Match Threads Spurs vs Liverpool - Match Thread

[glacierSpurs]

Is it just me?

The comments I've read seem pretty satisfied with today. How is it possible to be satisfied when.....
- we had 33% possession in a home match
- for the first 75 minutes the only time we competed for the ball was in, or on the edge of, our own box
- they had the time to do exactly what they wanted with the ball with virtually no pressure from us
- the only 'attacking' idea that we had was a hopeful punt upfield

I've read and heard that we deserved a point. Did we fuck. We parked the bus for 75 minutes and only when we were getting desperate (and two subs came on) did we even try to compete higher up the pitch and try to play some football.

Audere est facere?

Not today.

Possession stats are nothing. They had over 700 passes while we clocked over 300. They did not have many ideas to get through our midfield as Mourinho set up to overload the midfield area without us pressing, so we did not create spaces of opening for them to build up the attack through the middle. Probably a third of those 700+ passes were made between their back 2 & 3, trying to get us to press from front and exploit the spaces that opened up.

I wasn't too please TBH with us not pressing but I think Mourinho was really urging the front players to resist from pressing them and wreck the shape. But Dele and Lucas did very well in their harassment, allowing us to gain some possession back and scared some shit out of their CBs. On times they failed, both of them got back to shape very diligently. Hence I really disagree to quite a great extent on people's complains of Dele's uselessness. Mourinho knew he is a very smart player. His hardwork is not running 20km per match. His hardwork is understanding the match and play to the gaffer's instruction.

For us to have 10 goals attempt and 4 on target with 33% overall possession all the more showed how probable we were than the scousers in capable of scoring. And the last 30 minutes when we were so close to snatch a point and could even went on to win the game as we swayed the momentum to our side was a testament to how tactically we were better, slightly, in goals expectancy, only to be let down by the final ball.

You can bet with some upgrades and returns of some players, we may only play slightly better in possession football, and that may disappoint you and some others, but we will be very more effective in scoring and winning games. Like the thrashing against Burnley, that to me and some others, are way more exciting.

 

[Ronwol196061]

when the tide goes out you see who isn't wearing any shorts............

eriksen
winks
alli

cowardly performance from those three.

lamela and lo celso both have a pair of bollocks on them.....and we lack that at the moment.

moura is all hips and arse. he puts the shoulder in . he's limited but he tackles and fights.

tanganga you little dancer. well played son.

I agree those three players could have controlled their areas. dele was the worst by the way. He didnt contro,l the ball at all. Winks did but his passes were short and not really effective in creating space and he is a little lighweight as a DM...Eriksen is great when he has time on the ball,he can be creative but when its not there he cannot change things. Thats the difference between good or lets say,very good, and great

 

[TonyK]

20 years of neglect eh?
What were you saying when we were above Liverpool, Arsenal, United, Chelsea? Get a fucking grip, you're a grown man.

You just keep your head in the sand then Sebo.

One trophy under ENIC’s 2 decade long ownership.

Even our finest manager since Burkinshaw grew disillusioned with the lack of backing he received from the owners and you know it!

 

[Ronwol196061]

Possession stats are nothing. They had over 700 passes while we clocked over 300. They did not have many ideas to get through our midfield as Mourinho set up to overload the midfield area without us pressing, so we did not create spaces of opening for them to build up the attack through the middle. Probably a third of those 700+ passes were made between their back 2 & 3, trying to get us to press from front and exploit the spaces that opened up.

I wasn't too please TBH with us not pressing but I think Mourinho was really urging the front players to resist from pressing them and wreck the shape. But Dele and Lucas did very well in their harassment, allowing us to gain some possession back and scared some shit out of their CBs. On times they failed, both of them got back to shape very diligently. Hence I really disagree to quite a great extent on people's complains of Dele's uselessness. Mourinho knew he is a very smart player. His hardwork is not running 20km per match. His hardwork is understanding the match and play to the gaffer's instruction.

For us to have 10 goals attempt and 4 on target with 33% overall possession all the more showed how probable we were than the scousers in capable of scoring. And the last 30 minutes when we were so close to snatch a point and could even went on to win the game as we swayed the momentum to our side was a testament to how tactically we were better, slightly, in goals expectancy, only to be let down by the final ball.

You can bet with some upgrades and returns of some players, we may only play slightly better in possession football, and that may disappoint you and some others, but we will be very more effective in scoring and winning games. Like the thrashing against Burnley, that to me and some others, are way more exciting.

I understand what you are saying and it makes sense to a point but for Dele and Eriksen they were in positions and have the quality to do more with the ball than they did. Son and Moura up front and all our passes were erratic. Just to think of Dele and Eriksen defensively is totally wrong. They both have ball talent and both did not use it.Especially Dele. When the going gets tough,Eriksen hits the short safe ball,but Dele really did almost nothing to help the two ahead of him.He looked half arsed that way.Yes maybe on the defensive side he was ok. But with his quality we still should have got some attacks going with medium passes from those two in the first half.They needed to own the ball and create something

 

[Matrix]

Possession stats are nothing. They had over 700 passes while we clocked over 300. They did not have many ideas to get through our midfield as Mourinho set up to overload the midfield area without us pressing, so we did not create spaces of opening for them to build up the attack through the middle. Probably a third of those 700+ passes were made between their back 2 & 3, trying to get us to press from front and exploit the spaces that opened up.

I wasn't too please TBH with us not pressing but I think Mourinho was really urging the front players to resist from pressing them and wreck the shape. But Dele and Lucas did very well in their harassment, allowing us to gain some possession back and scared some shit out of their CBs. On times they failed, both of them got back to shape very diligently. Hence I really disagree to quite a great extent on people's complains of Dele's uselessness. Mourinho knew he is a very smart player. His hardwork is not running 20km per match. His hardwork is understanding the match and play to the gaffer's instruction.

For us to have 10 goals attempt and 4 on target with 33% overall possession all the more showed how probable we were than the scousers in capable of scoring. And the last 30 minutes when we were so close to snatch a point and could even went on to win the game as we swayed the momentum to our side was a testament to how tactically we were better, slightly, in goals expectancy, only to be let down by the final ball.

You can bet with some upgrades and returns of some players, we may only play slightly better in possession football, and that may disappoint you and some others, but we will be very more effective in scoring and winning games. Like the thrashing against Burnley, that to me and some others, are way more exciting.

Just to add to what you have said, Leicester won the league with 40% average possession Or there abouts. under Poch we regularly got in and around 60% in the last calendar year but did nothing with it. Possession stats are just that, stats, they don’t tell you who had the most clear chances etc or who looked the most threatening.

 

[Ronwol196061]

You just keep your head in the sand then Sebo.

One trophy under ENIC’s 2 decade long ownership.

Even our finest manager since Burkinshaw grew disillusioned with the lack of backing he received from the owners and you know it!

To me Poch didn't look strong about anything at the end.He was frustrated for sure and you may think it was his problem with Levy. But he was always agreeing with Levy. You can even read his book. I think his frustration was this. That his beloved system wasn't working.He had got destroyed by Liverpools great attacking play. In the summer we bought 4 attacking type players. Was that all Levy or all Poch or all both? and yes they had problems with injuries but Poch had no idea how to evolve his system into a more front footed way. In the Bayern game for instance he had Ndombele going up in the beginning and we were doing great for half an hour and he had Winks alone against the Bayern atttack on the counter. First of all Winks is no DM and second he should have understood the quality of Ndombeles creativity and had 2 DMs behind him because NDombele is no two way player,if he was he would be Yaya or Viera. He isnt but he is great creatively. When you have a single plan and a single way of thinking its difficult to develop anything I think that was the problem not Levy as much

 

[EastLondonYid]

Goals on sunday pundits suggesting we were too defensive and our fans won't put up with it...

Poyet talking alot of sense making them look clueless.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Just to add to what you have said, Leicester won the league with 40% average possession Or there abouts. under Poch we regularly got in and around 60% in the last calendar year but did nothing with it. Possession stats are just that, stats, they don’t tell you who had the most clear chances etc or who looked the most threatening.

Possession stats quantify but they don't qualify. Its nonsense figure. Liverpool yesterday racked up great possession. It was excellent not because of the percentages its because those passes were all meant to be ultimately working to create gaps in Tottenhams midfield.They were pulling us all over the place.Its wasn't the amount of possession its what the possession created

 

[glacierSpurs]

I understand what you are saying and it makes sense to a point but for Dele and Eriksen they were in positions and have the quality to do more with the ball than they did. Son and Moura up front and all our passes were erratic. Just to think of Dele and Eriksen defensively is totally wrong. They both have ball talent and both did not use it.Especially Dele. When the going gets tough,Eriksen hits the short safe ball,but Dele really did almost nothing to help the two ahead of him.He looked half arsed that way.Yes maybe on the defensive side he was ok. But with his quality we still should have got some attacks going with medium passes from those two in the first half.They needed to own the ball and create something

I agree to your points. I just think that the team is currently too low in confidence they can do any damage to great side like the scousers hence the conservative approach. I don't even think Mourinho has that much confidence in the team to defend without putting 10 players behind, sacrificing some of the attacking buildups in the process. Scousers were really quick in the counters.

Dele wanted to do more in attacks, but he also lacked supports from Lucas and Son. When Lucas was upfront, he also lacked support from Dele and Son. The same happened to Son. They may still be finding their feet in playing together under Mourinho's instruction - that's the only positive I can talk myself into. Unlike Firminho, Salah and Mane, they are almost telepathic..

As for our no. 23 the less said the better.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Goals on sunday pundits suggesting we were too defensive and our fans won't put up with it...

Poyet talking alot of sense making them look clueless.

He is following Timmys comments at half time and full time but I agree more with Mourinho. If we had Ndombele and Kane I would have gone for it more

 

[Ronwol196061]

I agree to your points. I just think that the team is currently too low in confidence they can do any damage to great side like the scousers hence the conservative approach. I don't even think Mourinho has that much confidence in the team to defend without putting 10 players behind, sacrificing some of the attacking buildups in the process. Scousers were really quick in the counters.

Dele wanted to do more in attacks, but he also lacked supports from Lucas and Son. When Lucas was upfront, he also lacked support from Dele and Son. The same happened to Son. They may still be finding their feet in playing together under Mourinho's instruction - that's the only positive I can talk myself into. Unlike Firminho, Salah and Mane, they are almost telepathic..

As for our no. 23 the less said the better.

Yes I agree with that. If you are dele or Eriksen and you have ball quality then surely you could take more control than they did. Dele hurried everything he did while Eriksen as usual took the safe road. They were ok on the defensive side especially Dele but in the first half he could have taken control aof the ball a few times and changed angles etc to make things happen. Lo Celso showed them how to do it

 

[Jolmaster]

Just watched a re-run of the whole match having read the comments on here.
- Tanganga take a bow son, impressive debut
- lo Celso and lamela if fit must start
- eriksen can eff off
- rose (love you mate) but it’s time to retire
- sanchez, another commanding performance
- in the current climate how on earth is Robertson not sent off, the guy immediately looked up in the refs direction shitting himself I bet

COYS, let’s build on this performance

 

[easley91]

We were setting up with what we had available against a team able of cutting through sides at will. That's not even mentioning our defensive frailties either. We kept it at 0-1 since the goal went in, and had enough chances to win it in the end. The plan was to keep it tight, within one goal and to attack at the end with fresh legs. Some may call it boring, I call it playing to your strengths at that time. We needed that for ages. I'm just surprised Mourinho hadn't been able to get this going sooner.

 

[glacierSpurs]

Just watched a re-run of the whole match having read the comments on here.
- Tanganga take a bow son, impressive debut
- lo Celso and lamela if fit must start
- eriksen can eff off
- rose (love you mate) but it’s time to retire
- sanchez, another commanding performance
- in the current climate how on earth is Robertson not sent off, the guy immediately looked up in the refs direction shitting himself I bet

COYS, let’s build on this performance

He is one lucky twat. He could have broken an ankle there.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Easley: We were setting up with what we had available against a team able of cutting through sides at will. That's not even mentioning our defensive frailties either. We kept it at 0-1 since the goal went in, and had enough chances to win it in the end. The plan was to keep it tight, within one goal and to attack at the end with fresh legs. Some may call it boring, I call it playing to your strengths at that time. We needed that for ages. I'm just surprised Mourinho hadn't been able to get this going sooner.


With Ndombele and Kane why would you want to. You can attack and put pressure on or play balanced but without them you have less ball control and less time so keeping tight in this case is best as you said

 

[mpickard2087]

Still cant see why Mourinho is getting so much shit for this game.

We were playing the best team around at the moment, a team that is in a far better place in all aspects currently than us. Needs must sometimes. It's not like we have played this way against United, Chelsea, Bayern etc - they might have got the better of us on the day, and/or forced us back, but we didn't set up in very defensive fashion - or employed these tactics against smaller PL teams. If that happens in future then ok that's different, but for this game it was a valid approach.

Personally, on the evidence we have seen so far, and Mourinho's comments about not changing much in terms of style of play after coming in mid-season, I fully expected another standard 4-2-3-1 set up and a 'que sera sera' approach. And I'd have been more annoyed with that because it would have smacked of just going through the motions and playing that way you can near guarantee we'd have got pumped. At least we tried to do something, we got a more disciplined display, and did a fair job and could have got something out of it ultimately. Better than some of these games, win lose or draw, recently.

 

[worcestersauce]

Not sure what the problem is here, Liverpool were the better side, they are running so smoothly at the moment, working, passing, moving and every plan executed to perfection but fair to say we had a game plan and it worked well in the teeth of a red onslaught, shame about the goal but it was due to us not them that it wasn't more. The second half began badly but early on we pushed further up and got some benefit to the point that Liverpool began to slow it down play keep ball, maybe they stepped down a gear which we took advantage of. Where we can say we did well is that they then needed to step it up again and couldn't get back to anything like dominance, in fact they started taking time out of the game arguing amongst themselves and when we were chasing the game we came so close to the equaliser and that is why we feel we should have got something out of the game. Make no mistake Liverpool were waiting on that final whistle. Looking at the stats you would think Liverpool deserved more and that may be right but by the end our players had given so much that you can't help thinking they deserved some reward for their sheer hard work.
I'm beginning to get optimistic about Lo Celso as he looks really comfortable on the ball, he wants it and he ain't scared to get it, shame about is miss of course but if anything he connected with it too well if that makes sense, had he got it wrong and shinned it then it would undoubtedly would have gone in.

 

[VoteMe4Prez]

I hope Lo Celso doesn't let that miss affect him too much. It would have been his announcement on the scene had he put it away.

 

[Gb160]

Still cant see why Mourinho is getting so much shit for this game.

It's mainly because some posters, either through denial or delusion, cant accept how far ahead of us Liverpool are in the grand scheme of things.

If we had tried to duke it out with them we'd have been embarrassed.
Absolutely no shame in taking the approach that we did.

 

[Ronwol196061]

I hope Lo Celso doesn't let that miss affect him too much. It would have been his announcement on the scene had he put it away.

I don't think so.I wouldn't have called it a given,but he should have scored. Kane who is a marksmen has missed those as have Son. Lo Celso's work in this one was great including that fantastic tackle that he did to get the ball back