Pochettino must tighten up Spurs defence

[Gaz_Gammon]

Exciting football has usually been a prerequisite for Tottenham supporters yet many of them would surely trade thrilling attacking for a few 1-0 wins.

Read the full article at London Evening Standard

 

[Ginolas_Hair]

What a load of bollocks. Whilst i agree the defence is a bit leaky and needs addressing if we are pressing for Top 4 either this season or next.
I for one would not trade fluid attacking football for a 1-nil win. Saw too many under AvB and one of the many reasons I avoid watching Van Gaal's United and any one of Mourinho's teams (past or present) like the plague.

Bore off Evening Standard

 

[Nick]

We seem to try to intercept and defend in front of the attacker, which doesn't seem to be working. Often the defenders are blind to the movement of the player they are marking behind them

 

[Roynie]

When AVB was manager we won a lot of games 1 - 0 with boring football, always passing across the pitch and look what happened to him!

 

[Lilbaz]

It's not really the defence. We as a team push far up the pitch (often leaving the goalkeeper as the only player in our half) thus are susceptible to a quick break. Everyone caught out of position most notably our full backs who play partly as our wingers.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

What a load of bollocks. Whilst i agree the defence is a bit leaky and needs addressing if we are pressing for Top 4 either this season or next.
I for one would not trade fluid attacking football for a 1-nil win. Saw too many under AvB and one of the many reasons I avoid watching Van Gaal's United and any one of Mourinho's teams (past or present) like the plague.

Bore off Evening Standard

We are heading for the worst amount of goals conceded over the past five seasons. No team has ever qualified for CL footie that have conceded more than fifty goals. We are projected to go well over that.

The defence isn't a "bit leaky", it's very much like Aston Villas, and that's a fact.

 

[stuffies]

Leaky defence deffo.....caused by several reasons, from fullbacks high up and outta positions when we lose the ball.
Trying to get the ball before the ball is played into their front man. .
But I'd say most our by silly mistakes made by an individual......
We need our defenders to be fully focused for the whole game.....and if unsure just kick it out instead on keeping the ball and thinking ermm. ....arghhh.....ermm mm. ....shit I've lost it.

However we do have a young defence and mistakes will be made but would hope poch and his team will be working on this and next season there surely must be an improvement.

 

[JoeT]

As long as Spurs' can continue to score more than 2 goals per. game we should win, but I don't think the fire-power is there up front; so, yes it's obvious the defence needs to tighten up.
I think 'stuffies' "individual mistakes" comment is probably the culprit here.

 

[greaves]

Youthful mistakes perhaps. Genuine question: do Jan's mistakes stem from the mistakes of youthful others (or having to cover for same)? Something that has been at the back of mind for a while, is that if Poch's system relies on 'superfitness', is that honestly - realistically - possible when players become older? Or are they out of his system and thus the team? To qualify the term 'fitness', I guess a fit 30 (eg Beckham, as was) may not be able to cope with a high-press (though I am sure there are exceptions).
Meanderthal meandering over...

 

[CosmicHotspur]

The defence does need some work but also set pieces and corners should be addressed.

A bit more "push and run" to keep the game flowing with shorter and more accurate passing and less passing sideways and backwards too.

Other than that, we are near perfect!

 

[Japhet]

IMO a lot of the issues start further up the pitch. The 3 behind the striker are not the best at keeping possession for starters. Full backs pushing high up the pitch leave us exposed when possession is lost and the Bentaleb/Mason pairing, whilst being very good when we have the ball, are not a good defensive combination. The back 4 are often left looking poor and are all prone to unforced errors but I think it goes further than that.

 

[Shirtfront]

I agree with the conclusion, but not the rationale.I don't think the problem has much to do with the pace or positioning of the centre-halves. In their case I think it is more down to individual errors. How many goals have we seen with centre-forwards getting in space in behind recently? Not many.

I think the problems are out wide as we almost play a 2-4-3-1 with the full backs pushing right up and very little protection in front of them. Neither are brilliant defensively and Lamela/Eriksen/Townsend provide minimal support, and particularly not in wide areas with each drifting inside.

Apart from the goals we have actually conceded, we have also had to rely on Lloris making more than a reasonable number of Worldies to keep us in it.

I would like to see a Stambouli come on when we are 3-1 up to help sure up the protection of the back 4 (2). And get the full backs to play a little less aggressively, in a proper 4-3-3.

Oh, and cut out the silly errors and the positional mistakes (Danny and Jan, I am looking at you).

 

[Ginolas_Hair]

We are heading for the worst amount of goals conceded over the past five seasons. No team has ever qualified for CL footie that have conceded more than fifty goals. We are projected to go well over that.

The defence isn't a "bit leaky", it's very much like Aston Villas, and that's a fact.

So are you one of the fans calling for more 1-nils that the Evening Standard are quoting?

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

So are you one of the fans calling for more 1-nils that the Evening Standard are quoting?

I am asking for CL qualification. Something that will never be attained by a team conceding the projected amount of goals we are currently shipping. If that means 1-0 then so be it.

By the way i believe i am correct in saying that we have won a record number of games this season by a one goal margin, so whats the difference so long as we win?

 

[CowInAComa]

There is no difference between a 1-0 win and a 3-2 win...

actually for GD reasons 3-2 is better.

But agree with a poster above, most of our defensive shitfarts come from individual errors rather than a tactical lack.

 

[chinaman]

Unless we're as rich as RM or Barca, we cannot win every game in style. I'd certainly take 20 1-0 wins if they ensure us of CL status. Then we can build a more entertaining squad.

 

[stuffies]

I posted about individual errors above.....and I'm watching the QPR game now and look at walkers back header.....WTF.
This are the silly mistakes that cost us.
Cut them out and suddenly our defence will not look so leaky.

Once again it's Hugo that saved us......

Kannnnnnneeeeeee......sorry 1 nil up

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

So, I wrote about our weak defensive records this season during the January transfer window. Now, I'm not too sure how important it is. Why? Because whatever we are doing, it works. Over the last 13-15 rounds, we've performed brilliantly well. The main reason why we are not higher on the table is the result of the first 1/3 of the season, not primarily our defence. I'd rather take a winning Tottenham, than a Tottenham with perfect defensive records.