Ratings vs Stoke

Victor top player , but Harry motm

sammyj said:

Victor top player , but Harry motm

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Yup, don't think Vic is getting the credit he deserves today. Was quietly outstanding.

Lethargically Impressive

I guess it was inevitable, playing our 5th game in two weeks, but despite the scoreline I thought we were actually a bit lethargic first half, but, it has to be said, impressively lethargic.

It's hard to tell where Stoke's ineptitude ended and our quality began, there was definitely a convergence of the two, but football can be a bit like this sometimes, I think we probably played with more vigour on Thursday, but just didn't get the rub, Kane scored three harder chances today than he missed on Thursday, and where Thursday they get fortunate goals completely against the run, today they fluff a golden chance at 0-1. Dis eez fooble though eh ?

This formation really suits us, for various reasons. It means we can pull teams horizontally as well as push them vertically, making it much harder for teams to funnel us narrow and frustrate us, as with the 4231. It also allows us to play a kind of double pivoting pair of 10's, instead of pushing either or both of Eriksen and Alli into wider ARM/ALM positions, which one, or both, inevitably become. All three of our CB's can play football, and we saw that several times today with all of them at various times stepping out and moving up the pitch to supplement game play.

There are minor gripes; a couple of full backs with brains and some composure would be wonderful to maximise the positions they get in, for yet another game Walker just wasted a plethora of great positions. Would like to have seen Trippier given a game today. I would also have rather seen Winks played instead of Dembele. Dembele was fine today, but we still lacked tempo from deeper areas today, it ends up being left to Wanyama, and though he moves things quickly and simply, I'd much rather pair him up with someone like Winks who has amore of a 360 brain, and invariably is two moves ahead of a player like Dembele.

A more major quibble is the management of resources. And yes, @THFCSPURS19 it does matter, it matters a fuck of a lot, and could well have contributed to our collapse last year for example, or why for three years running Poch's teams conceded more points from winning positions than any other. When Kane went down clutching his knee, having almost single handedly won us a game, surely that should have had you thinking exactly the same. The run in is going to be fucking tough, with 5 teams challenging for 3 CL places, do you really think our uber striker needs to still be in a game we are winning 4-0, thanks to 3 goals and an assist from him, for 45 or even 30 minutes longer than necessary, having him just played 5 games in 15 days, is that smart management of resources ? Because I think it's fucking madness, and that's before we even weigh up the benefit of getting some much needed game time into fringe players who desperately need it, especially god forbid, we might actually need them in the run in.

Obviously Kane will take most of the plaudits, and deservedly so, he did that thing today that only players like him (and that isn't many) can do, his technique to finish the first two goals was superb, but his play for the fourth goal was what I enjoyed most, first showing clever deftness, then powerfully carried the ball away from the defender, then had the wit, composure and finesse to lay the ball beautifully for Alli to tap in. The goals were all instinct and technique, the assist were those attributes plus brains.

Eriksen has got to run him close for MOTM. He's now the most creative player I this league in terms of assists, and though a couple of those today were routine, they just even out the assists he should have when he plays people in like Walker who just inanely blast the ball at the side netting. Eriksen also averages more key passes than anyone in this league, more than DeBruyne, Ozil, Sanchez, Silva, Coutinho, Hazard, Mane, Fabregas etc etc. But he also does the job of a quasi CM too. Getting through lots of ball. If he was lazier, more selfish and just ambled around in forward areas, he'd probably have more goals too, but we as a team wouldn't be better off.

The CB's all deserve a shout too, all played well today, and having CB's that can all drive out and take part in game play is like having 5 CM's at times, and is incredibly hard to play against, as it makes high pressing harder as there is much more chance your high press will be broken.

This wasn't a vintage performance, but I guess it shows how far we have come when we can, almost nonchalantly, brush aside a Hughes team who will have had all week to prepare for this, while we've had 2 days to recover from a real physical and mental effort 2 days prior. For that, I thank Poch, who ultimately got his starting tactics spot on, and for all my gripes, also has the underlying fundamentals that allow performances like this as almost endemic. Very un-spursy.

Individual

Lloris - One astounding save. Nothing much else to do.

The best RB in the intergalactic stratosphere - The odd bit of silly shit again today and a lot of really abject wastefulness in forward areas. Apart from that he was truly cosmic.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

JV - Very good game.

Davies - Not as meh as sometimes, actually managed to make a cross. One more than Walker. Does this make him the second best full back in Europe ?

Wanyama - Very Good game.

Dembele - Decent game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - I don't think he was great today, but not a catastrophe either.

Kane - Uber today. Not only the goals but a fabulous assist and saw a more of the ball too.

HK 10
CE 9.9
VW 9.8

We clearly went into battery saving mode second half and still we could have scored three more. Best performance since WBA against a similar side.

Lloris made perhaps his best save ever to keep us 1-0 up.

Dier was fine, pacy in defence, good forward passing.

Alderweireld was composed and always got his challenges in quickly. Hope he's not injured.

Vertonghen was strong in the air, played some great passes and kept Crouch safely in pocket. Unlucky not to score. Hope he's not injured.

Walker bombed forward well but made inexplicably selfish choices twice, and defensively let a few crosses get passed him.

Davies was a bit better than he has been, positive forward runs and link play combined with two vital defensive interceptions from crosses.

Wanyama was a juggernaut on and off the ball, showed great power and skill.

Dembele had one of his 'one man team' games, absolutely imperious on and off the ball.

Eriksen was a touch inaccurate in both shooting and delivery but offered his usual area of control and poise high up the pitch. Some beautiful crosses and a great corner for the second.

Dele did exactly what was necessary, he was understated yet effective, played with awareness and intelligence and scored a goal with a typically well time run.

Kane was back to his uber best. Great hold up play, fought from the front, well taken hatrick (his second had me stunned) and a very unselfish assist after some stupendous skill. Great game, MOTM.

Wimmer was shaky at first but settled in well and did his job calmly.

Winks gave a good cameo performance, some lovely incisive passing and quick use of the ball. Very exciting talent.

Son wasn't on long enough to affect anything.

My only gripe is that Janssen wasn't given a chance off the bench to find some confidence. Beginning to look like he's on the same road as Bentaleb.

Is Mrs Davies a member of SC per chance?

Bus-Conductor said:

Lethargically Impressive

.

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Bit like the rest of your essay.

You must have been watching a re-run of our game against Sheffield United in 1967.

Kane was simply fantastic today, unplayable. MOTM by a mile, 2 goals and an assist.

Just an observation; the amount of times Walker was in or around the box and either chose to shoot or over hit a cross. His overall work rate today and tracking back was excellent, but he needs to work on his final ball.

Special shout out to Wanyama.

Kane MOTM obviously. Eriksen and Wanyama excellent. The rest of the team very good.

Only one tactical gripe, we clearly miss Rose big time in this formation but I think we could cope better by playing Verts at LWB and using either Davies or Wimmer at LCB. Verts carries so much more forward threat than Davies. I feel sorry for Davies in the LWB role because he just doesn't have the tools to play the role, he is a competent LB but lacks the pace and delivery to be potent at LWB.

Bus-Conductor said:

Lethargically Impressive

I guess it was inevitable, playing our 5th game in two weeks, but despite the scoreline I thought we were actually a bit lethargic first half, but, it has to be said, impressively lethargic.

It's hard to tell where Stoke's ineptitude ended and our quality began, there was definitely a convergence of the two, but football an be a bit like this sometimes, I think we probably played with more vigour on Thursday, but just didn't get the rub, Kane scored three harder chances today than he missed on Thursday, and where Thursday they get fortunate goals completely against the run, today they fluff a golden chance at 0-1. Dis eez fooble though eh ?

This formation really suits us, for various reasons. It means we can pull teams horizontally as well as push them vertically, making it much harder for teams to funnel us narrow and frustrate us, as with the 4231. It also allows us to play a kind of double pivoting pair of 10's, instead of pushing either or both of Eriksen and Alli into wider ARM/ALM positions, which one, or both, inevitably become. All three of our CB's can play football, and we saw that several times today with all of them at various times stepping out and moving up the pitch to supplement game play.

There are minor gripes; a couple of full backs with brains and some composure would be wonderful to maximise the positions they get in, for yet another game Walker just wasted a plethora of great positions. Would like to have see Trippier given a game today. I would also have rather seen Winks played instead of Dembele. Dembele was fine today, but we still lacked tempo from deeper areas today, it ends being left to Wanyama, and though he moves things quickly and simply, I'd much rather pair him up with someone like Winks who has more of a 360 brain, and invariably is two moves ahead of a player like Dembele.

A more major quibble is the management of resources. And yes, @THFCSPURS19 in does matter, it matters a fuck of a lot, and could well have contributed to our collapse last year for example, or why for three years running Poch's teams conceded more points from winning positions to any other. When Kane went down clutching his knee, having almost single handedly won us a game, surely that should have had you thinking exactly the same. The run in is going to be fucking tough, with 5 teams challenging for 3 CL places, do you really think our uber striker in a game we are winning 4-0, thanks to 3 goals and an assist from him, for 45 or even 30 minutes longer than necessary, having him just played 5 games in 15 days, is smart management of resources ? Because I think it's fucking madness, and that's before we even weigh up the benefit of getting some much needed game time into fringe players who desperately need it, especially god forbid, we might actually need them in the run in.

Obviously Kane will take most of the plaudits, and deservedly so, he did that thing today that only players like him (and that isn't many) can do, his technique to finish the first two goals was superb, but his play for the fourth goal was what I enjoyed most, he was clever, then powerfully carried the ball away from the defender, then had the wit, composure and finesse to lay the ball beautifully for Alli to tap in. The goals were all instinct and technique, the assist were those attributes plus brains.

Eriksen has got to run him close for MOTM. He's now the most creative player I this league in terms of assists, and though a couple of those today were routine, they just even out the assists he should have when he plays people in like Walker who just inanely blast the ball at the side netting. Eriksen also averages more key passes than anyone in this league, more than DeBruyne, Ozil, Sanchez, Silva, Coutinho, Hazard, Mane, Fabregas etc etc. But he also does the job of a quasi CM too. Getting through lots of ball. If he was lazier, more selfish and just ambled around in forward areas, he'd probably have more goals too, but we as a team wouldn't be better off.

The CB's all deserve a shout too, all played well today, and having CB's that can all drive out and take part in game play is like having 5 CM's at times, and is incredibly hard to play against, as it makes high pressing harder as there is much more chance your high press will be broken.

This wasn't a vintage performance, but I guess it shows how far we have come when we can, almost nonchalantly, brush aside a Hughes team who will have had all week to prepare for this, while we've had 2 days to recover from a real physical and mental effort 2 days prior. For that, I thank Poch, who ultimately got his starting tactics spot on, and for all my gripes, also has the underlying fundamentals that allow performances like this as almost endemic.

Individual

Lloris - One astounding save. Nothing much else to do.

The best RB in the intergalactic stratosphere - The odd bit of silly shit again today and a lot of really abject wastefulness in forward areas. Apart from that he was truly cosmic.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

JV - Very good game.

Davies - Not as meh as sometimes, actually managed to make a cross. One more than Walker. Does this make him the second best full back in Europe ?

Wanyama - Good game.

Dembele - Decent game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - I don't think he was great today, but not a catastrophe either.

Kane - Uber today. Not only the goals but a fabulous assist and saw a more of the ball too.

Click to expand...

Nice work BC; is it me or does Eriksen tend to start seasons slowly before really hitting his stride?

Kane, but aside from him for a second: Vertonghen.

Bus-Conductor said:

Lethargically Impressive

I guess it was inevitable, playing our 5th game in two weeks, but despite the scoreline I thought we were actually a bit lethargic first half, but, it has to be said, impressively lethargic.

It's hard to tell where Stoke's ineptitude ended and our quality began, there was definitely a convergence of the two, but football an be a bit like this sometimes, I think we probably played with more vigour on Thursday, but just didn't get the rub, Kane scored three harder chances today than he missed on Thursday, and where Thursday they get fortunate goals completely against the run, today they fluff a golden chance at 0-1. Dis eez fooble though eh ?

This formation really suits us, for various reasons. It means we can pull teams horizontally as well as push them vertically, making it much harder for teams to funnel us narrow and frustrate us, as with the 4231. It also allows us to play a kind of double pivoting pair of 10's, instead of pushing either or both of Eriksen and Alli into wider ARM/ALM positions, which one, or both, inevitably become. All three of our CB's can play football, and we saw that several times today with all of them at various times stepping out and moving up the pitch to supplement game play.

There are minor gripes; a couple of full backs with brains and some composure would be wonderful to maximise the positions they get in, for yet another game Walker just wasted a plethora of great positions. Would like to have see Trippier given a game today. I would also have rather seen Winks played instead of Dembele. Dembele was fine today, but we still lacked tempo from deeper areas today, it ends being left to Wanyama, and though he moves things quickly and simply, I'd much rather pair him up with someone like Winks who has more of a 360 brain, and invariably is two moves ahead of a player like Dembele.

A more major quibble is the management of resources. And yes, @THFCSPURS19 in does matter, it matters a fuck of a lot, and could well have contributed to our collapse last year for example, or why for three years running Poch's teams conceded more points from winning positions to any other. When Kane went down clutching his knee, having almost single handedly won us a game, surely that should have had you thinking exactly the same. The run in is going to be fucking tough, with 5 teams challenging for 3 CL places, do you really think our uber striker in a game we are winning 4-0, thanks to 3 goals and an assist from him, for 45 or even 30 minutes longer than necessary, having him just played 5 games in 15 days, is smart management of resources ? Because I think it's fucking madness, and that's before we even weigh up the benefit of getting some much needed game time into fringe players who desperately need it, especially god forbid, we might actually need them in the run in.

Obviously Kane will take most of the plaudits, and deservedly so, he did that thing today that only players like him (and that isn't many) can do, his technique to finish the first two goals was superb, but his play for the fourth goal was what I enjoyed most, he was clever, then powerfully carried the ball away from the defender, then had the wit, composure and finesse to lay the ball beautifully for Alli to tap in. The goals were all instinct and technique, the assist were those attributes plus brains.

Eriksen has got to run him close for MOTM. He's now the most creative player I this league in terms of assists, and though a couple of those today were routine, they just even out the assists he should have when he plays people in like Walker who just inanely blast the ball at the side netting. Eriksen also averages more key passes than anyone in this league, more than DeBruyne, Ozil, Sanchez, Silva, Coutinho, Hazard, Mane, Fabregas etc etc. But he also does the job of a quasi CM too. Getting through lots of ball. If he was lazier, more selfish and just ambled around in forward areas, he'd probably have more goals too, but we as a team wouldn't be better off.

The CB's all deserve a shout too, all played well today, and having CB's that can all drive out and take part in game play is like having 5 CM's at times, and is incredibly hard to play against, as it makes high pressing harder as there is much more chance your high press will be broken.

This wasn't a vintage performance, but I guess it shows how far we have come when we can, almost nonchalantly, brush aside a Hughes team who will have had all week to prepare for this, while we've had 2 days to recover from a real physical and mental effort 2 days prior. For that, I thank Poch, who ultimately got his starting tactics spot on, and for all my gripes, also has the underlying fundamentals that allow performances like this as almost endemic.

Individual

Lloris - One astounding save. Nothing much else to do.

The best RB in the intergalactic stratosphere - The odd bit of silly shit again today and a lot of really abject wastefulness in forward areas. Apart from that he was truly cosmic.

Dier - Good game.

TA - Good game.

JV - Very good game.

Davies - Not as meh as sometimes, actually managed to make a cross. One more than Walker. Does this make him the second best full back in Europe ?

Wanyama - Good game.

Dembele - Decent game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - I don't think he was great today, but not a catastrophe either.

Kane - Uber today. Not only the goals but a fabulous assist and saw a more of the ball too.

Click to expand...

Agree with all of that.

I thought Eriksen was absolutely tremendous today, he reminds me of David Silva at times. He really keeps us ticking.

doctor stefan Freud said:

Nice work BC; is it me or does Eriksen tend to start seasons slowly before really hitting his stride?

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I think he performs really well after we try to play 343 since winter. Perfect positions for him and alli to play in the middle

Kane, obviously, but a quiet pat on the back for Dele, for not responding to the constant provocation.

Besides 0 points for skysports suggesting that we are going to play 4231 with Dier/Wanyama double CM in the pre-match line up. SAD.

Only watched the first half so far but impressed. I have been impressed with the way we have played in the two previous games, showing signs of real form returning, and had predicted 3-0 at half time so was not surprised but really delighted to see us being clinical. Though I guess if everything went against us on Thursday we perhaps had it all go for us, especially Harry, today.
Kane no doubt man of the match ... 3 goals and an assist is not bad

CockFlavour said:

Obviously Harry but Eriksen could easily have had his 3rd MotM in a row.

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The Dane had a hand (or foot or head) in every goal. Just like Harry!

doctor stefan Freud said:

Kane all day. Although I loved the fact that their dirty bastard 2CMs looked shriekingly effiminate next to Victor the mighty Kenyan

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Galactus looks like a pussy next to Vic

Saw the best and worst of playing CB's and wing backs today in a three. Nice to see a coach willing to adapt his system as and when required. A problem with playing WB's is you need three...two on and a spare. Unfortunately, Davies is pretty limited going forward. It is a pity that with Rose out Trippier can't put pressure on Davies for his place. That said it was an enjoyable game but seeing Stoke so toothless seemed strange considering how horrible it has always been to play them.