I agree with just about every word of this post. I think the main reason we lost yesterday is because of a poor team selection by Pochettino. He has shown each of our PL opponents the respect to play 2 defensive minded players in midfield and then suddenly decides that he will abandon that and play with only one against a team who are better than any team we have faced so far in the PL. I do not understand that at all, especially as Monaco's strength is in passing or dribbling through the first press and playing on the break. I think it would be fine to end up with Eriksen, Lamela, Son and Alli on the pitch towards the end if we are chasing the game, but starting with all four of those was a mistake.
While I admit he was poor, Davies was worse and Lamela was far worse..... I think you are apportioning the blame for that goal on completely the wrong player.
I disagree slightly here..... I thought we started the match as the better team. Up until the goal that Monaco scored on the break it looked to me as though we were likely to win the game comfortably. The goal scored against the run of play then knocked us for 6. The problem (as a few have alluded to) was that the players Pochettino picked left us very open to being counter attacked and counter attacking is what Monaco do very well. Still, had Lamela not had a brain fart and done something stupid as most of our team were getting forward for our own attack, then we probably would've gone on and won that game.
The way I saw it was that Monaco are more adept than most teams we face at playing through a press, either with a good combination of passes or by the player on the ball, beating his man. All of their players had good control, ability on the ball and trust in their teammates to be able to receive a pass even when under pressure. Usually if a team breaks through our first press this isn't a huge issue because we have Dier and Dembele or Wanyama as good physical presences shielding the defence. They can generally stand up and shepherd the opposing player into an area where they will not cause us any damage or if left exposed one on one they can dive in and make a tackle as a last resort.
I don't think home or away really matter to us. We're just as likely to win or lose regardless of where we play. I'm hoping the team will start clicking by the next match.
I thought Alli was our brightest player in the first half. The problem was that he was in completely the wrong position and moving him into Dembele's role unbalanced the team in both an attacking and defensive sense. Personally I blame Pochettino more than Alli for that mistake.
Couldn't agree more. On the whole we were the better team and had better and more chances. If Kane doesn't shoot at the keeper and we don't muck up the clearance of the cross that led to their second goal, the result would have been different. So to judge the entire match on 10 seconds of football is ridiculous. I never understood that. Everyone looks at the result and not the game as a whole. A player scores a goal, but is brick the rest of the match, and all of a sudden he's MoM. A team scores on their only two chances and never troubles us otherwise, while we put them under pressure most of the game and miss several opportunities, and all of sudden we're crap. Seriously, people need to watch and judge on the entire game, not just what the scoreline says.
I was actually making an analogy of Lamela to Janssen. Janssen needs time, just like Erik did. Who are you writing about ? Coz I'm fine with Lamela, and the post I was quoting was talking about Kane and Lamela.
We might have lost the game, but not in the manner we did with Monaco waltzing through our so-called 'midfield'.
