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

[AdamB]

Brave and not brave for me. Starting lineup had some bravery in it, Gil and Ndombele in the midfield three. Runs into the final third and real creativity from midfield.

Players fought hard and tried, I guess that can be seen as bravery.

When Bergwijn got injured there was nothing brave about putting on Hojbjerg (and I really like Hojbjerg). Had the brave option at 1-0 up to put on Alli to play a similar role to Gil in attack while being defensivele sound as we know he is. No, Hojbjerg in, Ndombele tasked with getting forward more, losing creativity in midfield and one attacking outlet.

Having lost one attacking outlet and playing with two full backs that aren't really effective going forward in this system the brave attacking option at 1-1 in the second half was Reguilon on to give us another attacking outlet. Having 4 real attacking outlets at 1-1 against Rennes isn't brave in my mind.

Then what Pochettino often talked about when he talked about bravery. Taking some risk on the ball playing through pressure, pushing forward in buildup play when opponents sit deep. Yeah, couldn't really see it.

We held on, or tried to hold on. Couldn't really have any complaints about Rennes going ahead, but we pulled back. Brave? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

+ bringing Emerson on for Moura, rather than Markanday....brave?

 

[braineclipse]

+ bringing Emerson on for Moura, rather than Markanday....brave?

Or Reguilon on and go with Reguilon and Doherty as wing backs.

Forgot about bringing on Emerson when writing my post. 35 minutes left, 1-1 against Rennes. Bring on a full back that struggles to dribble past players as a wide attacking player to play up front with Scarlett and Gil. If this is bravery I hope we don't get to see the cautious approach.

 

[thfcsteff]

Brave and not brave for me. Starting lineup had some bravery in it, Gil and Ndombele in the midfield three. Runs into the final third and real creativity from midfield.

Players fought hard and tried, I guess that can be seen as bravery.

When Bergwijn got injured there was nothing brave about putting on Hojbjerg (and I really like Hojbjerg). Had the brave option at 1-0 up to put on Alli to play a similar role to Gil in attack while being defensivele sound as we know he is. No, Hojbjerg in, Ndombele tasked with getting forward more, losing creativity in midfield and one attacking outlet.

Having lost one attacking outlet and playing with two full backs that aren't really effective going forward in this system the brave attacking option at 1-1 in the second half was Reguilon on to give us another attacking outlet. Having 4 real attacking outlets at 1-1 against Rennes isn't brave in my mind.

Then what Pochettino often talked about when he talked about bravery. Taking some risk on the ball playing through pressure, pushing forward in buildup play when opponents sit deep. Yeah, couldn't really see it.

We held on, or tried to hold on. Couldn't really have any complaints about Rennes going ahead, but we pulled back. Brave? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Well-reasoned mate. I think it is an interesting discussion for sure...I think for me, given where we are in the season on and off the pitch, protectionism was the way to go. I suspect he wanted to keep some on the bench as long as possible given the work needed against Chelski.

As for the 'P' word, yes, I think all he said about bravery was vitally important and valid given the circumstances. Sadly for Nuno, he's trying to avoid getting buried by supporters and press before he's even started IMO...

 

[thfcsteff]

Or Reguilon on and go with Reguilon and Doherty as wing backs.

Forgot about bringing on Emerson when writing my post. 35 minutes left, 1-1 against Rennes. Bring on a full back that struggles to dribble past players as a wide attacking player to play up front with Scarlett and Gil. If this is bravery I hope we don't get to see the cautious approach.

I think you're now guilty of taking a word and running with it to all four corners. Just to be clear, let me specify EXACTLY what I meant. We were playing unspectacularly, we were unable to be in any way cohesive in attack, we had injury issues during the game which compounded matters further not to mention the ongoing issues off the field. We conceded an equalizer and went behind in a noisy stadium away from home in Europe. We didn't fold, we hung in there, grabbed an equalizer and then got out of there with a point. The players were brave. THAT is surely beyond any dispute, and that is what I meant.

We can debate the bravery of Nuno all-day, indeed, I thought that was what we were doing.

 

[metalgear]

So we agree that ndombele can't lift the midfield. He provides a few instances of quality football but we need to change dele and Hojberg or lucas or kane to accommodate him? Son, lucas and Gil has great movement too from deeper but no one to play with/off them to advance into Kane territory.

I think we can expect more from Ndombele, but that would require the rest of the team to play better too. Like we didn't see all we can expect from Kane, Gil or Lucas either in that game.

If Ndombele gets more movement around him, more players ahead of him, if he can get the ball in better positions by us improving our buildup play then we'll see what we can expect from him.

On the night we weren't particularly good as a team, but Ndombele was our best attacking player. In his first game of football in several months, he was not of a threat than Kane, Lucas, Gil, Alli, Bergwijn, Hojbjerg. I'd almost say more of a threat than those players combined, but that would be somewhat hyperbolic at least.

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[braineclipse]

I think you're now guilty of taking a word and running with it to all four corners. Just to be clear, let me specify EXACTLY what I meant. We were playing unspectacularly, we were unable to be in any way cohesive in attack, we had injury issues during the game which compounded matters further not to mention the ongoing issues off the field. We conceded an equalizer and went behind in a noisy stadium away from home in Europe. We didn't fold, we hung in there, grabbed an equalizer and then got out of there with a point. The players were brave. THAT is surely beyond any dispute, and that is what I meant.

We can debate the bravery of Nuno all-day, indeed, I thought that was what we were doing.

I agree with the first sentence in that post wholeheartedly. It was unnecessary and not in any way aimed at you or the positive points you brought up. In my defense though I did point out the ways I thought we were brave in my previous post. If read together I think we more or less agree, my unnecessary corner running excluded.

 

[braineclipse]

So we agree that ndombele can't lift the midfield. He provides a few instances of quality football but we need to change dele and Hojberg or lucas or kane to accommodate him? Son, lucas and Gil has great movement too from deeper but no one to play with/off them to advance into Kane territory.

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Lift, yes he can, I think he did. Lift enough to make us play well when we otherwise wouldn't, no, he can't do that alone.

I think he can be part of the solution. He is the one player in our squad that can lift us the most alone. But he needs others too. We need at least one attacking full back. We need to do more on the ball in deep areas and that will have to come from multiple players.

We don't need to change the players you mentioned to accommodate him imo. But we need a step up from several players in terms of purposeful passing.

What's your suggestion to lifting our midfield?

 

[metalgear]

Forget him, forget playing creative through the centre, go with flying wingers both sides to feed two of kane, son or dele.

Back to basic 442 and get the team to gel and understand each other.

Just too difficult to make it work with Ndombele

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[AdamB]

Forget him, forget playing creative through the centre, go with flying wingers both sides to feed two of kane, son or dele.

Back to basic 442 and get the team to gel and understand each other.

Just too difficult to make it work with Ndombele

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Which was the last team to be successful playing that way?



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[metalgear]

Which was the last team to be successful playing that way?
Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

doesn't mean it won't work with what we have - an unbalanced squad for modern formations.

 

[thfcsteff]

I agree with the first sentence in that post wholeheartedly. It was unnecessary and not in any way aimed at you or the positive points you brought up. In my defense though I did point out the ways I thought we were brave in my previous post. If read together I think we more or less agree, my unnecessary corner running excluded.

Fair play mate, as always, a pleasure discussing with you.