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*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v AFC Bournemouth ***

You can see he's got talent. He needs confidence as well, obviously. He came in at the tail end of a terrible season for us, put in some decent performances, but didn't tear it up, which would be too much to ask for a lad thats 19.

Well, I assumed we had a plan to use him when we made it permanent, but I do find it baffling that we're now seemingly trying to sign another LW. Supposedly he can play as a striker as well. We'll see. Maybe we'll loan him out.
Hmm that's the thing I genuinely don't see this talent. I don't think he's awful or anything but he doesn't stand out to me or catch my attention at all. I see no outstanding attributes or anything that suggests that one day he will be great at a particular thing. I might be wrong and I'm just missing it but I just don't see anything in him at all. I would rather have not bought him at at all and kept the money and used it towards something ready to play and perform now.
 
You can see he's got talent. He needs confidence as well, obviously. He came in at the tail end of a terrible season for us, put in some decent performances, but didn't tear it up, which would be too much to ask for a lad thats 19.

Well, I assumed we had a plan to use him when we made it permanent, but I do find it baffling that we're now seemingly trying to sign another LW. Supposedly he can play as a striker as well. We'll see. Maybe we'll loan him out.
Agents and pubdits are always talking up where a player can play, how versatile they are. 95% of the time they can only play left wing.
 
Had a feeling this was going to be a difficult game. Had it as a 1-1, but unfortunately we couldn't get that equaliser. Just have to make it better next time.
Remember what Frank said; the only thing that is 100% certain, is that we will lose games. Just have to make sure those are as few as possible. Ref was terrible! That fat bald clam, Simon hooper, is as bad as it gets! Totally unfit for the job. Literally!
I didn't mind the ref. a while back. He did well for us in a few games. But I see he has followed the rest now and just be cack
 
Be interesting to see how the fans back the manager in his third game in charge and reason his performances compared to the allowances that were made for worse performances last couple of years.
He should be backed a million per cent. Today was beyond disappointing but he got dingdonged by Iraola. It happens.

No manager has the answers to such a degree that they’ll always make the right selections at the start of games and changes during games. Frank is no different.

There’s been enough so far, for me, to suggest we’ll have a good season under him with a few blips like this. He has to learn from it and I’m sure he will.
 
That was shockingly bad. And for someone so famed for his tactical acumen......barely anything changed. For such a horrific performance, surely you use your 5 subs?
He used most of them, didn't he? Bergvall, Odobert, Udogie, Tel - we didn't have anyone else left on to affect the game in an attacking sense.

In general, it's just one of those pre-international break games where the players look disinterested and are trying to protect themselves from injury. We were brick at these long before Frank, we will be brick at them long after.

And Bournemouth are the absolute worst sort of team to come up against in that situation, because they will press like absolute madmen for 80 minutes before the gas runs out, and they predictably did.

You can see Iraola's strengths and weaknesses in that approach - it's a madman rush of energy that tries to get the game wrapped up before the legs go. It works at the start of seasons when they have a lot of energy, it works at the end when everyone is exhausted. In between is when they basically crash because they start getting tired while others who aren't quite as gung-ho have reserves of energy to draw on.

It's also clear why they get so many injuries, because that style is utterly unsustainable over a long period without injuries.

On the whole, it's a reminder that this is the start of a journey, not the end - a long way to go to get a team that can cope with the sort of manic energy Bournemouth have early in the season. But, positives too - Bergvall looked great when he came on, Udogie being back gives us some much-needed width on the left, and Vicario was excellent.

Let's take it on the chin, and move on. :)
 
Well, that was sobering...

I just can't for my very life see how our plan was supposed to work this time around, nor what proper adjustments was attempted once it was apparent that it did not work.

It took 68 minutes before we managed a shot on goal, for Pete's sake.

If you're second best in physicality, second best in distance run, third best in sprints behind the opponents _and_ the ref, and third in passing accuracy behind opponent and ballboys, it becomes an uphill battle.

Bringing on Bergvall and Udogie (in separate stops) had a good impact. Odobert and Tel was ok-ish once the game opened up a bit at the end, but I'm struggling to see what they really bring in this kind of extremly physical contest that a game against Bournemouth is. They are undoubtly excellent players, and have immense talents, but they are yet to convince me. That shot from Tel did nudge me a fair bit towards the positive, though. (Odoberts shot not so much...)

I've always postulated that the true mettle of a manager comes once you face troubled times. How you break a negative cycle, and regain a positive. A decent manager can go on a run, have flow and win stuff. However, he usually struggles once crunchtime comes around, and invariably fails to regain the flow before something else happens that does it for him. An excellent manager stops the negative spiral in its tracks, and refuses to be brought down. This was where Nuno failed me, and I claim to this day that he is an decent manager, not an excellent one.

I had hoped that Thomas Frank would enjoy a bit more time before I had a chance to test him against this, but here we are.

Utterly disappointed with quite a lot today...
 
You can see he's got talent. He needs confidence as well, obviously. He came in at the tail end of a terrible season for us, put in some decent performances, but didn't tear it up, which would be too much to ask for a lad thats 19.

Well, I assumed we had a plan to use him when we made it permanent, but I do find it baffling that we're now seemingly trying to sign another LW. Supposedly he can play as a striker as well. We'll see. Maybe we'll loan him out.
Assuming we are trying to sign a new LW that tells me that Frank thinks that it is our weaker position and I agree, so we will then have 5 LW if we include Solomon. So the Tel signing do not make any sense at all to me. Maybe Solomon can step up but he can't seem to stay fit when he comes to Spurs. But 4 current players that are not good enough in the same position is crazy for me.
 
He should be backed a million per cent. Today was beyond disappointing but he got dingdonged by Iraola. It happens.

No manager has the answers to such a degree that they’ll always make the right selections at the start of games and changes during games. Frank is no different.

There’s been enough so far, for me, to suggest we’ll have a good season under him with a few blips like this. He has to learn from it and I’m sure he will.

Fact is, Iraola does this to all teams - at the start of the season, Bournemouth press with manic intensity because they have energy. By the end, they're dragging themselves to the finish line because others have saved up more energy than them over the course of a season, and injuries (a natural consequence of their manic approach) usually wreck them. It's a refined, more tactically adept version of Ange's suicideball.

You even see it individual games - Bournemouth were great against Liverpool, then they tired and by the end, lost to a late surge. Same thing nearly happened against us, but we didn't have the quality to convert.

It's why I think his playstyle is ultimately unsustainable at the very top - not only will energy run out much more quickly if he has to deal with European games/midweek games, but the injuries that style accumulates would devastate teams with more games to manage.
 
We proclaimed that last week was a Thomas Frank masterclass.
So I guess we have to admit this was a Thomas Frank disasterclass.

There must be several good ways to counteract what Bournemouth did to us today. E.g. if they are doubling up on Porro and Kudus, do something to negate that. E.g. if we try long balls and it doesn't work, do something different.
 
Jesus fudging christ that was horrific. If you sent a team out the make exactly the wrong decisions almost every time for 90 minutes that's what you'd get.
This fudgekng club does my head in!
 
Assuming we are trying to sign a new LW that tells me that Frank thinks that it is our weaker position and I agree, so we will then have 5 LW if we include Solomon. So the Tel signing do not make any sense at all to me. Maybe Solomon can step up but he can't seem to stay fit when he comes to Spurs. But 4 current players that are not good enough in the same position is crazy for me.

Tel isn't meant to be a full-time left-winger. He's meant to be a striker that can also provide width on the left, when needed.

I think he's the long-term replacement for Richy - believe the latter will have one year left on his deal after the World Cup, and it would be a good time to sell.

Think, barring miracles, next year Richy goes and Tel becomes our backup to Solanke. So view him in that light.

He had some promising moments today - tried to make things happen, made some decent runs, one excellent snapshot. Not the worst outing.
 
Fact is, Iraola does this to all teams - at the start of the season, Bournemouth press with manic intensity because they have energy. By the end, they're dragging themselves to the finish line because others have saved up more energy than them over the course of a season, and injuries (a natural consequence of their manic approach) usually wreck them. It's a refined, more tactically adept version of Ange's suicideball.

You even see it individual games - Bournemouth were great against Liverpool, then they tired and by the end, lost to a late surge. Same thing nearly happened against us, but we didn't have the quality to convert.

It's why I think his playstyle is ultimately unsustainable at the very top - not only will energy run out much more quickly if he has to deal with European games/midweek games, but the injuries that style accumulates would devastate teams with more games to manage.

Might work at a bigger club that can stock it's bench with (almost) like for like talent on the bench.

I remember first couple of seasons under Poch we tailed off towards the end of the season - he commented on it as an issue and the following seasons we seemed to finish much more strongly- Iraola needs to identify these sorts of issues and rectify them. Although for Bournemouth surviving in the league is probably mission accomplished, so is there the need to?
 
He should be backed a million per cent. Today was beyond disappointing but he got dingdonged by Iraola. It happens.

No manager has the answers to such a degree that they’ll always make the right selections at the start of games and changes during games. Frank is no different.

There’s been enough so far, for me, to suggest we’ll have a good season under him with a few blips like this. He has to learn from it and I’m sure he will.
Doesn't seem like it.

People who refused to judge the last manager for any number of reasons are ready to now Frank has lost his first game.
 
We proclaimed that last week was a Thomas Frank masterclass.
So I guess we have to admit this was a Thomas Frank disasterclass.

There must be several good ways to counteract what Bournemouth did to us today. E.g. if they are doubling up on Porro and Kudus, do something to negate that. E.g. if we try long balls and it doesn't work, do something different.
He definately got outcoached. It was so onesided it was barely a contrst for 80 minutes.
 
He should have made changes after 30 mins. They overan us. Very lucky to be 1 0 at ht.
Who is realistically coming into a new job and upsetting the applecart after 2 games by making subs in the 30th minute? Lets be realistic, we were always going to have performances like this, its better being early on and whilst the transfer market is open so we can change accordingly.
 
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