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Manager Mauricio Pochettino

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A couple of years ago, we did not have a plan B but now can play several systems. However Conte and no doubt other Managers know our style and can plan to defeat it. That is what happened and is why we can never say our first 11 cannot be bettered because to become better we need to be more flexible with different players and different styles. That is exactly what Poch has been doing, last year Wanyama and by adding Sanchez to the squad it will add a different dimension this season. We need more flexibility further up the field and Barkley would have provided that but is injured. Lamela is also injured and does that. Hopefully we will add someone other than a defender & 3rd GK as it is needed. With 3/4 players normally injured and 18 players named each matchday we need 22 players that are all considered good enough to play when called upon.
I agree we need to be able to play different styles, but players on the pitch need to be able to change the style of play as the game is going on,
the Chelsea match showed the coaching team doesn't think on its feet well, when the team sheet came in we needed to put someone on David Luis, or put someone he had to foul all the time to get him sent off,
I don't think our players can adopt to the game well,
Dier is ok as a stopper, but he can't see a pass, so why was he often given the ball to set things off ?
 
I could direct the same accusation at you. I never said we should sit deep and only counter attack all the time.
What we 'wish' to do is score goals and win games. And there is no one way to do that. The reason we have the ball so much and rarely counter, is because we move the ball slowly and/or the opposition are often happy to let us have it.

Again you are looking at this in a very simple black and white way. When I talk about counter attacking I'm not necessarily talking about hoofing the ball over the top for some Jamie Vardy type to run onto against the run of play after 80 minutes of being camped in your own penalty box. You don't have to be a defensive team to counter attack effectively, you just need to have the nous to see the space when it presents itself and exploit it quickly before the opposition have time to find their defensive shape. It can come from winning the ball in any situation, like when the opposition take a weak corner or when you cut out a short pass around the half way line. The question is can you turn defence to attack very quickly and effectively, and currently we can't do it all that well against quality opposition.

The best teams in the world can struggle all day to break down 11 men sitting deep behind the ball. There is never a sure fire solution to grinding a way through a well organised defence, short of having a few Leo Messi's in your team. But learning to string a few quick forward passes together when you catch your opponents short at the back is a much more fruitful and replicable tactic for all kinds of match ups.

If you are not talking about fast break attacks after winning the ball from defending against an attack you are using the wrong term. If you are just using the wrong term, and you are including fast break attacks after winning the ball from pressing high up the pitch you are very wrong about us being bad at it. We've scored lots of goals from breaking quickly when we win the ball high up the pitch the last few seasons. Eriksen, Alli, Kane, Son and even Lamela are good at it.

It seems to me that what you actually want is simply for us to be more direct at times. Maybe that could be advantageous, but it comes with the cost of less possession, less control of the game, and fewer well worked attacks. It is usually not what Poch wants, although we have played like that at times.

Even though it may be tempting to say, in retrospect after a game, that "You should've just done it differently and we would've won", it really is quite moronic.

It is pretty fucking obvious that Poch's style of play usually works reasonably well, as evident in both the points haul and goal difference over the last couple of seasons. If we'd tried to be more direct in our style we would've probably not have been as successful as we've been.
 
A couple of years ago, we did not have a plan B but now can play several systems. However Conte and no doubt other Managers know our style and can plan to defeat it. That is what happened and is why we can never say our first 11 cannot be bettered because to become better we need to be more flexible with different players and different styles. That is exactly what Poch has been doing, last year Wanyama and by adding Sanchez to the squad it will add a different dimension this season. We need more flexibility further up the field and Barkley would have provided that but is injured. Lamela is also injured and does that. Hopefully we will add someone other than a defender & 3rd GK as it is needed. With 3/4 players normally injured and 18 players named each matchday we need 22 players that are all considered good enough to play when called upon.

No, they didn't win because they "planned to defeat" Poch's style of play. Of course they planned to defeat us. But so does most our opponents, and they usually don't succeed. You can't say that whenever we lose it's proof that it's because the opponent can easily just plan to beat us and just ignore all the times their planning doesn't work out.
 
If you are not talking about fast break attacks after winning the ball from defending against an attack you are using the wrong term. If you are just using the wrong term, and you are including fast break attacks after winning the ball from pressing high up the pitch you are very wrong about us being bad at it. We've scored lots of goals from breaking quickly when we win the ball high up the pitch the last few seasons. Eriksen, Alli, Kane, Son and even Lamela are good at it.

It seems to me that what you actually want is simply for us to be more direct at times. Maybe that could be advantageous, but it comes with the cost of less possession, less control of the game, and fewer well worked attacks. It is usually not what Poch wants, although we have played like that at times.

Even though it may be tempting to say, in retrospect after a game, that "You should've just done it differently and we would've won", it really is quite moronic.

It is pretty fucking obvious that Poch's style of play usually works reasonably well, as evident in both the points haul and goal difference over the last couple of seasons. If we'd tried to be more direct in our style we would've probably not have been as successful as we've been.
I can't be bothered to keep explaining what I mean to you, I think I've already said enough about this. I'll just add that at the highest level you can't keep reducing football to simple categories of teams that are only direct and teams that only have possession. Even Guardiola's Barcelona with their ridiculous possession/passing stats would often counter attack with lightning pace because that was the only way they could score against certain teams. All good teams find different ways to win games, much better teams than us have to constantly strive to evolve and be better, and we are certainly not too good for that notion.
 
It is true that we tend to struggle against the big sides, because we are a little naive and we have some key players tgat tend to be severely sub par in those games. We still played better, we had better scoring opportunities, but we didn't hit bullseye with our finishes, like Alonso, and they didn't hve anyone fuck up as badly as Wanyama.

We had the better team out there. They had the better fortune.
sorry for the late reply to you tbone. Been busy lately. Many points there, just like to discuss about your summary point. Agree they are a little fortunate for that game. But it that they have been rather fortunate against us. Fa semi, this game and the title run. We will play many top teams. Some park bus after taking lead, some attack us direct. With the 1st eleven we have, we will unlikely win the title. Actually not even top three. Due to the points I explained earlier. I will not repeat. All are just my humble opinion anyway
 
Its been the same story at Wembley. We boss possession and fail to score enough goals to win. As if, other teams know how to play against us. Shock.

Since we beat Chelsea in the cup final weve played the likes of Utd, Portsmouth, Chelsea again numerous times, Monaco, Leverkusen and Moscow and we've won just one of them.

What they all had in common was us dominating possession, not finishing our chances and conceding stupid goals.

How can we be unlucky 9 times?

But my point is that if we exclude the game we won against Leverkusen, and the time we won against Chelsea in the last decade they gets excluded by the media because it spoils the narrative, then it looks not as bad. Then if we look at who we lost to in those remaining games and we have the French champions last season, and Utd and Chelsea who are bigger teams. Not so surprising. What is left?
Moscow and Portsmouth. Ok. Fair enough. So we lost two games at Wembley we should have won. Can you be unlucky twice? Yes, of course.
 
But my point is that if we exclude the game we won against Leverkusen, and the time we won against Chelsea in the last decade they gets excluded by the media because it spoils the narrative, then it looks not as bad. Then if we look at who we lost to in those remaining games and we have the French champions last season, and Utd and Chelsea who are bigger teams. Not so surprising. What is left?
Moscow and Portsmouth. Ok. Fair enough. So we lost two games at Wembley we should have won. Can you be unlucky twice? Yes, of course.
It was CSKA Moscow that we beat, Leverkusen that we lost to.

But I broadly agree that the "curse" forgets to mention that four of the losses were to Chelsea, one to a great Monaco side and one (Man Utd) on penalties. Gent draw was when we were chasing a first leg deficit with 10 men, and got hit on the break with 9 men forward. Portsmouth was a clusterfuck of a tearing pitch too, their goal coming directly from the pitch slipping under Dawson's foot - on a proper pitch we don't lose that game either.
 
It was CSKA Moscow that we beat, Leverkusen that we lost to.

But I broadly agree that the "curse" forgets to mention that four of the losses were to Chelsea, one to a great Monaco side and one (Man Utd) on penalties. Gent draw was when we were chasing a first leg deficit with 10 men, and got hit on the break with 9 men forward. Portsmouth was a clusterfuck of a tearing pitch too, their goal coming directly from the pitch slipping under Dawson's foot - on a proper pitch we don't lose that game either.

Thanks for correcting, I think they're about the same level really, we should be beating both of them, but agree with what you're saying.
 
Tottenham's wantaway stars warned they will flop without Pochettino

Damn Straight! Except for Dele, Eriksen and Kane I don't think any other player we have in our first 11 will look as good as they do now without Poch's coaching and tactics.

All the players like Rose (cunt), Dembele, Wanyama, Dier, Toby A, Jan V look extra good because the team is drilled to defend together and play as a team.

Dele's off the ball movement, Harry's finishing and Eriksen's passing is something that is irreplaceable.
 
so for and from that interview I expect:

1. Sanchez
2. Aurier
3. Foyrth
4. Barkley
5. Gazza

Not gonna grumble with that TBH. Perhaps there will be a surprise one but I would like Vincent to get another season. If Wimmer and Sissoko go then i'm ok with that.

We then have Rose and Lamella to come back in so a pretty strong squad and lots of games for yoof to get a chance.
 
Sometimes I have absolutely no idea what Poch is doing, but trust there is an unseen method to his madness that pays off. Ultimately his position at the club is more important than any players now, which is why, when it comes to transfers, I kind of have no valid opinion. Yes, I could say I want x player to stay or go, and then x player looks good or bad to come in, but the reality is most players will do better under Poch and most decisions will not be based on what the average fan has seen in the past. Even if he gets a transfer wrong for one season, it can still miraculously come good in a second season.
 

Just realised that Poch has a little gold 'M' necklace for 'Mauricio' god damn I love him so fucking much.

QiLMoPU.jpg
 
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