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A worrying trend?

Second half against Liverpool was good, first half was poor. First half against Palace was quite good, second half was poor.

Would like to see at least spells where we put opponents under more pressure, have more ways of playing. But I don't really have a problem with a more defensive setup against the better teams and when having the lead, as long as we're looking threatening on the break with a good frequency of counter attacks. Been a while since we've looked really blistering on the break. Would like to see at least spells where we put opponents under more pressure, have more ways of playing.

Play better now or the time, simple really.
Hence why our a side half shots have been so low in quantity. It’s horrendous numbers in the last 4 games I believe
 
Nah I don’t agree
I get your perspective about recent games and that’s fair but I’m sure in the previous run when we were top Hugo only made something like 8 saves or something silly
And we were scoring or having high chance chances every time we attacked
Not the case in recent games though

what do you mean with your reference to United, Spam etc..? We didn’t play defensive in those games did we


I mean the goals that came in that period made it look like we were making progress in our attacking play when in reality it was just a perfect storm of Kane & Son hitting a purple patch of form together and teams not yet learning they just have to mark Kane and sit deep to shut us out.
 
I mean the goals that came in that period made it look like we were making progress in our attacking play when in reality it was just a perfect storm of Kane & Son hitting a purple patch of form together and teams not yet learning they just have to mark Kane and sit deep to shut us out.
But the lack of goals conceded did show we had made huge progress in defending
What’s cost us is a combination of individual basic errors
Vs pool there weren’t any IMO that you could dig the defence out for but up front the errors were made with our attackers missing chances that should have been taken. Their goals did came via an OG and a free header after a player was “felled”
Palace arguably Hugo made a mistake but you could focus on the free kick and the concession of that too
Vs Leicester they created nothing at all and serge gave away a horrendous penalty
Their second came from numerous errors and was an OG that came via sissoko not making it hard for Vardy
Yesterday was a great header but an unmarked man
And is it purple patch or just their actual quality as world class players
 
I dispute the scale of defensive improvements because it has come as a result of additional bodies playing deep. We know that's an effective way to shut teams.

I'm not interested in excusing things because of goals relating to individual errors - if you sit on single goal leads or are unable to increase your lead then you are leaving yourself open to errors causing you problems. That's tactical and within the managers remit to resolve.
 
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I dispute the scale of defensive improvements because it has come as a result of additional bodies playing deep. We know that's an effective way to shut teams.

I'm not interested in excusing things because of goals relating to individual errors - if you sit on single goal leads or are unable to increase your lead then you are leaving yourself open to errors causing you problems. That's tactical and within the managers remit to resolve.

if it’s effective why don’t more teams do it?
It’s because they don’t have the quality at the other end
 
I think we also have to factor in that he has given new contracts for Toby and Dier and signed Doherty, Reguillon and Rodon so the strategy can’t be all about the personnel as he has committed to 5 of the available defenders.

In terms of errors, every goal seems to be able to be traced back as preventable by the amount of analysis that is made, but sometimes it’s the law of averages that an attacking player will out jump, react, get a shot deflected etc and whilst we don’t seem to concede a lot of through balls we do concede a lot of crosses and set pieces by inviting our opponents into our half. I still feel that even within the set up some of the passing and decision making is poor and if we addressed that with drills or personnel changes it would relieve some of the pressure. We are not very good at keeping the ball, even without trying to create something.
 
Do you see signs we are progressing our attacking game?
Well I prefer to judge over a longer period myself
I’ve seen us play some very effective, clever counter attacking recently. I’ve also seen us play some shockers
That’s not new though by any means. We saw plenty of games under the last 17 months of Poch that was huff and puff with no end product. Arguably that was even less sophisticated.
Maybe it’s why it seems he wants a midfielder who can also get goals and add that extra threat. It’s the one area he hasn’t added much too in acquisitions to so far and we’re heavily linked with a quality player in sabitzer
I do think he may feel that to play a more position based game he needs players who can keep the ball. We really are short on that in midfield and if you look at the aggressive (and IMO OTT way he dug out dele) it’s an observation he has made about certain players
 
I think we also have to factor in that he has given new contracts for Toby and Dier and signed Doherty, Reguillon and Rodon so the strategy can’t be all about the personnel as he has committed to 5 of the available defenders.

In terms of errors, every goal seems to be able to be traced back as preventable by the amount of analysis that is made, but sometimes it’s the law of averages that an attacking player will out jump, react, get a shot deflected etc and whilst we don’t seem to concede a lot of through balls we do concede a lot of crosses and set pieces by inviting our opponents into our half. I still feel that even within the set up some of the passing and decision making is poor and if we addressed that with drills or personnel changes it would relieve some of the pressure. We are not very good at keeping the ball, even without trying to create something.
The last bit is key IMO
We need players who appreciate having the ball and can keep it
We’re lacking that it midfield for sure abs have a very reactive set up there
 
The last bit is key IMO
We need players who appreciate having the ball and can keep it
We’re lacking that it midfield for sure abs have a very reactive set up there
Agreed.

Wonder if that is the plan for the future with Ndombele. Lo Celso played there last season, but has been missing most of this season with injuries and fitness issues.

January might bring some solution, Ndombele or Lo Celso might bring a solution. Definitely look short a cog right now.
 
The last bit is key IMO
We need players who appreciate having the ball and can keep it
We’re lacking that it midfield for sure abs have a very reactive set up there
Yup, our midfield still has Dembele and Eriksen sized holes in it.

If only Levy had been brave back when Pochettino identified the problem but hopefully Ndombele will soon fill one of those spots and either Lo Celso will stop getting injured (annoying to see how well our 2nd choice Fernandes is doing at ManUre) or we'll get Sabitzer in January.
 
Yup, our midfield still has Dembele and Eriksen sized holes in it.

If only Levy had been brave back when Pochettino identified the problem but hopefully Ndombele will soon fill one of those spots and either Lo Celso will stop getting injured (annoying to see how well our 2nd choice Fernandes is doing at ManUre) or we'll get Sabitzer in January.
He brought him the midfielders he wanted
He spent over £100m on the two
 
Indeed, its seems to be a regular moan by s ome fans about what previous managers had/did/want to spend on players.
It’s normal
But fans shouldn’t forget the money spent on players before
Managers make mistakes and signings can fail. That’s normal
But forgetting they were actually made isn’t right IMO
 
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