I am not totally disheartened by yesterdays performance, especially gievn the respective form and confidence of both teams. We could have been 2-0 up when Kane should have done better to either shoot or lay Alli in, and then another goal when Son hit the bar. These were golden chances and to me was exactly what we were looking to achieve in our tactics....genuine threat on the counter attack based on a solid defence.
We did conceded quite a bit of possession, which was inevitable if we are going to stand off LFC until the 40m line, but from my memory the only glorious chance they missed was Mane's header. Most of Gazza's other saves were from longer range/set pieces. We let them put in too many crosses but actually defended them very well IMO. We kept Firmino out of the game in the large part and Salah & Mane were also kept at arms length for much of it (Why Mane got Sky MOTM was beyond me...Fabinho was immense)
Where we lacked was being able to relieve that pressure and this IMO came down to a woeful Eriksen who contributed nothing but a bit of energy getting around the pitch, and Winks who once again failed to have any decent impact with his possession.
I think we need to move on from Eriksen. If Lamela had been fit we would have seen him from the start and he would have contributed in the attacking play way more than Eriksen, plus his usual effort and physical game.!
When Ndombele came on, yes may be LFC were more prepared to defend what they had but he did more with the ball than Winks did in 75m. He takes risk in possession and with his passing but i think we need that. Its the safe play that's seen us suffer vs teams we expect to beat and fail to threaten vs the better teams..
To me this inability to have any impact in the CM lost us the game as we could not retain it or counter with precision, but that can be changed with the better use of Ndombele Lamela and Lo Celso, and even Dier if we're looking to have a very solid base.
I dont know what to do about RB. Probably Foyth from now on but i would like to see us now settle down with a clear first XI and continue with it until it works.
This will see Eriksen benched unless really needed. Ndombele started. The more game time he gets the better he will become. Winks needs benching and can be the first change option in CM because he still has something to offer. Lo Celso and Lamela taking the opportunity to fill Eriksen's boots and may be both if Dele's form continues to stall (though he worked hard yesterday, discipline but lacked quality in possession).
It was a hard working disciplined performance yesterday where i think they delivered on the strategy (whether you like the strategy or no, i think it was the right one in the circumstances), let down by a couple of out off form CMs and a failure to be totally clinical .
Signs of improvement & the way forward
posted on 28/10/19
Stop it, six wins in 10 months, and supporters still talking about top four. The only current thinking between now and May should be survival in the division.
posted on 28/10/19
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 24 seconds ago
Stop it, six wins in 10 months, and supporters still talking about top four. The only current thinking between now and May should be survival in the division.
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Really you have a nice run of fixtures up until the 11th of January.
posted on 28/10/19
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
posted on 28/10/19
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 14 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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Yes it is. Spurs have only beaten Palace (twice), Huddersfield, Brighton, Villa and Southampton since February.
posted on 28/10/19
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 14 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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Yes it is. Spurs have only beaten Palace (twice), Huddersfield, Brighton, Villa and Southampton since February.
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All sides that have either been relegated, recently promoted or will be fighting relegation this season.
posted on 28/10/19
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 25 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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3 months of that was the summer break tbf
posted on 28/10/19
"To me our failure was not how we performed when we didnt have the ball, it was when we did have it, which was not enough and this came down to a poor showing in CM. In the few quality moments we did have we opened them up 2 or 3 times"
*******************************
Quite right.
Winks is a weak point in midfield.
We need NDombele and Lo Celso starting.
And we probably need 3 Sissoko's.
Eriksen and Alli did not play well.
But overall, not a bad result. Gazza kept us in the game. And Aurier's penalty was not a penalty at all - the ref got that one wrong.
posted on 28/10/19
comment by MKspur (U9129)
posted 13 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 25 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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3 months of that was the summer break tbf
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posted on 28/10/19
comment by Automatic For Pochettino. (U21889)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by MKspur (U9129)
posted 13 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 25 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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3 months of that was the summer break tbf
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Just as well the summer came to Spurs rescue, otherwise we could have been looking at another 10 defeats.
posted on 29/10/19
comment by MKspur (U9129)
posted 13 hours, 12 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 25 minutes ago
6 wins in 10 months? surely thats not true
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3 months of that was the summer break tbf
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lol oh okay so not competition. But even so 6 wins in 5 months didn't realise it was that bad.