Match Threads Chelsea v Spurs, match thread.

[TonyK]

What the fuck is Poch saying???

 

[heelspurs]

Can't blame Trippier, he looked at Hugo and saw he was miles away, and the replay shows Hugo not shouting anything

Horseshit. Schoolboy stuff. You learn very early to not play that ball inside the post. And since Hugo is so 1 footed that ball should have been wide. And even before that Tripps should have dealt with it, not let it bounce or when it did control it and take it out wide and out of danger. He is a shirker of responsibility and it shows throughout his game. It is one of the reasons that many don't like him in the team.

 

[Darth Vega]

The most worrying thing is how short of options we are to change anything. Eriksen is off-form but an off-form Eriksen is arguably more impactful than Lamela (see Leicester and Burnley at home), Kyle Walker-Peters clearly isn't ready as Poch downright refuses to play him, and we all know about our central midfield issues.

This is the squad. We'll pull out amazing performances against the likes of Dortmund, but if the players decide they don't want to perform I don't see what more Poch can do to change it; we're low on options, and we're not going to radically change style or system 5.5 years into his tenure. We need to hope the squad digs deep and grounds out enough results, even by accident, so we finish in the top four.

 

[rez9000]

Was gunna go to bed and read Brave New World......don't think Ill bother now.

Why? Aldous Huxley always relaxes me.

 

[ardiles]

Our players were poor in both games but Poch has to take some of the flak . His tactical decisions have been poor. Our FBs have been atrocious yet it’s so baffling that he doesn’t use KWP.

 

[Phomesy]

You only have to see some of the names in our Squad to realise how fortunate we are to be 3rd.

Tripper, Davies, Sissoko, Llorente, Moura, Lamela, Dier, Aurier, Wanyama

None of those get in other top 6 teams. You could even include Lloris.

We have a handful of top players, at best.

We play average football. We have no pace. We play narrow.

It’s either Poch, Levy or both of them to blame for our current situation. We need to invest so much just to stand still for next season.

Quite frankly, I’m fed up of it all.

I can’t wait for the stadium. But I’m not sure what sort of team I will be watching.

You're "fed up of it all"?

Were you feeling that way 2 weeks ago when we 'd just thrashed Dortmund and were 5 points off top?

When in your Spurs supporting life have Spurs been better than we are right now?

I get it - we're all fucked off with the last two results but seriously do you really think "support" is just something for when your team always wins?

Is it not possible to express your dismay at these last two results without shitting on EVERYTHING this group and manager have done in the last three years given the resources we have?

Ffs - if you want Oil Slaver insta-success go support an Oil-slaver club.

 

[Gareth88]

Still have Arsenal at home, Liverpool away, Man City away if we keep playing like this we will be scraping 5th

 

[Mr Pink]

Incredibly frustrating watching that, especially after Burnley.

The biggest thing, by a mile imo, is our lack of tempo on the ball. We don't see anywhere near enough injection of quick pass and move/interchanging.

As a result we labour in possession and our easy to defend against.

I'm not sure the constant rotation at the back helps either.

But the lack of tempo is becoming more and more evident and we're playing the majority of the game tonight at a snails pace, same on Saturday.

No doubt we'll see a much bigger effort on Saturday, but for me that's our current problem.

 

[gaz73]

Zero shots on target in 90 minutes is frankly pathetic.

My point. Zero shots, zero reaction, think I wish Kane was still injured

 

[King of Otters]

It's 2019, haven't we moved on from using the term 'don't be a girl' as a form of insult? There are plenty of other appropriate non sexist terms that are more appropriate lol.

Evidently not. I’d also like to think that we’d have moved beyond taking offence at the most innocuous of insults in 2019, but here we are.

 

[1882andallthat]

Pathetic performance tonight against a tired Chelsea, we had no spark, no creativity, no real urgency and no clue whatsoever going forward, the amount of passes that went astray was embarrassing.

We also seem to persist in playing it backwards in our own last third of the pitch and it constantly plays us into trouble, we frequently pass it back to Lloris who seems determined to play it sideways or backwards into a corner and we box ourselves there only to inevitably give the ball back to the opposition because we’ve deliberately made it more difficult to clear.
As for that pathetic OG there was absolutely no reason why Trippier even needed to attempt to pass it back to Lloris, he would or should have been capable of making a forward pass or launching a ball upfield in the same way that that any competent goalkeeper could have done.

 

[samspurs92]

We just look like we have literally no energy.

Gone are the days where we pressed teams off the park.

Players look unmotivated and jaded.

 

[dtxspurs]

Incredibly frustrating watching that, especially after Burnley.

The biggest thing, by a mile imo, is our lack of tempo on the ball. We don't see anywhere near enough injection of quick pass and move/interchanging.

As a result we labour in possession and our easy to defend against.

I'm not sure the constant rotation at the back helps either.

But the lack of tempo is becoming more and more evident and we're playing the majority of the game tonight at a snails pace, same on Saturday.

No doubt we'll see a much bigger effort on Saturday, but for me that's our current problem.

Been this way pretty much since Poch started IMO. We've always moved the ball painfully slow. Without Dembele now we struggle while being pressed big time.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

If Joe Cole was stuck in a burning building, i’d go in, remove the only fire extinguisher and double lock the front door.

Chelsea nonce.

 

[teedee]

I was disappointed to read what Poch said about 'winning mentality'. The unpalatable truth is that several of our first team players are simply not good enough for us to mount a serious challenge in any competition. Sure Poch is a good coach and he has made a few silk purses out of sows' ears, and there have been a few outstanding performances, such as the one against Dortmund, but punching above our weight is not sustainable in the long run.

This team needs investment and it needs it now, but I fear there is no chance of that - maybe that was the 5-10 year time frame Poch was alluding to.

 

[Jolmaster]

Good to see Watford, Bournemouth and palace turning up tonight FFS

 

[felmani26]

I seriously don't know why Poch is allergic to a bit of structure in the team when it's required. In recent years we've seen it's great when the fluid shape with lots of free roles for players works, but that was then. Recently the narrow diamond has been increasingly found out, it's a problem sometimes when you're under the cosh, and tonight it wasn't working - with or without the ball - and we eventually got punished.

We're chasing a game, why not try eg. Son on one flank and Moura on the other, maybe even with two strikers in the box to feed as well? Very daring, I know. It would at least allow coverage across the pitch, so that with the ball there is an outball constantly, and without it you have an organised shape that helps the fullbacks. Fucking try something rather than sticking to the same script.

Also, lets be honest here, it's been like playing with 10 men with Kane the last two games. A handful, maybe two, of 'big plays' in the game doesn't impress me, because 99.9% of the rest of the game we've been carrying a passenger. Not pressing, not acting as a focal point, not running channels, others trying to do his work and abandoning their own. Cant get away with that. Someone at the club should have made the call he wasn't ready, but no one had the bollocks it seems. Fuck off can Poch be happy with his efforts this week. Maybe this weekend instead we'll see a difference...... Fucking hope so.

You've previously alluded to the fact that Kane is perennially slow to get up to speed and it is ultimately costing us because we need that press from the front and not having him drop so far back into the number 10 role.

Compare this to say Klopp who will substitute Salah, this notion that Kane is untouchable once he crosses the white lines has to stop too although that being said, our attacking options are severely limited.

 

[Thewobbler]

Son has been shit since Kane got back.

 

[Phomesy]

CE already gone. Been awful for ages

If he was "already gone" Poch would not be playing him.

Jesus Christ - we know this. We know Poch's MO.

Is it not possible Eriksen's playing through chronic injury and no rest? Is it not possible he's sacrificing his own form and fitness because he's been desperately needed during a period without Son/Kane/Dele and most of our midfield?

Our supporters are so fucking shit at times it beggars belief.

 

[Mr Pink]

Been this way pretty much since Poch started IMO. We've always moved the ball painfully slow. Without Dembele now we struggle while being pressed big time.

Not sure. I think we pressed much more in the first two years. City and Arsenal games, pressed them off the pitch.