Some interesting points here. I thought that after the first 15 minutes or so we played ok but we still gave up too many chances.
We certainly did. We did look better though, and we played through their high press well, something we have been rubbish at for a while now.
I didn't think N'Dombele did anything of particular note, his time at Spurs so far has underwhelmed me but just as with any player coming from overseas, he needs time. I thought that N'Dombele was probably our weakest starting midfield player, I certainly didn't see him doing any more than Tielemans. I also thought that Winks was average at best. I agree that Lamela played very well, especially in the first half.
I thought he played well. Did some good stuff, made it look easy, easy to pass over when watching. Did some more obvious stuff, turning players, holding players off, that really had me excited.
Over all Id say he was probably better than you think, if you watched it again your opinion would change some - but over all I should say Im not making out like he was brilliant. I thought he was decent, with flashes of things to come, which is what I found exciting.
I agree that we perhaps deserved to win the game but if we did then it was marginal. A draw was probably the right result and certainly didn't deserve to lose it.
I really do think we deserved to win. They were dangerous on the break, but aside from a few chances were very limited over all by how we played.
This was probably our best performance all season, and if VAR wasnt so dodgy we would have won comfortably IMO. As much as you think the game swung on Sissoko going off - Id argue if Sons goal stood we would have won at a canter.
The VAR decision was correct. Unfortunately the system has to be yes or no and there is no 'margin for error' rule. Son's line was goalside of their last man and therefore offside is the right VAR decision.
It was correct in terms of the rules of VAR as set up. It is fundamentally wrong though, in the way it is set up.
There is room for error, to the degree that calls as marginal as that was (and we are talking millimetres, arent we?) should have some discretion applied.
The system is not millimetre accurate, to treat it as though it is is a fundamental flaw.
We certainly don't look like a top 4 side at the moment. Luckily Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal are all in somewhat transitional phases. The worry I have about us at the moment is that we don't seem to have a trusted gameplan. We haven't made our mind up whether we're a team that wants to press and play high up the pitch, sit back and counter or play slow, possession dominant football. I think that lack of trusted gameplan is what is causing us to be giving up so many chances to the opposition.
Agreed. The diamond is brick. I think the diamond was adopted to accommodate our issues last season, but it has no place in the team today.
We need to settle on a formation and stick to it. 4231 seems the best suited and most comfortable.
Its all so bloody obvious its frustrating Poch is carrying on as he is. Id love to think there was reasoning behind it, as to why its preferable to hobble along with a diamond, but honestly I just dont see it.
I could understand that if he'd had another talking to from the ref but he hadn't. I think the ref probably would've also realised he was wrong to book him in the first half and been lenient had there been anything that was borderline.
That substitution though gave Leicester more space to attack on our right through Winks replacing Sissoko as well as ruining our possession through Wanyama replacing Winks. If he really wanted to take Sissoko off then I think it would've been far better to leave Winks where he was and just directly replace Sissoko.
I think the way Sissoko plays, there is always the chance of a yellow. I dont mind him coming off on those grounds at all.
Winks was doing well in that base of midfield position, Id have been happier with a direct replacement to Sissoko. Skipp probably the best option, but Id have had Dier ahead of Wanyama as well.
Wanyama looks done, first thing he did on the field was get roasted and give away a foul (and get a yellow).
Things swung on that, but it was more that Wanyama came on, rather than Sissoko went off, IMO.