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Still, and that was my point, we are a different team when Lo Celso is playing as a 10.
We press up front with our four attacking players in a 3+1 unit. The central attacking midfielder is hugely important in this process. When Dele Alli played as a 10 against Everton, we were "soft" in our first defensive phase - and the rest of the team suffered as a consequence. The same thing happened when Ndombele played as a 10 in the first half against Southampton.
You say we conceded chances in the second half against Southampton (until a certain point, we did; the game was broken), but I can guarantee you that we conceded much more chances in the first 45 minutes. Our best performance came yesterday against Newcastle, yes - but the improvements started when Lo Celso came into the team (in the number 10 position) in the second half against the Saints.
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The manner of our performance, the style of our football was the best we’ve played since his initial honeymoon period.
Leaving aside the ridiculous injustice of how we lost the win, there’s a lot to look forward to if that carries on.
Leaving aside the ridiculous injustice of how we lost the win, there’s a lot to look forward to if that carries on.
I'm not in disagreement whatsoever regarding Lo Celso, I think he's mustard and as a direct consequence, we improve how we play when he's in the line-up. I also agree regarding Ndombele, he's not a 10 he comes alive when breaking oppo lines getting the ball into that 10 space be that from a dribble or verticle pass.
My point remains entirely on controlling games. We rarely have control of a game, when we have it's mainly been for one half of football. Now I have to balance what control is with Jose, his teams are able to control games without the ball, we've seen this best executed with Chelsea and with us it was best illustrated when we played Woolwich and Liverpool (H) last season. Against Southampton we didn't have control at all, yes we had an attacking plan, what pleased me was that it was clearly deliberate, something that I believed we've totally lacked under Jose, putting together repeatable passages of play (added by a dumb Southampton but who cares) is clear and visible signs of coaching.
It's obvious to say we had control of the game on Sunday (Newcastle) but what I liked was our attacking variations and rotations, especially in the first half and against a low-block team, highly encouraging but without the ball, I thought we were really good, positionally everyone covering and showing for the ball and then the goal coming from a very, very quick transition (the only one I think Newcastle actually gave us on account of them rarely venturing into our half), again all signs of coaching. This is all I have been looking for BUT we do have to string a few of these together now to demonstrate the work off the pitch.
I'm waffling now but the point is Newcastle game was us having control. Southampton game we didn't INCLUDING the 2nd half. I'd be very optimistic about our chances this season if we played more games like Newcastle than Southampton which was just a basket ball game.
I agree with almost everything you´ve wrote here.
Southampton away is a different match in relation to Newcastle at home, though. You are talking about two different performances (second half against Southampton and first half against Newcastle), but they were both performances at a high level and in two different ways (with more possession and with more counter attacking football, respectively), Jose´s 4-2-3-1 with Lo Celso as a 10 worked very well - during 90 minutes against Everton, and in the first half against Southampton, it didn´t.
Yep, I agree and hard to make direct comparisons as the games (the oppo) were very different challenges.
Basically, right now I'm looking for control of our game (with the ball) and control of the oppo (without the ball). Whilst personnel is the difference to a really good performance or a bad one I do think the system played and how those players play is key to assessing if we are onto something or not irrespective of who's playing. A well-coached side is still that and should be greater than the sum of its parts.
I honestly haven't seen enough sustained evidence of control from us to suggest that with the ball we control games and without the ball we control games. Against Newcastle, I thought we were excellent in both facets (with and without the ball). If we can repeat this level of control then I can start to be a lot more optimistic. Yes, will have harder challenges than Newcastle and by way of example if we played Liverpool tomorrow my optimism would increase should we control without the ball and that doesn't mean rope-a-dope on the edge of our box relying on Lloris, the post or wasteful finishing from them, it means we reduce them to fuck all and we offer a threat on the counter-attack.
A comparison could be made in relation to the final matches of last season.
We were a good team when we could find spaces to counter - Leicester, Woolwich -, but we struggled against teams expected to sit deep (like Newcastle did yesterday). We were good in a very specific scenario - an incomplete team. Yesterday, we played in a way that we were not able to play against the likes of Bournemouth (0-0) last season. It was probably our best performance in this type of scenario under Jose.
Notice that, while the second half against Southampton was not perfect, we scored four times and absolutely destroyed their hopes in the game. Basically, they allowed us to play counter attacking football - even when they were winning; our equalizer in the first half was also a counter attack. We were good at killing teams this way last season - we are probably even better now.
Last season we were not able, however, to play the way we did against Newcastle yesterday - and yet, we still need to get used to play in this way. We had our best game so far, but we were not clinical enough, and the result was at risk until the end - we will get better from now on.
It´s a process - we are moving.
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I agree the most encouraging thing was to see us break down a team that came to sit and defend. I wasn't sure we had the players for it post Eriksen. So it was great to see, but I couldn't really work out what's changed or how we did it, when we couldn't do it last year? We pressed better, but we also created chances in possession, not just in transition. Felt like Doherty gave us some width and Reguilón can only at to that.
I just wish for Bale to get back to his best soon, an inform and fit Gareth Bale is nightmare to defend against whether you are parking the bus or not, maybe he isn't as fast and explosive he was before but his creativity , experience and intelligent will be crucial for us
I think the width is a big part of it, and it's no coincidence we were at our most effective when we had peak Walker and Rose. Really excited to see what Regui will bring. I also think that Kane's evolution as a playmaker will help us unlock the bus parkers. Haven't really thought about Kane's play the last few years and if he was already growing into the assister role, but if he continues to embrace and hone it, with the wing forwards we have like Son, Bale, Lucas, Bergwijn, etc, and support from the likes of Gio and Tanguy, one could see how we should be able to break down those types of teams better.
My first time seeing this, don't know if this forum has seen it. A good laugh:
Warming up to him. Stands his ground and airs the disrespect we've got for years.
Pitch-perfect. Gave us a chance.
