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Official No game this weekend OMT

Danishfurniturelover said:
I do not know why you would not bring on a striker when your chasing a game.
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Because sometimes the problem is that attacks are breaking down in the middle of the park and the problem isn’t the front players which was exactly the issue today. Bringing on Llorente would have been just one more player we weren’t getting the ball to. That said, Poch made the wrong subs at the wrong times.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Not really. Alli was far, far worse.

I' m not saying Sissoko wasn't bad - he was. But he's also the totem pole for criticism at all times, whether he plays well or not - so it's nice to occasionally remember that, is all.
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He has become the totem pole for criticism because he practically never plays a good match. Alli, on the the other hand, frequently contributes with assists, goals and performances for us, so it's only natural to let his errors slide. Once you heap up the amounts of poor performances Sissoko have, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he contributes with very little to our team, to the point where a lot of fans (myself included) would rather he didn't play. He did play well for the last 10 minutes of this match granted, had few decent runs and passes, but seeing as we're extremely deprived of seeing anything remotely good from him for such a long time, it's only natural we demand more of him than of the other players. Perform or get out. It's a mystery what Poch sees in him, or rather why he keeps playing him despite of his poor performances.
 
SteveAWOL said:
If Pochettino has an Achilles heel it must be his use of subs... I gather from the book that he doesn’t like to use them too early for fear of knocking players’ confidence but I hope that that he might take a leaf out of Fergie’s book some day...

https://twitter.com/x/status/955128495688110080
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Not new, and it's something he's been stubborn about for a very long time now. I might be wrong about this, but I think I saw a graphic a while back that said that we were the last team to use our subs (per ninety minutes) in the entire top six - we routinely wait until 70 minutes plus to bring ours on.

It's a bit puzzling, to be honest. He lunches with Fergie to try and learn from him - but Fergie was a master at using subs to change a game, and didn't give a damn if the players felt unhappy about being dragged off. If a United player played like ours did today, he was coming off - no ifs and buts, he was useless and everyone would know it when the board went up. And that worked.

Poch is the exact opposite in-game - he'll never bring anybody off even if we're being utterly massacred. I suppose that it's because of changing times - footballers are more sensitive and demanding these days. Or maybe it's just the youth of these players relative to the ones late-era Fergie used to use. But, despite that, those are constraints other managers have, too - and I don't think any of them outright hate early substitutions as much as Poch does.
 
Not a great performance, and a draw was probably fair on the balance of play and chances. We weren't at the races from the start today. You can usually tell from the first five minutes whether we'll have a good game or not. Today we started sloppily and we carried on that way. We lost possession too often, made too many bad decisions and the heavy pitch probably didn't help. Our creative players didn't play well, and we had one fewer of them than usual because of a strange team selection. If Eriksen can't play, why play Sissoko out of possession? Lamela has some of Eriksen's qualities in terms of being capable of playing a pass that will open a defence, so to me, he is natural replacement for Eriksen. And why bring Son off when we desperately need a goal. He didn't play well, but you don't take off your goalscorers when you need a goal in a game you have to win to keep up with your rivals. Bizarre management unless there is something we don't know about Son (illness or a knock).

Alli has at times been infurating this season, and today was one of those days. He seems reluctant to ever make the easy play. Every time he gets the ball he wants to do something special, he takes too many touches, tries something difficult that doesn't come off and we lose possession. Someone needs to give him a kick up the backside and tell him to get back to basics. Move into space, move the ball on quickly and then make another run. He thinks he is better than he is at the moment. He really isn't that hugely talented when it comes to the technical side of the game. His success has been based on football intelligence. Making the right runs, picking the right pass at the right time, not on dribbling past five players and curling it in the top corner. So he needs be told to do what he did in the last two seasons.
 
Southampton I thought fought well today as did we. It was not a game for silky skills more of a battle.
Some need to gain some perspective also.
 
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Alli needs some serious advice abt his football. From what I have seen this season he is believing the hype from the media. He is at best lampard imo, that’s not a bad thing because goals are the most important thing in a match.
But if that is missing from his game, he is pretty average. He does not have eriksens passing, he doesn’t have gigg’s dribbling. But he keeps trying all this stuff and disappoints us everytime.
Lampard knows he’s place, he plays the game simple, keeps the ball moving. Alli in the other hand tries to be clever, loses the ball 5-6 times a game. And that annoys us fans!!!!!
If some1 comes in with a massive bid I wouldn’t be too disappointed.
 
Daisuk said:
He has become the totem pole for criticism because he practically never plays a good match. Alli, on the the other hand, frequently contributes with assists, goals and performances for us, so it's only natural to let his errors slide. Once you heap up the amounts of poor performances Sissoko have, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he contributes with very little to our team, to the point where a lot of fans (myself included) would rather he didn't play. He did play well for the last 10 minutes of this match granted, had few decent runs and passes, but seeing as we're extremely deprived of seeing anything remotely good from him for such a long time, it's only natural we demand more of him than of the other players. Perform or get out. It's a mystery what Poch sees in him, or rather why he keeps playing him despite of his poor performances.
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Very fair, but if you're criticizing Sissoko for being bad *in this game*, then you surely have to acknowledge that he wasn't even in the top three worst players out there *today*. He isn't the reason we threw points away - at least, not the primary reason.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Sorry but that's very arrogant to assume we will finish above them. Have you forgotten that we still have to go to Liverpool, a ground where we never win? And Chelsea where we haven't won since the stone age.
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chelsea fine

did you see our performance against liverpool last year, Poch has finally worked them out, they are a one trick pony who can’t defend, take that trick away and bully them and you score at will, a 4-1 defeat flattered them, it should have been 10, I expect another comfortable win in the return
 
galeforce said:
chelsea fine

did you see our performance against liverpool last year, Poch has finally worked them out, they are a one trick pony who can’t defend, take that trick away and bully them and you score at will, a 4-1 defeat flattered them, it should have been 10, I expect another comfortable win in the return
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That was at home. Have you watched our away performances against top 6 sides during Poch's reign? Hell, go back even further, even though we've been a very good side for the last 10-12 years, our away performances/results against the top clubs has not improved at all.

Liverpool may not be able to defend but they can outscore teams more often than not and I fear we will get a tonking especially without Toby. I'd be shocked if the final outcome is anything other than a comfortable Liverpool win.
 
galeforce said:
have a look at their defence and goal keeper depth chart
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They've only conceded 6 more goals than us and have just improved their defence, even if they greatly overpaid for him.

I'm also confused what you mean about did you see our performances against Liverpool last year? They smashed us 2-0 away at Anfield and we just about got away with a draw at home. Season before that, 2 draws. Season before that, 2 losses.

So in what, 7 games? Poch has got 1 win, 3 draws and 3 losses. We've picked up 6 points from 21. The last thing I would do is bet on a Spurs result at Anfield.
 
Sissoko actually played ok in the 2nd half today and it's unfair that he gets the amount of stick he gets but he's just so inept going forward and offers virtually no goal threat that it baffles me why he gets so much playing time. Even when though Lamela is still slowly getting back to full match fitness, he's still a much better option than Sissoko.

Poch for me should get the most stick for constantly selecting him and leaving him on the pitch for so long time after time. He almost always gets subbed in most matches he plays which which begs the question as to why he picks him to start so many times.
 
galeforce said:
have a look at their defence and goal keeper depth chart
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They've had the same defence and goalkeeper all season and are ahead of us and have just got Van Dijk who is considerably better than anyone else they have. But of course, on the back of that they're all of a sudden going to get much worse and us much better right....
 
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