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

[Silly McSilly Face]

Felt to me that every time we went to Kudus he had 2 men on him and they stopped him with whatever way they could
That should have been an opportunity for us if we switched play quicker but we just didn’t
It was very turgid

Kudus showed a lack of intelligence there himself though, as someone else has said there often was a man over in those situations but he was just heads down trying to take the double man on. Hopefully with Simons coming in and when Kulusevski is back we will have multiple men on the pitch that require two men to keep them quiet (I.e. they can't)

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Kudus showed a lack of intelligence there himself though, as someone else has said there often was a man over in those situations but he was just heads down trying to take the double man on. Hopefully with Simons coming in and when Kulusevski is back we will have multiple men on the pitch that require two men to keep them quiet (I.e. they can't)

I don’t like the fact he tried to stand up every time
He could have taken some pressure of us by taking the foul (he is so strong)
The midfield for me was really poor though
Pahlinha who is class showed his lack of forward thinking with the ball and I think we got then the team wrong
I was surprise when I saw the line up considering who we were playing

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

I don’t like the fact he tried to stand up every time
He could have taken some pressure of us by taking the foul (he is so strong)
The midfield for me was really poor though
Pahlinha who is class showed his lack of forward thinking with the ball and I think we got then the team wrong
I was surprise when I saw the line up considering who we were playing

Agreed. I've already posted that I thought Frank got the team wrong. A repeat of the lineup against Burnley would have been better. I'd even have considered a back 3 to help Porro with Semenyo and push them back a bit without exposing ourselves defensively.

On midfield - yep - We needed to get through their high press better and earlier. When you do that consistently and early on it puts doubt in their minds, gets them on the back foot and they stop pressing as aggressively.

The early goal didnt help as we were set up to counter as we did v City. Was a different game from the one planned from the moment that went in. I guess this is all a bit captain hindsight but i'd also have

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Agreed. I've already posted that I thought Frank got the team wrong. A repeat of the lineup against Burnley would have been better. I'd even have considered a back 3 to help Porro with Semenyo and push them back a bit without exposing ourselves defensively.

On midfield - yep - We needed to get through their high press better and earlier. When you do that consistently and early on it puts doubt in their minds, gets them on the back foot and they stop pressing as aggressively.

The early goal didnt help as we were set up to counter as we did v City. Was a different game from the one planned from the moment that went in. I guess this is all a bit captain hindsight but i'd also have

Yeah
Frank will learn from this
But it’s a worry for me because it’s not new for us as fans

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

Yeah
Frank will learn from this
But it’s a worry for me because it’s not new for us as fans

New coach same sh*t. Unfortunately most of our defence is still that bought for Conte's system. VDV was bought for recovery pace in Ange's crazy high line, but he isnt a purist defender- so when you chop and change the philosophy this is where you end up.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

New coach same sh*t. Unfortunately most of our defence is still that bought for Conte's system. VDV was bought for recovery pace in Ange's crazy high line, but he isnt a purist defender- so when you chop and change the philosophy this is where you end up.

I’m fine with the defence but do think we have other options that can play too if Frank wanted to try them (Danso for one)

 

[Dave Rideout]

So....after a promising start to the Thomas Frank era we come up against Bournemouth. Little old Bournemouth who sold over £150m worth of their players over the summer.

Spurs players are still Spurs players. We lost to the relegated teams last year because we think we are high and mighty and don't need to try against the so-called lesser teams.

Yesterday was as bad a performance I have seen a Tottenham team produce in over 50 years.
Only the goalkeeper came away with any sort of credit. Every other player was simply terrible.

If we'd have lost 0-5 that would not have been generous to Bournemouth. Semenyo was superb and showed Richarlison how to lead the line and hold up a ball.

Bournemouth 20 shots....Spurs 5.

Spurs being at home and meant to be taking the game to the opposition but the reverse happened.

Shocking performance. A reality check for us fans and the new manager.

 

[mudshark]

Our issues are mainly in the forward line and the link to it. The previous couple of games were outliers for Richarlison—he's not capable of performing like that consistently and he's never been a natural finisher. Plus we all know about his proneness to injury, and I doubt anyone would be surprised to hear he's broken down again before too long. Solanke is decent but only that and this club is used to better quality in that area, simple as that. Simons, along with whoever else may come in before tomorrow's deadline, might improve the link-up play, we'll have to see, but at the moment, the squad is still the usual curate's egg it has been for most of ENIC's tenure and before, so Frank will have his work cut out. Yesterday's showing was all much too familiar a story.

 

[Bishop]

Felt to me that every time we went to Kudus he had 2 men on him and they stopped him with whatever way they could
That should have been an opportunity for us if we switched play quicker but we just didn’t
It was very turgid

We still lack a switch passer. I remember a moment late on when Kudus beat his man but the cover defender was there so he passed to Bentancur and Odobert was deep left in acres of space. Bents definitely saw him because he shaped to make the pass then declined and passed to Romero instead it took another 2 or 3 passes before it eventually made its way to Odobert by which time the Bournemouth defence had moved over and the gap was gone.

Simons might be a difference maker in that regard because he does had a good switch on him but he won't always be the one recieving that pass. We need a bit more bravery and technical passing quality in the deeper midfield positions because it otherwise makes things quite pedestrian.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

We still lack a switch passer. I remember a moment late on when Kudus beat his man but the cover defender was there so he passed to Bentancur and Odobert was deep left in acres of space. Bents definitely saw him because he shaped to make the pass then declined and passed to Romero instead it took another 2 or 3 passes before it eventually made its way to Odobert by which time the Bournemouth defence had moved over and the gap was gone.

Simons might be a difference maker in that regard because he does had a good switch on him but he won't always be the one recieving that pass. We need a bit more bravery and technical passing quality in the deeper midfield positions because it otherwise makes things quite pedestrian.

The midfield yesterday was stodgy as hell
It happens
That’s where we need that “10” playing
I really liked Scott yesterday for them. He was creating but was also everywhere. He would be a player we should look at and a huge spurs fan too

 

[Legohamster]

Appreciate I may be on this hill to die alone and he pulled some good saves off yesterday......

But Vicario really is causing us issues with his flapping at crossing and poor distribution

His kicking out started a couple of counters for Bmuff and the penalty shout/them hitting the bar all came from him coming off his line and flapping at a cross

As I said.... I'm pretty sure it won't be popular view

 

[Mikey10]

Appreciate I may be on this hill to die alone and he pulled some good saves off yesterday......

But Vicario really is causing us issues with his flapping at crossing and poor distribution

His kicking out started a couple of counters for Bmuff and the penalty shout/them hitting the bar all came from him coming off his line and flapping at a cross

As I said.... I'm pretty sure it won't be popular view

It’s popular with me!

Goalkeeper is not our biggest problem at present, but he needs upgrading at some point in the not distant future. He is next to useless with his feet and he continues to panic under pressure.

 

[metalgear]

watching the highlights again just makes me think its a fitness and "physicality" issue.

only a handful of players stood up to physical play - kudus, palhinha, vdv, romero, spence and bergvall. the woeful ones were obvious - johnson, richarlison and porro

also Bournemouth to their credit at a significantly higher pace - pinging balls at speed and sprinting for everything. we like to bring the tempo down to walking pace and allow the opposition's defence to reorganize. romero as captain has to take some blame - you don't slow down games a goal down. to his credit the final 10 minutes of so we were frantically trying to ping every ball up front but it was too late

 

[braineclipse]

It does make you wonder if there's a tactic that makes you the top pressing team in a game.

If you think about it, City probably felt exactly the same as we did yesterday.

Ironically it's probably purposely giving the ball back to the opposition. So firstly hit those balls over the top/down the channels. They have a hope of being successful but I'd not...activate the rabid press.

The best pressing comes from fitness, willingness, being drilled. Having players suited to it and then a well planned strategy based on the opposition and various eventualities.

That often requires some sacrifices with regards to other attributes. Their solution to that is to just go direct a lot of the time. Making them essentially impossible to press into turnovers.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

New coach same sh*t. Unfortunately most of our defence is still that bought for Conte's system. VDV was bought for recovery pace in Ange's crazy high line, but he isnt a purist defender- so when you chop and change the philosophy this is where you end up.

I think you’re being really harsh on our defenders who are excellent and most teams would be lucky to have them. It’s probably the strongest part of our team. A bad day at the office yesterday no doubt, but I think you’re making some big sweeping statements about them which is unfair.

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

I think you’re being really harsh on our defenders who are excellent and most teams would be lucky to have them. It’s probably the strongest part of our team. A bad day at the office yesterday no doubt, but I think you’re making some big sweeping statements about them which is unfair.

Are they excellent? All I can say is if our defenders are the strongest part of our team we are in for another loooooooong season....

 

[SpurMeUp]

We didn't look prepared for their press. That is probably on the manager, maybe the players knew it was coming, but couldn't play around it.

The one other frustrstion was we failed to take advantage when they tired - at the end of both halfs. More composure was needed - in the face of their press, and to make it pay when they tired.

It was the sort of performance a smaller side can deliver when fresh. They outworked us, and we weren't prepped or able to play around them.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

Are they excellent? All I can say is if our defenders are the strongest part of our team we are in for another loooooooong season....

I genuinely think they are.

Personally I think it was probably the wrong team selection yesterday, which I’ll put down to Frank still figuring out the squad and who is capable of what. But it’s interesting for an adaptable manager that the same team that beat City away was seen as the right selection to beat Bournemouth at home.

Maybe he was trying to encourage principles of the same players being asked to do different things. But it clearly didn’t work. And that is where I think the issue was yesterday, as opposed to the individual quality of our defenders. We were really bad and the defence faced an onslaught all game. More ball progression and ability to impose our will on Bournemouth would have helped I think.

But I’m not going to judge Frank. I put it down to a learning experience - him about the squad. And the squad understanding his asks.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

The best pressing comes from fitness, willingness, being drilled. Having players suited to it and then a well planned strategy based on the opposition and various eventualities.

That often requires some sacrifices with regards to other attributes. Their solution to that is to just go direct a lot of the time. Making them essentially impossible to press into turnovers.

I wasn't saying 'the best pressing team IN THE game' .....but 'the best pressing team IN A game' ie how do you engineer a specific game to make you the pressing team in a match of two very good pressing teams.
Bournemouth took on that role yesterday, when we know we can do that as well, just as we proved against City and PSG

 

[braineclipse]

The issue is even with a Simons he's not always going to receive the ball in nice and clean situations. You're imaging some sort of perfect football scenario where Simon's is able to release him into acres of space every single time, that's just not going to happen. There are always going to be times he receives it under pressure or is immediately pressured and he is going to need to be able to keep the ball far better in those situations.

On your other point I agree Palhinha and Bentancur were also poor but they did win tackles occasionally, they did sometimes beat the press and every time they passed it forward to Richy or Johnson it was basically lost immediately. Again Simons alone won't fix that and you're just setting yourself up for disappointment if you think he will.

The fix is to get players with better care of the ball on the pitch. Simons and Kudus are progress in that regard but the rest of the front 4 also need some possession ability otherwise we will have more games like this. And I expect other teams to look at yesterday's result as a blueprint as how to combat us. It's down to Frank now to find a solution.

Would there have been 1-2 "perfect football" moments leading to a chance or two? Maybe, possibly.

Would there be another handful of situations where we at least managed to progress the ball without it being perfect football. I think so.

That would give us some decent attacking situations when we had very few. More importantly perhaps I think that changes the flow of the game. I think it would impact how they can and can't press. And give them tiring moments where they had to scramble back, which again impacts how they can press.

Is that enough, I'm not sure. But it would have helped quite a bit I think. Of course more would be better, but the difference between one and two really good ball progressers in midfield and up front is really rather significant imo.