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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked
- Thread starter DubaiSpur
- Start date
NickTB
Alan Hutton
I can’t believe it’s purely ly down to the international window
Bedfordspurs
Arthur Rowe
I’m sure it is the uncertainty knowing the players he has may not be there
agreed. He spoke a lot in the preceding months about having a settled squad for the start of the season. Ndombele's signing showed things moving in the right direction....but then the Eriksen type issues have completely buggered it up
Gazza Dazzla
Chris Perry
I’m sure it is, but suck it up, if players want to run down their contracts they will do.
Cochise
Steve Carr
He's got a lot of work to do over the international break. First thing though, is learning how to use a midfield because it has been our most glaring weakness so far this season. I can't help but feel that our inability to control games via midfield is what has been holding us back.
ricky2tricky4city
Tom Huddlestone
And perhaps he thought Verts was onboard and then saw him slack in training and perhaps even suggesting to Poch he's open to moving? And gave Poch the hump
Yes that's ok, it's their choice BUT maybe he thought that if that's the case we'll plan without them and move them on and he'd reconciled that. When that doesn't happen (and perhaps surprisingly so) he has to plan with them, hoping they're still up for it, plus dealing with the £85m hole in the transfer fund next summer.
Nigeyman
Chris Armstrong
Fair play mate, it’s all about people’s perspective on here, that’s yours and I respect it.
Waited a few hours to post, for the simple reason of cooling down a bit from being angry, and being able to give a more calm and balanced assessment of my thoughts.
Personally I cannot see the plan or feel overly upbeat, about our direction of travel, so I’ll try and explain, without sounding like a spoilt, steaming at the ears little gossip girl as best as I’m able...
I’ll start from front to back of our team then give some thoughts on Mopo.
Goalkeeper-
Still haven’t forgiven him for last years discretions, for me he’s a terrible choice of captain, but most crucially, I feel he installs no confidence in our defence. Getting tired of his poor distribution and bad decision making. Hugo feels more of a liability these days than an asset to us. A poor mans Fabian Barthez if you will, I can’t wait to see him moved on.
Defence-
This is probably my biggest reason for all the anger and I don’t for the life of me understand after five years of coaching roughly the same group of experienced internationals that it can look or feel so bad. Obviously asking the likes of D Sanchez to play rb, doesn’t help, square pegs in round holes scenario. I honestly think we are suffering in this department because Poch has tinkered too much the last year between a back three and four. We would look far more assured in this area if we had stuck with a back four and kept the same personnel. I appreciate we don’t have the fullbacks of city or pool but we are suffering in this area and would have been better served selling either Toby or Jan, most certainly Rose and investing in this area, that is such an underestimated advantage for the aforementioned clubs and is really really hindering us at the moment, in my opinion of course.
Midfield -
Been worried about the defensive midfield situation for ages with the regression of Wanyama and Dier, due to injuries. Gonna hold fire a bit because I want to see more of N’dombele. I generally like our options in midfield. But I am concerned we haven’t got the combinations right in order to boss games. Today would have helped after a 2 goal lead to ‘lock things down’ but we never look capable of doing this, nor offering serious protection to our dodgy defence.
Attack -
We just don’t look as dangerous with two up top and it seems to be hindering our World class striker and talisman. Son would also shine bright again back where he is most comfortable in the left wing forward position. For me we should stick to a front three with Moura at rwf and let Kane stay central and do what he was born to do.
So yeah it’s a bit hard for me too see the plan, and to see us constantly setting up with players unhappy and unsure about the systems (explains why we seem to be starting games poorly) and for our manager not to be utilising our team/squad to it’s full potential.
For me I feel we would look far better sticking with a 4-3-3 with the following team, the notable omissions being obvious of those wanting to wind down their contracts and not be here...
Hugo.
Peters—Sanchez—Jan—Davies
N’dombele (dm), winks (cm) Alli (amf)
Moura—Kane—Son.
I’ve given enough views about Poch, but in the main we’re suffering still from over tinkering and his more recent set ups that give us no width in attack.
So all that gobbledygook is why I cannot feel as optimistic that we will pull up any trees this season and I remain baffled as to why he keeps making choices that far from play to the strengths of our best players.
Whether he’s been annoyed at having an unsettled group, for me it’s mostly of his own making and it’s certainly no excuse to keep setting up the team incorrectly and getting us poor results.
Bedfordspurs
Arthur Rowe
Well for me we have a happy Poch back
That’s a big plus
Add in a well deserved and hard fought point and players finally getting fit in sure that once we smash up the bus parked by palace we will go on a decent run of wins
That’s a big plus
Add in a well deserved and hard fought point and players finally getting fit in sure that once we smash up the bus parked by palace we will go on a decent run of wins
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
Grays_1890
Colin Calderwood
The international break helps us hugely though, time with squad and time for returns from injury. We miss Alli and the threat he has and link with Kane
glorygloryeze
Ian Walker
I'm interested to read more about this, can you give more detail on the plan from what you see?
I simply see a team running out of ideas when being able to run and be more athletic than most other teams is no longer possible due to age, wear and tear, so any crumbs of comfort are most welcome!
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I'm interested to read more about this, can you give more detail on the plan from what you see?
I simply see a team running out of ideas when being able to run and be more athletic than most other teams is no longer possible due to age, wear and tear, so any crumbs of comfort are most welcome!
I think we are deliberately playing a diamond - it seems to be something Poch is intent on getting right. And I acknowledge it hasn’t worked very well in the past, either this season or when Poch first tried it in the game that Winks got his first goal, against West Ham.
But when it comes to what we are playing now, particularly in these games against City and Arsenal so far, it’s different to what we expect from a Poch team. There is no real pressing as we know it. There was no desire to dominate possession in the opponents’ half. There was no real high defensive line. It is a narrow formation designed to spring a counter attack and it requires good execution on passes made from front to back. One time Eriksen ballsed up a break away and Poch was furious - because those are the chances we wanted to create in that game. Eriksen’s goal was near enough perfect execution of the strategy, and if memory serves the play leading to the penalty came from a good fast break getting us there.
There are still kinks to work out. We got too easily panicked for for their first goal and need to understand that even if we don’t have a possession strategy there are times we still need to make calmer choices with the ball. And for the second, we stood off a lot although to be fair Guendouzi’s pass was excellent. We also need to figure out how we play the diamond in games where we expect to dominate possession. We need more positional interchange, we need more fluidity in those games, but I will assume this will come and the first games are Poch trying to establish the shape before adding more complexity.
But maybe he likes it because with most teams having moves away from a back 3 again and towards a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, he thinks this gives him enough of an advantage in the right areas to create a structural benefit, in the way 3-4-3 did for Conte. I don’t know for sure - I’m by no means an expert, but he seems determined with this formation.
Work out the kinks and I think it’s a good big game formation. We’ve gone to two tough grounds and come away undefeated now. And particularly in the Arsenal game we created chances enough to win with better composure. But even in the City game, despite the shots I think there were large periods we did lock them out. Then it’s just sorting possession out against deep defending sides when the 3 up on the counter doesn’t work. As I said, fluidity is important. Quick interchanges are important - the type that lead to Kane’s post rattler. I’m sure we can get there.
And I will say, if we are moving away from pressing hopefully this will benefit us more over the season. And we have a squad that can suit. Players like Lo Celso and Sessegnon can play so many roles in the formation. So can near enough all of our midfielders. We just need to sort possession out, and make the right decisions under pressure so as not to concede stupid goals like the one before half time.
nayimfromthehalfwayline
Andy Thompson
Could it not be as simple as he is persisting with it simply because he is still accommodating Sissoko, no real RB etc?
Does it have to be indicative of a preferred formation? As opposed to "this will get the best out of a bad situation"
Im not sure the players he has brought in lend themselves to a diamond, for example, but more of our traditional 4231 or a 433.
Does it have to be indicative of a preferred formation? As opposed to "this will get the best out of a bad situation"
Im not sure the players he has brought in lend themselves to a diamond, for example, but more of our traditional 4231 or a 433.
Bishop
Paul Stalteri
Yes with the addition of Ndombele and assuming Lo Celso has been bought for the midfield as opposed to for RWF/ACM then we do appear much setup for a 433 at least in midfield with them paired any of Winks/Sissoko and Dier at the base.
If we do setup as such how we approach the forward 3 is of interest because of course Kane starts and I would say Son should also, leaving a single space for Dele/Moura/Eriksen. That I could see as a long term plan for Eriksen leaves but for now it seems a little unbalanced and we know Poch loves Dele and will start him if possible.
If he really wanted to change things up entirely we could see a midfield of Eriksen, Lo Celso and Ndombele but I can't see Poch being comfortable not playing some some form of designated holder and none of those 3 seemed suited. Personally I think it would be the best setup we could have in terms of creativity, possibly rivalling City and Liverpool for movement and guile. [emoji848]
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nayimfromthehalfwayline
Andy Thompson
Eriksen is suddenly a square peg/round hole sort of proposition, isnt he?
But otherwise that was broadly my thinking.
But otherwise that was broadly my thinking.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I’m only going by what we’re seeing in the first 4 games. He’s clearly been trying to make a diamond work, but that’s only one part of the point. Maybe he changes it up - I have no idea what will happen.
The other is that we are clearly more comfortable facing more long shots and crosses, with the trade off being that if we can create good break away opportunities, there’s a higher chance that they are clearer cut. We as a fan base, and ideally the media, should get comfortable with that rather than assuming we are necessarily failing to impose ourselves.
Bishop
Paul Stalteri
The issue is we are failing to create chances, not that we aren't imposing ourselves. You could argue we imposed ourselves on Saudi Sportswashing Machine, especially in the second half yet created basically no good quality opportunities. Likewise against Villa until the introduction of Eriksen. That is the reason some are being critical, this formation with the personnel selected isn't working.
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ricky2tricky4city
Tom Huddlestone
If your on to something.....who plays in your best diamond?