Funk
It's official. Things are just not right. Our coach is making counter intuitive selections, our tactics are confused, our play without the ball is lethargic, with it erratic. We are in a funk.
This feels very much like that first few months of Poch's tenure when he was struggling to get a disparate bunch of players to buy in to a collective philosophy. Which makes this current funk harder to understand as this is a group that's had 4 years of that philosophy now. There's no Adebayor's with bad juju, no Soldado refusing to hit a barn door with his banjo, no wonky signings made at another's behest, this is a group that has been hugged into shape by Poch and Poch alone.
Yes we have a team that's had minimal rest this summer, that may well be physically and mentally fatigued, but a good coach, a brave coach, would not have kept picking some of those players relentlessly. Elsewhere other coaches have been prepared to make the brave sacrifice and leave a star player on a bench once or twice, take them out of games more often, found creative solutions.
We had a trio of busy little fuckers play through pre-season, but Poch has singularly refused to trust any one of them. Wanyama and Winks have been available lately but we've still seen the Dier and Dembele axis of amble start game after game in the league and CL.
As a result our midfield play has become as bad as it's been since Sherwood pretended he could be a manager. With the exception of the Watford game, our performances this season are littered with sloppy, open, chaos, devoid of control with or without the ball. We are winning games because ultimately we invariably have either better attacking players, better defending players or, like today, both, not because we are looking like a better coached or tactically smarter team.
When Poch was on top of things, we invariably had those better individual components, but were also clearly looking better coached and better tactically than most.
I wanted Wanyama and Winks to come on at half time today, but I wanted it to be for tactical reasons, and to change the tactical structure, it would appear that the fact that they did was forced by injuries, and this is one of Poch's weaknesses, I don't think if Dembele's hadn't been fucked he'd have taken off Dier, who should have been. If it was tactical then it should have been Dier and Alderweireld that went off, and we should have gone to a 433, and tried to completely starve them of the ball second half like we used to do in these situations. We shouldn't have needed 3 CB's in a game like this. And it's not like it was enabling our FB's to maraud either. Both fb's saw less ball (almost half) than they would normally see.
So I'd like to be able to give some credit to Poch for bringing the right two players into the game, but even if it turns out Dembele and Vertonghen were't injured, then he took off the wrong two, and still didn't really change anything tactically.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half we were marginally improved with the ball, and probably managed to prevent them from getting the early break they needed to encourage a full late onslaught, but the inevitable last 25 minutes of shelling our two goal lead did for that. But at least we can say that despite coming into the game cold, as a completely new CM2 pairing, the fact that we didn't look any worse with Wanyama and Winks suggests they should now be given a run of games, because now we know that not only is the Dier/Dembele axis of amble not the medium or long term solution, it's not the short term either.
Personally I think Winks would be better as an orthodox 8, in a midfield three, (with Wanyama and either Dembele, Eriksen, Amos as the other 8) not as the double pivot in a CM2, but for some reason Poch has 433 aversion, seemingly happy to play everything but, so I on't hold my breath, but either way, these two need to be given some trust, we can't play worse than we have been this season with Dier and Dembele. We are bypassing our midfield and resorting to long ball football.
We were of course missing our most important and influential player, Eriksen and normally I'd point out that this is what life looks like without Eriksen, and that definitely contributed today, as we were even worse than some other games this season, but lets be honest, even with Eriksen, we've been well below par this season so far.
We completed one more pass than Huddersfield first half, thirty less second half. We were out possessed both halves. By Huddersfield. This just isn't normal for a Poch Spurs side.
Personnel changes won't solve everything. We are lacking energy with and without the ball. We lack cohesion with and without the ball. Some press, others don't. We've played 442, 4231, 532, 543. This is all about the coach/coaching. And has always been one of Poch's strengths. He needs to get to grips with it. Needs to be brave. Get back to his root philosophy. Reboot. If older, star players won't do it, or aren't doing it right now, then get the kids in and get them pumping gas. If nothing else it'll give some senior players some much needed rest and even more needed kick up the arse. The midfield needs defibrillating, we need to get back to a collective ethos that everyone understands. Defending as a team, attacking as a team, being proactive, not a dysfunctional group reacting to chaos, making last ditch tackles and living on forward scraps.
This was another game where very few come out with heaps of credit. Often under Poch in the last two or three seasons it's hard to pick one out for MOTM because there's been so many on it.
The upside is we are this bad and picking up wins. But we all know that in the medium and long term these types of performances catch up with you.
Individual
Gazzaniga - Good game.
Trippier/Rose - Neither were great, far less involved than usual, but part of that is the collective quagmire. Trippier still managed to create a goal, and complete more key passes than everyone else put together, and Rose did win a penalty, but that was pretty much where the good news ended for these two.
Alderweireld - IF Vertonghen hadn't been injured I'd have yanked him off at half time and switched to a back 4. He wasn't terrible, wasn't great either and Sanchez is quicker and allows us to play higher.
Sanchez - Probably MOTM today, and that pretty much sums up our collective performance, because even he was just "good".
Vertonghen - OK while on.
Dier - Really bad, and to be honest, and didn't do much better when shuffled back. Needs a rest. At the very least should not be anywhere near a midfield ever again.
Dembele - Marginally better than Dier, but also pretty insipid first half, the game just whizzed around him for the most part, maybe it was disorientation that saw him off at half time.
Son/Moura - Bumbled about like a pair of stewed prunes caught in the vortex of a moulinex hairdryer.
Kane - Great header for the first and stuck his penalty away well. Looking more comfortable back in that No.9 fulcrum role.
Wanyama - OK. Needs a run back in the side now. Can't watch Dier fucking about any more.
Winks - One lovely little moment where he dropped a shoulder, twisted one way then the other and spun away from two markers then set an attack in motion. Last two games we're seeing glimpses of a what could be a decent 8, needs to be played in a CM3 though IMO, to get the best as I still think he flounders a bit when given too much defensive responsibility.
It's official. Things are just not right. Our coach is making counter intuitive selections, our tactics are confused, our play without the ball is lethargic, with it erratic. We are in a funk.
This feels very much like that first few months of Poch's tenure when he was struggling to get a disparate bunch of players to buy in to a collective philosophy. Which makes this current funk harder to understand as this is a group that's had 4 years of that philosophy now. There's no Adebayor's with bad juju, no Soldado refusing to hit a barn door with his banjo, no wonky signings made at another's behest, this is a group that has been hugged into shape by Poch and Poch alone.
Yes we have a team that's had minimal rest this summer, that may well be physically and mentally fatigued, but a good coach, a brave coach, would not have kept picking some of those players relentlessly. Elsewhere other coaches have been prepared to make the brave sacrifice and leave a star player on a bench once or twice, take them out of games more often, found creative solutions.
We had a trio of busy little fuckers play through pre-season, but Poch has singularly refused to trust any one of them. Wanyama and Winks have been available lately but we've still seen the Dier and Dembele axis of amble start game after game in the league and CL.
As a result our midfield play has become as bad as it's been since Sherwood pretended he could be a manager. With the exception of the Watford game, our performances this season are littered with sloppy, open, chaos, devoid of control with or without the ball. We are winning games because ultimately we invariably have either better attacking players, better defending players or, like today, both, not because we are looking like a better coached or tactically smarter team.
When Poch was on top of things, we invariably had those better individual components, but were also clearly looking better coached and better tactically than most.
I wanted Wanyama and Winks to come on at half time today, but I wanted it to be for tactical reasons, and to change the tactical structure, it would appear that the fact that they did was forced by injuries, and this is one of Poch's weaknesses, I don't think if Dembele's hadn't been fucked he'd have taken off Dier, who should have been. If it was tactical then it should have been Dier and Alderweireld that went off, and we should have gone to a 433, and tried to completely starve them of the ball second half like we used to do in these situations. We shouldn't have needed 3 CB's in a game like this. And it's not like it was enabling our FB's to maraud either. Both fb's saw less ball (almost half) than they would normally see.
So I'd like to be able to give some credit to Poch for bringing the right two players into the game, but even if it turns out Dembele and Vertonghen were't injured, then he took off the wrong two, and still didn't really change anything tactically.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half we were marginally improved with the ball, and probably managed to prevent them from getting the early break they needed to encourage a full late onslaught, but the inevitable last 25 minutes of shelling our two goal lead did for that. But at least we can say that despite coming into the game cold, as a completely new CM2 pairing, the fact that we didn't look any worse with Wanyama and Winks suggests they should now be given a run of games, because now we know that not only is the Dier/Dembele axis of amble not the medium or long term solution, it's not the short term either.
Personally I think Winks would be better as an orthodox 8, in a midfield three, (with Wanyama and either Dembele, Eriksen, Amos as the other 8) not as the double pivot in a CM2, but for some reason Poch has 433 aversion, seemingly happy to play everything but, so I on't hold my breath, but either way, these two need to be given some trust, we can't play worse than we have been this season with Dier and Dembele. We are bypassing our midfield and resorting to long ball football.
We were of course missing our most important and influential player, Eriksen and normally I'd point out that this is what life looks like without Eriksen, and that definitely contributed today, as we were even worse than some other games this season, but lets be honest, even with Eriksen, we've been well below par this season so far.
We completed one more pass than Huddersfield first half, thirty less second half. We were out possessed both halves. By Huddersfield. This just isn't normal for a Poch Spurs side.
Personnel changes won't solve everything. We are lacking energy with and without the ball. We lack cohesion with and without the ball. Some press, others don't. We've played 442, 4231, 532, 543. This is all about the coach/coaching. And has always been one of Poch's strengths. He needs to get to grips with it. Needs to be brave. Get back to his root philosophy. Reboot. If older, star players won't do it, or aren't doing it right now, then get the kids in and get them pumping gas. If nothing else it'll give some senior players some much needed rest and even more needed kick up the arse. The midfield needs defibrillating, we need to get back to a collective ethos that everyone understands. Defending as a team, attacking as a team, being proactive, not a dysfunctional group reacting to chaos, making last ditch tackles and living on forward scraps.
This was another game where very few come out with heaps of credit. Often under Poch in the last two or three seasons it's hard to pick one out for MOTM because there's been so many on it.
The upside is we are this bad and picking up wins. But we all know that in the medium and long term these types of performances catch up with you.
Individual
Gazzaniga - Good game.
Trippier/Rose - Neither were great, far less involved than usual, but part of that is the collective quagmire. Trippier still managed to create a goal, and complete more key passes than everyone else put together, and Rose did win a penalty, but that was pretty much where the good news ended for these two.
Alderweireld - IF Vertonghen hadn't been injured I'd have yanked him off at half time and switched to a back 4. He wasn't terrible, wasn't great either and Sanchez is quicker and allows us to play higher.
Sanchez - Probably MOTM today, and that pretty much sums up our collective performance, because even he was just "good".
Vertonghen - OK while on.
Dier - Really bad, and to be honest, and didn't do much better when shuffled back. Needs a rest. At the very least should not be anywhere near a midfield ever again.
Dembele - Marginally better than Dier, but also pretty insipid first half, the game just whizzed around him for the most part, maybe it was disorientation that saw him off at half time.
Son/Moura - Bumbled about like a pair of stewed prunes caught in the vortex of a moulinex hairdryer.
Kane - Great header for the first and stuck his penalty away well. Looking more comfortable back in that No.9 fulcrum role.
Wanyama - OK. Needs a run back in the side now. Can't watch Dier fucking about any more.
Winks - One lovely little moment where he dropped a shoulder, twisted one way then the other and spun away from two markers then set an attack in motion. Last two games we're seeing glimpses of a what could be a decent 8, needs to be played in a CM3 though IMO, to get the best as I still think he flounders a bit when given too much defensive responsibility.
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