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Match Ratings Ratings vs Southampton

MOTM

  • Vorm

    Votes: 20 10.7%
  • Aurier

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Sanchez

    Votes: 4 2.1%
  • Verts

    Votes: 75 40.1%
  • Davies

    Votes: 26 13.9%
  • Sissoko

    Votes: 6 3.2%
  • Dembele

    Votes: 9 4.8%
  • Son

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dele

    Votes: 2 1.1%
  • Dier

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • Kane

    Votes: 6 3.2%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Trippier

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wanyama

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • None Deserved

    Votes: 31 16.6%

  • Total voters
    187

Davo99

Well-Known Member
Dec 2, 2006
4,063
5,827
Vorm 6
Aurier 4
Sanchez 5
Verts 7
Davies 6
Dembele 5
Dier 4
Son 4
Sissoko 3
Dele 4
Kane 6
Lamela 6
Trippier 5
Wanyama 6

Poch 3
 

St José Dominguez

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2014
3,592
11,648
Considering my expectations of the players:

Vorm 6
Aurier 4
Sanchez 4
Vertonghen 6
Davies 5
Dembele 3
Dier 2
Sissoko 8
Dele 2
Son 2
Kane 5

Lamela 4
Trippier 5
Wanyama NET
 

yusrisafri

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,369
7,548
Son 5 Lack of service, but don't sub a player in scoring form

Exactly!! Sissoko didn't play badly at all tonight but when you need goals, you sub out players who you know will not really contribute to goals i.e. Sissoko, Dier or even Sanchez. But nooooo......he took off Son. WTF
 

dricha1

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2005
1,311
2,579
Poor in-game management from Poch, getting to be bit of a theme. There’s no doubting we are incredibly well coached, but when things aren’t going well on the pitch it’s down to the manager to use his bench and change it.

Very good: away fans

Good: Verts (motm), Davies, Vorm

Par: Kane, Dembele, Sissoko, Sanchez

Not good: Aurier, Dier, Alli, Son

NET: Lamela should been on at 55mins. Wanyama should been on at half-time. Trippier only on cos of injury

Poor: Poch
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
Incredibly poor decision by Poch to start Sissoko in place of Eriksen.

He makes so really daft team choices sometimes.

Sissoko is just not good enough for us in the attacking three.

Should have started with Lamela.
 

ClonedFromSandrosBeard

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2014
181
417
Getting worried about Aurier.

Can't cross the ball at all and is prone to numerous defensive mistakes per game.

Also, he's now been pulled up for 2 foul throws this season, and there was another one in the first half that was missed by the ref. A foul throw is criminal for me, it's so so basic.

Really hoping that a Poch pre-season/Poch full back midas touch comes off for him.
Aurier had a poor game but it happens. I like him as a RB, he presses at the right time to keep the intensity up. His crossing could be better but he makes up for that by consistently being in the right place and having enough confidence to use his left foot on occasion.

The foul throw comment made me laugh, he had one that slipped out of his hands into play today. If you watch a lot of games then you'll see heaps of players foul throw and not be pulled up for it because it's not on match officials radar. I actually like this FWIW as it keeps the game moving.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Pretty pedestrian all round. Lucky to come away with a point.Could have won it. might easily have lost it against a relegation team.

Vorm.........8..........Very safe handling and good distribution.
Aurier........5..........Gets into good positions and then wastes them.
Sanchez....6..........Will be a very good player some day but not today.
Verts..........8..........Sound performance again. Kept it together. My MOM
Davies.......7..........Plenty of the ball but not effective with it.
Sissoko......5..........I'm just not seeing what people see in him.
Dembele....4..........(edit)Tried to forget his performance and succeeded first time round. Bull in a china shop is much too subtle.
Dier............6..........Very ordinary.
Dele...........5...........Poor control and decision making. I dread to think what BC will say.
Son............5...........Not at the races, or perhaps that's where he was.
Kane..........6...........Determination for the goal, Could have won it at the end.

Eriksen's absence shows exactly what he brings. Creativity, fluency, joins up all the dots..

Poch..........4...........In game management, substitutions woeful. Selection of Sissoko a mystery
 
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mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
The grim performance was set up in the opening seconds. Within the first couple of minutes there had already been four or five really shoddy moments, a couple of them bordering on slapstick, and things just went on from there.

I don't know where to start, because individually, tactically, on and off the pitch we were weak today.

I'm not one to get overly worked up about our transfer dealings, or lack of them, but I did feel going into this season that some sort of understudy for Eriksen and the role he plays was a real weakness in the squad. No other glue player who can just knit things together in the oppositions half, find space, keep it ticking over, and then the killer passes on top of that. Of course, finding someone else on that level isn't likely to happen, but someone with a reasonable standard and skillset would be a start. Luckily we haven't had to do without him for a long spell this season, today was an indicator of how hard life might be if we did...

I don't need to point out individuals, they're on the whole a talented bunch and we know what they bring to the table... and we also know what their bad habits/weaknesses are - most of them are not very efficient footballers and you have to put up with the rough in games before you get the smooth. Often there will be games where we win say 2-0, maybe better, and see lots of what was exhibited today. Too many touches, moving the ball too slowly, trying silly things, taking the more difficult option unnecessarily etc etc etc. If I see that at the time I call it out - I often get comments saying to lighten up and enjoy the win..... Well that's why I do point it out, because you shouldn't rest on your laurels after a win and ignore the poor bits because eventually these will cost you in certain games - even today, for how poor we were, we ruined very promising moments because of the bad habits that are there every game. Poch and co. seriously need to drill into some/most of them one and two touch play instead of 5-10 touch play. We're so much better when we move the ball about, we just don't always apply it

Tactically this was a bad day in my opinion. Let's ignore the lack of creative threat and midfield stodge, defensively on the flanks, particularly down the right, we never got to grips with them. It doesn't help admittedly when Sanchez, Aurier, and Sissoko are players who constantly randomly do their own thing, but the manager should try to get a grip and nothing happened to try and address it or reorganise and shore up the flank, even after they scored. Tell Aurier to sit and not leave the space for Tadic every single time to stand in waiting for a counter, get Sissoko to hold his position and even the numbers up on that flank, or could just do nothing......

The second half, well it just got worse. Poch switches to the 4-3-1-2 - a) I'm not sure I can recall this shape ever working for us in a game in the times he's tried it, b) how was that to help defend our flanks, and c) I got the impression he'd kind of given up trying to gain control and was just winging it. Let it get end to end, with three standing up front to get it forward to quickly, and try to outgun them. What happened was just an even messier half of football. They had a few moments, as did we, anyone watching was just praying for the full time whistle. The subs I just didn't understand. However non-descript his performance was, I wouldn't have taken Son off when you had the terrible trio in midfield just offering nothing. I also have to question the usage (lack of) Llorente..... This is a team who looked weak at every set piece, Kane has scored a header, we've also had other chances where they're all at sea defending crosses (Alli header for instance) and look nervous dealing with the ball into the box..... It might not have been a glorious start to his Spurs career, but surely looking at that game you'd have to think this was a game with potential for Llorente. But, rather inexplicably, no. The subs in the end were bizarre and a bit negative, and if Poch couldn't see that option to try and exploit their weakness in the air then that's both disappointing and worrying.

Honestly, as much as some posters and the commentators saying that Soton played well, I really didn't think too much of them. There was a bit of bluster in their press, but as soon as the ball got over the halfway line they were so passive and allowed so much time and space. At our best we would have thrashed them, a 6/10 performance I think we get a fairly comfortable win, that we laboured to a turgid draw I think sums it up unfortunately. Very bad day at the office.

Vorm - When him dealing competently with two or three slightly tricky efforts is one of the only pluses from the game, you know it's not been a great day. Let's be fair though, it was a solid display from the guy.

Aurier - After some decent displays, this felt back to square one. Was all over the place, and not in a positive sense.

Sanchez - Improved a bit in the second half, but the first half was disastrous.

Vertonghen - A couple of decent bits of defending. Held it together at the back pretty well when most of them were threatening to fall to pieces.

Davies - Ok.

Dier - Got worse as the match progressed - And he didn't start well.

Dembele - Seems last week was a fluke. That shot in the latter stages was fairly embarrassing.

Sissoko - An absolute Sissoko of a Sissoko performance.

Dilly Dally Dele - There's competition, but that has to be close to his worst ever game. I have no idea how he survived the whole game. He was rancid.

Son - Offered fuck all. Absolutely fuck all.

Kane - Thanks for the goal, and was just about ok in the first half, in the second though he regressed to plenty of fucktardary like the rest of them.

Subs:
Lamela - Erratic and wasted a great opening.
Trippier - Meh.
Wanyama - Came on and was immediately breezed past twice in quick succession, one of these could have easily been a goal. Oh, and there was that shot.....

Poch - Must have had too much sangria this week.
 
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nuttynoah

Arbiter elegantiae
Jul 21, 2004
8,175
7,432
Vorm 6 - did well bar the goal, some dodgy llorisesque distributionbut still motm behind davies.
Aurier 4 - wild, terrible crossing as per. still has potential. hope he's okay.
Sanchez 4 - not a great game, some kingesque tackles as per, no way to blame for the goal
Vertonghen 6 - okay game
Davies 6 - fairly solid, better at corners than eriksen, hope he can rediscover early season form
Dembele 4 - got found out for lack of pace a few times, good effort at least
Dier 4 - poor discipline all round
Sissoko 0 - a waste of space
Dele 2 - too slow to release the ball, tried as per
Son 4 - didn't do much wrong, though didn't shoot or penetrate, should never have been subbed
Kane 6 - scored, battled

Lamela 4 - should have started in place or eriksen, difficult game to come on and change, tried as per
Trippier 4 - difficult game to come on and change, tried as per
Wanyama 4- difficult game to come on and change, tried as per, some poor decisions
 

Eric_s

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2004
1,561
1,924
It was a dreadful choice to replace Lamela with Son and not Sissoko.

Switch Son the let flank, Alli middle and Lamela right.

Really fucking struggle to understand Poch's rationale in both initial selection and mid-game tactics and if he tries to palm off on his that we played well or denied 3 points because of luck/referee/whatever then it'll be pouring oil onto an already burning fire with me!

Because son was the worst player on the pitch. He should have came off during half time.
Sissoko created more chances than alli,son and dier combined. Gave it a rest.
 

SambaSpurs

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2013
422
2,024
Whenever Kane got the ball he was far far better than Dele at linking the play, but he barely saw any of it. I would have liked to see llorente up top and Kane at 10 for the last half an hour today.

Found it quite amazing that a game we really needed to push for a win in ended with Dier, Wanyama and Sissoko on the pitch.

Vorm -6- Good handling in the wet, nothing he could do for the goal, no great saves of note

Aurier -5- Exposed on the goal, didn't get beyond his man in attack and crosses were mostly poor

Sanchez -5- In a muddle for the goal, redeemed himself with a goal saving block late on. But in general looked uncomfortable

Verts -7- Composed throughout

Davies -6- Solid enough in defence but wasn't quite on it with crossing today.

Dier -4- Didn't see many tackles or good passes. Mostly just him absolutely hammering the ball at forward players.

Dembele -5- At least put himself about a bit, but was constantly pulled up for fouls.

Sissoko -5- Didn't really do much did he? Almost looked like he was shying away from the ball.

Dele -4- Killed attack after attack today and missed a golden opportunity for us straight after Kane's goal by taking too many touches. When we're chasing a game I would really like to see him in CM and be told to release it quick and also be given license to ghost in unmarked.

Son -5- Isolated the whole game due to poor build up. He's been our star man in recent weeks and would have liked to see him take some responsibility, drop deeper/come inside and demand the ball. Not one time did he have the ball at his feet running at Southampton.

Kane -7- Whenever he had the ball he was very tidy. Earned us a point with his goal. But didn't have too many touches, again, mainly due to poor play from the midfielders
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Dispute what a lot of you say on here, Sissoko was not our worse player. But you had made up your minds before the game even started so I am wasting my breath.
 

Trippier the RB fantastic

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2017
223
788
Incredibly poor decision by Poch to start Sissoko in place of Eriksen.

He makes so really daft team choices sometimes.

Sissoko is just not good enough for us in the attacking three.

Should have started with Lamela.

The word is that Lamela wasnt feeling well enough to start the game mate. Therin lies our problem, not enough squad depth in the attacking positions.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Stop it Poch, You're Scaring Me

This is turning into a bit of an annus horribilis for the great giver of hugs and blubber of tears, and a very big chunk of it is his own doing. Some of his selections and applications today were whack.

Forget some of the AVBesque stuff we've seen this year, I can live with that, this game was full Sherwood, and you never go full Sherwood.

Any selection of Sissoko baffles, and I don't care if it's because "he does what Poch asks" because if Poch is asking him to take no risks with the ball, not cover his RB well enough, and make the most perfunctory functions look difficult, then that scares me even more than Poch picking just because he's a big athletic unit who runs abaaat a bit.

At least as baffling, maybe more, was him leaving Wanyama on the bench. I thought we'd learnt along time ago that the Dier/Dembele CM pairing was a tempo vortex. These two were were dreadful today, insipid, ineffective, ponderous and laborious with and without the ball. Poch's answer seemed to be to move Sissoko back to form a CM3 second half, which was like putting a plaster on a fucking shark bite.

The overriding theme of this season has been Pochettino's complete inability to get to grips with our midfield situation. I can barely remember a week when he got it bang on, he's making poor personnel selections, poor tactical applications and some weeks, both. Today was another debacle. I can't remember us having so little control of a game against such a weak opponent. How the fuck you select Dier over Wanyama to play next to Dembele is baffling. Last season proved unequivocally that he was our best CM. He does the things that a Pochettino teams needs, he presses like a ****, is ferocious, dynamic and moves the ball simply, quickly but efficiently. His skill set can mitigate a multitude of tactical sins, arses that Dier just can't cover.

What jumped out and bit our cocks off today was just how much we miss Eriksen. We didn't just miss having someone who has the brain to link the midfield to the attack, we also missed him in his duel role as auxiliary CM, the guy that steps back and does the things that ditherers like Dembele and Dier just can't do, move the ball with a bit of incision and alacrity from the middle, not just the final third.

The midfield quagmire was exacerbated by every one of our forwards playing in clown boots. None bigger than Alli's. I know the conditions were difficult, but surely this means you have to take more care about what you do, not fucking less, a theory lost on Alli it seems. How the fuck Son got hooked before Alli is another mystery, or it would be if it wasn't for the fact that Poch has form.

Poch needs to get to grips with this midfield issue. Get Onomah back, buy someone - both even. Because the future is not Dier or Dembele, and it definitely isn't fucking Dier and Dembele.

Individual

Vorm - OK, no dramas.

Aurier - This is just the Walker scenario all over again really. Yes, he's robust and dynamic, gets up and down the pitch well enough, but his actually delivery when he gets up there is unreliable and lacks composure or vision most of the time. And we still came undone down his flank a few times, which is supposed to be the area where Trippier is most compromised. If thats the case, lets just have the defensive deficiencies of Trippier and some decent delivery ? No ?

Sanchez - Ropey start but I actually thought he got his foot in several times where it mattered, and eventually had a pretty good, if slightly erratic game.

Vertonghen - Decent.

Davies - Another fairly decent game, solid defensively, as Southampton seemed to target our right side, but also didn't really contribute much in terms of end product.

Dier - Dire.

Dembele - Why do you guys do it to yourselves, I said last week if he could manage two games running I'd be fucking amazed, let alone the rest of the season. Like a Turtle on smack today.

Sissoko - He wasn't terrible, he just isn't good enough to be playing in this team when there are players like Lamela, KWP or me available. Makes the simplest things look like the Krypton factor. And I completely blame Pochettino for his selection.

Alli - Poor decisions, poor control at vital times, was not good and should have been pulled off before Son.

Son - not great, but no idea why he gets hooked and Alli gets to keep chucking buckets with paper shavings over the audience.

Kane - A lot like Alli really. Bumbled about then when he got the best chance of the game he fucking skewe.......did a wonderful, fantastic cross shot.
 

taricco

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2010
540
2,084
Stop it Poch, You're Scaring Me

This is turning into a bit of an annus horribilis for the great giver of hugs and blubber of tears, and a very big chunk of it is his own doing. Some of his selections and applications today were whack.

Forget some of the AVBesque stuff we've seen this year, I can live with that, this game was full Sherwood, and you never go full Sherwood.

Any selection of Sissoko baffles, and I don't care if it's because "he does what Poch asks" because if Poch is asking him to take no risks with the ball, not cover his RB well enough, and make the most perfunctory functions look difficult, then that scares me even more than Poch picking just because he's a big athletic unit who runs abaaat a bit.

At least as baffling, maybe more, was him leaving Wanyama on the bench. I thought we'd learnt along time ago that the Dier/Dembele CM pairing was a tempo vortex. These two were were dreadful today, insipid, ineffective, ponderous and laborious with and without the ball. Poch's answer seemed to be to move Sissoko back to form a CM3 second half, which was like putting a plaster on a fucking shark bite.

The overriding theme of this season has been Pochettino's complete inability to get to grips with our midfield situation. I can barely remember a week when he got it bang on, he's making poor personnel selections, poor tactical applications and some weeks, both. Today was another debacle. I can't remember us having so little control of a game against such a weak opponent. How the fuck you select Dier over Wanyama to play next to Dembele is baffling. Last season proved unequivocally that he was our best CM. He does the things that a Pochettino teams needs, he presses like a ****, is ferocious, dynamic and moves the ball simply, quickly but efficiently. His skill set can mitigate a multitude of tactical sins, arses that Dier just can't cover.

What jumped out and bit our cocks off today was just how much we miss Eriksen. We didn't just miss having someone who has the brain to link the midfield to the attack, we also missed him in his duel role as auxiliary CM, the guy that steps back and does the things that ditherers like Dembele and Dier just can't do, move the ball with a bit of incision and alacrity from the middle, not just the final third.

The midfield quagmire was exacerbated by every one of our forwards playing in clown boots. None bigger than Alli's. I know the conditions were difficult, but surely this means you have to take more care about what you do, not fucking less, a theory lost on Alli it seems. How the fuck Son got hooked before Alli is another mystery, or it would be if it wasn't for the fact that Poch has form.

Poch needs to get to grips with this midfield issue. Get Onomah back, buy someone - both even. Because the future is not Dier or Dembele, and it definitely isn't fucking Dier and Dembele.

Individual

Vorm - OK, no dramas.

Aurier - This is just the Walker scenario all over again really. Yes, he's robust and dynamic, gets up and down the pitch well enough, but his actually delivery when he gets up there is unreliable and lacks composure or vision most of the time. And we still came undone down his flank a few times, which is supposed to be the area where Trippier is most compromised. If thats the case, lets just have the defensive deficiencies of Trippier and some decent delivery ? No ?

Sanchez - Ropey start but I actually thought he got his foot in several times where it mattered, and eventually had a pretty good, if slightly erratic game.

Vertonghen - Decent.

Davies - Another fairly decent game, solid defensively, as Southampton seemed to target our right side, but also didn't really contribute much in terms of end product.

Dier - Dire.

Dembele - Why do you guys do it to yourselves, I said last week if he could manage two games running I'd be fucking amazed, let alone the rest of the season. Like a Turtle on smack today.

Sissoko - He wasn't terrible, he just isn't good enough to be playing in this team when there are players like Lamela, KWP or me available. Makes the simplest things look like the Krypton factor. And I completely blame Pochettino for his selection.

Alli - Poor decisions, poor control at vital times, was not good and should have been pulled off before Son.

Son - not great, but no idea why he gets hooked and Alli gets to keep chucking buckets with paper shavings over the audience.

Kane - A lot like Alli really. Bumbled about then when he got the best chance of the game he fucking skewe.......did a wonderful, fantastic cross shot.

Some good stuff. My biggest worry with Poch is that he’s making the same mistakes over and over again. Is it stubbornness or is he not seeing it? I said at the beginning of the match thread that if he is going to make tactical and selection decisions that leave the majority of fans baffled, he has to win the game. Otherwise we start to question what the hell he’s doing.

A lot of people are saying ‘worst performance of the season’. I don’t entirely agree - it’s a performance we’ve seen a number of times this season - a lack or real creativity or fluidity down to bizarre pre and during game decision making from Poch.
 

ebzrascal

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2009
2,635
4,670
I think we need Alderwereld Wanyama Rose back fit playing and moving to three at the back... personally I’d put Alli on the bench go with a 343 formation.

I’d also like to see us give Llorente some and time to get his confidence back as he could be useful if we need a plan b like we did yesterday.

It almost seems like Levy and Poch have written off this season as a free punt.
 

cozzo

Well-Known Member
Jan 2, 2005
3,541
6,225
I don’t buy this “we missed Eriksen”. We have had performances like this with him in the team.
 
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