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Pochettino's tactics did not help vs Liverpool

mawspurs

Staff
Jun 29, 2003
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Five matches, five different midfield combinations.

Mauricio Pochettino has not yet settled on a first choice shape, and his uncertainty is being reflected in his players.

Source: Football London
 

parj

NDombelly ate all the pies
Jul 27, 2003
3,586
5,861
Totally agree especially with Trippier and Mane. Trips should have sat back and seen the threat out. Mane is great at exploiting space so don't give it to him.
 

Paceyjg

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2003
675
859
Starting with Davinson and playing three at the back, to defend against the counter...
Not asking three central midfielders to cover wide positions....
Making an earlier change to effect a game in which we were obviously second best....

Hindsight? Or pretty obvious to anyone watching the match unfold?
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,906
78,642
I'm going to defend Poch here. Whilst I do think he has got a lot wrong recently, he could simply be trying to find a balance that maximises the whole team and one that means every player can adapt to. I recall Fergie having a lot of tactical and personnel blunders throughout his reign too. Poch will get it right eventually.

My worry is the players and their mindset/fitness. Doesn't feel right.
 

bigspurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2005
3,193
2,419
I'm going to defend Poch here. Whilst I do think he has got a lot wrong recently, he could simply be trying to find a balance that maximises the whole team and one that means every player can adapt to. I recall Fergie having a lot of tactical and personnel blunders throughout his reign too. Poch will get it right eventually.

My worry is the players and their mindset/fitness. Doesn't feel right.

I see what you’re saying, but it’s so frustrating to watch one of his tactical train crashes happen. It’s almost like Poch is self sabotaging sometimes. If it really is a case of him trying and testing a few ideas, as you say, I bloody well hope that he’s not still pissing around when we come to play barca!
 

Johnny J

Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
Aug 18, 2012
18,124
47,895
It's laughable that shortly after the City documentary comes out in which Guardiola's key tactic when they battered Liverpool last season is not to leave space behind the full backs for them to exploit, we do exactly that. Utterly naive.
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
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It's laughable that shortly after the City documentary comes out in which Guardiola's key tactic when they battered Liverpool last season is not to leave space behind the full backs for them to exploit, we do exactly that. Utterly naive.
You have to remember that pep is a top class manager who win things and makes teams better everywhere he rocks up klopp at Dortmund was successful as is mourhino.
Poch on the other hand has won fuck all anywhere and whilst he remains at spurs that legacy will continue, some of his tactics are truly mind blowing like playing son at left back against Chelsea in the semi-final the other year terrible decision and his substitutions are equally as bad.
But he is the best manager we can hope for under owners who are not interested in winning the league or anything else, so for the time being we have to stick with him warts and all.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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So our settled squad that doesn't need to integrate new players did well against Liverpool, who just went out and bought loads of players who will need time to settle.... :whistle:
 

greywizard2020

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2003
331
709
I've said it in other threads, but we have the players to play 1-4-3-3 & yet we played with a diamond & asked DIer to play in the middle rather than the base. Our CM's are too far away from LFC's wider-sitting midfielders & fullbacks, they were just picked off as soon as both fullbacks rushed forward. Salah & Mane probably thought they've never had it so good.

I also seem to remember the Poch going with 2 up top against Man City away last year & guess what? We got hammered 4-1 & it could have been 8, which wouldn't have flattered them. The manager needs to do better. Surely the simplicity of putting your fleet-footed faster players in the wide areas & your clever, creative, more technical players in the centre is not lost on the Poch, so it baffles me as to why persists with his tactical decisions.

After, what will be 5 years, if the most you can say is I qualified for the Champions League, then for a club like ours it shouldn't be a surprise to be shown the door. The question becomes who do you get when Sarri, Tuchel & Luis Enrique have just settled into new jobs? Quique Setien at Real Betis is class & is a real proponent of the 'Juego de posicion' style; with limited resources he's made them very entertaining.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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For a club like ours, what he's done is fucking phenomenal. If you're thinking about sacking him because you feel like we deserve better, perhaps Chelsea is a better club for you.

You may well get your wish anyway when Poch goes to Man United and gets to buy anyone he wants.
You'll feel stupid though when we finish 8th and he wins the title.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

For a club like ours, what he's done is fucking phenomenal. If you're thinking about sacking him because you feel like we deserve better, perhaps Chelsea is a better club for you.

You may well get your wish anyway when Poch goes to Man United and gets to buy anyone he wants.
You'll feel stupid though when we finish 8th and he wins the title.
Totes right on the job he has done and no one wants him sacked ...

He isn't immune from criticism though.

As for him going to United, I guess Madrid don't want him any more ...

:ROFLMAO:
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
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For a club like ours, what he's done is fucking phenomenal. If you're thinking about sacking him because you feel like we deserve better, perhaps Chelsea is a better club for you.

You may well get your wish anyway when Poch goes to Man United and gets to buy anyone he wants.
You'll feel stupid though when we finish 8th and he wins the title.
Mate not sure who you are arguing with as your not quoting anyone but it's very possible we could finish 8th this year, and I don't think anyone wants poch sacked but he along with the players need to sort themselves out otherwise the pressure will build and we have all seen how this pan's out before.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
10,925
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Mate not sure who you are arguing with as your not quoting anyone but it's very possible we could finish 8th this year, and I don't think anyone wants poch sacked but he along with the players need to sort themselves out otherwise the pressure will build and we have all seen how this pan's out before.
I was responding to the post directly above mine that was going as far as discussing who we should get to replace him.
Ludicrous.

People forget what little glory in any capacity we experienced for decades before he came.
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
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I was responding to the post directly above mine that was going as far as discussing who we should get to replace him.
Ludicrous.

People forget what little glory in any capacity we experienced for decades before he came.
Agree with you on that like I said I don't want him sacked even though I am dissapointed about the way we have started the season I think we are under performing and he along with the players need to get hold of it quickly.
As for managers names being banded around that is silly in itself plus a lot of managers certainly the best ones won't come to us anyway as firstly we are not in a position to ever compete for anything and secondly not many would want to work under levy.
 

DCSPUR

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2005
3,918
5,415
paraphrasing my earlier post:
1. The transfer window wasn't terrific in terms of getting in some needed cover
2. Poch has said several times since pre-season that he'd have to manage certain players and have lots of rotation the first period of the season because of the WC SF issue and all the call ups for the bloomin Nations Cup
3. Add to that the fact that several of the players who should have been available and fit/ fresh (eg Wanyama, Lamela) got injuries during pre/early season.
4. Silly suspensions
5. Incorporating the one player who seems fit and in form (LM)
6. Son going to Asia
7. Finally add in injuries to key players (eg Alli) and you have a situation where Poch has to manage the group and make shifts in formation.

If the group was somewhere close to fit (mentally and physically), I suspect our team would have been:
Hugo, Trippier, Sanchez, Toby, Verts, Davies, Wanyama, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane in a 3 (Sanchez, Toby, Verts), 3 (Trippier, Wanyama, Davies), 3 (Eriksen, Alli, Son), 1 (Kane).....or as some people like to reference it 5-1-3-1

Promise you, it would have been a different game. The difference between us and Pool now is that their top players look a LOT fresher because they weren't at the WC or left early.....its pretty relevant that Hendo is being used so sparingly.

In a funny way, the Alli injury, if it is 3-4 weeks may end up giving us a fresher player for the rest of the season.

Poch has done more for our club then anyone else since I started following the team in the late 1970's (and yes I know how amazing 1984 was!). He deserves more than our backing....he deserves a lot of latitude because he has earned such trust.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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Put the blame in the chairman's office.
I have no doubt poch would have wanted 2-3 players in the summer and got short changed, just like many managers before him and many to come after him.
Liverpool were fitter and faster than us all over the pitch, and it was predictable.

Gone are the days when we had the youngest average age in the league, with the fittest players. Rose, Jan, Toby, Trippier all around their late 20's early 30's. Kane looks fucked. Eriksen is at his prime age now.
It's only Kane, Son, Lamela and Dele under 25 in the front positions.

If we can't out-fit teams any more we need to bring in younger fitter players to replace the older ones or change the philosphy
 

sebo_sek

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
6,023
5,168
Mate not sure who you are arguing with as your not quoting anyone but it's very possible we could finish 8th this year, and I don't think anyone wants poch sacked but he along with the players need to sort themselves out otherwise the pressure will build and we have all seen how this pan's out before.
Finish 8th with a League Cup, buy well, win the Europa the following year and get back into the CL. I could live with that. Two trophies and some crucial experience. Or we could turn it around and win the League Cup and get fourth but that is one hell of a challenge. Forget the title. But with our performance I will be buzzing if we beat Watford in round 3.
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
19,651
Finish 8th with a League Cup, buy well, win the Europa the following year and get back into the CL. I could live with that. Two trophies and some crucial experience. Or we could turn it around and win the League Cup and get fourth but that is one hell of a challenge. Forget the title. But with our performance I will be buzzing if we beat Watford in round 3.
Wow yes I could handle that although I can see us not going through the group stage of the CL because we are not good enough but maybe win Europa league and yes finish outside top four and maybe build again in a few seasons time.
 
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