Team v Arsenal (A)

[Danny1]

I’ve woken up this morning even more disillusioned with our club. Personally think we are going to get absolutely torn apart by Arsenal next week which will show exactly where we are as a club at the minute. I look at Wolves, Leicester, Everton and West Ham and actually think our squads are the same as theirs, especially with the stupid team selections from our manager.

For me, if we lose this game and Poch has picked a stupid team again, then I truly hope he gets called in to Daniel Levy’s office first thing on Monday with a final ultimatum. 15 points from 15 games is completely and utterly disgraceful and we have picked up from where we left off with horrible displays of football. This is down to one man and one man only.

 

[SugarRay]

----------------------- Lloris ---------------------
Aurier -------- Toby --- Verts ------ Rose
------------------------ Dier ----------------------
---------- Eriksen ----------- Ndombele ---
-- Moura ----------- Kane --------- Son ---

Let's stop dicking about and just put a solid XI out and kick on. Only went with Rose because I think he stands a better chance against Pepe.

Think this is our best chance of getting a result.

 

[guy]

Lloris
Sissoko Toby vertonghen(FFS) rose
Skipp
Ndombele Eriksen
LoCelso Kane Son​

 

[guy]

I really can't see Dier being dropped in it after not playing a single minute yet this season

 

[SugarRay]

I’ve woken up this morning even more disillusioned with our club. Personally think we are going to get absolutely torn apart by Arsenal next week which will show exactly where we are as a club at the minute. I look at Wolves, Leicester, Everton and West Ham and actually think our squads are the same as theirs, especially with the stupid team selections from our manager.

For me, if we lose this game and Poch has picked a stupid team again, then I truly hope he gets called in to Daniel Levy’s office first thing on Monday with a final ultimatum. 15 points from 15 games is completely and utterly disgraceful and we have picked up from where we left off with horrible displays of football. This is down to one man and one man only.

We’ve got a much better team than those sides.

Our form is awful though.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Probably the most telling game of Poch’s tenure with us. Does he learn from his mistakes and be willing to reflect on how poor we are at the moment? Is he brave enough to see that playing out of form players or systems defunct because of questionable personnel selections are seriously hindering our cohesion and success at the moment?

Whatever the issues are, and he’s a much more knowing man than me when it comes to football, he’s got to get hold of this positive dynamic he often speaks of and infuse the squad with it once again.

I’m baffled by the Vertonghen situation, but it hints at serious discord in some elements of life at the club. He’s one of our best players, has been a loyal servant throughout the turmoils we’ve faced (AVB, Sherwood) and is a huge presence in the changing room. If we lose him and Toby next season, we’re in serious trouble so I’d hope we’d be doing everything to keep him with us for longer.

I think while many of us feel a return to our old style of play with a screening midfielder will allow us to push our fullbacks further up the pitch, we need to be careful not to put all our faith in Dier, the only natural DM in the squad with any meaningful experience. This is too simplistic a solution; he looked slow and cumbersome last season and if anything screams temporary scapegoat it’s us expecting his inclusion to suddenly change our dynamic. It won’t. Not by itself anyway. There are many more things that need addressing too.


Often when we’ve had a dip in form under Poch, we’ve got ourselves back on track, usually against teams like Arsenal so it’ll be interesting to see how we respond against them. I am concerned though because our turgid, anemic style of play isn’t a blip, it’s been like this for months. A good manager should be able to change this, and so far we’re not seeing that. It’s been said many times that Levy went all out to get Poch’s main targets this summer, if true that’s a statement of faith from the club. But equally, it means that Poch doesn’t get the same leeway he got last year when we bought no one. And there hasn’t been a World Cup to disrupt ours (or anyone else’s) preseason.

There can’t really be any more excuses for the terrible football we’re seeing all the time. Perhaps Poch’s most challenging obstacle now is himself. Good managers are practical beasts, able to analyse and evaluate. Really good ones combine these qualities with a willingness to be honest with themselves about themselves. Being principled is a fine quality. Being dogmatic isn’t

 

[Mr Pink]

Whoever he picks, we need to see a much more motivated and committed performance or we're in trouble.

I'm many ways its the perfect game to see if Poch can stop this slide we're in.

If we can't get up for this...

 

[ajspurs]

Probably the most telling game of Poch’s tenure with us. Does he learn from his mistakes and be willing to reflect on how poor we are at the moment? Is he brave enough to see that playing out of form players or systems defunct because of questionable personnel selections are seriously hindering our cohesion and success at the moment?

Whatever the issues are, and he’s a much more knowing man than me when it comes to football, he’s got to get hold of this positive dynamic he often speaks of and infuse the squad with it once again.

I’m baffled by the Vertonghen situation, but it hints at serious discord in some elements of life at the club. He’s one of our best players, has been a loyal servant throughout the turmoils we’ve faced (AVB, Sherwood) and is a huge presence in the changing room. If we lose him and Toby next season, we’re in serious trouble so I’d hope we’d be doing everything to keep him with us for longer.

I think while many of us feel a return to our old style of play with a screening midfielder will allow us to push our fullbacks further up the pitch, we need to be careful not to put all our faith in Dier, the only natural DM in the squad with any meaningful experience. This is too simplistic a solution; he looked slow and cumbersome last season and if anything screams temporary scapegoat it’s us expecting his inclusion to suddenly change our dynamic. It won’t. Not by itself anyway. There are many more things that need addressing too.


Often when we’ve had a dip in form under Poch, we’ve got ourselves back on track, usually against teams like Arsenal so it’ll be interesting to see how we respond against them. I am concerned though because our turgid, anemic style of play isn’t a blip, it’s been like this for months. A good manager should be able to change this, and so far we’re not seeing that. It’s been said many times that Levy went all out to get Poch’s main targets this summer, if true that’s a statement of faith from the club. But equally, it means that Poch doesn’t get the same leeway he got last year when we bought no one. And there hasn’t been a World Cup to disrupt ours (or anyone else’s) preseason.

There can’t really be any more excuses for the terrible football we’re seeing all the time. Perhaps Poch’s most challenging obstacle now is himself. Good managers are practical beasts, able to analyse and evaluate. Really good ones combine these qualities with a willingness to be honest with themselves about themselves. Being principled is a fine quality. Being dogmatic isn’t

This is the most frustrating thing. Not that we're playing badly, but that we're seeing the main factors that contribute to those poor performances being repeated time after time.

I think we'll see a few of those mistakes before a ball is even kicked in the team selection, the main one being Sanchez selected again and then on the pitch I unfortunately think it's nailed on that we will continue to see slow aimless, directionless, hopeful and clueless football being played out there on the pitch again. Would be nice to maybe see a visible change in the way we play, something that's been worked on in training and seeing an upgrade in our intensity on the pitch but I can't see that happening at all right now.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

This is the most frustrating thing. Not that we're playing badly, but that we're seeing the main factors that contribute to those poor performances being repeated time after time.

I think we'll see a few of those mistakes before a ball is even kicked in the team selection, the main one being Sanchez selected again and then on the pitch I unfortunately think it's nailed on that we will continue to see slow aimless, directionless, hopeful and clueless football being played out there on the pitch again. Would be nice to maybe see a visible change in the way we play, something that's been worked on in training and seeing an upgrade in our intensity on the pitch but I can't see that happening at all right now.

Which is a huge problem if it continues: football is littered with managers who lost their jobs because they were unable or unwilling to adapt to blindingly obvious problems. Poch is one of my favourite managers but he really needs to sort this out. And no one can accuse me of being knee jerk when I think that his position could be in trouble by the end of the season if this continues. This isn’t a blip, or mini downturn, we’ve been aimless for months and months.

I never expected us to be a fully cohesive unit three games into the season, and I’ve posted a few times that we’re a team in transition but I’m not sure that’s what we’re seeing. Nothing seems to have changed from last season

 

[Deleted member 29446]

I would like to see Eriksen and 10 other players who are ready to fight for each other. I don't even care who it's. I hope Poch mix is up. If the 11 players selected can't sort them self out for a NLD, something is clearly off, and something is going on behind the scenes.

 

[cjbyid]

Certainly worth giving Dier a start if ndombele is out again. Vertonghen too obviously.

I think poch will stick with Sissoko & winks unfortunately if ndombele is out.

 

[ajspurs]

Which is a huge problem if it continues: football is littered with managers who lost their jobs because they were unable or unwilling to adapt to blindingly obvious problems. Poch is one of my favourite managers but he really needs to sort this out. And no one can accuse me of being knee jerk when I think that his position could be in trouble by the end of the season if this continues. This isn’t a blip, or mini downturn, we’ve been aimless for months and months.

I never expected us to be a fully cohesive unit three games into the season, and I’ve posted a few times that we’re a team in transition but I’m not sure that’s what we’re seeing. Nothing seems to have changed from last season

Agreed. Even years back when we had Bentaleb, Mason, Townsend etc. You could see the way we were trying to play, you could see the high energy, high press tactics being employed but like you say I don't know what I'm seeing at the moment. It's that stubbornness that really irritates me, like how he'll almost never change the team at HT, even if he's watching absolute dog shit being played. Yesterday for example, Eriksen and Lo Celso should have been on from HT. I would have said so even if it was 0-0 but especially as we were a goal down. When they did come on, even though that was on 62 minutes, it still felt like a race against time for them to change things. They should have had that extra 15 minutes on the pitch.

 

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Sanchez will DEF play in this. He has the pace.

I am presuming Ndombele will be back.

I would seriously go back to basics in this game. I think this game will suit GLC as we will need to hit them on the counter

His pace is really overrated. I don’t think he’s any quicker than any other Centre half we have personally. Even if he was pacey it doesn’t matter if you get yourself into horrible positions constantly

 

[pelayo59]

His pace is really overrated. I don’t think he’s any quicker than any other Centre half we have personally. Even if he was pacey it doesn’t matter if you get yourself into horrible positions constantly

Can't find stats now, but I saw Sky Sports stats. He is the fastest CB in the league. Or TOP3 iirc.

Lloris
KWP(if fit)/Aurier - Toby - Davinson - Davies
Ndombele - Winks
Lucas - Eriksen - Son
Kane

 

[ajspurs]

Can't find stats now, but I saw Sky Sports stats. He is the fastest CB in the league. Or TOP3 iirc.

I do think he is fast, but it doesn't mean that much when your defensive skills aren't up to scratch. Alderweireld is half as fast yet doesn't get himself into near as much trouble.

 

[dudu]

Going to be a very interesting game.

Definitely not a better footballing said than us nor will they bus park so we should have some space to actually play some football.

Will we?

Can we keep Pepe and Aub quiet?

Think this might be a high scoring bonanza and genuinely have no idea which way it's going to go.

 

[NickHSpurs]

Lloris
Aurier Toby Jan Rose
Dier N'Dombele
Son Eriksen Lamela
Kane

It's time to put Jan back in the back four and time to let Dier protect them.

 

[scat1620]

..genuinely have no idea which way it's going to go.

Everybody else does.

 

[scat1620]

Qualifying what I'm about to say by acknowledging that the following is a lot of ifs, buts and maybes which may never come to pass and therefore could easily end up being some irrelevant bullshit from your favourite irrelevant bullshitter, but...

If we go to Arsenal and don't start with Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Eriksen in the starting XI, and then we go on to lose the game, that might be the straw that breaks my camel's back and could cause me to say P*** O** for the first time.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Qualifying what I'm about to say by acknowledging that the following is a lot of ifs, buts and maybes which may never come to pass and therefore could easily end up being some irrelevant bullshit from your favourite irrelevant bullshitter, but...

If we go to Arsenal and don't start with Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Eriksen in the starting XI, and then we go on to lose the game, that might be the straw that breaks my camel's back and could cause me to say P*** O** for the first time.

Relax. Sissoko at right back