Bullet
Luka Modric
Is Holtby a 50 year old alcoholic? He came on near the end, ran about like he had cramp and was utterly knackered by 90 minutes.
Has he got tight hamstrings, or a massive alcohol problem, or is he 50?
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Inter Ratings
- Thread starter COYS
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Is Holtby a 50 year old alcoholic? He came on near the end, ran about like he had cramp and was utterly knackered by 90 minutes.
Has he got tight hamstrings, or a massive alcohol problem, or is he 50?
yiddo37
Terry Fenwick
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Surely we need to cut Holtby some slack? He's still very young and is comin g to grips with playing for a different club in a different country. We've seen glimpses of what he can do but it's pretty obvious he's now finding the pace of the Premiership too much and is trying too hard.
Give him time. It was the same for Verts when he came, he was excellent to start with but then faded for a while, but is now rediscovering his early form.
If you think about it, most of our current squad have had spells when they've been utter pants and spells when they've been at least half-decent, or in Bale's case utter pants and then a world-beater.
Give him time. It was the same for Verts when he came, he was excellent to start with but then faded for a while, but is now rediscovering his early form.
If you think about it, most of our current squad have had spells when they've been utter pants and spells when they've been at least half-decent, or in Bale's case utter pants and then a world-beater.
nelto
Tim Sherwood
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
agree with that. But can you go from world beater to utter pants -- and then to world class again? Or is Ade doomed to be brick forever.
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
Agreed. We looked at half pace all night. What a difference from the first leg. There was no energy in our performance at all. No closing down, no tracking back, no running off the ball, no competing for the ball. In fact, little of anything.
Okay, at least the keeper issue is easily solvable because we have one of the best keepers in the world for the high line in Lloris. Even the striker issue is not so hard if we get CL and have enough funds to spring Stefan Jovetic's release clause this summer, which is supposedly 22m (yes yes, we've been waiting for years for ANY striker I know). The fullback issue is pretty bad, but at least defenders tend to be cheaper and Rose and Smith are doing very well on loan so we have some potential competition there.
However, I just can't figure out how to turn us into a real TEAM - you know, a bunch of players that will pass and move for each other in their sleep. The fundamentals that should be second nature to players at this level. When we lost Modric and VdV we didn't just lose two of our best players, we lost creativity and tempo and 140 passes and 5 key passes per game. This season we have been even slower at circulating the ball than the midtable sides we've played. We do not move intelligently, or spot the runs even when they do get made, or thread an incisive first-time ball through often enough; instead, we take on five men and dribble ourselves up blind alleys or shoot into walls. When it comes off, it looks brilliant and we applaud the player for his quality. However, 90% of the time the individual heroics just slows us down or loses the ball. It's not just other teams beating us, it's us beating ourselves because we smother our own opportunities.
Moments of individual quality have helped us win games we probably didn't deserve to - because we engineer chaos and higher-quality, fitter players are better at taking advantage of those moments. The problem is, we can't thrive in the long term by relying on ugly games. To really progress into a CL team we need control, the ability to dictate games; we need less individualists and more team players. We can afford Bale because he is that special; however, we wouldn't be able to afford a team of Bales no matter how special. We need players doing the boring, non-flashy stuff like positioning themselves so they don't even have to tackle and just circulating the ball around quickly to release pressure and control the tempo. We need players moving in bursts both on and off the ball and players who can spot and release them with incisive passes. We need some effing brains and yes, some Spanish midgets around here. :lol:
The frustrating thing is that all of our players show flashes of quality and have some sort of good point - or in fact many good points - and it's just that their not-so-good points combine like a perfect storm to give us sloppy passing and static movement and moments of stupidity at both front and back and disjointed performances in general. Most of them I would be disappointed to see go because I think they could be part of a very good team, just not the whole of one.
However, I just can't figure out how to turn us into a real TEAM - you know, a bunch of players that will pass and move for each other in their sleep. The fundamentals that should be second nature to players at this level. When we lost Modric and VdV we didn't just lose two of our best players, we lost creativity and tempo and 140 passes and 5 key passes per game. This season we have been even slower at circulating the ball than the midtable sides we've played. We do not move intelligently, or spot the runs even when they do get made, or thread an incisive first-time ball through often enough; instead, we take on five men and dribble ourselves up blind alleys or shoot into walls. When it comes off, it looks brilliant and we applaud the player for his quality. However, 90% of the time the individual heroics just slows us down or loses the ball. It's not just other teams beating us, it's us beating ourselves because we smother our own opportunities.
Moments of individual quality have helped us win games we probably didn't deserve to - because we engineer chaos and higher-quality, fitter players are better at taking advantage of those moments. The problem is, we can't thrive in the long term by relying on ugly games. To really progress into a CL team we need control, the ability to dictate games; we need less individualists and more team players. We can afford Bale because he is that special; however, we wouldn't be able to afford a team of Bales no matter how special. We need players doing the boring, non-flashy stuff like positioning themselves so they don't even have to tackle and just circulating the ball around quickly to release pressure and control the tempo. We need players moving in bursts both on and off the ball and players who can spot and release them with incisive passes. We need some effing brains and yes, some Spanish midgets around here. :lol:
The frustrating thing is that all of our players show flashes of quality and have some sort of good point - or in fact many good points - and it's just that their not-so-good points combine like a perfect storm to give us sloppy passing and static movement and moments of stupidity at both front and back and disjointed performances in general. Most of them I would be disappointed to see go because I think they could be part of a very good team, just not the whole of one.
Bullet
Luka Modric
You make a lot of good points, but should never say that we can't be a CL team whilst playing crap - do you not remember who won it last year
And yes, we would love a team of Gareth Bale's thankyou!
I know what you mean, but I think there is a very good reason Madrid's team of Galacticos were not that impressive despite some incredible names there. I dunno what you'd call it - Redknapp likes to say "balance", Mourinho "dynamics", Benitez "system", and I guess I would say "unity" and "wholeness" - but all in all there is some hard-to-quantify emergent quality that needs to arise from a group of individuals to be a great team. You can't all be strong in flavor. Chelsea are not a CL team, if you check where they are right now :lol: Nor did they finish top four last season. I think you can go pretty far in the cups with an unbalanced side, but the league will always find you out.
nerdved
Anthony Gardner
Honourable mention for Sigurdsson I thought, tidy passing, good set pieces and commendable work rate.
On the other side of the spectrum, I thought Defoe and Livermore were absolutely atrocious. Nightmareish performance from both.
Villas-Boas will have to take some to to reflect on his choices today. Surely he had to know in beforehand that Defoe and Ade are both borderline passengers and that playing both is giving away valuable possession in midfield.
On the other side of the spectrum, I thought Defoe and Livermore were absolutely atrocious. Nightmareish performance from both.
Villas-Boas will have to take some to to reflect on his choices today. Surely he had to know in beforehand that Defoe and Ade are both borderline passengers and that playing both is giving away valuable possession in midfield.
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
I was asking my mate similar questions. He has certainly regressed from his early spell, and indeed looks a little, err, bigger? I'm not sure. I think he is a player who needs some TLC and patience because he will be a fine one for us. Also feel that he relies on quick movement and quick passing, which is not going to happen with Parker next to him.
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
Put simply? It is why AVB wanted Moutinho, Will.i.am and a top class striker. He knows.
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
I love this post.
Mostly because of the ridiculous nature of it. Wait until two games after a twelve game unbeaten streak that sees us third in the table and then bash the squad/manager/chairman. We're obviously not good enough. The last two games have shown us what the twelve before them for some reason couldn't.
Or perhaps we should rate the team over the season instead of just after the worst game we've played.
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King of Norway
Gudni Bergsson
I think Ade deserves a bit more credit than he is given here. Certainly from the start of the second half and onwards he did fairly well. He made some good runs, the one early in the second half when he set up a chance for Jan was outstanding. He also kept the ball up quite well for us, and of course, he got the all important goal. I thought it was an encouraging performance from compared to his recent performances.
Dembele also had a decent game overall, but the fact that he was at least partly to blame for the two first goals is a bit negative. Sigurdsson also worked tiredlessly and was fairly tidy on the ball.
Dembele also had a decent game overall, but the fact that he was at least partly to blame for the two first goals is a bit negative. Sigurdsson also worked tiredlessly and was fairly tidy on the ball.
I really feel for Siggy. He is doing very well out on the left but clearly his favoured position is ACM. Bale is clearly another beast. I'd like for Bale and Siggy and Lennon to be able to interchange during games
spurspinter1
Paul Stalteri
I only saw the first 90 but I'd agree. Not absolutely everything came off for him but he did well, happy to see him get a run in the team.
The other two I think who played well would be Verts, who still looked very composed to me, and Dembele had good patches, but he should most certainly never play on the right again, he's a rolls royce, which is sound in CM but it doesn't quite work for out wide, especially as Walker needs all the help he can get at the moment.
Not really sure what was going through AVB's mind with the team selection, we were almost full strength (minus Bale) so we should have been able to put a better performance in then that but changing the shape was a terrible idea, hopefully we'll learn and move on.
chicken_badge
Gudni Bergsson
Friedel 7
Walker 6
Gallas 6
Vertongen 8
Naughton 8
Sigurdson 9
Dembele 9
Parker 8
Livermore 7
Adebayor 8
Defoe 7
Walker 6
Gallas 6
Vertongen 8
Naughton 8
Sigurdson 9
Dembele 9
Parker 8
Livermore 7
Adebayor 8
Defoe 7
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
Sig played well gotta say and has impressed me since the spammers game. He does lack pace therefore not suited to the left as never felt he would get passed anyone once he got the ball.
Dembele was outstanding. He fudged up defensively today but the guy is just too fudging good. He was the only one today where when he got the ball I was confident that he wouldnt lose it. The guy can certainly keep the ball and his ball retention is superb.
AVB fudged up with the personnel and the tactics as with that personnel we shouldnt have played 442.
I dont want to focus on the negatives as we all know what the are but Livermore was astonishingly bad and Gallas looked out of his depth a bit. Our defensive high line was breached far far too easily and Vert couldnt cover for the other three in that back four.
Dembele was outstanding. He fudged up defensively today but the guy is just too fudging good. He was the only one today where when he got the ball I was confident that he wouldnt lose it. The guy can certainly keep the ball and his ball retention is superb.
AVB fudged up with the personnel and the tactics as with that personnel we shouldnt have played 442.
I dont want to focus on the negatives as we all know what the are but Livermore was astonishingly bad and Gallas looked out of his depth a bit. Our defensive high line was breached far far too easily and Vert couldnt cover for the other three in that back four.
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
For all his possession - and he had loads - how many times did Siggy even try to get to the byline? Okay Inter always had that option covered but it got to a point where pretty much all our attacks down the left stalled because of his unwillingness to take on their RB. I recall one decent shot on goal first half but that was only after he cut back into the middle.
In previous games Siggy has managed to put in some decent crosses from the left but tonight's performance suggests you're right, left mid is not his best position.