It's the 5-second rule actually but otherwise you are on the money. That said I'm not too sure that we're employing Barca's pressing tactics at all, or at least we are not very good at it.
I think that the main problem there is that the fullbacks are meant to provide the width in this system and both last season and this we have lost an attacking fullback early in the season. This makes us a lot less effective going forwards and a lot easier to close out.It's true that having a small/narrow pitch isn't ideal when you want to break teams down, but the way we play under Poch and also played under AVB doesn't exactly help the matter either. We make things tight for ourselves by pushing so many of players into central positions. When we do that, so does the opposition, and when you have 18 players standing in an area of 20 square meters in and around the penalty box, it is only natural that it becomes difficult to find a route to goal. If we had kept players in wide positions there would be more space centrally.
What is it with everyone constantly looking an argument? It is perfectly possible to discuss the width of our pitch and Poch's comments without getting into people's faces or acting like Poch had broken into your house and shat in your bed whilst you were out at work.
Isn't it a problem when one or two players are essential to our whole attacking play? I thought we were trying to get away from from relying so heavily on one or twoI think that the main problem there is that the fullbacks are meant to provide the width in this system and both last season and this we have lost an attacking fullback early in the season. This makes us a lot less effective going forwards and a lot easier to close out.
Absolutely. Hopefully, the signing of Yedlin will address this.Isn't it a problem when one or two players are essential to our whole attacking play? I thought we were trying to get away from from relying so heavily on one or two
Why Pochettino must win the League Cup this season
Greg Stobart
The Tottenham manager was prepared for a poor start to his time in charge of the club but must show that he is the man to bring progress - and trophies - to north London
Mauricio Pochettino will not be surprised by Tottenham’s alarmingly poor start to the season.
In fact, he predicted it when he agreed a five-year contract to become the club’s new manager last summer.
Pochettino told chairman Daniel Levy before his arrival that it could take several months before his philosophy and ideas really took hold, likening it to Brendan Rodgers’ first season in charge of victims when the Reds finished seventh.
That has been borne out so far, with Tottenham sitting 11th in the Premier League table after nine matches, five points off the top four and just three points clear of the relegation zone a quarter of the way into the season.
Levy is a notoriously trigger-happy chairman and Pochettino is already talking like a man who is feeling the pressure of expectations at White Hart Lane, complaining about the squad’s weak mentality and blaming the small pitch for poor home performances.
Any hopes of a challenge for a Champions League place already look distant and Tottenham are embarking on another transitional season having gone through two managers on the way to finishing sixth last time out.
The best way for Pochettino to satisfy Levy and the supporters that he is the man to lead Spurs back into Europe’s elite would be to win silverware in his first season at the club.
On Wednesday he can take a step towards that goal when the Londoners face Brighton at home in the League Cup fourth round.
The competition has provided Tottenham’s last two trophy victories, in 1999 and in 2008, and can pave the way for Pochettino to start building and avoid becoming the next failed Daniel Levy experiment.
Chelsea, victims and Emirates Marketing Project are all still in the League Cup but have bigger fish to fry and will be distracted by title challenges and Champions League fixtures.
The path is open for Tottenham to stroll into the quarter-finals on Wednesday and winning the competition could ingrain in the club the winning mentality that has been so badly missing.
It could lift some of the doom and gloom that has enveloped and slowly strangled the club since Gareth Bale’s world record £86 million departure to Real Madrid last summer.
Pochettino wants time for his philosophy to permeate through the club but history would suggest that the five-year contract handed to him by Levy is symbolic rather than a statement of faith.
As concerning as the results - which includes home defeats to West Brom and Saudi Sportswashing Machine - has been the lack of signs that the squad are adapting to Pochettino’s attacking style while the mental fragility so heavily criticised by Tim Sherwood last season has not changed.
Like every Spurs manager under Levy, the Argentine works with the players he is given but he must be bemoaning the club’s failure in the summer to sign targets he identified to directly improve the first-team, such as Morgan Schneiderlin and Mateo Musacchio.
The second-rate, cheaper alternatives - including Federico Fazio, Benjamin Stambouli and Ben Davies - have only bloated the squad with yet more players below the required standard on the back of last summer’s failed £110 million spending splurge on seven internationals.
The Spurs squad is so large that players not involved in the 18-man matchday squad - often including internationals such as Paulinho and Vlad Chiriches - undergo a full training session and practice games back at the club’s Enfield training base on matchdays.
Pochettino has arrived to implement a long-term vision but, having praised his "unbelievable" squad in pre-season, is now discovering the real size of the challenge ahead of him. The squad is unbelievably large, but not talented.
He knows it will take time to really make his mark but Pochettino can show that he is making real progress by winning the League Cup for his new club.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2920/league-cup/2014/10/29/5586921/-
Makes a very good point on 'cheaper alternative s', seems to make Poch's task with squad even harder.
It's true that having a small/narrow pitch isn't ideal when you want to break teams down, but the way we play under Poch and also played under AVB doesn't exactly help the matter either. We make things tight for ourselves by pushing so many of players into central positions. When we do that, so does the opposition, and when you have 18 players standing in an area of 20 square meters in and around the penalty box, it is only natural that it becomes difficult to find a route to goal. If we had kept players in wide positions there would be more space centrally.
Dear Poch
The pitch.
Seriously !?
Bolleaux !
Whiffler
I think that the main problem there is that the fullbacks are meant to provide the width in this system and both last season and this we have lost an attacking fullback early in the season. This makes us a lot less effective going forwards and a lot easier to close out.
I'd argue that Danby Rose has been one of our most consistent performers this season ***shudders***I agree that the full backs are meant to provide the width in the system, but our full backs aren't that good. How often does Danny Rose hit a team mate with a cross? Walker being injured hasn't helped, but his delivery is not very good either.
But still if we'd had full backs who put in great crosses, I still think our style of play makes things difficult for us. If our wide players in attacking positions had stayed wider, the opposing full backs would also have to defend wider. And that would lead to bigger gaps centrally. There are so many players in central positions from both teams, and that is an advantage for the defending team in my opinion. It's easier to defend a tight area and equally more difficult for attackers to find space, naturally.
Paulinho and Chiriches have just fallen down the pecking order because of the emergence of Mason, Bentaleb and Dier - that's something to be celebrated.
It's also very naive to write off Fazio, Stambouli and Davies too when they are clearly just being eased in gently.
I'd argue that Danby Rose has been one of our most consistent performers this season ***shudders***
I agree that the full backs are meant to provide the width in the system, but our full backs aren't that good. How often does Danny Rose hit a team mate with a cross? Walker being injured hasn't helped, but his delivery is not very good either.
But still if we'd had full backs who put in great crosses, I still think our style of play makes things difficult for us. If our wide players in attacking positions had stayed wider, the opposing full backs would also have to defend wider. And that would lead to bigger gaps centrally. There are so many players in central positions from both teams, and that is an advantage for the defending team in my opinion. It's easier to defend a tight area and equally more difficult for attackers to find space, naturally.
I'd argue that Danby Rose has been one of our most consistent performers this season ***shudders***
I agree, but his delivery in the final third is rarely very good. He did put in two good balls against Newcastel to be fair.