[Baleforce]

Fair enough.

I look forward to further discussion when the fudging fa cup sullies our calendar ;-)

 

[Pirate55]

Haven't been this angry after a Spurs game since end of last season.

I get we were lacking a few first team players, that we're off form and lacking confidence with some new/squad players etc....what really upsets me was the rabbit in the headlights, slow passing, poor passing, lack of belief. Even second rate players should be able to do the basics and raise their game. Tonight we couldn't...In the big games we seem to capitulate.

Totally agree. I think we have to start questioning whether the Poch prepares them well for big games. Is he a winner? Does he instill a winners mentality? What medals has he won as a manager? Are we over-trained? Are we under rehearsed in basics like corners? Do we have a plan b? Are his substitutions effective. Every time we have a big, 'must win' game, we have capitulated - in some cases like Saudi Sportswashing Machine last season, completely impotently. Were his purchases what we really needed? Sissoko looks a shocking buy.

Some crucial questions there. Poch had better find some answers and quickly. Sunday would be a good place to start.

 

[SpurMeUp]

We are also missing dembele's "drive through the press." We struggle against any team that presses us at the moment. Wanyama is a defensive beast but he doesn't drive forward as well as the moose. We will struggle with Kane, Toby and moose out. They are essentially our spine. Those 3 played most games last season and we were very good as a result.

As he matures I think Wanyama will drive forward more and more.

We were unlucky. A draw was probably fair. But at least now we can try and clear the slate, and focus on doing the simple things well. We're not the dogs pods. We need to regroup and fight our way back now.

Would love Poch to get our passing better. Combination of moving in more predicable shapes and faster more accurate passing needed.

 

[Baleforce]

It is not just that though. I see no patterns of play going forward. The movement is awful and our propensity to take ten touches when one or two will do is killing any spontaneity. Our transition into attack from the back is so laboured that I'm beginning to wonder if we spend our whole time on the training ground doing defensive drills.

it's very different this season, the three behind are much deeper than last year

 

[Bedfordspurs]

That was absolute balls

 

[SpurMeUp]

i'm not so sure anyone in football does that, a player may collect the ball a fair way out and stick it in but whats lead to the pocket of space opening, a forward can only lose their defender when a teammate has caused a threat to divide attention of said defender

Janssen seems to have 2 cb's on him all the time because the rest of the team are doing naff all to create a threat

He needs running off (past) him. What Son should be doing. That would open things up. Poch needs to re-appraise our whole attacking setup. Have all confidence in him to do so.

 

[glasgowspur]

Can't believe the stick for Janssen and sissoko when you consider that walker nearly gave away three goals, Dier was a bombscare, eriksen useless, dele either fell over or fouled every time he went near the ball and son was anonymous.
Neither of was great but they were way down the list to blame.

 

[glorygloryeze]

After a while, just doing 'krypton factor' style army training will drain the creativity. Brawn over guile too many times leads to this....

 

[DubaiSpur]

Haven't been this angry after a Spurs game since end of last season.

I get we were lacking a few first team players, that we're off form and lacking confidence with some new/squad players etc....what really upsets me was the rabbit in the headlights, slow passing, poor passing, lack of belief. Even second rate players should be able to do the basics and raise their game. Tonight we couldn't...In the big games we seem to capitulate.

There are only three times in the recent past that I can remember us comprehensively bucking a trend and actually confounding everyone's expectations of a drop-off or a Spurs-esque collapse after a setback - the first was when Harry miraculously took the team which lost the FA Cup semi-final to Portsmouth in extra time (to a KPB goal, iirc) and made it beat Arsenal in the league for the first time in a decade, made it beat Chelsea after a dominant performance that stunned the hitherto free-scoring champions-to-be and then made it beat City with ease, all of which secured CL football for the first time in our history. The second was when AVB's relentless string of late-season results took us to our highest ever points total - we were only beaten to the CL by Arsenal because they had gone on a truly ridiculous run of ten wins in eleven games or something like that. And the third was when we bounced back after the defeat against Leicester at home last season.

For every time we've risen to the occasion *over a span of games* (of course there have been great individual performances and come-backs), there is an equally awful period where we completely lived up to the stereotype and bottled it. 2011/2012 ('Mind the Gap!'), last season's awful last-gasp collapse, the works.

I look forward to further discussion when the fudgeing fa cup sullies our calendar ;-)

Cheeky.

 

[Rorschach]

it's very different this season, the three behind are much deeper than last year

Deeper up their own arses.

 

[Baleforce]

Can't believe the stick for Janssen and sissoko when you consider that walker nearly gave away three goals, Dier was a bombscare, eriksen useless, dele either fell over or fouled every time he went near the ball and son was anonymous.
Neither of was great but they were way down the list to blame.

fair

 

[glorygloryeze]

Can't believe the stick for Janssen and sissoko when you consider that walker nearly gave away three goals, Dier was a bombscare, eriksen useless, dele either fell over or fouled every time he went near the ball and son was anonymous.
Neither of was great but they were way down the list to blame.

Agree; but sadly it seems to me that Janssen and Sissoko highlight the overemphasis on brawn over guile, which out system has been shown to be based on...Brawn can only get you so far imo

 

[Pirate55]

I actually think I'm better than Sissoko - nice bloke and all, but...

I think we all do !

 

[Baleforce]

Agree; but sadly it seems to me that Janssen and Sissoko highlight the overemphasis on brawn over guile, which out system has been shown to be based on...Brawn can only get you so far imo

maybe we have gone to far the other way but we were certainly a little short of strength on occasion last year