Things have been pretty decent so far under Jose, surprisingly positive, including the style of football being played.
But we cannot get carried away. Lets face it WHU(a) Olympiakos & Bournemouth (h) has been a friendly set of fixtures. Next up Utd at OT.
Few observations about our play so far under Jose.
1. Had a clear plan of Aurier getting forward while the LB stays at home to make a back 3. None of Davies, Rose or Vertonghen has really stepped into the opponents half.
It is a tactic that has worked OK but firstly we have still conceded 6 in 3, and also there are times when the LB is tucked in and the opposition RB has acres, if Son has not tracked back or is somewhere else on the pitch. This yawning space will be exploited by better opposition. Son, who floats a bit, is central at times, cannot be expected to be there all the time to cover, Others need to see this and fill the gaps - Dier/NDombele.
I question why Dier is often the furthest forward of the CM 3. His current immobility (he needs to shed some weight, muscle it's not fat!) means that once the opposition are goal side he's not catching them. He worked best when he was deep sitting and more disciplined. His ability to drop in at CB should prevent the LB having to be so narrow and he needs to learn to see the danger (when no Son or other cover on left side) and be able to either step across or drop in.
2. CM balance. We have Dier Sisokko NDombele Winks Eriksen Alli Lo Celso to choose from in these 3 positions (i'm excluding Wanyama), and have so far gone for Dier/Winks/Alli twice and then Dier/Sisokko/NDombele and neither have been perfect.
The set up depends what we do up front. So far Son Kane Lucas twice, with Alli at 10, and then last time out Alli starting wide with Dier/Sisokko/NDombele behind.
Trouble with both those CMs is, IMO, they lack real energy. Sisokko can run all day but is more power than agility, Dier runs in treacle and turns like a supertanker. NDombele runs like he has a false leg or something, looks very unnatural and a bit one paced.
I can understand the reason for Dier, just not his positioning in that 3 which was more advanced than his skill set allows. As above, he has to play at the base of CM/DM otherwise he offers nothing really
3) High Press? We certainly seemed to press Bournemouth quite high up at times, but then did also really drop off deep at times. In the first 20 minutes they dominated the ball, our undynamic (i know, not a real word) CM couldn't get it back and we looked less than sound at the back at times. I don't like us conceding possession and relying on sound defence because it's been a while since we've had the latter
I feel a lot of the small issues i have witnessed will become more obvious as teams look at us and assess our weaknesses. I hope this does not see Jose revert to type, he needs to find a solution that allows us to continue the attacking positive play but giving that extra stability. Players like Son probably need to work back a bit more than they were under Poch but lets not see him turned into awing back like Jose was doing with Rashford.
Jose going forward
posted on 2/12/19
get rid of Dier, he literally offers nothing
posted on 2/12/19
comment by Tottenham Chronic (U3423)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Diamondlights (U20501)
posted 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
******************Gazza**********
***Aurier***Toby***Sanchez***Davies***
********N'Domebele****Dier**********
*******Sissoko*****Dele*****Sonny****
********************Kane***************
Bench..... GLC, Eriksen, Jan, Moura, Sessegnon, Rose
Its the kind of game, Jose would probably love to have Lamela for
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probably but hes so rarely available that its pointless to even think about him. we should probably fack him off in summer tbh... the wages he must have collected while injured must be extortionate
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yeah absolute waste of space in the team and wages when we could have someone who is fit and ready to fight for the cause on a weekly basis
posted on 2/12/19
my sell list for january / summer would be (as long as we have someone to step up or replace them with)
- Eriksen
- Lloris
- Aurier
- Dier
- Lamela
- Wanyama
- Rose
Whilst I like Rose a lot still, I really feel his form is on getting worse
if we could, keep Toby & Jan for at least 1-2 more years so they could oversea any new younger centre backs coming in and give them a bit of mentoring, that would be spiffing
posted on 2/12/19
vs WHU - First goal was actually a decent goal by them. 2nd from a corner.
vs Olympiakos - Another decent goal followed a one from a corner
vs Bournemouht - CLumsy fk from NDombele followed by a cross from the right afer poor defending by Sisokko. But here i also felt that Winks watched it happen rather than trying to fill in for Aurier who was out of position.
My sense on the defending is that we let ourselves get overrun a bit, invite pressure. We let too many balls come in. vs Bournmouth there were times when Kane Alli & Son were all half way line while we defended. Sure we were the home team but again its been our inability to manage games and at 3-0 we have been a bit lapse, not only in defending as a team but also in attacking. WHU & Bournemouth we had really good chances to make it 4-0 and failed. Teams see what happens to us and don't give up hope even at 3-0. 3-0 we should be properly taking the sting out of the game instead we went down a gear and let the opposition control the game and put pressure on. They then had numbers attacking and got some joy late on.
For me its a matter of team defending, not individuals not being good enough.
posted on 2/12/19
comment by Sem (U9729)
posted 16 minutes ago
my sell list for january / summer would be (as long as we have someone to step up or replace them with)
- Eriksen
- Lloris
- Aurier
- Dier
- Lamela
- Wanyama
- Rose
Whilst I like Rose a lot still, I really feel his form is on getting worse
if we could, keep Toby & Jan for at least 1-2 more years so they could oversea any new younger centre backs coming in and give them a bit of mentoring, that would be spiffing
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I can't stand the guy but I would like to see if Aurier can continue this form from the last two games to see if there's a reliable right back there going forward.
Not holding my breath but wouldn't say sell in summer just yet.
posted on 2/12/19
comment by Phendombele (U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
get rid of Dier, he literally offers nothing
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Maybe him being on the pitch is helping his best mates form
posted on 2/12/19
comment by dangerdog2 (U22234)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by Phendombele (U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
get rid of Dier, he literally offers nothing
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Maybe him being on the pitch is helping his best mates form
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deperssing if true
posted on 2/12/19
here is ndidi
https://imgur.com/a/wY8JEKB
now here is dier
https://imgur.com/a/RbC5Z2U
posted on 2/12/19
comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 29 minutes ago
here is ndidi
https://imgur.com/a/wY8JEKB
now here is dier
https://imgur.com/a/RbC5Z2U
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quite a difference there
posted on 2/12/19
Lo Celso is rumored to be unhappy and looking to go elsewhere.
Anybody know anything about this?
Has Mourinho told him something?