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Pochettino: Tottenham gave Man City 'massive gift' in opening goal

mawspurs

Staff
Jun 29, 2003
35,066
17,740
Mauricio Pochettino felt his side gifted Manchester City the all-important first goal in the 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Read the full article at ESPN
 

bigspurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2005
3,193
2,419
I think that managers really have the blinkers on when they talk about their side. Plus more importantly, they have to try to save some face. I however can step back and honestly say that was a fair result. They were that much better than us. They have the best players that their dirty oil money can buy, and play with 100% confidence and conviction. We just need to suck this one up, hopefully learn a lesson from it and start to recover our form over Christmas, so that we can mount a top four finishing effort. Would be so crap not to be in The Champs League next season at our new stadium etc.
 

2bearis2do

Well-Known Member
Apr 22, 2006
3,820
2,317
Firstly...I love Mopo and what he has done and is doing for the club and he has my 100% support.
But when we lose...his excuses and more worryingly analysis is way off point.
He said the same after our feeble display against the Ar$e.
MoPo...you HAVE to start finding a PLAN B against the bigger teams away from home and you HAVE to start substituting the obvious (Trippier yesterday).
You need a plan B MoPo.
Please....I don't want to lose the faith I have in you and your project.
 
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shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
19,651
Firstly...I love Mopo and what he has done and is doing for the club and he has my 100% support.
But when we lose...his excuses and more worryingly analysis is way off point.
He said the same after our feeble display against the Ar$e.
MoPo...you HAVE to start finding a PLAN B against the bigger teams away from home and you HAVE to start substituting the obvious (Trippier yesterday).
You need a plan B MoPo.
Please....I don't want to lose the faith I have in you and your project.
That's the worry the same line gets rolled out everytime but no plan of action to change these piss poor performances against the big sides ever materalises.
We have still to go to Chelsea and Liverpool yet so are we to expect a clean sweep of defeats to all our rivals away I'm certainly gearing up to expect that as i can't see anything different along with pochs excuses.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,345
129,920
Man City have the killer instinct we lack. The first goal gave them the taste of blood they required. It was a killer blow because we needed to sneak this game.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,389
They were better than us in every department but it's worth mentioning that they are in top form and we are way off it. We can also ill afford the injuries we have whereas they simply wheel out another worldie off the bench.
 

greywizard2020

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2003
331
709
"The solution is an alternative plan? No. The solution is improve and deepen the resolution of the plan that we have" - Marcelo Bielsa

Fully believe in the manager & what he wants to achieve, however it is the execution of said plan that is what ought to be questioned.

The manner in which everything was done was woefully executed by a number of players. Lots of balls played in behind players, so that they have to continuously go backwards, or face into danger. Balls ought to have been played to their mate's furthest foot, so that they can open up the pitch. Pep's team always looked to play the ball, so that their mate could play forward. Its the minute details that made the difference in the game.

Man City's off the ball movement also facilitated this because they all looked to play on the half-turn & if they weren't they offloaded with urgency, so that they could be in a position to play forward. Their boys didn't hang around on the ball either; they moved in one-touch as much as possible. Too many of our guys spent too much time trying to over-complicate the game by moving the ball in a laboured manner. Very few instances where we moved the ball with a purpose & urgency. The best bit of play was when we moved the ball out from the back, which led to Trippier's overhit cross. Instances like that were few & far between.

We were never close enough to press & Dembele was one of the guilty culprits of not being close enough. We were slow to everything & quite rightly we lost because Man City were razor sharp. We had proper possession against Man City, however our movement of the ball seemed timid & scared, which echoed a sense of inferiority more than anything.

I don't believe we need to necessarily have a completely alternate plan, but a better execution of the one already in place.
 
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shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
19,651
"The solution is an alternative plan? No. The solution is improve and deepen the resolution of the plan that we have" - Marcelo Bielsa

Fully believe in the manager & what he wants to achieve, however it is the execution of said plan that is what ought to be questioned.

The manner in which everything was done was woefully executed by a number of players. Lots of balls played in behind players, so that they have to continuously go backwards, or face into danger. Balls ought to have been played to their mate's furthest foot, so that they can open up the pitch. Pep's team always looked to play the ball, so that their mate could play forward. Its the minute details that made the difference in the game.

Man City's off the ball movement also facilitated this because they all looked to play on the half-turn & if they weren't they offloaded with urgency, so that they could be in a position to play forward. Their boys didn't hang around on the ball either; they moved in one-touch as much as possible. Too many of our guys spent too much time trying to over-complicate the game by moving the ball in a laboured manner. Very few instances where we moved the ball with a purpose & urgency. The best bit of play was when we moved the ball out from the back, which led to Trippier's overhit cross. Instances like that were few & far between.

We were never close enough to press & Dembele was one of the guilty culprits of not being close enough. We were slow to everything & quite rightly we lost because Man City were razor sharp. We had proper possession against Man City, however our movement of the ball seemed timid & scared, which echoed a sense of inferiority more than anything.

I don't believe we need to necessarily have a completely alternate plan, but a better execution of the one already in place.
This sense of inferiority happens everytime we play a top side so there has to be a mentality issue as we have long suspected which shows no sign of changing.
Your observation of our slow build up play is something a lot of us have been mentioning for a long time and I think poch has a blind spot to this, we continually gave up possesson to easily yesterday keeping city constantly on the front foot of which they didn't need any extra help in that matter.
 

sebo_sek

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
6,023
5,168
The fact the we were effectively without RB cover didn't help matters one bit. Sane had the easiest game of his career.
As I said in the match thread. It's not that we don't have quality, we just need to use it wisely.
Look back at what Jose did when Inter won the CL. He was accused of playing anti-football vs Barca. And? He won, they lost. It's what we need to do at times. Park the bus, and pounce. One or two lightening strikes and fortify. It would be torture to watch... for them.
 

spursbhoy67

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2006
1,316
1,475
I like Bielsa's approach and attitude to the game and by extension MPs. However, it has to be noted that Bielsa has not won much As a coach and his system burns players and teams out after a few seasons.

There has to be a Plan B. Yes, have faith in Plan A but to blindly believe in it is a stubbornness that won't get rewarded. See Martin Jol, Ossis Ardiles, AVB, Christian Gross.

I said at the time of the WHU cup loss that we wasted a chance of silverware for our league title aspiration. I also said it was folly as City would win the league by double digits. Just over a month later and we are now out of the title race as well as a cup.

Pochettino and the players need to start winning things and can't afford to look down their noses at the League Cup.

The attitude that was on show in the second half v West Ham was in evidence from kick off yesterday. It was also there when we played Arsenal and away at Leicester in the first half.

This is more than a blip and MP needs to reestablish last year's consistency.
 

Chedozie

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2005
2,625
2,646
I like Bielsa's approach and attitude to the game and by extension MPs. However, it has to be noted that Bielsa has not won much As a coach and his system burns players and teams out after a few seasons.

There has to be a Plan B. Yes, have faith in Plan A but to blindly believe in it is a stubbornness that won't get rewarded. See Martin Jol, Ossis Ardiles, AVB, Christian Gross.

I said at the time of the WHU cup loss that we wasted a chance of silverware for our league title aspiration. I also said it was folly as City would win the league by double digits. Just over a month later and we are now out of the title race as well as a cup.

Pochettino and the players need to start winning things and can't afford to look down their noses at the League Cup.

The attitude that was on show in the second half v West Ham was in evidence from kick off yesterday. It was also there when we played Arsenal and away at Leicester in the first half.

This is more than a blip and MP needs to reestablish last year's consistency.

Pep doesn't have a plan B, last season City got beat plenty, he then spent a fortune on players who could carry out plan A effectively.

Poch can't do that.
 

Archibald&Crooks

Aegina Expat
Admin
Feb 1, 2005
55,533
204,721
This Plan B everyone is banging on about. Is that the plan he used against Madrid? Liverpool? He does have a plan B so instead of telling the world he hasn't got one, try instead asking why on earth he never used it.

At least that's then a credible stick to beat him with.

And you might follow that with questions about the application on show from the players.
 

Bilko

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2004
951
614
Shit happens
Mo Po will do his best to sort it but doesn't have(glad to say) the bottomless City resources -
We have to live with ups and downs-drops in form-unlike clubs and set-ups like city who would kill the game with their greed if it wasn't for real clubs like us.
Tough season
 

Bilko

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2004
951
614
Also wanna say I think it's a load of bollocks to talk about Guardiola's tactical tweaks making the difference
 
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Sweetsman

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2011
6,673
6,588
Firstly...I love Mopo and what he has done and is doing for the club and he has my 100% support.
But when we lose...his excuses and more worryingly analysis is way off point.
He said the same after our feeble display against the Ar$e.
MoPo...you HAVE to start finding a PLAN B against the bigger teams away from home and you HAVE to start substituting the obvious (Trippier yesterday).
You need a plan B MoPo.
Please....I don't want to lose the faith I have in you and your project.
Fucking plan B? What is this? It seems everyone seems to know what it is.
 

Sweetsman

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2011
6,673
6,588
That's the worry the same line gets rolled out everytime but no plan of action to change these piss poor performances against the big sides ever materalises.
We have still to go to Chelsea and Liverpool yet so are we to expect a clean sweep of defeats to all our rivals away I'm certainly gearing up to expect that as i can't see anything different along with pochs excuses.
Very glad for you.
 
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