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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

metalgear said:
that arsenal gameplan could've been re-used but hasn't; only poch knows why. its definitely less ground to cover camping out in our own half, if fatigue is a concern. plus we have the depth to play counter attacking football.
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And when we start playing out boring 0-0 draws at home to mid table sides people will be happy you think? If you really think we can make managers like Allardyce, Pulis, Hughes and Bruce forget all about their defensive game plan and start playing expansive attacking football and make themselves vulnerable to counter attacks at 0-0 at The Lane I must say you should think harder about this...

The "luxury" of being able to play a defensive and counter attacking game is reserved for the team that's happy with the current score. When the game kicks off that's usually not us.
 
its too simplistic to leave counterattacking football for when you're winning. you can use as a tactic within a game it to conserve energy, draw the opponents out etc. it can be employed as a tactic in different phases IN the game e.g. in the first 15 minutes of each half.

anyway my main point at the moment is that poch is getting us playing a high pressing high line game at the expense of optimal team harmony and possibly mismanaging our starting lineup. and that other strategies can be used to ensure that we keep our starting lineup strong, while still intending to win every game. selections and substitutions is where the coach makes his money on gameday. can't say so far i'm totally convinced.

only time will tell, but i expect poch will need to evolve his game and be smarter - not just disciplined and hardworking - if he intends to compete on all fronts while ensuring a steady brand of football and results.
 
metalgear said:
its too simplistic to leave counterattacking football for when you're winning. you can use as a tactic within a game it to conserve energy, draw the opponents out etc. it can be employed as a tactic in different phases IN the game e.g. in the first 15 minutes of each half.

anyway my main point at the moment is that poch is getting us playing a high pressing high line game at the expense of optimal team harmony and possibly mismanaging our starting lineup. and that other strategies can be used to ensure that we keep our starting lineup strong, while still intending to win every game. selections and substitutions is where the coach makes his money on gameday. can't say so far i'm totally convinced.

only time will tell, but i expect poch will need to evolve his game and be smarter - not just disciplined and hardworking - if he intends to compete on all fronts while ensuring a steady brand of football and results.
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Was your impression from the West Ham game that we were pressing with a high line throughout the game?

To me we do switch it up in most, if not all, of our games. What has been a great step forward is that our pressing as a team is now working much better than it has in the past for those periods where we do chose to use it.
 
its more than the west ham game, its the approach that poch is taking that requires us to start without kane or eriksen, or key goal threats.

without eriksen we saw the west ham defender and midfielders get bolder in closing down kane and dembele. and unfortunately for us the rest of the players don't create or score that much, even if given space.

i feel that we need to start with a strong spine through the team so that we can establish the shape, pace and intent. we should be daring enough to go for the goal first, and set the tone for the match. also within the game there should be variation to stop congesting the middle, go wide on the counter to take advantage of the speed we have on the wings, and relieve pressure from the players in the centre of the park.

and if we need to sub eriksen when we're trailing so be it, at least we dared to drive the game to the opponent.
 
metalgear said:
its more than the west ham game, its the approach that poch is taking that requires us to start without kane or eriksen, or key goal threats.

without eriksen we saw the west ham defender and midfielders get bolder in closing down kane and dembele. and unfortunately for us the rest of the players don't create or score that much, even if given space.

i feel that we need to start with a strong spine through the team so that we can establish the shape, pace and intent. we should be daring enough to go for the goal first, and set the tone for the match. also within the game there should be variation to stop congesting the middle, go wide on the counter to take advantage of the speed we have on the wings, and relieve pressure from the players in the centre of the park.

and if we need to sub eriksen when we're trailing so be it, at least we dared to drive the game to the opponent.
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Sounds nice, but who will provide this speed? (not going to mention accurate cross delivery at this point...)
 
metalgear said:
its more than the west ham game, its the approach that poch is taking that requires us to start without kane or eriksen, or key goal threats.

without eriksen we saw the west ham defender and midfielders get bolder in closing down kane and dembele. and unfortunately for us the rest of the players don't create or score that much, even if given space.

i feel that we need to start with a strong spine through the team so that we can establish the shape, pace and intent. we should be daring enough to go for the goal first, and set the tone for the match. also within the game there should be variation to stop congesting the middle, go wide on the counter to take advantage of the speed we have on the wings, and relieve pressure from the players in the centre of the park.

and if we need to sub eriksen when we're trailing so be it, at least we dared to drive the game to the opponent.
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I ask again: Was your impression from the West Ham game that we were pressing with a high line throughout the game?

Most managers rotate. Most managers find ways to rest their top players. We're not Real or Barca, we don't regularly get 3 or 4 nil up and can coast for the last half an hour.

You feel we need to start with a strong spine? I take it by that you mean starting the same key players every game? Poch feels that giving players some rest and rotation is more important than you seem to think. I think he knows more about their fitness levels than you do. By the way, have you noticed that we've struggled a lot less with injuries this season than most seasons? It seems to me that Poch and his fitness coaches know a thing or two about what they're doing. Very easy from the outside to just say "play this player more".

First you say that you want us to not press high and expel energy. Just sit back and defend deep, counter attack. Then you say that we should be daring enough to go for the goal first, and set the tone for the match. I struggle to see consistency in what you write and I think you're ignoring some key factors.

What I see is a need for stronger players competing with our first choice players. The step down in quality from Bentaleb, Mason, Eriksen and Kane in particular is just too damn high. Poch is forced to manage with a squad that isn't well balanced, isn't perfectly suited to his style and that is very much still a work in progress. I think he's doing very well managing that squad on multiple fronts with a very packed fixture list.

At the end of the day there's a lot of ways leading to Rome. You can be annoyed with the approach Poch chooses, but so far I struggle to see how you can complain about his results or the entertainment all things considered. You prefer something different, he prefers what he does. There's probably not just one thing that will work, but his approach is what we'll have for a while.
 
Eriktheviking said:
Massive massive balls up in terms of team selection over the last 3 games. Hope he takes note.
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Not sure what your expecting, we cant play the same team every week with the amount of games we have had. Everyone has favourites but we have to face the fact we are carrying Soldado and Lamela a lot of the time. Added into this players that should be able to come in and do a job don't seem to get it.

Soldado scores or plays a simple ball and we win that game no doubt.
 
Hes fked it up, no doubt about it. No excuse for two changes to your back 4 in an away game that you need to win in Europe!
I cant understand him leaving Lamela on for 90 mins as,he was beyond poor, the kid is never going to cut it at Spurs!
 
Spurmac1974 said:
Hes fked it up, no doubt about it. No excuse for two changes to your back 4 in an away game that you need to win in Europe!
I cant understand him leaving Lamela on for 90 mins as,he was beyond poor, the kid is never going to cut it at Spurs!
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Walker needed a rest and chiriches did ok
Fazio won this last year and so experienced in winning away in europe (Push to star DIer 3 games in a week)
Davies less attacking than Rose who nobody seems to rate anyway
 
imcallingbullsh*t said:
Not sure what your expecting, we cant play the same team every week with the amount of games we have had. Everyone has favourites but we have to face the fact we are carrying Soldado and Lamela a lot of the time. Added into this players that should be able to come in and do a job don't seem to get it.

Soldado scores or plays a simple ball and we win that game no doubt.
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Yup. We dominated Fiorentina for most of the 2 legs but some poor finishing (was really hoping that Lamela would step up what with his 1-in-2 scoring record against Serie A opposition before he signed for us) and 2 clangers by our CBs turned what should have been a comfortable victory into a disappointing defeat.
 
Spot on, the gulf between the capabilities of the stand-ins, compared what is now our first 11, in huge, not in every position, but in far too many, to not have a detrimental affect.
 
Don't really think Poch got it wrong tonight, just a pathetic display by the boys. IF Bobby scores then we go on and win, it was an outrageous mistake to not score sure but a mistake none the less. Fazio, as others have said, has great experience in the Europa League and not playing Kyle was a pretty simple decision, guys needs a break, not long back of injury and cup final in three days.

Don't see how it was a poor choice .... just a poor performance
 
I think most realistic fans feared, we couldn't escape by playing a weakened team. The fact is we have now gambled on Sunday as our biggest chance of a trophy, I am a doubter but I still have slim hope that we might get lucky. I don't blame Poch as our squad isn't good enough at this level and we were punished today. He was left in a terrible position as we don't have the quality overall to deal with both games as has been proven now.
 
SteveAWOL said:
Yup. We dominated Fiorentina for most of the 2 legs but some poor finishing (was really hoping that Lamela would step up what with his 1-in-2 scoring record against Serie A opposition before he signed for us) and 2 clangers by our CBs turned what should have been a comfortable victory into a disappointing defeat.
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How do we dominate 2 legs but lose 3-1?? They had other chances too in both legs too, its too simple to blame the mistakes we were punished for. How was this going to be comfortable, we mess up at this stage nearly every time regardless of the opposition. We aren't good enough to play a lesser team when it comes to this level and you get punished every time, look at Liverpools clever policy of resting players against Madrid, got knocked out, then rest players against Besiktas and got knocked out again.
 
Well it seems Poch has put all his eggs in the league cup final basket so on Sunday we will see if he was right to

I still would have played our strongest team in Florence tonight, done our best to win, and played the same team on Sunday barring any injuries. The players are young, fit, confident, sometimes they just have to cope and get used to playing big games in close proximity to each other. That's life, they are well looked after, well rewarded.

Gutted we have gone out tonight without offering our best side.
 
I was critical of him before, but he has won me over somewhat, it's just a bad patch that will be forgotten if we win on Sunday... And even if don't, as long as we don't fall away in the league, he would have done well for his first year. Stay positive guys.
 
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