OMT *** Tottenham Hotspur vs AFC Richmond/Crystal Palace - Sunday 27th October 14:00 ***

[thfcsteff]

Fully agreed that you can play with the same principle with different players. That much seems obvious. We played with the same principles last season when Sarr started a lot.

For me our main problem against Palace was our inability to beat their press. We lost the ball a ton. We created very little in terms of successfully playing through their press and getting into good areas.

That is something Sarr doesn't excel at either. Why we failed at that is for me the biggest question. So many times it's been one of our biggest strengths and being good at that is vital for this system in games when opponents press high.

I think where Sarr would've helped is in picking up scrappy passages of play, second balls, progressing the ball when he had it. It was so scrappy at times we simply needed someone to telegraph a leg out, nick it back and power through. Biss is good at this too but was isolated from that perspective IMO.

I also think that one or two players are off-form. Udogie is off-form. Romero could be argued as a little off-form. I wouldn't have personally minded seeing Dragusin and Spence given a run, if only to keep the squad competition. I understand it can be sacriligious to talk about resting Romero, but he has been average by his standards.

 

[Mikey10]

Very few managers get much above 50% win rate without managing super clubs for long periods.

Not disagreeing…but are we a super club? (Overall win rates in the right hand column.)

 

[braineclipse]

I think where Sarr would've helped is in picking up scrappy passages of play, second balls, progressing the ball when he had it. It was so scrappy at times we simply needed someone to telegraph a leg out, nick it back and power through. Biss is good at this too but was isolated from that perspective IMO.

I also think that one or two players are off-form. Udogie is off-form. Romero could be argued as a little off-form. I wouldn't have personally minded seeing Dragusin and Spence given a run, if only to keep the squad competition. I understand it can be sacriligious to talk about resting Romero, but he has been average by his standards.

Agreed that Sarr could have done useful things, no doubt. He's a good player.

But the way I see it he would mostly help us play a scrappy game better. He wouldn't help us much in playing the game on our terms. Think the latter is what Ange wants.

He is good at progressing the ball in space. But the problem was we weren't getting into those situations enough. I don't think he's better than those that started at getting us to those situations.

Will probably get another test against a high pressing team against City, though with rotations perhaps not as intense as against Palace. No matter when we next come up against a proper high press we heve to do better than we did against Palace. I don't think that's mainly down to player selection. For sure Sarr can be a part of a team doing that well, without himself doing the heavy lifting on the ball in those situations where we play through. We saw that last season. But he doesn't typically improve that over what Biss, Maddison and Kulusevski does.

 

[greatwhitenorf]

Palace rolled out a side full of big, fast, physical players that we simply didn't match up to. We got outmuscled, outworked, outthought and outfought. It was a contest of wills and we were found wanting.

For all the vim and vigor of our starting wide players - Johnson, Porro, Moore, Udogie - they were simply not physically strong enough against Palace. Same in central midfield where Maddison was an easy target because he has neither the wheels nor the stature to escape or offset larger or more combative opponents.

If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you won't beat 'em on the park. Postecoglou needs to be more aware of these physical mismatches.

 

[braineclipse]

Palace rolled out a side full of big, fast, physical players that we simply didn't match up to. We got outmuscled, outworked, outthought and outfought. It was a contest of wills and we were found wanting.

For all the vim and vigor of our starting wide players - Johnson, Porro, Moore, Udogie - they were simply not physically strong enough against Palace. Same in central midfield where Maddison was an easy target because he has neither the wheels nor the stature to escape or offset larger or more combative opponents.

If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you won't beat 'em on the park. Postecoglou needs to be more aware of these physical mismatches.

I agree that it's good to be aware of those physical mismatches. And to some extent we of course need a physical presence of our own.

Much more than that we need to play our game well. Ange pointed out it became the kind of game Palace wanted to play. Going for a more technical squad (that also has physical qualities for sure) as we do we'll probably always come out second best if the game becomes primarily a physical battle/alley scrap against teams more set up to do that.

To use Ange's words, composure, clear headedness...

We've seen Maddison move and use skill to get past much bigger and stronger opponents many times. But he wasn't able to do that, or we weren't able to set him up in situations where he can do that.

 

[Roland Beurre]

brick coaching.

We don't look organised, we look all over the place and players out of position for vast chunks of the game.

They haven't got a clue what the should be doing with and without the ball.

Whilst we technically gifted players, their footballing intelligence is lacking.

Kulu for example, work rate of GHod,, but his final ball is devoid of any thought.

Yesterday he thought trying to pass the ball through 3 players was the thing to do and just gave the ball away.

And its week in, week out.

The opinion expressed in the bolded bit has not aged well. Creative players must be given licence to fail, in my view.

 

[Kandi1977]

brick coaching.

We don't look organised, we look all over the place and players out of position for vast chunks of the game.

They haven't got a clue what the should be doing with and without the ball.

Whilst we technically gifted players, their footballing intelligence is lacking.

Kulu for example, work rate of GHod,, but his final ball is devoid of any thought.

Yesterday he thought trying to pass the ball through 3 players was the thing to do and just gave the ball away.

And its week in, week out.

My word you are such a negative only bitch! Your life must really suck!

 

[SkipRat]

My word you are such a negative only bitch! Your life must really suck!

Or maybe i don't buy into bs.

And blindly ignore the blatantly obvious.

 

[Raziel]

Palace rolled out a side full of big, fast, physical players that we simply didn't match up to. We got outmuscled, outworked, outthought and outfought. It was a contest of wills and we were found wanting.

For all the vim and vigor of our starting wide players - Johnson, Porro, Moore, Udogie - they were simply not physically strong enough against Palace. Same in central midfield where Maddison was an easy target because he has neither the wheels nor the stature to escape or offset larger or more combative opponents.

If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you won't beat 'em on the park. Postecoglou needs to be more aware of these physical mismatches.

Not sure I agree

- Romero, Dragusin, Biss, Solanke, Deki are not players anyone would enjoy matching up physically with.
- Spurs is one of the bigger sides in the PL height wise

The issue was not the fouling but the play break up
-Maddison gets killed in games, gets hacked down regularly, very little ref protection but that's not new
- What Palace did very well is not allow us to settle, not allow us to knock the ball around, build up a pattern/rhythm in the game, part of that was press, part fouling, part staying down on the ground, part time wasting and we were knocked out of our game by it.
- For what it's worth, Villa tried to replicated some of that and we did much better.

 

[greatwhitenorf]

Well, those players you mentioned were mostly not the players I mentioned. Johnson, Porro and Moore were bumped, banged and routinely outmuscled. Udogie might have a bit of size, but he's as dangerous as a duvet in physical confrontations. And yes, Maddison - also on the slight side - was harried and hacked early and often. We got nothing going through those players and they are all key to opening up our attacks.

The good thing is, a lesson was learned and we were far more ready to combat those tactics from Villa.

 

[glasgowspur]

Not sure I agree

- Romero, Dragusin, Biss, Solanke, Deki are not players anyone would enjoy matching up physically with.
- Spurs is one of the bigger sides in the PL height wise

The issue was not the fouling but the play break up
-Maddison gets killed in games, gets hacked down regularly, very little ref protection but that's not new
- What Palace did very well is not allow us to settle, not allow us to knock the ball around, build up a pattern/rhythm in the game, part of that was press, part fouling, part staying down on the ground, part time wasting and we were knocked out of our game by it.
- For what it's worth, Villa tried to replicated some of that and we did much better.

Well, those players you mentioned were mostly not the players I mentioned. Johnson, Porro and Moore were bumped, banged and routinely outmuscled. Udogie might have a bit of size, but he's as dangerous as a duvet in physical confrontations. And yes, Maddison - also on the slight side - was harried and hacked early and often. We got nothing going through those players and they are all key to opening up our attacks.

The good thing is, a lesson was learned and we were far more ready to combat those tactics from Villa.

Did anyone notice the state of dragusin neck, big scratches.
And the villa no 8 pulling back I think it was solanke on the edge of the 18 yard box as he runs through for his second goal, it's a hooked hand from behind in solanke's face.
I've noticed a lot of this and cannot fathom how nothing is being done about it.
Your hand should not be that high.

 

[Kandi1977]

Or maybe i don't buy into bs.

And blindly ignore the blatantly obvious.

Of course... You're the only one who's enlightened.

No, you're just a negative, whinging and miserable fart. I haven't seen you write anything positive. It's all negativity, and it's getting fudging tiresome!

 

[SkipRat]

Of course... You're the only one who's enlightened.

No, you're just a negative, whinging and miserable fart. I haven't seen you write anything positive. It's all negativity, and it's getting fudging tiresome!

Oh shut up child, i post lots of positive things.

And i couldn't give a toss about your butt hurt feelings.

I will give my honest opinions, deal with it.

 

[Kandi1977]

Oh shut up child, i post lots of positive things.

And i couldn't give a toss about your butt hurt feelings.

I will give my honest opinions, deal with it.

No, you don't post "lots of positive things". 99% of what you post, is negative.
Anyway, I'm fed up of it so I'm getting rid of it. It serves no point. You don't even back down when points are slashed to pieces with actual facts.
But by all means, let it flow if it makes you feel better being a keyboard warrior.

 

[SkipRat]

No, you don't post "lots of positive things". 99% of what you post, is negative.
Anyway, I'm fed up of it so I'm getting rid of it. It serves no point. You don't even back down when points are slashed to pieces with actual facts.
But by all means, let it flow if it makes you feel better being a keyboard warrior.

Whatever. Enjoy the rest of your evening, night, morning, where ever you.

 

[Mrs Vert]

Did anyone notice the state of dragusin neck, big scratches.
And the villa no 8 pulling back I think it was solanke on the edge of the 18 yard box as he runs through for his second goal, it's a hooked hand from behind in solanke's face.
I've noticed a lot of this and cannot fathom how nothing is being done about it.
Your hand should not be that high.

It's us, refs are quite blind to that . In fact they flat out don't give us much at home!!