- Jul 23, 2013
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Anyone watching City v Arsenal will be reminded that... footballers make mistakes. You can put every touch and 'stupid' decision under the microscope, but real life ain't FIFA.
Depends how you define cover I supposerationally i think 2 of mason/carroll/bentaleb will leave this summer since we still have winks/onomah on the list
clinton hasn't settled due to injury just like lamela's first year
chadli i think he is still useful on the left as he is a threat in the box due to his height which can ease the pressure of kane as he did it effectively last season
i think "cover" is not good enough if we really want to challenge again, we need "competition". mason/bentaleb/carroll/clinton(?) are covers,what we need is someone can challenge kane, dier and dembele
nothing an Englishman likes more than someone who runs around a lotThere was a break on at the end for Soton. Who should come running back? Lamela. The amount of work that guy puts in is amazing.
in what respect?That Dier-Dembele-Alli triangle has served us well, but I think it brings a lot of trade-offs.
Exactly all the great sides have players that can do thisDon't see enough football to know who we should be looking at. But someone who will run at people is a must.
Actually, it is an indication of his overall contribution. I'm here all day, so let's see your comeback.nothing an Englishman likes more than someone who runs around a lot
lamela is as important as dembele to us this season imoThere was a break on at the end for Soton. Who should come running back? Lamela. The amount of work that guy puts in is amazing.
definitely. it seems that most of them do not care about the result (and kane just cared about his top goal scorer)Was this our most gutless performance of the season?
I think it's harsh to blame Poch
I agree he has made and repeated mistakes with his tactics (mostly continuously taking off Lamela in a game where we require a creative killer final ball)
But the main problem has been the lack of depth in the squad and real options at his disposal
I can see why people would think it is harsh that I write off the likes of Mason, N'Jie and Chadli - I don't disagree with them per say
It's my opinion though, based on what I have seen of each player that they are not good enough for what we need right now and not going to be good enough for what we want moving forward. I feel we need to upgrade on all of them and bring in cover for Kane
All of our options for cover in these areas need to be able to fill in and do a job like Wimmer did when Verts was injured - I am not personally convinced N'jie, Chadli or Mason can do that nor that they will ever be able to
Yes it can be seen as harsh, but EPL football is cut throat and sometimes big decisions need to be made. People could say it was harsh on Townsend, Livermore, even Huddlestone or Marney/O'Hara for example.... but moving forward, in to the CL next year we need to have that level of quality depth in our set up and for me that requires us to significantly upgrade on N'Jie, Chadlie, one of Mason/Bentaleb in addition to bringing in cover for Kane
Before he was signed there was a youtube clip of him from a French match. His level of skill was low and I am surprised that we bought him.I pretty much agree with all of this other than N'Jie, as we really haven't seen enough of him to judge. He's not looked great so far, but it's his first season at a new club, country and league. He's also young and has had a bad injury. I think it's only fair to give him at least another full season before judging whether he's good enough.
I don't see Alli as a #10. That triangle gives us grit and it works in certain circumstances but we are short of a playmaker for days like today. And we have lots of days like today.in what respect?
Not doubting your opinion - just interested in what you have to say to elaborate the point a little
i think your stance is legitimate but i still think chadli has his value as he was our second best goal scorer last seasonDepends how you define cover I suppose
My point was we need players in those areas who can step in whenever needed and perform as well as Wimmer did when Verts was out
Whether you call that cover or competition is semantics I guess - but it's that that I want and that is the point I am making
Chadli to my mind has had plenty of time, like Soldado and Paulinho before him and though he has his positives I just don't believe he fits in to the ethos of the Poch set up and I think he needs to go
N'jie, I agree it is harsh to write him off, but to me he has looked so very poor I just don't feel he is worth waiting for like the proven in Seria A Lamela was (although I will hold my hand up to thinking and voicing that he too should be sold last year and I was clearly wrong about that....although I always believed in his talent, but not his ability to deal with the physicality of the league, like I said I was wrong)
N'jie though - harsh or not, my opinion is that he is just way out of his depth and not nearly good enough to play for us. I hope to be proven wrong but I doubt I will be
I forgot to add Carroll to the list, but I certainly would. Although perhaps one of he Mason and Bentaleb will be kept for the sake of continuity
Before he was signed there was a youtube clip of him from a French match. His level of skill was low and I am surprised that we bought him.
the most effectively way to play against a 3 dc back line (which we implement when we are going forward) is long balls to the flanks.I don't see Alli as a #10. That triangle gives us grit and it works in certain circumstances but we are short of a playmaker for days like today. And we have lots of days like today.
I think people are on to us with our little innovation of Dier dropping deep to cover the full backs. I think things like that have a short shelf-life. Opposition coaches worth their salt know that we struggle greatly when we're pressed hard. And to get at us, you only have to get it wide quickly to pull us apart, IMO.
I think we have to keep reinventing.
I think moving Chadli requires up to upgrade of course but I think it's an upgrade we need to makei think your stance is legitimate but i still think chadli has his value as he was our second best goal scorer last season
would want him to move on only if we manage to get a world class winger who can tear the opponent's defence on his own, who? i don't know...maybe ousmane dembele? it is levy, poch and the recruitment team's job though
Not sure what earnings and being emotionally drained has to do with each other. So the more money you earn, the less 'human' you become?I don't wish to be negative, but on around £60k+ a week, I'm really not sure emotionally drained comes into it!!