Another decent performance this week in difficult circumstances.
Going back to our last game, home to Villa, that was a game coming off the back of three losses. Villa were in form having beaten Everton & Utd and are a dangerous outfit.
It was a game where we dominated the ball (56%) and had more shots on and off target. We were put under pressure and dragged back to 1-1 before going on to win and seeing out the closing 15 minutes or so with some composure.
This week, the big hype about NUFC was a massive distraction and even putting aside the fact they are not a great team, a full house, players playing for their futures in what could be a very exciting future for NUFC, it had potential banana skin written all over it from a Spursy point of view and when their scored after 2 minutes it looked Dr Tottenham was about to deliver again.
But we played our way back in and then totally dominated. What was encouraging was some decent, attractive patterns of attacking play. We should have scored one or 2 more with the quality of our play.
Good to see Kane playing as a CF and making those runs and limiting his time dropping deep.
We generally defended well and especially vs St Maximan, had players swarming him and he was kept at arms length most of the time.
Romero will need to learn to be more forceful in this league. Their 1st goal was too passive from him, should have attacked it but one would forgive him for a slow start having circumnavigated the globe this past week.
The midfield looked more balanced and NDombele kept us ticking.
Kane looked back on form. Lovely goal but great all round play.
Reggie looked very solid too and it was good tactics for us to target that left side in behind the space St Max left.
Overall, 5th place, 3 points off Liverpool, having played City Chelsea Arsenal. Its not too shabby a start.
Overall some decent signs of progress. Opposition were not that great but it was good character from us to get back into the game in difficult circumstances away from home.
West Ham will be a bigger test next in their cup final, and they have plenty of dangerous players & decent form. But we now seem to have a settled line-up and more balance. Should be a decent game
Encouraging Signs
posted on 18/10/21
comment by Ioavirgo (U10470)
posted 11 minutes ago
Technically the only teams we should fear are Liverpool and Man City. And we've beaten one of them. Brentford showed Chelsea aren't special and Leicester the same with Man U.
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I saw something similar to this on the bbc live text at the weekend, as though it's somehow that easy to emulate how Brentford play. If it was then more teams would be doing it as successfully.
posted on 18/10/21
comment by Ioavirgo (U10470)
posted 11 minutes ago
Technically the only teams we should fear are Liverpool and Man City. And we've beaten one of them. Brentford showed Chelsea aren't special and Leicester the same with Man U.
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Chelsea beat us and they still beat Brentford. I fear Leicester more than Utd. Lets see how we get on against the Hammers as well. Like it or not they are a good team.
posted on 18/10/21
We won’t make top 4, but I would say we are roughly the 6th best side in the country and 6/7th should be expected for this squad.
Nuno is a relatively safe pair of hands it seems to me, we were never going to have a disaster season under him, but I can’t see us progressing either.
I honestly think we have to take that European conference league seriously as it’s the only tangible silverware on offer for us, same will be true if we qualify for the Europa next season
posted on 18/10/21
comment by LukaBrasi COYS #FreePalestine (U22178)
posted 1 hour, 11 minutes ago
comment by Ioavirgo (U10470)
posted 11 minutes ago
Technically the only teams we should fear are Liverpool and Man City. And we've beaten one of them. Brentford showed Chelsea aren't special and Leicester the same with Man U.
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Chelsea beat us and they still beat Brentford. I fear Leicester more than Utd. Lets see how we get on against the Hammers as well. Like it or not they are a good team.
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We owe them one. Although a point is a decent recent all things considered, I hope we exact some sort of revenge
posted on 18/10/21
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 18/10/21
We have found something of a rhythm the last couple of games. That team is the best one we can put out currently and it does show. Skipp and Hojbjerg has to be the midfield partnership, with Ndomble the attacking forward. The attack is becoming more fluid and creating chances with Kane looking a little more like his old self, which is important. No room for Dele I'm afraid.
There are some promising signs.
posted on 18/10/21
comment by ABC Jelly (U22709)
posted 5 hours, 53 minutes ago
comment by South Side (U20009)
posted 1 second ago
The team picks itself now. That team yesterday was in many people's first pick and it works. ECL commitments and nailed on injuries without sufficient backup will be our undoing.
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That is pretty much the first team I would say, with perhaps Emerson Royal being the only question mark. Meanwhile Dele should never be given a starting berth for Tottenham again. His time is truly up.
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Dele should be starting against the bus parking teams instead of Lucas, he offers more creativity and plays with his head up. Lucas is too much of a head down and run up blind alley merchant and never sees a pass, that is not what you need against teams that sit back, his pace is also negated in these games. With Dele he can pick a pass and create in tight spaces.
posted on 18/10/21
I would also like to see Lo Celso rotated with Hojberg and Skipp more, I think he is a more technical footballer.
We still need more options, a midfield enforcer, snd a pacey striker being a priority.
posted on 18/10/21
I'd like to see Gill start ahead of Moura with Kane and Son. At this point i think GLC starts on the bench and comes on for Skipp or PEH when we are in need of a bit more invention.... If Ndombele starts then you have to have Skipp and PEH behind... the rest of the team picks itself at this point.... Dele needs moving on in Jan
posted on 18/10/21
Will be interesting to see what Sarr adds next year... wonder if we play PEH, Skipp and Sarr with Ndombele as the 10 behind kane and Son ?