All the talk during the international break on here was about our poor defensive record, lack of protection for the back 4, relying too much on Lloris, defenders not good enough etc. Perhaps rightly, we've been poor defensively.
Pochettino makes the change with Paulinho to make us more solid, and despite missing Lloris, Vertonghen and Fazio and Walker having a mare and going off injured, we kept a clean sheet and defended rather well.
Cue people furious with Pochettino...
I really don't get it.
If you couldn't see how impotent we were in attack - then I give up!
You are correct but then our focus should be on Chadli, Eriksen and Kane who were simply abysmal.
My reply was to Brain, and I agree with you that the entire attacking unit was poor today. He was trying to excuse Poch for playing Paulinho in order to try and solidify the defence. So was he playing DM?
I still want to know if anyone can work out our formation today?
All the talk during the international break on here was about our poor defensive record, lack of protection for the back 4, relying too much on Lloris, defenders not good enough etc. Perhaps rightly, we've been poor defensively.
Pochettino makes the change with Paulinho to make us more solid, and despite missing Lloris, Vertonghen and Fazio and Walker having a mare and going off injured, we kept a clean sheet and defended rather well.
Cue people furious with Pochettino...
I really don't get it.
I know some people will say this is making a spacegoat out of him, however I though Paulinho was desperately poor today. Didnt add anything at all. There's a bunch of others who also didnt contribute much however they're mainly young players (and will therefore have off days) rather than someone who has a lot of international experience.
We've had a decent season relative to my expectations; now looking forward to the summer and a bit of a clear-out
vorm - 6
walker - 2
dier - 5
chiriches - 6
rose - 6
mason - 4
bentaleb - 4
paulinho - 4
eriksen - 5
kane - 5
chadli - 3
Compared to who?
Compared to Townsend, who he replaced in the starting line-up, he most certainly does.
Paulinho did SFA but he was still better than Mason, Bentaleb, Eriksen and Chadli...
It's pretty obvious
Paulinho came on against Leicester and had an excellent 30 minutes, and was crucial in regaining the advantage. So Poch, quite fairly, decided to give him a chance from the start. Why are people so baffled about that? That's what should always be the case... how else would players be motivated and assured that they would be given a fair crack?
As I said, this spacegoating is frankly ridiculous. If Mason, Bentaleb, Eriksen and Chadli played anything more than abysmal, we would have had a great chance to win this. Anyone blaming Paulinho is way, way off track.
You missed the point. I asked what POSITION Paulinho was playing and what formation the team was playing. So far no-one has deigned to answer that. I am therefore not entirely surprised the team shape was confusing to the team itself. That was what largely explained the inept display imo.
Looks like our season will now peter out and whether we get EL or not, I'm not too fussed.
I suspect Poch will be using the remaining games, to give those he's still undecided about one last chance
So we have to aim for 8th?I think he did that yesterday - it was a dead rubber line-up/performance
As long as Liverpool and Arsenal don't both screw up the FA cup, 7th will be EL anyway. The one thing left to play for now is 5th and 6th get less qualifying rounds
I think he did that yesterday - it was a dead rubber line-up/performance
As long as Liverpool and Arsenal don't both screw up the FA cup, 7th will be EL anyway. The one thing left to play for now is 5th and 6th get less qualifying rounds