I agree, the ball in was shithouse. Either straight to the keeper or way too deep…
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Management Ange Postecoglou
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I know Ange is being lauded for that half time change, and Sarr absolutely played well when he came on, in his given remit in the DP. Defended well and played a fabulous ball for Son’s goal.
But the odd thing is, it (the tactical change) didn't do what he said he wanted it to do. He said he wanted to get more control of midfield. If he meant control of the ball, It failed. Our possession went down from 63% to 53%. As you can see by this data, both match momentum and XThreat momentum and a bunch of other metrics swung more toward West Ham after half time than first half. Even our XG was marginally better first half than second. Their XG marginally better first but not much and nearly all of that was their goal. They had more
View: https://x.com/DataAnalyticEPL/status/1847673626331365681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1847673626331365681%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=
And it's not like it enabled Kulusevski to contribute more as an orthodox 10, which should be the payoff for switching to a DP behind him, he saw a third of the ball he did in the first half. Personally I’d rather have kept Maddison out there as the 10 (his XA in 45 was double Kulusevski’s in 97).
This is fine, you don't always have to dominate possession, territory or momentum to win games of course, it's just slightly at odds with things Ange has said about how he wants to do things and getting angry when we don't.
We ended up scoring 4 goals from a low ish XG (1.44) game. Two low value chances Kulu and Bissouma were both 0.09, an OG and a great goal from the Sarr pass, Son finish.
It’s good that Ange showed a bit of tactical flexibility, and I suppose the 4231 gives us options and means we have two viable 10’s who can rotate (Maddison/Kulu) but I’m really not sure the tactical change was genius or lucky.
But the odd thing is, it (the tactical change) didn't do what he said he wanted it to do. He said he wanted to get more control of midfield. If he meant control of the ball, It failed. Our possession went down from 63% to 53%. As you can see by this data, both match momentum and XThreat momentum and a bunch of other metrics swung more toward West Ham after half time than first half. Even our XG was marginally better first half than second. Their XG marginally better first but not much and nearly all of that was their goal. They had more
View: https://x.com/DataAnalyticEPL/status/1847673626331365681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1847673626331365681%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=
And it's not like it enabled Kulusevski to contribute more as an orthodox 10, which should be the payoff for switching to a DP behind him, he saw a third of the ball he did in the first half. Personally I’d rather have kept Maddison out there as the 10 (his XA in 45 was double Kulusevski’s in 97).
This is fine, you don't always have to dominate possession, territory or momentum to win games of course, it's just slightly at odds with things Ange has said about how he wants to do things and getting angry when we don't.
We ended up scoring 4 goals from a low ish XG (1.44) game. Two low value chances Kulu and Bissouma were both 0.09, an OG and a great goal from the Sarr pass, Son finish.
It’s good that Ange showed a bit of tactical flexibility, and I suppose the 4231 gives us options and means we have two viable 10’s who can rotate (Maddison/Kulu) but I’m really not sure the tactical change was genius or lucky.
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Yep, it was spot on
My comments reflect my own inner turmoil and fear of disappointment
Mate.
It did exactly what he wanted. The possession:
/momentum changed later in the second half because the game was over after 60 minutes and spurs took the foot off. If they had been gung ho after the 60th you’d be on here complaining if west ham snuck a goal on the counter because of it.
Haven't seen all his post game interviews, but on Optus he said he wanted more "running power" in the midfield and he felt that Sarr provided that. Not disputing your stats, are they are what they are. He said that he got out of Sarr what he expected.
We've scored the most goals in the league and we aren't being ripped apart by naive tactics (high line). If our defenders start showing more discipline the sky is the limit, far too often Romero and co go walkabout, lose concentration and refuse to mark, this isnt tactics. I think we've been given a good platform for success, some of it just comes down to basics and doing the simple things.
From the attacking side we are desperately lacking a good set piece taker, Maddinson corners are outright atrocious and Porro is only marginally better, 12 corners in the 1st half and not one looked likely, either underhit, overhit or we lost momentum going short. Yet Bergvall takes 1 hits the most dangerous spot against man u and we score.
From the attacking side we are desperately lacking a good set piece taker, Maddinson corners are outright atrocious and Porro is only marginally better, 12 corners in the 1st half and not one looked likely, either underhit, overhit or we lost momentum going short. Yet Bergvall takes 1 hits the most dangerous spot against man u and we score.
most of our goals this season are scored by breakaways (only Biss goal today was a possesssion based goal) its recieve & long pass forward and then we create good chances
when we have this possession based football around their box (whoever we are playing) we lack the players with the foot skills to create enough top chances to score, it also draws our CH's up to this High line as they have to be involved in the possession to move their 11 defenders around, thus giving their team the chance of a breakaway
this pass pass pass football works for City as they have 4 out of the 5 forwards playing at any time who have the skills to create space or chances. how many do we have in the squad, yet alone how many in first 11
to me our players create space then turn back to try to create more space (but then the chance has gone)
when we have this possession based football around their box (whoever we are playing) we lack the players with the foot skills to create enough top chances to score, it also draws our CH's up to this High line as they have to be involved in the possession to move their 11 defenders around, thus giving their team the chance of a breakaway
this pass pass pass football works for City as they have 4 out of the 5 forwards playing at any time who have the skills to create space or chances. how many do we have in the squad, yet alone how many in first 11
to me our players create space then turn back to try to create more space (but then the chance has gone)
If you look, the spikes in the metrics start around 50 minutes when the game is still close score wise.
I get that scoring three pretty quick goals altered the game state dynamics for sure, but how do we know whether the tactical switch worked then? Are we saying it worked for 5 minutes or so and then the game state changed anyway?
Reckon the fact we scored 3 goals so quickly was part of why you're seeing this.
Wonder if you can get the stats to see what happened in those first 10-15 mins after half time vs the last 35-30 mins.
That’s one of Ange’s fairly vague cover stories IMO.
I mean, he watched us getting torn up last week and waited until the 80th minute to make tactical subs of Sarr/Bissouma.
Having ruminated I think it was either he was really pissed at Maddison for something particular, or it was to try and give Kulusevski more freedom. If it was the latter, it completely failed because Kulusevski was much less involved second half.
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100% this - I’ve grown to loathe when people point out our possession stats. A team with our talent can dominate possession by slowing bringing the ball up the pitch and then aimlessly horseshoeing it around the edge of the opponents area - while never getting a clear cut chance at goal. Pointless because as you say, we don’t have players with City’s technical skill.
We need to move the ball up quickly and regularly try long through-balls and balls over the top - particularly because Johnson and Sonny are our wingers. This means losing possession when the passes don’t come off .. but it’s completely worth it for the potential pay-off. I feel like we’re moving the ball forward more quickly of late and if it means less possession- that’s more than fine.
Agree entirely but on the basis that had Postecoglou not changed something....
So I will take that he saw some weakness in Maddison staying on the pitch and changed things round.
Weird. Could’ve sworn we won 5 on the bounce before losing to Brighton.
So know, clearly you don’t know what’s going to happen.
Thanks for popping in though. Us spurs fans are taking great pleasure in smashing the spammers 4-1. Weird you can’t enjoy it. Not that your attitude is making me seriously question your credentials as a spurs fan or anything….
Actually, it was simply an excellent tactical decision for which he deserves full credit. Maybe stop trying to play devils advocate (or outright make stuff up) just admit it, and enjoy the fucking win.
It was a great decision and an excellent performance and no amount of bus_bullshit is going to change that.
Enjoy your day, Blakey.
But he didn't need to be more involved after going 4-1 up.
Maybe you're right maybe you're wrong, but IMHO sarr is a completely different kind of player to maddison so it t would seem more tactical than anything.
It was the duels Maddison was losing not the control of the ball, he lost 2 out 4 of and Sarr completed 4 out of 4.
The God is Back! 
Yep. The game was won or lost in the duels, much like Brighton.
Bowen v Udogie for their goal.
Kulu and Solanke combining to turn the ball over for our first.
Bissouma vs Pequetá for our third.
Sarr vs Bowen for our 4th.