*** OMT - Tottenham Hotspur VS Some Gauche Middle Eastern Oil Money ***

[DubaiSpur]

I wouldn’t in a million years have started Aurier today. He’s a liability under that sort of pressure. That said, Trippier was terrible.

Pep can cope with injuries better because he has a stronger squad. Liam Brady was saying during the week that Pep is doing great but he’s one of the few managers that can just blow a fortune on a player (he was talking about Bravo specifically) and just write it off and spend more on the replacement.

A) I absolutely would have started Aurier. He's played at PSG, and he was the best right-back in France - he's not some kid straight out of the academy. Trippier, for all his technical skill, came from Burnley and looked Burnley-level today (although Burnley are above us, so maybe not the best comparison). And, even if he didn't start, Aurier not being sent on as we fell apart was inexcusable - it was arrogance overruling pragmatism, a refusal from Poch to even consider the fact that he was *wrong* even as Pep proved he was with every passing minute.

B) Forget the long run like buying Ederson to replace Bravo. Look at the team he put out *today*.

He had a central midfielder (bought from Aston Villa) playing left-back. He had his best player this season on the bench. He didn't have his best two centre-backs available and had to play Eliaquim Mangala, who was *awful* under Pellegrini.

It's hard to argue that he was any less handicapped by injuries than Poch was. And yet ,he destroyed Poch so effortlessly it hurt to watch - hurt to watch Poch stand there, mute and helpless, as City made him look like a fool and made our team look like fools.

 

[Robspur12]

Guardiola had his best team out?

Rubbish. Silva was on the bench - he's been their best player this season. They have no left-back - Delph has been filling in. Kompany is out, Stones is out - they are playing Mangala again because their key centre-backs are gone.

They had many 'key' injuries as we do heading into this. Difference is, Guardiola found a way to utterly nullify them, make them a non-factor.

Poch has been utterly unable to do the same. Every injury we have had has crippled us, and Poch has been unable to account for it at all this season. Helplessly watching is about the best he's been able to do as we stumble around brainlessly in Toby's absence.

And, in some cases, like today - it wasn't even injuries that did us in. Both our right-backs were fit - Poch started the *wrong* one, and then, maddeningly, mystifyingly, refused to acknowledge his error as we went 2, 3 and 4 down almost *entirely* because of that mistake. This was self-inflicted - this was Poch *wanting* to lose rather than acknowledge that he was wrong and make the sub that could have stopped it.

Yep that's right it is really simple to beat this City team. Their key player is De Bruyne, as good as Silva is, he is a player whose loss they can cover. Not too mention they can replace aguero with Jesus. They have Leroy Sane and our right back from last season who is also rather good.

Mangala is a £33million defender. Stones while good is not world class like Alderweireld. Kompany is hardly key anymore. So the only area they are lacking is left back. We have 2 centre halves unavailable and a key midfielder. Our cover for those positions is not the same as City.

Tripper for Aurier? is that the best you can criticise? Aurier would have given away a penalty or been sent off today. As good as he is going to be he is not ready for these big games yet.

This Emirates Marketing Project team is special. We made a mistake for their first goal and were on the back foot from that point onwards.

 

[The Portugeezer]

You think ramos was a better manager than Poch?

Who knows, Poch is young and progressive, he could still improve, but I don't consider him world class not until he has proved he is capable of winning cups.

 

[DeanoAustin]

A) I absolutely would have started Aurier. He's played at PSG, and he was the best right-back in France - he's not some kid straight out of the academy. Trippier, for all his technical skill, came from Burnley and looked Burnley-level today (although Burnley are above us, so maybe not the best comparison). And, even if he didn't start, Aurier not being sent on as we fell apart was inexcusable - it was arrogance overruling pragmatism, a refusal from Poch to even consider the fact that he was *wrong* even as Pep proved he was with every passing minute.

B) Forget the long run like buying Ederson to replace Bravo. Look at the team he put out *today*.

He had a central midfielder (bought from Aston Villa) playing left-back. He had his best player this season on the bench. He didn't have his best two centre-backs available and had to play Eliaquim Mangala, who was *awful* under Pellegrini.

It's hard to argue that he was any less handicapped by injuries than Poch was. And yet ,he destroyed Poch so effortlessly it hurt to watch - hurt to watch Poch stand there, mute and helpless, as City made him look like a fool and made our team look like fools.

David Silva wasn’t on the bench.

Pep is working on a different level to Poch. That’s my point. He can afford to make expensive mistakes and just write them off. He has a stronger squad that us.

Don’t get me wrong. What he’s doing is phenomenal but, best will in the world, we can’t compete.

We should be better than we were today though.

 

[AdamB]

I dont like seeing us concede 4 goals or lose, however sometimes you just have to accept that you're playing against a better team and that they also played nearer their potential than we did.

I agreed with Poch's selection and formation - people could perhaps argue Rose vs Davies or Lamela vs Son, but really cant see that it would have made a jot of difference. We had 3 players out injured which left us short of options, but we knew that the squad lacks some depth. Tactically the only thing i felt we could have done differently was play long sometimes given that Kane would have had a decent chance in the air against their CBs

If we win our next two games then today will be an irrelevance

 

[StephenH]

If we had played Serge today we would have been down to 10 men.
He is still learning but is jittery.

 

[glasgowspur]

To many of the players seem to think they have a free pass this season because of all the talk about how difficult it will not having a home.

 

[balesleftboot]

Who knows, Poch is young and progressive, he could still improve, but I don't consider him world class not until he start winning cups.

Not to get into the Cup debate but I wouldn't be throwing cups now if i was Poch, we clearly aren't good enough in big league games against the top sides. Let's at least try and win something to remember this very good Spurs side by.

 

[Baleforce]

Yep that's right it is really simple to beat this City team. Their key player is De Bruyne, as good as Silva is, he is a player whose loss they can cover. Not too mention they can replace aguero with Jesus. They have Leroy Sane and our right back from last season who is also rather good.

Mangala is a £33million defender. Stones while good is not world class like Alderweireld. Kompany is hardly key anymore. So the only area they are lacking is left back. We have 2 centre halves unavailable and a key midfielder. Our cover for those positions is not the same as City.

Tripper for Aurier? is that the best you can criticise? Aurier would have given away a penalty or been sent off today. As good as he is going to be he is not ready for these big games yet.

This Emirates Marketing Project team is special. We made a mistake for their first goal and were on the back foot from that point onwards.

you know there is a scale right, it’s not as simple as win = good, no win = bad

you can win badly and lose well

 

[Legohamster]

To many of the players seem to think they have a free pass this season because of all the talk about how difficult it will not having a home.

We all made a massive deal of it, gave the players an excuse.

 

[DeleHarry]

Yep that's right it is really simple to beat this City team. Their key player is De Bruyne, as good as Silva is, he is a player whose loss they can cover. Not too mention they can replace aguero with Jesus. They have Leroy Sane and our right back from last season who is also rather good.

Mangala is a £33million defender. Stones while good is not world class like Alderweireld. Kompany is hardly key anymore. So the only area they are lacking is left back. We have 2 centre halves unavailable and a key midfielder. Our cover for those positions is not the same as City.

Tripper for Aurier? is that the best you can criticise? Aurier would have given away a penalty or been sent off today. As good as he is going to be he is not ready for these big games yet.

This Emirates Marketing Project team is special. We made a mistake for their first goal and were on the back foot from that point onwards.

Mangala is a 33mill defender? Well Sissoko is a 30 mill midfielder. So? Fees mean very little these days. Everyone is overpriced.

Mangala is sh!te, as is Sissoko.

 

[Baleforce]

David Silva wasn’t on the bench.

Pep is working on a different level to Poch. That’s my point. He can afford to make expensive mistakes and just write them off. He has a stronger squad that us.

Don’t get me wrong. What he’s doing is phenomenal but, best will in the world, we can’t compete.

We should be better than we were today though.

that’s the only argument people are trying to make

 

[harr1984]

David Silva wasn’t on the bench.

Pep is working on a different level to Poch. That’s my point. He can afford to make expensive mistakes and just write them off. He has a stronger squad that us.

Don’t get me wrong. What he’s doing is phenomenal but, best will in the world, we can’t compete.

We should be better than we were today though.

Pep can’t afford any expensive mistakes this season, he has to win the league this season and he is doing so in style. I remember some saying at start of this season Pep isn’t a better coach than Poch - I love Poch but do me a favour....

 

[Daisuk]

So, Richard Dunne avatar for Scara, no?

 

[Robspur12]

Not really. A 4-1 loss is quite different, both psychologically and in terms of goal difference, which looking at the table, may ultimately prove decisive when it comes to 4th place this season.

So then, I'm not sure why you are upset with what some are saying. We are off form. We are not doing a good job.

Very simple question, did you think we'd be losing by 3 goals today and be completely outclassed? Did you think we'd concede a goal from an unmarked gundogan at a corner for the first goal? Do you think we should have waited till the 75th minute to make a sub?

Do you think we played as we can today?

I agree we have been very inconsistent this season. But..we have first team players coming back from long term injuries and other key players out because of long term injuries. We do not have sufficient quality in the squad to cover these losses.

We made mistakes sure. I don't think Dier is a particularly good centre half. His best position is as a defensive midfielder. Did I think we could lose badly today? yes based on our form this season.

I am happy to debate with any poster. I am just calling for some perspective about who we have just played and the problems we have had this season.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Yep that's right it is really simple to beat this City team. Their key player is De Bruyne, as good as Silva is, he is a player whose loss they can cover. Not too mention they can replace aguero with Jesus. They have Leroy Sane and our right back from last season who is also rather good.

They *can* replace Aguero with Jesus. They *have* good players. Both are true, but they are also utterly irrelevant given that we *can* also replace our players with players just as good in some cases, and have good players ourselves. We *can* replace Son with Lamela. We *can* replace Rose with Davies. We *can* replace Trippier with Aurier (and bloody should have). That is irrelevant. In this individual game, they went into it with injuries as serious as our own, with no easy replacements available.

Mangala is a £33million defender. Stones while good is not world class like Alderweireld. Kompany is hardly key anymore. So the only area they are lacking is left back. We have 2 centre halves unavailable and a key midfielder. Our cover for those positions is not the same as City.

Mangala was crap, and everyone knew it and knows it. Everyone who saw him at Valencia last season is abundantly aware of this - if price is the marker by which a footballer is good, then Sissoko is world-class. City were in crisis when Stones went down and Kompany broke down again - the fact that they want to buy a centre-back in January proves that they know this as well. Their defence is not at all their first-choice one, and it was much weaker than what their best defense would have looked like.

Didn't matter. They adapted tactically so that their loss wasn't felt *at all* in this game. We couldn't do the same in *any* way.

Tripper for Aurier? is that the best you can criticise? Aurier would have given away a penalty or been sent off today. As good as he is going to be he is not ready for these big games yet.

Would have, would have, would have. Trippier was *destroyed* today - League 2 man with a bit of pace would have done streets better than he did. One ball in behind, and he was gone, a non-entity, completely taken out of the game - and everyone saw this happen fifty f*cking times throughout the game, including for *three* of their four goals.

This wasn't hypothetical - this happened. Aurier would have done much, much, much better. Poch knew this too. But he didn't make the change, because being proven wrong clearly unsettles him more than I had expected it to. Which is *wrong*.

 

[harr1984]

I dont like seeing us concede 4 goals or lose, however sometimes you just have to accept that you're playing against a better team and that they also played nearer their potential than we did.

I agreed with Poch's selection and formation - people could perhaps argue Rose vs Davies or Lamela vs Son, but really cant see that it would have made a jot of difference. We had 3 players out injured which left us short of options, but we knew that the squad lacks some depth. Tactically the only thing i felt we could have done differently was play long sometimes given that Kane would have had a decent chance in the air against their CBs

If we win our next two games then today will be an irrelevance

If you accept you’re playing against a better team, why do you setup a team to leave yourself so open? Every other team that goes to their place is more defensive with good reason, but Poch thought he could out football City at their own game. Ridiculous....

 

[Robspur12]

Mangala is a 33mill defender? Well Sissoko is a 30 mill midfielder. So? Fees mean very little these days. Everyone is overpriced.

Mangala is sh!te, as is Sissoko.

Mangala is not Sissoko. He has improved massively under Guardiola.

 

[AdamB]

If you accept you’re playing against a better team, why do you setup a team to leave yourself so open? Every other team that goes to their place is more defensive with good reason, but Poch thought he could out football City at their own game. Ridiculous....

And every other team has done well have they?!? It was 16 wins from 17 for them before today so it hardly suggests that a defensive set-up against them works well does it?!?

The formation today made sense - our back 4 against their front 3, Dembele and Winks could take de Bruyne and Gundogan and then Eriksen drop in on their holding midfielder. The only thing I didnt get was never going long to Kane

 

[DubaiSpur]

And every other team has done well have they?!? It was 16 wins from 17 for them before today so it hardly suggests that a defensive set-up against them works well does it?!?

The formation today made sense - our back 4 against their front 3, Dembele and Winks could take de Bruyne and Gundogan and then Eriksen drop in on their holding midfielder. The only thing I didnt get was never going long to Kane

Did West Ham get tonked 4-1? Did Stoke get tonked 4-1? Did United get tonked 4-1?