Nobody beats Wenger at the bottle throw-down.
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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked
- Thread starter DubaiSpur
- Start date
Nobody beats Wenger at the bottle throw-down.
Robspur12
John Lacy
Come on mate you are being melodramatic. We are 10 games into the season! The "bottle throw" was nothing. It is amazing, we are not playing well and fans already are putting pressure on the manager. Poch is trying to find out his best team whilst keeping us competitive on several fronts. I thought his substitutions were very good today. So much for allowing a manager time to get things right.
DHSF
Les Ferdinand
Sometimes Managers are their own worst enemy in that when they persist on playing players like Adebayor and Kaboul then you have issues really...
Robspur12
John Lacy
I don't rate Kaboul as a defender - never have. But he does appear to have an air of authority about him that the other players react to. During the scuffles between spurs and villa players Kaboul was right in the midst of it sorting things out. Maybe that' a what Poch saw in him when deciding on the captaincy.
Robspur12
John Lacy
Mate he has already, by the looks of it, consigned paulinho and chiriches to the "do not play" list. How many more players can he put there? These are players he has inherited and he has to make the best of it. I think we are desperately short of passing midfielders and 2 out of our 3 strikers cannot score. Poch knows Spurs have to be competitive in the cups so he is trying to rotate the team carefully. He needs time to get this right. 10 games is no time at all.
The egyptian
Carlo Cudicini
I have mixed feeling about poch, I can`t tolerate seeing caboul every single match but a defense line can`t play without a leader and for me this is not vero -with this tardy personality- not unsettled fazio or young dier so I can excuse haim in that.
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Kaboul was class - he is toilet now but he has been top draw for us a few years back. Agree - he gets involved and that means a lot
But weren't we told Poch thought he had 'too many players'. I still don't know whose fault it was we left 2 HG spots unfilled, then added to that by loaning out Fredericks and Milos, leaving our squad far too thin.
We need to keep a lot of players home to rest for the Stoke game, but some are probably going to have to travel because we need a result in Greece and we lack depth enough to handle both games with two different good XIs.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
The worrying thing for me right now is that against Villa our pressing game was very poor (imo). They were finding space and creating chances way too easily, particularly considering that they hadn't scored in ages before our game. Really thought our front 4/6 should do more to protect the back 4 and stop their midfielders from getting space to play good passes.
Going forward we were doing alright I thought, we were creating chances and eventually scored our goals. But Poch seems to struggle with our defensive play and particularly the pressing that was so good at Southampton and occasionally has been good for us this season needs to improve I think.
Going forward we were doing alright I thought, we were creating chances and eventually scored our goals. But Poch seems to struggle with our defensive play and particularly the pressing that was so good at Southampton and occasionally has been good for us this season needs to improve I think.
ledley's knee injections
Sean Davis
*massive applause* - agree entirely with your view Rob, some much needed perspective and PATIENCE.
SUIYHA
Scott Parker
On one hand - we very nearly lost to an awful Villa side.
On the other - more and more encouraging signs. I thought we were playing some very nice football until the Villa goal - one touch passing and a few good opportunities created. We carried on pushing for an equaliser and eventually our superior quality shone through. Guzan was forced to make a number of good saves, and with a few opportunities like the Soldado shot that went wide or that shot from Eriksen that was going in but hit Chadli (I think). We could have scored several more than we did with better finishing.
The problem continues to be our defence. Making big mistakes that give away goals sucks the life out of performances. The fans get frustrated, the opposition is buoyed, the players heads start to dip and the passing suddenly isn't as crisp, and all attempts on goal are panicky and less accurate. I get that Kaboul is the most senior member of the team etc - but his defensive ability just isn't good enough.
I don't buy any of this nonsense about the players not wanting it, or there being a lack of desire in the squad. Just look at the passion at the last minute equaliser, the hard tackles from Vertonghen, Chadli and Capoue, Mason getting in Benteke's face etc. There are perhaps a few guilty culprits, but as a squad I don't see lack of hunger being an issue, despite how easy it is for fans to see us not winning and thrashing a team and blame the players for not trying hard enough.
No - the issue, plain and simple, is a lack of quality in key positions. We need serious upgrades in defence and at CF.
On the other - more and more encouraging signs. I thought we were playing some very nice football until the Villa goal - one touch passing and a few good opportunities created. We carried on pushing for an equaliser and eventually our superior quality shone through. Guzan was forced to make a number of good saves, and with a few opportunities like the Soldado shot that went wide or that shot from Eriksen that was going in but hit Chadli (I think). We could have scored several more than we did with better finishing.
The problem continues to be our defence. Making big mistakes that give away goals sucks the life out of performances. The fans get frustrated, the opposition is buoyed, the players heads start to dip and the passing suddenly isn't as crisp, and all attempts on goal are panicky and less accurate. I get that Kaboul is the most senior member of the team etc - but his defensive ability just isn't good enough.
I don't buy any of this nonsense about the players not wanting it, or there being a lack of desire in the squad. Just look at the passion at the last minute equaliser, the hard tackles from Vertonghen, Chadli and Capoue, Mason getting in Benteke's face etc. There are perhaps a few guilty culprits, but as a squad I don't see lack of hunger being an issue, despite how easy it is for fans to see us not winning and thrashing a team and blame the players for not trying hard enough.
No - the issue, plain and simple, is a lack of quality in key positions. We need serious upgrades in defence and at CF.
I would agree if there weren't 10 or more sides with less quality in defense/midfield yet don't seem to be opened up at will by a side like Villa (who hadn't scored in forever)
We were way too open, which left us vulnerable, yet wasn't creating us a ton of chances .. poor setup
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Agreed too. Managers like Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho have done the same or worse. Just showing a bit of frustration at a frustrating time. **** me, last week he got criticism for not being emotional enough with Lamela's wonder goal. Impossible to please it seems.
Agreed. Our attacking play continues to be decent at worst (overall in games).
Disagree somewhat about our defending. I think it's a team issue as I mentioned above, not just an issue with the individual defends although improvements there obviously would be welcome.
Agree fully about the players wanting. Like against Saudi Sportswashing Machine after we went behind I thought the effort was there.
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
The problem as I see it is with our wide AM's. They tuck in so much as to expose the full backs. Against City the amount of 2 on 1 situations Rose and Dier found themselves in should have set alarm bells ringing. Against Villa the space in front Rose in particular was used to hit a dozen or more deep crosses at Benteke's head, two of which he nearly scored from. We gotta sort that out somehow or we'll cough up a load of chances
sc25
Banned
Raziel, good points. There is lots to work on and improve, and right now the side seems unbalanced and disjointed to me. Not a shock tho, and hopefully will get better. You won't find me complaining or apologizing too much after a win in the EPL, especially on the road, and a win like that can build character and team unity. We had some luck, but even when not at our best, we ground it out and found a way to win. Not going to over-think this particular game too much really, its 3 pts, go quietly and move on.
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Thing is, this is where I find Poch confusing ..
I was at the preseason games, and two big things stood out for me then
- FB's were given cover from midfield, either Mason/Holtby would drop behind/alongside FB to cover and ensure we weren't over exposed
- We used pace through the middle, Lennon/Townsend were both used in the middle, for quick one touch, run the channel plays
It was unpolished, but you could see the idea, the width was provided by FB's, but the opposition defense had to deal with both the threat from wide & pacey run through middle with fast passing from Lamela/Eriksen/Soldado, while still having protection by energetic midfielders (Mason/Holtby) moving wide to cover.
Then we start the season without any of that? go to inverted wingers, no pace, static Ade and midfielders don't protect FB (classic case in point with Dier & Saudi Sportswashing Machine), wtf?
I suppose it has something to do with the players at his disposal at the time? The WC players didnt play during pre season (much, if my memory is correct).
Whether he should have adapted this ethos to accommodate such players I dont know, it depends on whether Poch's desired style comes to fruition by the end of the season. I think our attacking play is beginning to look better as the weeks go by, might just take more time to integrate the whole team together though...
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Who were the non-inverted wingers in pre-season if Lennon and Townsend were used wide?
It's a lot easier to get cover from midfield against poor or poor-ish pre-season teams than it is to get cover in PL games.
Lennon/Townsend didn't play wide in preseason, they literally played in the middle, center of pitch, making runs at/beyond opposition CB. Lennon looked really good actually.
Yes, easy to look good against **** opposition, but positional cover should translate, and when you have a manager who has used it as a strategy, it's hard ot understand when playing a player out of his natural position, he is struggling, you don't adjust to leverage that tactic to provide a little less risk.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
But you said that when we started the season we went to inverted wingers. I was wondering who were the players being used as traditional wingers in pre-season.
I don't think positional cover translates at all. Higher tempo, better opponents, more turnovers. Becomes much more demanding physically to cover space and get back consistently. Also much more difficult to apply a proper full pitch press.