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Match Ratings Ratings vs Newcastle

MOTM

  • Lloris

    Votes: 87 23.1%
  • Aurier

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Sanchez

    Votes: 38 10.1%
  • Verts

    Votes: 140 37.1%
  • Davies

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Dier

    Votes: 10 2.7%
  • Sissoko

    Votes: 4 1.1%
  • Lucas

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Eriksen

    Votes: 2 0.5%
  • Dele

    Votes: 86 22.8%
  • Kane

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dembele

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Son

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Amos

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • None deserved

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Levi

    Votes: 5 1.3%

  • Total voters
    377

Phomesy

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
9,188
14,102
Hugo, Sanchez, Jan and Dele were very good today. Room for improvement across the rest of the team although Eriksen needs help in midfield to let him shine.
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
12,258
If we perform like this and do not improve significantly I can see us being spanked more often than not this season'

Good move by giving Amos his debut, we are going to need him this season

My MOTM is our world cup winner

Its the first game of the season and we won away.
 

EQP

EQP
Sep 1, 2013
7,958
29,657
Thought Hugo, Dele and Dier were excellent, Kane and Eriksen less so.

Dele the best player on the pitch for me. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from him this season.

Kane's passing today made Sissoko look like Pirlo. Eriksen also made some baffling decisions when he did have the ball. Didn't like Davies having a pop at the other players when he messed up.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
Started well, deservedly lead at half time too, but as we tired in the second half our cohesion suffered and Newcastle had more of the game. That said, one Kenedy chance (which yes, he should've scored) and a deflected Rondon shot were the only moments that had me unduly worried, while Dele could have made it safe with slightly quicker thinking and Eriksen (unusually for him) was guilty of wasting a few promising situations. On the balance of play you could say that we were a touch fortunate to win, but when your players are going to lag due to the broken pre-season, you have to start hard and fast and get an early advantage, which is what we did.

I think Pochettino could've used his subs off to remove the leggier players (Dierearlier, Kane and Eriksen at all) but the subs on were all fine.

As the season progresses, as long as the players are managed properly between games early on (thankfully no Champions League till 18/19 September), we will become more cohesive, the play will become more fluid and the main players will have better impact. 2-1 in a slightly disjointed performance away to Newcastle, an absolute horrible place to open the season especially against a Benitez side, is a great start to the season in my book.

Individual:

Lloris - no errors at all, great off his line to stop Kenedy and stopped everything else that he needed to. Good performance.

Aurier - gets credit for a beautiful cross to set up the winner and a few decent tackles too but his positioning and instincts both let him down a few times, particularly in the situation where Dele got booked and why was he playing central midfield for the Kenedy chance. His touch left a lot to be desired too, as did his passing, which is a shame because he took up a lot of good positions which he then didn't capitalise on.

Sanchez - good performance, perhaps lost Joselu on the goal but it happened very quickly for him from a cross which shouldn't have happened. Great in the air as ever and no lapses in concentration. Calm on the ball too, good start to the season.

Vertonghen - finally Super Jane scores, delighted for him and he looked chuffed to bits in his post match interview. Very solid defending, read everything that came his way very well and was composed under pressure on a few occasions. Best defender in the country.

Davies - He was generally fine, stretched the play well when we were going forward and was overall solid against their best player in Matt Ritchie, apart from the one time he wasn't and we were punished as a result. Ritchie isn't quick, he isn't nimble, but he has a great left foot, Davies had to be tighter to him there.

Sissoko - my man of the match... joking of course. He huffed and he puffed and he didn't do much wrong per se. Off the ball he worked hard and hassled quite well, but on the ball the quality was severely lacking. I wouldn't have minded so much if he'd burst forward with his pace a few times but even that didn't happen. A lot broke down once it went to him and sadly that's what you get with him. Winks needs to get fit fast.

Dier - played well in my opinion, a good range of passing both long and short, progressive too, and off the ball he was very good. Unfortunate to be booked in that Aurier should have never put him in that situation. Also showed leadership qualities on a few occasions. Good start.

Lucas - postive whenever he was involved, but just wasn't involved enough which is a shame because he had a couple of very skillful moments on the run and a few very nice touches to accelerate play forward. I'll cut him some slack in that he ended up drifting infield a lot when really he wants to be hugging the touchline and the combo of a poor Sissoko and a below par Eriksen meant he ended up hunting for the ball more, this man wants to attack space.

Eriksen - he saw a lot of the ball as ever but was a hit and miss. A few poor decisions, a few sloppy passes, a few heavy touches, he was the player furthest from what I expect from him even though he wasn't particularly poor, he just wasn't the fluid intelligent player we've come to expect. Put in the yards as ever and like Lucas, he always tried to do something positive but his radar just wasn't quite on point today.

Dele - actually my man of the match, even though he admittedly tired. Very involved, brilliant work defensively, scored the winner with a great ghost into the box and header and just some lovely skill and intelligent play throughout. Nice array of passes in different situations, looked sharp to me.

Kane - very August of him, worked hard, some god passes and really supported the midfield very well, but never looked close to finding space in the box and touch let him down. Unselfish performance though in that he made sure he occupied at least one Newcastle defender at all time, he took the ball in areas he'd rather not have been in for the sake of the team and he focussed on bringing others into play far more than on trying to fill his boots.

Dembele - came on and the situation calmed immediately, he looked like real Dembele, not the Dembele from the world cup. Lovely skill, awareness and strength to stem the Toon tide and relieved the pressure very nicely.

Son - good performance, hugged the left flank a bit and worked hard to protect Davies, also bringing the ball upfield nicely a couple of times and ensured Newcastle couldn't just overload us in our half.

Amos - very short cameo, difficult to comment.

It's always hard to take too much from an opening fixture, especially when it's away to a team who have set up to spoil and sucker punch, but we dominated passing and possession, played some nice football in parts, were not often threatened seriously and won the match. No complains here.
 

EastLondonYid

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2010
7,837
16,145
If we perform like this and do not improve significantly I can see us being spanked more often than not this season'

Good move by giving Amos his debut, we are going to need him this season

My MOTM is our world cup winner
Well thought out post... Not.
Considering most of our boys only got back Monday and Newcastle players had their feet up alll summer... That was a fantastic result
 
Last edited:

stewartd

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2003
570
2,083
LLoris9
Verts8
Dele8
Dier7
Sanchez7
Moura5
Arier5(+ for crossing)
Davies5
Sissoko4
Kane4
Eriksen4
 

ljinko888

Well-Known Member
May 17, 2016
2,080
5,376
Lloris - 8
Aurier - 6 (bumped up because of the great cross for the winner)
Sanchez - 7
Vertonghen - 8 (MOTM)
Davies - 6
Sissoko - 5
Dier - 6
Eriksen - 6
Lucas - 5
Alli - 7
Kane - 4
 

yusrisafri

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,369
7,548
I think we experimented with a varied formation of 451 today. Sissoko and Alli both played as fullbacks at times even when we were not really attacking. I didnt like it, particularly sissoko. Him and aurier left the right side badly exposed many many times today. We need to improve especially in that area.

I do not think sissoko played well at all. His lack of ability is very worrying. Everytime he gets hassled he either loses the ball or passes to th opponent.

Aurier was terrible apart from that beauty of a cross. Very suspect positionally.

Kane was poor as well especially in the 2nd half. Didnt even have 1 decent shot on target.

Other than that the result was good. We were rusty but that was expected.

Bring on the next game.
 

guate

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2005
3,270
1,486
Overall an enjoyabke game and for Motm.....Deli. Aurier worries me as apart from the excellent cross he put in, resulting in a goal, he just seens an accident waiting to happen.
 

bomberH

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2005
28,455
168,220
Plus, we did this without Rose, Trippier, Lamela, Wanyama, Winks... and without using Alderweireld. And just a few minutes of Son. All this after signing nobody. We have a good squad.

It bodes quite well really, first couple of games are always a bit shit and all over the place so if we can get our injured players back and still be there or thereabouts come Xmas, we could buy one or two in January (?) and push for a top 2/3/4 finish in May.

Unless we lose to Fulham in which case everyone can fuck off.
 

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
Thought Dier was superb. People saying we were lucky but dele and sissoko had golden chances could easily had 4.Even game could have been any of 3 results. Considering circumstances as a team I’d give us 7/10. I think a 3 in midfield gives us lots of options for the 2 either side of Dier and sissoko is not the best of them. Personally think it will be perfect for winks.
 

Bulletspur

The Reasonable Advocate
Match Thread Admin
Oct 17, 2006
10,690
25,246
Well thought out post... Not.
Considering most of our boys only got back Monday and Newcastle players had their feet up alll summer... That was a fantastic result
You are implying that I am suggesting things wont get better. But that doesnt change the fact that if they play like that they will be spanked irrespective of your obvious observations
 

doctor stefan Freud

the tired tread of sad biology
Sep 2, 2013
15,170
72,169
Thought Dier was superb. People saying we were lucky but dele and sissoko had golden chances could easily had 4.Even game could have been any of 3 results. Considering circumstances as a team I’d give us 7/10. I think a 3 in midfield gives us lots of options for the 2 either side of Dier and sissoko is not the best of them. Personally think it will be perfect for winks.
Dier had a decent game: he needs to have a very good season this year in the CDM role. It’s well known he covets this role so he has a real opportunity to really develop his game
 

EastLondonYid

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2010
7,837
16,145
You are implying that I am suggesting things wont get better. But that doesnt change the fact that if they play like that they will be spanked irrespective of your obvious observations
Yes but you didn't mention or take into consideration what our players achieved today.... Fitness and conditioning play a massive part at this level... hence we looked done 2nd half... They dug deep and rode their luck but deserved the win purely on the character they showed playing with little preparation or training
 

kremlyn

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2004
1,823
2,803
The very simple answer to the loss of leadership and the defensive weakness of our full backs must be to go 3 at the back. Keep Aurier away from the penalty area.


We have to protect them either way by not losing posession in the midfield. Ali is a final 3rd player, Sissoko a sieve, Dier is fine but limited... if we're going to play with 3 in midfield at least 2 of them have to be capable of protecting the ball and the defence. That's dembele, winks and wanyama basically.

As fun as 433 sounds we just don't have the personnel. Yet.

For me the 3421 might cut it or a 3511 but today looked forced and brittle.
 

Klinsmannesque

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2013
900
4,665
Lloris and Jan very good.

Ali was decent.

Dembele made a big difference when he came on.

Sanchez still quite naive positionally for me, recovered well at times but wasn’t helped by Aurier who was, cross aside, an absolute shambles. Him Sissoko and to an extent Moura were our weak point down that right hand side. Dele helped protect our left a lot better. Defence was a bit all over the place today, would be great to get Toby back, felt he should have care on for Sissoko after Dembele came on, just to pull that area together.

Kane hasn’t had a summer off for about a billion years, passing very off but worked his arse off again.

Eriksen didn’t quite get control of the game like he usually does.

All in all though we stumbled over the line and it’s the 3 points that mattered above anything today, let’s get our boys back up to speed and if we can get 7 points from the next 9 minimum then our season is set up nicely after the international break
 
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