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OMT - Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds Utd

Maybe, just maybe the team having the midweek ofd helped
I’ve said this a few times and abs no response so maybe I’m being mad
But PEH ran the third most of anyone on the pitch, yet we didn’t have as much of the ball. I doubt he had that level of running cs Wolves or Leicester for example and he played 10 metres further forward too. That’s just one example where the rest may have made a big difference

That shouldn't be a factor, though. Like it or not, this hectic schedule is what every top side faces - United, Liverpool, City, Chelsea and so on. I don't think any of those teams sit back the way we did against Palace, Wolves and Leicester.

Either the tactics need to change to encourage this performance on a weekly basis, or our fitness regime needs serious work since it's so below par in comparison to every other side in the league.
 
That shouldn't be a factor, though. Like it or not, this hectic schedule is what every top side faces - United, Liverpool, City, Chelsea and so on. I don't think any of those teams sit back the way we did against Palace, Wolves and Leicester.

Either the tactics need to change to encourage this performance on a weekly basis, or our fitness regime needs serious work since it's so below par in comparison to every other side in the league.

I expect them all to burn out though, we can win this simply by being the last man standing imo.
 
What surprised me the most was how much we counter-pressed them high up for the first 60-odd minutes. Yes, we went back into our shell for the final 30, but the first 60 were full of aggressive, front-foot pressing and traps across the final third.

It was punch and counter-punch, with us betting that our quality would win out against their lack of it - both teams had quality chances, but ours fell to Kane, Son, Bergwijn and Ndombele, while theirs fell to Bamford, Harrison and Phillips.

It was surprisingly proactive - it worked, and was exciting to watch. We probably should have scored twice as many as we did, but this was front-foot stuff, the type I desperately wanted to see after the miserable failures of the last few weeks. We had more shots on and off target today than I think we've had in the past month combined.

Yes, Leeds were magnificently naive, and played into our hands in a way most teams won't. But attack with aggressiveness like that regularly, and we will win games against most of the bottom 14. More of this please Mourinho - the boys are talented, let them show it.

Spot on. Totally agree.

If only we had shown this ambition against Wolves and Palace. Four more points and we would be top!
 
Except we were good defensively under Poch apart from his first and last seasons. Poch is more pragmatic than Bielsa who manages like an U10’s side.

This, tbh. It's why Bielsa never wins anything - his style of play is beautiful, idealistic and brave, but it's also regularly suicidal, and he will never change it regardless.

Bielsa once remarked that, if football were played by robots, he'd never lose a game. Sadly, humans play football, humans get tired and make mistakes, and thus Bielsa's idealism is avoided by most of the managers who take inspiration from him - Poch, Pep and co.
 
That shouldn't be a factor, though. Like it or not, this hectic schedule is what every top side faces - United, Liverpool, City, Chelsea and so on. I don't think any of those teams sit back the way we did against Palace, Wolves and Leicester.

Either the tactics need to change to encourage this performance on a weekly basis, or our fitness regime needs serious work since it's so below par in comparison to every other side in the league.

hence why pool drew to Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Fulham
United limped over the line vs wolves and cheated their way last night
Teams were suffering make no mistake
 
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According to whoscored.com Hojbjerg has only received 3 cautions in the PL this season. The BT graphic was a bit confusing as when he was cautioned today it highlighted a '5' in the yellow - I think this was his shirt number rather than number of cautions this season.

When one of their players (I think it was Phillips) was cautioned the commentator instantly mentioned it was his 5th of the season and was therefore suspended.

Overall pleased with that although the main narrative was the way Leeds played; I'm sure for most of us this is the first time we've really watched them in any detail this season. Not only were they naive but I was also amazed how many times they misplaced passes under no pressure; this is where our first goal came from and indeed a number of other first half chances; also staggering how many times they played the ball out into touch.

We recorded more shots on goal (22) than in any PL game since Man U back in October and was also our first >2 xg since then too.

Hopefully a marker in the ground and something to build from.
 
Not if we drop so many points early on that we can't catch up at the end, though. Which is what arguably doomed our challenges in 15/16 and 16/17.

Indeed, we need to win now, whilst conserving as much energy as possible.

I think we could have lessened our effort a bit more today, and earlier on, there is balance to be found.
 
Good to see a team come to play football, you can label them naive but I'd rather watch them that the usual 10 men behind the ball teams. Cue the that's what we do response. I like many would prefer us to play a more attacking game but want to see us win something before I pop my clogs.
 
As i have been saying all season we are a work in progress and we still have work to do, that is why i could not agree with all the " doom and gloom" posters that were doing all the moaning last week.
Absolutely.

Signs of progress yesterday if we can keep that going against other teams too. Also some clear signs of things that need improving.
 
This, tbh. It's why Bielsa never wins anything - his style of play is beautiful, idealistic and brave, but it's also regularly suicidal, and he will never change it regardless.

Bielsa once remarked that, if football were played by robots, he'd never lose a game. Sadly, humans play football, humans get tired and make mistakes, and thus Bielsa's idealism is avoided by most of the managers who take inspiration from him - Poch, Pep and co.
I agree to an extent, but who has Bielsa managed where winning something would be a reasonable expectation?
 
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