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OMT ** Tottenham Hotspur v Emirates Marketing Project ** Saturday 23 November 2024

Bishop said:
I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not claiming it was a 50/50 match where all of chances just went in and theirs didn't. What I'm saying is despite it being a very accomplished performance let's not pretend it was faultless and that suddenly any and all issues we have are now solved.

In this very game City had the same kind of chances that have fallen to previous opposition but in this match and the first 15 minutes particular they didn't finish. That's what I mean by the game went our way. Ordinarily we concede first and that always gives us a mountain to climb, yesterday partly due to poor finishing and partly down to great goalkeeping that didn't happen. Once we weathered that initial storm it gave us the platform for the rest of the performance.
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Nobody - including me - is saying 'all our issues are solved.'
 
Bishop said:
I agree, but if you read some of the hyperbole then you'll see people talking as if those chances of theirs never happened or that because Romero didn't play that's the key to better defending of crosses, when in this very match we had the crosses issue in the first half. That's all im really responding too. It was a absolutely fantastic performance but let's not get too carried away.
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What 'crosses' issue? I would like to better understand this specific point you're trying to make.
 
thfcsteff said:
But it was the performance we saw versus the opposition performance we faced. And I don't think there can be any dispute that once Maddison scored, our confidence and subsequent workrate were excellent. As for the mid/drop, I think it had less to do with energy and much more to do with a collective understanding we do not have Cheat Mode.
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We did press high quite a bit tough, without VdV. I think we're accepting that in a game where we won't dominate possession we can't press high all the time. As you talked about on the pod I think, doing both and doing both rather well.

Fully agree on workrate and confidence. And I think it was a really good performance. But it's also a game that could have gone very differently had they gotten their first goal or if it they had been clinical.
 
Bishop said:
I agree, but if you read some of the hyperbole then you'll see people talking as if those chances of theirs never happened or that because Romero didn't play that's the key to better defending of crosses, when in this very match we had the crosses issue in the first half. That's all im really responding too. It was a absolutely fantastic performance but let's not get too carried away.
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Fully agreed. If some of those who have been the most critical of Romero analysed their chances and pretended it was Romero there instead of Dragusin I'm rather confident they'd see the same issues as they've seen with Romero.

City had 23 shots. An xG of 2.2. It was a very good performance from us, but the clean sheet was mostly down to average/poor finishing and a really good game from Victorio. And that's absolutely fine. It's still a very good performance.
 
braineclipse said:
Fully agreed. If some of those who have been the most critical of Romero analysed their chances and pretended it was Romero there instead of Dragusin I'm rather confident they'd see the same issues as they've seen with Romero.

City had 23 shots. An xG of 2.2. It was a very good performance from us, but the clean sheet was mostly down to average/poor finishing and a really good game from Victorio. And that's absolutely fine. It's still a very good performance.
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If you read my posts on here you'll know I think we have significant issues in terms of squad/tactics and my view is we are still headed for our worst points total/finishing position in a long time (it's not the 4-0 wins v. City, it's the failure to beat Ipswich, Palace and Leicester).

However, just on this particular point, I defy any team to go up against the attacking quality City have and not have to give up a lot of XG.

Just on the goalkeeper point, unless you can find/buy an absolute worldie/generational keeper that can pretty much do everything to a really high level, you've got to make a choice - shot stopping, command of area, distribution...for me, in this league, shot stopping is the no. 1 thing you need, because you're up against such quality week in, week out, you're going to have your defence breached and you're going to face shots.

One of the biggest mistakes Man Utd made IMO is the decision to trade De Gea for Onana trading less shot stopping ability for better distribution. They soon realised that De Gea probably won them 10 points a season and stuff he was stopping is now going through Onana and into the net. That is the major change in their squad that has resulted in a drop from top 4 finishes and cup wins even under Ten Hag, into their current mess.
 
thfcsteff said:
What 'crosses' issue? I would like to better understand this specific point you're trying to make.
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Lilbaz said:
We do seem to leave runners to the back post free to score from a cross.
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Precisely this. Its been an ongoing discussion because we tend to mark space and leave players free and in space in our penalty box. Haaland had two of those very chances within the first 5 minutes on Saturday. The fact he didn't score doesn't mean the problem didn't exist as it has in previous matches. We have conceded a lot of goals from those crosses, but as i say some poor finishing and great keeping meant they didn't matter, but that doesn't mean that problem has gone away.
 
Jay Harris was on the Totally Football pod and mentioned speaking to Kulusevski after the match. It confirmed my thought that moving Kulusevski out wide was a tactical switch. City like to man mark and our front three were all very good 1 v 1, whether that's holding on to the ball or dribbling past their marker. Johnson doesn't really do either of those very well.
 
braineclipse said:
Fully agreed. If some of those who have been the most critical of Romero analysed their chances and pretended it was Romero there instead of Dragusin I'm rather confident they'd see the same issues as they've seen with Romero.

City had 23 shots. An xG of 2.2. It was a very good performance from us, but the clean sheet was mostly down to average/poor finishing and a really good game from Victorio. And that's absolutely fine. It's still a very good performance.
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Would do end if Romero marked the man like Davies or Dragu did or…l he marked the space like he has been doing
It’s not a game to judge that on though as unlike every other game we played a team who wanted the ball
I’d say the clean a sheet was because most of those shots were woeful and the ones on target were all saved but savevable
Vic was brilliant but I also don’t think he pulled off a worldie
Now sons shot that was saved around 20 minutes from Ederson was a top draw save
 
Jordinho said:
Jay Harris was on the Totally Football pod and mentioned speaking to Kulusevski after the match. It confirmed my thought that moving Kulusevski out wide was a tactical switch. City like to man mark and our front three were all very good 1 v 1, whether that's holding on to the ball or dribbling past their marker. Johnson doesn't really do either of those very well.
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Ange made comments post game that he's been good in that role before against City. It really suits him and makes our front three much more balanced in a game like this.
 
Lilbaz said:
We do seem to leave runners to the back post free to score from a cross.
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Not on Sat. And that is because everyone was focussed and bought in on their jobs. Deki was very important in that regard, and as great as Sarr and Biss were, Maddison doing the hard yards as well as the pretty ones was a difference maker. If we commit and focus we have a great system IMO...
 
Bishop said:
Precisely this. Its been an ongoing discussion because we tend to mark space and leave players free and in space in our penalty box. Haaland had two of those very chances within the first 5 minutes on Saturday. The fact he didn't score doesn't mean the problem didn't exist as it has in previous matches. We have conceded a lot of goals from those crosses, but as i say some poor finishing and great keeping meant they didn't matter, but that doesn't mean that problem has gone away.
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If you watch back, the first 10-12 mins we were at sea - Maddison in particular was lost...that first goal changed his game IMO...and he went on to have a great one!
 
thfcsteff said:
If you watch back, the first 10-12 mins we were at sea - Maddison in particular was lost...that first goal changed his game IMO...and he went on to have a great one!
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Absolutely, but that's what I mean. If we had conceded we would have the same complaints as we have had in previous games. Fortunately we weathered that storm and then just handled them perfectly. That's the only reason I'm giving that caveat because you might not have seen people talking as if the defensive problems are solved but I have. On another day Haaland finishes and we have the same complaints and maybe even lose the game.

I do think not conceding first is what gave us the platform to beat them. Obviously we fell apart against Brighton and Leicester but if we score first and not concede we can truly start to dominate games.

Something else I take from this game and its obviously situational but not having the lions share of possession and not being pushed up on the halfway line helped us massively. We played it fast and actually having space to play and run into really suits us. I think it would not do us any harm to not always be such a heavy possessional team and play a little bit more on the counter and in transition. Our strength really isn't breaking down deep set defensive blocks and how we play to beat them is very high risk.
 
Apart from tempo, the best sign of the side being on point is the interception in midfield, particularly tackles which dispossess the oppostion. We were all over them on that front.
 
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