Match Ratings Ratings vs West Bromwich Albion

[Bulletspur]

Where’s the ‘None deserved’ option?
Everyone of those players should hold their heads in shame. Simply not good enough.

Where's the "not one fucker" option?

Sorted!

 

[ohtottenham!]

When has Dembele ever run past a bus park and set something up or done anything except slow everything down, taking 12 touches where two will do.

I think the idea of putting Eriksen into that role yesterday, with Wanyama, was clever and meant the ball moved quicker and with Eriksen there is much more likelihood of something incisive happening than with Dembele.

Just didn’t happen, but I applaud the tactical idea.

Right now all of our CM options look jaded with fitness issues. When they're all fit, Dembele is the one who provides more in attack as he can get past his man and create space for himself and others. You disagree, and that's fine.

My issue was more about the whole, overly defensive set up...going with a back three which meant there was already defensive protection for our CMs, choosing Lamela over Son/Moura, knowing that we have a sluggish Kane who's a shadow of himself right now.

This against West Brom! We had no movement, and nothing to stretch their defence. Moura can run at defences, Son can too, and he can shoot from distance too. Tools that can create space and challenge a bus park.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Right now all of our CM options look jaded with fitness issues. When they're all fit, Dembele is the one who provides more in attack as he can get past his man and create space for himself and others. You disagree, and that's fine.

My issue was more about the whole, overly defensive set up...going with a back three which meant there was already defensive protection for our CMs, choosing Lamela over Son/Moura, knowing that we have a sluggish Kane who's a shadow of himself right now.

This against West Brom! We had no movement, and nothing to stretch their defence. Moura can run at defences, Son can too, and he can shoot from distance too. Tools that can create space and challenge a bus park.

A back three doesn’t protect the Cm, it’s behind it. That concept is so wrong I don’t know where to start.

When a team has 9 men behind a he ball and are camped 25 yards out, there’s nowhere for anyone to run, as we saw against Brighton.

The Dembele stuff is getting really tedious now. He’s had about three decent games this season. He’s defunct, he’s no more. A dead parrot.

 

[ohtottenham!]

A back three doesn’t protect the Cm, it’s behind it. That concept is so wrong I don’t know where to start.

When a team has 9 men behind a he ball and are camped 25 yards out, there’s nowhere for anyone to run, as we saw against Brighton.

The Dembele stuff is getting really tedious now. He’s had about three decent games this season. He’s defunct, he’s no more. A dead parrot.

You knew exactly what I meant re the increased defensive protection provided by a back three. It means we can be more attack-minded in CM and up front, especially against West Brom.

You can't use absolutes to say "there's nowhere to run" when a team parks the bus; Moura showed you can, and he unsettled that packed defence.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

You knew exactly what I meant re the increased defensive protection provided by a back three. It means we can be more attack-minded in CM and up front, especially against West Brom.

You can't use absolutes to say "there's nowhere to run" when a team parks the bus; Moura showed you can, and he unsettled that packed defence.

As I’ve said in the team thread, I’d start Lamela and Moura against Newcastle. But I’d have them in a 433 with Eriksen, Wanyama and Alli in a cm3.

But against Brighton we had Sissoko, Aurier, Moura and Son and they created fuck all. Pure pace and no guile is rarely any use for a team who plays like we do, pressed up against the final third.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

As I’ve said in the team thread, I’d start Lamela and Moura against Newcastle. But I’d have them in a 433 with Eriksen, Wanyama and Alli in a cm3.

But against Brighton we had Sissoko, Aurier, Moura and Son and they created fuck all. Pure pace and no guile is rarely any use for a team who plays like we do, pressed up against the final third.

Yep- a 433/ 4141 with genuine dribblers out wide would stretch packed defenses. I'd probably go for Son over Lamela- he has more goals in him and seems more suited as a conventional wide forward compared to Lamela.

 

[phaser]

I'd put Son upfront for Kane.

Lamela is useful against a parked bus as he does have some craft. I suppose Son does have a decent long shot on him though.

Alli provided the craft against WBA, but the chance fell to the ineptitude of Lamela. His abysmal finishing has cost us vital points in consecutive away matches. I want to see more of Lucas, Lamela just regurgitates the same old crap.

 

[tiger666]

Alli provided the craft against WBA, but the chance fell to the ineptitude of Lamela. His abysmal finishing has cost us vital points in consecutive away matches. I want to see more of Lucas, Lamela just regurgitates the same old crap.

Literally every single post you make is slagging off Lamela. Do you have anything else to contribute? Or are you Francis Gibbs reincarnated?

 

[phaser]

Literally every single post you make is slagging off Lamela. Do you have anything else to contribute? Or are you Francis Gibbs reincarnated?

What's the matter you can't deal with the facts? Maybe you would be happy for the chavs to overtake us and claim fourth instead?

 

[bat-chain]

As much as we need creativity and all these things that WBA game is a reminder that getting a good quality corner combined with a massive leap is just as effective.

Indeed against bus parking teams it is a potential solution to the issue.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I'd put Son upfront for Kane.

3 weeks ago I'd have agreed, but think that's come and gone and is never going to happen now. I think we were playing well without Kane, there was a good fluidity and unpredictability to what we were doing and he never should have been rushed back, which we all know is all about his quest for the golden boot and his Levy golden goal bonus.

It's another example of Pochettino not always walking his "egalitarian ethos" talk.

 

[tiger666]

which we all know is all about his quest for the golden boot and his Levy golden goal bonus.

No. We don't all know that. At all.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

No. We don't all know that. At all.

OK, I know it, you don't.

 

[Lighty64]

No I promise I’m not, I really think we are playing shite at the moment and I just can’t understand these dreamers who are unable to admit it. They are the ones who are trying to win an augment rather than face the terrible truth.
We had a 10 point lead and were in the driving seat not only for fourth but even 3rd possibly 2nd and we blew it.
Why are people not able to admit the truth and just say it’s true instead of slagging me off all the time?
Listen I know we have a good chance of finishing 4th, and I want us to! All I am saying is based on our performances would you not agree that we are in trouble of blowing a 10 point gap and finishing fifth unless we change what we have been doing over the last few games?

but you was the same when we were cruising to 2nd spot last season. All you ever do is look for negatives.

you feel we will blow it v Newcastle and Leicester, because we are not playing well, yet yesterday we didn't play bad, WBA defended superbly and snatched a winner which should of been offside. when we really play bad the other team at least deserve to beat us, and had a few chances. Yesterday they only had 1 effort on target, unless you want to count Kane's slice

 

[ohtottenham!]

As I’ve said in the team thread, I’d start Lamela and Moura against Newcastle. But I’d have them in a 433 with Eriksen, Wanyama and Alli in a cm3.

But against Brighton we had Sissoko, Aurier, Moura and Son and they created fuck all. Pure pace and no guile is rarely any use for a team who plays like we do, pressed up against the final third.

Sissoko and Aurier provide pure pace and no guile, like you say. I think we can safely remove them from the debate.

One of Moura/Son should have played against West Brom, especially as Kane is offering little movement and energy right now, and we should have gone for a back 4.

I like your team vs Newcastle, and would have liked it against West Brom.

 

[JonnySpurs]

Dis eese fuubal

For once, I'm with Che Poch. This was just football fuckin wid ya (and me).

I liked the line up, the 3CB system up against their kind of 422, the way WBA play a deep central block; getting our FB's pushed up high and wide seemed like a good idea. Apart from anything else, it's absolutely the best way to get the best out of Trippier's offensive strengths and minimise his (over exaggerated) defensive deficiencies, and he fulfilled the remit perfectly, spent all game right on touch line as an outlet, allowing us to move the ball laterally, he put balls in and set up the only real quality clear cut chance of this game.

My one tactical query would be, why not have Alderweireld central, sweeping and marking Rondon, and have Sanchez's pace out right covering his high FB?

12 months ago the thought of Eriksen is a CM2 would be a worry, but against this type of opponent, this can be managed, but only by having the dynamic Wanyama in there next to him, Wanyama pretty much played CM on his own for big chunks of this game.

Again, in forward areas, Poch's selections all made sense to me. Against the bus park, Alli and Lamela are far more likely to conjure something clever, than Son's more direct approach - too much traffic to run through and he'd bang out of form anyway.

This game was much better tactically than our previous 3/4 games. We were thoroughly dominant, tried to do all the right things, kept shuffling the ball aorund, trying to pass forwards when possible, but credit to WBA, they had just about all the angles covered, no space in behind, and defending balls into the box very well. This was pretty much as good a bus park as we've encountered all season. And unlike other recent games we were so much better without the ball today, we kept things very tight, allowing them virtually nothing, not even the odd counter attack, and this is a difficult thing to do when dominating the ball and territory, but as soon as we lost it, we hunted it down almost immediately and kept the pressure on them relentlessly.

I even liked Poch's subs today, thought they were bang on, right players off, right players on. I would have liked him to make them both around the hour mark, or maybe have Moura before Son, but that's minor quibble.

There was nothing wrong with our mentality today, and tactically I think this was as good as Poch has been for a month. He made tactical changes that made good sense, a more dynamic and creative midfield, putting our three cleverest players into the centre of the game, getting the FB's wide.

I think this game just highlights that it's more brains and craft we need, not speedy legs. If those brains and craft come attached to speedy legs, fine. But not on their own.

We've all seen this movie before. If you don't actually see the bad guy die, you know he's going to jump out in the final act and stab you up the arse.

If that was an own goal, then they've managed to beat us having 26% possession and no shots on target. The gods of football are blowing wind into WBA's sails right now.

Individual

Lloris - Great save from Kane, then a horrible flap that missed. But fuck all to do apart from that.

Sanchez - One blooper asside I thought he was good again. Says a lot that he was given the central role, marking Rondon and by and large he didn't get a sniff.

Alderweireld - Good game.

Vertonghen - Good game.

Trippier - Very good game, very involved, set up the best chance of the game with a great through ball.

Rose - Lots of energy and intention, as ever though, lacked much quality in forward areas.

Wanyama - Energy, tenacity and drive, pretty much held our CM together on his own today.

Eriksen - Jabbed and moved, prodded and probed, just couldn't find the killer punch.

Alli - Also tried hard, but was ultimately a bit disappointing. frittered it away too cheaply at times, when it needed a bit more care and attention.

Lamela - Same as Alli.

Kane - I think he showed signs of getting back to proper Kane today. This was still a disappointing game for him, his touch and game play still look heavy, but he was more involved and moving a bit better.

**Take note people that post their over-emotional nonsense in this thread**

This is how you give a balanced, measured and thoughtful ratings post for people that didn't get to see the game on Saturday so that they can actually appreciate and understand how we played. (For the record, this isn't me blowing smoke up BC's arse, he'll tell you how I've often held him to account on his posts before).

All I could do on Saturday was see the starting lineups & the result and watch some all too brief highlights. Twitter is twitter, it depressed the shit out of me cos it's a lot like the crap you have to wade through in here so I haven't been back on it since Saturday evening in an attempt to rescue my mood.

I had assumed that we were as poor against WBA as we were against Watford but I loved the starting lineup and formation when I saw it and so felt a bit gobsmacked when I saw the result. It seems this wasn't the case so I'm a little relieved and more optimistic for our final 2 games so thanks for that @Bus-Conductor.

Credit to WBA, they've beaten us, Man Utd & Newcastle and drawn with Liverpool since Moore took over. If they'd let him take charge instead of that muppet Pardew then they might have stayed up. Their goal was comfortably one of the worst goals I've ever seen, it was the ugliest of ugly goals but it's one of those things. It's happened to every team at one time or another.

Our destiny is still in our own hands and we're playing two of the most out of form, mid-table teams in the league and both at Wembley. We can afford a draw and a win to have us finish 4th on GD but I'm sure we'll get the 6 points. Season needs putting to bed so that we can focus on a massive summer of recruitment and going back to our newly refurbed home.

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

but you was the same when we were cruising to 2nd spot last season. All you ever do is look for negatives.

you feel we will blow it v Newcastle and Leicester, because we are not playing well, yet yesterday we didn't play bad, WBA defended superbly and snatched a winner which should of been offside. when we really play bad the other team at least deserve to beat us, and had a few chances. Yesterday they only had 1 effort on target, unless you want to count Kane's slice

Sorry but your wrong. And I think you will find a lot more negative posts than positive right now. Bottom line is we were doing well, but something seemed to have happened at this club after we beat Chelski. Sorry but we have needed to play better and we haven’t.

 

[Lighty64]

Sorry but your wrong. And I think you will find a lot more negative posts than positive right now. Bottom line is we were doing well, but something seemed to have happened at this club after we beat Chelski. Sorry but we have needed to play better and we haven’t.

Yes we played Man City, we played a full strength Brighton with 6 changes who needed points, we played a resurgent WBA fighting for their lives. City played the way they want, and we couldn't cope, Brighton played well and did what they needed to do, and WBA defended with their lives on the line, and managed to set their bus correct and hard to break down, and their keeper and defence where their men of the match, and they got lucky with a goal.

Watford we played badly, but because they weren't desperate for points, allowed us to win 2-0. Newcastle and Leicester have been really shit lately, but all of a sudden everyone thinks they are going to just make the effort v us.

last season we was in cruise control to finish above Arsenal and finish in the top 4, and you kept posting your doubts and worries, and we was playing well