Match Threads Pre Season: Colchester Vs Spurs: Match Thread

[EQP]

TBH, on the ball that is all you need from a 6, anything else is a bonus IMO. How was he in defence and was he positioning/offering himself as a deep passing option well?

Solid showing. Would receive passes from BLF and Malachi and turn and link up with Devine or play it back to the CB's. Couple times he could've lost the ball as the opposition did try and press him and force on his right foot but he quickly adjusted. He even dropped into a back 3 sometimes to let BLF make a forward run toward the end of the game.

When you look at our midfield options, we have too many in CM (8 & 10) as it is, with Dele, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Holjberg and Skipp (I'm assuming Sissoko will leave) for 2 positions, so he probably won't get game time. In the "6", we only have Winks, so if he is ready, White should be the player we keep in the squad.

I would loan John out, as we still have Devine if we need an 8.

Thats exactly why he should go back out on loan because he's really close to breaking through. He'll be 20 in September and if we can secure a him a year long loan, similar to Skipp, he'll be a better player for it. Nile John and Devine are still young enough to improve playing U23 football mixed in with the occasional cup game. Harvey needs more senior minutes to breakthrough.

 

[Saoirse]

Nothing like a nice round of homophobia from a **** in a Chelsea shirt to ruin a good night out

 

[Snarfalicious]

I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen. Really excited to see us incorporate more of our stars (and new signings) and play against some tougher opponents.

 

[spurs9]

Solid showing. Would receive passes from BLF and Malachi and turn and link up with Devine or play it back to the CB's. Couple times he could've lost the ball as the opposition did try and press him and force on his right foot but he quickly adjusted. He even dropped into a back 3 sometimes to let BLF make a forward run toward the end of the game.



Thats exactly why he should go back out on loan because he's really close to breaking through. He'll be 20 in September and if we can secure a him a year long loan, similar to Skipp, he'll be a better player for it. Nile John and Devine are still young enough to improve playing U23 football mixed in with the occasional cup game. Harvey needs more senior minutes to breakthrough.

Thanks for that, sounds like he played alright.

I see where you are coming from in regards to loaning him out, however I don't think it will be easy finding a team that will give him game time, especially in a 6, unless we can find him a loan overseas, due to his style. At Portsmouth, he only played 681 minutes (6 Starts) and most of that was on the left Wing.

I think keep him for the 1st half, play him as a 6 in the early rounds of the EFL cup and up to and in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League. Assuming we win the play offs and he isn't a disaster, that would give him 9 starts in a position and tactic we want to develop in.

That is all assuming we don't buy another 6 and he and Winks remain our only options.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Skipp is definitely a 6 for me.

He can play as an 8 for sure but he has everything needed to become one of the best 6s around.

He knows when to drop in to the backline, he positions himself brilliantly to receive the ball from the defence, he covers loads of ground but he has superb positional intelligence, he knows how to cut out angles and spaces to protect the back 4.

Added to this, his tackling is excellent and he can move the ball very well from deep areas. He also tracks very well from the DM area which is something Hojbjerg struggles with as he isn’t a natural DM.

It is very hard to find an elite 6 but Skipp has that capability. He should be playing DM for us.

 

[Bulletspur]

The only thing that I am slightly annoyed with is that we seem to be playing in blue socks, instead of the traditional white ones. Okay, Colchester was at home and theirs being white, it could have clashed, but there is no excuse for wearing it against Orient as they wore red!

 

[Bobby TwoShots]

The only thing that I am slightly annoyed with is that we seem to be playing in blue socks, instead of the traditional white ones. Okay, Colchester was at home and theirs being white, it could have clashed, but there is no excuse for wearing it against Orient as they wore red!

Nike, I’m sure. Philistines.

 

[Trix]

The only thing that I am slightly annoyed with is that we seem to be playing in blue socks, instead of the traditional white ones. Okay, Colchester was at home and theirs being white, it could have clashed, but there is no excuse for wearing it against Orient as they wore red!

You know traditionally we wore blue socks right?

 

[Spurvert]

Went to the game as it’s not far from where I live. Sat with the Colchester fans - good entertainment and some funny songs.

Biggest takeaways were:

Dier just needs to go. Some of his defending was amateur. He panicked me, especially when a ball came over the top towards him and you could clearly see he didn’t know whether to go to it or not. Hopefully upgrades on the way.

Winks had a poor first 20 mins or so. Some of his passing blows my mind just how bad it is. Nice lad, but needs to go.

Skipp will be starting with PEH before long. I know it’s only Colchester in a preseason friendly, but everything about his game is so mature, so confident. Has potential to be a massive player for us.

Did anyone else think CCV looked out of shape? And he looked really small, too! Didn’t do too bad to be fair.

I was telling my old man (Man United fan) about some of the youngsters, so was keen to keep an eye on Scarlett when he came on. Thought he did some really good things, not afraid to get stuck in, some good movement off the ball and nice little touches. When Lucas crossed the ball for his offside goal you just knew he was going to score when it dropped to him. I hope he gets some competitive minutes this season because I think we could have a real player on our hands, much more so than Troy, who looked ok when he came on too, but for me Scarlett is the one I’d give minutes to.

Was over at HT and probably the only Spurs game I’ll go to for a while, but nice to see Sonny.

 

[mark87]

Also, he isn't from our academy, we signed him from Arsenal's......but apart from that.

Well he's apart of our academy now, but other than that, a top informative post from myself...

 

[mark87]

Nothing like a nice round of homophobia from a **** in a Chelsea shirt to ruin a good night out

Bumped into John Terry did you?

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Brief thoughts:

• I liked Whiteman, seems a good shot stopper and actually caught well off his line a couple of times, one near the edge of the area to kill a Colchester break particularly notable.
• Paskotsi looks a player, seems intelligent and very composed.
• Winks definitely trying to look up and find the flakes quickly, which must be by instruction. Wasn’t the awful display some have made out.
• Dele playing on the left of a CM3, picking the ball up and driving in field suits him. Didn’t always come off but he clearly enjoyed it and he also played some really crisp passes spread play. Good to see him taking the ball off the defence and trying to start moves too. I reckon if you replace his and Winks names with Lo Celso and Ndombele they get a tonne of love for the exact same performances.
• Skipp absolutely looks like everything he’s been hyped up to be. Really looks ready to push on. Proper box to box performance.
• Bergwijn was better and did very well for the opener, but still looks within himself. God aggression to get to loose balls on a couple of occasions.
• Devine, John, Scarlett and Parrott all showed real glimpses of talent, patriotically Scarlett who looks far further along you’d expect a17 year old to be.

 

[chrissivad]

Nile John and Skipp already qualify as Club Trained HG, Scarlett is only 1 year away, with 4 seasons to attain it.

Parrott also needs 6 more months in our squad to get there and has 2 seasons to do it.

The only other 2 players that need time from a club trained HG point of view are Devine and Paskotsi, of which both need 2 years and the former has 5 seasons to do so and the latter its probably more important for them to get 1st team minutes somewhere.

I think Parrott already is, it was the reason why we delayed him going out on loan.

Does it not have to be 3 consecutive years?
Or is that for the PL?

 

[topper]

Brief thoughts:

• I liked Whiteman, seems a good shot stopper and actually caught well off his line a couple of times, one near the edge of the area to kill a Colchester break particularly notable.
• Paskotsi looks a player, seems intelligent and very composed.
• Winks definitely trying to look up and find the flakes quickly, which must be by instruction. Wasn’t the awful display some have made out.
• Dele playing on the left of a CM3, picking the ball up and driving in field suits him. Didn’t always come off but he clearly enjoyed it and he also played some really crisp passes spread play. Good to see him taking the ball off the defence and trying to start moves too. I reckon if you replace his and Winks names with Lo Celso and Ndombele they get a tonne of love for the exact same performances.
• Skipp absolutely looks like everything he’s been hyped up to be. Really looks ready to push on. Proper box to box performance.
• Bergwijn was better and did very well for the opener, but still looks within himself. God aggression to get to loose balls on a couple of occasions.
• Devine, John, Scarlett and Parrott all showed real glimpses of talent, patriotically Scarlett who looks far further along you’d expect a17 year old to be.

You're absolutely right about Winks - it was a 'progressive' performance from Winks and I thought we were much poorer in midfield when he came off. Now I'm not saying he's the greatest midfielder in the Premiership but the amount of flak he gets on here is over the top and most of the criticism is unwarranted given he's been asked to play in a particular role.

 

[spurs9]

I think Parrott already is, it was the reason why we delayed him going out on loan.

Does it not have to be 3 consecutive years?
Or is that for the PL?

Parrot arrived Feb 2017 and has been on loan for 1 season since then, so should need another 6 months.

Neither PL nor UEFA require 3 consecutive years. Maybe you are thinking of the UEFA comp U21 list eligibility (list b) which, as well as being U21, requires the player to be st the club for 2 consecutive seasons?

 

[Japhet]

Still no Dennis Cirkin?

 

[bigfrooj]

I’d like Paskotsi to be rewarded with a run out in the next game in his natural position as a centre back. He looks class.

 

[degoose]

He didn't really play the role today, but I believe Skipp was largely played as more of a 6 at Norwich last season and didn't really get forward or involved in the attacking play much at all - more of a DM role than a box to box. This is more based on highlight reels and stats, mind, so if anyone has watched lots of Norwich feel free to correct me!

He's definitely got the engine to be more of a box to box number 8, but given his tenacity and tackling ability, I think his best position going forward is more as a 6.

yeah he played as the deepest midfielder, i watched a lot of Norwich last season, i live in Norwich and they are my 2nd team and he was superb throughout the season and was always the deeper one. He broke up a lot of attacking play and rarely got forward but he really kept the team clicking with quick passes.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

yeah he played as the deepest midfielder, i watched a lot of Norwich last season, i live in Norwich and they are my 2nd team and he was superb throughout the season and was always the deeper one. He broke up a lot of attacking play and rarely got forward but he really kept the team clicking with quick passes.

From what I’ve seen early with Nuno’s approach, I think he’s seems to want the midfield 3 to have a passer/ press resister dropping deepest, with the players in front almost splitting wife and driving forward to overload the opposition fullbacks while all three attackers stay relatively narrow.

This may evolve when we have more first choices available, but Dele and Skipp had pretty wide starting positions whenever we recovered the ball v Colchester, same with Dele and John v LO.

Based on current personnell, I’m curious to see whether Højbjerg is earmarked for what Winks was doing, or for what Skipp was doing, and also interested to see if Ndombele is earmarked more for Winks’ role or Dele’s.

I’d suggest that if this is in any way an indication of what we’re going to do, Lo Celso and Skipp may well be having it out on the one side, Dele and Ndombele on the other, and Højbjerg and Winks in the middle. I think the versatility of Skipp and Højbjerg to both be able to do yesterday DCM role and RCM roles will help a lot, plus potential Lo Celso‘a ability to do either yesterday’s LCM or RCM role.

I don’t think I really see Ndombele fitting but I hope I’m wrong, and I definitely don’t see what Sissoko would bring to it (but I may be being optimistic).

 

[Dakes]

Watched the match last night. I like N'golo John. Has something about him.