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**** OMT Tottenham Hotspur FC v Bodo Glimt ****

So....bit shambolic at times but the positives are we kept going, the manager made decisive and effective changes and the players that came in really made an impact.

Has to be said that Odobert, Johnson and Tel are playing their way to the exit door at a fairly rapid pace this season.
 
Ffs! Stop talking about the surface! It's not very different from grass! I've played loads on both, and couldn't give a rats ass about what surface I was playing on. Made absolutely no difference!
What I would say is, if you are going to play EL or CL football you can't lay your artificial surface will visible wrinkles/creases in it. If Bodo think that's alright, then it's up to UEFA to turn up as say 'this is an effing joke'
 
No credit to Frank. Changes should've been made way earlier. Shocking performances all over the pitch and he did nothing to change it until 60 mins
Have to say I agree. How he ends up thinking no changes are necessary at half time I really struggle to understand. We just weren't functional.

If 15 additional minutes of football is too much for Kudus and Simons to make those changes at half time we have options even then, like Archie Gray coming on.

I know it's early and I things will take time and I'm ready to be patient. But that first half is so poor, to just let that play out again in the second half... Nearly cost us the game and we're lucky to come away with a point.
 
Simons and Bergvall (not his best outing tonight) should be 8s, with Paulinha at 6, would be my preference. Kudus owns the right wing now, but to my eyes Odebert is not ready just yet to offer the same counterweight on the opposite flank. His moments are good, but too infrequent and his press is poor.

Blagged that point really.
 
Only watched first half
But if the set up is designed to only play wide we will have massive issues all season
If Frank wants legs in midfield we also need to play though midfield too
We did that at the start of the season, didn't we? Seem to remember commenting about just that, how refreshing not seeing 90% of the balls ending up as aimless crosses from the flank. Bergvall and Sarr with Palinha as anchor? Bentancur is shiftable.
 
takeaways from that:
- Xavi has to start at 10.
- Kudus has to start.
- stop shoehorning Bergvall in at 10, it's not his position.
- we need a striker
- Bentancur is too slow.
I hope Bergvall is seen as ready for a somewhat deeper role soon. I mean, he was last season and repeatedly that's where he looked at his best.

If not, at least have some players willing and able to play through midfield deeper so he can actually get on the ball playing as a 10.
 
Simons and Bergvall (not his best outing tonight) should be 8s, with Paulinha at 6, would be my preference. Kudus owns the right wing now, but to my eyes Odebert is not ready just yet to offer the same counterweight on the opposite flank. His moments are good, but too infrequent and his press is poor.

Blagged that point really.
The player who looks most suited to the left isn’t in the squad
 
I hope Bergvall is seen as ready for a somewhat deeper role soon. I mean, he was last season and repeatedly that's where he looked at his best.

If not, at least have some players willing and able to play through midfield deeper so he can actually get on the ball playing as a 10.
IMO he hasn’t yet got the intelligence to play deeper
It may come
We need Palhihna playing with 2 runners in front who force him to pass forward
 
I’ve no idea what the commentators were on about, I thought defensively we looked atrocious yet all game they seem to be applauding them! All over the place, not following runners, then when we did we followed the wrong ones, no passing players on, leaving players in acres of space near the penalty area. If that was Ange’s defense people would be spewing!

However we dug in showed character and looked better with the subs. Time will tell if that’s a good point up there or not, I’ll be looking at their other results with interest.
I keep saying that we do not have a single high quality defender in the squad. All our defenders strengths lie when they are on the ball for me not off it. None of them are good 1 v 1, VDV has recovery pace but i think for his size he is weak in the air, poor positionally and gets done far too easily. X3 of our full backs started their careers as wing backs and frankly, it shows. They give the opposition too much space, they are awful positionally. I think Romero is still too rash he can be goaded into a head rush or lunge that leaves us exposed. There is a lot of running, fight and throwing bodies around but not a great deal of stand your ground, hold your line and create a wall that is hard to get at. That is a mental weakness in our defenders. The easy option (the one your instincts tell you to do) is go towards the ball and engage. Making sure you are in line and moving as one as a defence is far more important
 
I hope Bergvall is seen as ready for a somewhat deeper role soon. I mean, he was last season and repeatedly that's where he looked at his best.

If not, at least have some players willing and able to play through midfield deeper so he can actually get on the ball playing as a 10.
No comparison intended, but like Modric he looks more like an assister to an assist than an assister. He's constantly trying to make things happen, which is what I like most about him.
 
IMO he hasn’t yet got the intelligence to play deeper
It may come
We need Palhihna playing with 2 runners in front who force him to pass forward
He looked ready for that last season when he played there. Then again, that was under a very much less risk averse manager.

The problem isn't a lack of runners, it's quality on the ball and willingness to play with some risk to progress the ball, particularly in central areas. Both Sarr and Bergvall are willing runners.

Our central midfielders made Berg look like Modric by comparison.
 
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