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***OMT - Spurs v West Ham***

Man of the match

  • Total voters
    65
  • Poll closed .
Mikey10 said:
He also looks like he’s about to s.hit himself, and then burst into tears, in the tunnel before every big game. And he’s supposed to be our captain.
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I think that you're being a little unfair. He's captain for his country too, so you have to assume that he brings something to the party.
 
Pirate55 said:
It was the substitutes that changed the game for me - in a bad way. We had the game fully under control until he took Dele off. Eriksen and Sissoko were so awful. Also, can't understand why our legs seem to go after the hour mark. I thought Poch was supposed to get players super fit. This lack of mental and physical sharpness in the last 15 mins has cost us so often this year. It must be JM's top priority to address.

Very pleased with the win but lots of work to do.
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Mourinho's presser was intertesting. He basically said the burn-out was as much down to traveling coupled with various emotions and expended energy training to perhaps impress him. Very astute. I think if you listened to Dele post-match it is very clear that a core of players were pretty shocked and shaken by the week's events. remember, for many this is the first change of its kind. He was a father figure to them. For Mourinho to factor that in was both astute and experienced. Add the traveling and injury management. One thing with him is no-one can ponder whether he is seeing things or not; his experience tells you he is.
 
milo said:
We were tiring and a number of players got a knock. We also have a big game on Tuesday and at 3-0 up, you can understand that being on players minds.
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Yes we were tiring - that is my point. At this level, we really shouldn't be tiring. West Ham players came on stronger and stronger. If it were a one off because of Tuesday or the whole Poch/Mourinho thing, then I could perhaps understand it. But how many goals have we conceded late on after being in a winning position? It is far too much of a theme for me to be excusable. In the early Poch days, we were the team coming on stronger in the final 15 minutes. This trend has unfortunately reversed and JM needs to urgently address it.
 
Pirate55 said:
Yes we were tiring - that is my point. At this level, we really shouldn't be tiring. West Ham players came on stronger and stronger. If it were a one off because of Tuesday or the whole Poch/Mourinho thing, then I could perhaps understand it. But how many goals have we conceded late on after being in a winning position? It is far too much of a theme for me to be excusable. In the early Poch days, we were the team coming on stronger in the final 15 minutes. This trend has unfortunately reversed and JM needs to urgently address it.
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I'd imagine it often happens when a team has downed tools for a while, they won't be training as hard and there levels aren't what they should be.
It's o e of the reasons I hate players who down tools.
 
What was different?

  1. Without the ball we had poise. There was no panic. The defense dropped off if they needed to. Each player got into position, looking around and ensuring there weren't spaces. We didn't exert massive energy closing down, but focused more on tight compact positioning and awareness. For me this was the biggest change.
  2. Each player knew their role. For example Davies was effectively another CB and was there to defend. Aurier free to get forward.
  3. The front 3 were asked to play on the shoulders of the defenders. That's partly why there were so many offsides. As wham's backline retreated because of the runners, it created more space for Alli and others.
  4. We were prepared to stay down after challenges and break up their play. Under Poch sometimes we'd get sucked into the opposition's game. Rather than impose our own. I think this tatic is part of us regaining control. Taking time. Re-grouping.
Only small differences. But it is what we needed. Aurier was excellent today, which is really a credit to Poch. He brought him on, improving in each game this season. Mourinho created the structure which helped him today, but Poch helped him to develop a greater defensive focus and gain confidence.

Wham were really poor. Still a lot of development to come from us. Baby steps.
 
Pirate55 said:
It was the substitutes that changed the game for me - in a bad way. We had the game fully under control until he took Dele off. Eriksen and Sissoko were so awful. Also, can't understand why our legs seem to go after the hour mark. I thought Poch was supposed to get players super fit. This lack of mental and physical sharpness in the last 15 mins has cost us so often this year. It must be JM's top priority to address.

Very pleased with the win but lots of work to do.
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If you listen to Mourinho’s post match interview he explains the reasons why he thinks our performance dropped off.
 
Pirate55 said:
It was the substitutes that changed the game for me - in a bad way. We had the game fully under control until he took Dele off. Eriksen and Sissoko were so awful. Also, can't understand why our legs seem to go after the hour mark. I thought Poch was supposed to get players super fit. This lack of mental and physical sharpness in the last 15 mins has cost us so often this year. It must be JM's top priority to address.

Very pleased with the win but lots of work to do.
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Dele was shattered as was Moura - they haven’t worked that hard in a match for ages.

Match fitness isn’t there, which as you say is an odd thing considering mopos double sessions.

Him seeing how CE head is and seeing what a donkey Sissoko is and still winning is a good thing.
 
DubaiSpur said:
No, he definitely was slow going down for that.

I guess we need to remember that he's a backup keeper - he'll be reasonably solid, but we'll need a first choice come January. Whether that's Hugo, or someone else.
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He reacts in time, but seems to dive over it.

I’ve never been convinced, Hugo will be in to be judged for the window
 
He is an excellent shot-stopper. For me, that’s outweighed (certainly now) by the clangers and the terrible distribution. He’s certainly not a leader; and I don’t actually think it’s fair to ask a goalkeeper to be a captain given their inability to really influence others on the pitch. He was dug out of a hole by the French team in the biggest game of all in 2018 after a massive howler and was last spotted dropping the ball into his own net when his manager was under severe pressure.
 
Legohamster said:
Dele was shattered as was Moura - they haven’t worked that hard in a match for ages.

Match fitness isn’t there, which as you say is an odd thing considering mopos double sessions.

Him seeing how CE head is and seeing what a donkey Sissoko is and still winning is a good thing.
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I think that they are fatigued rather than lacking match fitness. As Dele and Mourinho said, it has been an emotionally draining week for them. I think that we are also underestimating how mentally and physically tough Poch's game is to play. This is why he wanted to rebuild, he had drained as much effort as he could from some of the players.
 
The thing about Lloris for me is, in all the years he's been here, he's had the same obvious shortcoming and doesn't really appear to have improved his distribution at all. His kicking is basically just as haphazardly poor now* as it was the day he first held up the shirt. How is that?

* Unless, having spent a few weeks with his arm in a sling, he's found it the perfect opportunity to have practised a bit with his feet :D
 
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milo said:
I think that they are fatigued rather than lacking match fitness. As Dele and Mourinho said, it has been an emotionally draining week for them. I think that we are also underestimating how mentally and physically tough Poch's game is to play. This is why he wanted to rebuild, he had drained as much effort as he could from some of the players.
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It was actually Mourinho’s most astute -and for me hopeful- comment post-match. He genuinely appears to realize the emotional impact the decision has had on several of the players, how draining that can be and how carefully that situation needs to be managed.
 
milo said:
It's his big weakness, he's slow to get down. I've been worried about it being targeted with him getting a run in the team.
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At the risk of looking (even more) like a smug clam. I said this after P55 said Gazzaniga should've started the Brighton game

milo said:
I worry about Gazza's shot stopping, I think that he slow to get down and that it'll get exposed with a run in the team.
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