OMT*** Tottenham Hotspur vs. Stoke City *** 15/08/2015 3pm

[indianspur]

Not watched it but once they scored first I just knew we would concede again .. We're a joke really .. No back bone leadership or drive in team .. They all talk the talk ...

It's the predictability that's crushing .. It's the same auld heads , same mistakes , the inability to control a game and see games out let alone kill games off .. Massive money still needed in this squad .. They just don't have it .. Striker area not really my biggest worry ... It's the midfield .. Just always wrong and has been since modric fudgeed off out of it .. All mishmash of nothing and no better than one another, no one to make a difference

i know you didnt watch, but it wasnt the midfield so much, the defenders were dozy today

 

[indianspur]

First goal = was bad defense work of one player, not the team. Second goal was the same kind of chance we gave them before we made our changes, only that Loris did not save this time!

bang on, post of the day

 

[milo]

Not watched it but once they scored first I just knew we would concede again .. We're a joke really .. No back bone leadership or drive in team .. They all talk the talk ...

It's the predictability that's crushing .. It's the same auld heads , same mistakes , the inability to control a game and see games out let alone kill games off .. Massive money still needed in this squad .. They just don't have it .. Striker area not really my biggest worry ... It's the midfield .. Just always wrong and has been since modric fudgeed off out of it .. All mishmash of nothing and no better than one another, no one to make a difference

You didn't watch it but you still know what the problem is. Amazing.

 

[Armchair Expert]

Not watched it but once they scored first I just knew we would concede again .. We're a joke really .. No back bone leadership or drive in team .. They all talk the talk ...

It's the predictability that's crushing .. It's the same auld heads , same mistakes , the inability to control a game and see games out let alone kill games off .. Massive money still needed in this squad .. They just don't have it .. Striker area not really my biggest worry ... It's the midfield .. Just always wrong and has been since modric fudgeed off out of it .. All mishmash of nothing and no better than one another, no one to make a difference

But money isnt what is needed. Time is whats needed.

You dont go down the route of nurturing and developing the youngest squad in the league to throw the towel in and throw the cheque book around liverpool style. Days like this are all part of the process: maybe we will finish 8th or 9th or whatever. But the team has to be given the chance to grow. We aren't going to splash the cash because if you bring in a 28 year old or even a 26 year old now, we totally block the route to the first team for the kids coming through.

The long term benefits are obvious - the best of which might be an inceased liklihood of keeping our best players if the grow as a team and identify with the club. Liverpool wouldve been fudged for years now if it was for the loyalties of their scouse contingent.

Also, almost everything is secondary until the ground is built. Should we just pull money out of thin air to realise that 400-500 million pound 15 year project?

My GHod its two bastard games and people are frothing at the mouth!

 

[SpurMeUp]

We should be crowing over a slick win with lots of chances created. Good performances from Dembele, Lloris, Kane, Chadli, Eriksen and Dier. We'd flag up the defence, which was so good at united, looking shaky. Still room for improvement as Stoke were wasteful etcetera etcetera. Except we threw the game away.

Lamela will take the flack, but its a whole team setup, mentality and shape. As we tire we don't press as well, and we drop deeper, get nervous and panic. We need to be compact and organised. 2 nil up its not hard to see out. We need to do the simple things well and then Poch's impressive fluid system will look a whole lot better.

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

I watched Lamela very closely when he came on. He has done our dough. Always delays the pass too long, arrives too late, misses the tackle and goes to ground, holds the ball too long. This guy is completely off the pace in every respect! I hear Roma have a bridge they want to sell.

 

[ringo]

Dier/Bentaleb is far too defensive a combination. One is an out and out defender converted into a holding midfielder. The other tends to pick up the ball from the back four with their back to goal and do a lot of short passing - much of it square or back to defenders (which is not to say he never gets or passes forwards -just that he seems more naturally to play defensively). That combination is just asking the other team to pin us in our own half.

 

[indianspur]

Dier/Bentaleb is far too defensive a combination. One is an out and out defender converted into a holding midfielder. The other tend to pick up the ball from the back four with their back to goal and do a lot of short passing - much of it square or back to defenders (which is not to say he never gets or passes forwards -just that he seem more naturally to play defensively). That combination is just asking the other team to pin us in our own half.

we were pinned in our half because we had no outlet ball forward, no focal point, someone leading the line, someone more commonly known as a striker

 

[indianspur]

But money isnt what is needed. Time is whats needed.

You dont go down the route of nurturing and developing the youngest squad in the league to throw the towel in and throw the cheque book around liverpool style. Days like this are all part of the process: maybe we will finish 8th or 9th or whatever. But the team has to be given the chance to grow. We aren't going to splash the cash because if you bring in a 28 year old or even a 26 year old now, we totally block the route to the first team for the kids coming through.

The long term benefits are obvious - the best of which might be an inceased liklihood of keeping our best players if the grow as a team and identify with the club. Liverpool wouldve been fudgeed for years now if it was for the loyalties of their scouse contingent.

Also, almost everything is secondary until the ground is built. Should we just pull money out of thin air to realise that 400-500 million pound 15 year project?

My GHod its two bastard games and people are frothing at the mouth!

will Levy give that time

 

[Raziel]

You can claim that the subs changed the game, but they were changes Poch had to make. Kane had a knock, and Mason has only just come back, and isn't fully fit. So what choices did we have? Do you play a player who has never been playing at anywhere near this level, or do you play last seasons best midfielder... The choice is pretty obvious to me.

Mason was playing well, and absolutely didn't want to come off .. Poch made a call, and it was a brick call, as was the Lamela one ...

 

[Raziel]

will Levy give that time

Should he? (and before anyone jumps on it), I'm not specifically referring to Poch, but to the myth of time

- name me a single manager (in the last 10 years) who has struggled in his first 2 seasons at a PL club, turned it around and delivered something significantly better?

 

[mudshark]

More self-inflicted wounds. Stupid penalty to give away, and having to carry Lamela and pick up after him when he came on proved too much. sexy.

 

[Jordinho]

will Levy give that time

He will give more time than supposed "fans".

 

[Cochise]

As much as some of you are bitching about the DM, Dier was actually very effective.

 

[Pirate55]

There was only one person I hold responsible for that loss of two points. Poch. He had a substitution nightmare and gave up control of the game. With both Walker and Davies on yellow cards and unable to tackle. He left them both on the pitch. Madness imo and Walker was a red card just waiting to happen - or he gave the Stoke player so much room, he crucified us down our right hand side where both goals came from.

If Kane has to go off, so be it. But lack of a suitable replacement has been highlighted here so often it just isn't funny any more. If Lamela is even worth a subs place in front of Pritchard or Alli something is very wrong. He is still struggling with the same weaknesses and faults for over two seasons now. His time is up for me.

Mason was having a great game. He was often our last man in defence and made some excellent surging runs in behind. Bentaleb was really poor in comparison and offered no attacking threat.

To take our only offensively threatening players off and replace them with duds, meant we completely surrendered the initiative and let Stoke back into a game we had been controlling. It could have been even worse if Ireland had scored.

Poch. You need to take a really hard look in the mirror my son. Not good enough today.

 

[Mulletperm]

I actually saw Mason say to someone "Why me" when he saw Bentaleb getting ready to come on.

 

[ringo]

we were pinned in our half because we had no outlet ball forward, no focal point, someone leading the line, someone more commonly known as a striker

You are right, that didn't help either -and the combination of the two was always going to cause problems. If the manager is tactically aware he has to see that.. It was no time to be offering Bentaleb a chance for redemption (for last week's performance).

Better to stick Dier up front if you want to take off Kane and bring on Bentaleb (Although Carroll or Alli would have been better). At least he is a target and will hold the ball up.

 

[Kandi1977]

Mason was playing well, and absolutely didn't want to come off .. Poch made a call, and it was a **** call, as was the Lamela one ...

He WAS playing well yes. but if you look again and take off the lamela hate tinted glasses, you will see that Mason didn't have the same energi, and was struggling to close down players. Clear signs of a tireing player. But of course you would know better than the coach and the rest of the coaching staff

 

[Armchair Expert]

Should he? (and before anyone jumps on it), I'm not specifically referring to Poch, but to the myth of time

- name me a single manager (in the last 10 years) who has struggled in his first 2 seasons at a PL club, turned it around and delivered something significantly better?

Its an impossible challenge - managers are given two months not two seasons. I wouldnt exactly say Poch struggled in his first season either. 5th and a cup final is a pretty good return.

 

[ringo]

Its an impossible challenge - managers are given two months not two seasons. I wouldnt exactly say Poch struggled in his first season either. 5th and a cup final is a pretty good return.

I think our 5th place was a lot to do with Kane's run of form, rather than Poch's tactical genius (who first decided to give Kane a run of games?)