OMT - Spurs v Villa

[Raziel]

I'd add that we are also very frustrating to watch, at the moment. When we move up a gear, it feels like we're up there with the very best in the league. Unfortunately, the rest of the time, we look incredibly sloppy. Our backline looked like a bunch of amateur players for the first half hour, with hardly two players on the same wavelength. Credit to Toby for keeping his head up after his horrible mistake, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Oddly enough, watching the game on TV, I was under the impression that we had more problem dealing with the wind than they did, particularly in defence.

It may be a bit of an over-simplification but, to me, Mourinho's teams often look like the great Italian sides from the 80s: the opposition always feel like there's something they could have done to win the game, but they always end up losing by the odd goal. That may be what we'll look like at some point in the future but right now, our defending is just too mediocre to emulate these teams in the short term. I'm not sure our defenders have the right meteorology for that, except maybe for Tanganga. The others are either too attack-minded (Aurier) or just seem prone to making mistakes (everyone else).

As far as individualities are concerned, I voted for Moura for man of the match, if only because it's uncommon to see such a talented attacking player (let alone a Brazilian) willing to work so hard for the team. On the flip side, he lacks the freshness to make better choices and he tends to be a little predictable but his attitude is commendable, I think.

Also, not a fan of the Dier-Winks partnership, myself. I can't see what others see in them. Their positioning is ok but I'm not a fan of 'all-rounders' - I believe that it's easier to succeed at a higher level when you have more clear-cut characteristics to your game.

The Dier/Winks partnership is not part of the plan, think we all need to acknowledge the side put out was in full anticipation that this was the weakest opponent out of 3 in a week, this was the game to take liberties.

I do agree that the opposition (fans and pundits) due to how we are playing have probably a false sense of what they could/should get out of game. I disagree that at full strength we will win by occasional goal, if Harry was playing yesterday I could have seen that as a comfortable 4-1 type win.

This side in the counter attack phase (just flashes at momenet) looks like we can tear an opponent apart, on clinical days there will be some fun scorelines.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Noticed this before. Admittedly they are both greedy so and sos, but I fear it may go deeper. I noticed Lucas is not even really celebrating Son's goals recently.

He celebrated with him after the penalty rebound yesterday.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I need to write after watching that. Its so stressful these days watching spurs. We give any team a chance. How shocking were Villa though in defense. We really should have had about 5 goal today or maybe more. Some decent goal keeping from Reina but most of the shots were right down the middle. That penalty from son was awful as well. Seems he wants the keeper to move, but if he does not he goes left. He needs to change that up if we get another penalty.

It was a weird game. The front 4 rotated around and we gave them so many problems with the man in down the side. Dier, what can I say about Dier. Townsend described it perfectly when he said that both he and Drinkwater are plodding around games. Hesitant and slow to re-act. But its not his speed. There was one moment where Davies got done and Dier chased down their Right Winger. So he still has the foot speed. He just looks like the energy isn't there. The instant re-action has gone.

The Own Goal. Everyone seems to be blaming Toby. Yes he hesitated, but its in the 6 yard box. Hugo is closer to when it bounces when the cross starts but hesitates and then retreats. He looked awful on all the crosses coming in today. Oh for the day of an Erik The Viking when he would just claim everything.

Was Sad to see Tanganga on the bench. Davies is slow and got done more than once. We could have done with Japhet's height and aggression for corners today. I thought Winks had a good game and was all over and showed his pace and energy. The game was gagging for Lo Celso to come on earlier than he did.

We won. Thats the main point. But we got done in possession again. Look so open in defence and we are missing so many chances. We did deserve to win today though.

I agree with every point you make here. I just added my vote for Winks MoTM, I have criticised him on numerous occasions this season but the last few weeks he has been back to his best I think.

Take Dier out of this team and replace him with a decent player (Soumare please Mr Levy) and we would instantly be more solid.

 

[Raziel]

I agree with every point you make here. I just added my vote for Winks MoTM, I have criticised him on numerous occasions this season but the last few weeks he has been back to his best I think.

Take Dier out of this team and replace him with a decent player (Soumare please Mr Levy) and we would instantly be more solid.

Take the same lineup as yesterday

- Start with two of Lo Celso/Winks/N'dombele instead of Dier +Winks and put Kane up front

I don't even think the game would be a contest.

We don't need a DM against brick like Villa, against better teams we still need

- a DM, two other FB options and a long term replacement/rotation for Toby

 

[Finney Is Back]

That's why I think he'll end up at West Ham. The only role he can play is big fish in a brick-stained puddle because nobody else would accept him hitting 25 pot shots per match and scoring 1 in every 250 of them.

He is WAY too good (and expensive) for West Ham. He will end up at one of the big 6. It is clear that he is a very good player that would benefit from being surrounded with better players. I thought that if anything Grealish was probably too unselfish yesterday. He would sometimes be better off going himself than trying to make a pass to a teammate, not because the teammate wasn't better positioned, but because their quality is just so much lower than Grealish's. He wouldn't suffer from that same problem at Spurs (or other top 6 clubs).

 

[Kandi1977]

The Dier/Winks partnership is not part of the plan, think we all need to acknowledge the side put out was in full anticipation that this was the weakest opponent out of 3 in a week, this was the game to take liberties.

I do agree that the opposition (fans and pundits) due to how we are playing have probably a false sense of what they could/should get out of game. I disagree that at full strength we will win by occasional goal, if Harry was playing yesterday I could have seen that as a comfortable 4-1 type win.

This side in the counter attack phase (just flashes at momenet) looks like we can tear an opponent apart, on clinical days there will be some fun scorelines.

Fortunately Villa decided to match us playing with 10 (+Dier), by playing Drinkwater.

 

[Finney Is Back]

We need to buy upamecano, aarons and soumare this summer whilst letting go of vertonghen, walker-peters, aurier, rose, wanyama, dier and sissoko.

I would also offer dele to barcelona as they seem to be looking for an attacking midfielder and the world still believes the dele of two years ago still exists. Due to that we might get around 70m, which would be utterly amazing when you think what we could get to replace him with that type of money.

Doesn't make sense to let go of our first choice right back. Also doesn't make sense to sell Sissoko (unless we get a decent bid for him). The rest of them seemingly aren't playing anyway so can go. Foyth and Lamela are two other players that we wouldn't miss (the latter due to his appalling injury record).

 

[Finney Is Back]

The lad I’ve read about discretely being linked is Celtics CM Ntcham

If going to Celtic it would be their young centre forward Edouoard that I would most like us to be signing.

 

[Finney Is Back]

That big Danish centre half they got is pretty good as well.

Isn't he just on loan from a bigger club though?

 

[DeanoAustin]

Fortunately Villa decided to match us playing with 10 (+Dier), by playing Drinkwater.

I thought Dier did pretty well yesterday. I recall one very crucial clearance at 0-1 and a few great passes (one in particular that Alli or Son f**kd up). He did give the ball away cheaply on two occasions early on but other than that was arguably our best player until he went off. And I say that as someone who doesn’t rate him as a midfielder. It was his best game for us in a long time.

Drinkwater, on the other hand, was terrible.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Take the same lineup as yesterday

- Start with two of Lo Celso/Winks/N'dombele instead of Dier +Winks and put Kane up front

I don't even think the game would be a contest.

We don't need a DM against brick like Villa, against better teams we still need

- a DM, two other FB options and a long term replacement/rotation for Toby

When you play without a defensive minded midfielder in your team it can make it very easy for the opposition to counter attack you. Additionally in that came (and with Mourinho's tactics in general) we had less possession than our opponents. If conceding possession then you need to have at least one midfielder who is a good defender. I like Soumare is he isn't a true out and out DM, he has lots of quality on the ball (especially in terms of his ball carrying) but he is a physical beast and tends to want to play a bit deeper than (e.g.) Ndombele.

I read the Guardian's report of our game yesterday and this particular part caught my eye.....

If a high‑class defensive midfielder tends to be a cornerstone of a Mourinho side, he instead had a low-class one. Eric Dier’s recall prompted suggestions he was primed to man-mark Jack Grealish, just as he used to detail Ander Herrera to be Eden Hazard’s constant companion. Mourinho has rarely been afraid to act the underdog, to concentrate on stopping even an inferior side and to strip a game of its drama.

Perhaps he should have borrowed a tactic from his past. Or maybe he simply concluded he had no one capable of silencing the irrepressible Grealish, of taking Villa’s best player out of the game and reducing the contest to 10 against 10. Serge Aurier kept fouling him – “three whacks on Jack,” as the Villa manager Dean Smith phrased it – while Toby Alderweireld could not get close enough to halt him. Dier, meanwhile, spent much of his time pointing, some of it shouting and not enough actually doing. At 26, he already looks an ex-footballer.
​

It is unfortunate, yet oh so true. We're kind of playing with 10 and a half men at the moment when he is in the team.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Fortunately Villa decided to match us playing with 10 (+Dier), by playing Drinkwater.

Indeed. He is also a shadow of the player he was 3 or 4 seasons ago.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I thought Dier did pretty well yesterday. I recall one very crucial clearance at 0-1 and a few great passes (one in particular that Alli or Son f**kd up). He did give the ball away cheaply on two occasions early on but other than that was arguably our best player until he went off. And I say that as someone who doesn’t rate him as a midfielder. It was his best game for us in a long time.

Drinkwater, on the other hand, was terrible.

I agree that he made one fantastic pass and one good block. Other than that I thought the game completely passed him by. He just always seems to be 2 or 3 yards short of where he should be, it's like the mind is still willing but the body is not able.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I agree that he made one fantastic pass and one good block. Other than that I thought the game completely passed him by. He just always seems to be 2 or 3 yards short of where he should be, it's like the mind is still willing but the body is not able.

The game bypassed midfield completely until Lo Celso came on for us
It was their tactic too
3 at the back and give it to Jack.

You want Soumare along with some other fans but he has a rep for being naive and error prone too so what are his strengths?

I said in here yesterday I’ve heard via some coaching guys we’re looking at a Celtic midfielder Ntcham who I’ve never seen play. When I asked why were looking at him they said £25m and consistently good at everything

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

I'd add that we are also very frustrating to watch, at the moment. When we move up a gear, it feels like we're up there with the very best in the league. Unfortunately, the rest of the time, we look incredibly sloppy. Our backline looked like a bunch of amateur players for the first half hour, with hardly two players on the same wavelength. Credit to Toby for keeping his head up after his horrible mistake, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Oddly enough, watching the game on TV, I was under the impression that we had more problem dealing with the wind than they did, particularly in defence.

It may be a bit of an over-simplification but, to me, Mourinho's teams often look like the great Italian sides from the 80s: the opposition always feel like there's something they could have done to win the game, but they always end up losing by the odd goal. That may be what we'll look like at some point in the future but right now, our defending is just too mediocre to emulate these teams in the short term. I'm not sure our defenders have the right meteorology for that, except maybe for Tanganga. The others are either too attack-minded (Aurier) or just seem prone to making mistakes (everyone else).

As far as individualities are concerned, I voted for Moura for man of the match, if only because it's uncommon to see such a talented attacking player (let alone a Brazilian) willing to work so hard for the team. On the flip side, he lacks the freshness to make better choices and he tends to be a little predictable but his attitude is commendable, I think.

Also, not a fan of the Dier-Winks partnership, myself. I can't see what others see in them. Their positioning is ok but I'm not a fan of 'all-rounders' - I believe that it's easier to succeed at a higher level when you have more clear-cut characteristics to your game.

Welcome back! Yes I voted for Moura too. I was very impressed with his pressing and tracking back as well.

 

[DeanoAustin]

I agree that he made one fantastic pass and one good block. Other than that I thought the game completely passed him by. He just always seems to be 2 or 3 yards short of where he should be, it's like the mind is still willing but the body is not able.

They were his standout moments but I thought he made a couple of other really good positive passes.

Maybe I'm wrong though coz Jose hooked him after an hour and the media seem to think the same as you.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

They were his standout moments but I thought he made a couple of other really good positive passes.

Maybe I'm wrong though coz Jose hooked him after an hour and the media seem to think the same as you.

No your right

Jose subbed him for a less defensive player as he knew villa would fade and Lo Celso was ready for a 30 minute run out after this injury

 

[indospurs]

An important win, scraped it.

i think at this stage the mentality and belief is all - playing well and good shape are important, but three points is massive

we have leipzig and chavs, no wonder lo celso and ndombele weren't used - we'll definitely need them in those two games against much better defenses and overall organised sides who will punish us for mistakes and if we don't take our chances

 

[scaramanga]

He is WAY too good (and expensive) for West Ham. He will end up at one of the big 6. It is clear that he is a very good player that would benefit from being surrounded with better players. I thought that if anything Grealish was probably too unselfish yesterday. He would sometimes be better off going himself than trying to make a pass to a teammate, not because the teammate wasn't better positioned, but because their quality is just so much lower than Grealish's. He wouldn't suffer from that same problem at Spurs (or other top 6 clubs).

He went himself and shot what? 5 or 6 times when he shouldn't have yesterday.

He's made to look better because their only tactic is give the ball to Grealish, Grealish dives. When they went direct they caused us a lot of problems.

 

[Pirate55]

He celebrated with him after the penalty rebound yesterday.

Didn't notice that one yesterday. Was it truly effusive - or just going through the motions?