►►►►►► Match Ratings VS Swansea City ◄◄◄◄◄◄

garyhopkins · Apr 2, 2012

Friedel 7.5
Walker 7
Gallas 7.5
Kaboul 7
BAE 7
Modric 7
Parker 7.5
Sandro 7
VDV 7.5
Bale 8
Ade 8
subs
Lennon 7
Livermore 6.5

Special mention for Sandro and his exuberant reaction to our second goal (he leapt out of his seat and he appeared to trip over himself and his shirt in the excitement of the moment) as he'd only just been substituted. It was great to see and epitomizes the kind of squad spirit that is sure to help us in the final run-in.

stevenqoz · Apr 2, 2012

Blake Griffin said:
sandro 6.5 - not at his best, looks unsure as to exactly what his job is at times
modric 7 - not great but kept things ticking over well

Today he was man for man with Joe Allen. This had several implications for the shape of our side. Allen dragged him deep and this meant that because he was alongside Parker..... Modric actually played further forward...very much in the position that BC had often said that he should play.
Occasionally Sandro got forward but was quite clueless in an attacking sense. This central midfield set-up did the job but I feel it once again had us playing one of our best players in a non-favoured position(Modric)
Sandro actually lost Allen for their goal....one of the rare times he wasn't right with him in the match

dav3j · Apr 2, 2012

Friedel 7
Walker 7
Gallas 7
Kaboul 8
BAE 7
Modric 7
Sandro 7
Parker 8
VdV 8
Ade 8
Bale 8

Lennon 7
Livermore 7

gp13tot · Apr 2, 2012

Friedel 7
Walker 6
BAE 5
Kaboul 8
Gallas 7
Parker 7
Sandro 6
Modric 7
VDV 7
Bale 8
Ade 8

Lennon 7
Livermore 6
Rose NA

Bus-Conductor · Apr 2, 2012

stevenqoz said:
Blake Griffin said:

sandro 6.5 - not at his best, looks unsure as to exactly what his job is at times
modric 7 - not great but kept things ticking over well

Today he was man for man with Joe Allen. This had several implications for the shape of our side. Allen dragged him deep and this meant that because he was alongside Parker..... Modric actually played further forward...very much in the position that BC had often said that he should play.
Occasionally Sandro got forward but was quite clueless in an attacking sense. This central midfield set-up did the job but I feel it once again had us playing one of our best players in a non-favoured position(Modric)
Sandro actually lost Allen for their goal....one of the rare times he wasn't right with him in the match

Click to expand...

For the majority of that match, until the Sandro substitution, I would have said Modric played in his ideal position (not necessarily where I would call his ideal) which seemed to be centrally, ahead of Parker and Sandro.

I'm not sure what Redknapp was calling it, but many times it looked like this:

-------Sandro----Parker
VDV--------Modric------Bale
-------Adebayor

VDV was definitely patrolling the right and Bale the left (with degrees of freedom as per usual), but Modric was continually seen further forward in a central position.

In fact, I'd be hard pushed to remember a game where Modric got in so many threatening positions or when we as a team created so many quality situations, against a side with a good defensive record.

mpickard2087 · Apr 2, 2012

Friedel 7

Walker 7
Gallas 7
Kaboul 8
Ekotto 7

Sandro 7
Parker 8.5

VDV 8
Modric 7
Bale 8.5

Adebayor 8

Lennon 7
Livermore n/a
Rose n/a

Mr Pink · Apr 2, 2012

Bus-Conductor said:
stevenqoz said:

For the majority of that match, until the Sandro substitution, I would have said Modric played in his ideal position (not necessarily where I would call his ideal) which seemed to be centrally, ahead of Parker and Sandro.

I'm not sure what Redknapp was calling it, but many times it looked like this:

-------Sandro----Parker
VDV--------Modric------Bale
-------Adebayor

VDV was definitely patrolling the right and Bale the left (with degrees of freedom as per usual), but Modric was continually seen further forward in a central position.

In fact, I'd be hard pushed to remember a game where Modric got in so many threatening positions or when we as a team created so many quality situations, against a side with a good defensive record.

Click to expand...

But again you could say had those chances fallen to VDV we would of been couple a goals up a lot quicker :shrug:

Swap Modric with VDV in that shape and you get a bigger goal threat but then some will say you won't get the best out of Modric which impacts on our general levels of performance.

A moot point though?...Given they are operating with degrees of freedom...

Bus-Conductor · Apr 2, 2012

Mr Pink said:
Bus-Conductor said:

But again you could say had those chances fallen to VDV we would of been couple a goals up a lot quicker :shrug:

Swap Modric with VDV in that shape and you get a bigger goal threat but then some will say you won't get the best out of Modric which impacts on our general levels of performance.

A moot point though?...Given they are operating with degrees of freedom...

Click to expand...

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Not moot point either. That's why I said "not necessarily my ideal". Modric is at his best dropping a shoulder, doing a feint and ghosting into the box to set up someone else. I want him doing that from the right of the three and VDV the one in the middle getting the chances.

I'll take that formation over the 442/4411 any day, but let Modric and VDV swap default, but let them have degrees of freedom.

Mr Pink · Apr 2, 2012

Bus-Conductor said:
Mr Pink said:

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Not moot point either. That's why I said "not necessarily my ideal". Modric is at his best dropping a shoulder, doing a feint and ghosting into the box to set up someone else. I want him doing that from the right of the three and VDV the one in the middle getting the chances.

I'll take that formation over the 442/4411 any day, but let Modric and VDV swap default, but let them have degrees of freedom.

Click to expand...

Yep, I think that would be the icing on the cake...

Spurs_Bear · Apr 2, 2012

Bus-Conductor said:
Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Not moot point either. That's why I said "not necessarily my ideal". Modric is at his best dropping a shoulder, doing a feint and ghosting into the box to set up someone else. I want him doing that from the right of the three and VDV the one in the middle getting the chances.

I'll take that formation over the 442/4411 any day, but let Modric and VDV swap default, but let them have degrees of freedom.

Is that not a tad romantic though? When was the last time Modric actually did that and how do you think it would be plausible for him to do it from the right?

The best part of the 433 that we seem to have adopted, is that Modric is not TOO far forward and VdV is only nominally on the right when defending, and he can ghost into positions like yesterday and use his clinical......ness.

BringBack_leGin · Apr 2, 2012

Friedel couldn't have done anything about the goal, was steady and commanding when he needed to be and made one unbelievable save from Sigurdsson. Another good game from a good goalie.

Walker continues to improve. Defensively he was very good and going forward he was his usual self. Very happy with him.

Kaboul was my man of the match, I thought he was an absolute monster. Winning everything in the air, brilliant in the tackle and superb bringing the ball out.

Gallas was also very good in this match, reading the Swansea attacks beautifully and pushing up to nip things in the bud regularly.

Ekotto was not up to scratch, I felt he was turned more than I've seen in a long time and caught out of position a few times, while his passing wasn't as crisp and incisive as I've grown to expect of him.

Sandro played very well. I was surprised that he was picked ahead of Livermore but he did have a good game, though I think his presence together with Parker is a huge part of why we went too deep for long periods and invited as much pressure as we did in the opening exchanges of the second half, building up the their goal.

Parker, like Sandro, played very well. Individually he had his usually determined and battling game, but I just think the two together make us too defensive and leave too large a gap between attacking players and defensive players. At least with Livermore he's solid but plays a bit higher up the pitch.

Modric was not his best in my opinion. A wonderful pass in the build up to our opener, but I can't believe how wasteful he was by his standards. I found much of his player to be sloppy.

VDV was great. Ignoring a well taken goal and a good assist from the corner (he's sorted it out at long last!), he also kept hold of the ball beautifully throughout the game, made many classy passes and displayed his genius touch and awareness throughout.

Bale was an absolute beat. He plays on the left, he plays on the left, Gareth Baaaaaale, HE PLAYS ON THE LEFT!

Adebayors work rate was great, he showed some lovely touch and he took both goals well. Good thing too, because he owed us one after his weakly hit shot jut minutes before.

Lennon came on, took a while to actually receive the ball, took even longer to do something with it, then did what he does bit with a lovely jink to the right, chip into the area and assist for Adebayor to put the game to bed. That's the Lennon I want to see every game!

Livermore came on and helped close things out, and kept the pressure on their midfield in their half!

mattyspurs · Apr 2, 2012

What about Adebayor?

penfold_99 · Apr 2, 2012

Bale was good when he hugged the touchline but went missing when he came inside. Modric had to keep telling bale to stay on the left as he had to keep checking his pass to him as half the time he wasn't there and had to either pass back of make a short pass to someone else.

I was impressed with lennon coming back and being able to cross the ball straight away. With him and bale on, the pitch gets 10 feet wider.

Ade does need to practice hit shots from out side the area.

sloth · Apr 2, 2012

A great performance all-round, in what I would call a 4-2-3-1 formation (but won't quibble if people prefer to say it's 4-3-3). Can we finally put to bed the idea that playing this way (which is the way Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and a host of other of the most attacking, flamboyant, positive teams in Europe have played virtually every game this season) is somehow only to play the tougher teams away from home?

It's frankly laughable for people to think in this way, scoring goals, being attacking, carrying a threat come when you field a balanced team; too much emphasis on one aspect over another and you end up weaker in every department. Harry gets it, Mourinho get it, Klopp gets it, Pep gets it, Heynkes gets it and most people on here get it, so let's not see that tired argument trotted out again. Just to add, by all means prefer 4-4-2, criticise the alternatives and put forward the rationale for your own choice, but do not try to claim that it's because 4-4-2 is somehow inherently more attacking, the alternatives less attacking. [/rant]

Anyway most people have summed up the game very well, the only thing I'd add is wasn't it refreshing to see Harry bring on Lennon when we needed the goal, but stick to the same shape? This more than anything convinces me that Harry's finally settled in his mind the way he wants to play. Keeping Defoe on the bench, even though he's scored so many coming off it, demonstrates that Harry did the maths, subtracting the additional goal threat Swansea would present if we went 4-4-2, and the lack of possession we would have, from the additional goal threat Defoe would present, and comparing that to the similar equation with Lennon in the side. Lennon didn't score, like Defoe might have, but he enabled Ade to score, and Swansea had barely a sniff in the last 20 minutes.

Harry 10/10

StartingPrice · Apr 2, 2012

But 4-4-2 does inherently carry more goal threat, surely :shrug:

sloth · Apr 2, 2012

StartingPrice said:
But 4-4-2 does inherently carry more goal threat, surely :shrug:

Care to elaborate? Or is your tongue firmly in your cheek SP?

StartingPrice · Apr 2, 2012

sloth said:
Care to elaborate? Or is your tongue firmly in your cheek SP?

The latter :grin:

tRiKS · Apr 2, 2012

Ade was my MOTM.

EastLondonYid · Apr 2, 2012

rb1213 said:
bale is so greedy pass the F***ing ball

That is a scary post, please tell me your just messing about.

Parker deserves alot of credit, it wasn't picked up on TV but he sorted out a small row between Walker and Kaboul in the first half superbly,he cut it out like a proper skipper...:clap:

MOM...bale, followed by Ade.

StartingPrice · Apr 2, 2012

EastLondonYid said:
That is a scary post, please tell me your just messing about.

Parker deserves alot of credit, it wasn't picked up on TV but he sorted out a small row between Walker and Kaboul in the first half superbly,he cut it out like a proper skipper...:clap:

MOM...bale, followed by Ade.

Dunno...I have felt the same in some matches.

Yeah, it's great when he scores, but it's all about percentages. In recent weeks, he seems to be taking far more out-of-the-area shots on, which are highly speculative, when he should be playing the percentage ball on more (Modric, too - twice, yesterday).

In the cold light of day, it is just a minor criticism, as he is still a great young play and mostly having good games. But, in play, it is quite annoying at times.

Forums

What's new

Matches

Sportsbook

Members

►►►►►► Match Ratings VS Swansea City ◄◄◄◄◄◄

MOTM?

Friedel

Walker

Kaboul

Gallas

Assou-Ekotto

Van Der Vaart

Sandro

Parker

Modric

Bale

Adebayor

Lennon

Livermore

Rose

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

SC Supporter

Well-Known Member

SC Supporter

Patient Zero

SC Supporter

SC Supporter

SC Supporter

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

It is what it is

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip

Well-Known Member

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip

Ledley's No.1 fan

Well-Known Member

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip

Similar threads