Tottenham Vs Hull City: Match Thread

[jezz]

Agreed. But you need to actually be doing something to improve at it.

We cant improve our runs if we arent making them, our movement if we arent moving. It just doesnt look like its a work in progress. We simply arent attempting to play with tempo or aggression, so I fail to see how its going to click into something we arent promoting.

You cant just suddenly start hitting 300 yard drives when you dont go down the driving range.

Are you seeing some signs of intention that Im not?

What your seeing is shitty teams with no intention of trying to win, just defend for the draw or get sneaky goal.
These are incredibly hard to break down with a free flowing team, who have been together a couple of years, never mind a brand new team trying to gel.
No one and i mean no one are spanking these teams.
When west brom, city and the other teams trying to play turn up at the lane, then we will see better scoring games.
Till then, 1 or 2 nils against park the bus teams, ugly wins are the way its going to be.
We lost or drew these kind of fixtures in the past.

 

[CowInAComa]

What your seeing is shitty teams with no intention of trying to win, just defend for the draw or get sneaky goal.
These are incredibly hard to break down with a free flowing team, who have been together a couple of years, never mind a brand new team trying to gel.
No one and i mean no one are spanking these teams.
When west brom, city and the other teams trying to play turn up at the lane, then we will see better scoring games.
Till then, 1 or 2 nils against park the bus teams, ugly wins are the way its going to be.
We lost or drew these kind of fixtures in the past.

I know, new brand of football/new players/time to gel/new manager/havent got the right players/opponents doing 'defending'/bad support/midweek games

delete as appropriate. No other clubs manage to play decent football under such circumstances.

I notice you used West Brom as an 'attacking side' to preempt anyone pointing out that they got smashed up by the scouse. Perhaps they had to come out and attack because Liverpool came flying out at them and scored a goal? Rather than give them 20mins to set their stall.

 

[jezz]

I know, new brand of football/new players/time to gel/new manager/havent got the right players/opponents doing 'defending'/bad support/midweek games

delete as appropriate. No other clubs manage to play decent football under such circumstances.

I notice you used West Brom as an 'attacking side' to preempt anyone pointing out that they got smashed up by the scouse. Perhaps they had to come out and attack because Liverpool came flying out at them and scored a goal? Rather than give them 20mins to set their stall.

There like swansea they like to play football.
Also liverpool have a settled side(not a squad i might add) and there not exactly smashing everyone.
My point being no one is winning by 5 or 6 against park the bus teams and i dont see that changing.

 

[dudu]

Agreed. But you need to actually be doing something to improve at it.

We cant improve our runs if we arent making them, our movement if we arent moving. It just doesnt look like its a work in progress. We simply arent attempting to play with tempo or aggression, so I fail to see how its going to click into something we arent promoting.

You cant just suddenly start hitting 300 yard drives when you dont go down the driving range.

Are you seeing some signs of intention that Im not?

Yes, i definitely think for periods yesterday the ball was being moved at a greater pace and with more intent. I felt we were trying to find those little through balls too much but liked the intent we were showing at times. I also think we had a couple of really good chances on the break where poor decisions were made that could have actually been converted to goals.

Are you telling me that you have seen no inytent at all from us all season. Cardiff? Swansea? First half of Chelsea? Norwich?

nothing?

 

[dudu]

.... no we tend to sit in the middle of their half doing nothing.
I always knew Vinny Sideways was ahead of his time

The CRAB!

oh vinny how i miss you.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Genuinely not being facetious here, but please explain to me what you believe will happen when we 'click', are you seriously expecting a about turn in our methodology and tactics? Clicking/gelling normally entails becoming more proficient and natural when implementing the chosen philosophy.

We have chosen to go down the high possession slow risk-averse route. Are you suggesting we are going to suddenly throw our shackles?

I don't see a problem with our slow possession-based game and high defensive line, I think it's a good tactic and that we should persist with it for as long as it is defensively effective. In the past 2 matches, contrary to a lot of posts on this and other threads, we have not spent all the time pinging the ball about in our own half. Our defenders and midfielders spent a great deal of time pinging it about in Hull's and Sheriff's half. That's fine: it's the difference between unambitious possession and pressure.

The problem is that we don't yet have the collective nous to change the pace when there's a gap. We just keep probing methodically and it never accelerates, so opportunities don't turn into chances, proper chances get smothered before they become shots and shots are taken under pressure and from difficult, low-percentage areas.

In part, this is due to lack of canny movement from our strikers and wingers, but that's not anywhere nearly as big a problem as people here think. Every team's fans are hyper-critical of their own players, because mainly what they see of top opposition players are clips of their successful moves. Most Spurs fans don't watch hours of Barcelona being boring or Man City recycling the ball.

If/when we get this style working properly, no one will give a shit if we spend three minutes controlling possession on either side of the halfway line, as long as there is an incisive, decisive attacking move at speed on the end of the period of possession. That's how the top teams play: they control the ball and then, the moment there's a gap, they change the pace and attack ruthlessly. The things missing from our attacking play at the moment are that there aren't enough gaps being provoked and that we are way too slow to see and exploit them when they appear. The first is what's partly down to lack of movement. The second is going to take awhile to develop, because it requires a well-integrated team where each individual has a close knowledge of every teammate's style of play.

The problem isn't the risk-averse possession and the slow advance up the pitch - it's what isn't happening when we finally get up the pitch and into an attacking position. We have to learn to change the pace.

 

[Mr Pink]

I don't see a problem with our slow possession-based game and high defensive line, I think it's a good tactic and that we should persist with it for as long as it is defensively effective. In the past 2 matches, contrary to a lot of posts on this and other threads, we have not spent all the time pinging the ball about in our own half. Our defenders and midfielders spent a great deal of time pinging it about in Hull's and Sheriff's half. That's fine: it's the difference between unambitious possession and pressure.

The problem is that we don't yet have the collective nous to change the pace when there's a gap. We just keep probing methodically and it never accelerates, so opportunities don't turn into chances, proper chances get smothered before they become shots and shots are taken under pressure and from difficult, low-percentage areas.

In part, this is due to lack of canny movement from our strikers and wingers, but that's not anywhere nearly as big a problem as people here think. Every team's fans are hyper-critical of their own players, because mainly what they see of top opposition players are clips of their successful moves. Most Spurs fans don't watch hours of Barcelona being boring or Man City recycling the ball.

If/when we get this style working properly, no one will give a shit if we spend three minutes controlling possession on either side of the halfway line, as long as there is an incisive, decisive attacking move at speed on the end of the period of possession. That's how the top teams play: they control the ball and then, the moment there's a gap, they change the pace and attack ruthlessly. The things missing from our attacking play at the moment are that there aren't enough gaps being provoked and that we are way too slow to see and exploit them when they appear. The first is what's partly down to lack of movement. The second is going to take awhile to develop, because it requires a well-integrated team where each individual has a close knowledge of every teammate's style of play.

The problem isn't the risk-averse possession and the slow advance up the pitch - it's what isn't happening when we finally get up the pitch and into an attacking position. We have to learn to change the pace.

Excellent post.