Spurs vs Chicago Fire

[LexingtonSpurs]

Did you genuinely just tell me Ade and Soldado were the best pairing we had up front last year then say we should play Soldado behind Ade?

They were the ONLY pairing we had except a young inexperienced Kane and a past it Defoe, hardly an accomplishment. Even then, Kane was far better than any of our strikers at the tail end of the season.

Secondly just because Soldado did well alongside Ade as ST doesn't mean he will suddenly work well with Ade from a deeper role.

They worked well together because their skills complimented each other - has nothing to do with where they physically line up. Look at Lennon's goal from last night - Soldado made the pass from what could be considered the right AM position. He can make those passes anywhere on the field. The key to creating chances this season will be down to make quick incisive passes. That is probably Soldado's best attribute. A front-4 of Soldado, Lamela, Eriksen and Ade would be a handful for any team to contain. All four know how to move the ball, and move without the ball.

 

[ClintEastwould]

interested to find out why kaboul didnt play, had he picked up a knock? or do you think it could have been poch saying you ignore my tactics/shape (spat from the other game) so i won't play you if you ain't going to listen

Would he even be on the bench if poch was trying to make an example?

 

[scat1620]

It's only just occurred to me but, does Soldado remind anyone else of VDV?

Not me; they share very few similarities IMO.

 

[robertgoulet]

Had a blast of a time at the match. Not the best video, but thought I'd post anyway. Thought the Spurs Supporters section last night was great, can't imagine how fantastic the atmosphere at WHL must be. One day I will make it to London.

View My Video

 

[yankspurs]

Anyone find the Seattle match to show the Lennon lovers? Unbelieveable. 1 goal and suddenly he had an amazing tour. Wasnt great last night, besides the goal. Wasnt great in Toronto and was hopeles against Seattle. Some people really do amaze me. Im not hating on Lennon either. I tried to give him credit for a nice pass to a goal on this tour but got shit on for it because it was actually just a shit touch.

 

[Mr Pink]

Anyone find the Seattle match to show the Lennon lovers? Unbelieveable. 1 goal and suddenly he had an amazing tour. Wasnt great last night, besides the goal. Wasnt great in Toronto and was hopeles against Seattle. Some people really do amaze me. Im not hating on Lennon either. I tried to give him credit for a nice pass to a goal on this tour but got shit on for it because it was actually just a shit touch.

Mate give it a rest.

I don't think anyone has implied he was amazing. And he did play well in the first half against Toronto actually.

Anyway its not unreasonable to say that he's done relatively well under Poch on this tour.

 

[paulcumpstone]

Would he even be on the bench if poch was trying to make an example?

had no other cover

 

[Bus-Conductor]

That was a pretty uneventful affair. Can't say anyone really advanced their cause too much. Lamella was again very lively first half and I thought Soldado worked really hard second half, dropping deep and wide, doing his best impression of Adebayor, and not entirely unsuccessfully either, eventually combining really well with Lennon for the second goal.

After a very good 45 in the previous game Capoue again was quite heavily involved, even though he wasn't as incisive last night, he still dictated a lot of what we did. I like that he can pass like Hudd/Carrick with both feet and varied ranges, but he can also drop a shoulder and carry the ball past his midfield marker into the next zone. Mason was neat and tidy and Lennon capped off a decent runaround by with a goal of rare quality.

Veljkovic wasn't quite as impressive as in the last game, but he did have Dawson next to him for 90 minutes this time, must have been unnerving. None of the full backs were great. Walker, as ever, found himself in acres of space with a few choices but put his head down and whacked it straight at their guy. Townsend and Kane both wasted easy chances to play people through for 1v1's through poor execution and did very little else, although Kane did help himself to an open net tap in courtesy of Holtby's excellent high pressing and set up.

Davies looks pretty hum drum so far and Rose looks like a possessed zombie from 28 Days Later, determined to macerate anything that gets in his way. The boy is pissed, and he wants the world to know.

We saw little glimpses of the Pochettino high press, but they were pretty fleeting. The rest of the game resembled much of what we saw under AVB. Lots of ball, not a lot of wit or craft. Very little attacking input by any of the full backs. Early days, friendlies and all that bollocks.

 

[robertgoulet]

Here is a picture if the supporters section. I'd guess the rest of the stadium was 1/3 Spurs fans.

 

[Mr Pink]

That was a pretty uneventful affair. Can't say anyone really advanced their cause too much. Lamella was again very lively first half and I thought Soldado worked really hard second half, dropping deep and wide, doing his best impression of Adebayor, and not entirely unsuccessfully either, eventually combining really well with Lennon for the second goal.

After a very good 45 in the previous game Capoue again was quite heavily involved, even though he wasn't as incisive last night, he still dictated a lot of what we did. I like that he can pass like Hudd/Carrick with both feet and varied ranges, but he can also drop a shoulder and carry the ball past his midfield marker into the next zone. Mason was neat and tidy and Lennon capped off a decent runaround by with a goal of rare quality.

Veljkovic wasn't quite as impressive as in the last game, but he did have Dawson next to him for 90 minutes this time, must have been unnerving. None of the full backs were great. Walker, as ever, found himself in acres of space with a few choices but put his head down and whacked it straight at their guy. Townsend and Kane both wasted easy chances to play people through for 1v1's through poor execution and did very little else, although Kane did help himself to an open net tap in courtesy of Holtby's excellent high pressing and set up.

Davies looks pretty hum drum so far and Rose looks like a possessed zombie from 28 Days Later, determined to macerate anything that gets in his way. The boy is pissed, and he wants the world to know.

We saw little glimpses of the Pochettino high press, but they were pretty fleeting. The rest of the game resembled much of what we saw under AVB. Lots of ball, not a lot of wit or craft. Very little attacking input by any of the full backs. Early days, friendlies and all that bollocks.

Yeah agree with most of that. I was much more impressed with our first half performance against Toronto and we saw more of the aggressive pressing in that half and much more fluid interchanging between the attacking quartet.

A couple of reasons as to why we didn't really get a repeat of the level we hit on Wednesday in the first half:

- wholesale changes obviously, and I know this sounds harsh but our collective attacking play suffers when Townsend starts and plays in his usual mode (Lennon has shown more willingness under Poch)...Townsend is going to have to do a lot of adapting and improving if he's to make it under Pochettino. Still doesn't look a team player to me.

- it was also very humid and this was third and last game of the tour when the travelling and distance covered was probably starting to take its toll.

 

[thinktank]

Yeah agree with most of that. I was much more impressed with our first half performance against Toronto and we saw more of the aggressive pressing in that half and much more fluid interchanging between the attacking quartet.

A couple of reasons as to why we didn't really get a repeat of the level we hit on Wednesday in the first half:

- wholesale changes obviously, and I know this sounds harsh but our collective attacking play suffers when Townsend starts and plays in his usual mode (Lennon has shown more willingness under Poch)...Townsend is going to have to do a lot of adapting and improving if he's to make it under Pochettino. Still doesn't look a team player to me.

- it was also very humid and this was third and last game of the tour when the travelling and distance covered was probably starting to take its toll.

We hadn't been tested like that irt pressing. That threw us imo, they we're pretty compact and didn't let us play like we wanted to. They did to us what we planned on doing to them, in that respect.

That was a very good match for us and more like the opposing pressure on our play that we'd expect in the PL.

Were posed a different question than the previous games. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Mr Pink]

We hadn't been tested like that irt pressing. That threw us imo, they we're pretty compact and didn't let us play like we wanted to. They did to us what we planned on doing to them, in that respect.

That was a very good match for us and more like the opposing pressure on our play that we'd expect in the PL.

Were posed a different question than the previous games. I really enjoyed it.

Hmmm..not sure mate, I thought they were poor. I know they didn't make it easy for us but both the Sounders and Toronto showed more in terms of testing us. Particularly the Sounders.

But I know what you mean, they pressed hard in phases but there wasn't much else going for them. A very ordinary team overall.

 

[thinktank]

Hmm..not sure mate, I thought they were poor. I know they didn't make it easy for us but both the Sounders and Toronto showed more in terms of testing us. Particularly the Sounders.

But I know what you mean, they pressed hard in phases but there wasn't much else going for them. A very ordinary team overall.

Just talking about disrupting our game/flow. That's the first time we've tried to play our new way against that predicament.

Plain to me that it effected us to a large degree.

Personnel wasn't ideal as well, of course.

 

[Mr Pink]

Just talking about disrupting our game/flow. That's the first time we've tried to play our new way against that predicament.

Plain to me that it effected us to a large degree.

Personnel wasn't ideal as well, of course.

Overall though its been a good start under Poch in terms of only so much you can taking from these pre season marketing tours!

 

[mpickard2087]

Just managed to watch some decent highlights at last. Very forgettable game and not as much to take encouragement from compared to the other two. Both goals gifted to us by some woeful, Under 7's football defending.

A few thoughts on individuals...

Had a few moments when we gifted them the ball in dangerous areas but defence did ok. Veljkovic continues to look solid. Rose continues to put a run of pretty decent games together so far under Poch and has at least looked Davies' equal so far. Walker continues to offer very little, in fact so far in pre-season my pecking order for the right back berth would be 1. Fredericks 2. Naughton 3. Walker. He needs to step up.

Capoue again looked to stake his claim, Mason is taking his chance well and surely deserves to be in and around the squad. These two for me are the standouts of the tour so far, as well as Lamela.

As for the attacking players, individuals were quite 'busy' and movement was pretty good but the quality and tempo wasn't really there.

A good tour though overall, and plenty of encouraging signs. Keep working, lads.

 

[SpurSince57]

Hmmm..not sure mate, I thought they were poor. I know they didn't make it easy for us but both the Sounders and Toronto showed more in terms of testing us. Particularly the Sounders.

But I know what you mean, they pressed hard in phases but there wasn't much else going for them. A very ordinary team overall.

Let's face it, from a testing-out-the-ideas-and-possible-new-squad-members perspective, we'd have been at least as well off against some Championship and League One sides. We all know what the real reason for this tour was.

As I posted in Luke's thread, we have a Man With A Plan. We've watched what's very much a second string trying to implement it.

 

[idontgetit]

Just managed to watch some decent highlights at last. Very forgettable game and not as much to take encouragement from compared to the other two. Both goals gifted to us by some woeful, Under 7's football defending.

A few thoughts on individuals...

Had a few moments when we gifted them the ball in dangerous areas but defence did ok. Veljkovic continues to look solid. Rose continues to put a run of pretty decent games together so far under Poch and has at least looked Davies' equal so far. Walker continues to offer very little, in fact so far in pre-season my pecking order for the right back berth would be 1. Fredericks 2. Naughton 3. Walker. He needs to step up.

Capoue again looked to stake his claim, Mason is taking his chance well and surely deserves to be in and around the squad. These two for me are the standouts of the tour so far, as well as Lamela.

As for the attacking players, individuals were quite 'busy' and movement was pretty good but the quality and tempo wasn't really there.

A good tour though overall, and plenty of encouraging signs. Keep working, lads.

Rose made some good tackles and interceptions but scares the fuck out of me with his positioning and decision making on the ball. At one point today the oppo were attacking down our left and he was fucking strolling back from central midfield.

Walker looked fine to me although rusty going forward. If he plays like he did last year he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet

 

[thinktank]

Rose made some good tackles and interceptions but scares the fuck out of me with his positioning and decision making on the ball. At one point today the oppo were attacking down our left and he was fucking strolling back from central midfield.

Walker looked fine to me although rusty going forward. If he plays like he did last year he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet

He does like a good stroll.

 

[thinktank]

I think this bears repeating before we all get ahead of ourselves on what should be happening after 3 games...

Schneiderlin interview on poch:


You spoke about pressing earlier, does Pochettino like to isolate the player in possession, or does he prefer playing 1v1 all across the field?

First of all, we have to close the central zones. He keeps saying it’s the heart of play and there’s always more options from the central zones: switches of play etc…

He emphasises on blocking passing lanes. Anyway when I do press, I try to leave the worst passing option possible to the opponent.

Pochettino asks us not to give the opponent the choice. But it requires a massive amount of work from a collective point of view. It’s not surprising after six or seven months working on it that we’re now able to harass and fully imbalance some of the teams we face.
We couldn’t do that from the start as it’s a massive work put in at training.

He wants us to recover the ball as high as possible, so for that it’s usually up to a forward to trigger the pressing ; so then we’ve to follow.

Personally, I sometimes have to leave my zone to help on one side if a winger who was out of position because he was in a forward zone and couldn’t fall back in time.

I’m the closest to the ball to intervene so then even if I’m tired, I’m kicking my ass. So then, the winger has to fill my zone and then we switch positions.

This is the basic philosophy.

We have precise drills and patterns depending of the situation. On goal kicks, if they attack from the right side etc.

Pochettino is all about detail, really. I recall that he showed us from the start that a meter or half a meter could block two passing lanes in midfield.

All of this stuff is pretty complex for some of our lot + still some yet to settle in.

Pre-season is only the tip of the iceberg of the learning curve our guys are now on.

Be prepared to wait a bit before the true fireworks begin.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Rose made some good tackles and interceptions but scares the fuck out of me with his positioning and decision making on the ball. At one point today the oppo were attacking down our left and he was fucking strolling back from central midfield.

Walker looked fine to me although rusty going forward. If he plays like he did last year he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet

Rusty, that's a new name for it. Walker's often rusty going forward.