Attitude or Tactics?

[spurs9]

A tough call but in the PL I like the work that Sakho and Pelle do for their clubs. On the continent I like Aubameyang but he is out of our league, Llorente is probably the least we can afford and would have been good support for Kane. We really should have pulled out all stops for Benteke when we could. Austin as an old fashioned CF does hold up the ball effectively but he is slow and doesn't suit our system.

There is a great upcoming generation of forwards like Embolo, David Selke, Valentin Lavigne, Sandro Ramirez, Franck Boli, Munir El Haddadi, Michael Frey etc however most of these lads are in their late teens or early 20's and need to mature. Some of these could be snapped up now as they are not with the likes of Barca like Ramirez and Haddadi. Its getting tougher and tougher to find players with the strength, will and determination to play as lone striker. There are lots of players with the skill but few with the cajones to lead the line on their own.

Pelle & Llorente ate too slow imo. I really like Embolo, but I think he would have trouble holding up the base in PL until he develops a bit more. I don't think Munir would be able to hold the ball up either. I haven’t seen the other play, so might check out you tube to see what kind of players they are. Can intake it you wouldn't be happy signing Berahino?

 

[zepstar]

The only person who can save us, I suspect, is Jeremy Corbyn.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Attitude must be the biggest factor. We have quality players but they lack bollox

I was even disappointed with Bentaleb when he came on. Didn't impose himself on the game like I know he can and didn't show that aggressive attitude that he has and we needed, worrying

Lots of people are calling for experience in CM. Why are we not bidding for Alex Song. The bloke is quality, has experience now and can pick some beautiful passes

In regards to pace and attitude we could have done a lot worse than got Vardy from Leicester. Very decent pace, amazing attitude on the pitch

 

[voxy28]

I think tactics issue then attitude.

 

[double0]

I feel once N'jie is introduced to the front 4 we'll be a muchmore attacking threat. Our mentality/ philosophy is to win possession and dominant other teams into submission. Where we get unstuck is when teams drop off and either wait for a mistake to punish us, break quickly or attack us with crosses into our box.

With the added threat of pace we'd be able to strike quickly especially on counters.

 

[Flashspur]

Pelle & Llorente ate too slow imo. I really like Embolo, but I think he would have trouble holding up the base in PL until he develops a bit more. I don't think Munir would be able to hold the ball up either. I haven’t seen the other play, so might check out you tube to see what kind of players they are. Can intake it you wouldn't be happy signing Berahino?

I think Berahino would be a brilliant signing but not as a Kane replacement. We need a focal point in attack and Kane serves us well in that regard. WBA don't usually play with a lone striker but we do. Berahino is 1.78 and 77kgs. It's just my opinion but I think physically he will struggle in the central role.

 

[Bobishism]

Experience maybe. It's only been 2 games.

 

[voxy28]

If Poch had gone 4321 and pack the midfield, we would not have drawn. Lack of control, experience.... Incl the manager sticking to his 4231 when we took Mason and Kane out and lack alternatives. Would had been better to drop Dembele to MF and form a 3 man shield in front of the back 4 and hit Stoke with counter attack.

Hope he has some variety in his set up..... It's getting predictable from an ex Espanyol and Southhampton manager. Not exactly a top cv tbh.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

So I don't know if I should point this out now, or in two weeks time.
What the heck.
Trippier, Wimmer, Alderweireld, N'jie, deadwood gone, loads of youngsters promoted, still more signings coming in.
Sum of that is this: Pochettino has his players. There is no way IMHO that these transactions are not what Pochettino wants done.
He has HIS squad now (or will at least have in a fortnight).
That's one major task checked off the list.
Let's see how he will fare with his players.
I'm only hoping for the best.

 

[Good Doctor M]

There has been a huge over-reaction to the Stoke game.

 

[spurs9]

I think Berahino would be a brilliant signing but not as a Kane replacement. We need a focal point in attack and Kane serves us well in that regard. WBA don't usually play with a lone striker but we do. Berahino is 1.78 and 77kgs. It's just my opinion but I think physically he will struggle in the central role.

Berahino actually made 20 starts and 3 sub apps as a lone striker for WBA scoring 10 goals. I have no idea what he was like at holding the ball up as I haven't watched any of the games but he has definitely played as a lone striker.

 

[miles_64]

People who say Spurs have always had a feeble attitude didn't seem to be complaining last season when time after time we'd win points in the last few minutes. Stop pretending this is a perennial problem - all teams but the very best concede late points.

I would say there is a mentality problem but I wouldn't say that it's been there for many years - it's a very young team and I'm sure we'll sort it.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I'm not going to over-react as we are only 2 bloody games into the season however I was at the game again today and really that was so disappointing to throw away the 2-0 lead after a very solid 1st half display.

But what was to blame, was it an attitude/character problem as our team is young and inexperienced and didn't know how to close out the game, or was it poor tactics, or are we simply not good enough?

Stoke were there for the taking, yes they're a decent enough side but we are at home and those are the type of games we should be winning for sure.

I'm not sure what all this pass it to the CBs from the goal-kicks is all about, we nearly conceded a goal from it and Hugo smacked it past the full-backs countless times which just puts pressure on us again, we're not bloody Barcelona, but then again we did nearly score from lovely build up play on one occasion so who knows.

The lack of balance for me is still very worrying, we have no width so when we need to switch play we can't as there is no RAM or LAM in their correct position. I'm all for consistency and backing a manager but I just don't think we have the right players for 4-2-3-1 still and our football is often pretty turgid, I'm not going to lie I'm starting to already see things that concern me about Potch but I really really hope I'm just being picky and am wrong + once/if we get a few new faces it mabye the football will pick up but right now it is quite boring

Then we have some strange subs from Potch, if Kane had a knock fair enough and mabye Mason was tired but we completely went to pot after we made those changes.

Bentaleb also stormed off down the tunnel, pissed off that we lost or pissed off that he didn't start? Not good from him.

We came out for the 2nd half far too slowly and let them back into the game, we invited them onto us far too much and lacked attacking guile or shape/creativity and also seemed to have poor options off the bench, I'm not blaming this all on Lamela as I want him to do well more than most but he came on, made 4 fouls and gave the ball away about 4 times, NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

Some positives from today and still early days and glad we've signed N'jie, hopefully he will add some much needed pace but we really need to address a few other issues and stop being so fucking Spursy. Potch said he has tried to work on the defending over the summer and whilst Toby looks good and we do look fairly organised our mentality needs looking at, we lack leaders like when we had King,Dawson,Parker,VDV etc.

Long way to go but what needs addressing the most? :
-Attitude/character
-Tactics
-Players?

COYS.

It's a combination, the attitude of a couple of players isn't 100% and the manager has continually let these players get away with it. We repeatedly allow balls into our box because the AM's can be half arsed about diligently and tenaciously helping their full backs. I watched Liverpool tonight, and everyone on here loves to knock them and Rodgers, but at least he gets the likes of Coutinho, Lallana, Ibe (and previously Sterling) etc to work hard without the ball. Chadli's a fart in trance half the time, making token efforts, Eriksen's hit and miss and Kane has seemed to stop working as hard as he did when he first arrived all eager to impress.

But this is the managers job to either drop the players if they won't work or kick them up the arse and make sure they do.

And tactically Pochettino clearly has some deficiencies. The absolute adherence to 4231. The choices he makes that are counter intuitive - like playing a pedestrian CB as a CM in that CM2 when he wants dynamism, high line, hard pressure on the ball and quick progressive transitions - and his in game subs are notoriously poor.

But I do not buy the theory that generally this team doesn't work hard or has a bad attitude. getting that bunch to fifth last year was as much about the attitude of many of the players as it was the ability. Some of the young players -Mason, Dier, Bentaleb, Lamela, Kane - show great desire and attitude. You think of games like Villa and Liverpool away and Arsenal at home. The character, desire, aggression we showed in games like that made my bollocks tingle.

Lets not tar everyone with the same brush. This young team didn't get fifth last year without showing some character and attitude. It's not black and white. There are some whose attitude isn't good enough, there are some tactical errors being made. There are some great attitudes out there and some tactical things we are getting right.

And WE DO HAVE WIDTH - they are called full backs, they just aren't doing it well enough, and again, Pochettino needs to deal with this. But One did create a great goal saturday.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Going into the second game of the season (and likely third) with one striker and the need to play a CB in midfield should tell anyone with an ounce of sense that the real issues are in the boardroom. How many professional football clubs go into a new season with one striker.

 

[Gilzeanking]

But this is the managers job to either drop the players if they won't work or kick them up the arse and make sure they do.

.

Motivating millionaires....an essential quality required by the successful Prem manager . We saw Poch bellowing instructions to our fading players vs Stoke , to zero effect . Carrot and stick..Poch got a stick ?

If so why can't he deal with strollers like Chadli who seems to believe he has a free pass when it comes to coordinated pressing .

Hughes has a stick . He made it clear in interview he used it at half time . Wonder what he'd have said (as Spurs manager) to stroller Chadli at Full time .

 

[rio bryan]

Of course we need a decent DM and a back up to Harry but if Toby and Verts had defended as they should have done in both games we'd probaly be sitting here with 4 points and perhaps there wouldn't be so many negative comments !

 

[KILLA_SIN]

We need a really good CM, all the top sides whoever they are understand the need and role of one and we simply do not have a CM we can say is outstanding for us.

 

[kitchen]

In order to achieve a top 4 place, we need to address all 3. Attitude, tactics and players.

However. IMO the reason for the dropped points in the first two matches this season was all attitude. We lost the game mentally when conceding against Utd, and let them get a foothold on the match despite bossing it for 20 minutes up until then. Similarly against Stoke, we dropped off in the second half, stopped keeping the ball, and stopped pressing for no good reason to let them back in to the match. When they scored the penalty our team lost their heads again. Neither of these things were tactical decisions from the manager IMO, but instead the players collectively lost their impetus to control the match.

A mentally strong team that has better quality footballers than the opposition like we do compared to Stoke does not let a 2-0 lead slip.

There's a reason that MOTD commentators use the phrase 'a typical spurs performance' to sum up a game like Saturday's and it's all down to mental weakness. I thought poch had instilled the ability to see out games last season but it was frustrating to see the old weaknesses creeping back in this season.

 

[Cavehillspur]

Dunno if already posted but telling quotes from Toby, hopefully filters through to our midfielders asap.

"At Southampton, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin put good pressure on so opponents didn't have time to put the ball in the box; it makes it easier for defenders," he said.

"You have to play better because if you don't play football any more then they can put more pressure on you, get more guys in the box, and it's very difficult.

"Last season I didn't make one mistake. I want to prove myself here and so it feels bad for me to make a mistake in my first home game.

"I just wanted to catch the ball and if I stood behind him (Stoke's Joselu) he couldn't do anything. It was stupid of me. Maybe if I didn't give the penalty away it's different."

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-toby-alderweireld-regrets-costly-stoke-error

 

[rio bryan]

Dunno if already posted but telling quotes from Toby, hopefully filters through to our midfielders asap.

"At Southampton, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin put good pressure on so opponents didn't have time to put the ball in the box; it makes it easier for defenders," he said.

"You have to play better because if you don't play football any more then they can put more pressure on you, get more guys in the box, and it's very difficult.

"Last season I didn't make one mistake. I want to prove myself here and so it feels bad for me to make a mistake in my first home game.

"I just wanted to catch the ball and if I stood behind him (Stoke's Joselu) he couldn't do anything. It was stupid of me. Maybe if I didn't give the penalty away it's different."

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-toby-alderweireld-regrets-costly-stoke-error

Instead of blaming the midfield he needs to look at himself, he has had a hand in all 3 goals we have conceded so far this season.