** FA Cup 4th Round - Tottenham Hotspur v Emirates Marketing Project **

[Bishop]

The whole point of having sprinters in the front 3 is to release them to sprint onto through-balls.
The tactic should have been simply: If at any point you can slide a ball between either full-back and their centre-back, do so.
Don't worry about whether Werner and Johnson are ready, just DO IT and see what happens.
IF they aren't ready, that is their fault, but just DO IT. Slide the pass into the space and see if they can get there.
It's not your job to double check and double back and double think, just slide it into the space.

I think you need to have Maddison and Sarr for that. It's their playstyle and thinking. Kulu should have the technique, but he's much more prone to hold and attempt a dribble than he is to try and thread a ball through a congested space. Bentancur definitely can and has but I think he just had a particularly poor game and I wonder if he's truly up to match fitness yet. PEH is as likely to thread it through as he is to hit row X.

So I did think it was the midfield poor play and unwillingness to play those passes that stopped us taking advantage of the space that was available.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think you need to have Maddison and Sarr for that. It's their playstyle and thinking. Kulu should have the technique, but he's much more prone to hold and attempt a dribble than he is to try and thread a ball through a congested space. Bentancur definitely can and has but I think he just had a particularly poor game and I wonder if he's truly up to match fitness yet. PEH is as likely to thread it through as he is to hit row X.

So I did think it was the midfield poor play and unwillingness to play those passes that stopped us taking advantage of the space that was a aikavlev

The midfield was really poor
Skipp came in and stepped up on Bentacur… that’s how poor Bentacur wqs
And kulu looked much better playing wide in that brief period

 

[Bishop]

The midfield was really poor
Skipp came in and stepped up on Bentacur… that’s how poor Bentacur wqs
And kulu looked much better playing wide in that brief period

I've liked Kulu in the middle but truthfully he's not been much of a passer when playing it. He's much more useful as a physical presence and a dribbler. I think we need more of player with a killer eye as the Maddison alternative.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I've liked Kulu in the middle but truthfully he's not been much of a passer when playing it. He's much more useful as a physical presence and a dribbler. I think we need more of player with a killer eye as the Maddison alternative.

Lo celso… but one who can play two games on the trot

 

[braineclipse]

I think you need to have Maddison and Sarr for that. It's their playstyle and thinking. Kulu should have the technique, but he's much more prone to hold and attempt a dribble than he is to try and thread a ball through a congested space. Bentancur definitely can and has but I think he just had a particularly poor game and I wonder if he's truly up to match fitness yet. PEH is as likely to thread it through as he is to hit row X.

So I did think it was the midfield poor play and unwillingness to play those passes that stopped us taking advantage of the space that was available.

Yeah. The balance of the team wasn't right. Because of the players missing. Not only first choice (Maddison), but also backup option (Lo Celso) in at least one instance. Kulusevski playing a position/role that didn't suit him in this game, because we didn't really have many options.

It happens. We still made it a close game score wise at least. One moment of magic from anyone and it could have been a repeat of some of our previous wins against them. Still defended well. Still tried to be ambitious and play our football.

They were just a bit too good and we missed a bit to much of our important ingredients.

 

[Raziel]

Yeah. The balance of the team wasn't right. Because of the players missing. Not only first choice (Maddison), but also backup option (Lo Celso) in at least one instance. Kulusevski playing a position/role that didn't suit him in this game, because we didn't really have many options.

It happens. We still made it a close game score wise at least. One moment of magic from anyone and it could have been a repeat of some of our previous wins against them. Still defended well. Still tried to be ambitious and play our football.

They were just a bit too good and we missed a bit to much of our important ingredients.

It was a brick game to be honest, lots of stuff from both teams broke down, final third stuff from both not great (we defended well and missed Son up front badly)

The reaction has been hilarious, the internet really is too much for me some days, there are people that somehow expected we were going to walk over City (in form) minus Son, Sarr, Bissouma and with 30 minutes of Maddison, and since we didn't someone has to be to blame ..

 

[Bishop]

It was a brick game to be honest, lots of stuff from both teams broke down, final third stuff from both not great (we defended well and missed Son up front badly)

The reaction has been hilarious, the internet really is too much for me some days, there are people that somehow expected we were going to walk over City (in form) minus Son, Sarr, Bissouma and with 30 minutes of Maddison, and since we didn't someone has to be to blame ..

The weird thing is many of those fans are the same ones who don't think we need to serious additions.

 

[Raziel]

The weird thing is many of those fans are the same ones who don't think we need to serious additions.

It's the balanced conversation (which is tough as fans because of the emotional buy in)

- This team needs improvement, both to first team and squad (so does every team if you expect to improve)
- That said, this team (players) has had massive improvement over last 2.5 years, effectively Son & Davies are the only remaining players from even pre-Conte?
- Regardless of who we buy, expecting walking a Pep version of City is delusion on another level.

It will take time, probably another 2 windows at least, summer will hopefully be the final big outgoing, but we also just need time to evaluate some players and make decisions.

 

[braineclipse]

It was a brick game to be honest, lots of stuff from both teams broke down, final third stuff from both not great (we defended well and missed Son up front badly)

The reaction has been hilarious, the internet really is too much for me some days, there are people that somehow expected we were going to walk over City (in form) minus Son, Sarr, Bissouma and with 30 minutes of Maddison, and since we didn't someone has to be to blame ..

Think we missed Maddison and Kulusevski playing on the right more than we missed Son. Don't think Son would have gotten much more to work with than Werner did. Even GLC I think could have made a significant difference.

Someone to blame I agree.

 

[Yiddo]

I am still disappointed that we only managed 1 shot all game at home.

 

[TheQuest]

I watched the game live but only just deep dived on Spursplay for ratings purposes which are

Vicario 4.5
Porro....6
Romero 6
Vdv........8.5
Udogie..7.5
Hojbjerg 7
Bentancur 6
Kulusevski 6
Johnson 5
Richarlison 6
Werner ......5.5

Postecoglou 6

I thought the ref was too kind to City on yellow cards and called play back when we had the advantage on one attack.

I thought Vicario was culpable for the goal on 3 counts. He was being jostled all game on corners but didn't kick up enough fuss. He put the ball out of play with poor distribution and thus giving away possession just before the goal. He was weak on the punch and went down too easily.