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Son Heung-Min

thfcsteff said:
Teams sussed our 3-4-3. Now it is a battle of will and application. The tactical side which allowed Sonny to face forwards far more has disappeared. I counted close to a half-dozen times he received the ball tonight, back to goal, 35 yards outside our box with two defenders immediately on him and no-one else close. On one of the rare moments he received the ball going forward towards their box, he linked with Kane for an assist.

I don’t think anyone disagrees he’s had a drop in form and could do with a break. But add the above to his fractured eye socket, pressure from the World Cup, and increased off-field activities surrounding his own branding, and the factors are clear. I think when Richy is fully fit we’ll see Sonny get a rest.
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other differences between this and last season:

1. Perisic's introduction has changed the dynamics in attacks. He has 5 assists so far and it remains to be seen how we end the year. If the opposition has sussed our attack, they've mostly sussed out Perisic as he has featured in almost all matches.

2. Kane was deeper last year. Recall the number of throughball from the centre circle. This season we Kane higher up almost the point man. Southgate played him in the World Cup as we did last season.

agree with the application and tactical side of things. i don't envy conte's job if kane is asking to be played so that he can score and break records.
 
thfcsteff said:
Teams sussed our 3-4-3. Now it is a battle of will and application. The tactical side which allowed Sonny to face forwards far more has disappeared. I counted close to a half-dozen times he received the ball tonight, back to goal, 35 yards outside our box with two defenders immediately on him and no-one else close. On one of the rare moments he received the ball going forward towards their box, he linked with Kane for an assist.

I don’t think anyone disagrees he’s had a drop in form and could do with a break. But add the above to his fractured eye socket, pressure from the World Cup, and increased off-field activities surrounding his own branding, and the factors are clear. I think when Richy is fully fit we’ll see Sonny get a rest.
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I think the question of if Conte's 3-4-3 has been sussed out or not is an interesting one.

I think there's a risk and probably even a pattern of that with his rather structured style becoming predictable, teams learning how to deal with it, perhaps even some (mostly mental) burnout on the players focusing on the same thing again and again over time.

I think it's a thing we could be seeing the ugly results of now, I think it's something we could see set in more in the future. I do also think it's a thing that could be avoided through adjustments, refreshing and improving the squad.

My main arguments against this being the sussed out part now would be:

-It's still fairly early, earlier than we've seen this before under Conte (if it's been a pattern).

-We've consistently lacked key players with our backups being not quite good enough or relatively poor fits to the system.

-We've seen periods of games where the system has worked really well.

-A significant portion of our problems have been poor individual performances and mistakes.

-Conte has been working with a bit too many "perhaps good enough" players even in the starting 11.

I can't be certain that we're not in the "sussed out" or continuing decline period already. I think it's at least fairly likely that we're not, and that good transfer business now and in the summer perhaps along with a touch of luck with injuries could prove talks about being "sussed out" at the very least as premature.
 
DubSpur said:
Nothing to do with being sussed out, just key players being woefully out of form or injured this season. A bit of over thinking on this.
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Lloris and Son going from top class last season to not looking like they’ve played football before this season. Dier’s form nose diving also, but not quite to the same extent.

Injuries to Romero, Kulu, Bentancur (only since WC), Richarlson and Moura meaning we can’t get anything like our best XI on the pitch let alone be able to rotate up top.

I’d like to see a bit more flexibility from Conte re formation when these key players have been out, but maybe there is something to be said for drilling the system in to the squad anyway. Arteta was being called out for lack of flexibility in his system as well for 3 years, but that’s forgotten now.

would anyone say Klopp’s 4-3-3 has “been found out” or is their form due to injuries?
 
braineclipse said:
-A significant portion of our problems have been poor individual performances and mistakes.
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Sorry for cutting your post down as i think your points were all relevant, but the one above has ( imo) been the major problem. Our defense is not sure what Lloris is going to do half the time and this does lead to confusion and mistakes.

Son has probably had his worse season here for us and when you add in all the injurys we have suffered to key players ( at times) its all played a part.
 
When you consider the number if trademark goals he scores cutting in on his left foot I am surprised that Conte does not start him on the right when Kulu is unavailable. That way you can start Richarlison on the left where he is more comfortable as opposed to starting from the right.
 
NaijaSpurs said:
When you consider the number if trademark goals he scores cutting in on his left foot I am surprised that Conte does not start him on the right when Kulu is unavailable. That way you can start Richarlison on the left where he is more comfortable as opposed to starting from the right.
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I don’t get ever playing Richy on the right
Looks so uncomfortable there and it highlights all his weaknesses
 
We made a lot of strange transfer decisions last summer.

Signing Bissouma who has never really fitted in even though he looked good at Brighton. He seems to run around kicking or fouling people for us.

Spence who was signed to be a right wing back a window before we decided to go and spend £40m on a different one.

Richarlison who we spent a LOT on but can’t play right forward effectively and seems more an out and out striker who won’t get game time because of Kane and yet we spent £50m+ on him.

Over £100m spent that we could have used far more wisely.
 
El Guepardo said:
We made a lot of strange transfer decisions last summer.

Signing Bissouma who has never really fitted in even though he looked good at Brighton. He seems to run around kicking or fouling people for us.

Spence who was signed to be a right wing back a window before we decided to go and spend £40m on a different one.

Richarlison who we spent a LOT on but can’t play right forward effectively and seems more an out and out striker who won’t get game time because of Kane and yet we spent £50m+ on him.

Over £100m spent that we could have used far more wisely.
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You would have thought there would be better communication between the Italian manager and DoF who have known each other for years, just sayin'.
 
El Guepardo said:
We made a lot of strange transfer decisions last summer.

Signing Bissouma who has never really fitted in even though he looked good at Brighton. He seems to run around kicking or fouling people for us.

Spence who was signed to be a right wing back a window before we decided to go and spend £40m on a different one.

Richarlison who we spent a LOT on but can’t play right forward effectively and seems more an out and out striker who won’t get game time because of Kane and yet we spent £50m+ on him.

Over £100m spent that we could have used far more wisely.
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Hindsight though as literally everyone was saying 9/10 10/10 window at the time. Bissouma was 100% the right move, Prem proven, Brightons best midfielder, torn us a new one but you can't go from playing week in week out to this bit part role and expect to be at his best.

Richalison is a very good player, his injuries have not helped him so not sure its such a strange deal especially as people were crying out for cover for Kane but can also play on the left, which he could have if Son was not played even rank out of form. Way to early to be writing that one off

Spence will be at the club longer than the manager in my opinion and was always signed as one for the future, I would say it was more strange keeping Royal and Doherty and not replacing them with the 40m alternative
 
braineclipse said:
I think the question of if Conte's 3-4-3 has been sussed out or not is an interesting one.

I think there's a risk and probably even a pattern of that with his rather structured style becoming predictable, teams learning how to deal with it, perhaps even some (mostly mental) burnout on the players focusing on the same thing again and again over time.

I think it's a thing we could be seeing the ugly results of now, I think it's something we could see set in more in the future. I do also think it's a thing that could be avoided through adjustments, refreshing and improving the squad.

My main arguments against this being the sussed out part now would be:

-It's still fairly early, earlier than we've seen this before under Conte (if it's been a pattern).

-We've consistently lacked key players with our backups being not quite good enough or relatively poor fits to the system.

-We've seen periods of games where the system has worked really well.

-A significant portion of our problems have been poor individual performances and mistakes.

-Conte has been working with a bit too many "perhaps good enough" players even in the starting 11.

I can't be certain that we're not in the "sussed out" or continuing decline period already. I think it's at least fairly likely that we're not, and that good transfer business now and in the summer perhaps along with a touch of luck with injuries could prove talks about being "sussed out" at the very least as premature.
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If it's been sussed why is it usually just for one half of a game?
 
Grays_1890 said:
Hindsight though as literally everyone was saying 9/10 10/10 window at the time. Bissouma was 100% the right move, Prem proven, Brightons best midfielder, torn us a new one but you can't go from playing week in week out to this bit part role and expect to be at his best.

Richalison is a very good player, his injuries have not helped him so not sure its such a strange deal especially as people were crying out for cover for Kane but can also play on the left, which he could have if Son was not played even rank out of form. Way to early to be writing that one off

Spence will be at the club longer than the manager in my opinion and was always signed as one for the future, I would say it was more strange keeping Royal and Doherty and not replacing them with the 40m alternative
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But largely supporters and others were praising Bissouma for being a good midfielder but likely thinking he would replace Hoijberg. And that he would be correctly utilised in the midfield to get the best out of him. The fact we signed him as a squad midfielder wasn’t clear from the outside and so the external assessment would vary considerably to that from inside the club.

Richarlison is an excellent footballer. No doubt. But very expensive for a backup striker. I’m not convinced by him as a left forward but I can understand that maybe that’s on me if everyone else says he plays well there. I do think he’s the lesser of the three in terms of issues as I do rate his quality but when people are bemoaning lack of investment in central defenders and we sign a £50m backup striker then it does seem confusing.

As for Spence. Again, a player with quality but maybe found it tough to make the step up. He does remind me of the Pochettino days though. A player brought in to play a role but for a cheaper fee instead of signing the player that the manager wanted who would have cost twice the price but would have been the right player so we end up spending twice. Like with Stambouli, N’Jie and Nkoudou. Signing a cheaper option is often more expensive with whole life cycle costs.

I believe we had £100m spent which could really have improved the team had the money been spent more wisely. Maybe some of that is hindsight but also seems that the purchases didn’t match what was really needed or at least Bissouma and Spence would have been getting more game time.
 
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