Assessing Pochettino's pre-season: Tactics & Player Management vs Seattle

[eddiebailey]

I think a big concern with Eriksen will be his defensive responsibility. Coupling that with his better performances coming cutting in from the left (in my opinion) I'd like to see Eriksen in the LW role and Lamela in the AM role

Agree, working out how best to use Eriksen is going to be a big test for him. he needs to figure out how best to set up our attacking players, and he needs to adapt his pattern to their strengths and weaknesses, rather than force them into roles that don't fit. He must show his philosophy is not only viable with a certain group of players.

 

[LukeBB]

I will be very surprised if Pochettino is not here next season. The last thing Levy wants to do is to sack another manager.

So long as we are safely in the top half of the table, Poch does not behave like a knob behind the scenes, and he does not run off at the mouth to the press, Poch will be good for a couple of seasons. After that he needs to start offering real promise.

TBH unless we are struggling to keep pace with the top 6 I would give Poch until when the new stadium is built, the finances involved with a new stadium could be tricky and it would help if we didn't sack every manager after 18 months and then he would need finances to rip out and reconstruct his own team. Poch is a young and developing coach and he has a good team behind him, staff and player wise, let him develop with us as a team I say.

 

[HailKingLevy]

Just a point on the Soldado chance/penalty, would the defender of not been sent off in a competitive game, meaning a double whammy for the oppo.

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

Just a point on the Soldado chance/penalty, would the defender of not been sent off in a competitive game, meaning a double whammy for the oppo.

He would have indeed. His only saving grace was the other defender a few feet to the left, but most refs would have red carded him for it.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I believe Townsend was meant to shift over to the right when Holtby tucked in to restore balance but like you I have no problem with Townsend playing centrally this pre-season as he needs to educate himself on what to do when he can go either left or right rather than just cutting in one way.

Yeah, I threw Bobby a disappointed glare when he left his mark on Ossie Alonso, he had a reputation over in Spain for being aggressive which saw him throw a few punches and stamp on Falcao's head, so the less we see of it, the better.

I think that central position is way to pivotal to entrust to a head down, lacking in guile and wit player like Townsend.

Holtby's no genius but at least he gets his head up. Hell, I'd rather have seen Mason played there.

 

[LukeBB]

I think that central position is way to pivotal to entrust to a head down, lacking in guile and wit player like Townsend.

Holtby's no genius but at least he gets his head up. Hell, I'd rather have seen Mason played there.

I know what you are saying and in a competitive game I wouldn't let Townsend near that central position ahead of the likes of Eriksen, Holtby, Lamela etc but I'm saying that for this pre-season Townsend should play centrally so that he can educate himself so that when he cuts inside and finds himself in a central position, he is more familiar in that crowded situation and he can make a better decision rather than just shoot from range or produce a sideways pass.

 

[guate]

LukeBB, for those amongst us that are less knowledgeable regarding the different formations played I would like to sincerely thank you as your report makes it so much more understandable.
There are several bloggers on here whose knowledge of tactics etc I generally admire, however as a couple more readers have said and provided you have the time of course, more reports of this nature would be extremely helpful to the vast majority of us on SC.

 

[Climbpacked]

Quality post m8 but went a bit ova my hed LoL!!! Got me finking thou (always a worry my old man used to say!!1)

i woz a bit bored afta work and decided 2 look in2 the match, in the same way u have as i aint sure it was a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 or any ov those new formations, if you look at my screensaver ive done it worryed me quite a bit!! Mayeb 4-1-3-2? tryed that on footie manager once wen i was manager on Real Madrid, propa grate for goalscoring.

now i aint no footie coach i mean i used to play Sunday league nd i understand a bit from watching the game but where r the optiones for the man on the ball??

i know my post aint as well layed out as LukeBB but i think we both rose sum valice (summit like that) point ??

i dunt wanna see any of the kick long from the back, i wonna see Barcaloana style plays, like quick little movemants and triangles between the playas.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I know what you are saying and in a competitive game I wouldn't let Townsend near that central position ahead of the likes of Eriksen, Holtby, Lamela etc but I'm saying that for this pre-season Townsend should play centrally so that he can educate himself so that when he cuts inside and finds himself in a central position, he is more familiar in that crowded situation and he can make a better decision rather than just shoot from range or produce a sideways pass.

Do you think that's what Pochettino was doing ?

 

[LukeBB]

Do you think that's what Pochettino was doing ?

It wouldn't surprise me, Townsend was playing more centrally though the idea was he was still acting as a wide forward. I hope this is what he was doing because anyone who watched Townsend last year knew what he was going to do before he did, cut in, pass sideways or shoot. Positive play all in all but needs more thought behind it.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

It wouldn't surprise me, Townsend was playing more centrally though the idea was he was still acting as a wide forward. I hope this is what he was doing because anyone who watched Townsend last year knew what he was going to do before he did, cut in, pass sideways or shoot. Positive play all in all but needs more thought behind it.

More thought and better execution. But I can't see those facets improving by the degree they need to to be a viable regular player for a club with top 6 as a prerequisite.

Some players you can see it's about confidence, but he's not short of that, so it's not that, it's just cognitive ability.

 

[lukespurs7]

Class analysis mate,you're like a young Mouriniho.

Keep me coming. Defo make a blog.

I am encouraged by the performance but also very worried a lot of our squad aren't good enough to play this way... We will see.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Quality post m8 but went a bit ova my hed LoL!!! Got me finking thou (always a worry my old man used to say!!1)

i woz a bit bored afta work and decided 2 look in2 the match, in the same way u have as i aint sure it was a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 or any ov those new formations, if you look at my screensaver ive done it worryed me quite a bit!! Mayeb 4-1-3-2? tryed that on footie manager once wen i was manager on Real Madrid, propa grate for goalscoring.

now i aint no footie coach i mean i used to play Sunday league nd i understand a bit from watching the game but where r the optiones for the man on the ball??

i know my post aint as well layed out as LukeBB but i think we both rose sum valice (summit like that) point ??

i dunt wanna see any of the kick long from the back, i wonna see Barcaloana style plays, like quick little movemants and triangles between the playas.

 

[Bobbins]

The thing you got to take note of, is that the team had an actual shape and plan. AVB also did, but it was so bloody slow that it was ineffective. That's faster passing and getting the ball forward asap game is exactly how i've wanted us to play for years.

Poch has changed the direction of how we are going to play within A WEEK! He made those changes in 7 odd days. That is cracking work.

Just need to sort out the leaky defence and we will be golden.

Calm down there fella, let's not get too overexcited eh? Got a webcam in your room don't forget

 

[thinktank]

Nicdic posted this in the MS thread. I urge anyone who's interested in poch's tactical philosophy to read it.

It's google translated but reads ok.

Morgan Schneiderlin "Pochettino is the art of detail"

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...hettino-cest-lart-du-detail/&biw=1366&bih=679

 

[midspur]

Poch out!!

 

[The Spurs Lad]

Agreed, we did play a 4-3-3 shape when in possession but when we lost possession we transitioned into a 4-2-3-1/ 4-4-2 shape w/ Holtby shifting to the right and Townsend joining up alongside Kane and in the second half, I saw it was mostly Soldado and Lamela or Ceballos pressuring the opposition defense.

People all see football/ tactics in different ways and explain it in different ways... point being... I'm falling in love with Pochettino

It would appear you were right, Eriksen not working anywhere near as much as Holtby did let us see the true nature of the system more consistently.

So to discuss the 4231 system being used I have to admit I am a bit uncomfortable with it. I like the movement and rotation aspects of the 3 behind the striker but it seemed to continually only be Eriksen who fully rotated with Lamela/Lennon doing so less so. This resulted in a bit of an imbalance and also on a few occasions we saw Eriksen, Lamela and Lennon within 5-10 yards of each other.

I am a bit unsure as to how this formation will fair against anyone with a half decent attacking left side effectively doubling up on Walker. The midfield 2 play in a style similar to how a 433 would yet we only consistently had 2 available CM's. With effectively 2 wing backs, 2 CB's and one DM holding with only one other full supporting CM I feel we may be quite vulnerable at the back unless we bring in some seriously good defenders as Kaboul is injury prone and Vertonghen loves to go forward and lacks the recovery pace needed. I also dont feel the wing backs we have (including Davies) offer enough in attack to warrant being played as wing backs but I do appreciate the need to have them play as wing backs to help balance the system and stretch the play.

Of course much of this may improve with time but the imbalance and openness at the back (would be more prevalent vs stronger opposition) have started to begin to show some explanations to me for Southamptons poor defensive record beyond the initial 'tired out' and 'young team' explanations which I have gone to in the past.

What is evident though is that we are significantly better at keeping the ball and it would appear by the end of pre season we could be creating a good amount of chances.

 

[wosH]

So when is this new piece of the Toronto game coming out, @LukeBB ? Work is killing me atm!

 

[LukeBB]

So when is this new piece of the Toronto game coming out, @LukeBB ? Work is killing me atm!

Not too sure, I've finished the piece and sent it off to be put up and once they do that I will be able to post it on here and share it with you guys shouldn't be too long, would be very surprised if it's not with you lot this afternoon.

 

[CrankyPants90]

It wouldn't surprise me, Townsend was playing more centrally though the idea was he was still acting as a wide forward. I hope this is what he was doing because anyone who watched Townsend last year knew what he was going to do before he did, cut in, pass sideways or shoot. Positive play all in all but needs more thought behind it.

So.... when do you start your coaching badges??