Sarsipius
"Show me his legs"
- Jan 18, 2005
- 3,226
- 5,516
Just watched the full match and thought there was plenty to be positive about.
The scores in friendlies are fairly meaningless when teams chop and change so much but especially so when the refs make such clangers as these ones.
The goalies did well. Vorm coming off his line particularly quickly as we are used to seeing but neither he nor Lloris having a whole lot to do in reality.
KWP showed he can equally play LWB as he can RB which is great. I personally think he doesn't look far off competing for fullback slot and the versatility to cover both flanks is a real bonus.
Tripps showed the kind of footballing ability that the worlds most expensive defender will never have, executing a few turns and cutbacks with far greater precision and control than Walker ever could. He also showed real pace on the occasion he was caught out too far up-field. But all in all I think we're going to benefit from his greater footballing ability.
The centre-backs were OK but as for Verts and Toby we know what they're capable of. CCV had a much better game than the last one despite the ridiculous penalty decision.
I have to say, as much as I want him to I'm not convinced he will prove to be a first class defender and that's purely on physical grounds. Unfortunately for him he has short legs and a long torso which as any defender will tell you the single best attribute for a CB is long legs making it much easier to wrap your leg round an on rushing attacker to poke the ball away before taking out the player. He is a brute though and looks immensely strong as he showed when a couple of Roma players tried to go round him. At just six foot he is on the short side for a CB and imo his body proportions aren't helping him. We'll see.
Wimmer wasn't as bad as people are making out. TOB should have followed up his block for their second goal which he did well to obstruct and he was clearly tripped for the third. The refs obviously didn't care about doing their jobs by this point.
As has been mentioned a lot now, the midfield two didn't work in the first half with Dier unbelievably static and not showing for the ball even when it was clearly the easiest (and most sensible) out ball. I couldn't understand that at all except thinking they were instructed not to play like that. It was bizarre though watching him barely move forward when we had the ball except to take up even more defensive positions. Perhaps it was a game plan though, we'll never know. Having said that he made a couple of good passes forward which nicely set up attacks but it's really not enough to justify expecting a CM role in the future.
Winks, when he came on showed exactly what we've come to expect from him. Tireless running, constant harassment of the opponents, good feet, though he gave the ball away with a few stray passes (that said everyone did). His goal came from being alive and alert in the penalty area though and reacting quicker than players who were even closer to the ball than him. Worryingly if you watch that goal you'll see Winks reacting while Janssen, who struck the shot in the first place, completely stops dead despite the fact the ball rebounds and stays live.' He has got to wake up as a footballer.
Alli was quiet although isn't he always? He just didn't pop up with the goals that we expect of him. He seems to have bulked up a bit though and worked on his sprint acceleration which is great. Think he's going to have a big year.
Have to say I thought Onomah on the whole had a good game despite still not playing in his preferred position. He made a couple of nice passes, especially one out wide to Tripps which set up a great chance. He still needs to improve his decision making in tight situations but that will come the more he relaxes into the team. I think he's got a future with us though.
TOB apart from switching off for the second goal I thought was really good. Very quick feet and lively in the mind. Just one awful pass which went straight out but those small mistakes aren't the thing to focus on. I think he'll have a year where he's in and around the first team without actually playing that much if at all. But again, he looks like he could have a future with us if he continues to improve.
As a lot of people have mentioned Georgiou look very exciting without doing a great deal. Quick and willing to take people on. He looked like he wanted it and I liked the two crosses he put in with either foot both of which went straight into the mixer. I hope he continues his development and gets a sniff of the first team.
After reading HITC's twitter snippets about GKN I was keen to see what he brought to the party but as has been mentioned he largely did nothing, not even dribbling that much but rather trying to knock it past his defender and sprinting round. He tried that virtually every time he got the ball and despite putting in the cross for Janssen's assist was not succesful with any take on. But the assist is good news as it will give him and perhaps more importantly Janssen a lot of confidence hopefully.
To finish, Kane was Kane, ran his heart out put himself about, was unlucky with a couple of long rangers and then shot when he should have passed on other occasions. Was of course robbed of a clear pen against dear Fazio though but I liked the way it gee'd him up. The Italians played it dirty throughout as rightfully predicted by the OP
In general though I enjoyed it and thought we played better than Roma which can't be a bad thing. Hope we can still add a couple of choice additions and perhaps even more importantly shift the deadwood so we don't feel compelled to play them (Sissoko). The youth gives me grounds for a lot of optimism though. In a world of insane transfer fees I am so glad for the conveyor belt of talent our academy provides. The stability of keeping the squad (largely) together should see us start quickly while other teams try to integrate players from other teams and leagues, which as we all know can take months if not seasons.
Onwards and upwards.
Coys!
The scores in friendlies are fairly meaningless when teams chop and change so much but especially so when the refs make such clangers as these ones.
The goalies did well. Vorm coming off his line particularly quickly as we are used to seeing but neither he nor Lloris having a whole lot to do in reality.
KWP showed he can equally play LWB as he can RB which is great. I personally think he doesn't look far off competing for fullback slot and the versatility to cover both flanks is a real bonus.
Tripps showed the kind of footballing ability that the worlds most expensive defender will never have, executing a few turns and cutbacks with far greater precision and control than Walker ever could. He also showed real pace on the occasion he was caught out too far up-field. But all in all I think we're going to benefit from his greater footballing ability.
The centre-backs were OK but as for Verts and Toby we know what they're capable of. CCV had a much better game than the last one despite the ridiculous penalty decision.
I have to say, as much as I want him to I'm not convinced he will prove to be a first class defender and that's purely on physical grounds. Unfortunately for him he has short legs and a long torso which as any defender will tell you the single best attribute for a CB is long legs making it much easier to wrap your leg round an on rushing attacker to poke the ball away before taking out the player. He is a brute though and looks immensely strong as he showed when a couple of Roma players tried to go round him. At just six foot he is on the short side for a CB and imo his body proportions aren't helping him. We'll see.
Wimmer wasn't as bad as people are making out. TOB should have followed up his block for their second goal which he did well to obstruct and he was clearly tripped for the third. The refs obviously didn't care about doing their jobs by this point.
As has been mentioned a lot now, the midfield two didn't work in the first half with Dier unbelievably static and not showing for the ball even when it was clearly the easiest (and most sensible) out ball. I couldn't understand that at all except thinking they were instructed not to play like that. It was bizarre though watching him barely move forward when we had the ball except to take up even more defensive positions. Perhaps it was a game plan though, we'll never know. Having said that he made a couple of good passes forward which nicely set up attacks but it's really not enough to justify expecting a CM role in the future.
Winks, when he came on showed exactly what we've come to expect from him. Tireless running, constant harassment of the opponents, good feet, though he gave the ball away with a few stray passes (that said everyone did). His goal came from being alive and alert in the penalty area though and reacting quicker than players who were even closer to the ball than him. Worryingly if you watch that goal you'll see Winks reacting while Janssen, who struck the shot in the first place, completely stops dead despite the fact the ball rebounds and stays live.' He has got to wake up as a footballer.
Alli was quiet although isn't he always? He just didn't pop up with the goals that we expect of him. He seems to have bulked up a bit though and worked on his sprint acceleration which is great. Think he's going to have a big year.
Have to say I thought Onomah on the whole had a good game despite still not playing in his preferred position. He made a couple of nice passes, especially one out wide to Tripps which set up a great chance. He still needs to improve his decision making in tight situations but that will come the more he relaxes into the team. I think he's got a future with us though.
TOB apart from switching off for the second goal I thought was really good. Very quick feet and lively in the mind. Just one awful pass which went straight out but those small mistakes aren't the thing to focus on. I think he'll have a year where he's in and around the first team without actually playing that much if at all. But again, he looks like he could have a future with us if he continues to improve.
As a lot of people have mentioned Georgiou look very exciting without doing a great deal. Quick and willing to take people on. He looked like he wanted it and I liked the two crosses he put in with either foot both of which went straight into the mixer. I hope he continues his development and gets a sniff of the first team.
After reading HITC's twitter snippets about GKN I was keen to see what he brought to the party but as has been mentioned he largely did nothing, not even dribbling that much but rather trying to knock it past his defender and sprinting round. He tried that virtually every time he got the ball and despite putting in the cross for Janssen's assist was not succesful with any take on. But the assist is good news as it will give him and perhaps more importantly Janssen a lot of confidence hopefully.
To finish, Kane was Kane, ran his heart out put himself about, was unlucky with a couple of long rangers and then shot when he should have passed on other occasions. Was of course robbed of a clear pen against dear Fazio though but I liked the way it gee'd him up. The Italians played it dirty throughout as rightfully predicted by the OP
In general though I enjoyed it and thought we played better than Roma which can't be a bad thing. Hope we can still add a couple of choice additions and perhaps even more importantly shift the deadwood so we don't feel compelled to play them (Sissoko). The youth gives me grounds for a lot of optimism though. In a world of insane transfer fees I am so glad for the conveyor belt of talent our academy provides. The stability of keeping the squad (largely) together should see us start quickly while other teams try to integrate players from other teams and leagues, which as we all know can take months if not seasons.
Onwards and upwards.
Coys!
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