Tottenham Vs Liverpool: Match Thread

[thebenjamin]

When are people going to stop presuming the manager's post match comments are what he says to the players? Surely we all know a little bit more about football by now.

 

[lukadownthelane]

What comments?

About how it was a good performance

 

[Metalhead]

What comments?

You know...his comments. The commenty ones.

 

[lukadownthelane]

When are people going to stop presuming the manager's post match comments are what he says to the players? Surely we all know a little bit more about football by now.

Well obviously but after a performance like that it's clearly BS and not at all what the fans want to hear.

 

[Gb160]

About how it was a good performance

Don't be naive...he's not gonna call it shit and start calling players out in public is he?
If he was saying this to the players off camera then there'd be cause for worry.

 

[rossdapep]

We have yet to totally dominate a team in the middle of the park, which we did so often last year and this is possibly another reason why our front four aren't clicking, as the transition is not as seamless as it needs to be.

Dembele will fix this. However we can't expect or rely on Dembele throughout the campaign, especially with CL football too.

With Dembele last year we actually had a fair few games in which we didn't create loads of chances but his presence in the middle made it extremely difficult for the opposition to do anything of note and helped us regain possession quickly, I think this in itself helped us break the will of teams even when our front four were not at it - that has been seriously lacking so far. I think we can take comfort in the fact that we have actually taken 5 points so far.

 

[neilmcnab]

I feel Poch is trying to get his new signings into the team, at the cost of tactical balance. Kane playing deeper to accommodate Janssen, and two DMs to accommodate Wanyama means we lose the balance we had last season.

I'm fine with those two signings as squad depth, and backups, but I'm not convinced they should be actual starters. Dier needs a ball playing pivot next to him, a la Bentaleb, and Eriksen should be the hook with Kane the striker.

It really is that simple, don't fix what isn't broke.

I'm also yet to see anything from Onomah that makes me genuinely rate him.

onomah is a young player he has fight and skills, even when on the ground,
i am more concerned about kane, he tries to do too much, hurried free kicks, that end up turning over possession, and gets us on the back foot.
kane needs to be taking up good positions on the pitch. positions that allow him to create options to score.
again our depth is not up to scratch. we lack creative depth, and pace and power up top. imo.
can we also remember we cannot start the same set of 11 players in all the matches, its common sense. so for those who point out that this player and that player is not a starter? thats unrealistic.
the team would end up with total burn out by december.
factor in tiredness/ injury/suspensions/form, etc.

 

[lukadownthelane]

Don't be naive...he's not gonna call it shit and start calling players out in public is he?
If he was saying this to the players off camera then there'd be cause for worry.

Did I suggest that? Don't be patronising. It's a big difference between slagging off players in public and admitting that we weren't at our best.

 

[KeithStone]

But what options does he have mainly a bench full of boys, you can see the lack of depth and quality at his disposal.

But that's not true, is it?

That's the options he gave himself today, by not having Trippier, Wimmer, Chadli or N'Jie on the bench and then choosing not to use Son.

 

[markiespurs]

Not a great performance today, which was'nt helped by the piss poor refereeing

We really need Kane, Ali and Eriksen to find their form again, Eriksen in particular has been woefull so far this season.

 

[Indisguise]

It's amazing how shit we can be without Dembele.

 

[Good Doctor M]

Perfect performance from Poch going into the end of the transfer window; grinded out a draw we didn't deserve while highlighting the absolute need to get the cheque book out.

10/10 from everyone out there today. Taking Harry Kane off because of exhaustion and throwing in a kid who needs another few years to develop like that, was a masterstroke.

 

[Gb160]

Did I suggest that? Don't be patronising. It's a big difference between slagging off players in public and admitting that we weren't at our best.

I just find it naive that anyone takes a word of what he says, in an interview he has no choice in making, as indicative of what he actually thinks.

 

[whitesocks]

We seemed to be short of numbers all over the pitch, which I guess means they significantly out worked us.
We could not play our normal game until the 85th min after they had tired.
That is when we should have crunched them, but by then MP seemed to be happy with the draw.
We did not look the CL side and hardly worked a poor keeper - MP has a lot of work to do in the weeks off.

 

[StartingPrice]

We really do need some players in if he's not going to play Chadli and Son. That first XI is going to get flogged within an inch of their lives and performances are going to suffer even more. It's no way to treat any of the coaching or playing staff.

Sadly it seems that Chadli's time is past, he looks to be off. We have no idea why he didn't bring Son on - he may still have some psychological instability from the OIympics - he was visibly upset by it all. Doesn't mean he won't be played in the future. Just have to trust that Poch knew, for a variety of reasons, who it would have been right to put on and bring off the bench today.

 

[thelak]

for me we over performed massively last season. At the start after the Berahino debacle most were thinking 6th would be about right and then various players stepped up and others around us faltered

It seems we are hoping that the togetherness of a young squad plus a couple of additions keep us in the top 4 when all of those around us have invested in significantly superior players and in 3 cases have installed 3 of the top managers in the world - all more experienced and more successful than Poch

My fear is by standing still we have taken a big step back and have a young but mentally fatigued squad that has big heart but will struggle to get close to the momentum we had last season

For the first time since he has been here Poch has to take part of the blame for shape of the squad and how he is using it - that bench today was unbelievably underwhelming and of course we know he has his hands partially tied but we are still being run with the bottom line in mind when plenty around us are willing to gamble. We seem to be operating a c2013/14 transfer policy in 2016 when the rules have changed

 

[aldarion]

I feel that there's a bit of pressure on the players, a kind of hangover from the end of last season. From the home game vs palace last the team clicked, they seemed to play with the freedom of youth.
This season they have to adapt to being a serious top team , this coupled with some uncertainty as to who's leaving /coming must be somewhat unsettling.
I watched from the east stand today and felt it was close, we just didn't quite click.
Altogether a good game, made fantastic because of a long chat with Cliff jones and John Pratt.
COYS.

 

[neilmcnab]

for me we over performed massively last season. At the start after the Berahino debacle most were thinking 6th would be about right and then various players stepped up and others around us faltered

i don't think you can call consistent good performances, over performing.
we were very consistent last term out.
the pressure now is that we
set a standard, and the questions arise can we match or better that.
however last term , we did fall off our high levels, late on , mainly due to the not so high standards of the other members of the squad, masons, chadli, carroll, bents trips.
and the over reliance and excessive use of kane upfront.
liverpool has 3/4 strikers, as do arse, and manu/citeh
we are over reliant on our quality few.
posh gave the others a chance and they showed him that they were incapable of finishing the job.
the main issue we have is competitiveness, too many of the above mentioned players do not have that edge.

 

[Tucker]

I still don't think our players look ready for the season. They just aren't clocking and creating chances yet like they were last season. A few more games and hopefully we will find our form. I think the blame lies with the disjointed preseason, the euros and a daft trip around the world really didn't help.

 

[DiamondLites]

It was painfully slow at times today, a lack of zip and invention really stifled our play and we didn't carve out chances like we usually do at home

Eriksen was woeful, seriously poor and in many ways personified our play. No one really played well, bar Rose and Vorm. Wanyama looked good in patches, limited and not particularly defensively aware in others

Now I feel Poch didn't cover himself in glory today, the team from the off didn't look right to me with 2 DMs none of which particularly good at receiving the ball under pressure vs their high press. The bench was underwhelming to say the least, I get that Chadli has been told he can leave but he is here, training and available and if nothing else he gives us an option on the bench. Winks came in about 90 mins too late, and bringing Onamah on for Kane when we are looking for a winner and leaving the insipid Eriksen in was baffling to me and the rest of the south stand around me

Oh, and the referee was utterly clueless today

Probably a good point on the face of it, but they were there for the taking. Mind you, they're probably saying the same about us