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***OMT - Spurs vs FC Barcelona***

Reading the post-match analysis its almost as if the press had a set of long pre-written articles about us not being European elite. Seems it Levy's fault for not buying a Messi, Coutinho or Suarez in the summer. Only a few short articles on Liverpool not winning again (three in a row, City to come).
 
Wanyama was thrown in at the deep end last night, I really think we should cut him some slack.
He has hardly played any game (4 games as sub?) since May and no preseason.

Every player IMHO put in a shift last night.
Very pleased with the fight they all showed.
 
StephenH said:
Wanyama was thrown in at the deep end last night, I really think we should cut him some slack.
He has hardly played any game (4 games as sub?) since May and no preseason.

Every player IMHO put in a shift last night.
Very pleased with the fight they all showed.
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Agreed
 
I'm going to look at the positives,
Lamela, I was tired just watching him.
Harry is looking like he is almost back to beast mode
Moura is showing real promise and a lot of heart.
Winks got some game time and did very well in patches.
Game time for our players returning from injury.

Let's face it barca when they want to can thump anybody, we showed a lot desire a good mentality last.

No points doesn't look good but we've played two of our hardest games, the next three are winnable and it's game on.
 
LemonadeMoney said:
You know we'll be going into our last group match, Barcelona away, needing a win and the other result to go in our favour?
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Or hopefully they have already qualified.

The two games against Eindhoven are must win. The next one away is probably the most important game of our season. We can hope that Barcelona get two wins against Inter and then Inter becomes a cup tie.
 
Very disappointed we lost but satisfied we went down fighting to Barcelona. Really thought we could get at least a draw against Barcelona but we were not helped by stupid defending. Barcelona were inspired by Messi but we helped them with our kamikaze defending. It was really annoying to concede so early in the match. We always seem to be our worst enemies ! There was no need for Lloris to come out like that and our defence just stood there watching. Conceding so early was bad but it became worse when we went 0-2 down. We improved in the second half and did well to get 2 goals but again were let down by poor defending.

Credit to Kane and Lamela for the goals. It was a well-taken goal by Kane after being set up by Lamela. Lamela had a poor game for his standards in the first half but came alive in the second half, getting the assist for Kane's goal and scoring a goal himself when his shot was deflected into goal. Amazingly, Lamela has now scored in 3 consecutive matches in 3 different competitions ! He now has 4 goals and 3 assists in 6 matches this season. Too bad he had to go off injured late in the second half as our attack became toothless after he went. I am convinced we would have made it 3-3 or even won the game if Lamela had played the whole match. The fact our attack became toothelss after Lamela went off against both Inter and Barcelona only shows how important Lamela is to us now. Moura played well in patches but he seems to have lost his goal scoring touch. Moura really should have made it 3-3 when he had a one-on-one chance but let the defender block his shot. Son had another poor match but at least he assisted the goal for Lamela. We badly missed Eriksen and Alli in attack.

I think we lost this match in midfield. We should have started more defensively with Wanyama and Dier or Sissoko in midfield. Our midfield were too open with Wanyama and Winks unable to control the midfield in the first half. We improved greatly in the second half but the match was lost by then. Felt Sissoko would have helped our midfield to stop Barcelona more instead of the inexperienced Winks.

Our defence badly let us down in this match. We should not have conceded so early in the match which only put us under undue pressure from the start. It was a big blunder by Lloris to come out so far out and failing to reach the ball. Our defence too should have reacted faster to block the Barcelona player shooting into open goal. We badly missed Vertonghen as Sanchez made too many mistakes. Sanchez really should have blocked the Barcelona player from crossing for their second goal. Our defence, including Alderweireld, were also too slow to react for their third and fourth goals.

Our failure to sign any players come back to affect us in this match. With Vertonghen, Eriksen, Alli and Dembele out injured, our options were very limited to overcome a big team like Barcelona. This match shows we need to sign a reliable defender, defensive midfielder and a back-up striker to improve the squad. After losing to Inter and Barcelona, it is going to be very difficult to progress to the next stage of the CL. Let's hope we will have all our best players available for the remaining matches in the CL.
 
Going 2-0 down before 30 minutes against a very good Barca side, with half our 1st XI sidelined, it could easily have ended very badly. But the team shoved incredible fight and will, and we clawed our way back in the game TWICE!
In the end we threw everything at it, and could have gotten the equalizer. Instead our captain decided that one massive brainfart wasn't enough, and gifted them yet another goal.
We did better than I expected, given the circumstances, and I'm actually pretty confident we'll get something at Camp Nou, if we can field our strongest team.
 
Far more positives than negatives last night

Positives
should have fallen apart but didnt
Winks showed that he can become dembele replacement / player we hoped he could
Kane showed he is heading back to form
Lamela showed he can provide an alternative to eriksen

Negatives
Lloris in big games

Confirmation
Wanyama is limited, he isn't good enough to pick up ball from keeper and move it forward / keep possession, if other CM picks up ball he tends to move into areas that block off the ball forward and stand in way of the front 3.
No coincidence that Winks was released when Dier came on, Dier hasn't been on great form, however he is far better at picking up ball from keeper, or keeping out of the way when other CM picks up ball.
I suspect Wanyama will go the way of Zakora, Palacios, and when our style of play matures an out and out DM just doesn't fit in our best team.
 
AdamB said:
Yep, I agree. I said all summer that we needed 1-2 net additions, and that could have made all the difference last night

I note that the many people on here who were saying over the summer 'its fine if we dont sign anyone...getting current players to sign new deals is effectively the same' have gone quiet
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This argument will be brought up every time we lose or play badly. Tbf it has some merit when you see that neither Wanyama nor Dembele are the players they once were, Dier does not convince in midfield and Winks is injury prone. In addition Llorente has not worked and neither has Janssen.

But if we can see these problems I doubt very much that Poch and Levy cannot. I doubt that they said to themselves "the squad is fine..." despite the message Poch delivers in public. So for me there must have been another reason for the inactivity in the summer transfer market.

Maybe Poch wanted players approaching their prime or thereabouts who could join the first team almost immediately rather than potential. Mouras rather than Nkoudous. Perhaps they were not available. Perhaps we expected to shift Dembele and Wanyama to free up wages and create space in squad, but we couldn't. Maybe the additional stadium cost.

I think, looking at the state of the squad in certain areas we could pay a price this season for not strengthening those areas. But that decision is unlikely to have been made just because Poch and Levy were satisfied with the squad. I believe there was a more complex decision behind it.
 
90291Spur said:
Fcukety fcukety fcuk.
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Yeah...couldn't agree more mate...spot on.

An Insightful and thoughtful comment which mirrors my own thoughts on the events of last night.

The roosterer al has been booted off the the ball and she must fight harder to regain her perch.
 
StephenH said:
Reasons for no new signings
  1. The Stadium and the humungous cost thereof
  2. Could not sell deadwood
  3. Inflated market
  4. The window was shortened
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5. Levy was abducted by aliens who were unable to carry out efficient anal probe experiments...this slight delay meant we missed out on kovacic and Malcolm.
 
Nigeyman said:
5. Levy was abducted by aliens who were unable to carry out efficient anal probe experiments...this slight delay meant we missed out on kovacic and Malcolm.
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Now you are just being silly. Everybody I thought knew Levy was from the Jovian System. His grandmother Lette ran a hotel on Jupiter XIV.
 
Robspur12 said:
This argument will be brought up every time we lose or play badly. Tbf it has some merit when you see that neither Wanyama nor Dembele are the players they once were, Dier does not convince in midfield and Winks is injury prone. In addition Llorente has not worked and neither has Janssen.

But if we can see these problems I doubt very much that Poch and Levy cannot. I doubt that they said to themselves "the squad is fine..." despite the message Poch delivers in public. So for me there must have been another reason for the inactivity in the summer transfer market.

Maybe Poch wanted players approaching their prime or thereabouts who could join the first team almost immediately rather than potential. Mouras rather than Nkoudous. Perhaps they were not available. Perhaps we expected to shift Dembele and Wanyama to free up wages and create space in squad, but we couldn't. Maybe the additional stadium cost.

I think, looking at the state of the squad in certain areas we could pay a price this season for not strengthening those areas. But that decision is unlikely to have been made just because Poch and Levy were satisfied with the squad. I believe there was a more complex decision behind it.
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It doesn't have to be that complex. It could simply be that they couldn't get a better player at an acceptable price for any position they wanted to strengthen. The squad is good so getting a better player if far harder than it was for us in the past and then we are competing with richer clubs. Sometimes what they say might be true.

The short window and world cup no doubt made it more difficult. While selling the deadwood was important for a full slate of dealings, I'm sure money could have been found for one player if the deal was right. There is no point in buying a player just to say they've bought one. How many of the players who didn't work out were late buys? Perhaps there with be another Moura in January.

Or Levy waiting until 11pm on August 31st through force of habit
 
jts1882 said:
Reading the post-match analysis its almost as if the press had a set of long pre-written articles about us not being European elite. Seems it Levy's fault for not buying a Messi, Coutinho or Suarez in the summer. Only a few short articles on Liverpool not winning again (three in a row, City to come).
Click to expand...
Ive noticed 5his already, been reading we were embarassed etc etc and as you say plucky Liverpool lost
 
Kandi1977 said:
Going 2-0 down before 30 minutes against a very good Barca side, with half our 1st XI sidelined, it could easily have ended very badly. But the team shoved incredible fight and will, and we clawed our way back in the game TWICE!
In the end we threw everything at it, and could have gotten the equalizer. Instead our captain decided that one massive brainfart wasn't enough, and gifted them yet another goal.
We did better than I expected, given the circumstances, and I'm actually pretty confident we'll get something at Camp Nou, if we can field our strongest team.
Click to expand...

Spot on. Lloris fudge ups and Messi were essentially the difference last night.
 
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