Antwerp v Spurs (Thursday 29th October @ 17.55)

[ArcspacE]

Take a look in your own mirrors before you start laughing at other people, you risible, dull witted ignoramus.

Ladies and Gents of TFC - here is Mick Boomer!

 

[stevee]

I don't get what's odd about subbing Vinicius for Kane under the circumstances. When you need a win, Kane is still a tiny bit better than Vinicius.. Or at least that's what Jose thinks, quite reasonably in my opinion.

Apologies if others have made this point, I'm only just catching up.

Sid wasn't subbed for Kane. I thought he played well, certainly better than any other attacking player we had.

 

[Augur]

I don't think it's Mourinho's fault..if the second XI can't beat a team from the Belgian league then there is truly some dead weight in the squad who don't deserve to be wearing the jersey at all

It is Mourinho’s fault for lack of preparation. You can’t say that on paper the second XI is worse in talent than Antwerp’s first.

You had to expect what you saw yesterday from your opposition. Frankly it will happen over and over just as it had in the past. Teams will press aggressively. If you don’t have a viable strategy for this going into a game, just as it appeared yesterday and in the past, the first XI including Kane and Son won’t be able to beat any other team. I can think of Brighton this weekend.

This Spurs team has to expect pressing all over the field and the low block.
What will you do about it every week you run into it?

That’s. Mourinho's task.

 

[Paul Gascoigne]

Davies should be dropped for a game after trying to be Gascoigne

 

[Nuts]

That pop-up hell hole that is football.london have stuck up their player ratings. Quite fair on the whole, although flattering to Dele and a tad too low for Vinicius in my opinion.

Hugo Lloris 6
Serge Aurier 5
Davinson Sanchez 6
Ben Davies 5
Sergio Reguilon 5
Harry Winks 5
Dele Alli 5
Gareth Bale 4
Steven Bergwijn 4
Carlos Vinicius 5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 6
Erik Lamela 6
Lucas Moura 6
Son Heung-min 6
Harry Kane 6

 

[InBK]

That pop-up hell hole that is football.london have stuck up their player ratings. Quite fair on the whole, although flattering to Dele and a tad too low for Vinicius in my opinion.

Hugo Lloris 6
Serge Aurier 5
Davinson Sanchez 6
Ben Davies 5
Sergio Reguilon 5
Harry Winks 5
Dele Alli 5
Gareth Bale 4
Steven Bergwijn 4
Carlos Vinicius 5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 6
Erik Lamela 6
Lucas Moura 6
Son Heung-min 6
Harry Kane 6

I don’t understand how you arrive at 4 for Berg and Bale, but 5 for Dele. Guess it’s just varying degrees of shite.

 

[Igula]

That pop-up hell hole that is football.london have stuck up their player ratings. Quite fair on the whole, although flattering to Dele and a tad too low for Vinicius in my opinion.

Hugo Lloris 6
Serge Aurier 5
Davinson Sanchez 6
Ben Davies 5
Sergio Reguilon 5
Harry Winks 5
Dele Alli 5
Gareth Bale 4
Steven Bergwijn 4
Carlos Vinicius 5
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 6
Erik Lamela 6
Lucas Moura 6
Son Heung-min 6
Harry Kane 6

That seems very high for everyone across the board, but I think they always are a point or three high on players and somewhat understand that they don't want to risk angering the club or players as they have to deal with them on a daily basis.

Alli should be lowest on the team, having him above Bergwijn and on par with Vinicius is ridiculous. I don't see any of the 6's outside of maybe Lloris who should probably get a N/A since he didn't really have to do anything and had zero shot at their goal.

Did they miss Lo Celso or did it just not get copied? I would hope he got a 6 at minimum and based on those ratings should have had a 7 at least.

 

[Nuts]

That seems very high for everyone across the board, but I think they always are a point or three high on players and somewhat understand that they don't want to risk angering the club or players as they have to deal with them on a daily basis.

Alli should be lowest on the team, having him above Bergwijn and on par with Vinicius is ridiculous. I don't see any of the 6's outside of maybe Lloris who should probably get a N/A since he didn't really have to do anything and had zero shot at their goal.

Did they miss Lo Celso or did it just not get copied? I would hope he got a 6 at minimum and based on those ratings should have had a 7 at least.

Lo Celso 4

 

[Igula]

Lo Celso 4

I just went and saw that.

Ridiculous.

How someone could watch that half and give him lower than Winks is laughable.

 

[BernardMatthews]

Why didnt he play?

Rested for the subs bench.

All about rotation these days.

 

[bus-conductor]

We have been scoring a shit load of goals, and playing some of the best football in the league.

One defeat and it's all doom and gloom again, why?! Easy to blame the manager isn't it?

If you take Kane out of the equation we would be about 13 goals down on the 16 we’ve scored (PL) - but would still be conceding (in fact we’d have conceded at least a couple more without Kane’s defending).

Very dangerous to get bedazzled by our goals scored, or score line punditry, when so many of those goals involve one, very above average player who's in the productive form of his life. Even Son, being assisted almost entirely by Kane is outscoring his own X/G by over 100%.

The rest of what we are doing as a team in front of their penalty box in both directions is fucking meh. It's reminiscent of two years ago under Poch when we were making our best ever start to a PL season, but playing utter crap football, which could not sustain results, especially when Kane went awol.

If we keep Kane fit and on this form and Son keeps outscoring the quality of chances we might just bumble our way to a CL place because many of our rivals are being badly managed by novices, but we're fundamentally a one player team and if he gets fucked this shit will not sustain results, just like it didn't when we lost him last season.

In Pochettino's "good" phase for example (15-17), even when we lost Kane, the endemic football ethos saw our performances levels remain consistent and results maintained. There is no endemic or innovative football ethos with what we are doing now, it's largely reliant on risk aversion gilded by individual brilliance of one (and occasionally 2) player.

 

[bus-conductor]

So here's my take. Jose said that it was a risky line up. He was right, it's easy to say with hindsight (and let's not forget, when the line-up was announced, people were unanimously positive, apart from maybe Hugo in goal). It was clear in the first half that it didn't gel. I doubt that anyone knows why exactly, and I imagine Jose will be asking himself a shitload of questions. He strikes me as a man who is intensely self-critical. Whatever.

So then, after a poor first half, he makes four changes (maybe in retrospect, that was too many? Who knows). And yes, we looked a very different team in the second half. My problem with that was that I thought Lo Celso and Vini looked liked our better players in the first 45. Whatever, clearly Jose had a plan, a shape in mind, and it sort of worked, we looked a lot better in the first part of the second half, but that sort of petered out as well. Which is what I don't get. You can blame the usuals - Winks (who I thought had a decent game, although I doubt anyone will agree), Sánchez, Davies, Aurier, pick your scapegoat), but the fact is that Kane and Son were every bit as poor as Bale, Dele and the aforementioned had been. Lamela won the ball enthusiasically and then lost it, Lucas too...

So I would say, asd I've said before, the responsiblity lies across the board, no one escapes. Thankfully, it's not a season-defining defeat, but one we certainly have to learn from sharpish

What was so risky about that line up last night?

 

[Igula]

What was so risky about that line up last night?

i don't know what Bill's response would be but for me what was risky was starting 3 attacking players that were all out of form and who Jose was hoping would play themselves into it (Alli, Bale, Bergwijn).

I understand that all 3 need game time to see if they can get back to where they were but, as much as I don't want to see them at the PL level, I think Lamela and to a lesser extent Moura have shown that they should be key parts of our Europa League side.

I also think that having Winks, who just isn't good enough, and Lo Celso who Jose only seems to be willing to play 45 mins was a terrible option to pair with 3 guys who you are hoping will give you a performance.

 

[Big Sky Spur]

Antwerp were compact and organized. We lacked creativity despite having good possession. We brought a lot of transitions with momentum to a screeching halt. We were tidy in spots but not fast enough or aggressive enough. Too much attempted tippy tap at the top of the box. I thought the official was kind of shit too.

Brush it off, and lets roast Brighton in the league.

COYS

 

[jmll]

We go in parts:

The Belgian team I think they surprised everyone, they are in an incredible moment and they made a great game.

In these Europa League games you have to try to connect as many players as possible and that is being done well by Mourinho. Obviously yesterday the team was not well, but I insist the EL has to serve as a testing ground.

I would say that our team has two weak points, clearly the defense and we lack creativity in the center of the field to unblock games where the rival closes in and plays on the counterattack.

 

[Pippins]

i don't know what Bill's response would be but for me what was risky was starting 3 attacking players that were all out of form and who Jose was hoping would play themselves into it (Alli, Bale, Bergwijn).

I understand that all 3 need game time to see if they can get back to where they were but, as much as I don't want to see them at the PL level, I think Lamela and to a lesser extent Moura have shown that they should be key parts of our Europa League side.

I also think that having Winks, who just isn't good enough, and Lo Celso who Jose only seems to be willing to play 45 mins was a terrible option to pair with 3 guys who you are hoping will give you a performance.

We have two of the best goalscorer in Europe,International players galore, why were we not able to beat a team of players most of whom I have never heard of. . Is there a jynx on this club?. We've now got most of the players we wished for, no excuse for what happened last night. Completely bewildered and so disappointed, where do we go from here?

 

[Paul Gascoigne]

What was so risky about that line up last night?

We played Dele, Bergy, Bale.

 

[Maureen]

Is Maureen the manager to take us to the next level? His not really imprinted any kind of style of play in the team. We go from play great counter attacking football to complete dross. Plus we have drawn two games at home when
We should have been home and dry. I’m not sure what JM has instilled in the team. There is really no consistency or identity. Are we winning games in spite of him?

 

[Airfixx]

Please explain?

My opinion is that rotation for the sake of it is counterproductive as (in the case of the defence) it works against forming a unit that works together and instinctively 'know' what the other player will do

Now please explain why this perfectly reasonable proposition is 'laughable'. Presumably your view is that playing a LB/LWB (and I use the term loosley) at CB last night was a master stroke of rotation? Alderweireld or Dier (if he was fit) should have played (as I guess they will do on Sunday).

Playing two games a week is not onerous and certainly not 'running them into the ground'. I'd argue that most players would prefer to play twice a week as it keeps them match fit and lightens their load for 'normal' training, i.e. they wouldn't do anything strenuous the day before or after a game.

Now, without resorting to insults like 'crap' or 'laughable' or posting meaningless pictures or memes (the last resort of a person who has nothing to say), please give us the benefit of your wisdom.

Firstly, I've not once disputed the benefits of continuity.

Beyond that, I don't have a lot to add that I hadn't already stated. My counter-position is simple and has been ignored by you from the off..... Whether you like it or not, we are in a season of exceptional circumstances where rotation IS necessary... Condensed fixture schedule, shorter closed-season break, pre-season with most senior players missing etc.

Your "fuck the sports science, play them til they break... It was fine in the old days" attitude is silly/laughable/crap(*) and doesn't really warrant entertaining any further; other than for me to point out to you to the fact that a mere 5/6 weeks into the season, it's already been stated we've seen 50% more soft tissue injuries than usual for this time of year..... We're also the only league in Europe not to continue on with the 5-subs rule this season.

(*delete as preferred..... Sorry if you take genuine exception, but this is hardly vicious stuff on my part.)

....We ourselves have already seen Dier drop out through injury (extra notable considering your ill-considered moan; he's 1 of Jose's prefered 2 CBs!!!) and we spent most of the last international break sweating over Kane's muscle complaints vs game-time. We also have Gio, Bale & Tanganga (another CB!!!) trying to fight their way towards fitness having already been injured/rehabbing when the season started.

Side note: Davies has plenty of experience playing at CB for his country and played well there a week ago for us for that matter.

I'm sure your retort will once again be "Well I still have my opinion"; but whilst you cling to 'wot you reckon players want', I'm presenting you with facts and outliers to your utopian, old skool ideology regarding squad rotation.

 

[Mrs Perryman]

Goodmorning everyone,

What a match it was last night for us, the players gave it all they had, our coach had b@lls putting up 1v1 marking defence, because we arent nearly as half skilled as the Spurs players. They really worked as a team, fighting for eachother and the coach, thats what we as fans want. Im not gonna come And gloat here because we took our 10 to 1 shot and won. Its just the beauty of football, everyone can beat anyone. Im pretty sure u guys will win the return, just a small hick up for the Spurs, not a big deal for you. For us it was like I said before one of THE games of the season, and our players acted like it. Still feels like somewhat like a hollow victory because if it wasnt for covid I woulda been in the stadium and probably still be in the café right now and not prepping for work. So as a fan its a weird feeling, we couldnt celebrate our cup win and now we cant celebrate our most famous win in recent history. It blows.

And also i seen comments here about Haroun (the 35yr old lol) in the beginning of the season he was tested as one of the top3 players of the league with the best endurance and he still is pretty fast to, hes bad at the last pass and finishing but he sprints from goal line to goal line like Husain Bolt lol and back. And our nr 4 Seck, believe it our not we bought him from a Saudi or Qatar team for 25.000€, and hes been a monster in defence, he had matches hes a one man army, not the finest of players but a No nonsense type a player.

Thank you all for the kind words for my team and the friendly hello I got here.

No man overboard for u guys, u will still easily qualify for the knock out stages and I hope u kill in the Prem! Dont let man shitty win the league pls. Have a great friday all! Belgian beers for all the lads and chocolates for your ladies!

I'm still waiting for my chocolates