Spurs Banter Archive January 20 2015

 

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20 Jan 2015 18:25:15
Any other fellow supporters out there worried that Mopo is going to play ' the mercenary ' up front tomorrow?

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20 Jan 2015 19:48:21
It's a possibility but I don't think he will start him tomorrow,more likely to put him back in against Leicester at the weekend.

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Why????????

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20 Jan 2015 23:22:46
Hythespurs, I would be surprised to see Adebayor start either but espcially the Leicester game which barring an injury Kane should start.

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21 Jan 2015 10:14:01
I agree spurski,I'd play Kane before Ade all day long.However,I suppose if we are to be lumbered with him for the rest of the season it makes sense to give him some game time in case of injuries to HK and/or RS.

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I would rather play a forward who can't hit a barn door but gives his all for the club and fans, than a money grabbing, lazy player who doesn't give a s***e for the fans or anyone else!!

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With a bit of luck Davo, He'll play Ade tonight & he'll bang a hat-trick in, then we can offload him easier.

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Dr, please make that happen!!!

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20 Jan 2015 17:17:41
Regarding our overall tactics, I feel, we look a lot more informed on the pitch under Pochettino, and apart from the LFC game(where I think Pochettino was a bit naive, but in his defense, he was still experimenting a bit), have matched our opponents at least from a tactical point of view.

Even in the 3-0 defeat to CFC, we were very much on top before they scored. The ManC game was unlucky, and the CFC game at the lane, and AFC at the Emirates were great results. Also, we seem to be moving the ball a lot faster versus smaller teams, when they counter, and we counter their counter, which has allowed us to score a lot of goals this season.

Our fitness levels have been terrific, and we've avoided the general long injury lists, so credit to Pochettino there, and Eriksen, and Kane just cover so much ground. We seem solid defending set pieces, but offensively, there is a massive scope for improvement. I don't get why Eriksen is firing them in low at the near post, if no one is going to attack it. I'd like to see us stick Kane around the near post, with Fazio at the back post, and vary the length, to keep the opponent guessing, Vertonghen can attack the corner from deep, while Chadli can roam around the penalty spot.

Looking at our squad, we look solid in just about every department. Lloris is one of the best GKs, Fazio-Jan is a rock solid partnership at the back, with a wonderful set of traits between them, Walker at right back, and Davies and Rose at LB, look really good, especially in 1v1s, but definitely need to work on their crossing, perhaps Pochettino should have them practice drilling it in low into a dangerous area, with Kane & Chadli attacking them or providing decoys to free up space for the other too attack into.

Moving on to midfield, I think 1 spot in our pivot belongs to Bentaleb, while the other is up for grabs. I don't want to see us sign a new midfielder just yet, because I believe the answer could lie at the club. I like Mason, he moves the ball forward very well, and reminds me a bit of Modric, but I'm not overly convinced of his physical presence, especially as Nabil too, is a bit of a-on the ball player.

What Mason does well though, is that he plugs in the gaps, when Eriksen and Kane press, taking up good intercepting positions, to start a counter high up, as seen vs ManC in particular, he is also willing and able to get into the box. Paulinho is very inconsistent, and I'm still not too sure what his best role is.

He can run around a lot, has decent skill, but often, neglects his defensive duties, so I'd have him sold soon. Capoue looked the part a while ago, and seems a solid DM, but I don't think a midfielder not capable of pressing high, and still getting into solid defensive positions can be part of Poch is system, and Capoue strikes me as a lazy player.

He has a very good passing range, and reads the game well, but he needs to be able to press high, and recover into part of a solid defensive shape. He did this at the start of the season, but then for some random reason, wanted to attack more and more and was nowhere to be seen for the goals. Stambouli seems like an all action midfielder, with a bit of positional naivety.

He can press high up, is assured in possession, and really looks like the proper man for this system. My only qualm with him, is that his positioning is a bit naive, and I'd really prefer a bigger, more physical player in that position.

Apart from that, like Mason, he plays those vertical passes very well, and is very forward thinking with his passing. Dembele is a tricky one, he is perhaps the most talented member of our squad, a silky smooth dribbler, very solid in the tackle, which has stats prove, has had a success rate of over 60%, averaging over 2.5 tackles since he's joined us. He also has size to complement this.He can pick a pass at times too The problem with Mousa, like Capoue, is that he is lazy.

He won't press high up, and his defensive efforts in the defensive third are often half hearted, hence, such few clearances, and blocks. Also, his passing is to sideways and backwards, he needs to be more adventurous with his passing, and shoot more!!. Overall, I think Stambouli looks the best fit atm, but Mousa has the best potential, we should give all a run till the summer, and if all fails, look at someone like Schneiderlin who would be perfect, or McCharty who would be decent too, or take a gamble on Song.

Moving further forward, Eriksen is pure class in attack, and the central attacking spot is his own. On the left, Chadli has been brilliant, got goals, and assists, made some excellent runs, (telling that all his goals are from inside the area), and can drive at defences. Up front, Kane looks a proper quality striker. He may not have great pace, but he can pick a pass, shrug off defenders, hold the ball up, beat his man, shoot from range, and is constantly on the move. Fits Poch's pressing style too.

Only issue in attack, is on the right, and I hope Lamela can make the spot his own. Lamela has looked good this season, but I feel he needs to stick wider to his flank, before peeling in upon receiving the ball, like Ribery, Robben, Hazard and all other inverted wingers do, his starting position is too central.

While I'd love Depay(mainly plays off the left), I think we should perhaps look at a cheaper option like Konoplyanka(mainly plays off the left), or Yarmolenko. Mirallas has been linked, and I like the idea of him, he can play off the right and the left, gets involved in goalscoring situations, and I don't think he would, in the long term impede Lamela's progress either.

Apart from that, we just need a bit of cover in some positions. Reid and Ings on frees look good to me, perhaps we could look at a goalscorer like Soriano, also to come in as cover, or play cup games. Tactically speaking, once we take the lead, like yesterday, versus smaller teams, I'd like to see us push up and press hard, make it a lot tighter, and give us a chance to win it higher up.

If they pass the initial press, we can drop deep, and hit them on the break. Another tactic I'd like to see us try in the future, in big games, is a type of man-marking. Wherein, a tricky player like Aguero or Sanchez, notorious, for their great runs on and off the balls are handed onto a specific player, however, only upon them entering a offensive position, i.e, in the final 3rd.

So, let's say Benji is doing the job on Sanchez. He ignores him, and forms the block until Sanchez moves into a position, from where he can threaten our goal, when Benji looks to mark him, and allow a forward player, to make up the numbers in the block. I'd also like to see us target specific players who are weak on the ball, and press them hard when in possession.

We are starting to look dangerous on the break, however, when in possession, versus a deep sitting team like Sunderland yesterday, I do feel we need another Chadli-esque runner, who will make runs in behind, forcing the defenders to make decisions, and move out of position; Lamela needs to do this a lot more from the right, also think we could do with a bit more pace and directness in attack.

Another solid aspect of our game, has been, that once we have gotten in between the lines, we haven't been indecisive, versus Arsenal, we looked a bit unsure, but we have improved markedly, we do not dwell on the ball too much either. One more aspect we should look at, is that once we lose the ball, we should try to press very hard, for 5-7 seconds to win it back.

However, if we cannot, the back 4 and midfield 2 need to be in position, with the front 3 actively pressing the player on the ball, and Eriksen taking up intercepting positions. The last aspect that we need to look at, is building a winning mentality. We seem to be doing well on this front, as seen by the number of late winners we get, but we need to keep this going.

Eriksen has a deadly strike, and the opposition block his shots for long, but as they tire, in the dying minutes, he can effectively get his shots away. Having another able long range shooter in Kane helps too. Also, feel Eriksen needs to at times drop a bit deeper versus teams sitting deep, to orchestrate our play, spread it into the final 3rd before taking up a goalscoring position.

Overall, I am pleased with the amount of progress we've made this season, and remain very optimistic. Sorry for such a rambling post.

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Belgian Hotspur

This is a good positive analysis. I don’t entirely agree with all of it, but it is a welcome counterbalance to all the gloom and doom that we so often indulge in.

I haven’t seen as much improvement as you (I think we were playing just as well last season, under Sherwood), but Pochettino is still settling in so I know I must be patient.

Much has been made of our fitness and ability to last the full ninety minutes, but this is largely due to a relative handful of late goals (particularly from Erikson) which have boosted our points count. I suspect that down to luck as much as anything.

The other side of the coin is our continued inability to effectively defend narrow leads. This has been a problem for some years and we saw it again in the Sunderland game, when we almost blew it in the final moments.

Instead of just continuing to do the things that got us the lead in the first place, we start trying to play possession football; rolling the ball around at half pace. But this just makes it easy for the opposition to press us into making mistakes. I would like to see Pochettino give his players a good kicking every time they do this.

I think he is also struggling to implement his favourite line-up of two defensive midfield players in front of his two central defenders. Done right, this can be a very solid formation, but we are not doing it right yet and are still too vulnerable to simple long balls into the heart of our defence. The pairing of Mason and Bentaleb comes closest to what he wants, but if they are not available then nobody else seems to get the message.

Pochettino is still experimenting and I am not sure he knows his best team. Against Sunderland he played Soldado up front again, but this meant Kane dropped back into the midfield. He did well enough there, but this is not his best position and it forced Erikson onto the right, which is definitely not his best position. We looked to have a better balance when Townsend came on.

I still think Lennon is our best right-sided player, but he is so far off Pochettino’s radar that his departure seems inevitable. Personally, I would rather offload Lamela, especially while he still has credibility in Italy. I have not yet seem anything from him that suggests he has a future here and his most notable statistic is the number of fouls he commits.

However, I don’t see these players in training so I don’t really know the basis for Pochettino’s decisions.

Overall, I am reasonably satisfied with our progress and still have hopes we might actually lift a trophy of some kind this season.

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20 Jan 2015 07:05:55
Believe me, I am far from in the know, but check this german web site: http://bit.ly/1GDR086

Translates to - Early Christmas present for Schalke 04: striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has extended his contract, which expires at end of season at Schalke to two years, until June 30, 2017.

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