OMT *** TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V IPSWICH TOWN *** Sun 10th Nov, 14:00 BST, The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

[Kandi1977]

Something Ange did well a couple of times at the end of last season was take off the 8 or 6 at half time and put Deki into the middle with Madders and just have one CDM. We spun a few games round doing that.

He’s gone the other way since the Brighton game and relied on Sarr more to play with Bentancur or Bissouma.

Today it just seemed he wanted to reward Sarr with another start after his decent game vs Villa when in fact we needed a bit more creativity. That’s a tactical mis step.

Then not adding Madders until the 82nd minute when you’re losing at home to Ipswich is quite worrying stuff. Not least for the player himself. Very odd.

What has Maddison done lately to warrant much playing time? And I can't say that what he did when he came on made me think "yeah, he definitely needs to be in the team".

There was even one situation where he played a poor pass, and we lost posession, and Maddison just put his hands out, as if it was someone else's fault, and just stood there, not tracking back one inch!

 

[braineclipse]

I did NOT say Dragusin is not a very good CB bTW...

THIS is what I actually said

"I agree re: personnel. I'd add at left wing and left CB backup. Dragusin is not a left-sided CB!"

I actually think he is a perfectly decent back-up to Romero. Not sure WHO changed my initial quote to which you replied...

I wouldn't mind having Davies as the first backup at LCB ahead of Dragusin.

Dragusin is a better centre back than Davies, no doubt. But Davies to me seems like a better LCB for our system.

Would probably tinkle Dragusin's agent off to no end and perhaps spell the beginning of the end for Dragusin here so looking at the bigger picture it may not be the best choice even if true though.

 

[thfcsteff]

I wouldn't mind having Davies as the first backup at LCB ahead of Dragusin.

Dragusin is a better centre back than Davies, no doubt. But Davies to me seems like a better LCB for our system.

Would probably tinkle Dragusin's agent off to no end and perhaps spell the beginning of the end for Dragusin here so looking at the bigger picture it may not be the best choice even if true though.

I thought not playing Davies today was a mistake. I'd have started with Dragusin and Davies for sure. Romero wasn't ready IMO...

 

[braineclipse]

Serious question… how did the system let him down today?
For the first goal we had 2 players for every one of theirs and it started to go wrong with a weird/weak header from him and then the other two not actually doing anything
Did you see around the 75 minute mark when they hit a ling ball and him and poor again decided neither would go for it meaning delap took it and win a free kick if iirc
It’s all about decision making and he is poor at it

Was it a weird/weak header? I thought it was just a deflected header?

That goal starts with poor defending on our left iirc. But then we also have to defend better in the box, like Romero did.

 

[braineclipse]

I thought not playing Davies today was a mistake. I'd have started with Dragusin and Davies for sure. Romero wasn't ready IMO...

I wouldn't have been against that. Though I also think Romero was one of our better players on the day. Though I see his "mistakes" quite differently than a lot of people on here so may just be a me thing.

 

[billyiddo]

He's a borderline decent back up for a CB that's only good 50% of the time. That's not good enough. Dragu has crumbled under pressure in pretty much every game he's played. He's fine sitting on the bench, but back ups should be fairly reliable when called for. He hasn't been.

tbh I'd hate to be a CB/defender in a Postecoglou team, certainly in this one - I think our defenders are either being made to look worse than they are because of the way we set up or through a lack of adequate coaching on the training field

 

[Bishop]

Was it a weird/weak header? I thought it was just a deflected header?

That goal starts with poor defending on our left iirc. But then we also have to defend better in the box, like Romero did.

Yeah there was nothing wrong with Romero header but people have decided to pile on. He got to the ball first and headed it away, it deflected off Ipswich player and flew straight up in the air. Why he's getting the blame for that only those who want to criticise him know.

I think as a fan base we've just decided that Romero is the cause of all goals conceded.

 

[braineclipse]

tbh I'd hate to be a CB/defender in a Postecoglou team, certainly in this one - I think our defenders are either being made to look worse than they are because of the way we set up or through a lack of adequate coaching on the training field

To some extent that's true. We play a fairly high risk and often a high line way. We play with a lot of ambition on the ball.

That's the way with all systems imo. Some players will be exposed more. You need players that fit the system and are good where they're exposed. Imo the system is exposing Dragusin's weaknesses on the ball more than anything, even more so when playing LCB.

 

[Kompakted]

The team are consistently inconsistent. I'm resigned to finishing around 10th, which is where I think we will end up if something drastic doesn't change. Just trying to enjoy the big wins and I hope we can nick a cup. I'm not sure another season of this would be tolerated by the board however and I think from that perspective, Ange is on borrowed time.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Was it a weird/weak header? I thought it was just a deflected header?

That goal starts with poor defending on our left iirc. But then we also have to defend better in the box, like Romero did.

It bounced up
It’s a regular occurrence with him except this team he almost, almost dealt with the cross
Honestly I get that he has strengths but the senior CB is many to take charge and he simply doesn’t have that in him. If it was a one off I’d call it a mistake but he nearly always goes to the front post and does nothing

 

[Jurgen the German]

You really are an idiot.

Lighten up Francis

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yeah there was nothing wrong with Romero header but people have decided to pile on. He got to the ball first and headed it away, it deflected off Ipswich player and flew straight up in the air. Why he's getting the blame for that only those who want to criticise him know.

I think as a fan base we've just decided that Romero is the cause of all goals conceded.

He was getting the ball and got contact form the Ipswich player which meant his header was weak
But… if he let Dragusin go for the header he may well have been in a better position to deal with what happened next
if it was a one off I’d be fine with it
It’s not
That’s the issue
He last goes to the near post for position crosses. I don’t think other cbs do
And no one has said he is the reason we concede all the goals. Not as far as I’m aware
I’ll add, again, that he lacks any leadership skills to lead that defence IMO and having him, Sonny and Maddison as the captains is plain daft

 

[braineclipse]

He was getting the ball and got contact form the Ipswich player which meant his header was weak
But… if he let Dragusin go for the header he may well have been in a better position to deal with what happened next
if it was a one off I’d be fine with it
It’s not
That’s the issue
He last goes to the near post for position crosses. I don’t think other cbs do
And no one has said he is the reason we concede all the goals. Not as far as I’m aware
I’ll add, again, that he lacks any leadership skills to lead that defence IMO and having him, Sonny and Maddison as the captains is plain daft

Dragusin was out on the left pressing the player who put the cross in...

It's a tough duel with the Ipswich player getting a run and jump into the duel. I thought the ball was deflected, but even if it wasn't Romero does fine. Not getting a great clearance on a header when in a tough duel is just a thing that's going to happen.

How did we end up with Dragusin out left? How do we not realise that when one of our centre backs is in that position we're in trouble if a cross comes in and do more to stop the cross? Both Dragusin and Son could have done more.

Then what happens when the ball drops again...

If anything Romero defends this one really well. Dragusin isn't in the centre. Romero is originally marking someone else, that player is picked up by Udogie, Romero spots the runner and does well to win the duel.

 

[glasgowspur]

Yeah there was nothing wrong with Romero header but people have decided to pile on. He got to the ball first and headed it away, it deflected off Ipswich player and flew straight up in the air. Why he's getting the blame for that only those who want to criticise him know.

I think as a fan base we've just decided that Romero is the cause of all goals conceded.

I'm not the huge fan of Romero that some are, but the header was fine.
On the flip side of that I don't understand why he isn't getting pelters from some for second goal but dragu is.
Opinions, who needs them .

 

[Bishop]

It bounced up
It’s a regular occurrence with him except this team he almost, almost dealt with the cross
Honestly I get that he has strengths but the senior CB is many to take charge and he simply doesn’t have that in him. If it was a one off I’d call it a mistake but he nearly always goes to the front post and does nothing

Watch it again, it didn't bounce up. He headed it away but the Ipswich player who was challenging got in the way and it deflected up off that player..

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Watch it again, it didn't bounce up. He headed it away but the Ipswich player who was challenging got in the way and it deflected up off that player..

I will at lunchtime
But it’s a recurring theme
Our RCB goes into the area where our LCB is and leaves a massive space behind him

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Watch it again, it didn't bounce up. He headed it away but the Ipswich player who was challenging got in the way and it deflected up off that player..

Just watched it on MOTD2
Not clear on there
Looks still to me like a weak ish header
What is scary is who was son passing too for their second goal…

 

[Bishop]

Just watched it on MOTD2
Not clear on there
Looks still to me like a weak ish header
What is scary is who was son passing too for their second goal…

Theres an angle from behind that they showed on the broadcast yesterday where you clearly see him head it away but the Ipswich attackers is right there and it spins up off of him.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Theres an angle from behind that they showed on the broadcast yesterday where you clearly see him head it away but the Ipswich attackers is right there and it spins up off of him.

Yeah I haven’t seen that
But as I say, it’s not new
Our RCB being in the zone for the left side of defence vacating his space
It may be a tactic but I’m sure he did similar under conte
He always wants to go to the ball
Their second goal he went out to Hutchinson who passed it and he was then left in the wrong place again
He has world class abilities in some aspects of his game and bang average ones in others

 

[braineclipse]

Yeah I haven’t seen that
But as I say, it’s not new
Our RCB being in the zone for the left side of defence vacating his space
It may be a tactic but I’m sure he did similar under conte
He always wants to go to the ball
Their second goal he went out to Hutchinson who passed it and he was then left in the wrong place again
He has world class abilities in some aspects of his game and bang average ones in others

We push quite far over in several phases of play. We play two wingers who are not always (I'm assuming by design) tracking all the way back. It's quite common for our ball side CB to get quite wide. The other one pretty much has to follow unless one of the midfielders drops in.

On stepping out. There were also situations where Romero stepped out and that helped us win the ball. Those situations are rarely scrutinised, because we win the ball. But the one's where he steps out and doesn't win it often get a lot of attention.

Actually analysing if him stepping out as much as he does is helpful to us or not is much more complex than just looking at the times when it doesn't work.

I'm assuming if Ange thought it was a frequent mistake he would ask Romero to change. As Romero has shown very much that he's capable of in several areas (playing back three vs back four, playing with rapid VdV or slow as a brick Otamendi, less aggression and yellow cards).

Seemingly Ange isn't asking him to change, he's even putting him back in quickly after injury, showing no signs of rotating Romero out in the league as quite a few here have wanted.