- May 26, 2004
- 4,781
- 2,108
Good Week
Jermain Defoe
A new three year contract, three Premier League starts, and no recognised striker coming in on deadline day. While he received little to no service on Saturday, and when he did get on the ball found himself easily outmuscled, the ninety minutes aside he has had a good week. With Andy Carroll also picking up an injury, a rare England start on Friday could be on the cards.
Moussa Dembele
A goal on debut, and no true playmaker signed, the Belgian looks set to be a first choice pick. Also having fellow Belgian and former team mate Vertonghen and ex-Fulham colleague Clint Dempsey at the club, he should settle in pretty quickly.
Clint Dempsey
Bet he’s glad he wasn’t signed in time to play.
Bad Week
Daniel Levy
Some good work was done on Friday, but the one player we need, the one player AVB wanted above all others, was not signed. Now we don’t know the ins and outs of the Joao Moutinho transfer negotiations, but there are three scenarios to my mind.
1. The player was not affordable. This should have been identified quickly, and another playmaker identified.
2. The player’s transfer rights were complicated. This should have been identified quickly, and time and effort spent on resolving this far in advance of the deadline.
3. Levy was playing a game of brinkmanship, which given how much AVB wanted this player, how there were no obvious alternatives, and the large gap Modric’s departure caused, was basically stupid.
We lacked a ball player in the middle of the park. As a result we had no tempo, we couldn’t exploit any gaps or get the ball to our danger players early enough, and apart from Dembele’s goal we had no goal threat. While Moussa looked impressive in the second half, he is not a playmaker like Modric, he offers threats further forward, but there is no one to give him and others the ball.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
A very, very poor display. While we don’t expect him to play delicate through balls or embark on mazy dribbles, he needs to show something other than nothing. Sure, the general team performance dragged everyone down, but Sigurdsson looked completely lost and worryingly tired. There will be more to come from the Icelander but with the signing of Dembele and Dempsey he cannot afford such anonymous performances.
Gareth Bale and the 4-2-3-1 wingers
It’s not really working yet. Bale didn’t play well, working out early that there was no point crossing the ball into the box when there is only Defoe and a couple of six foot plus defenders. That led to him inevitably coming inside too much, which Norwich were happy to do as they just crowded him out, and there was no space for anyone else to operate. Coming inside is fine but you have to start out wide – Bale’s starting position is too often too central, and he does not give Benny or others an option. Any opposition side looking to get a result at the Lane will be happy to see Bale joining the crowds in the middle of the park, rather than enjoying space out wide.
Things might change when Adebayor gets match sharp, but at the moment the side looks like it has a formation and set of tactics that are not compatible with the eleven men on the pitch. At home against Norwich we should be braver than that team set up was, speaking off which
Andre Villas-Boas
It’s déjà-vu all over again. We bring on a second striker, switch to a 4-4-2, get the lead goal, then switch back to the original system and concede. With all due respect, we should be taking on teams like WBA and Norwich at home. Hopefully AVB learned a valuable lesson on Saturday.
Brad Friedel
Brad pulled off some very impressive saves, but his inability to command his penalty area is very troubling and his team mates are more than aware. One long ball bounced in his box, and had Friedel read the situation he would have caught the ball under no pressure what so other. However, he was rooted to his line, the ball bounced a couple more times before Gallas had to sweep up, playing the ball to Walker who hashed a clearance out of play. Walker then turned to his keeper and urged him to take command.
Norwich’s equaliser was a carbon copy of WBA’s. The ball came across the area a couple of times, we didn’t clear it, Brad was stuck on his line, the defence fell so deep that people standing 16 yards out were able to be in five yards of clear space, and they scored with ease.
Lloris will come in as the number one and Brad will get a few cups games no doubt. He is a very good shot stopper but our struggles to deal with crosses is not helped by a keeper rooted to his line.
The Subs table
A new feature, we have a look at the points players involved in substitutions have earned/lost. For example, Jermain Defoe was taken off when we were winning for Huddlestone. The game ended in a draw, meaning Defoe is +2 and Huddlestone -2 for that match.
Defoe + 4
Sigurdsson 0
Sandro 0
Kane 0
Jenas – 2
Huddlestone -2
Jermain Defoe
A new three year contract, three Premier League starts, and no recognised striker coming in on deadline day. While he received little to no service on Saturday, and when he did get on the ball found himself easily outmuscled, the ninety minutes aside he has had a good week. With Andy Carroll also picking up an injury, a rare England start on Friday could be on the cards.
Moussa Dembele
A goal on debut, and no true playmaker signed, the Belgian looks set to be a first choice pick. Also having fellow Belgian and former team mate Vertonghen and ex-Fulham colleague Clint Dempsey at the club, he should settle in pretty quickly.
Clint Dempsey
Bet he’s glad he wasn’t signed in time to play.
Bad Week
Daniel Levy
Some good work was done on Friday, but the one player we need, the one player AVB wanted above all others, was not signed. Now we don’t know the ins and outs of the Joao Moutinho transfer negotiations, but there are three scenarios to my mind.
1. The player was not affordable. This should have been identified quickly, and another playmaker identified.
2. The player’s transfer rights were complicated. This should have been identified quickly, and time and effort spent on resolving this far in advance of the deadline.
3. Levy was playing a game of brinkmanship, which given how much AVB wanted this player, how there were no obvious alternatives, and the large gap Modric’s departure caused, was basically stupid.
We lacked a ball player in the middle of the park. As a result we had no tempo, we couldn’t exploit any gaps or get the ball to our danger players early enough, and apart from Dembele’s goal we had no goal threat. While Moussa looked impressive in the second half, he is not a playmaker like Modric, he offers threats further forward, but there is no one to give him and others the ball.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
A very, very poor display. While we don’t expect him to play delicate through balls or embark on mazy dribbles, he needs to show something other than nothing. Sure, the general team performance dragged everyone down, but Sigurdsson looked completely lost and worryingly tired. There will be more to come from the Icelander but with the signing of Dembele and Dempsey he cannot afford such anonymous performances.
Gareth Bale and the 4-2-3-1 wingers
It’s not really working yet. Bale didn’t play well, working out early that there was no point crossing the ball into the box when there is only Defoe and a couple of six foot plus defenders. That led to him inevitably coming inside too much, which Norwich were happy to do as they just crowded him out, and there was no space for anyone else to operate. Coming inside is fine but you have to start out wide – Bale’s starting position is too often too central, and he does not give Benny or others an option. Any opposition side looking to get a result at the Lane will be happy to see Bale joining the crowds in the middle of the park, rather than enjoying space out wide.
Things might change when Adebayor gets match sharp, but at the moment the side looks like it has a formation and set of tactics that are not compatible with the eleven men on the pitch. At home against Norwich we should be braver than that team set up was, speaking off which
Andre Villas-Boas
It’s déjà-vu all over again. We bring on a second striker, switch to a 4-4-2, get the lead goal, then switch back to the original system and concede. With all due respect, we should be taking on teams like WBA and Norwich at home. Hopefully AVB learned a valuable lesson on Saturday.
Brad Friedel
Brad pulled off some very impressive saves, but his inability to command his penalty area is very troubling and his team mates are more than aware. One long ball bounced in his box, and had Friedel read the situation he would have caught the ball under no pressure what so other. However, he was rooted to his line, the ball bounced a couple more times before Gallas had to sweep up, playing the ball to Walker who hashed a clearance out of play. Walker then turned to his keeper and urged him to take command.
Norwich’s equaliser was a carbon copy of WBA’s. The ball came across the area a couple of times, we didn’t clear it, Brad was stuck on his line, the defence fell so deep that people standing 16 yards out were able to be in five yards of clear space, and they scored with ease.
Lloris will come in as the number one and Brad will get a few cups games no doubt. He is a very good shot stopper but our struggles to deal with crosses is not helped by a keeper rooted to his line.
The Subs table
A new feature, we have a look at the points players involved in substitutions have earned/lost. For example, Jermain Defoe was taken off when we were winning for Huddlestone. The game ended in a draw, meaning Defoe is +2 and Huddlestone -2 for that match.
Defoe + 4
Sigurdsson 0
Sandro 0
Kane 0
Jenas – 2
Huddlestone -2