BC's boutique pop up match ratings and ramblings v ManU - 30.10.2021

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SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

This BC's boutique match ratings and ramblings thread is dedicated to Bazali Bazali who is constantly telling me how much he misses them.

I'm no apologist for Nuno. Didn't want the guy (still don't want the guy) and that was/ is based on his work at Wolves, as I have seen nothing of his previous oeuvre (Porto/Valencia) but have listened to people who have and they say it was not remarkable in any way.

But...

Against this aforementioned backdrop of my own personal peccadillos, I find myself feeling a soupçon (not a shitload, but some) sympathy for Nuno in relation to the last couple of games.

Specifically yesterday's game, as with West Ham and Newcastle, I don't think the intentions were terrible. I've seen those games many, many times before under people like Pochettino, AVB, Ramos (and others) to name three. Games where we dominate the ball and are fundamentally playing against a team showing very little interest in playing football, putting a lot of effort into sitting deep, being very compact centrally (both West Ham and ManU did this extremely effectively) and first and foremost concentrating on not allowing us chances whilst hoping to nick something on the counter or set piece.

In the last three games we've had most of the ball, done most of the pushing and prodding (detail of which I'll get to later), but in the last two have come up against very obdurate opponents with some half decent players, particularly yesterday.

This was Utd's positional map yesterday. Pretty much a 361:


LNs4UmH.png


As far as the "no shots on target" headline thing goes, again I feel some sympathy for Nuno on this. Our X/G was actually better than ManU's until the third breakaway goal goes in. It is not Nuno's fault that Son somehow blasts the ball over from two yards out with a chance that was much easier than the one Ronaldo then scores with. There were some other big moments, Son being put clean through and fucking it up, Davies getting in the way of what would have been an almost certain goal from Romero's head, Lo Celso not shooting in a clear space in the box and Lo Celso fucking up the chance to play Son clean through, Moura fucking up a couple of chances to play people through. On other days any of those would have resulted in either goals or at least shots on target. This is how the X/G developed:


eAHR82c.png



As you can see, we were edging it right up until the last couple of minutes, whilst also preventing a very talented Utd attack from having chances themselves as well as dominating the ball (59/41) and territory (34/24%). manU managed three goals from four shots on target and an X/G of 1.39 (ours was 1.16).

I also think the second, killer, goal was a massive collective individual fuck up. First Hojbjerg whacks a bobling pass at Skipp, who struggles to control it, but worst of all Romero, who just turns his back on the player passing and if he hadn't could have cut out the through ball easily. The last goal, Davies just goes to sleep and gets himself a yard and a half behind the rest of the defence and plays him onside. Last week it was Reguilon fucking about that cost us the game.

I'm not saying I still don't have issues, I definitely do, there have been mistakes, from selections, to game management (subs etc) to basic coaching and application of this approach, but I just think the last couple of games we (Nuno) were a bit unlucky and both games could have easily gone out way with a bit of rub and some individual actions.

As I said, I do have issues. I terms of selections and shape, if we are going to try and dominate the ball, then there needs to be a better footballer in that midfield. I'd happily see us revert back to the 3 with either or even both of Ndombele and Lo Celso as 8's, instead of playing either as 10's. If you are going to dominate ball and territory it is tactically questionable to just stick an extra bumbling body (and boy are all our attacking bodies fucking bumblers) up into that congested area, leaving two very utalitarian (kind word) CM's to do all the playmaking. When trying to break down obdurate defences in compressed areas the movement and passing needs to be smart to pull them around and eventually open them up.

Our movement ahead and around the ball is pretty lazy and unimaginative much of the time and our passing from midfield (Skipp and Hojbjerg) is very safe. This makes opening up the double parked bus pretty hard work. There are often not enough options for people on the ball, and even when there is is movement, the passing is perfunctory, safe, doesn't arrive in people's stride etc, forcing the movement to grind rather than flow.

Nuno's in game management and subs are often dubious. Last week taking off Ndombele when we needed to create/score was really poor. I don't rate Moura, and yesterday again he did some really stupid things in some good positions, but Bergwijn against a packed defence? Really ?

If I was judging him on the last three games I'd be kind of "OK lets see where this goes" because I think intentions haven't been terrible. But I'm not, and much of what went before the last three games was pretty fucking meh, and much of what he did at Wolves was at best very functional but pretty meh.

I also think he has inherited a pretty tricky situation; He's inherited a team that is low on confidence and has been playing dog shit football for 3-4 years. A fanbase that didn't want him (me included) and and who have just had to endure a steady four year decline, the last 18 months of which involved totally cunty football and a poisonous cunty talking head as his predecessor. A squad in transition that's in the process of being overhauled, in which even some of the new parts are pretty flawed, a captain, figurehead and main goal scorer who doesn't want to be here and is in the worst funk of his career.

The question is, as it was with Poch, AVB, Ramos (to name three) do we feel (or is there any prior evidence) that given time Nuno will evolve this and improve certain important facets. Will we start pressing higher and harder to unsettle the bus park, if we are going to continue to try and be a more possession/territory based team? Will he coach better movement? Will he select and encourage more risk taking and vision from midfield? Is it even possible to coach better technical quality of passing from this lot?

With Poch (Southampton) there was (prior evidence) and he was given time. AVB (Porto) and Ramos (Sevilla) there was, but even then, they got the bullet.

With Nuno, there appears to be no evidence of this in his back catalogue.

Bottom line, despite having some sympathy for the guy, If I could swap him for a handful of other coaches who I believe have a track record of clear ideas and proven methodology for getting those ideas across, I'd cut my losses and do it tomorrow.


Player Ratings

Lloris - 3 goals from 4 shot's on target. I don't think he was great but all the finishes were also pretty deadly.

Royal - OK. Was very involved. Offered himself plenty on the right in build up and forward areas, but without delivering much of consequence. defensively seems better than Reguilon on the other side, but still looks a bit flimsy at times.

Romero - I thought he was pretty ropey all day and directly responsible for the second goal, where he seems to turn his back on the passer too quickly, if he hadn't he could have cut out the pass. I like that he's aggressive and not a complete wardrobe, but there are times when I think he's rash.

Dier - OK

Davies - Shouldn't be playing at this level now really, but I have no problem with Nuno benching Reguilon after last weeks stupidity that cost us the game.

Hojbjerg - He's a trier but his limitations can't cash the cheques his efforts write.

Skipp - busyish. Tidyish. Mehish today. Bumbled in the build up to their second, but not a great ball from Hojbjerg.

Moura - bounced around like a peptic pinball as ever, but also as ever, to very little real purpose. Would still have him out there ahead of Bergwijn though, who bounces around, but more like a space hopper.

Lo Celso - I thought he worked hard and tried to get himself involved but there were several moments where he really fucked up chances to make something better happen, sometimes because of his very one footedness.

Son - He was lively enough, but like others, just lacks composure or can be erratic at times. When he's in one of his scoring phases, it's easier to forgive, when he's not it's fucking frustrating.

Kane - You knew this would happen. Every shit performance is going to be "because he doesn't want to be here". I don't think he's phoning it in, I think he's trying, and I think we've seen performances like this throughout his time here, but he always scored. Now he's not.
 
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

This BC's boutique match ratings and ramblings thread is dedicated to Bazali Bazali who is constantly telling me how much he misses them.

I'm no apologist for Nuno. Didn't want the guy (still don't want the guy) and that was/ is based on his work at Wolves, as I have seen nothing of his previous oeuvre (Porto/Valencia) but have listened to people who have and they say it was not remarkable in any way.

But...

Against this aforementioned backdrop of my own personal peccadillos, I find myself feeling a soupçon (not a shitload, but some) sympathy for Nuno in relation to the last couple of games.

Specifically yesterday's game, as with West Ham and Newcastle, I don't think the intentions were terrible. I've seen those games many, many times before under people like Pochettino, AVB, Ramos (and others) to name three. Games where we dominate the ball and are fundamentally playing against a team showing very little interest in playing football, putting a lot of effort into sitting deep, being very compact centrally (both West Ham and ManU did this extremely effectively) and first and foremost concentrating on not allowing us chances whilst hoping to nick something on the counter or set piece.

In the last three games we've had most of the ball, done most of the pushing and prodding (detail of which I'll get to later), but in the last two have come up against very obdurate opponents with some half decent players, particularly yesterday.

This was Utd's positional map yesterday. Pretty much a 361:


LNs4UmH.png


As far as the "no shots on target" headline thing goes, again I feel some sympathy for Nuno on this. Our X/G was actually better than ManU's until the third breakaway goal goes in. It is not Nuno's fault that Son somehow blasts the ball over from two yards out with a chance that was much easier than the one Ronaldo then scores with. There were some other big moments, Son being put clean through and fucking it up, Davies getting in the way of what would have been an almost certain goal from Romero's head, Lo Celso not shooting in a clear space in the box and Lo Celso fucking up the chance to play Son clean through, Moura fucking up a couple of chances to play people through. On other days any of those would have resulted in either goals or at least shots on target. This is how the X/G developed:


eAHR82c.png



As you can see, we were edging it right up until the last couple of minutes, whilst also preventing a very talented Utd attack from having chances themselves as well as dominating the ball (59/41) and territory (34/24%). manU managed three goals from four shots on target and an X/G of 1.39 (ours was 1.16).

I also think the second, killer, goal was a massive collective individual fuck up. First Hojbjerg whacks a bobling pass at Skipp, who struggles to control it, but worst of all Romero, who just turns his back on the player passing and if he hadn't could have cut out the through ball easily. The last goal, Davies just goes to sleep and gets himself a yard and a half behind the rest of the defence and plays him onside. Last week it was Reguilon fucking about that cost us the game.

I'm not saying I still don't have issues, I definitely do, there have been mistakes, from selections, to game management (subs etc) to basic coaching and application of this approach, but I just think the last couple of games we (Nuno) were a bit unlucky and both games could have easily gone out way with a bit of rub and some individual actions.

As I said, I do have issues. I terms of selections and shape, if we are going to try and dominate the ball, then there needs to be a better footballer in that midfield. I'd happily see us revert back to the 3 with either or even both of Ndombele and Lo Celso as 8's, instead of playing either as 10's. If you are going to dominate ball and territory it is tactically questionable to just stick an extra bumbling body (and boy are all our attacking bodies fucking bumblers) up into that congested area, leaving two very utalitarian (kind word) CM's to do all the playmaking. When trying to break down obdurate defences in compressed areas the movement and passing needs to be smart to pull them around and eventually open them up.

Our movement ahead and around the ball is pretty lazy and unimaginative much of the time and our passing from midfield (Skipp and Hojbjerg) is very safe. This makes opening up the double parked bus pretty hard work. There are often not enough options for people on the ball, and even when there is is movement, the passing is perfunctory, safe, doesn't arrive in people's stride etc, forcing the movement to grind rather than flow.

Nuno's in game management and subs are often dubious. Last week taking off Ndombele when we needed to create/score was really poor. I don't rate Moura, and yesterday again he did some really stupid things in some good positions, but Bergwijn against a packed defence? Really ?

If I was judging him on the last three games I'd be kind of "OK lets see where this goes" because I think intentions haven't been terrible. But I'm not, and much of what went before the last three games was pretty fucking meh, and much of what he did at Wolves was at best very functional but pretty meh.

I also think he has inherited a pretty tricky situation; He's inherited a team that is low on confidence and has been playing dog shit football for 3-4 years. A fanbase that didn't want him (me included) and and who have just had to endure a steady four year decline, the last 18 months of which involved totally cunty football and a poisonous cunty talking head as his predecessor. A squad in transition that's in the process of being overhauled, in which even some of the new parts are pretty flawed, a captain, figurehead and main goal scorer who doesn't want to be here and is in the worst funk of his career.

The question is, as it was with Poch, AVB, Ramos (to name three) do we feel (or is there any prior evidence) that given time Nuno will evolve this and improve certain important facets. Will we start pressing higher and harder to unsettle the bus park, if we are going to continue to try and be a more possession/territory based team? Will he coach better movement? Will he select and encourage more risk taking and vision from midfield? Is it even possible to coach better technical quality of passing from this lot?

With Poch (Southampton) there was (prior evidence) and he was given time. AVB (Porto) and Ramos (Sevilla) there was, but even then, they got the bullet.

With Nuno, there appears to be no evidence of this in his back catalogue.

Bottom line, despite having some sympathy for the guy, If I could swap him for a handful of other coaches who I believe have a track record of clear ideas and proven methodology for getting those ideas across, I'd cut my losses and do it tomorrow.


Player Ratings

Lloris - 3 goals from 4 shot's on target. I don't think he was great but all the finishes were also pretty deadly.

Royal - OK. Was very involved. Offered himself plenty on the right in build up and forward areas, but without delivering much of consequence. defensively seems better than Reguilon on the other side, but still looks a bit flimsy at times.

Romero - I thought he was pretty ropey all day and directly responsible for the second goal, where he seems to turn his back on the passer too quickly, if he hadn't he could have cut out the pass. I like that he's aggressive and not a complete wardrobe, but there are times when I think he's rash.

Dier - OK

Davies - Shouldn't be playing at this level now really, but I have no problem with Nuno benching Reguilon after last weeks stupidity that cost us the game.

Hojbjerg - He's a trier but his limitations can't cash the cheques his efforts write.

Skipp - busyish. Tidyish. Mehish today. Bumbled in the build up to their second, but not a great ball from Hojbjerg.

Moura - bounced around like a peptic pinball as ever, but also as ever, to very little real purpose. Would still have him out there ahead of Bergwijn though, who bounces around, but more like a space hopper.

Lo Celso - I thought he worked hard and tried to get himself involved but there were several moments where he really fucked up chances to make something better happen, sometimes because of his very one footedness.

Son - He was lively enough, but like others, just lacks composure or can be erratic at times. When he's in one of his scoring phases, it's easier to forgive, when he's not it's fucking frustrating.

Kane - You knew this would happen. Every shit performance is going to be "because he doesn't want to be here". I don't think he's phoning it in, I think he's trying, and I think we've seen performances like this throughout his time here, but he always scored. Now he's not.
Very good of you

Now keep all crap like this on this thread and no one will be bored rigid again

There’s a good boy
 
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

This BC's boutique match ratings and ramblings thread is dedicated to Bazali Bazali who is constantly telling me how much he misses them.

I'm no apologist for Nuno. Didn't want the guy (still don't want the guy) and that was/ is based on his work at Wolves, as I have seen nothing of his previous oeuvre (Porto/Valencia) but have listened to people who have and they say it was not remarkable in any way.

But...

Against this aforementioned backdrop of my own personal peccadillos, I find myself feeling a soupçon (not a shitload, but some) sympathy for Nuno in relation to the last couple of games.

Specifically yesterday's game, as with West Ham and Newcastle, I don't think the intentions were terrible. I've seen those games many, many times before under people like Pochettino, AVB, Ramos (and others) to name three. Games where we dominate the ball and are fundamentally playing against a team showing very little interest in playing football, putting a lot of effort into sitting deep, being very compact centrally (both West Ham and ManU did this extremely effectively) and first and foremost concentrating on not allowing us chances whilst hoping to nick something on the counter or set piece.

In the last three games we've had most of the ball, done most of the pushing and prodding (detail of which I'll get to later), but in the last two have come up against very obdurate opponents with some half decent players, particularly yesterday.

This was Utd's positional map yesterday. Pretty much a 361:


LNs4UmH.png


As far as the "no shots on target" headline thing goes, again I feel some sympathy for Nuno on this. Our X/G was actually better than ManU's until the third breakaway goal goes in. It is not Nuno's fault that Son somehow blasts the ball over from two yards out with a chance that was much easier than the one Ronaldo then scores with. There were some other big moments, Son being put clean through and fucking it up, Davies getting in the way of what would have been an almost certain goal from Romero's head, Lo Celso not shooting in a clear space in the box and Lo Celso fucking up the chance to play Son clean through, Moura fucking up a couple of chances to play people through. On other days any of those would have resulted in either goals or at least shots on target. This is how the X/G developed:


eAHR82c.png



As you can see, we were edging it right up until the last couple of minutes, whilst also preventing a very talented Utd attack from having chances themselves as well as dominating the ball (59/41) and territory (34/24%). manU managed three goals from four shots on target and an X/G of 1.39 (ours was 1.16).

I also think the second, killer, goal was a massive collective individual fuck up. First Hojbjerg whacks a bobling pass at Skipp, who struggles to control it, but worst of all Romero, who just turns his back on the player passing and if he hadn't could have cut out the through ball easily. The last goal, Davies just goes to sleep and gets himself a yard and a half behind the rest of the defence and plays him onside. Last week it was Reguilon fucking about that cost us the game.

I'm not saying I still don't have issues, I definitely do, there have been mistakes, from selections, to game management (subs etc) to basic coaching and application of this approach, but I just think the last couple of games we (Nuno) were a bit unlucky and both games could have easily gone out way with a bit of rub and some individual actions.

As I said, I do have issues. I terms of selections and shape, if we are going to try and dominate the ball, then there needs to be a better footballer in that midfield. I'd happily see us revert back to the 3 with either or even both of Ndombele and Lo Celso as 8's, instead of playing either as 10's. If you are going to dominate ball and territory it is tactically questionable to just stick an extra bumbling body (and boy are all our attacking bodies fucking bumblers) up into that congested area, leaving two very utalitarian (kind word) CM's to do all the playmaking. When trying to break down obdurate defences in compressed areas the movement and passing needs to be smart to pull them around and eventually open them up.

Our movement ahead and around the ball is pretty lazy and unimaginative much of the time and our passing from midfield (Skipp and Hojbjerg) is very safe. This makes opening up the double parked bus pretty hard work. There are often not enough options for people on the ball, and even when there is is movement, the passing is perfunctory, safe, doesn't arrive in people's stride etc, forcing the movement to grind rather than flow.

Nuno's in game management and subs are often dubious. Last week taking off Ndombele when we needed to create/score was really poor. I don't rate Moura, and yesterday again he did some really stupid things in some good positions, but Bergwijn against a packed defence? Really ?

If I was judging him on the last three games I'd be kind of "OK lets see where this goes" because I think intentions haven't been terrible. But I'm not, and much of what went before the last three games was pretty fucking meh, and much of what he did at Wolves was at best very functional but pretty meh.

I also think he has inherited a pretty tricky situation; He's inherited a team that is low on confidence and has been playing dog shit football for 3-4 years. A fanbase that didn't want him (me included) and and who have just had to endure a steady four year decline, the last 18 months of which involved totally cunty football and a poisonous cunty talking head as his predecessor. A squad in transition that's in the process of being overhauled, in which even some of the new parts are pretty flawed, a captain, figurehead and main goal scorer who doesn't want to be here and is in the worst funk of his career.

The question is, as it was with Poch, AVB, Ramos (to name three) do we feel (or is there any prior evidence) that given time Nuno will evolve this and improve certain important facets. Will we start pressing higher and harder to unsettle the bus park, if we are going to continue to try and be a more possession/territory based team? Will he coach better movement? Will he select and encourage more risk taking and vision from midfield? Is it even possible to coach better technical quality of passing from this lot?

With Poch (Southampton) there was (prior evidence) and he was given time. AVB (Porto) and Ramos (Sevilla) there was, but even then, they got the bullet.

With Nuno, there appears to be no evidence of this in his back catalogue.

Bottom line, despite having some sympathy for the guy, If I could swap him for a handful of other coaches who I believe have a track record of clear ideas and proven methodology for getting those ideas across, I'd cut my losses and do it tomorrow.


Player Ratings

Lloris - 3 goals from 4 shot's on target. I don't think he was great but all the finishes were also pretty deadly.

Royal - OK. Was very involved. Offered himself plenty on the right in build up and forward areas, but without delivering much of consequence. defensively seems better than Reguilon on the other side, but still looks a bit flimsy at times.

Romero - I thought he was pretty ropey all day and directly responsible for the second goal, where he seems to turn his back on the passer too quickly, if he hadn't he could have cut out the pass. I like that he's aggressive and not a complete wardrobe, but there are times when I think he's rash.

Dier - OK

Davies - Shouldn't be playing at this level now really, but I have no problem with Nuno benching Reguilon after last weeks stupidity that cost us the game.

Hojbjerg - He's a trier but his limitations can't cash the cheques his efforts write.

Skipp - busyish. Tidyish. Mehish today. Bumbled in the build up to their second, but not a great ball from Hojbjerg.

Moura - bounced around like a peptic pinball as ever, but also as ever, to very little real purpose. Would still have him out there ahead of Bergwijn though, who bounces around, but more like a space hopper.

Lo Celso - I thought he worked hard and tried to get himself involved but there were several moments where he really fucked up chances to make something better happen, sometimes because of his very one footedness.

Son - He was lively enough, but like others, just lacks composure or can be erratic at times. When he's in one of his scoring phases, it's easier to forgive, when he's not it's fucking frustrating.

Kane - You knew this would happen. Every shit performance is going to be "because he doesn't want to be here". I don't think he's phoning it in, I think he's trying, and I think we've seen performances like this throughout his time here, but he always scored. Now he's not.
Agree with most of this, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Been thinking about things today and a conversation I had with someone yesterday leaving the ground who said similar things. 'A fish rots from the head ' he said, alluding to the Kane situation and Nuno being 8th choice and given a two year contract only.

I agree with your Kane assessment, I think he's trying but maybe subconsciously his heart isn't quite in it in quite the same way, everyone knows he wanted out including his teammates and it must affect morale.

Regarding Nuno he also knows he wasn't first choice and has to do something pretty spectacular to earn anything longer than a two year deal - again it affects morale and he looked visibly shaken post match yesterday.

That aside I agree that he doesn't have a track record for attractive and hard working footy and nothing he's doing here so far is changing that.

I still think we should've gone all out for Potter in the summer and he's still my preference, good attacking footy, a hard working team and he's got Prem experience already. Problem is can we get him now?
 
Agree with most of this, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Been thinking about things today and a conversation I had with someone yesterday leaving the ground who said similar things. 'A fish rots from the head ' he said, alluding to the Kane situation and Nuno being 8th choice and given a two year contract only.

I agree with your Kane assessment, I think he's trying but maybe subconsciously his heart isn't quite in it in quite the same way, everyone knows he wanted out including his teammates and it must affect morale.

Regarding Nuno he also knows he wasn't first choice and has to do something pretty spectacular to earn anything longer than a two year deal - again it affects morale and he looked visibly shaken post match yesterday.

That aside I agree that he doesn't have a track record for attractive and hard working footy and nothing he's doing here so far is changing that.

I still think we should've gone all out for Potter in the summer and he's still my preference, good attacking footy, a hard working team and he's got Prem experience already. Problem is can we get him now?

I would have been happy with Potter and said so in the summer. There were quite a few coaches we could have brought in that would have had me somewhere between interested and excited, so I was fucking disappointed with the Nuno appointment.

The problem is, even if he's intending to have us playing a more possession based front foot brand of football than he's known for (and lets be honest, it is bound to take time and some pain after the 18 months of tactical humbuggery and mental belittlement therapy this team went through under Mourinho) with his prior, the fact that he was seen as the unholy stooge by most of us, he was never going to have the kind of goodwill collateral in the bank to survive any painful "transition".
 
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

This BC's boutique match ratings and ramblings thread is dedicated to Bazali Bazali who is constantly telling me how much he misses them.

I'm no apologist for Nuno. Didn't want the guy (still don't want the guy) and that was/ is based on his work at Wolves, as I have seen nothing of his previous oeuvre (Porto/Valencia) but have listened to people who have and they say it was not remarkable in any way.

But...

Against this aforementioned backdrop of my own personal peccadillos, I find myself feeling a soupçon (not a shitload, but some) sympathy for Nuno in relation to the last couple of games.

Specifically yesterday's game, as with West Ham and Newcastle, I don't think the intentions were terrible. I've seen those games many, many times before under people like Pochettino, AVB, Ramos (and others) to name three. Games where we dominate the ball and are fundamentally playing against a team showing very little interest in playing football, putting a lot of effort into sitting deep, being very compact centrally (both West Ham and ManU did this extremely effectively) and first and foremost concentrating on not allowing us chances whilst hoping to nick something on the counter or set piece.

In the last three games we've had most of the ball, done most of the pushing and prodding (detail of which I'll get to later), but in the last two have come up against very obdurate opponents with some half decent players, particularly yesterday.

This was Utd's positional map yesterday. Pretty much a 361:


LNs4UmH.png


As far as the "no shots on target" headline thing goes, again I feel some sympathy for Nuno on this. Our X/G was actually better than ManU's until the third breakaway goal goes in. It is not Nuno's fault that Son somehow blasts the ball over from two yards out with a chance that was much easier than the one Ronaldo then scores with. There were some other big moments, Son being put clean through and fucking it up, Davies getting in the way of what would have been an almost certain goal from Romero's head, Lo Celso not shooting in a clear space in the box and Lo Celso fucking up the chance to play Son clean through, Moura fucking up a couple of chances to play people through. On other days any of those would have resulted in either goals or at least shots on target. This is how the X/G developed:


eAHR82c.png



As you can see, we were edging it right up until the last couple of minutes, whilst also preventing a very talented Utd attack from having chances themselves as well as dominating the ball (59/41) and territory (34/24%). manU managed three goals from four shots on target and an X/G of 1.39 (ours was 1.16).

I also think the second, killer, goal was a massive collective individual fuck up. First Hojbjerg whacks a bobling pass at Skipp, who struggles to control it, but worst of all Romero, who just turns his back on the player passing and if he hadn't could have cut out the through ball easily. The last goal, Davies just goes to sleep and gets himself a yard and a half behind the rest of the defence and plays him onside. Last week it was Reguilon fucking about that cost us the game.

I'm not saying I still don't have issues, I definitely do, there have been mistakes, from selections, to game management (subs etc) to basic coaching and application of this approach, but I just think the last couple of games we (Nuno) were a bit unlucky and both games could have easily gone out way with a bit of rub and some individual actions.

As I said, I do have issues. I terms of selections and shape, if we are going to try and dominate the ball, then there needs to be a better footballer in that midfield. I'd happily see us revert back to the 3 with either or even both of Ndombele and Lo Celso as 8's, instead of playing either as 10's. If you are going to dominate ball and territory it is tactically questionable to just stick an extra bumbling body (and boy are all our attacking bodies fucking bumblers) up into that congested area, leaving two very utalitarian (kind word) CM's to do all the playmaking. When trying to break down obdurate defences in compressed areas the movement and passing needs to be smart to pull them around and eventually open them up.

Our movement ahead and around the ball is pretty lazy and unimaginative much of the time and our passing from midfield (Skipp and Hojbjerg) is very safe. This makes opening up the double parked bus pretty hard work. There are often not enough options for people on the ball, and even when there is is movement, the passing is perfunctory, safe, doesn't arrive in people's stride etc, forcing the movement to grind rather than flow.

Nuno's in game management and subs are often dubious. Last week taking off Ndombele when we needed to create/score was really poor. I don't rate Moura, and yesterday again he did some really stupid things in some good positions, but Bergwijn against a packed defence? Really ?

If I was judging him on the last three games I'd be kind of "OK lets see where this goes" because I think intentions haven't been terrible. But I'm not, and much of what went before the last three games was pretty fucking meh, and much of what he did at Wolves was at best very functional but pretty meh.

I also think he has inherited a pretty tricky situation; He's inherited a team that is low on confidence and has been playing dog shit football for 3-4 years. A fanbase that didn't want him (me included) and and who have just had to endure a steady four year decline, the last 18 months of which involved totally cunty football and a poisonous cunty talking head as his predecessor. A squad in transition that's in the process of being overhauled, in which even some of the new parts are pretty flawed, a captain, figurehead and main goal scorer who doesn't want to be here and is in the worst funk of his career.

The question is, as it was with Poch, AVB, Ramos (to name three) do we feel (or is there any prior evidence) that given time Nuno will evolve this and improve certain important facets. Will we start pressing higher and harder to unsettle the bus park, if we are going to continue to try and be a more possession/territory based team? Will he coach better movement? Will he select and encourage more risk taking and vision from midfield? Is it even possible to coach better technical quality of passing from this lot?

With Poch (Southampton) there was (prior evidence) and he was given time. AVB (Porto) and Ramos (Sevilla) there was, but even then, they got the bullet.

With Nuno, there appears to be no evidence of this in his back catalogue.

Bottom line, despite having some sympathy for the guy, If I could swap him for a handful of other coaches who I believe have a track record of clear ideas and proven methodology for getting those ideas across, I'd cut my losses and do it tomorrow.


Player Ratings

Lloris - 3 goals from 4 shot's on target. I don't think he was great but all the finishes were also pretty deadly.

Royal - OK. Was very involved. Offered himself plenty on the right in build up and forward areas, but without delivering much of consequence. defensively seems better than Reguilon on the other side, but still looks a bit flimsy at times.

Romero - I thought he was pretty ropey all day and directly responsible for the second goal, where he seems to turn his back on the passer too quickly, if he hadn't he could have cut out the pass. I like that he's aggressive and not a complete wardrobe, but there are times when I think he's rash.

Dier - OK

Davies - Shouldn't be playing at this level now really, but I have no problem with Nuno benching Reguilon after last weeks stupidity that cost us the game.

Hojbjerg - He's a trier but his limitations can't cash the cheques his efforts write.

Skipp - busyish. Tidyish. Mehish today. Bumbled in the build up to their second, but not a great ball from Hojbjerg.

Moura - bounced around like a peptic pinball as ever, but also as ever, to very little real purpose. Would still have him out there ahead of Bergwijn though, who bounces around, but more like a space hopper.

Lo Celso - I thought he worked hard and tried to get himself involved but there were several moments where he really fucked up chances to make something better happen, sometimes because of his very one footedness.

Son - He was lively enough, but like others, just lacks composure or can be erratic at times. When he's in one of his scoring phases, it's easier to forgive, when he's not it's fucking frustrating.

Kane - You knew this would happen. Every shit performance is going to be "because he doesn't want to be here". I don't think he's phoning it in, I think he's trying, and I think we've seen performances like this throughout his time here, but he always scored. Now he's not.
I very much enjoyed your analysis, well articulated. Largely aligns with my own thinking. Except the 3rd goal which wasn’t Davies fault as much as Romero not being in place. Both Dier and Royale tried to close down Greenwood but it was too late. Greenwood didn’t break the offside trap, he ran through a yawning gap in our defence.

I wonder if we are better playing a back 3 which could better give Romero licence to roam and enable Reggie and Royale to be proper wing backs. Would mean going with only 1 DM, which wouldn’t be a bad thing…
 
Also for such a well written analysis can I respectively suggest you drop the c-bombs? I accept we have many people here from diverse backgrounds but this doesn’t help build your message or endear you to everyone who reads your post. And your post and analysis are excellent so that would be a shame.
 
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I would have been happy with Potter and said so in the summer. There were quite a few coaches we could have brought in that would have had me somewhere between interested and excited, so I was fucking disappointed with the Nuno appointment.

The problem is, even if he's intending to have us playing a more possession based front foot brand of football than he's known for (and lets be honest, it is bound to take time and some pain after the 18 months of tactical humbuggery and mental belittlement therapy this team went through under Mourinho) with his prior, the fact that he was seen as the unholy stooge by most of us, he was never going to have the kind of goodwill collateral in the bank to survive any painful "transition".
Agreed...and now he's gone....onto the next sucker for punishment
 
So our xg was better than uniteds but we was 2-0 down. Shows you what a fucking pointless stat it really is. The only goal stat that matters is the one where you hit the back of the net with the ball and we ain't doing that enough.
 
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