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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

That is where a more defensive CM comes into play, Stambouli could have dropped onto Rooney ( neither Mason or Bentaleb are good at that), Fazio would then have kept a close eye on Fellaini and Walker on Young.

With Rooney playing ahead of Fellaini that would essentially see a centre back and defensive midfielder switching positions while we're defending. I really don't think that's a solution worth going for.

For me what we did in the second half worked well. When United looked long Bentaleb stuck close to Fellaini most of the time. Sure he lost some headers, but at least our back 4 was intact and organized when the ball dropped down.

Winning the initial header is great. Losing the initial header, but having your back 4 organized (and one central midfielder around-ish) is perfectly fine. Losing the initial header after a defender pushed up to challenge for it is where the problems begin. Centre backs and full backs really shouldn't be going for those duels unless they're fairly certain of winning them. The only player in our squad that can do that with a decent frequency is Fazio, but it's just one way of dealing with the problem. The easier solution is to just have Bentaleb clatter into Fallaini. Doesn't have to be Bentaleb, Stambouli could have done the same.

The problem with that solution is that it makes it difficult to press high up the pitch. 2 centre backs + the one midfielder staying deep leaves a lot of room for the other midfielder (Mason) to cover and it might just let the opponents pass their way through instead. Or rather. It demands a rather excellent work rate and great diligence from the front 4. Part of why Townsend was taken off I believe.
 
With Rooney playing ahead of Fellaini that would essentially see a centre back and defensive midfielder switching positions while we're defending. I really don't think that's a solution worth going for.

For me what we did in the second half worked well. When United looked long Bentaleb stuck close to Fellaini most of the time. Sure he lost some headers, but at least our back 4 was intact and organized when the ball dropped down.

Winning the initial header is great. Losing the initial header, but having your back 4 organized (and one central midfielder around-ish) is perfectly fine. Losing the initial header after a defender pushed up to challenge for it is where the problems begin. Centre backs and full backs really shouldn't be going for those duels unless they're fairly certain of winning them. The only player in our squad that can do that with a decent frequency is Fazio, but it's just one way of dealing with the problem. The easier solution is to just have Bentaleb clatter into Fallaini. Doesn't have to be Bentaleb, Stambouli could have done the same.

The problem with that solution is that it makes it difficult to press high up the pitch. 2 centre backs + the one midfielder staying deep leaves a lot of room for the other midfielder (Mason) to cover and it might just let the opponents pass their way through instead. Or rather. It demands a rather excellent work rate and great diligence from the front 4. Part of why Townsend was taken off I believe.


The other M/F does not have to stay deep, he just needs to be aware of the danger and react to it and that is something neither Mason or Bentaleb are good at.
 
We need a more DM focused midfielder that can get rid of the ball quickly (recycle)

No one is squad qualifies ..
 
The one person in our squad i am not convinced about is Stambouli. Longer term it could benefit us to drop out of top 4 race earlier rather than later so that we can get a better look at him.

The rest of the squad you know what they are/arent capable of and its obvious who needs to go. I dont include townsend in there as i think there have been improvements (less selfish) and we need to get rid of the players we really dont want first.

We need to stay on the evolution side, remove the players we dont want asap and then work on building the squad with the money made. Townsend can be changed next Jan Summer if needed.
 
Evolution not revolution is the key as highlighted by imcalling above

I think we have the makings of a hell of a team and this season will reap its benefits over the next as we will have a lot more players assimilated to the league. As I mentioned before against United on walker, Rose and Verts of the outfield players had played 2 seasons in this league!!!! That's pretty scary when you look at United side that had Blind as the only one who hadn't as far as I could tell

We need to add a mix of quality and youth and build the experience up as a team. That way we can stay within our budgets, not limit the progress of the suitable incumbents and see a team develop rather than individuals
 
I know its easily said but we really need to keep calm... Roll back 24 months and if you had said Jordan Henderson would have pushed gerrard out of liverpool and become starter for england people would have thought you were mental. Roll back 6 months and if you had said Liverpool would be looking at 4th you would have got the same looks.

Id go for Milner and Depay, both very difficult to get but both i think we could although guess wages with milner would be an issue.
Then probably a new CB with pace who can organise a defence, and a striker with some pace berahino is an obvious one that springs to mind.
 
I know its easily said but we really need to keep calm... Roll back 24 months and if you had said Jordan Henderson would have pushed gerrard out of liverpool and become starter for england people would have thought you were mental. Roll back 6 months and if you had said Liverpool would be looking at 4th you would have got the same looks.

Id go for Milner and Depay, both very difficult to get but both i think we could although guess wages with milner would be an issue.
Then probably a new CB with pace who can organise a defence, and a striker with some pace berahino is an obvious one that springs to mind.

I fear his attitude sadly.
 
I know its easily said but we really need to keep calm... Roll back 24 months and if you had said Jordan Henderson would have pushed gerrard out of liverpool and become starter for england people would have thought you were mental. Roll back 6 months and if you had said Liverpool would be looking at 4th you would have got the same looks.

Id go for Milner and Depay, both very difficult to get but both i think we could although guess wages with milner would be an issue.
Then probably a new CB with pace who can organise a defence, and a striker with some pace berahino is an obvious one that springs to mind.

Depay to Man Utd is practically a done deal

I like Milner, but where would he fit in Pochs system
 
I think Milner would suit a pressing team - he's a hard worker with fantastic energy levels.

yes his workrate is ideal, but in a 4-2-3-1 the only position i see he could fill would be Bentalebs role.
 
He could do Dembele's role as utility midfield sub?

At nearly 30 though I think he's maybe too old for a Poch midfield.

i think wherever he goes he will want to be a first teamer, playing every week. Why would he want to go from being a highly paid Emirates Marketing Project utility midfield sub to being a lesser paid Tottenham utility midfield sub
 
I fear his attitude sadly.

After i posted i thought actually the one person i wouldnt want was berahino. Think attitude is the one think we have got wrong over the years.
Milner played number 10, left wing and right wing last night and may have also ended up in CM.

I think i would always start him, but maybe in different positions depending on who was out of form, or who the opposition was, would have started RM against Utd.

Agree his issue is that he by nature can play anywhere but i don't see that as an issue. Every big game there is either England or Emirates Marketing Project chances are all the new signings will be on the bench and whichever manager is in place will turn to him.
Right attitude, still got a decent turn of speed, won PremierLeagues and played championsleague.
 
Do you not think he could play alongside Bentaleb?

im not sure he has the forward passing range or awareness needed for that position. He is not really a central midfielder. Right now we have Bentaleb, Mason and Stambouli, we need one more and we need a specialist imo, someone who knows the position.
 
im not sure he has the forward passing range or awareness needed for that position. He is not really a central midfielder. Right now we have Bentaleb, Mason and Stambouli, we need one more and we need a specialist imo, someone who knows the position.

I think we need cover for Mason, more than for Bentaleb (which Stambouli is).

Milner isn't assertive or forward-looking enough for the more advanced of the two IMO.

I'd be happy to let Alli and Winks shoot it out in pre-season to be Mason's understudy, with the other going out on loan.
 
With Rooney playing ahead of Fellaini that would essentially see a centre back and defensive midfielder switching positions while we're defending. I really don't think that's a solution worth going for.

For me what we did in the second half worked well. When United looked long Bentaleb stuck close to Fellaini most of the time. Sure he lost some headers, but at least our back 4 was intact and organized when the ball dropped down.

Winning the initial header is great. Losing the initial header, but having your back 4 organized (and one central midfielder around-ish) is perfectly fine. Losing the initial header after a defender pushed up to challenge for it is where the problems begin. Centre backs and full backs really shouldn't be going for those duels unless they're fairly certain of winning them. The only player in our squad that can do that with a decent frequency is Fazio, but it's just one way of dealing with the problem. The easier solution is to just have Bentaleb clatter into Fallaini. Doesn't have to be Bentaleb, Stambouli could have done the same.

The problem with that solution is that it makes it difficult to press high up the pitch. 2 centre backs + the one midfielder staying deep leaves a lot of room for the other midfielder (Mason) to cover and it might just let the opponents pass their way through instead. Or rather. It demands a rather excellent work rate and great diligence from the front 4. Part of why Townsend was taken off I believe.

Sandro done a similar job away to everton a couple of years ago to counter Lukaku, worked a treat.
 
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