"Supposed to" being the key
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"Supposed to" being the key
Isnt it funny how Mark Hughs had a working plan b
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I think the subs (Lamela for Kane and Bentaleb for Mason) were correct on paper. I think they choked badly, and the whole team panicked a little and stopped following the plan, as Toby alluded to in his comments after the game.
It was a mistake of youth, which comes with having such a young team, but I hope the lads will learn from it. Mental strength comes over time, and we have a very young team still developing that strength.
The positives I take from the game were that for 70 minutes, we actually looked bloody good and there's something pretty good there. The negative is that some players are unable to focus when the plan needs to be slightly adjusted. I hope they'll learn, but if not, I think we have others now who will be able to take their place instead.
It was a mistake of youth, which comes with having such a young team, but I hope the lads will learn from it. Mental strength comes over time, and we have a very young team still developing that strength.
The positives I take from the game were that for 70 minutes, we actually looked bloody good and there's something pretty good there. The negative is that some players are unable to focus when the plan needs to be slightly adjusted. I hope they'll learn, but if not, I think we have others now who will be able to take their place instead.
With Kane going off, there was no need to bring Mason off.
Isnt it a lovely luxury to fuck up tactically with your subs and then claim everyone was tired...
Personally, when Kane went off, Id have preferred to see us go with:
...................................Lloris
Walker................Toby.............Jan................Davies
...................................Dier
..............Bentaleb.........................Mason
Dembele....................Eriksen...................Chadli
(oh look, no striker. Yep. Thats right. No striker)
Or if Mason genuinely couldnt carry on (which I dont believe for a second)
...................................Lloris
Walker................Toby.............Jan................Davies
...................................Dier
..............Bentaleb........................Dembele
Alli......................Eriksen...................Chadli
And no I dont know it would have worked, or think that Im a better manager than Pochettino, but what I do know is that Lamela was clearly the worst option for that role and he completely unsettled the entire team.
He looked pretty good though in that role against Milan. He had a nightmare of a game yesterday. It does happen from time to time for almost everyone. In hindsight it's easy to claim that he was going to be shit, but we and Pochettino had no way of knowing that would be the case.
I think I would have subbed Carroll instead of Bentaleb, but really, it was a team error of failing to stick to the plan. The plan had worked great, and the lads let themselves down by getting distracted.
I knew hindsight would come up.
How about this: http://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/threads/andros-townsend.4978/page-74#post-743574
Thats a conversation from back in March, where I am clearly stating Lamela is shit. Ive said he's shit the entire summer, and we need better.
Why would it be hindsight that I think he's shit, and he played shit? I expected him to play shit because I think he's shit. Is that sinking in yet?
haha...hehe! Look! haha!
And I think you're wrong to claim he's shit. He got the most assists on the team last year, and was one of our key creative forces. He was also one of our best players in the last couple of months with both his defensive work and his attacking.
He didn't shoot enough, and didn't score enough. But was actually pretty damn good aside from that. He had a terrible game yesterday. He needs to rebound from that and push on. If he doesn't he'll be sold in the summer. We know that, he knows that.
What you or I think about a player has no bearing on reality. It's what Pochettino thinks they can do based on what he's seen in training that matters. Coco now owes some karma to Pochettino and the squad.
The reality was that the plan was correct though, and the tactics worked. After Kane went off everyone else stopped executing them. That's on them, and they need to be better next time, full stop.
Thats perfectly within your rights.
But if I think he's shit, and have been saying so since last season, its not a hindsight argument when he comes on and plays terribly.
So in one breath, dont question the manager because he sees what we dont in training, but in another breath, full acceptance that the manager fucked up.
Plan A was correct.
Lack of Plan B cost us.
Another thing seen by many of us 10 months ago..
Plan A was correct. The lack of plan B wasn't a probem. Lack of focus in sticking to Plan A was.
The manager didn't fuck up and I never said he did. The players fucked up by losing focus. They're the 11 guys kicking the ball. For 70 minutes they were doing it correctly. They then lost focus and gave up 2 goals. If they didn't lose focus, they wouldn't have given up the two goals.
Kane playing a deep lying holding role was key to plan A.
How can the team stick to that when Kane goes off for Lamela and the midfield shifted around?
And the subs had nothing to do with it? Just a massive coincidence it went downhill at the same time.
I think I'll leave this one. You have your blinkers superglued on today.
Ireland came on with Joselu on 59 minutes. We were cruising 2-0 and Hughes played his hand.
Poch brought on Lamela 5 minutes later to compensate. Within 5minutes, he had conceded 3 free kicks around our box and we were getting swamped.
On 69, Poch brought on Bentaleb who was equally as appalling. The problem was, that he also took off Mason, our best player on the day.
You have to be an idiot to think the subs had no affect, and it was simply a capitulation from a group of players who had been excellent up until that point.
Always with the insults. Yes, the subs had something to do with it. They failed to do the jobs asked of them. If the coach throws them on, then he expects they will. They failed. Is he supposed to play for them. Should Mauricio and Jesus have suited it up instead?
There you go, wasnt too difficult was it
oh right, that was a plan B was it?
We've been here all day defending, now we are losing lets try and make a game of it.
Not really a plan B
more D for desperation
I'm not wholly sure that its a sound change of plan, rather more of a last throw of the dice.
But if that's what you want to see from your manager, then Stoke is north of Birmingham. Have a nice time.
As you say they were losing with the gameplan he started out with. I would assume he started with Plan A.
He then made substitutions to try and get back in the game. Plan B.
They got back in the game. Plan B worked.
Hilarious that you staunchly defend Poch when people say he has a lack of an effective back up plan, but when Mark Hughs makes changes that our changes cant cope with, and they rescue a point from 2-0 down within the 30 minutes he made the subs, you call it a last desperate throw of the dice.
Arent you a bit old to be of the mentality:
Everything Spurs do good.
Everything other team do bad.
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Its difficult to see how any rational free thinking person could be so obtuse as you.
Oh - maybe that's the problem..........
So - lets do a Sammy
so what you're saying is that we should start our games with only 8 of our best team, allow the opposition to go 2 up, and then we'll fuck with their heads by stopping the 10 man defence (plan A) chuck on our best players and then try to beat them in the last 1/4 of the game (planB)
Difficult to see why that shouldn't be adopted by all teams by the end of the season.
Obviously Jose was doing a Hughesie yesterday, but just forgot the plan B part
and Arsene was doing it last week against West Ham - but just forgot the Plan B part
and Ronald against Everton.........
IS IT STARTING TO DAWN ON YOU HOW STUPID YOUR ARGUMENT IS YET?
Don't bother answering, I'm going to talk football with my dog.
NO - I mean it, don't bother, I won't be replying.