*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Stade Rennais***

[Goose]

don't give a flying f**k about this competition. Almost as if it was created to take the tinkle out of "fallen" clubs. Joke. i say field the kids and whatever happens, happens.

 

[Bullet]

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that football, 95% of the time, is pretty fudging boring. I wouldn't watch this rubbish unless I was so emotionally invested in Spurs.

This implies you are watching the ball and our slow attempts to poke our way through 8 defenders. Try watching the other players, so many sub plots e.g. the runs Gil makes to create space [consistently not found], the movements Kane makes to drag players around and create space for a runner into that space [who doesn't exist], the positioning of our full backs and their body angle to receive the ball [always facing backwards and trying to bottle out of going forwards] etc.

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

 

[Lost Mango]

This implies you are watching the ball and our slow attempts to poke our way through 8 defenders. Try watching the other players, so many sub plots e.g. the runs Gil makes to create space [consistently not found], the movements Kane makes to drag players around and create space for a runner into that space [who doesn't exist], the positioning of our full backs and their body angle to receive the ball [always facing backwards and trying to bottle out of going forwards] etc.

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

Not just our full backs, half the team seem to set themselves up like that, to expect the negative. Rodon received a throw in from the halfway line without a Rennes player within 20 yards and he let it run across him so he had to turn back on it to control it and then immediately passed it sideways. Horrible watching of all these issues you highlight. Kane has the same issue with the England team so it ain't just us.

 

[Baleforce]

This implies you are watching the ball and our slow attempts to poke our way through 8 defenders. Try watching the other players, so many sub plots e.g. the runs Gil makes to create space [consistently not found], the movements Kane makes to drag players around and create space for a runner into that space [who doesn't exist], the positioning of our full backs and their body angle to receive the ball [always facing backwards and trying to bottle out of going forwards] etc.

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

I don’t think there has been enough movement ahead of the ball myself.

 

[Goose]

This implies you are watching the ball and our slow attempts to poke our way through 8 defenders. Try watching the other players, so many sub plots e.g. the runs Gil makes to create space [consistently not found], the movements Kane makes to drag players around and create space for a runner into that space [who doesn't exist], the positioning of our full backs and their body angle to receive the ball [always facing backwards and trying to bottle out of going forwards] etc.

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

doubt Celtic could afford his wages. And Levy of course would demand a ridiculous fee too

 

[AdamB]

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

He is crap, but to be fair he's our 3rd choice RB. Would make sense to sell him asap as you say, and then use a kid as 3rd choice

 

[Bullet]

doubt Celtic could afford his wages. And Levy of course would demand a ridiculous fee too

Whatever the cost.

 

[MKSpur]

Annoying that both injuries came from naughty tackles and a few others went largely unpunished. I prefer footy without stoppages, but allowing teams to make proper fouls and not book them stirs the game as much as blowing for the minimal touch.

It’s hard to judge these games, the mix of players lacking game time and players who don’t offer the same quality as the first choices make it even harder to put in a cohesive performance. Positives were not letting heads drop at 2-1 and some minutes for attacking players we are desperate to complement the first team. Doherty cannot have been this bad at Wolves but even with Nuno at the helm he looks to have gone full Soldaldo. As a right back, to not be able to cross a ball unchallenged on your favoured foot must be down to overthinking something he does every day in training and fear of failure.
Scarlett took a nice ball down in the box and win a header, definitely looked better then that the first qualifier.
I thought Emerson showed some quality too.
Saw a slow mo of Bergwijn and it looked like the kick on his calf caused his ankle to roll. Moura not so sure about but to lose them both and possibly Son leave us looking really light for pace and threat on the counter.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

don't give a flying f**k about this competition. Almost as if it was created to take the tinkle out of "fallen" clubs. Joke. i say field the kids and whatever happens, happens.

There are all sorts of depressing coefficient reasons to take it more seriously than domestic cups, as you probably know, even if it’s a Eurovision version of the LD Vans trophy. And at some point we’ll dish out a cheering spanking.

 

[AdamB]

There are all sorts of depressing coefficient reasons to take it more seriously than domestic cups, as you probably know, even if it’s a Eurovision version of the LD Vans trophy. And at some point we’ll dish out a cheering spanking.

I think its fine to take it seriously, but whatever competition we're in, we need to have a system and a way of playing. Its difficult to see at the moment how we're looking to break teams down. We're really painful to watch at the moment. As a football fan you want to have some optimism about your club, but at the moment I find that really challenging

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

I think its fine to take it seriously, but whatever competition we're in, we need to have a system and a way of playing. Its difficult to see at the moment how we're looking to break teams down. We're really painful to watch at the moment. As a football fan you want to have some optimism about your club, but at the moment I find that really challenging

Oh, sure, that’s a given. A horrible year and the prospects seem very bleak. The boy called Brian was the only bright spot, and even he has managed to regress.

 

[AdamB]

Oh, sure, that’s a given. A horrible year and the prospects seem very bleak. The boy called Brian was the only bright spot, and even he has managed to regress.

Priority is installing a system which balances defence and attack. Will mean that players can switch in and out for games like this and at least there is a shape and plan...whilst also giving fans a modicum of excitement

At the moment, most of us watch out of duty rather than expectation of entertainment. Nuno can get away with it for a while, but he'd get a longer honeymoon period if we weren't so dull

 

[harr1984]

They looked like a cohesive unit. Knew what they were doing when they had the ball, there was a plan, there was balance.

We have very little of that at this point. Because of the players we're missing, the lack of match fitness and time playing together for some of our players, a lack of balance in our squad made worse by players missing.

Would have liked to see us a bit further along towards looking like a team with a plan on the ball. But I accept that it's been difficult for Nuno and it's early days.

I’m not one to usually wheel out excuses but it’s been beyond tough for Nuno. He didn’t have a pre season with half of our major players, then there was the Kane distraction, and since the start of the season he’s having ridiculous injuries and international players absence to cope with. We’ve won 3 out of 4 in the league. Yes the creativity has to improve, but he needs time - we haven’t had creativity for ages, we have bought for the future and it’s not a switch you can just flick on. But things really aren’t THAT bad…..

 

[DubSpur]

Priority is installing a system which balances defence and attack. Will mean that players can switch in and out for games like this and at least there is a shape and plan...whilst also giving fans a modicum of excitement

At the moment, most of us watch out of duty rather than expectation of entertainment. Nuno can get away with it for a while, but he'd get a longer honeymoon period if we weren't so dull

I've been down on Nuno and how dull it is, but watching tonight I'm wondering are the players still feeling the affects of Mourinho and playing the safe ball all the time.
There was one time towards the end that Davies played a nice one two with Dele to give himself a bit of space and the opportunity to play the ball forwards to a couple of players.
The balls weren't particularly high risk but he still turned back and played the safe ball. It's exactly how everyone played under Mourinho. It may take a little while to get it out of
the players head that the safe option is not what they should be immediately looking for. At least I hope that is what it is and not Nuno continuing with the brick football.
Will give him the benefit of the doubt for a while but it does need to improve.

 

[AdamB]

I've been down on Nuno and how dull it is, but watching tonight I'm wondering are the players still feeling the affects of Mourinho and playing the safe ball all the time.
There was one time towards the end that Davies played a nice one two with Dele to give himself a bit of space and the opportunity to play the ball forwards to a couple of players.
The balls weren't particularly high risk but he still turned back and played the safe ball. It's exactly how everyone played under Mourinho. It may take a little while to get it out of
the players head that the safe option is not what they should be immediately looking for. At least I hope that is what it is and not Nuno continuing with the brick football.
Will give him the benefit of the doubt for a while but it does need to improve.

He will get time, partly for the reasons you mention....plus any example of poor play with Davies and Dele is self-explanatory.

 

[SouthStand322]

I think Hojbjerg/Ndombele/Lo Celso is still missing something, you want GLC higher up, but he’s the only one of the three that will get in faces and make the smart little fouls. You need a shutdown runner in there.

I agree, I think its easy to play against/through. Looks great on paper but hasn't worked when tried

 

[Bedfordspurs]

He will get time, partly for the reasons you mention....plus any example of poor play with Davies and Dele is self-explanatory.

Worryingly I didn’t watch the game…. And I can just imagine the move

 

[AdamB]

Worryingly I didn’t watch the game….

Take the Palace game and you're not far off. You didnt miss much

Our goals were:
- a cross from Moura which got deflected in (and wouldnt have had the power to get to Bergwijn)
- a cross from Doherty which got deflected into the path of PEH who finished from 10 yards

In terms of other chances, Hojbjerg had one in the second half but its difficult to remember others

 

[Mikey10]

Anybody else find it difficult to concentrate on that game?

Terrible time for a kick off, and the fact that it’s that competition…found myself wandering off to feed the dog, make a cup of tea, get ready for a run…

 

[Daisuk]

This implies you are watching the ball and our slow attempts to poke our way through 8 defenders. Try watching the other players, so many sub plots e.g. the runs Gil makes to create space [consistently not found], the movements Kane makes to drag players around and create space for a runner into that space [who doesn't exist], the positioning of our full backs and their body angle to receive the ball [always facing backwards and trying to bottle out of going forwards] etc.

PS. I still can't believe how bad Doherty is, he is like a cancer on our team, he is given free reign to get forwards so 75% of our attacks go out to Doherty to die. He absolutely murders our productivity that guy. We must sell him to Celtic asap. The Irish absolutely love Celtic. Whatever the price, sell him.

Are you saying some of our players are moving off the ball? I haven't seen it. I kid I kid.

Still very early days, it took a long time for Poch to make his mark as well - let's hope we click into gear soon.