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Ratings v WBA

Thought it was a much improved performance in comparison to the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game from AVB.

He wore a suit.....
 
Vertonghen looks like he has the potential to be a great partner for Kaboul...BUT he did get caught wrong side too many times today, albeit most of the time he recovered well. We missed Kaboul or even a Daws figure to attack the f*cking ball from those set pieces at the end.

Livermore grew into the game it would be fair to say, when it was more stretched in the second half (particularly when we had 2 strikers on the pitch) he looked in his element, as his physique and work rate really showed. Yet first half, both he and Sandro's lack of quality on the ball meant we didn't get the ball to Lennon/Bale/Defoe quickly enough and thus only had our first shot on target just before half time. Huddlestone, Modric and perhaps even Parker would have really made a telling difference - the former two move the ball quickly and that is what we missed.

Ade wasn't really at the races; Walker and Benny were both sloppy.

Friedel is slow off his line.
 
I was at the game

Vertonghen was a fudging liability today

Yes, he looks great on the ball

Yes, he can pass a ball

But defensively, he is not premier league yet
 
southstand1882 said:
He was as worrying as Gallas

This was fudging WBA

Top 10 teams will tear those two to shreds

We need a centre half badly
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I'm not having that, Gallas was pretty shocking today I thought.

Vertonghen masked a few positional errors with some late tackles - but I think next to someone like Kaboul he will look more stable.
 
Park Lane James said:
I'm not having that, Gallas was pretty shocking today I thought.

Vertonghen masked a few positional errors with some late tackles - but I think next to someone like Kaboul he will look more stable.
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A friend of mine at the game text me with a very different view of Verts than I had from watching at home. I thought he did generally well, and was especially composed going forward. My mate is much more of the opinion he is an accident waiting to happen and will get turned in the PL. Basically that it is too early to expect him to be a certain starter at CB. Remains to be seen, but I do think we might be overestimating him at this stage in terms of the losses of King and Daws (possible), the declining powers of Gallas and by relying too heavily on Kaboul.
 
southstand1882 said:
I was at the game

Vertonghen was a fudging liability today

Yes, he looks great on the ball

Yes, he can pass a ball

But defensively, he is not premier league yet
Click to expand...


Not saying you're wrong as such, but it just shows how differently we all see a game.

I agree he got caught once or twice, but made amends each time. Otherwise thought he looked great.
 
Really don't know how to mark Vertonghen. Clearly a very good footballer, cultured, good on the ball, but he got bullied by Lukaku and made a few mistakes but also made a good last ditch tackle. Only played 1 games, I'm sure he'll be a good signing in the long run.

We were a total shambles at the back collectively today with Ekotto being the main culprit. You could see their goal coming for at least 20 minutes.

We still need a finisher, which none of are strikers are.

Lacked creativity, Moutinho please!

Oh and thanks Spurs for fudging up my accumulator ](*,) From now on, I will make it a rule to not bet on Spurs.

Why do West Brom always give us a tough game?!
 
Jurgen the German said:
Really don't know how to mark Vertonghen. Clearly a very good footballer, cultured, good on the ball, but he got bullied by Lukaku and made a few mistakes but also made a good last ditch tackle. Only played 1 games, I'm sure he'll be a good signing in the long run.

We were a total shambles at the back collectively today with Ekotto being the main culprit. You could see their goal coming for at least 20 minutes.

We still need a finisher, which none of are strikers are.

Lacked creativity, Moutinho please!

Oh and thanks Spurs for fudging up my accumulator ](*,) From now on, I will make it a rule to not bet on Spurs.

Why do West Brom always give us a tough game?!
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I'm sorry, but this is precisely the sort of thing I would personally like to see explained. I've discussed this with people who went (and agree with me) that Benny was really good today (ditto Verts)...people tend to forget that unlike Walker who has Lennon ahead of him prodigiously helping when not in possession, BAE was often alone on the left due to wonder boy roaring inside to make things happen (and staying there!) which often left BAE dealing with doubles PLUS having to make sure there's just enough to cover his CB if need be. I thought he actually did extremely well today.

As for the defense generally, I'm absolutely not going to have it until Lukakau came on. before then, the high-line was excellent and dealt with everything (a faster, more limber keeper IS necessary for this tactic to really work). Once we took VdV off (and then got Jenas on soon after) we allowed Lukakau to have us defending deeper on the edge of our own box. THAT was the major problem, and for me personally, that's as much about shape and midfield as it is defenders.

At the end of the day we'd have got out of here with 3 points if Brad had stepped two feet forwards and grabbed the ball when it was chest height and BEGGING to be claimed. Instead he literally stepped BACKWARDS and thus the ball got new life. Why?
 
Jurgen the German said:
No excuse for Defoe being offside for the goal. He was looking across the line FFS!!
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Now THIS I agree with mate, and I'm someone who always tries to defend JD. No excuse at all. Lazy. We wait for him to produce a moment like that goal but he undoes it with laziness prior. Frustrating.
 
I'll give you Friedel's ability or lack of ability to deal with crosses leaves a lot to be desired, but I lost count the number of times Ekotto gave the ball away today opting for a risky pass when the sensible option to just get rid was there. The Spurs faithful will always love him because he is a character and is a very good footballer, but I worry whenever he is on the ball in our final third of the pitch. It still doesn't excuse our inability to clear the ball, it was comical and I wasn't surprised as it had been coming.

First half they didn't threaten us at all, but they got were dangerous in the 2nd half and Lukaku made life difficult for both our centre backs. Gallas has lost a fair bit of pace. We missed Kaboul in that respect today. Vertonghen had a mixed bag IMO, gave the ball away a few times and made a few rash decisions, but I'll cut him some slack as it was his first PL game.

EDIT: Our record against them over the years is inexcusable! They are the quintessential yoyo club and yet we've only beaten them once at their place and always struggle to scrape a win at home.



There is a clear directive to keep possession and not just whack it upfield. Walker always has Lennon as a direct outlet, Benny often has to come inside to a deeper midfielder because Bale is not nearby. I think personally he's an easy target. I also don't think you can underestimate the switch in formation we made versus the subs. We lost a lot when VdV went off because we had no-one to prompt the play from deeper positions. Further, Jenas gave the ball away terribly several times. I don't think pace at the back was especially a problem today; the issues arose from being forced to defend deep. In that sense, a Daws might've just seen us through, and I wonder now if AVB will see that we will need defenders with that dimension for certain situations (Daws, though, is clearly not going to be a squad player as he is strng enough to be a regular at most clubs)...

Agreed on our record against them. Madness. And today is a game we absolutely should've won, no doubts at all, agreed...
 
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thfcsteff said:
I'm sorry, but this is precisely the sort of thing I would personally like to see explained. I've discussed this with people who went (and agree with me) that Benny was really good today (ditto Verts)...people tend to forget that unlike Walker who has Lennon ahead of him prodigiously helping when not in possession, BAE was often alone on the left due to wonder boy roaring inside to make things happen (and staying there!) which often left BAE dealing with doubles PLUS having to make sure there's just enough to cover his CB if need be. I thought he actually did extremely well today.

As for the defense generally, I'm absolutely not going to have it until Lukakau came on. before then, the high-line was excellent and dealt with everything (a faster, more limber keeper IS necessary for this tactic to really work). Once we took VdV off (and then got Jenas on soon after) we allowed Lukakau to have us defending deeper on the edge of our own box. THAT was the major problem, and for me personally, that's as much about shape and midfield as it is defenders.

At the end of the day we'd have got out of here with 3 points if Brad had stepped two feet forwards and grabbed the ball when it was chest height and BEGGING to be claimed. Instead he literally stepped BACKWARDS and thus the ball got new life. Why?
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Sorry steff but that goal was coming, it really was keystone cops defending at the end Ekotto lost it at the end of the game. Imho we were fine defensively at the start because until Lukaku came on WBA offered no threat. Once he was on our defenders were panicked into abandoning the high line because he was playing right on their shoulders. Two games and defensive mistakes are costing us. I hope it is early season nerves. I still harbour a hope Daws might be utilised.
 
Why are we still playing Jenas. I always liked him but his time at the club has surely passed. How can we play someone who allegedly earlier in the week we were on thev erge of selling? His motivation will be rock bottom.
 
I thought we were pretty poor yesterday, don't know who played well apart from Sandro and Livermore who both did their jobs well. It was depressing to watch although maybe West Brom are as defensive and defensively well organised as Sunderland, we'll see over the course of the season. When they decided to start attacking we were shockingly ill composed.
 
Robspur12 said:
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Sorry steff but that goal was coming, it really was keystone cops defending at the end Ekotto lost it at the end of the game. Imho we were fine defensively at the start because until Lukaku came on WBA offered no threat. Once he was on our defenders were panicked into abandoning the high line because he was playing right on their shoulders. Two games and defensive mistakes are costing us. I hope it is early season nerves. I still harbour a hope Daws might be utilised.
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mate,

if you read my earlier posts, this is EXACTLY what i said. and MUCH of the problem then came from our midfield not being able to take shape and stem the flow. we were still set up for a high line and lukakau forced us to defend deeper. ekotto was on his own on the left as bale was wandering. they repeatedly picked on galls and exploited him. quite how ekotto "lost it" is beyond me, in fact, he had the presence to drop back onto the line and head a certain goal up and off the bar. sorry mate, he's an easy target when frankly, the likes of jeans and bale disappearing/giving the ball away/ignoring shape was a big issue IMHO...
 
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