Ratings Vs QPR

[davidmatzdorf]

I do beg your pardons. I was of course meaning 2010-11 under Redknapp when we failed to win half our home games and failed to beat a plethora of shite teams.

Way to waste sometime's time there, BC

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I do beg your pardons. I was of course meaning 2010-11 under Redknapp when we failed to win half our home games and failed to beat a plethora of shite teams.

Precisely speaking, we did indeed 'fail to win half out home games', but that's a slightly misleading description of our league home record that season, which was 9 wins, 9 draws and 1 loss. All whilst dealing with our first incursion into the Champions League.

 

[eddiev14]

Was a great performance, albeit against a weak side.

There were a number of top performances, especially Dier, Rose and Lamela.

I just love watching Eriksen play though, and he was awesome again today.

The guy's movement, touch and vision is phenomenal and I think he will be up there with the best in the league this season. He loves to get the ball quickly forward and with more goal threat in the team this season I think he'll get loads of assists.

Could do with a top class CB to sit beside Jan but I must say I was really excited about what I saw today. COYS!

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I agree QPR pressed the space and ball very poorly when we ventured into their half and we did get more time and space than a top side would afford us, generally speaking, but I still think that was a massive improvement from what we were witnessing last season.

The coherent pressing will surely improve in time - although I thought it was good in the first half, its still very early days but what I was most impressed with was our urgency, movement and all round intelligent use of the ball in the first half. It was exceptional at times. Yes QPR made this easier but it still required plenty of effort and ability on our part and as a result we punished and exposed them badly.

We simply looked a more intelligent outfit, playing with more tempo and urgency. Something that was sorely missing last season. So little tempo and urgency, slow constipated build up play for the most part with little expression in our play.

We're already taking big steps IMO.

I'm not saying tempo and pressing won't come, but I didn't see much of it as a coherent tactic today, I saw some individuals - like Lamela - getting stuck in but I think he's generally out to prove a point and this is part of his natural game anyway.

I thought we were fucking turgid against West Ham, and I think it's really dangerous to get carried away against such a piss poor opposition today. I'm not seeing the "big steps" you are seeing or a massive leap in tempo. I'm seeing players like a fit Lamela finally getting regular football, our best attack out on the pitch at the same time, our best CM2 and n improvement in our defence over what we saw most of last season. A load of players who are year more experienced of this league/country too.

Credit to Pochettino for some of those decisions and AVB didn't always make the right ones. But tactically as a team I'm not seeing those big steps yet. I certainly didn't see any last week, and it's impossible to say this week as QPR were so poor it's hard to tell.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Precisely speaking, we did indeed 'fail to win half out home games', but that's a slightly misleading description of our league home record that season, which was 9 wins, 9 draws and 1 loss. All whilst dealing with our first incursion into the Champions League.

It's not misleading, it's a simple fact. I said failed to win half our homes. We also failed to beat some very shit teams that season home and away.

 

[HotspurFC1950]

Someone did a good job recognising Dier. Not only a good player but fits as English and increasing in value.

That someone or persons should be recognised given the criticism the hierarchy often receive.

I doubt it was Poch though he no doubt was consulted.

 

[SydneySpur]

Everyone was superb. Rose, Dier, Lamela, Chadli were the standouts for me, but Gotta go Capoue for MOM. Was physically dominant, unflustered and kept things ticking all game. Think he might be on the team sheet a lot this season.

Eriksen and Verts were also impressive.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

I'm not saying tempo and pressing won't come, but I didn't see much of it as a coherent tactic today, I saw some individuals - like Lamela - getting stuck in but I think he's generally out to prove a point and this is part of his natural game anyway.

I thought we were fucking turgid against West Ham, and I think it's really dangerous to get carried away against such a piss poor opposition today. I'm not seeing the "big steps" you are seeing or a massive leap in tempo. I'm seeing players like a fit Lamela finally getting regular football, our best attack out on the pitch at the same time, our best CM2 and n improvement in our defence over what we saw most of last season. A load of players who are year more experienced of this league/country too.

Credit to Pochettino for some of those decisions and AVB didn't always make the right ones. But tactically as a team I'm not seeing those big steps yet. I certainly didn't see any last week, and it's impossible to say this week as QPR were so poor it's hard to tell.

BC, you're never going to thrash a team if that team isn't shit on the day. Have you ever seen a match where the team that has been thrashed has actually been good because I haven't.

Nearly every time we beat a team well you seem to say it is all down to the opposition being bad and you never seem to give credit to us playing well.

We played some wonderful stuff today and not all of it was down to QPR being bad, I'm afraid.

 

[fortworthspur]

Question for everyone - with Capoue putting in those kind of numbers do we need to spend 20 odd million on Schneiderlin?

the Capoue passing stat is next level stuff. Crazy good. With Capoue, Nabil and Dembele, not to mention Sandro if he stays, its hard to see a real need for Schneiderlin. And there is still Paulinho.

 

[Flashspur]

This is a bit long so those of you easily distracted should move on

Yes, you can argue that we haven’t got the pressing game together @Bus-Conductor and yet I saw enough to convince me that this side are adopting a single minded approach to playing this season that will encompass that in time. Yes QPR were poor but we made them look that way for the most part. The slick interchange between the front 4 gave them little time to respond and what appeared to be zonal marking in the opening 10 minutes disappeared as JJ, Bond and Harry tried desperately to put men on Lamela and Chadli who were doing the most damage with their movement.

The problem that teams will face with us this season is that if you try to put the cobblers on Lamela, you will have Eriksen, Chadli and Ade stretching your defence anyway. QPR had a torried time with our front 4 and the likes of Ferdinand and Dunne in particular found that a combined 30 years of PL experience didn’t make up for tired legs as we pulled them this way and that.

While I picked Lamela as my MOM simply because his first half performance set us up for the win, I think Capoue and the two FB’s were a critical factor in this game. Capoue for his calm distribution, Rose and Dier for their terrier attacking and defensive duties down the flanks. Rose was phenomenal compared to the lad we struggled to watch last season. Now you know why Sunderland fans were raving about him and why a lot of the England coaches think he is one of the best FB prospects since Cole. I kid you not. We don’t offer 5 year contracts to numpties. He is a difficult character this one but he has that ‘fuck you’ innate aggression towards the opposition and his own team mates alike who squander the odd pass. Now Etienne was majestic. Majestically economical. He played within himself and the passing was always measured until that magical sweep to Ade in the second half. He has obviously been schooled in the Poch way and his role as the more defensive of the double pivot at the base of Poch’s MF anchored us nicely. I thought Nabil ran out of steam a little. He is young and probably is a candidate for the two hearts syndrome but on the back of an exciting WC and a late season start you could tell the legs were getting heavy. Dier is looking like the very thing we need in this side – fresh enthusiasm and lack of fear that only youth can bring. He is a strong lad with a bit of pace and a good footballing brain. He will go far.

Jan was solid and seemed to grow in confidence having the shoulder of Capoue to play behind and when we attacked the three CB pairing worked nicely as these lads seem to be coming to terms with each others game. Younes looked a little shaky at times but he is a big lad and with Etienne and Jan next to him we have three very big lumps who will not be bossed by very many this season. Confidence will grow as they become more comfortable with the structure.

This was an expressive performance driven by Lamela’s almost maniacal desire to take this game by the scruff of the neck by himself from the get go and you can see why he was subdued in the second half – he must have been a bit knackered. The performance of Chadli was a long time coming. He is a big talented lad with sublime skill and seems to be acclimatising post WC a lot quicker then Mousa who looked a bit rusty when he came on. Chadli will only grow from strength to strength and the role of cutting in from the left is made for him.

Ade was a constant needle in QPR’s side. Like all the front 4 he showed good movement. He still looks a little laboured from his malaria bout but he will get stronger from these run outs.

So the bad points. I agree with BC that the pressing was lacking in parts but I would not be overly critical. We lacked the cohesive pressing as a side at times but individuals are starting to show the habit is becoming natural. There was enough on display to indicate that we are getting to grips to it. There were some individual errors by Dier, Rose and Kaboul that will cost us in tighter games but its early days and there is still as aspect of match fitness and sharpness that comes with it which wont arrive without a half dozen or so hard games under their belts.

That 48 pass movement ending with Lamela’s pass for Chadli’s second was sublime and the fact that every player had a part in it was unbelievable. That in itself is proof of Poch’s system taking hold. Look at these stats of the number of touches each player had in that move...
Etienne Capoue 14
Jan Vertonghen 10
Nabil Bentaleb 6
Younes Kaboul 4
Erik Lamela 3
Danny Rose 3
Nacer Chadli 2
Eric Dier 2
Emmanuel Adebayor 2
Christian Eriksen 1
Hugo Lloris 1

Very different from the route one football from Sherwood last season. So we can whinge about the small pieces not coming together but this was the best team performance so far and it will only get better as we get more games behind us.

Liverpool will be a good test. The fans have to be patient. We will fall at some hurdles and this team is still a team in transition but there are many positive green shoots to admire so far. Good work beginning to show fruit by the Argentinian and his coaching team without a doubt. Let’s mark this one as an enjoyable summer run out and head off to bigger challenges ahead. Yes, this will be a transition season, without a doubt, so lets keep our feet on the ground – but nevertheless it will be an exciting one for the spectators, Spurs and non Spurs alike!

 

[dimiSpur]

Excellent performance all-round. I don't think anyone performed under 8/10. Lamela MOTM for me, great to see him finding some form. I especially enjoyed seeing Les squirming on MOTD2, making out he was injured last season and not ostracised as the commentator suggested.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Great stuff from the management (8) basically the same players from last season showing improvements all round . Wonderful match/result.
Poch , for this match , removed the players that seem the weakest and played the best ones imo , he appears intelligent.
Also the changes in/out for the EL match Thurs were handled with aplomb...Poch sent out an energetic motivated team on Sunday .

It must be said that we won't get that kind of space in oppo half often this season . In Harry's magnanimous interview the interviewer tried to cheer him up mentioning their great chance first half . He sighed and shook his head ,it meant little . He'd failed to motivate his team , their defensive organisation was shot . They looked awful .

I don't need to repeat the positive points already made here . I agree we seem to be tackling a lot higher up the pitch , dunno about organised pressing but we got the ball off QPR a lot . The 50-50s seemed to be going our way .

Someone mentioned Dier (8) losing his marker for a couple QPR chances one from Caulker . If true thats something
that may be punished later . I remember the early part of the Wham game when we couldn't get a head on the ball in our area. I hope this isn't going to be an Achilles heel for us .

I voted Lamela MoM (8.5) it could have been Capoue (8.5)or a couple of others so complete was our dominance ,great to see Verts (8) play well again and without the sour face .

On Lamela , there was a spectacular instance of the one-footedness I was flagging last time . Second half he was through on goal running to the old inside right channel . All he needed to do was to make a right footed shot from close in and the whole stadium waited for the shot/goal. Then , almost unbelievably , he checked left , straight into an oppo defender , trying to get the ball on to his left foot .....madness !

People mentioned Messi and Maradona as successful 'one footed' players...not one footed to this degree . Practice plz Erik .

We all feel great after a superb game . Long may it continue . Viva Poch

 

[degoose]

BC, you're never going to thrash a team if that team isn't shit on the day. Have you ever seen a match where the team that has been thrashed has actually been good because I haven't.

Nearly every time we beat a team well you seem to say it is all down to the opposition being bad and you never seem to give credit to us playing well.

We played some wonderful stuff today and not all of it was down to QPR being bad, I'm afraid.

That's just the way BC always is ,if ever you need someone to bring you down and not be excited by a win BC's the man for you

 

[SpurSince57]

Is it just me who thought eriksen was the best player in that match

No, the Guardian thought so too.

 

[Spursidol]

I'm not saying tempo and pressing won't come, but I didn't see much of it as a coherent tactic today, I saw some individuals - like Lamela - getting stuck in but I think he's generally out to prove a point and this is part of his natural game anyway.

I thought we were fucking turgid against West Ham, and I think it's really dangerous to get carried away against such a piss poor opposition today. I'm not seeing the "big steps" you are seeing or a massive leap in tempo. I'm seeing players like a fit Lamela finally getting regular football, our best attack out on the pitch at the same time, our best CM2 and n improvement in our defence over what we saw most of last season. A load of players who are year more experienced of this league/country too.

Credit to Pochettino for some of those decisions and AVB didn't always make the right ones. But tactically as a team I'm not seeing those big steps yet. I certainly didn't see any last week, and it's impossible to say this week as QPR were so poor it's hard to tell.

Call it an advanced training session if it makes you feel any better.

The fact is that the players wre able to put into practice many of the things they had been practicing with the coaching staff - and a lot of it was coming off, in particular the movement of the front 4. and their interchange of position from time to time and usuallly having more than one man in the box. All a far cry from the turgid stuff throughout most (but not all) the first half of last season.

So still lots to get right, but the initial signs are good. I am sure Poch will have more coaching sessions to improve the bits that he was not happy with v QPR and Wham, and that is only to be expected.

One area that bodes well is that Poch seems to be using the squad reasonably well to deal with both midweek EL games and PL games - so we should not need to use the excuse' we didn't win because of the EL game' , npow that would be good wouldn't it ?

 

[gp13tot]

Horrendous that you rated Lamela the same and Loris and Kaboul, were you watching the same game ?

horrendous? Behave yourself. Lamela did nothing of note in the second half, though he continued to press well and work hard. Lloris didn't do anything wrong. Kaboul defended well throughout the game from one mistake in the first half.

consider lamela a 7.5 if it makes you feel better, he was very good first half

 

[stevenqoz]

Lloris 7
Dier 7.5
Kaboul 6
Vert 7
Rose 7
Lamela 8
Eriksen 8.5
Chadli 7.5
Capoue 7.5
Bentaleb 7
Ade 6.5
Dembele 6.5
Kane 6
Soldado 6

For me the key statistic in this game was the fact that QPR only gave away 6 free kicks in the whole match. This tells me that
1) they failed to press
2) because they didn't at any stage get tight, in a game in which they were getting over-run, their coach surprisingly failed to order his side to 'foul us'...in order to break up the game

 

[archiewasking]

I voted Chadli MOM. TBH, I considered him a waste of money and a squad place.

Humble apologies Nacer

 

[Bus-Conductor]

BC, you're never going to thrash a team if that team isn't shit on the day. Have you ever seen a match where the team that has been thrashed has actually been good because I haven't.

Nearly every time we beat a team well you seem to say it is all down to the opposition being bad and you never seem to give credit to us playing well.

We played some wonderful stuff today and not all of it was down to QPR being bad, I'm afraid.

I think you're actually getting a bit carried away, genuinely. All I am saying is it is really hard to evaluate how much was "us" when a team is that abjectly bad. And they were fucking bad.

We know we have some very good players, much better than QPR's, and that disparity is often bridged by hard work and good organisation, which they also were devoid of.

So we outplayed and beat a shit team who were badly organised and half arsed. That's lovely, I enjoyed it, you can do no more but I'm really not sure what you learn from it that you didn't already know. I certainly didn't.

And there has been very little evidence in our previous two games, also against pretty shit teams.

So , whilst I am definitely hopeful that we will see signs of a collective coached approach in the future, which has been the hallmark and reason we hired Pochettino, I really can't say I've seen it yet. And to be honest, I don't entirely expect to.

 

[Japhet]

MOM for me was Capoue. In amongst some very good performances it was Capoue who kept things ticking over in midfield and took control of the game. He enabled Bentaleb to shine and played the ball winner/transitional role superbly. We have a real gem. The only downside for me is the anger that wells up in me when I think of Sherwood refusing to play him. Great team performance all round though with some lovely fluid play. A joy to watch. Thanks Poch.