wil be interesting to see who he plays in Europe vs. next week-end.
think we'll use the two Europa games to get the WC players back to fitness and line up similarly against QPR as we didn yesterday
wil be interesting to see who he plays in Europe vs. next week-end.
Not his best game but he was not our worst player like people seem to think.Not a spacegoat in my view, very sloppy apart from one decent tackle towards the end. Doesn't and didn't dominate any aerial duels, generally poor awareness. Weight of pass in hiogh risk areas poor. Other than that, he was great...
Not his best game but he was not our worst player like people seem to think.
Yes, they did a good job in keeping it tight, and closing down, but to deserve 8 as an offensive player, you would have to be a dominant figure in the game, and really have an impact. Eriksen didn't, and thus not deserving 8. You even said it yourself, he didn't stand out, an imo you need to do that to get 8/10.Did you watch on TV? I think people would be surprised at the amount of ground Eriksen and Lamela covered in that game, particularly down to 10 men. I think after watching that, the thing with Pochettino is that his team comes first, individuals come second. It wasn't perfect, but the team had a shape, even down to 10 and the whole team worked to keep that shape. That meant that players like Eriksen and Lamela might not have stood out in the way they can do, whether that is winning tackles or scoring/assisting, but they both worked very hard and intelligently along with other players, to be in the positions they should be on the pitch at all times to stifle West Ham's space and then be in good positions to receive the ball when we were in possession.
Eriksen put in a great shift and so did Lamela. They also both showed some nifty touches and Lamela was making some threatening runs.
I don't see why we'd loan Bentaleb when we have nobody who is head and shoulders above him.
IMO, play Capoue with Bentaleb, and rotate in Sandro and Dembele depending on form, fitness, opposition or whatever.
For Centre-Back, it's Vertonghen with one other. Going by yesterday, perhaps that could be Dier. Chiriches becomes Vertonghen's back up, Kaboul likewise for Dier -- though it's too early to say whether Dier is ready for a full season and imo, Kaboul will be first choice alongside Vert just as soon as he has a bit of sharpness and a few more games under his belt.
At most, we might sell Dawson, along with BAE and some youngsters will get loaned out. So the squad ends up something like:
----------------------------------------lloris/vorm/friedel
walker/naughton/fredericks--------kaboul/dier--------vert/chiriches/fryers--------rose/davies
-----------------------------capoue/sandro------------bentaleb/dembele/mason
-----eriksen/holtby/------------------lamela/paulinho---------------lennon/townsend/chadli
----------------------------------------ade/soldado/kane
That's 28 players, minus 4 U21's (Dier, Davies, Bentaleb, Kane) to give 24 players, 8 of whom are homegrown (which meets the minimum requirement of 8: walker/naughton/fredericks/fryers/rose/mason/lennon/townsend).
So the squad ends up something like:
----------------------------------------lloris/vorm/friedel
walker/naughton/fredericks--------kaboul/dier--------vert/chiriches/fryers--------rose/davies
-----------------------------capoue/sandro------------bentaleb/dembele/mason
-----eriksen/holtby/------------------lamela/paulinho---------------lennon/townsend/chadli
----------------------------------------ade/soldado/kane
That's 28 players, minus 4 U21's (Dier, Davies, Bentaleb, Kane) to give 24 players, 8 of whom are homegrown (which meets the minimum requirement of 8: walker/naughton/fredericks/fryers/rose/mason/lennon/townsend).
Useful to see it set out like that.
For me it shows we are a good squad with quality in a number of areas, and some decent young players, but it doesn't look a top 4 squad to me.
If we don't sign a new CB, CM and CF, for me we're going to struggle to finish higher than 6th. For me it's the Holtby, Naughton, Kane, Townsend, Chadli, Rose tier of players where we fall down. At City, Chelsea, Liverpool, **** and United i don't think many if any of these players would be anything over and above fringe players. For us, they are knocking on the starting eleven.
Really? Chelsea, City and Arsenal I'll give you. Liverpool and United? Did you see United's line-up versus Swansea? Also, Liverpool aren't as bad as United, but they're only one or two injuries away from Joe Allen in midfield etc.
We've got five full internationals and a hand full of other players before we get to Mason.And we're two injuries away from Mason in midfield. As i said, i don't think MANY of the players i listed would be more than fringe players at those clubs. I agree United and to a lesser extent Liverpool are the weaker squads of the five clubs mentioned, but which of those players (Naugton, Kane, Townsend, Chadli, Holtby and Rose) do you think would be pushing to start at Liverpool or United?
We've got five full internationals and a hand full of other players before we get to Mason.
which is why i didn't include him in my list of players. you get my point though? we have a raft of players (the one's i listed) who we will rely upon pretty heavily but who would be unlikely to feature much at our so-called rival clubs. As i said, can't see Naugton, Kane, Rose, Holtby etc being high up the squad lists on the desks of Wenger, Rodgers, Mourinho or Pelligrini!
It's not a criticism of the individuals concerned. We are where we are and our league position last season reflected that. I suspect given the limited signings we've made so far this summer that our league position won't change materially this term. that's the point i am making.
Liverpool/Man Utd/Spurs central midfield depth comparison:
Sandro/Capoue/Paulinho/Dembele/Holtby
Herrera/Carrick/Fellaini/Fletcher/Cleverley
Gerrard/Henderson/Lucas/Can/Allen
Honestly don't see the issue! I think Kane incidently can be equally as good as Lambert or Wellbeck (ok, more a Lambert than a Wellbeck in style, but in terms of ability he can definately be as good)
I just wish people would stop being so down on our kids. Kane is a quality player, he played great when he came on and looks so intelligent when he's playing and yet everyone just wants to beat him and say he's not good enough.
Liverpool/Man Utd/Spurs central midfield depth comparison:
Sandro/Capoue/Paulinho/Dembele/Holtby
Herrera/Carrick/Fellaini/Fletcher/Cleverley
Gerrard/Henderson/Lucas/Can/Allen
Honestly don't see the issue! I think Kane incidently can be equally as good as Lambert or Wellbeck (ok, more a Lambert than a Wellbeck in style, but in terms of ability he can definately be as good)
I just wish people would stop being so down on our kids. Kane is a quality player, he played great when he came on and looks so intelligent when he's playing and yet everyone just wants to beat him and say he's not good enough.
Bentaleb also.
Yeah, our squad is excellent. And the fact that players like Holtby would be really struggling to even get on the bench with everyone fit shows the depth we have particularly in CM areas. the problem with our squad is the lack of quality coaching.
People now count Henderson and Lucas as quality players, but prior to Rodgers they were a laughing stock. If Pochettino is half the coach people thing he is then we should see a similar level of improvement in our players who have big reputations but maybe haven't shown it, such as Paulinho and Dembele.
Henderson was excellent the season before he joined Liverpool (presumably why they spent c.£20m on him) - he then had a poor season (along with the rest of the team) following which he picked up again last season. Not solely down to Rodgers as he played well at Sunderland, hence his move the Merseyside in the first place. Re Lucas, most Liverpool fans would tell you that he was one of their most important players after his first 'is he definitely Brazilian' season.
Henderson was excellent the season before he joined Liverpool (presumably why they spent c.£20m on him) - he then had a poor season (along with the rest of the team) following which he picked up again last season. Not solely down to Rodgers as he played well at Sunderland, hence his move the Merseyside in the first place. Re Lucas, most Liverpool fans would tell you that he was one of their most important players after his first 'is he definitely Brazilian' season.