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*** Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United OMT ***

I listened on and off to this game on the radio; what a disgrace!
It's no disgraceto lose to Manure or LVG in itself; but it IS a disgrace to have a week to prepare for the game and not include in the squad (never mind the starting 11) the ONE centre-back that would have been able to cope with the long-balls to Fellaini and all that stemmed from that. Put it this way, even Arsene Wenger made sure he started Mertersacker against them and showed up the minimalism of the tactic. We had a WHOLE week to stidy this but yet we just turned up and just let them use this without having anything to nullify the tactic.

Poor, poor, poor from Poch today!
 
Spur of the moment said:
Read somewhere that Poch gave the squad two days off after the QPR game but then doubled up on training to make up for it - that and no Europa fixture. So maybe that explains why they played like they'd just got back from the outer edges of Mongolia?
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Worse still - for whatever reason , the players didn't look up for this game. It was our cup final.

Hugely disappointed in the Poch today. He had a whole week to drill the players on what was necessary. Massive fail imo. He must shoulder much of the blame for this performance. Not starting Dembele and Fazio. Another blunder.
 
Geez! Just seen Rooney's goal! How powder puff was Dier there?!? Worse than Vertonghen's recent howlers.

Time for the bench for him me thinks and Fazio in his place (last week i wanted Verts dropped for Fazio but Dier's powder-puff involvement in the third goal was unforgivable imo)
 
wiziwig said:
Before the game , loads were saying we would press their defenders into mistakes . I saw Kane try to do this but unlike previous good pressing performances by our forwards, he seemed to be doing this alone . I felt the three in behind were invisible and not working hard enough and I said as much within five minutes of the kick-off.

The four up top, have got to offer their optimum levels or the Poch pressing system falls apart and that's why I'm much happier seeing Dembele and Lamela in the starting eleven, more so against the top sides.

Agree with you regarding Rose and I would add Kane for the effort too.
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Agree with this, in the game against Liverpool, although we lost I thought it was one of our best performances of the season. The three behind was Eriksen, Dembele and Lamela with Mason and Bentaleb in behind. We are a lot better when its this three and they rotate around when playing away. I think Townsend is a liability because he wants to take on the world all the time, in that Liverpool game we saw signs of Lamela playing simple passes, played his best match for us and I believe was dropped for the next game.. its exactly the same problem I think that has happened with Soldado, his confidence totally zapped because even when he plays well he gets dropped for the next game.
I really hope that we are not already window dressing certain players to maximise sales in June.
 
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Superhudd said:
I really hope that we are not already window dressing certain players to maximise sales in June.
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I really hope we ARE preparing for a MASSIVE clear out in the summer. Ade, Soldado, Paulinho, Capoue, Kaboul simply must be gone.
 
Superhudd said:
Agree with this, in the game against Liverpool, although we lost I thought it was one of our best performances of the season. The three behind was Eriksen, Dembele and Lamela with Mason and Bentaleb in behind. We are a lot better when its this three and they rotate around when playing away. I think Townsend is a liability because he wants to take on the world all the time, in that Liverpool game we saw signs of Lamela playing simple passes, played his best match for us and I believe was dropped for the next game.. its exactly the same problem I think that has happened with Soldado, his confidence totally zapped because even when he plays well he gets dropped for the next game.
I really hope that we are not already window dressing certain players to maximise sales in June.
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Very interesting points; anyone have a view on this? The rotation-to-confidence level does seem random at times...
 
I can't believe it can have come as any sort of shock to Pochettino the way Man U set up to play today, which is why I was so surprised we appeared not to have been prepared in the least to deal with it. It seemed to me that having Fazio and Dembele in the starting lineup should have been a given; the former to deal with Fellaini's inevitable aerial threat, and the latter to give us some ball-retention in their half of the field. Oh, well....
 
Spur of the moment said:
Read somewhere that Poch gave the squad two days off after the QPR game but then doubled up on training to make up for it - that and no Europa fixture. So maybe that explains why they played like they'd just got back from the outer edges of Mongolia?
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Really?
I know Poch's son is studying Sports Science, as is my son, but I can't believe resting players than flogging them is good practice?
It may explain the lethargy.
The fitness and lack of injuries are welcomed but are they at the expense of performance?
We didn't even bring their players down when clearly they were heading into dangerous territory. Keown said we had played 13 more games than Manure, so perhaps we should rotate the squad more?
 
Hemant said:
Really?
I know Poch's son is studying Sports Science, as is my son, but I can't believe resting players than flogging them is good practice?
It may explain the lethargy.
The fitness and lack of injuries are welcomed but are they at the expense of performance?
We didn't even bring their players down when clearly they were heading into dangerous territory. Keown said we had played 13 more games than Manure, so perhaps we should rotate the squad more?
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I must say for a die-hard Gooner, Keown's comments about us were very fair...
 
wiziwig said:
Before the game , loads were saying we would press their defenders into mistakes . I saw Kane try to do this but unlike previous good pressing performances by our forwards, he seemed to be doing this alone . I felt the three in behind were invisible and not working hard enough and I said as much within five minutes of the kick-off.

The four up top, have got to offer their optimum levels or the Poch pressing system falls apart and that's why I'm much happier seeing Dembele and Lamela in the starting eleven, more so against the top sides.

Agree with you regarding Rose and I would add Kane for the effort too.
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But the way we were set up, with all in our half except Kane implied to me that our aim was to 'park the bus', quieten the crowd and play on the break. Unfortunately, the bus's mirrors were broke.
 
Only if we sign Freddy Adu... then I won't miss them.. Freddy can be the half time entertainment and give us plenty.
 
Avoided this place for a while...starting to read comments...yes. A poor day. The players were poor. Poch gave them two days off last week and this is how they rewarded him; methinks it is going to be a hard hard time for them this week!!!! He was visibly disappointed post-match, yet threw no-one under the bus. Quality. Someone said he must shoulder much of the blame, but the truth is he was let down today by several players of whom you'd at least have expected a better shift. I am prepared to consider it a one-off personally because it was uncharacteristically poor given the progress we have made this season. The squad still needs improvement, and one thing today should've shown people is that the manager really has done great work in his first season. Pirate...to your last post...your should feel comforted that of the players listed in your clearout list, none are established regulars under Poch, all have been shifted from regulars to superfluous and all will be gone should we be able to find buyers.
 
mudshark said:
I can't believe it can have come as any sort of shock to Pochettino the way Man U set up to play today, which is why I was so surprised we appeared not to have been prepared in the least to deal with it. It seemed to me that having Fazio and Dembele in the starting lineup should have been a given; the former to deal with Fellaini's inevitable aerial threat, and the latter to give us some ball-retention in their half of the field. Oh, well....
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I would agree that this was a mistake on Poch's part. Not a huge Dembele fan, but we needed more retention. And Fazio would not have defended so 'square'...
 
indianspur said:
i didnt see anyone mention our lack of leaders when we came back from 1-0 down to beat Chelsea and Arsanal, or the countless other games we have rescued from losing positions this season

sometimes teams have an off day...sh!t happens
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Well said.
 
Poch was visibly upset during the match. I would give him next season to see if he can instill a winning mentality alongside the improved fitness and lower injury list. But I am not convinced Levy will back him with the type of players he needs let alone he wants. 3rd choice water carriers are not going to take us further. However, one of the problems with rigidly sticking with the same tactics, especially when they are not yielding good style of play and good results, is that not only does everyone know how to defeat them, but it reduces his chances of convincing the likes of Levy to invest. Poch is going to have to show that he can get players to play in more effective systems or release the shackles on players. I am not sure Poch is willing to do this, which is his right.
 
Hemant said:
Poch was visibly upset during the match. I would give him next season to see if he can instill a winning mentality alongside the improved fitness and lower injury list. But I am not convinced Levy will back him with the type of players he needs let alone he wants. 3rd choice water carriers are not going to take us further. However, one of the problems with rigidly sticking with the same tactics, especially when they are not yielding good style of play and good results, is that not only does everyone know how to defeat them, but it reduces his chances of convincing the likes of Levy to invest. Poch is going to have to show that he can get players to play in more effective systems or release the shackles on players. I am not sure Poch is willing to do this, which is his right.
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I will say that at one point today I really felt we had to change our system. I PERSONALLY would've gone 3 at the back, taken Walker off and put Chiriches on to leave Vlad/Dier/Verts, pushed Rose up wide alongside Bentaleb and Mason, told Chadli to stay wide right for the width and pushed Dembele right up-top behind Kane. Not sure it would've made a huge difference, but I'd have liked to have seen it...still, I think he has done an excellent job thus far, and I suspect your question with regards to Levy's support is critical. Perhaps the most baffling thing about today is that accurately speaking, it was about as far from his usual pressing performances as we have seen for some time. He will quite rightly have been furious, and again, I expect some of those responsible to be taken to task.
 
Like I said, within the relative context of this discussion forum such as it is, I want Townsend, Chadli, and Rose benched. (Unfortunately, Ade has made an appearance which will side track things). Its kinda like when you go to the races and the bookies on the track open a book and odds where you can bet everyone but the favourite in the race. And then, the debate and discussion will get more interesting and certainly more focused in here.
 
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sc25 said:
Like I said, within the relative context of this discussion forum such as it is, I want Townsend, Chadli, and Rose benched. (Unfortunately, Ade has made an appearance which will side track things). Its kinda like when you go to the races and the bookies on the track open a book and odds where you can bet everyone but the favourite in the race. And then, the debate and discussion will get more interesting and certainly more focused in here.
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Why Rose? He was probably our MotM and the one who looked like he gave a brick. Trying to play with Chadli in front of you must be so frustrating.
 
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