Ratings vs Middlesboro

[Spurger King]

Didn't manage to see the game today but amazing result.

How was Janseen?

And really dissapointed to hear the Sissoko ratings/feedback. Did he play CM or RAM and were there any positives at all? Do we think it's a case of him needing time to bed in or have we spunked £30mil?

He had a few outstanding performances for Newcastle and looked qualify for France, I never thought he was worth £30 mil but I was excited that we were signing someone with attributes our squad lacked such as pace, power and directness which would especially be helpful when Demebele is out like today. We got the win but dissapointed to hear Sissoko was so bad...

Any rational feedback please, what was good what was bad?

He played on the right for most of it. His passing was poor, he kept running into players, and barely made any runs. Just didn't look interested. I think he'll still be a useful player for us, but this was a sign of the inconsistency that Newcastle fans lamented.

Janssen did well for the first goal, and made a couple of good runs, but generally was very quiet.

 

[KILLA_SIN]

I don't think Sissokko had any pre-season at Newcastle and missed the first seven games of the season with them.

 

[JimmyG2]

Lloris.......6...Nowt much to do.
Walker.....7...Bit wild at times
Alders......8...Played well again.Again.
Verts........7...Getting more offensive by the game.
Davies.....6...Ok but lacks real quality.
Eriksen....7+..Orchestrated our early control. Faded after an hour.
Sissoko....5....Lacking in conviction. Poor at times.
Wanyama.7...Silly fouls but its part of the package. Good when he keeps it simple.
Deli...........7...Expect the unexpected. Some good runs not seen.
Janssen....6+.Workhorse, good hold up and control.
Son...........9...Boys buzzin. Korrearing all over the place.

Subs a bit delayed, good to see Winks on. Good performance overall with several first choices sidelined.
First play second after the long march to the Russian Front.

 

[yankspurs]

Lloris - 6
Walker - 7
Alderweireld - 7
Vertonghen - 7
Davies - 6
Wanyama - 7
Alli - 5
Sissoko - 4
Eriksen - 6
Son - 8
Janssen - 5

Lamela - 6
Winks - NET
N'Koudou - NET

Poch - 5 His in game management was terrible yet again. It's going to seriously cost us soon if he doesnt get it together.

 

[nuttynoah]

Lloris - 4
Walker - 7
Alderweireld - 7
Vertonghen - 7
Davies - 7
Wanyama - 7
Alli - 6
Sissoko - 2
Eriksen - 7
Son - 9
Janssen - 7

Lamela - 7
Winks - 6
N'Koudou - 7

Poch - 6

 

[Bus-Conductor]

That was a real curates egg of game wasn't it, tactically very puzzling. I missed the first 30 earlier so went back and watched it, ended up watching a lot of the match again, just to try and make some sense of it.

I had a discussion with @faze_coys in the match thread about where Eriksen and Alli were playing. Having missed the first 30 I had just assumed it was Wanyama and Alli as CM's with Eriksen doing his usual drop deep thing, but Faze said "no Eriksen is playing next to Wanyama". Then I watched the next phase of the game (the first 15 minutes of the second half and it did look like Eriksen was playing in the CM2 and Alli the ACM. But then as I continued to watch their roles seemed switch, now having watched the whole game, it appeared to me that what Pochettino actually played something like a 4141 - or 41221 type formation which basically looked like this:

Wanyama
Eriksen------------Alli
Sissoko--------------------Son
Janssen
​

Here's a screen grab that I took which "possibly" confirms how I think we were set up (I say possibly because I could have taken screen grabs at various intervals which would have made the formation look a variation of things). But I've also checked stat zone's "influence" map and it pretty much confirms the same - with Alli and Eriksen both marginally ahead, either side of Wanyama.

​

At times it worked well but at other times it seemed to confuse us as much as it did them.

The first 15 minutes of the game we weren't actually that good, maybe as we got to grips with the system, and the last 30 we were tactically shambolic, exasperated by some utterly baffling and counter intuitive substitutions. In between our approach play was largely very good, there was some good movement and interchanges, punctuated with two excellent finishes by Son, who I am liking very much in that ALM role, but there was also plenty of wastage too from everyone, which grew into a fuckwitted crescendo in the second half as everyone just kept wasting great situations with fuckdash carelessness, two yard passes that they couldn't make or overplaying etc.

We basically played a very good 50 minutes between about the 15th minute and the 65th minute. But even during this phase I was not impressed with some of Alli's dithering. He's capable of the odd moment of real productivity, but he's also capable of a real lot of fucking bumbling, in CM but especially in advanced areas, where the ball seems to get stuck under his feet while he tries something complicated when he just needs to move the fucking thing. Sissoko is just a very blunt instrument and once again contributed very little.

Wanyama, Son and Eriksen were all very good in their very different ways. Wanyama held the slightly odd formation together, and instead of being tasked with doing more complex things, today he was tasked with just hunting, gathering and a little bit of water carrying (5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 44 successful passes) , all of which he carried out efficiently. Eriksen was the metronome, saw more ball than anyone on the park by a mile (completing 60/69 - 25% more than the next best) making more key passes, creating more chances and here's the kicker for those that complain about our pressing, Eriksen also made the joint most ball recoveries (9). Son can bumble a little, even his second goal started with him miss-controlling, but he gives us a directness, he's purposeful, where others can dither, and at the moment it's paying a dividend, he can do it with either foot, which is such an asset to have, and makes defending him so much harder. Janssen deserves a mention, his deft touch for Son's first was nice, but he is working hard, showing, holding and providing that fulcrum off which all the others can bounce and Vertonghen was also very good today.

Then the last 30 minutes happens. I just do not know what Pochettino was thinking with the Lamela sub. We are 2-1 up away, we are losing the midfield as Alli and Eriksen continue to play this kind of double pivot hybrid, and Boro's Traore was eating into the ground left behind these two and they were gaining momentum. The last thing that game needed was another erratic gazelle, the move should have been Winks on, sure up the midfield - maybe go to an orthodox 433 - but at least get two proper busy CM's in there. Maybe then bring in Nkoudou or Lamela - maybe. The result was was that Lamela came on and was his erratic worst, just adding to our inability to hold onto the ball, which was again not helped at all by removing Eriksen, our best player for facilitating retention of the ball.

In the end we ended up hanging onto a game that we'd been so in control of it was pitiful to watch. It's not the fact that the other team had some impetus, we cannot expect to control 90 minutes of every game, it's that we were so inept without the ball for 30 minutes, and Pochettino's response was to to pose more questions, not provide the answers to it.

I rarely mention referees these days but this guy was pretty bad. Alli did play for it, but that was clearly a penalty, and I have no idea what Wanyama was penalised for on the free kick they scored from.

Individual

Lloris - OK/meh

Walker - OK, nothing offensively but defensively OK.

Alderweireld - He'll have tougher days but was OK.

Vertonghen - Very good game, almost like he'd read the thread last week, going on one lovely surging run out of defence.

Davies - Same as Walker, nothing going forward really, OK defensively, but it looks to me at times in that last 30 minutes like he played like a third CB instead of getting outside and closing his man down, leaving Son out there to do it on his own a couple of times.

Wanyama - Very good game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - The odd decent moment, some bumbling and another horrible miss.

Sissoko - Nosoko

Son - He's a real livewire, very good game, two well taken goals one with either foot.

Janssen - The work's there, doesn't matter if he doesn't score as long as his work contributes to us scoring.

 

[mpickard2087]

We had a slightly sluggish first 10 minutes, I remember Lloris had to dash from his line early on to prevent one of their players being clean through on goal, but after that for the first hour we dominated proceedings. Yes it's a team we'd hope to beat, but it was an assured away performance.

Interestingly the formation today seemed very much 4-1-4-1. I've seen a couple of people opine this was more accident than design, but for me it seemed quite deliberate. Alli and Eriksen seemed to dovetail as a duo in front of the sole holding player in Wanyama, with Son and Sissoko stationed on either flank.

During this spell of dominance I thought it worked pretty well. Wanyama was enough of a shield, Alli could drop deep to receive the ball but also make runs up in support of Janssen, whilst Eriksen was at the hub of everything we did often starting from much deeper and just connecting up the play.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we should have been 5-0 up, maybe more. Apart from Son's two cracking goals we saw chances for Eriksen, Janssen, and an absolutely guilt edge chance for Alli. Throw in a couple of decent penalty claims and we should have been thrashing them in all truth.

Then around the hour mark we had a poor five minute spell. We gave the ball away cheaply, gave away two or three silly free kicks, and that was all they needed. Yes it was out of the blue, yes it was harsh punishment for a few minutes of sloppy play, but that's what can happen at the top level of football.

The last half hour was then pretty disappointing after the first hour. Personally I felt our performance largely collapsed. Any intensity that was in our play disappeared, our passing lost its purpose and largely went nowhere, we lost our shape and suddenly the 4-1-4-1 shape looked a bit open and I thought some of our players looked leggy and had ran out of steam - Alli and Janssen in particular, and think Poch could have made earlier changes.

Boro had a couple of chances (the Rhodes header and then Traore's run where he failed to make a final pass that wasn't that difficult) but at no point did I think we were hanging on. Still, I'd have preferred not to see us let the game meander to its conclusion and it was a bit disappointing to see. We deserved more than a 2-1 win, even though it's still just three points.

Our start has laid decent foundations, and it's promising to see us comfortably beating teams we would hope to beat so far and showing the signs of being an efficient team, but we're going to have to be sharper and go up a level again next weekend against City, and I'd still like to see a bit more energy in our play that we still haven't rediscovered from last season.

Lloris - Good bit of sweeper keeping early on. One day he'll sort out his distribution, though I don't know why we insist on giving him so much of the ball.

Walker - Did ok. Bit of a quiet game.

Alderweireld - Solid enough game, but use of the ball was a bit off at times.

Vertonghen - Was also fairly solid. One nice run rolled back the years. Bit shaky late on.

Davies - Ok, fairly quiet game also.

Wanyama - Pretty decent display breaking up the play and shielding the defence when required. Passing a little off in the first half.

Sissoko - Where to start... Firstly I don't think he's really a wide player, and if he's going to do a job there then he'd be better on the left able to drive infield and onto his right foot.

Watching him the last few years he seems a very 'straight lines' player, and yes he's athletic and can carry the ball driving forward from deep, but that substantially different to being a pacey, tricky wide player. If this is the role they're going to give him, well don't expect miracles in my opinion.

As for his performance, it's not entirely surprising he's not on the wavelength of others in these early days. Some of his passing was a bit messy though, the goal conceded was basically him being a bit of a wimp and not attacking the ball, and when he went down I can't have been the only one who thought he'd had enough and wasn't exactly gutted to be subbed. Must do better.

Eriksen - At the hub of everything we did and the role suited him. Dipped as our performance tailed off.

Alli - I thought he was fine in the first half, bar that miss. Second half he largely just plodded around the pitch offering little and in my opinion was a prime candidate for the hook.

Son - Prepared to get shot down for this, but as I said at half time I think he had a bizarre game. In open play there were good moments but I thought he was often erratic. Losing the ball, going round in circles, never quite having it under control, you name it... Yet also came up with two cracking goals. That's not a bad habit to be getting into. He is seeing more ball and looks more lively in recent weeks, just a bit more consistency in what he does as the final stage for me.

Janssen - Wasn't hugely involved but when he was his hold up play was pretty good and he had a role in the opening goal. I felt he ran out of steam quite badly in the second half though, he mustered a few big efforts to chase down and tackle but was largely immobile towards the end and his hold up play suffered. Probably should have been hooked earlier. Might have to manage his workload or have a plan in mind for later in games?

Subs:
Lamela - Got involved, little of purpose though and did fuck around a bit on the ball.

Winks and Nkoudou - n/a.

 

[yusrisafri]

MOTM - Son.

Good - Wanyama, Eriksen

Average - Walker, Verts, Janssen, Toby

Below average - Lloris, Davies, Alli

Poor - Sissoko

Lets admit it. Boro were extremely poor. We shouldve won by more goals. If we had played like the 2nd half against better teams we wouldve conceded goals.not happy with that 2nd half at all. Poch needs to sort this out and he needs to use his subs more wisely and early.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

In the end we ended up hanging onto a game that we'd been so in control of it was pitiful to watch

How were we hanging onto the game? Middlesbrough didn't create anything. If anything, I seem to recall us having quite a lot of the ball in the last 10-15 minutes.

 

[glospur]

Sissoko. Seen him twice and he has a final ball on a par with Aaron Lennon. He was embarrassed by his 'effort' for the boro goal and couldn't wait to get off the field.
We have bought the Newcastle model rather than the France limited edition.
I hope he proves me wrong but unless my eyes deceive me I think he is already looking sulky.

This is harsh as fuck, and a little ridiculous.

Did you miss the Boro player's elbow/shoulder catch him right across the jaw as he ran past? That type of hit, even if it's minor has the potential to daze anyone, if not knock them out. He was clearly distressed when he came off as a result of that incident.

 

[glospur]

That was a real curates egg of game wasn't it, tactically very puzzling. I missed the first 30 earlier so went back and watched it, ended up watching a lot of the match again, just to try and make some sense of it.

I had a discussion with @faze_coys in the match thread about where Eriksen and Alli were playing. Having missed the first 30 I had just assumed it was Wanyama and Alli as CM's with Eriksen doing his usual drop deep thing, but Faze said "no Eriksen is playing next to Wanyama". Then I watched the next phase of the game (the first 15 minutes of the second half and it did look like Eriksen was playing in the CM2 and Alli the ACM. But then as I continued to watch their roles seemed switch, now having watched the whole game, it appeared to me that what Pochettino actually played something like a 4141 - or 41221 type formation which basically looked like this:

Wanyama
Eriksen------------Alli
Sissoko--------------------Son
Janssen
​

Here's a screen grab that I took which "possibly" confirms how I think we were set up (I say possibly because I could have taken screen grabs at various intervals which would have made the formation look a variation of things). But I've also checked stat zone's "influence" map and it pretty much confirms the same - with Alli and Eriksen both marginally ahead, either side of Wanyama.

View attachment 25579

​

At times it worked well but at other times it seemed to confuse us as much as it did them.

The first 15 minutes of the game we weren't actually that good, maybe as we got to grips with the system, and the last 30 we were tactically shambolic, exasperated by some utterly baffling and counter intuitive substitutions. In between our approach play was largely very good, there was some good movement and interchanges, punctuated with two excellent finishes by Son, who I am liking very much in that ALM role, but there was also plenty of wastage too from everyone, which grew into a fuckwitted crescendo in the second half as everyone just kept wasting great situations with fuckdash carelessness, two yard passes that they couldn't make or overplaying etc.

We basically played a very good 50 minutes between about the 15th minute and the 65th minute. But even during this phase I was not impressed with some of Alli's dithering. He's capable of the odd moment of really productivity, but he's also capable of a real lot of fucking bumbling, in CM but especially in advanced areas, where the ball seems to get stuck under his feet while he tries something complicated when he just needs to move the fucking thing. Sissoko is just a very blunt instrument once again contributed very little.

Wanyama, Son and Eriksen were all very good in their very different ways. Wanyama held the slightly odd formation together, and instead of being tasked with doing more complex things, today he was tasked with just hunting, gathering and a little bit of water carrying (5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 44 successful passes) , all of which he carried out efficiently. Eriksen was the metronome, saw more ball than anyone on the park by a mile (completing 60/69 - 25% more than the next best) making more key passes, creating more chances and here's the kicker for those that complain about our pressing, Eriksen also made the joint most ball recoveries (9). Son can bumble a little, even his second goal started with him miss-controlling, but he gives us a directness, he's purposeful, where others can dither, and at the moment it's paying a dividend, he can do it with either foot, which is such an asset to have, and makes defending him so much harder. Janssen deserves a mention, his deft touch for Son's first was nice, but he is working hard, showing, holding and providing that fulcrum off which all the others can bounce and Vertonghen was also very good today.

Then the last 30 minutes happens. I just do not know what Pochettino was thinking with the Lamela sub. We are 2-1 up away, we are losing the midfield as Alli and Eriksen continue to play this kind of double pivot hybrid, and Boro's Traore was eating into the ground left behind these two and they were gaining momentum. The last thing that game needed was another erratic gazelle, the move should have been Winks on, sure up the midfield - maybe go to an orthodox 433 - but at least get two proper busy CM's in there. Maybe then bring in Nkoudou or Lamela - maybe. The result was was that Lamela came on and was his erratic worst, just adding to our inability to hold onto the ball, which was again not helped at all by removing Eriksen, our best player for facilitating retention of the ball.

In the end we ended up hanging onto a game that we'd been so in control of it was pitiful to watch. It's not the fact that the other team had some impetus, we cannot expect to control 90 minutes of every game, it's that we were so inept without the ball for 30 minutes, and Pochettino's response to to pose more questions, not provide the answers to it.

I rarely mention referees these days but this guy was pretty bad. Alli did play for it, but that was clearly a penalty, and I have no idea what Wanyama was penalised for on the free kick they scored from.

Individual

Lloris - OK/meh

Walker - OK, nothing offensively but defensively OK.

Alderweireld - He'll have tougher days but was OK.

Vertonghen - Very good game, almost like he'd read the thread last week, going on one lovely surging run out of defence.

Davies - Same as Walker, nothing going forward really, OK defensively, but it looks to me at times in that last 30 minutes like he played like a third CB instead of getting outside and closing his man down, leaving Son out there to do it on his own a couple of times.

Wanyama - Very good game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - The odd decent moment, some bumbling and another horrible miss.

Sissoko - Nosoko

Son - He's a real livewire, very good game, two well taken goals one with either foot.

Janssen - The work's there, doesn't matter if he doesn't score as long as his work contributes to us scoring.

I have to say, mate, that little screen grab looks a lot like your much vaunted 4-3-3 with Eriksen and Alli playing the 8/box to box respectively either side of a more dedicated, single DM. I'm surprised you're criticising it because of that.

When we didn't have the ball and we weren't pressing Sissoko and Son definitely dropped back to make it a more conventional 4-1-4-1 but when we did have the ball or we were pressing it looked like Erisken was playing that 8-style role in a 4-3-3 while Alli had more freedom to bomb forward and sort of go where he wanted as well as press when we lost it with Son and Sissoko pushing further up to become inside forward/winger respectively.

 

[THOWIG]

Not seen the game, but reading some posts you'd think we weren't second in the league underfeated. Sissoko has already become the new Jenas.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

That was a real curates egg of game wasn't it, tactically very puzzling. I missed the first 30 earlier so went back and watched it, ended up watching a lot of the match again, just to try and make some sense of it.

I had a discussion with @faze_coys in the match thread about where Eriksen and Alli were playing. Having missed the first 30 I had just assumed it was Wanyama and Alli as CM's with Eriksen doing his usual drop deep thing, but Faze said "no Eriksen is playing next to Wanyama". Then I watched the next phase of the game (the first 15 minutes of the second half and it did look like Eriksen was playing in the CM2 and Alli the ACM. But then as I continued to watch their roles seemed switch, now having watched the whole game, it appeared to me that what Pochettino actually played something like a 4141 - or 41221 type formation which basically looked like this:

Wanyama
Eriksen------------Alli
Sissoko--------------------Son
Janssen
​

Here's a screen grab that I took which "possibly" confirms how I think we were set up (I say possibly because I could have taken screen grabs at various intervals which would have made the formation look a variation of things). But I've also checked stat zone's "influence" map and it pretty much confirms the same - with Alli and Eriksen both marginally ahead, either side of Wanyama.

View attachment 25579

​

At times it worked well but at other times it seemed to confuse us as much as it did them.

The first 15 minutes of the game we weren't actually that good, maybe as we got to grips with the system, and the last 30 we were tactically shambolic, exasperated by some utterly baffling and counter intuitive substitutions. In between our approach play was largely very good, there was some good movement and interchanges, punctuated with two excellent finishes by Son, who I am liking very much in that ALM role, but there was also plenty of wastage too from everyone, which grew into a fuckwitted crescendo in the second half as everyone just kept wasting great situations with fuckdash carelessness, two yard passes that they couldn't make or overplaying etc.

We basically played a very good 50 minutes between about the 15th minute and the 65th minute. But even during this phase I was not impressed with some of Alli's dithering. He's capable of the odd moment of really productivity, but he's also capable of a real lot of fucking bumbling, in CM but especially in advanced areas, where the ball seems to get stuck under his feet while he tries something complicated when he just needs to move the fucking thing. Sissoko is just a very blunt instrument once again contributed very little.

Wanyama, Son and Eriksen were all very good in their very different ways. Wanyama held the slightly odd formation together, and instead of being tasked with doing more complex things, today he was tasked with just hunting, gathering and a little bit of water carrying (5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 44 successful passes) , all of which he carried out efficiently. Eriksen was the metronome, saw more ball than anyone on the park by a mile (completing 60/69 - 25% more than the next best) making more key passes, creating more chances and here's the kicker for those that complain about our pressing, Eriksen also made the joint most ball recoveries (9). Son can bumble a little, even his second goal started with him miss-controlling, but he gives us a directness, he's purposeful, where others can dither, and at the moment it's paying a dividend, he can do it with either foot, which is such an asset to have, and makes defending him so much harder. Janssen deserves a mention, his deft touch for Son's first was nice, but he is working hard, showing, holding and providing that fulcrum off which all the others can bounce and Vertonghen was also very good today.

Then the last 30 minutes happens. I just do not know what Pochettino was thinking with the Lamela sub. We are 2-1 up away, we are losing the midfield as Alli and Eriksen continue to play this kind of double pivot hybrid, and Boro's Traore was eating into the ground left behind these two and they were gaining momentum. The last thing that game needed was another erratic gazelle, the move should have been Winks on, sure up the midfield - maybe go to an orthodox 433 - but at least get two proper busy CM's in there. Maybe then bring in Nkoudou or Lamela - maybe. The result was was that Lamela came on and was his erratic worst, just adding to our inability to hold onto the ball, which was again not helped at all by removing Eriksen, our best player for facilitating retention of the ball.

In the end we ended up hanging onto a game that we'd been so in control of it was pitiful to watch. It's not the fact that the other team had some impetus, we cannot expect to control 90 minutes of every game, it's that we were so inept without the ball for 30 minutes, and Pochettino's response to to pose more questions, not provide the answers to it.

I rarely mention referees these days but this guy was pretty bad. Alli did play for it, but that was clearly a penalty, and I have no idea what Wanyama was penalised for on the free kick they scored from.

Individual

Lloris - OK/meh

Walker - OK, nothing offensively but defensively OK.

Alderweireld - He'll have tougher days but was OK.

Vertonghen - Very good game, almost like he'd read the thread last week, going on one lovely surging run out of defence.

Davies - Same as Walker, nothing going forward really, OK defensively, but it looks to me at times in that last 30 minutes like he played like a third CB instead of getting outside and closing his man down, leaving Son out there to do it on his own a couple of times.

Wanyama - Very good game.

Eriksen - Very good game.

Alli - The odd decent moment, some bumbling and another horrible miss.

Sissoko - Nosoko

Son - He's a real livewire, very good game, two well taken goals one with either foot.

Janssen - The work's there, doesn't matter if he doesn't score as long as his work contributes to us scoring.

During the match I actually thought it was as close to a 433 as I've seen us play. And if Alli were on form (he's clearly not) then that three could be a really well balanced 3 who's skill set complement each other. The bulldozer in Wanyama, the metronome in Eriksen and the box to boxer in Alli.

The good news there is that, should we persist with that, Dembele can come in for Alli, Carroll for Eriksem, Winks for either of them and Dier for Wanyama and the system is in no way disrupted.

If Dembele is for then I'd have him in for Dele in Russia but keep Eriksen in that role. It gives him so much freedom to float and makes him harder to pick up, so he generally sees more time and space on the ball to do his thing. Yesterday he was like Iniesta at points.

 

[dynamoSpurs]

Not seen the game, but reading some posts you'd think we weren't second in the league underfeated. Sissoko has already become the new Jenas.

Do you want me to say he played well... and smile while you take my wife from behind as well?

 

[dudu]

During the match I actually thought it was as close to a 433 as I've seen us play. And if Alli were on form (he's clearly not) then that three could be a really well balanced 3 who's skill set complement each other. The bulldozer in Wanyama, the metronome in Eriksen and the box to boxer in Alli.

The good news there is that, should we persist with that, Dembele can come in for Alli, Carroll for Eriksem, Winks for either of them and Dier for Wanyama and the system is in no way disrupted.

If Dembele is for then I'd have him in for Dele in Russia but keep Eriksen in that role. It gives him so much freedom to float and makes him harder to pick up, so he generally sees more time and space on the ball to do his thing. Yesterday he was like Iniesta at points.

It was quite refreshing to see something a little bit different and I think it was a good game to play around with things in.

 

[THOWIG]

Do you want me to say he played well... and smile while you take my wife from behind as well?

Go on then. That's very generous of you.

 

[Grapo2001]

Not seen the game, but reading some posts you'd think we weren't second in the league underfeated. Sissoko has already become the new Jenas.

Jenas was better, and probably still is.

 

[thfc1989]

When did everyone on here become such entitled moaners? No wonder Spurs fans have such a poor reputation.

 

[monkeynick]

When did everyone on here become such entitled moaners? No wonder Spurs fans have such a poor reputation.

Is it not a birthright?

 

[glospur]

It was quite refreshing to see something a little bit different and I think it was a good game to play around with things in.

Just on this...

I wonder if Pochettino wants to use this against City next week and thought that this would be a good game for the players to try it out in a competitive fixture rather than just training. I remember reading something about Poch having a relatively good record against Pep when he was in Spain - as good as any Espanyol manager can have against Barca, I guess - so perhaps it's a specific tactic to play against Pep teams in order to flood the midfield?

It will be interesting to see if we play a similar system in Russia mid week.