OMT ***Tottenham Hotspur v Swansea City ***

[Robbo]

Another disappointing display. Yes, we were cheated a penalty, possibly two, but we shouldn't have to rely on spot kicks to beat Swansea at home - regardless of how defensive they play.

This was pretty poor overall. Too much went central, where we generally got nowhere. Shows the importance of proper offensive full backs, IMO. With Rose and Walker in form, we would have beaten them. And what is this nonsense with playing players out of position? Trippier should have stayed right where he is better, and Sissoko should have been benched, where he does his best job for us.

That's another two point wasted at home; there was always going to be some of them, but we are racking them up alarmingly fast. And of course this will make the press push that Wembley hoodoo narrative even further.

 

[Pirate55]

Three games at Wembley now in the PL and only two goals. Worrying.

 

[DubaiSpur]

It's been said, but switching Trippier to the left was 100% baffling - and amply proven to be the wrong choice on every level, as he virtually eliminated any width we had on the left (with Son making those runs) and did next to nothing for 45 minutes.

Trippier is a good right-back. Not great, not Walker-level, not even the best RB in the team. But a good right back.

However, that is *all* he is. He is not an option at left-back. Poch tried it against Chelsea in the semifinal last year, and it was an utterly useless move - he tried it again today, with the exact same result. And *why* he tries this sort of thing baffles me - it's not like we had no choice, we had Davies, a bonafide specialist left-back, *right there* on the bench if we wanted to switch things up.

Sigh. Other than that mental decision, we did fairly well, for the most part. Swansea came for the point, stuck 11 men behind the ball and dared us to break them down - we had chances to do so, but lacked that extra bit of quality to fashion a really good one. Dier trying to dictate play from midfield was a bad idea, since he couldn't really live up to the role, and both Dele and Eriksen disappointed, but otherwise it was a mostly acceptable performance, and on another day we might have gotten something. It isn't easy when teams pack all eleven men into the penalty area and dare you to break them down with absolutely no ambition on their part to do anything else, and we aren't always going to be able to overcome that given that we don't really get into gear (true 'blow them all away' mode) until January/February anyway.

However, we didn't help ourselves with some of the tactical decisions in this game. Trippier on the left was as useless as he was when put there against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final last season, and if Poch's idea was to give it another shot, I hope this game conclusively puts to bed the idea that he can do anything at all from left-back - or really, from anywhere other than right-back.

 

[StephenH]

Wouldn't mind so much, if Swansea had defended well!
They did the square root of f^*k all.

 

[SpurMeUp]

One was so deep lol.

They didn't get a shot on goal so definitely had too many defenders, and Dier didn't need to screen at all second half. Yet he only got forward in the last 15 mins.

in hindsight, Dembele coming on might have helped. Better width - Aurier made a difference and almost opened them up - should have had a pen.

It wasn't a bad performance. Hit the bar, Alli a free header 5 yards out he mistimed, a pen or 2 pens not given. Only frustration is we didn't get more offensive 2nd half. Didn't need a screening midfield player and 3 CBs on the pitch.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Wouldn't mind so much, if Swansea had defended well!
They did the square root of f^*k all.

You have to credit them, they did defend well! Was a decent game. They stood up to us. We didn't do enough and didn't get much luck.

 

[DeleHarry]

I know Poch is he boss and knows more than any of us, but it's a shame someone like Georgiou isn't ready to step in if Davies is out. He looked quite lively in pre season and would have given us a natural left footed balance at left wing back. Plus against a side like Swansea it's worth taking a chance in blooding a kid.

Oh well....

 

[StephenH]

You have to credit them, they did defend well! Was a decent game. They stood up to us. We didn't do enough and didn't get much luck.

I'm sorry, they didn't look at all under pressure or rushed tonight!
They look very assured and to be honest comfortable.

 

[El Guepardo]

They didn't get a shot on goal so definitely had too many defenders, and Dier didn't need to screen at all second half. Yet he only got forward in the last 15 mins.

in hindsight, Dembele coming on might have helped. Better width - Aurier made a difference and almost opened them up - should have had a pen.

It wasn't a bad performance. Hit the bar, Alli a free header 5 yards out he mistimed, a pen or 2 pens not given. Only frustration is we didn't get more offensive 2nd half. Didn't need a screening midfield player and 3 CBs on the pitch.

Aurier made a difference? Well there's a fudging shock: I did say Aurier should start

 

[scaramanga]

Get real.

If you think the answer to breaking down a stubborn team is playing someone with poor decision making skills and an overall ability significantly below that of our first 11, then you're going to be disappointed.

That said, I'd rather have had Barkley out there than Sissoko this season.

 

[Huddy]

Turgid.

We took the patient approach as per normal against a team that parked the bus and it back fired as we can struggle to break these sides down and run out of ideas. We only really had Kane in the box for 75 minutes as Alli dropped deep and struggled to get into the game. Once Llorente came on you'd think two up front would change things but we preceded to ignore him and not use his strengths.

Today we needed to transition faster and play some riskier balls even if it meant handing over possession, we were far too slow in the build up, 75% possession means nothing if you can't find a way through a defence.

 

[lovely rita]

Exceptionally poor games for Alli and Eriksen... the usual poor display from Sissoko... 6 defenders versus 11 defenders... pffft this is awful.

Trippier is totally pointless on the left, we have completely negated our left side attack, nothing whatsoever from that side = zero goals

Poch does seem to like defenders more than attackers some times. We often play with six recognised defenders, remember Dier was a defender when we bought him. The first substitution today was a FB. We bought three defenders in the window out of four signings . We are short of genuine [ Davies is not one f ] attacking players. Eriksen getting injured does not bare thinking about...

 

[SpurMeUp]

I'm sorry, they didn't look at all under pressure or rushed tonight!
They look very assured and to be honest comfortable.

Well they weren't that comfortable. They probably should have conceded 2 pens, Kane smashes the bar, Alli misses a free header.

 

[DeleHarry]

I think we will be alright. The team is still getting used to Wembley imo. i remember when Poch first came and we had some dodgy results at home at the start of his first season, losses at home to Liverpool and W Brom, we also lost to Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Stoke and Hull all in a row. Poor results, poor performances, the talk was that the WHL pitch was to blame, it was considered too small for Poch's gameplan.

It took time but Poch found the right formula, the right team selection and results and performances improved. He will do it again.

 

[billyiddo]

I thought we had worked out how to beat stubborn teams last season

 

[DeleHarry]

I thought we had worked out how to beat stubborn teams last season

That was at WHL. Whether anyone likes it or not, the side is still adapting to playing at Wembley.

I'm convinced their will be a transition period at the new stadium too.

 

[the dza]

We were a little unlucky not to win, but maybe we used up our luck in the week!

Hitting the bar, maybe should have had a penalty BUT... we didn't move the ball well enough and I think Poch made an error in leaving Trippier on the left for so long, he offered nothing from there and was poor in general in both halves of the game.

One of those games if we'd have scored 1 I think we'd have gone on to get 3 or 4. I also think the team were stupid when Llorente came on -- before he came on, we kept crossing it, when he came on, we hardly put any high balls in to him -- the one time we did resulted in the chance for Aurier. Collective stupidity.

Hopefully we will click but it is frustrating to watch us stutter after playing so well in the 2nd part of last season.

 

[Rorschach]

It is a game of fine margins. Kane scores instead of hitting the bar, Alli scores with his header, Son scores with one of his chances from the left, or one of the pen's is given then we'd then we'd all be here cranking like marky over a job well done.

 

[Rorschach]

We were a little unlucky not to win, but maybe we used up our luck in the week!

Hitting the bar, maybe should have had a penalty BUT... we didn't move the ball well enough and I think Poch made an error in leaving Trippier on the left for so long, he offered nothing from there and was poor in general in both halves of the game.

One of those games if we'd have scored 1 I think we'd have gone on to get 3 or 4. I also think the team were stupid when Llorente came on -- before he came on, we kept crossing it, when he came on, we hardly put any high balls in to him -- the one time we did resulted in the chance for Aurier. Collective stupidity.

Hopefully we will click but it is frustrating to watch us stutter after playing so well in the 2nd part of last season.

I said the same thing during the match. Strange.

 

[Pirate55]

If you think the answer to breaking down a stubborn team is playing someone with poor decision making skills and an overall ability significantly below that of our first 11, then you're going to be disappointed.

That said, I'd rather have had Barkley out there than Sissoko this season.

You only have to look at Barkley's assists record to see you are not giving him enough credit. Your criticisms of him are assinine. You can't seem to appreciate a quality player. Poch wants him, Conte wants him, Koeman offered him 120k to keep him at Everton, several English managers have picked him at all levels. I think their judgement is infinitely more telling than your quite ridiculous comments about him.