Goal of the season by Dembele for Spurs.

comment by Cinciwolf in the desert (U11551)
posted 15 minutes ago
Not much to add really that hasn't been said but I am a little surprised Nuno thinks that a back four is what our players are best suited to despite the fact that I want us to evolve into that system.

If a back four was always part of the plan this season then the transfers in don't show that do they? Semedo and Ait-Nouri for sure look better as out and out wing backs. Marcal was on the left of a three in the CL latter stages wasn't he I think?

I think one issue we have is this loyalty Nuno has to certain players, Coady being one of them, being the captain he appears undroppable but in a back four he should probably be fourth choice at CB.

Also midfield, I don't really understand what Nuno sees there anymore. Otasowie looked pretty good to me but can't get a sniff, MGW comes back, albeit a little different and gets minutes immediately ahead of Otasowie or Vitinha. MGW to me is about as nothing a player as I have seen for us, he does next to nothing. Neves and Moutinho rarely works but Nuno refuses to see that. Personally right now I think we need so real balls in the middle, something Saiss would excel at. Donk is off form a little which isn't helping but still think he should be ahead of Moutinho regardless.

And up front the issues are obvious, Silva isn't good enough right now despite a better game yesterday he still stuffed a very easy chance to test the keeper second half. Also obvious Nuno does not want Cutrone at the club, given how poor generally Silva is Cutrone should at least be getting thirty mins to share the load right now. And Traore just doesn't cut it for me, unless the ball is at his feet he is a passenger.
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Can't really argue with that Cinci.


Some will though.

comment by bostonwolf (U17353)
posted 26 minutes ago
Goal of the season by Dembele for Spurs.
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Do you reckon he meant it or was he just trying to get it into the danger zone?

It's one of those, bit of both I think.

The thing I find most confusing is when people say that a back 4 is a more attacking option than a back 3. Don't get me wrong, I understand the theory but it is just not working out that way for us - probably because of the players we have available. I can't agree with Nuno that a back 4 suits our present players as we currently have a choice of 2 midfielders, 3 centre backs and 2 wingbacks to choose from. We don't have a proper left back and 19 year-old Hoever is the best right back we have (He is 19 tomorrow)
For me we should return to a back 3 with Coady in the centre where he works so well as a sweeper and is able to spray those wonderful long, diagonal balls left and right as he chooses. He should be flanked by our best 2 centre backs, Boly and Kilman. We have two flying wingbacks in Ait-Nouri and Semedo, both of whom make us more dangerous on the counter. I think we have enough fire power up front with Silva, Cutrone, Adama, Neto and Podence it's just a matter of getting more balls into them, not just crosses from out wide though, we need to exploit the attacking abilities of the midfielders that we have. Otasowie, Vitinha and Dendoncker all have to be utilised to best effect. We cannot just keep plugging away with Neves and Moutinho.
OK soap box away, The BCD is history now, I'm moving on to think about a cold Friday night in Lancashire.

I can't believe the comments from some on here about the performance of players in recent games.

Silva is 18 ffs, and has been given the almost impossible task of taking on the mantle left by the injury to Jimenez, who I doubt we'll see again this season.

Dendonker is playing some his best football and has been extremely unlucky is recent games not to have scored.

Saiss is probably the best of our defenders right now and I wouldn't mind seeing him replace Coady, who is the one out of form right now.

If there is any talk about players leaving, my fear is that with the tremendous form Neto is in at the moment, he'll be the one that's on other clubs radar.

With Doherty not even in the squad today, I'd make a cheeky bid to get him back for next season, but not if Nuno insists on playing with a back four.

I still believe that Fosun are more content on getting in younger, talented players rather than splash out on established first team players during transfer windows.

I don't see many of our so called older players playing much next season and if Nuno continues with his desire to have a small first team squad, we're going to see more of our younger players coming through and right now, is probably the time to blood them, rather than rely on hauling back players he's already sent out on loan. That alone tells me Fosuns intententions right now.

My soap box is creaking, so I'd better get orf.

But let's see the nucleus of a strong side, coupled with a few youngsters starting against what should be a comfortable game against Chorley.

COYW

People have decided Hoever is our best right back based on one game.

I don't give a shat if Silva is 18 or 80. He is our starting striker so will be judged as a full adult playing in the premier league. He is being picked so he is deemed good enough so will be judged accordingly.

Coady isn’t out of form he is out of position, just as Saiss was yesterday.

Can’t help feel sorry for Coady who has been excellent at the centre of a back 3. Now we have moved to a back 4 which has made us more vulnerable defensively, and he will likely lose his place as a result

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 6 minutes ago
Coady isn’t out of form he is out of position, just as Saiss was yesterday.

Can’t help feel sorry for Coady who has been excellent at the centre of a back 3. Now we have moved to a back 4 which has made us more vulnerable defensively, and he will likely lose his place as a result
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Yeah better we never change things so as to keep Coady happy

Agree with you gem that 343 is not more defensive than 4231 it’s just a different way of playing.

Under a 4231 there are 4 players focused on attack then often 2 defensive midfield players ahead of 4 defenders

Under 343 there are three players focused on attack plus two wing backs with a licence to attack and often 1 defensive and 1 box to box midfielder, then a solid 3 in defence

Both formations can be attack or defence biased and what’s far more important than the formation is having players in a system and in positions that suits them

Nuno seems to be saying he thinks 4231 suits us more but the evidence doesn’t yet support that

When we play 343 we surrender the midfield battle to defend on the edge of the penalty area and we have nothing to link the forwards with the midfield. We effectively have 7 defenders with the two defensive midfielders. We spend the majority of the game without the ball, we spend no time in the final third and generally create little unless one of the forwards creates something on the break.

It's not difficult to see why it is the more defensive option the majority of the time.

Zero doubt the way we operate it that it is more defensive. Add to that the fact Nuno wanted to use a defensive Marcal as one of those wing backs also.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
People have decided Hoever is our best right back based on one game.
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Hoever is our ONLY right back! Semedo will never be a defender as long as he has a hole up his erse

comment by GeminMallorca Wenger sort out VAR FFS! (U18318)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
People have decided Hoever is our best right back based on one game.
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Hoever is our ONLY right back! Semedo will never be a defender as long as he has a hole up his erse
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Probably been our best player over the last 5 games or so and not been to blame for any of the goals conceded. Played right back for Benfica, Barcelona and Portugal. He is just the latest scapegoat as no one wants to share the blame to the likes of Coady, Saiss, Boly, Moutinho or even Nuno for our current situation.

I guarantee if Hoever had a run of games at right back, it wouldn't be long until people moaned about his inconsistency (which will happen due to his age) like they have with Ait-Nouri.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by GeminMallorca Wenger sort out VAR FFS! (U18318)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
People have decided Hoever is our best right back based on one game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoever is our ONLY right back! Semedo will never be a defender as long as he has a hole up his erse
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Probably been our best player over the last 5 games or so and not been to blame for any of the goals conceded. Played right back for Benfica, Barcelona and Portugal. He is just the latest scapegoat as no one wants to share the blame to the likes of Coady, Saiss, Boly, Moutinho or even Nuno for our current situation.

I guarantee if Hoever had a run of games at right back, it wouldn't be long until people moaned about his inconsistency (which will happen due to his age) like they have with Ait-Nouri.
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Benfica, Barcelona and Portugal is not the Premier League though is it? As you very well know he is now facing a totally different style of play and from what I have seen of him he is caught out of position time and time again. He is no more a defender than Ait-Nouri, they both look much more suited to going forward and yes, Semedo has been excellent going forward. I love Semedo and Ait-Nouri but I am under no illusions that either of them are top class defenders.

so perhaps we should be looking for a wingback that at least has some idea how to defend - you know like that spurs chappie, doherty isn't it ...

can score a few as well

comment by Psycho Sid (U8869)
posted 19 minutes ago
so perhaps we should be looking for a wingback that at least has some idea how to defend - you know like that spurs chappie, doherty isn't it ...
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Might be able to get him back soon. He can't get in the Spurs team as he can't defend either.

comment by GeminMallorca Wenger sort out VAR FFS! (U18318)
posted about an hour ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by GeminMallorca Wenger sort out VAR FFS! (U18318)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
People have decided Hoever is our best right back based on one game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoever is our ONLY right back! Semedo will never be a defender as long as he has a hole up his erse
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Probably been our best player over the last 5 games or so and not been to blame for any of the goals conceded. Played right back for Benfica, Barcelona and Portugal. He is just the latest scapegoat as no one wants to share the blame to the likes of Coady, Saiss, Boly, Moutinho or even Nuno for our current situation.

I guarantee if Hoever had a run of games at right back, it wouldn't be long until people moaned about his inconsistency (which will happen due to his age) like they have with Ait-Nouri.
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Benfica, Barcelona and Portugal is not the Premier League though is it? As you very well know he is now facing a totally different style of play and from what I have seen of him he is caught out of position time and time again. He is no more a defender than Ait-Nouri, they both look much more suited to going forward and yes, Semedo has been excellent going forward. I love Semedo and Ait-Nouri but I am under no illusions that either of them are top class defenders.
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He is caught out because we give the ball away cheaply so often. Honestly, if we had Alexander-Arnold and Robertson as our full backs everyone would moan about their defending and want to go back to a back three.

The problem is our midfield and our centre backs. It has been for a long time. For years we have talked about needing to upgrade Bennett, worried about Coady's physicality, questioned the creativeness in midfield or whether we need a physical ball winner. These have always been the places people have said we need to improve every window. Now it is catching up with us everyone is shifting the blame elsewhere and pretending these aren't problems.

I think there’s some similarities between Doherty and Semedo in terms of their best position. Doherty was ok as a full back but came into his own when Nuno made him a wingback. When I’ve seen Semedo on tv for Barca he always impressed me going forward but not seen him put much under pressure defensively. Of course Bayern did in the champions league when they scored 8 and that seemed to contribute to them deciding to sell. He’s had a couple of good games for us but if you look at Everton’s first goal last week you would think he’d never played the position before. I do think he is more likely to be successful with us as a wingback than full back. And Ait Nouri at the moment is no better a defender than Vinagre

As for the transfer windows I think pretty much everyone has been saying as a priority we desperately needed to get cover in for Jimenez. And we now regret big time not acting on that. We should have replaced Bennett with a right sided centre back. But last summer the priorities became replacing Jota, Doherty and Jonny.

Midfield was less of a priority last summer because Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker have been big players in getting us to 7th. I think there is a need this summer to get someone in as Moutinho ages.

And the only debate I remember hearing about Coady last summer was whether he should be first, second or third in our player of the season and whether he should be in the England team

But we are left with the problem that there just aren’t enough goalscorers in the team. And we should have addressed that with the money we got for Jota. We have players to open up defences that most teams would love to have in Traore, Neto and Podence but other than Raul we don’t have the players to get on the end of what they create

comment by Cinciwolf in the desert (U11551)
posted 5 hours, 34 minutes ago
I don't give a shat if Silva is 18 or 80. He is our starting striker so will be judged as a full adult playing in the premier league. He is being picked so he is deemed good enough so will be judged accordingly.
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Sorry, but that is totally outrageous. The kid is 18, in a foreign country and been introduced to the Premier League after very few first team appearances anywhere. Give the guy a break ffs.

He will get better the more games he gets under his belt and but for our defenders giving away 2 needless penalties may well have earned a man of the match award.

comment by wolfieintheSunshineState (U16306)
posted 13 minutes ago
comment by Cinciwolf in the desert (U11551)
posted 5 hours, 34 minutes ago
I don't give a shat if Silva is 18 or 80. He is our starting striker so will be judged as a full adult playing in the premier league. He is being picked so he is deemed good enough so will be judged accordingly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, but that is totally outrageous. The kid is 18, in a foreign country and been introduced to the Premier League after very few first team appearances anywhere. Give the guy a break ffs.

He will get better the more games he gets under his belt and but for our defenders giving away 2 needless penalties may well have earned a man of the match award.
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So if we get relegated because he can't hit a barn door with a banjo it is ok because he is 18

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted about 3 hours ago
I think there’s some similarities between Doherty and Semedo in terms of their best position. Doherty was ok as a full back but came into his own when Nuno made him a wingback. When I’ve seen Semedo on tv for Barca he always impressed me going forward but not seen him put much under pressure defensively. Of course Bayern did in the champions league when they scored 8 and that seemed to contribute to them deciding to sell. He’s had a couple of good games for us but if you look at Everton’s first goal last week you would think he’d never played the position before. I do think he is more likely to be successful with us as a wingback than full back. And Ait Nouri at the moment is no better a defender than Vinagre
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Semedo wasn't at fault for the first goal against Everton. Our full backs covered narrow the entire game for crosses to support the centre backs (they had obviously been told to, so as to prevent the immediate danger). Digne ran from deep and it was a pin point ball, which took all the defenders out (sometimes a ball can take a full back out the game regardless of their positioning, Coady and Neves do it all the time with diagonals). Semedo had actually got across to cover it being put back across and also stop the shot.

The ball was played first time backwards towards the edge of the area. Iwobi was given the freedom of Molineux to run onto it and shoot. He was originally been tracked by Saiss but he had decided to leave him to get back into the penalty area. None of our midfielders were in the area to challenge, which really one of them should be. That second ball is where the error came and is a mixture of Saiss not tracking or the midfield not picking up or anticipating the danger.