• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

OMT. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR Vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Man of the match

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
Raziel said:
Exactly, another one of those really fudging annoying to play against but ultimately not enough to change the outcome of the game players.

That game was very hard to judge live, truth is it was extremely high tempo, they pressed, they were physical, they got a ton of set pieces (10+ corners), they went wide and put the ball in the box repeatedly. They attacked things that have been our downfall over the last year or so, and yes we looked uncomfortable as fudge for periods but in the end?

- Outside of the goal and the one Gazza save, what was clear cut for them?
- We had the Dier opportunity and Son, Kane (and I think Dele) had chances that I would have expected one of them to do better.
Click to expand...

Think you’re in denial about Traore he could have won them the game. I know you slated him previously so just have back up your previous opinion. Facts are he scored. Beat Verts at will and we only stopped him in the end by hacking him down and taking yellows.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
 
Cochise said:
You disagree with his opinion on those two?
Click to expand...
I think Sissoko is as Sissoko does - nothing much wrong there. When you remove one of Dier's passing options by playing someone next to him he can't give the ball to, then he'll have to pass the ball back under pressure.

Dier passed forward 41 times and 19 backwards in a match where we were heavily pressed and he couldn't give the ball to his midfield partner.
 
Cochise said:
Jenas savaging Sissoko and Dier. Saying all the things we were saying during the game. Negative with the ball, not showing for it and our defenders not trusting them.
Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50803721

'Why Spurs' midfield should concern Jose Mourinho' - Jermaine Jenas analysis

By Jermaine Jenas

I see huge limitations when I look at Tottenham's midfield at the moment.

And, while I have been massively impressed by the impact Jose Mourinho has made in his first few weeks as Spurs boss, it is an area of the team he will have to address in order to continue their upturn in form.

While Tottenham still ended up nicking all three points against Wolves on Sunday, they went long periods without having proper possession, or the ability to control the game that comes with it.

Part of the problem was pairing Eric Dier and Mohamed Sissoko together because they are just not good enough on the ball.

They do not have enough guile or finesse and if you press them, like Wolves did, they will probably give the ball away more often than not.

When that happens, you are unable to dictate the tempo of the game and you are going to concede goals.

upload_2019-12-16_9-47-24.gif
Lack of control can prove costly
They got away with it against Wolves, but that lack of control was what cost Spurs when they lost to Manchester United at the start of this month.

Mourinho had Sissoko, Davinson Sanchez and Serge Aurier operating on the right, which brought strength and power to the team, plus athleticism - which is another attribute he likes.

But there was very little guile there and if you pressed that side of the pitch, like United did to score their opening goal, Spurs could not get out.

The Tottenham midfield has the same problem when Dier and Sissoko are together in a 4-2-3-1 shape. They played too many backward passes against Wolves.

What happens is the team tries to bypass them and attempts to get the ball to their front four as quickly as possible.

That is understandable really, because of how good those forwards are, and sometimes that direct approach will work.

But in certain games - like Wolves, United and Bayern in the past couple of weeks - you are going to be vulnerable whenever you lose the ball.

There is only so much pressure your defence can take when you are not keeping possession, and the ball is always coming straight back at them.

What Spurs need is balance
I don't think Mourinho knows his first-choice midfield pairing yet, because he has tried several different combinations already.

Dier and Sissoko have started the last three matches, but Mourinho might be thinking that he cannot rely on Harry Winks at the moment because he has been out injured.

I do think Winks fits the profile of a holding midfielder in a Mourinho team, though.

He is good on the ball, will sit in and not venture forward too often, and can get out of tight spaces. If he maintains his fitness, there will be a place for him.

With Tanguy Ndombele, I am not so sure. For me, he is probably Tottenham's best midfielder but Mourinho has not used him much when he has been fit, so I don't really know what he makes of him yet.

One player he definitely likes is Dier, who has had more minutes under him than any other midfielder.

I don't think Dier is fully fit either, because he has only started playing regularly again after spending most of the past 12 months managing injury and illness.

It could be Mourinho feels that, once Dier is 100% again, he can trust him every week to do the job he is asking him to do.

That is fine, but what Spurs need in that area is balance - and they do not get it from playing Sissoko alongside him.

Yes, Sissoko is a different kind of player because he can burst forward while he has the ball at his feet, but if you press Dier then he is either going to pass the ball backwards or kick it out of play - he is not going to go past anyone.

That might be down to a lack of fitness or confidence so I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if Tottenham want to finish in the top four they cannot afford to be patient and wait for him to get back to form.

Until that situation is sorted, and a proper pairing emerges, then it is an area for concern - and definitely somewhere Spurs can improve.

Mourinho has restored belief

The midfield is really the only negative from Mourinho's first month as manager.

Apart from that, we have seen a huge improvement in results plus team and individual performances - such as with Dele Alli, for example.

Mourinho has already found a way of maximising Tottenham's threat from an attacking point of view, and the players have adapted to that straight away.

There has been something positive about most of their performances under him, and results have generally been good too.

One of the big things he has already identified is the vulnerability of the team, and I think he is working hard to put that right.

I don't mean any tactical weakness, more their state of mind.

Yes, part of his time has to go on coaching and setting up the team the way he wants it, but he has also been trying to restore confidence, arrogance and belief to this Spurs side.

As a team, they had completely lost that, especially at home, because they had suffered a few dodgy results there.

The final piece in the puzzle?

Overall, I think Mourinho's arrival has been really positive, and credit needs to go to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy for acting when he did.

I cannot think of anyone else connected to the club who would have made the decision then to look Mauricio Pochettino in the eye, and say 'this is the end', but Levy did.

Now the dust has settled, you can see he was right.

Levy also had a clear vision as to what he wanted the next step to be, which is not only to be competing for trophies, but winning them.

That is why he went for Mourinho - he sees him as the final piece in the puzzle.

Timing-wise, it was a great move. Other Premier League clubs sat and waited before sacking their manager, and have since delayed appointing a replacement.

Levy went ahead, because he knew exactly who he wanted.

The players deserve praise for responding in the manner they have done, but Mourinho has clearly made a difference - look at where Spurs were when he took over, and where they are now.

His objective now will still be to win a trophy this season, as well as getting in the top four, and I genuinely believe he will look at his squad and think he can do it with them.




He's not wrong, midfield is the biggest weakness for us by a distance.

IMO Dier is picking up, slowly, and actually did (broadly) ok yesterday.

Sissoko was Sissoko, not especially bad but I wouldnt say good either.

More pertinent is the fact these two just do not work together.

Watching the game I kept thinking what a difference a fit and up to speed NDombele could make.

So maybe things arent all bad...
 
SpurMeUp said:
Think you’re in denial about Traore he could have won them the game. I know you slated him previously so just have back up your previous opinion. Facts are he scored. Beat Verts at will and we only stopped him in the end by hacking him down and taking yellows.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
Click to expand...

- The guy has 8 goals in his pro career, 3 for Wolves, for all his "beat Verts at will" his only goal came when he chose not to try to go through Verts and shoot from range. Data suggests he is exactly what I said, a pain in the ass to play against but hardly an effective game winner.
- That said (when I looked up his numbers), I didn't realize he's 23 (thought he was around for a lot longer), so there is still time for him to become more effective (and he is better with Wolves, seems to be in the form of his life).
- Re the professional fouling, nothing more than they did to Lucas all game
 
This is a badly needed win. It has been a long time since we scored an injury time winner in the league like this. It was a hard fought-win in which we rode our luck. In fact, apart from the 2 goals, we were poor for most of the match. Fortunately, Wolves didn't make use of their dominance. It is good when we can win despite playing poorly. This is much better than playing well and still lose !

Credit to Moura and Vertonghen for the goals. Moura took his goal well but he was again poor apart from that. In fact, all our attacking players were poor in this match. Thought Kane and Son would inspire us but they didn't have much impact. Felt Mourinho took long time to make any changes. Fortunately for us, Eriksen came on and immediately assisted the winning goal with a perfect corner !

Our midfield had another poor match. Sissoko and Dier played well in patches but were poor for most of the match. Wolves controlled the midfield too much. Sissoko or Dier should have stopped the Wolves player from taking that long range shot for their only goal. A proper defensive midfielder would have done that. This shows we badly need a defensive midfielder who can protect our defence.

Our defence were under pressure for almost the whole match. We were very fortunate to only concede 1 goal. Aldeweireld and Sanchez should have blocked the shot for their goal. Sanchez made too many mistakes throughout the match. Well done to Vertonghen for coming up with the crucial winning goal with a world class header !

Good to see us moving up the league table with this win. It is really sweet to see us beating Wolves who had been unbeaten in 11 league matches before this. We are now only 3 points behind Chelsea who are in 4th place. Let's hope we will continue to improve under Mourinho. After all, we need to continue winning to get back into the top 4 race.
 
I cannot remember watching a more interesting league game for a long time,as there was so much going on. Did we play well? Well no we did not, but the players hung in there. Are there gaping weaknesses? Well yes the lack of creativity in mid field and Sanchez's weak performance in individual physical duels. However, these are the games that we traditionally drop points in, so on balance I am pleased.
 
Raziel said:
- The guy has 8 goals in his pro career, 3 for Wolves, for all his "beat Verts at will" his only goal came when he chose not to try to go through Verts and shoot from range. Data suggests he is exactly what I said, a pain in the ass to play against but hardly an effective game-winner.
- That said (when I looked up his numbers), I didn't realize he's 23 (thought he was around for a lot longer), so there is still time for him to become more effective (and he is better with Wolves, seems to be in the form of his life).
- Re the professional fouling, nothing more than they did to Lucas all game
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're hedging your bets now (whereas before you thought he was crap!). If he works hard and keeps improving his end product he will end up at a CL team.

I wonder if he might play off the left-wing. He could use his (amazing) dribbling ability to cut inside and make space for a shot on his stronger foot. He needs to improve his crossing generally - picking out players rather than hit and hope. He's not the most 'natural footballer' in that sense.

Would have liked Poch to develop him 3-4 years ago. Just practicing cutting in, slowing down to shoot accurately/passing well, build his confidence in his ability...he could be highly effective. To be fair he is now (he's actually scored 4 this season and has 3 assists). Can he take the next step and be a regular menace? I don't see why not.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Sounds like you're hedging your bets now (whereas before you thought he was crap!). If he works hard and keeps improving his end product he will end up at a CL team.

I wonder if he might play off the left-wing. He could use his (amazing) dribbling ability to cut inside and make space for a shot on his stronger foot. He needs to improve his crossing generally - picking out players rather than hit and hope. He's not the most 'natural footballer' in that sense.

Would have liked Poch to develop him 3-4 years ago. Just practicing cutting in, slowing down to shoot accurately/passing well, build his confidence in his ability...he could be highly effective. To be fair he is now (he's actually scored 4 this season and has 3 assists). Can he take the next step and be a regular menace? I don't see why not.
Click to expand...

My opinion was based primarily on the perception he was over 25/26, really didn't know he was that young.

The next step is exactly what you pointed out, can he score more, or deliver more effective final balls? at 23, the answer is possibly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back