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*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton ***

Man of the match

  • Total voters
    56
  • Poll closed .
AdamB said:
Positive hat on: next 3 games are all very winnable and would put us on 17 points after 9 games, which is top 4 form

I fear though that we'll continue to perform short of our potential whilst we continue to play daft formations
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It's not the formation. We don't play with a fixed formation, and we never have!
It's the tempo and speed that is significantly lower than before.
We don't press like we used to, and that leads to us not regaining the ball in the opposition half, as often as before.
This again leads to us not getting as many shots, and also leads to us facing more shots, as we are not winning back the ball high up the pitch.

It's all connected, and the root case is the lack of press and regaining of the ball high up the pitch.
It seems like this is an intentional change of style, because the difference is so huge compared to 2 years ago.
But it ain't fudging working, so we should get back to being the hardest working team in the PL.
 
yiddo37 said:
If Eriksen can stop sulking then he plays. Back to what we've done best over the first 4 years under Poch and get some rhythm and more importantly results, team for Saturday:
. :cool:
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Stop spreading manure! He hasn't been sulking for a second!! Do you actually know what the word means?
Doesn't seem like it. A bad run of form is not the same as sulking. Eriksen has never stopped trying to play. It's just not coming off at the moment, like the whole fudging squad.
So please stop spouting nonsense.
 
MKSpur said:
I did christen one in the test event and operationally it was fine. Not quite buck Rogers but adequate all the same.

I just prefer to avoid following in people who’ve been on the pop all day and have just wolfed down a Balti pie...
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Try the good seats - the toilets there are still nice.
 
Kandi1977 said:
It's not the formation. We don't play with a fixed formation, and we never have!
It's the tempo and speed that is significantly lower than before.
We don't press like we used to, and that leads to us not regaining the ball in the opposition half, as often as before.
This again leads to us not getting as many shots, and also leads to us facing more shots, as we are not winning back the ball high up the pitch.

It's all connected, and the root case is the lack of press and regaining of the ball high up the pitch.
It seems like this is an intentional change of style, because the difference is so huge compared to 2 years ago.
But it ain't fudging working, so we should get back to being the hardest working team in the PL.
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The worry, of course, is that it’s not intentional, and that whatever is awry with the press is an esprit do corps and motivation thing: the stuff that Poch is supposed to be famous for. Getting back to where we were isn’t going to be simple, however much it’s what everyone wants.
 
Kandi1977 said:
We don't press like we used to, and that leads to us not regaining the ball in the opposition half, as often as before.

This again leads to us not getting as many shots, and also leads to us facing more shots, as we are not winning back the ball high up the pitch.
Click to expand...

I think that what is happening is that Poch is trying to get us to press again but the team keep falling back into the tactics of last season of packing midfield and playing speculative forward balls.

Last season's tactics always seemed to me to be a short term approach that was arrived at because of shortages in the squad.

Poch has said that the players are not following instructions. We have seen us starting ok in most games but then get dragged back and run out of ideas.
 
In terms of style, it seems that rather than aiming to play in the opposition's half, we have gone the other way and try and start incredibly deep - practically on our own goal line. The first time I really noticed it was the first half of the league cup semi vs Chelsea last year. We we're starting so deep in our own half, that by the time we had come under pressure (as we always do - we're not great at building from the back probably due to a lack of ball-playing ability in midfield) we were lumping it forwards and losing it, but because our defence was literally still camped in our own 18 yard box we were so vulnerable to opposition attacks as the pitch had been made so massive that there was gaps everywhere for the opposition to exploit.

The worst of both worlds - incredibly vulnerable to the opposition, but also really struggling to get out of our own half. And (imo) this pattern has continued: rather than playing the game in the opposition's third like we used to, we now seem keen to play it in our own defensive third for some reason. It seems like occasionally old habits creep in and we try and squeeze up in a hap-hazard kind of way, like when Ramsay scored for the goons at Wembley last year.

Always between three or four houses, none of them working. The less said about the diamond the better.
 
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After the humiliating defeat to Colchester in the League Cup, we need a good performance and a convincing win to lift our morale. But don't know which Spurs will turn up for this match. Our performances have been unconvincing so far this season, especially in away matches. But we did well to beat Palace 4-0 in our last league match at home. We need to make use of our home advantage to get another win over Southampton in this match.

Our attack is going to be key to us winning this match. Our attack has not been very convincing so far this season. We need to be more clinical and ruthless in front of goal. We cannot go on wasting chances after chances. We should try long range shots and first time volleys more instead of always trying to dribble into goal. The likes of Kane, Son, Moura and Lamela should be more clinical in front of goal. Surely, Eriksen and Alli should be dropped for this match since they are in very poor form for some time. Not sure when we will see the best of our new signings like Lo Celso and Sessegnon.

Pochettino must do something to get the best out of our midfield. We still can't seem to know who is our best midfield partnership. Ndombele is our record signing but he is still struggling to show his true worth to us. Sissoko always works hard but he still needs to improve his finishing. Winks needs to be more involved and tackle more in midfield. Somehow I feel Dier should get a run in midfield since he has not played for some time. It is still puzzling about the Wanyama situation. We tried to sell him a few weeks ago but he seems to be back in the team now despite playing poorly.

We seem to be having limited options in defence now. Vertonghen and Alderweireld are our best defenders but they don't seem to be at their best this season. Wish we can extend their contract long term so that they can fully concentrate for us. Otherwise, we need to sign a proper replacements for them instead of using the error-prone Sanchez. We have not kept many clean sheets this season but it will be disappointing if we don't stop Southampton scoring in this match.

Our defeat to Colchester shows that we don't have any easy matches nowadays. It is up to us to take all our opponents seriously. Southampton will always lift their game against us. Let's hope we will turn up with the right team and mentality to beat Southampton and get back into the top 4 race.
 
Any team news yet ?

Wish we can have all our new signings, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon fully fit and showing their true worth to us ! As usual, Southampton will trouble us. We need an early goal to settle us down and then go for more goals to kill the game off. Let's hope we will put up a good performance and get a convincing win to help us move up the league table.
 
Spurs7891 said:
Any team news yet ?

Wish we can have all our new signings, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon fully fit and showing their true worth to us ! As usual, Southampton will trouble us. We need an early goal to settle us down and then go for more goals to kill the game off. Let's hope we will put up a good performance and get a convincing win to help us move up the league table.
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Ah the old early goal and then score more goals tactic. I don’t know why we just don’t do this every game...
 
A few people have spoke about the quality of Liverpool's football and that their midfielders are good and that they are not a direct team.

Watch the game on now. Sheff Utd are organised yes, but Liverpool's midfield create nothing, Fabinho just passes backwards and Henderson has cornered the market in pointing and shouting.

The only chances they have created have come from the ball going direct to the front line in behind the defence. They have had most the possession played the most passes but that's how they create scoring opposites, alongside crosses from Alexander Arnold.
 
Kandi1977 said:
Stop spreading manure! He hasn't been sulking for a second!! Do you actually know what the word means?
Doesn't seem like it. A bad run of form is not the same as sulking. Eriksen has never stopped trying to play. It's just not coming off at the moment, like the whole fudging squad.
So please stop spouting nonsense.
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Ok mate calm down a bit, I'm a big fan of Eriksen but his form has been terrible by his standards and he does seem to be going through the motions for whatever reasons and to me it seems a bit sulky as his big move didn't materialise. I hope for the teams sake he gets back to his old self and starts making us tick.
 
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Does Pochettino watch our games?

Not a fan of this formation. It leaves us vulnerable defensively as we cannot cover the width of the pitch in midfield, as well as narrow offensively, and there are too many players on the pitch who are not likely to create or score a goal.
 
Please not the diamond again! Surely a formation is to get the best out of your best players. Only Lamela seems to be playing better in this formation, can't think of any others who benefit from the diamond.
 
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