***OMT Tottenham vs Man U***

[diego_maradona]

I think his ceiling is little lower than bloody marvelous but I agree in principle. I think that isn't good enough and his poor concentration is always going to cost us. I'd rather have a RB who was a steady 7/10.

I think this is spot on. I think just because of Liverpool everyone is now hell bent on the important of good to great full backs. Give me a set of solid competent full backs any day of the week who simply can defend and provide us with some width. They don't need to be posting TAA or Robertson assist figures. I think if there is one area you can get away with having simply competent players, its at full back. We unfortunately have had a few that are far less than capable or competent in recent months. I think when there is trust in one another in a side, players start to excel in their own game again and stop trying to compensate for others. Case in point, Sissoko having it drilled into him that he basically needs to babysit Aurier (or Trippier last season) leaving us completely exposed in the middle of the park and hence having very little to no control.

 

[parklane1]

I think his ceiling is little lower than bloody marvelous but I agree in principle. I think that isn't good enough and his poor concentration is always going to cost us. I'd rather have a RB who was a steady 7/10.

Would have to agree with this but we have Davies who is a steady 7/10 player but there are still some fans who think Rose is the better of the two and he has had a lot wobbles over the last few seasons.

 

[Pirate55]

I think this is spot on. I think just because of Liverpool everyone is now hell bent on the important of good to great full backs. Give me a set of solid competent full backs any day of the week who simply can defend and provide us with some width. They don't need to be posting TAA or Robertson assist figures. I think if there is one area you can get away with having simply competent players, its at full back. We unfortunately have had a few that are far less than capable or competent in recent months. I think when there is trust in one another in a side, players start to excel in their own game again and stop trying to compensate for others. Case in point, Sissoko having it drilled into him that he basically needs to babysit Aurier (or Trippier last season) leaving us completely exposed in the middle of the park and hence having very little to no control.

This was compounded by JM’s gamble on playing four out-and-out attackers. It was an Ossie-esq gamble . It failed. I doubt it will be repeated.

 

[Baleforce]

It'd be difficult to sign a decent RB with PL experience in January.

Get Harry in as DoF, he’s got 6 of them in Sandbanks

 

[Baleforce]

This was compounded by JM’s gamble on playing four out-and-out attackers. It was an Ossie-esq gamble . It failed. I doubt it will be repeated.

We played 5 out and out attackers in his first three games didn’t we?

 

[Bullet]

We played 5 out and out attackers in his first three games didn’t we?

We didn't play at Old Trafford though.


Seems stupidly obvious to me that we were a man light in midfield, and Moura is not on the same level as Dele/Son/Kane... so just switch Moura for a midfielder e.g. Ndombele.

Why was that so hard for Mourinho and Sacramento to work out?

Maybe Sacramento was filling Mou Mou's head full of complex algorithms, when Mou Mou just needed to do the obvious?



PS - Mou Mou said it was impossible to work on concentration and aggressiveness, when the games come so often. This does not seem true. You can emphasise concentration and aggressiveness at any time, surely? Poch was always bemoaning our "aggressivity" as well... how hard can it be to fire up the lads? Just smack them all on the nose as they line up.

 

[Baleforce]

We didn't play at Old Trafford though.


Seems stupidly obvious to me that we were a man light in midfield, and Moura is not on the same level as Dele/Son/Kane... so just switch Moura for a midfielder e.g. Ndombele.

Why was that so hard for Mourinho and Sacramento to work out?

Maybe Sacramento was filling Mou Mou's head full of complex algorithms, when Mou Mou just needed to do the obvious?



PS - Mou Mou said it was impossible to work on concentration and aggressiveness, when the games come so often. This does not seem true. You can emphasise concentration and aggressiveness at any time, surely? Poch was always bemoaning our "aggressivity" as well... how hard can it be to fire up the lads? Just smack them all on the nose as they line up.

Alli yes, Son not so much, Kane definitely not imo, he’s been fudging lazy this year, Moura struggled last night but at least he was making runs and trying to find space.

Kane spent the evening jogging around next to a United centre half.

 

[Mikey10]

We need to start treating Harry like anyone else. He needs to be taken off if he’s not doing what is needed. Not playing every 90 minutes would probably do him good too.

 

[Baleforce]

We need to start treating Harry like anyone else. He needs to be taken off if he’s not doing what is needed. Not playing every 90 minutes would probably do him good too.

I agree completely, if we had another senior striker surely he’d be under pressure, Son is obviously needed in the AM.

Complacent Kane is brick.

 

[SteveAWOL]

 

[NaijaSpurs]

He wasn’t always there to defend, he kept pushing forward!
If Jose just want him to just defend then I could understand the criticism.

The problem is that he has proved he is a very poor defender, he is a liability, and it weakens us because Sissoko has to spend too much time covering him instead of playing in central midfield where he was originally deployed.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

We had three men there when we were defending. It is not sustainable having a RB that cannot defend.

You can get away with it against brick teams but against a pacey Rashford inspired attack there will be consequences, as there was on Wednesday

 

[StephenH]

The problem he has proved he is a very poor defender, he is a liability, and it weakens us because Sissoko has to babysit him

If the opposition concentrate on a perceived or otherwise weakness we will double team that area.
It has nothing to do with individuals.
Sissoko was trying to cover Rashford’s driving runs while also allowing Maura to push forward and get some crosses into the box going forward.

 

[SpurMeUp]

We didn't play at Old Trafford though.


Seems stupidly obvious to me that we were a man light in midfield, and Moura is not on the same level as Dele/Son/Kane... so just switch Moura for a midfielder e.g. Ndombele.

Why was that so hard for Mourinho and Sacramento to work out?

Maybe Sacramento was filling Mou Mou's head full of complex algorithms, when Mou Mou just needed to do the obvious?



PS - Mou Mou said it was impossible to work on concentration and aggressiveness, when the games come so often. This does not seem true. You can emphasise concentration and aggressiveness at any time, surely? Poch was always bemoaning our "aggressivity" as well... how hard can it be to fire up the lads? Just smack them all on the nose as they line up.

I was surprised too - that Mourinho didn’t switch things up. Because we were chasing the game, I guess they thought taking off an attacker for a midfielder was counterintuitive. Tbf we did equalise.

Want to be optimistic? We made mistakes for 2 goals. Without those we’d have nicked a 0-1.

Of course the full story is more complex. We were as bad as I’ve seen us. JM please sort out our midfield. Usual suspect will bang on about fullbacks, but our midfield is the key. FBs have ups and downs - the nature of the position. I don’t think Walker and Rose were ever considered perfect, in fact they were often vilified. It’s our midfield that needs help, and will tie together the formation.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[NaijaSpurs]

If the opposition concentrate on a perceived or otherwise weakness we will double team that area.
It has nothing to do with individuals.
Sissoko was trying to cover Rashford’s driving runs while also allowing Maura to push forward and get some crosses into the box going forward.

The issue is that a full back who cannot defend is an obvious weakness, so they focused on that flank. As for Moura I have no idea what he was trying to do on Wednesday because he had a poor game

 

[NaijaSpurs]

@StephenH it has every thing to do with individuals because while Aurier may be a good attacking right back he a liability as he is a defender who has costs us numerous goals.

 

[braineclipse]

I was surprised too - that Mourinho didn’t switch things up. Because we were chasing the game, I guess they thought taking off an attacker for a midfielder was counterintuitive. Tbf we did equalise.

Want to be optimistic? We made mistakes for 2 goals. Without those we’d have nicked a 0-1.

Of course the full story is more complex. We were as bad as I’ve seen us. JM please sort out our midfield. Usual suspect will bang on about fullbacks, but our midfield is the key. FBs have ups and downs - the nature of the position. I don’t think Walker and Rose were ever considered perfect, in fact they were often vilified. It’s our midfield that needs help, and will tie together the formation.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

People aren't banging on about full backs. Notice the compete absence of people banging on about Jan Vertonghen. People rightly bang on about inconsistent full backs that are walking liabilities. Literally walking too much of the time.

The issue is that a full back who cannot defend is an obvious weakness, so they focused on that flank. As for Moura I have no idea what he was trying to do on Wednesday because he had a poor game

Moura is inconsistent and defensively quite poor. What he was trying to do is what he always tries to do, get on the ball and run at defenders when we have the ball, try to get away with as little work as possible when we don't have the ball.

That works rather well at times, at other times not so much.

 

[parklane1]

We need to start treating Harry like anyone else. He needs to be taken off if he’s not doing what is needed. Not playing every 90 minutes would probably do him good too.

Could not agree more, we all know how good he is as a player but that should not mean if he is not playing well he should not be treated as any other player. I hate to think he believes he is untouchable.

 

[SpurMeUp]

People aren't banging on about full backs. Notice the compete absence of people banging on about Jan Vertonghen. People rightly bang on about inconsistent full backs that are walking liabilities. Literally walking too much of the time.Moura is inconsistent and defensively quite poor. What he was trying to do is what he always tries to do, get on the ball and run at defenders when we have the ball, try to get away with as little work as possible when we don't have the ball.

That works rather well at times, at other times not so much.

We’ve known for literally years Aurier is not the strongest defensively. Vilifying him now is pointless. Especially as he’s put in decent - no excellent - performances in a more attacking role. He was unsellable prior to this.

Moreover, Aurier is not the core problem - despite their being a clamour to find a scape goat. Without an effective midfield, for example passing into space for Moura, our game falls apart. In theory, if Sissoko is covering FB Aurier should be bolstering midfield or overloading our wing.

The issue Poch had was not knowing his best team. I worry that Mourinho is in a similar position now. The sooner he can discern a team and formation, play it over and over, correct mistakes and build - the better.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[milo]

We’ve known for literally years Aurier is not the strongest defensively. Vilifying him now is pointless. Especially as he’s put in decent - no excellent - performances in a more attacking role. He was unsellable prior to this.

Moreover, Aurier is not the core problem - despite their being a clamour to find a scape goat. Without an effective midfield, for example passing into space for Moura, our game falls apart. In theory, if Sissoko is covering FB Aurier should be bolstering midfield or overloading our wing.

The issue Poch had was not knowing his best team. I worry that Mourinho is in a similar position now. The sooner he can discern a team and formation, play it over and over, correct mistakes and build - the better.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

I don't see a clamour to vilify or spacegoat. I see fans discussing a game where we were second best and trying to identify areas where we can improve. Understandably, so of the attention is focusing on the right hand side of our team because that is where both of their goals came from and part of the reason for that is that our right back fell asleep.

There are issues in central midfield and I think that you'll find plenty of posts from posters who you are criticising saying that it is an area where we should strengthen in the next two windows. I think that we'll continue to have problems in midfield, though, all of the time that one of our central midfielders has to cover for an error prone fullback.

I don't think that we should have space for players in our squad who are only good enough to put in a performance against West Ham but fall to pieces whenever we face a team that tests them.