See also Chadli's miss. There are so few players in our current team who i'd be confident of finishing a guilt-edged chance like that, which says it all.
Ratings vs Arsenal
- Thread starter OmarsComing
- Start date
See also Chadli's miss. There are so few players in our current team who i'd be confident of finishing a guilt-edged chance like that, which says it all.
ultimateloner
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- Jan 25, 2004
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Why explain?
fortworthspur
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- Nov 12, 2007
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once Timmy pulled Sandro instead of Nabil, we were stuck with Nabil. A midfield 2 of Ericksen/Paulinho is too weak defensively, even for me. It really underscores the absurd stubbornness of Sherwood when it comes to Nabil. We saw the same thing with leaving Kane on for 75 minutes Thursday night. Maybe he thinks he is inspiring the more senior players by threatening their spots in the side. I dont know. He couldnt have thought Nabil was contributing more than Sandro, everyone watching knew better. But by pulling Sandro he effectively limited his future choices, too, and that, to me, is unacceptable. Shouldnt be managing a prem side.
markieboy
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Yeah he was dead on his feet at that stage.
markieboy
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Don't be silly,one more tackle and Sandro was off.
I don't really like Bentaleb playing with Sandro prefer Dembele as his partner....they have a better understanding.
fortworthspur
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I wasnt the least bit concerned about Sandro being sent off.
markieboy
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I was.................... even before the game started.
markieboy
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He has never been my ideal striker and I wouldn't have bought him but he is easily the best one we have currently.
jonathanhotspur
Loose Cannon
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Haven't you heard? Kane is our Rooney.
dagraham
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- Sep 20, 2005
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I can't be bothered to give individual ratings but Ade was our best player. Worked his arse off and held the ball up excellently despite very little support.
Naughton was also very good, showing that he's a decent back up RB.
I have to say I don't get the Townsend love. He was far better in the second half but he'd still a headless chicken for me.
Chadli was possibly our best player in the first half but poor in the second and the less said about his miss the better. Playing centrally may suit him better but it deprives Eriksen from playing where he is best suited.
Generally the performance was better than I'd hoped and we didn't deserve to lose but its following a familiar pattern over the last two seasons : decent up until the final third, upon which we lack any type of quality. We either make the wrong decisions or if we choose the right option our execution is very poor. Our movement as a team is also severely lacking.
Some of these problems can be improved with better coaching over time but a lot of is the unfortunate fact that whilst our squad may be deep, it has gone massively backwards when it comes to quality on the ball.
Naughton was also very good, showing that he's a decent back up RB.
I have to say I don't get the Townsend love. He was far better in the second half but he'd still a headless chicken for me.
Chadli was possibly our best player in the first half but poor in the second and the less said about his miss the better. Playing centrally may suit him better but it deprives Eriksen from playing where he is best suited.
Generally the performance was better than I'd hoped and we didn't deserve to lose but its following a familiar pattern over the last two seasons : decent up until the final third, upon which we lack any type of quality. We either make the wrong decisions or if we choose the right option our execution is very poor. Our movement as a team is also severely lacking.
Some of these problems can be improved with better coaching over time but a lot of is the unfortunate fact that whilst our squad may be deep, it has gone massively backwards when it comes to quality on the ball.
Mouse!
Fookin' Legend in Gin Alley
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Nah, Rooney wouldn't get a game for a Top 5 side.
Bus-Conductor
SC Supporter
- Oct 19, 2004
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Dumb and dumberer
Given who's fit an available, and that we spurned the 433 yet again and went for the 4231, I was reasonably happy with the players selected within it. With the players picked and the formation used, my one big query is why did we not use Eriksen in the central role (most natural position ?) and Chadli as the ALM (his natural position - the position he scored all thiose goals from last year) ? It wasn't a complete disaster as these two did wander around quite a lot, just would have made more sense to me.
You cannot fault our collective, or individual effort and work rate today, both were good. There was lots of huff and puff and we were much more cohesive off the ball, which was pleasing to see.
But fuck me, we are an immensely intellectually challenged bunch.
It shows all over the pitch, but in the final third, with it's tighter spaces and quicker thinking required it gets magnified. The dung beetle of our stupidity and lack of composure in midfield becomes a fucking elephant of fuckwittedness and Frank Spenceresque levels of clumsiness under the the final third microscope.
The few promising situations we fashioned where frittered away because of a collective lack of composure that, like some european tree decease, infects nearly all our players in some degree.
Townsend is by far the worst offender, apart from the one time he's played in and he seemingly has two options - shoot, something you'd normally not have thought he'd shy away from seeing as how he shoots from everywhere else on the pitch - or just square it to Chadli - but as ever, he gets the ball and immediately looks down, instead of up and whacks the ball to fucking oblivion. That was the worst offence but there were others, wasted attacking positions, crosses to no-one and at times he just needed to tap a ball three yards to someone and couldn't even muster the composure to do that right.
He was not the only culprit. Adebayor had another one of those games where his legs seem to be independent from his brain at times. Why the fuck Chadli doesn't lift that ball a little is beyond me and even Eriksen couldn't manage a decent set piece all game.
And that was when the approach play didn't flounder before it got to the final third. I love that Sandro is a ferocious competitor but he has to learn to be more clever with it. Eventually booked at the start of the second half, he was lucky not to be booked sooner, meaning the way he plays he walks a tight rope for long spells, and offensively or in terms of ball usage, he is very ordinary. Bentaleb was also very uninspiring today. These two completed 35 and 36 passes respectively, incredibly low tally in a game we dominated so completely and neither provided anything incisive or remotely creative, Bentaleb is neat and tidy and possibly has a stronger character than someone like Tom Carroll (maybe ?), and in a CM3 his joining of the dots would be useful but in a CM2 you do really need one to be more progressive and a little bit more ambitious in an ideal world. Bentaleb got forward at times but like others, his composure evaporated whenever he gets up there.
There were plenty of positives to take out of that game and in many ways it was almost a carbon copy of the game earlier in the season, where we worked hard, had lots of ball but lack of composure and wit cost us a result. Like that game Arsenal had a couple of great chances and Lloris and wastefulness saved us, but like that day they were pretty much break chances that would have put an even more unfair slant on games we deserved to take something out of.
We can spend hours, days and fucking weeks disagreeing about players, formations and the more complex tactical vagaries but for me, the one constant should always be a level of application, tempo and cohesion. Individuals may not always shine, genius may not show up, but simple lack of fucking work ethic must never be tolerated.
There was very little individual genius out there today, but at least the tempo, work rate and cohesion was there today (to be fair first half against Chelsea was OK too) and they are far better building blocks than luck and bullshit.
Individual stuff
Lloris - Couple of outstanding saves on an otherwise quiet day.
Naughton - Competent if uninspiring. He's Ernie Wise to Walker's Eric Morecombe.
Kaboul - Some less than inspiring moments, but for a guy who gets wheeled out a couple of times a season I guess we can expect that.
Vertonghen - Pretty decent game.
Rose - He did OK generally, but I'm sure him, Walker and Townsend all go to the same lobotomist.
Sandro - Worked hard but once booked his bollocks are in a vice and he's not going to give you much with the ball. Needs to foul cleverer but also needs to be in a CM3 so he's not running around like a nutter fighting everyone else's fires.
Bentaleb - OK. Wasn't over run, but didn't do any over running either.
Townsend - If you cut his head off he keeps running for 7 minutes, his crossing is still the same though.
Chadli - I feel cheated that I've had to watch the likes of Lennon fuck about when we could have been watching him half the season instead. He's no genius but at least he's not invisible. Works hard defensively too and looks a shit load more likely to make something happen than Lennon ever does. Must do better with his chance.
Eriksen - A bit disappointing today really. Set pieces were woeful and he never really imposed himself.
Adebayor - Worked hard but was a bit erratic and nothing quite came off.
Given who's fit an available, and that we spurned the 433 yet again and went for the 4231, I was reasonably happy with the players selected within it. With the players picked and the formation used, my one big query is why did we not use Eriksen in the central role (most natural position ?) and Chadli as the ALM (his natural position - the position he scored all thiose goals from last year) ? It wasn't a complete disaster as these two did wander around quite a lot, just would have made more sense to me.
You cannot fault our collective, or individual effort and work rate today, both were good. There was lots of huff and puff and we were much more cohesive off the ball, which was pleasing to see.
But fuck me, we are an immensely intellectually challenged bunch.
It shows all over the pitch, but in the final third, with it's tighter spaces and quicker thinking required it gets magnified. The dung beetle of our stupidity and lack of composure in midfield becomes a fucking elephant of fuckwittedness and Frank Spenceresque levels of clumsiness under the the final third microscope.
The few promising situations we fashioned where frittered away because of a collective lack of composure that, like some european tree decease, infects nearly all our players in some degree.
Townsend is by far the worst offender, apart from the one time he's played in and he seemingly has two options - shoot, something you'd normally not have thought he'd shy away from seeing as how he shoots from everywhere else on the pitch - or just square it to Chadli - but as ever, he gets the ball and immediately looks down, instead of up and whacks the ball to fucking oblivion. That was the worst offence but there were others, wasted attacking positions, crosses to no-one and at times he just needed to tap a ball three yards to someone and couldn't even muster the composure to do that right.
He was not the only culprit. Adebayor had another one of those games where his legs seem to be independent from his brain at times. Why the fuck Chadli doesn't lift that ball a little is beyond me and even Eriksen couldn't manage a decent set piece all game.
And that was when the approach play didn't flounder before it got to the final third. I love that Sandro is a ferocious competitor but he has to learn to be more clever with it. Eventually booked at the start of the second half, he was lucky not to be booked sooner, meaning the way he plays he walks a tight rope for long spells, and offensively or in terms of ball usage, he is very ordinary. Bentaleb was also very uninspiring today. These two completed 35 and 36 passes respectively, incredibly low tally in a game we dominated so completely and neither provided anything incisive or remotely creative, Bentaleb is neat and tidy and possibly has a stronger character than someone like Tom Carroll (maybe ?), and in a CM3 his joining of the dots would be useful but in a CM2 you do really need one to be more progressive and a little bit more ambitious in an ideal world. Bentaleb got forward at times but like others, his composure evaporated whenever he gets up there.
There were plenty of positives to take out of that game and in many ways it was almost a carbon copy of the game earlier in the season, where we worked hard, had lots of ball but lack of composure and wit cost us a result. Like that game Arsenal had a couple of great chances and Lloris and wastefulness saved us, but like that day they were pretty much break chances that would have put an even more unfair slant on games we deserved to take something out of.
We can spend hours, days and fucking weeks disagreeing about players, formations and the more complex tactical vagaries but for me, the one constant should always be a level of application, tempo and cohesion. Individuals may not always shine, genius may not show up, but simple lack of fucking work ethic must never be tolerated.
There was very little individual genius out there today, but at least the tempo, work rate and cohesion was there today (to be fair first half against Chelsea was OK too) and they are far better building blocks than luck and bullshit.
Individual stuff
Lloris - Couple of outstanding saves on an otherwise quiet day.
Naughton - Competent if uninspiring. He's Ernie Wise to Walker's Eric Morecombe.
Kaboul - Some less than inspiring moments, but for a guy who gets wheeled out a couple of times a season I guess we can expect that.
Vertonghen - Pretty decent game.
Rose - He did OK generally, but I'm sure him, Walker and Townsend all go to the same lobotomist.
Sandro - Worked hard but once booked his bollocks are in a vice and he's not going to give you much with the ball. Needs to foul cleverer but also needs to be in a CM3 so he's not running around like a nutter fighting everyone else's fires.
Bentaleb - OK. Wasn't over run, but didn't do any over running either.
Townsend - If you cut his head off he keeps running for 7 minutes, his crossing is still the same though.
Chadli - I feel cheated that I've had to watch the likes of Lennon fuck about when we could have been watching him half the season instead. He's no genius but at least he's not invisible. Works hard defensively too and looks a shit load more likely to make something happen than Lennon ever does. Must do better with his chance.
Eriksen - A bit disappointing today really. Set pieces were woeful and he never really imposed himself.
Adebayor - Worked hard but was a bit erratic and nothing quite came off.
markieboy
Well-Known Member
- Aug 1, 2013
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Lol..............thought that was brilliant.
mpickard2087
Patient Zero
- Jun 13, 2008
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Yep saw that much the same as BC and others. Couldn't fault the huff and puff after that (very) early kick in the teeth and credit for applying the pressure and playing the game in their half (though I think they were reasonably happy to trust their defence and soak up pressure for the counter attack) but at times it seemed like we were trying to dig through concrete armed only with a toothpick.
Some of it is lack of technique, a lot of it is the mental/emotional stuff though... A lack of composure, reading of the game, decision making etc. Their goal is actually a prime example of this. The ball is in the inside left channel (with Eriksen I believe), acres of space wide and Rose bombs forward to make use of it. For some reason though we check back, give the ball to Sandro in quite a congested area and Sandro decides to try a much more difficult pass to Rose, now even higher up the pitch continuing his run, and cannot make it. They break down the other end and eventually score. The direct cause of this was poor decision making and for some reason our players seem to make the game harder than it needs be. We see this most weeks, players taking the difficult option for some reason and usually putting ourselves in trouble. Well, today we paid a very heavy price.
We also have a group that looks desperately in need of direction and a plan to follow. Our lack of organisation with and without the ball tells. We struggle to play out from the back because we don't move up the pitch as a unit and make options for the man on the ball. Without it we don't keep a good enough shape, work quite hard enough and are too open and easy to play through. A good tactician and someone who understands this side of the game is much needed in our next managerial appointment.
We did see some good stuff. I thought Naughton and Townsend did well down the right and combined well at times. Chadli also picked up good positions at times between the lines. Adebayor offered good movement across the front line, without always being picked out/taking advantage of these. Unfortunately we just created too few of these good moments of play and squandered those that we did have.
We are stuck with our lot for now though, and its going to be a while before things get better unfortunately...
Lloris - Smart stops when needed. No chance for the goal.
Naughton - Actually looked a Premier League level right back today, which is progress. Linked well with Townsend at times, saw a lot of ball (gut instinct) and was competent with most that he did.
Kaboul - Not convinced at all. Again I thought his defending was pretty ropey. A couple of times didn't really deal with the danger and first half he ruined the offside trap and left us in dangerous situations. His use of the ball is also quite frankly terrible. Either a big aimless hoof or he runs towards the right touchline, dragging the opposition over, before passing the ball, which means no space for our fullback/winger and also leaves Kaboul way up the pitch out of position if we lose the ball. Needs to improve.
Vertonghen - A couple of times he nearly got himself in trouble, a reasonably assured game though and mopped up any bits of defending he was asked to do.
Rose - I thought he did ok. He is asked to do an awful lot... Essentially to play two positions on the left hand side which is a big ask. As always could do better with his final ball, extra training for you Danny.
Sandro - Not one of his better games. Seemed a bit clumsy all game until he was replaced. Was never really at the heart of the game.
Bentaleb - Like Sandro, didn't really have a great presence on the game. I think a lot of this was down to us going long ball and attacking down the wings a lot, these two maybe got bypassed a little bit. Still, you expected a bit more from them. I do think some of the criticism of him is unwarranted, he was no worse than Sandro and look at him compared to Paulinho, who barely touched the ball when he came on...
Townsend - I thought that was better from him today. Combined well down the right today with Naughton, retained the ball under pressure pretty well and did some good things. However there was the standard sloppy bits of play that need ironing out of his game. A better contribution than we have seen from Lennon lately though.
Chadli - Picked the ball up in some good areas and looked a threat to start with. Then missed a really good chance and seemed to fade out of the game. Did ok and showed some promise, but we need more.
Eriksen - Didn't really stamp much authority on that. Seemed a bit confused as to his role. I thought he could have given Rose a bit more help at times. His set pieces were also poor.
Adebayor - Big on effort and movement which you cant fault, little to show for it though. Looks like he has been flogged into the ground and isn't 100% fit.
Subs:
Paulinho - Did fuck all.
Sigurdsson - Did fuck all.
Soldado - Did fuck all (albeit only had 10 mins).
Some of it is lack of technique, a lot of it is the mental/emotional stuff though... A lack of composure, reading of the game, decision making etc. Their goal is actually a prime example of this. The ball is in the inside left channel (with Eriksen I believe), acres of space wide and Rose bombs forward to make use of it. For some reason though we check back, give the ball to Sandro in quite a congested area and Sandro decides to try a much more difficult pass to Rose, now even higher up the pitch continuing his run, and cannot make it. They break down the other end and eventually score. The direct cause of this was poor decision making and for some reason our players seem to make the game harder than it needs be. We see this most weeks, players taking the difficult option for some reason and usually putting ourselves in trouble. Well, today we paid a very heavy price.
We also have a group that looks desperately in need of direction and a plan to follow. Our lack of organisation with and without the ball tells. We struggle to play out from the back because we don't move up the pitch as a unit and make options for the man on the ball. Without it we don't keep a good enough shape, work quite hard enough and are too open and easy to play through. A good tactician and someone who understands this side of the game is much needed in our next managerial appointment.
We did see some good stuff. I thought Naughton and Townsend did well down the right and combined well at times. Chadli also picked up good positions at times between the lines. Adebayor offered good movement across the front line, without always being picked out/taking advantage of these. Unfortunately we just created too few of these good moments of play and squandered those that we did have.
We are stuck with our lot for now though, and its going to be a while before things get better unfortunately...
Lloris - Smart stops when needed. No chance for the goal.
Naughton - Actually looked a Premier League level right back today, which is progress. Linked well with Townsend at times, saw a lot of ball (gut instinct) and was competent with most that he did.
Kaboul - Not convinced at all. Again I thought his defending was pretty ropey. A couple of times didn't really deal with the danger and first half he ruined the offside trap and left us in dangerous situations. His use of the ball is also quite frankly terrible. Either a big aimless hoof or he runs towards the right touchline, dragging the opposition over, before passing the ball, which means no space for our fullback/winger and also leaves Kaboul way up the pitch out of position if we lose the ball. Needs to improve.
Vertonghen - A couple of times he nearly got himself in trouble, a reasonably assured game though and mopped up any bits of defending he was asked to do.
Rose - I thought he did ok. He is asked to do an awful lot... Essentially to play two positions on the left hand side which is a big ask. As always could do better with his final ball, extra training for you Danny.
Sandro - Not one of his better games. Seemed a bit clumsy all game until he was replaced. Was never really at the heart of the game.
Bentaleb - Like Sandro, didn't really have a great presence on the game. I think a lot of this was down to us going long ball and attacking down the wings a lot, these two maybe got bypassed a little bit. Still, you expected a bit more from them. I do think some of the criticism of him is unwarranted, he was no worse than Sandro and look at him compared to Paulinho, who barely touched the ball when he came on...
Townsend - I thought that was better from him today. Combined well down the right today with Naughton, retained the ball under pressure pretty well and did some good things. However there was the standard sloppy bits of play that need ironing out of his game. A better contribution than we have seen from Lennon lately though.
Chadli - Picked the ball up in some good areas and looked a threat to start with. Then missed a really good chance and seemed to fade out of the game. Did ok and showed some promise, but we need more.
Eriksen - Didn't really stamp much authority on that. Seemed a bit confused as to his role. I thought he could have given Rose a bit more help at times. His set pieces were also poor.
Adebayor - Big on effort and movement which you cant fault, little to show for it though. Looks like he has been flogged into the ground and isn't 100% fit.
Subs:
Paulinho - Did fuck all.
Sigurdsson - Did fuck all.
Soldado - Did fuck all (albeit only had 10 mins).
markieboy
Well-Known Member
- Aug 1, 2013
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Yeah I agree with everything you wrote and I agree that the subs did not improve the team in any way.......................and really,why would they?
Their contribution has been piss poor since they came here.
mpickard2087
Patient Zero
- Jun 13, 2008
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Oh and I forgot to say from a tactical point of view...
Last few minutes, we are getting desperate and hoofing it long into the box. Why have we still left both of our centre backs back instead of getting them up there and having some targets to hit? I see this happen so many times and managers do nothing about it, surely its logical? This is the sort of stuff I am on about when I write damning stuff about tactics, I feel so many managers completely miss the fine details and are able to think on their feet.
Last few minutes, we are getting desperate and hoofing it long into the box. Why have we still left both of our centre backs back instead of getting them up there and having some targets to hit? I see this happen so many times and managers do nothing about it, surely its logical? This is the sort of stuff I am on about when I write damning stuff about tactics, I feel so many managers completely miss the fine details and are able to think on their feet.
Bobbins
SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
- May 5, 2005
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His final ball is also far superior to that of Walker.
For all the abuse he gets (including from me) he's really redeemed himself playing in his correct position lately.
spurs9
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2012
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You can to a degree. Just ask Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger.
Also, Confidence plats a big part in composure and intelligence too.
