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*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton ***

Man of the match

  • Total voters
    56
  • Poll closed .
thfcsteff said:
He was fantastic. Very unlucky not to score from 45 yards, great determination, and the header he deftly flicked in during the second goal move was brilliant. That Second half pass was unlucky, from my angle he was about to slip it but angle just closed off. He nearly scored a Kane classic second half too. An excellent performance!
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Yes that turn, acceleration and low-angled shot was the good stuff! Such a shame he didn’t hit the target but hopefully we have our Kane back!


Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk
 
ShipOfGoldblum said:
On the atmosphere front, whatever private doubts one might have about Lloris’s judgement, distribution, kicking ability and sobriety, it’s probably not helpful for the entire Park Lane to moan in theatrical horror whenever the ball is passed back to him. Thankfully, they stopped after a bit and he didn’t seem unduly affected.
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Agreed, thought that was embarassing too. Pretty much the only time we were louder than the away fans in the first half.
 
scaramanga said:
Not only is our entire squad built around 4-2-3-1 it's clearly the vastly superior formation.

Two pivots is both defensively and creatively stronger than one DM - it's why the formation exists.
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I think we are getting there with the diamond. Had Aurier not been sent off yesterday I think we would have created a lot of chances, and the improvement from the Villa first half is clear.

I think against Villa we tried to play a slow tempo game with the diamond but the point of it is, you have two players pinning their defence back and a player floating in behind and feeding them, against Leceister we were much better at creating chances and even in the first 30 mins yesterday we were doing better. If you play a slow tempo you immediately negate your advantage of having 2 players right up front and allow the opposition to set. Play it fast, play it less precise, and you get the opportunities for Son and Kane to be 1 v 1 that we saw. We then just have to be clinical when we have those chances but we’re getting there.

It’s then also about being comfortable defensively and not giving the ball away in silly areas, and making sure we have the intensity at the right moments. We clearly aren’t asking the players to press high, but I think mentally the players need to be able to switch it on when required, which may have taken some getting used to as it is different from asking players to press for 90. And we need to know when to keep possession at the right times. I think we are getting there.

I did think this was an attempt from Poch to counter the pressing prevalence but I think it’s actually now more so just recognition of where our squad is at. We’re older, we’re managing their condition more, and maybe there’s a slight lack of pace in the back line now so we play deeper. It’s smart, pragmatic management. You even see Kane pacing himself more. Not jumping in to stupid tackles, but still clearly turning on the burners when there’s a chance to counter.

I think it’s coming together, and we’re going to be fine as the season goes on.
 
Only got to watch the game (in full) last evening, not knowing the result.

A fantastic result with the circumstances of the game. To score a very good goal, with 10 men, just before half time really galvanised us for the second half.

I thought Southampton played very well, very organised and not just defensively but moving the ball forward as well. It was certainly no Palace or Brighton type attitude/game plan like when they visit whl. Yes they struggled to create anything clear cut, (sound familiar?)but we defended deep and protected what we had.

Good games from a few...the two Harry's, NDom (getting gradually fitter), Lamela when he came on. Eriksen is so much more than a distance runner but he's barely showing any of it. Either his confidence looks low because of what's gone on or his head (and heart) is just not at our club anymore :(.

Oh...and the ref...deary me.

Not that that's a get out for Aurier. Prize plonker.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
If you play a slow tempo you immediately negate your advantage of having 2 players right up front and allow the opposition to set. Play it fast, play it less precise, and you get the opportunities for Son and Kane to be 1 v 1
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tickle my balls with a feather. Some of our players want to be too safe and ensure their 'passes completed' stats are in the 90s, but they should not be... they should 'dare to do' more risky passes.

Most football games are won with 2 or 3 goals. Just look at yesterday's games, the high scores were 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 mostly, so it is worth TRYING that pass, you only need a couple of passes to come off and you would back Kane/Son to make the most of it.

When we play safe and slow and pedestrian we are so easy to defend against, we have to get it forward faster whilst Kane/Son only have one man to beat.
 
Bullet said:
tickle my balls with a feather. Some of our players want to be too safe and ensure their 'passes completed' stats are in the 90s, but they should not be... they should 'dare to do' more risky passes.

Most football games are won with 2 or 3 goals. Just look at yesterday's games, the high scores were 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 mostly, so it is worth TRYING that pass, you only need a couple of passes to come off and you would back Kane/Son to make the most of it.

When we play safe and slow and pedestrian we are so easy to defend against, we have to get it forward faster whilst Kane/Son only have one man to beat.
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I think we are better at it now. Eriksen’s quick cross in for the first goal was a good example. Opposition isn’t set, good chance it falls to one of our players, they have more space to play with.

The Villa game seems like an experiment to me, looking back. An exercise in getting the players comfortable with the shape, or seeing if we could make a possession diamond work. Some of the passing yesterday in terms of its tempo was a world away from it. So it seems like we’ve gone that way.
 
Well done to Poch and the players. it's never easy to get a win with a man down for a good hour of the game and when it's against a decent passing team like Southampton....Two massive brainfarts but the three points are ours..

Hugo has had a great week after Mrs Lloris gave birth to their third child so it's obvious, he's been a bit lackadaisical practising his Cruyff turns this past week at Hotspur Way.. Redeemed himself with two top draw saves in the second half..

Aurier it would seem, is just very unprofessional and to me he's not a big club player.. A bit unlucky for the second caution, which were clearly a dive by the cheating Bertrand, but he's ex-Chelsea so that's all we need to know about that clam. I just don't think Serge can mend his ways and is prone to errors ...

Our defending were a bit too deep at times for my liking but our goal was well defended with Jan and Toby enjoying a bit of bus parking. Sissoko did well at right-back and so too did Winks and N'dombele protecting the middle ...Eriksen did well getting up and down the pitch with his covering without the ball. Pretty ineffective with the ball although he did contribute to our second goal which proved the winner...

Harry upfront, was great a captain's performance, although he did occasionally hold on the ball too long instead of laying off a quick pass. Lamela likewise was very good when he replaced Sonny ...Keep Calm when you have Lamela in the team is what I say, and I can never understand the OTT flack Erik gets ..

So all in all, in the end, a good day.......MOTM.. Harry Kane ...
 
What a game after all this time to come back to ! The ups and downs of recent years during Poch's tenure summarised, with victory in the end. I've been staying with my family in west kensington and rode on the tube with my son up to seven sisters around 12pm, and walked the rest of the way. What a feeling seeing the stadium from afar, and felt sooo different from 3 years ago when I last visited the shop.

Back to the game, it was interesting to see Alli (only Dele was used in the announcement...) was not used, I am thinking injury and saving him for Bayern on wednesday.

NDombele struck again, he is scoring valuable goals for us now, but someone mentioned in the french league he was the new kante - well, i dunno where his engine, hasn't been on show so far, but his touch, skill and vision have. Another sweet, sweet strike.

But I couldn't believe Lloris's faux pas first half when we were leading 1-0, everyone was just so f'ucked off, HOOF IT !

I turned to my son and said 'he tried it again!' when Kane lobbed from 45 yards in the second half - we saw it in Singapore when he tried it versus sneezy in the juve goal, but wasn't to be this time. But the goal he took just gave us so much energy and determination, I was sooo pumped and willed the team not to let anything easy come the saints way.

It was a Huge game I felt, for many things, not least the togetherness and everyone working hard, especially in defence, despite Hugo's worst effort, but then two world class saves in the second half and then coming to the south stand at the end to clap the fans - I must say though, Southampton looked handy and very disciplined. Hasenhuttl has done a great job there - when I looked at the programme (with Rose on the front) I was concerned in the last 5 games they only lost once and had a better results than us - but after this, we are the same.

Anyway, just me blathering on about my trip after decades (last one was in about 1991), and I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a stadium, what atmosphere, and what a team - when Lo Celso, Sessgnon are back fit, and the others are available too, we will have a very, very strong team and alternatives. GHod knows what this season will bring, but fingers crossed
 
BrainOfLevy said:
I think we are better at it now. Eriksen’s quick cross in for the first goal was a good example. Opposition isn’t set, good chance it falls to one of our players, they have more space to play with.

The Villa game seems like an experiment to me, looking back. An exercise in getting the players comfortable with the shape, or seeing if we could make a possession diamond work. Some of the passing yesterday in terms of its tempo was a world away from it. So it seems like we’ve gone that way.
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A lot is to do with how the opposition set up. Southampton, even when we had 11, didn't just come and bank up and concede possession. Same as Leicester, good enough to make it an open game and give us space to create and counter.

As @Bullet Says we just need to be bolder and take and make riskier passes against bus parkers. We've had phases before when we've rolled over teams of this type BUT equally have had periods where we have found it difficult. City consistently destroy teams BUT I would concede I think that tight intricate game requires top level touch and technical play and they are well ahead of us in that department.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
I think we are getting there with the diamond. Had Aurier not been sent off yesterday I think we would have created a lot of chances, and the improvement from the Villa first half is clear.

I think against Villa we tried to play a slow tempo game with the diamond but the point of it is, you have two players pinning their defence back and a player floating in behind and feeding them, against Leceister we were much better at creating chances and even in the first 30 mins yesterday we were doing better. If you play a slow tempo you immediately negate your advantage of having 2 players right up front and allow the opposition to set. Play it fast, play it less precise, and you get the opportunities for Son and Kane to be 1 v 1 that we saw. We then just have to be clinical when we have those chances but we’re getting there.

It’s then also about being comfortable defensively and not giving the ball away in silly areas, and making sure we have the intensity at the right moments. We clearly aren’t asking the players to press high, but I think mentally the players need to be able to switch it on when required, which may have taken some getting used to as it is different from asking players to press for 90. And we need to know when to keep possession at the right times. I think we are getting there.

I did think this was an attempt from Poch to counter the pressing prevalence but I think it’s actually now more so just recognition of where our squad is at. We’re older, we’re managing their condition more, and maybe there’s a slight lack of pace in the back line now so we play deeper. It’s smart, pragmatic management. You even see Kane pacing himself more. Not jumping in to stupid tackles, but still clearly turning on the burners when there’s a chance to counter.

I think it’s coming together, and we’re going to be fine as the season goes on.
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I thought at best it had been a close game up until the red card and that we were somewhat lucky to be ahead.

Saw no real signs of the issues with the diamond being sorted out.

Very hopeful that Pochettino will prove me wrong. He's invested a lot of time and effort in this system that could have been spent in other ways.
 
braineclipse said:
I thought at best it had been a close game up until the red card and that we were somewhat lucky to be ahead.

Saw no real signs of the issues with the diamond being sorted out.

Very hopeful that Pochettino will prove me wrong. He's invested a lot of time and effort in this system that could have been spent in other ways.
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I thought compared to the Villa game it was much better. The tempo, the getting in behind them. Saints looked ok, but I was pretty confident we would get there.

I think the system makes more sense the more I think about it. If you accept our squad is older, that Kane should be managing himself more, that the backline has lost a bit of pace, that the midfield aren’t all going to be eager beavers running through walls for 90 mins because the Manager tells them to, a diamond makes a lot of sense. We are relying on more experienced players and their smarts. We may not get described as animals, but I think we’ll see the benefit of it as the season goes on.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
I think we are getting there with the diamond. Had Aurier not been sent off yesterday I think we would have created a lot of chances, and the improvement from the Villa first half is clear.

I think against Villa we tried to play a slow tempo game with the diamond but the point of it is, you have two players pinning their defence back and a player floating in behind and feeding them, against Leceister we were much better at creating chances and even in the first 30 mins yesterday we were doing better. If you play a slow tempo you immediately negate your advantage of having 2 players right up front and allow the opposition to set. Play it fast, play it less precise, and you get the opportunities for Son and Kane to be 1 v 1 that we saw. We then just have to be clinical when we have those chances but we’re getting there.

It’s then also about being comfortable defensively and not giving the ball away in silly areas, and making sure we have the intensity at the right moments. We clearly aren’t asking the players to press high, but I think mentally the players need to be able to switch it on when required, which may have taken some getting used to as it is different from asking players to press for 90. And we need to know when to keep possession at the right times. I think we are getting there.

I did think this was an attempt from Poch to counter the pressing prevalence but I think it’s actually now more so just recognition of where our squad is at. We’re older, we’re managing their condition more, and maybe there’s a slight lack of pace in the back line now so we play deeper. It’s smart, pragmatic management. You even see Kane pacing himself more. Not jumping in to stupid tackles, but still clearly turning on the burners when there’s a chance to counter.

I think it’s coming together, and we’re going to be fine as the season goes on.
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I hope you're right but i just don't see it. What I'm seeing is a fluctuation in results (mainly opponent based) but very little in the way of changes in performance.

In fact, the Southampton game's xG of 1.19 - 1.16 fits right into the trend that we've been running for a year or two now.
 
scaramanga said:
I hope you're right but i just don't see it. What I'm seeing is a fluctuation in results (mainly opponent based) but very little in the way of changes in performance.

In fact, the Southampton game's xG of 1.19 - 1.16 fits right into the trend that we've been running for a year or two now.
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Would be very interesting to see the first half stats from the palace game, which is one of the very few times in the new stadium we had something like our best team out in a 4231, whilst playing with the intensity and desire which was the hallmark of our side under poch probably going back as far to prior to a year ago.

Only other time that springs to mind was huddersfield, who we also beat 4-0 and they hardly had a shot against us. We had 70% possession in that game and htfc had one shot on target.
 
This was a badly needed win. But we made hard work of it. We started well and took the lead. Thought we would win the match comfortably but moment of madness from Aurier and Lloris almost cost us the game. Fortunately, despite having Aurier red carded and Lloris gifting them a goal, we did well to recover and win. Too bad we couldn't get the third goal but it was really tense until the match was over.

Credit to Ndombele and Kane for the goals. Both were well taken goals and scored at crucial times. Good to see Ndombele scoring his second goal since joining us. Hope he will score more goals for us. Kane played well and deserved to score his goal but wish he had score another goal or two. Son and Eriksen had assists but had rather quiet match other than that. Wanted Lamela to start this match but he did well to come and help us win in the second half.

Our midfield had a decent match but we still need to be more commanding. Sissoko and Winks worked hard but they should be controlling the midfield more. Thought Dier did well after coming on in the second half to help us control the midfield. Good to see Dier playing after so long. At least we w ill now have more options in midfield.

Our defence had a mixed match. We played well in patches but were too casual at other times. It was really annoying we failed to keep the clean sheet. It was stupid mistake by Lloris to concede the goal. He had all the time in the world to clear the ball but was daydreaming with the ball until closed down and beaten by the Southampton player. But credit to Lloris for recovering from that and pulling off 2 great saves in the second half. Aurier was stupid to get 2 instant yellow cards. He should have been more carefull after getting te first yellow card.

Wish we had won this match more comfortably but at least we managed to win. The mistakes by Aurier and Lloris shows we need to concentrate more in matches. It almost cost us the match but at least we showed we can recover if we work hard. Hopefully this win will help us go into the CL match against Bayern in a better mood.
 
scaramanga said:
I hope you're right but i just don't see it. What I'm seeing is a fluctuation in results (mainly opponent based) but very little in the way of changes in performance.

In fact, the Southampton game's xG of 1.19 - 1.16 fits right into the trend that we've been running for a year or two now.
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Hardly fair to use XG for a game we played with ten men though right?

I think we deserved to win at Leceister and not many teams are going to be able to say that this season. No doubt Villa first half was bad and Saudi Sportswashing Machine terrible, but since then I think we’ve been better with the ball and just needed to sort out the solidity,

I also think the trend is just going to take a bit of trust in Poch. If we accept that most years we start slower and ramp up, but that last season was reversed because of the WC and the CL run, League form in 2019 is going to look worse. We’re basically going to have two periods of traditionally slower form smashed together because of the WC circumstance. I expect us to ramp up good and proper over the next few months and to an extent be back to normal.
 
Big difference was Son's position, previously he'd be dead central, Arthur the result of Kane dropping deeper.

On Saturday he stayed wide, isolated the full back and gave Kane room to operate. I still think we'd look better with similar width on the other side but right now I'll take any formation that doesn't end up with Kane playing defensive midfield.
 
Gazza said:
We have never recovered from getting genuine width once we sold Walker. When we had Rose and Walker bombing down the flanks we looked unplayable at times.
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Agree.
I know their delivery is not top class but it's the sheer power of the two players that give the opposition loads to deal with defensively and offensively...akin to AA and Robertson at pool.

Excellent players in those positions can bring so much.
 
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