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***OMT Tottenham Hotspur v AFC Bournemouth ***

Man of the match


  • Total voters
    53
  • Poll closed .
Alli and Sanchez excellent. The former is benefiting from being higher up the pitch, I still believe the biggest challenge he will have in his career is complacency as the game comes so easily to him. Sanchez has been a big plus so far, seems to have benefited from only having to defend in a lower block.

Although he hasn’t made mistakes as such I am worried that gazzaniga isn’t dominant on crosses and made a couple of what i thought were routine saves look more difficult than they were. I think he will remain a good long term number 2 but not sure he will for enough to claim the number 1 spot.
centre mid remains a concern. Dier is not really screening the defence, mobility is an issue at the mo but also felt he was a little higher up the pitch than he needed to be, possibly due to it being more of a back 3 so there isn’t as easy to drop back closer to a back 2. Ndombele looked to have picked up a knock, still showed ability on the ball albeit with a couple of bad decisions trying to be cute when a clearance was required.
Aurier defo benefiting from being higher up the pitch, Jan did ok, better than Rose for the role and a superb tackle that if unsuccessful would have left a very different complexion on the match.
Toby, great passing - was he told to stop playing those balls or did he just not have Alli to aim for??
I was disappointed to see Kane dropping deep, turning up at last wing at one point. Put Son through with a great pass but as we are playing on the counter more he needs to stay up top as he won’t catch up with Son, Alli Moura etc if he’s starting from behind them.
Son was a threat on the break, effervescent is such a good word to describe his performances. The direct stuff didn’t quite come off but weighed on with a great pass for Sissoko and his touch for Alli’s first was also significant even if it wasn’t intended!
I thought Sissoko in an attacking role doesn’t work as he struggles with his decision making / execution in the final third but he took the goal really well and also pulled off a nice piece of skill to open up the shot for the Sanchez goal. The way the crowd celebrated his goal was fantastic, obviously the club hasn’t expected to need to put his name on the boards so didn’t spell check it!!
Moura made some nice contributions when he came on too.

Im interested to see how Mourinho resolves the cm issue with the players we have. It’s going to be difficult with Dier and Wanyama both struggling to prove they can reach their old levels and Ndombele not looking fit.
 
I thought he was better today! I think it is going to take some considerable time for him to regain his fitness.
I believe Mourinho will give him every chance!
Look at Dele to see how many games it’s took him to get up to speed (and of of course a change of position)
But diers running is fine as mentioned above with his running being the most in the pitch. His passing though first half was poor
 
Seen comments about sissoko not working in the attacking role which I think is fair however I assumed he was there to also cover for NDomblee making his runs and potentially Aurier too (who regularly was available for decent passes which we seemed to rooster up). The issue if that was the case was NDombele was really poor and not up to the speed of the game meaning Sissoko did end up as a true attacker which isn’t his strength now
 
Seen comments about sissoko not working in the attacking role which I think is fair however I assumed he was there to also cover for NDomblee making his runs and potentially Aurier too (who regularly was available for decent passes which we seemed to rooster up). The issue if that was the case was NDombele was really poor and not up to the speed of the game meaning Sissoko did end up as a true attacker which isn’t his strength now

Sissoko is not meant to be the attacker, he's makes the left side more secure, works with Aurier, creates an overlap. Considering he got shots off and scored, hard to say as an AM it didn't work.

Re the game itself

- 3 in a row
- Front line is definitely working
- Team plays really well for 50-70 minutes

Confidence and consistency still needs work, a bit more time with Jose and I could see it get better.

CM is still a weak point, but we are at least not sacrificing our attack anymore to try to support it.
 
Sissoko is not meant to be the attacker, he's makes the left side more secure, works with Aurier, creates an overlap. Considering he got shots off and scored, hard to say as an AM it didn't work.

Re the game itself

- 3 in a row
- Front line is definitely working
- Team plays really well for 50-70 minutes

Confidence and consistency still needs work, a bit more time with Jose and I could see it get better.

CM is still a weak point, but we are at least not sacrificing our attack anymore to try to support it.
I think for games like this Sissoko works in attack at least when we're counter attacking. Lacks some close control and passing ability, but brings a lot of stamina, pace and power. Were several situations where he made very good attacking runs in our counter attacking moves.

Said before the game that I thought this game would suit him. I also said I would be slightly surprised to see him start, that was mainly because I thought Moura would keep his place.

Hopefully we'll continue to see him used primarily when the game conditions favour his strengths and weaknesses.
 
Lightning does strike twice... as Dier was in our top 2 for distance covered against the Spammers too!

Hopefully he regains his old match sharpness (after all the issues which plagued him following the appendicitis) with a run of games.


I think a lot of the criticism of Dier is because some people do not understand the role he is being asked to play and assume that he is meant to be a traditional DM mopping up.
 
I’m not overly concerned about the goals we conceded yesterday.

The first ones a free kick and a decent hit and the second one would have been stopped by a number 1 keeper.

I thought we defended slightly better chunks of the game and didn’t look like we would be cut open every attack
 
I’m not overly concerned about the goals we conceded yesterday.

The first ones a free kick and a decent hit and the second one would have been stopped by a number 1 keeper.

I thought we defended slightly better chunks of the game and didn’t look like we would be cut open every attack
Not sure any keeper other De Gea saves that second one as he wouldn’t have seen it
 
I think a lot of the criticism of Dier is because some people do not understand the role he is being asked to play and assume that he is meant to be a traditional DM mopping up.
Has Mourinho ever had his destroyer/disruptor sit like that? From my memory they were always the more active of the 2/3 in the middle.
 
A lot of promise for us yesterday and although we went to sleep again at the end we were deserved winners. Alli is looking like his old self again and took his goals well and Toby also looked better then he has so far this season. Sanchez was also good and he his not diving in ( which has been a weakness in his game this season) as much.

I know a lot of fans were critical of Dier but he is doing a good job for Jose and getting back to playing again ( after all his illness problems), Ndombele is still struggling with the pace of the English game but the talent is there and i am sure he will be a big player for us.

Jan and Aurier played Ok again and did well and i think that will be Jose first choice FB's for the time being. Son was not at his best but still had two assists.

All in all its been a decent start for us under Jose and i look forward to more improvements as we go forwards.
 
Thought Son was pretty relentless first half. Tired in the second. Use to be Kane and Eriksen our most important players. Now its Son and Kane imo. Son tracks back, scores and assists. He's a complete player.

Peoples memories are short (guardian journo) Toby given time on the ball misses out midfield, and has been trying this all season
 
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