SC's Tactical Autopsy thread

[wrd]

Nice analysis, but I do see some issues.
If we bring in an attacking LFB, and drop the RFB back, we have the LFB and Son occupying the same space as Son seems to like to play as a LW and it seems that Dele likes to drift left in support. On the other side, with Moura playing inside right, we lose the width and crossing that Aurier is currently providing. If Coco plays, he tends to start on the right, but cut in rather than attack the byline.

At CB, one of our current problems is that we are playing Toby out of position at LCB to accommodate the uni-footed Sanchez. I do like the sound of Verts at LFB as he has shown the ability to carry the ball forward and is arguably our best crosser of the ball. I can picture his crosses from deep terrorising defences, particularly on transitions.

I think the thing we learnt last night is that Jose will set his side up on a game-by-game basis (or even half-by-half) and will pick the players and formation that will do a job on any given day.

Yeah it's a difficult one regarding the Son/Dele triangle because it does work well, I'm not sure I have a good answer other than we're lucky that Son can play either side but not sure where that leaves Dele. If we had the fullbacks pushing up either side I think it'd work with Dele working majority on the left.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Yeah it's a difficult one regarding the Son/Dele triangle because it does work well, I'm not sure I have a good answer other than we're lucky that Son can play either side but not sure where that leaves Dele. If we had the fullbacks pushing up either side I think it'd work with Dele working majority on the left.

The nice thing is Mourinho can play it depending on the opposition. If they have a weak left full back we can move son to the right and play Foyth at right back. Then Sessegnon could be the attack minded left fullback with Vertonghen and LCB to slide over to cover the defensive duties.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

5 at the back, 4 in midfield, 1 upfront. Thoughts on this?

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

5 at the back, 4 in midfield, 1 upfront. Thoughts on this?

Should only ever happen if your lone striker is a mobile tank, and your wingbacks are quick and dynamic in their attacking play. We had none of these. An awful strategy against a team that seemed to outnumber us everywhere

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

5 at the back, 4 in midfield, 1 upfront. Thoughts on this?

Tiring to watch and uninspiring but also perhaps a little bit forced into

 

[DannyNZ]

Should only ever happen if your lone striker is a mobile tank, and your wingbacks are quick and dynamic in their attacking play. We had none of these. An awful strategy against a team that seemed to outnumber us everywhere

Even if the strategy was sound the wrong players were used in that formation. Tanganga and Davies were poor choices in that set up and sadly Jan should never have made it out onto the field. Toby seems to have lost a bit of pace and him and Jan just shouldn’t be on the field at the same time anymore. Le Celso and Winks had been forging a decent partnership in the middle but Jose put him out right. Bad case of poor selections.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Even if the strategy was sound the wrong players were used in that formation. Tanganga and Davies were poor choices in that set up and sadly Jan should never have made it out onto the field. Toby seems to have lost a bit of pace and him and Jan just shouldn’t be on the field at the same time anymore. Le Celso and Winks had been forging a decent partnership in the middle but Jose put him out right. Bad case of poor selections.

This is a great observation, part our problem yesterday for sure.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

Speaking of this thread, I just did a spy on BC. He called Bergwijn an "erratic forwards lacking composure" before he signed for us

 

[Blake Griffin]

BC would be turning in his wind sock watching us play right now.

 

[faymantaray]

BC would be turning in his wind sock watching us play right now.

Where did he go?

 

[matthew.absurdum]

Where did he go?

Can I say the name here? A spurs forum that always refuses me to enter because they say I have an ad-blocker (even if I turn it off)

 

[bbunc]

Even if the strategy was sound the wrong players were used in that formation. Tanganga and Davies were poor choices in that set up and sadly Jan should never have made it out onto the field. Toby seems to have lost a bit of pace and him and Jan just shouldn’t be on the field at the same time anymore. Le Celso and Winks had been forging a decent partnership in the middle but Jose put him out right. Bad case of poor selections.

100% and especially about GLCs positioning. Jose got that totally wrong. Left us outnumbered in midfield and put our two worst defensive players shielding the back 3.

GLC and Winks in the pivot would have at least been functional, then put Tanguy in front of them for numbers and an outlet who could release Berg/Lucas in the channels.

And of course the extra insanity of a back 5 with 5 center backs so no width or threat going forward at all, or even ability to play as outlet working the ball up the pitch.

I know we are short of options, but the lack of basic fundamental awareness in our tactics and players’ strengths is shocking.

 

[thekneaf]

Not usually one to jump on Jose, but I wish he'd forget this dalliance with three centre backs and wing backs. He doesn't seem to get it right ever and we're better just digging in with tactics he knows and trusts. That's 433 or 4231. There's enough flexibility in those.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

The longer Jose persists with Lucas upfront the more we will struggle/fail to score goals as history shows, the only other option is playing Dele who has the physical presence to hold the ball & bring others into play

 

[CheeseGromit]

Even if the strategy was sound the wrong players were used in that formation. Tanganga and Davies were poor choices in that set up and sadly Jan should never have made it out onto the field. Toby seems to have lost a bit of pace and him and Jan just shouldn’t be on the field at the same time anymore. Le Celso and Winks had been forging a decent partnership in the middle but Jose put him out right. Bad case of poor selections.

I don’t agree
The players available are very limited. It’s not the names it’s what they bring to the party and how they gel as a group
for example Tanganga has done a decent job so far and Davies is decent full back even if just coming back from injury
They are all under significant pressure at the moment and even before the injuries we were lacking certain type of players
Those available particularly in the mid field and up front are just not strong enough
Tactics are about either exploiting the opposition when confidence is high or damage limitation

JM for me is trying to get the team to survive for an hour plus. As someone else has said given our current goal scoring prowess once we are behind it is very very difficult to get back into the game

 

[punkisback]

Thing is look at the players we have, then compare that to our rivals! I don't mean the your City's, Liverpools, etc. I mean the teams from 3rd to 7th.
Chelsea, Arsenal, United, even Leicester all have better options in AM than us and FB than us. It's not that the manager is poor we just haven't bought the right players!

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Thing is look at the players we have, then compare that to our rivals! I don't mean the your City's, Liverpools, etc. I mean the teams from 3rd to 7th.
Chelsea, Arsenal, United, even Leicester all have better options in AM than us and FB than us. It's not that the manager is poor we just haven't bought the right players!

This is overstated. Yes we’re missing a striker but look at the team who played yesterday - every single one of those players bar Tanganga have performed at a high level at some stage in the recent past whether that be at champions league level or for their national teams. All three of our new signings started, Toby has recently signed a new contract, Davinson has been our best defender this season, Winks has performed well in the last few matches.

There was no excuse for Jose to invite Chelsea to bend us over and fuck us like that.

 

[alfie103]

The longer Jose persists with Lucas upfront the more we will struggle/fail to score goals as history shows, the only other option is playing Dele who has the physical presence to hold the ball & bring others into play

No he doesn't, he isn't brave and isn't very strong. Plus his first touch isn't great.

 

[matthew.absurdum]

The longer Jose persists with Lucas upfront the more we will struggle/fail to score goals as history shows, the only other option is playing Dele who has the physical presence to hold the ball & bring others into play

Actually I think this is not entirely true. Jose tried to put Son upfront instead of Lucas for most parts of the Southampton match. But then Son was injured. Against RB it was Dele + Lucas (I think Bergwijn also played upfront for a short while). Against Chelsea it was Bergwijn.

 

[Cochise]

He tried to create something to nullify Chelsea's approach play but was imo let down by individuals. Lo'Celso, Lucas and Bergwijn were all man marking their back three whilst N'Dombele and Winks pushed right onto Kovacic and Jorginho. We fell down because Mount and to a greater extent Barkley were not picked up when dropping deep by Vertonghen and Sanchez.

Sanchez to me was the bigger offender and never really got to grips with Barkley in the first half, which is why Barkley had so much involvement. Our forward play though was all over the place, really disjointed.

It seems like Jose is just trying to tactically counter other teams at the moment, with no real move to imposing a style of play onto our side other than counter at pace. This has looked good at times, especially with the one touch passing, but if we don't get all those passes spot on, it breaks down horrendously.