The Importance of Being Earnest
It will be hard to resist cliches like "we got our Spurs back" etc after the scorline today, and it was nice to bang in some goals, but in truth, our intentions and application weren't vastly different to the Villa or Newcastle games, where we came out and and controlled and pushed forward in both games from the get go, both those previous home games showed signs of us getting back to some basic former values, both showed a return to good intentions and practices, even if there were still clearly omnipresent issues (and I don't think they have vanished completely either). But in all three home games now we've seen a return to more earnest endeavours.
Villa
Newcastle
The big and obvious difference today was early breaks. And one early goal isn't enough these days, because bus parkers no longer let one goal ruffle a game plan, one goal changes nothing as they still only need one good counter and they are back on levels, so at one down they will still sit in and wait till 15-20 to go before changinging their games plan and committing men forward.
So geting a second and then a third early goals were massive. And as I said, the real difference was just a bit of rub. We get the first goal from a long punt - it was a lovely long punt, but even the lovely ones rarely get finished like this one, against Newcastle we hit a couple and they were bumbled away, and Son can be the worst culprit for this at times, but today he was having one of his "good" days, he took it down beautifully, stayed composed and slotted away calmly. Then the second break we get was an own goal. The third was a beautiful team move involving Sissoko, Winks, Aurier and Son, but it was almost identical to the chance KWP created for Son against Newcastle, then it was bumbled away, today it gets whacked home with aplomb. This isn't all about luck, the football leading to all the goals was good, but our approach play against Newcastle was good at times, the difference is some days the final actions click and some days they don't. Three goals up in 23 minutes and now Palace's game plan is decimated, the fourth - the best of the bunch - killed their spirit completely too.
I'm not saying the score is misleading or misrepresenting the game, it's not, I'm just saying the way we set about that game today wasn't vastly different to the Villa or Newcastle games, just when you get the early breaks like we did today it can seem like we started with more intent today, and I don't really think this is the case, we just did better things, made better decisions and executed things better when we got in their box during this early phase then we did in those previous two home games. I didn't think they were terrible performances and I'm not going to get carried away by this one. We scored 4 goals with our first 3 shots on target today, that won't happen often. To back up what I'm saying we actually had an X/G today of 1.05, against Newcastle it was 1.25, against Villa 2.57. Really good news on that front is in those three games we've only allowed XG's against of Villa 0.64, Newcastle 0.51 and Palace 0.58.
The third and fourth goals today were particularly pleasing as they came from good team moves, with the ball flowing through midfield via Sissoko/Winks, out to flanks and ended wit good final balls, especially Kane's superb pass for Lamela for the fourth.
One big difference today was this was the first home game Eriksen had started. He wasn't scintillating today but just having him out there from the get go adds a different, more intelligent dimension, more composure, better movement, which has a knock on effect on those around him.
As I alluded to earlier, Son is always lively, brings a direct threat that none of our other players really do, but can go long phases looking like his boots are spring loaded and makes poor choices, then he has games like today where he's absolutely bang on it, looks a different class and can light up a game. If only he could do this every week, or even 70% of the time.
I've got to give Sissoko a mention, there was still some clunky moments, that's just who he is, I still don't want him out there, but after a poor first few minutes he was good for the rest of the first half and actually passed the ball vertically a few times.
Tactically this was a slightly strange one. We seemed to start in the 4231, but that seemed to morph into a 4222 with the ball and a 442 without, certainly second half anyway.
I personally would have preferred Eriksen central and Son as the wide left AM. I just like him running at and cutting in from wider, inside channels and Eriksen in that more congested central zone, able to drift around, where his composure can be applied, but today it was moot.
These opening three home games have shown some green shoots of some kind of return to the former blue print, control, possession. In two of the games we've hit 7 goals. We aren't allowing - inferior quality, pragmatic - opponents to have chunks of the game and create lots of situations and chances. But both the Villa and Newcastle games still showed signs that our fragilities of the last 24 months hadn't been eradicated. But if we can keep being earnest about the way we go about things, doing the basics right, and our forwards and creatives can start delivering more composed final actions, it will bode well for the season.
Individual
Lloris - Fuck all to do.
Aurier - Good game. Please no more fucking CB's at RB Poch.
Alderweireld - Lovely ball for the first, a TA special, not overly tested but a couple of good bits of defensive tidying up at times.
Vertonghen - Decent game.
Rose - Very careless with the ball at times, didn't really contribute heaps going forward. Meh.
Sissoko - gave away another stupid free kick near our box early on, and against teams like this it's their biggest threat, and early on killed a couple of attacks with backwards passing, but for the rest of the first half was decent, playing some vertical passes. Second half faded offensively but was fine.
Winks - Good game, like Sissoko was the conduit for a goal or two.
Lamela - Great run and and finish for his goal, did some decent things and the odd clumsy thing. Decent overall.
Son - Eyes bright like a samelar hound first half for sure, exceedingly good game overall.
Eriksen - Quietly efficient game without being spectacular.
Kane - Decent game. I saw him actually pressing first half, which was nice, and his awareness and pass for Lamela's goal was the ball of the game for me.
Davies - I actually thought he looked more sure footed than Rose when he came on. Wouldn't mind seeing him get some starts in the next few games.
Ndombele - Nice little cameo, couple of moments where he dropped a shoulder, left his marker and then popped the ball forward. This is the difference between him and his almost namesake Dembele, Dembele had that shoulder drop, but would then too often drop the shoulder a couple more times before playing it square. But I do think Dembele was more robust without the ball, so I hope we find our way to a 433 if we want to get the best out of Ndombele.
It will be hard to resist cliches like "we got our Spurs back" etc after the scorline today, and it was nice to bang in some goals, but in truth, our intentions and application weren't vastly different to the Villa or Newcastle games, where we came out and and controlled and pushed forward in both games from the get go, both those previous home games showed signs of us getting back to some basic former values, both showed a return to good intentions and practices, even if there were still clearly omnipresent issues (and I don't think they have vanished completely either). But in all three home games now we've seen a return to more earnest endeavours.
Villa
Newcastle
The big and obvious difference today was early breaks. And one early goal isn't enough these days, because bus parkers no longer let one goal ruffle a game plan, one goal changes nothing as they still only need one good counter and they are back on levels, so at one down they will still sit in and wait till 15-20 to go before changinging their games plan and committing men forward.
So geting a second and then a third early goals were massive. And as I said, the real difference was just a bit of rub. We get the first goal from a long punt - it was a lovely long punt, but even the lovely ones rarely get finished like this one, against Newcastle we hit a couple and they were bumbled away, and Son can be the worst culprit for this at times, but today he was having one of his "good" days, he took it down beautifully, stayed composed and slotted away calmly. Then the second break we get was an own goal. The third was a beautiful team move involving Sissoko, Winks, Aurier and Son, but it was almost identical to the chance KWP created for Son against Newcastle, then it was bumbled away, today it gets whacked home with aplomb. This isn't all about luck, the football leading to all the goals was good, but our approach play against Newcastle was good at times, the difference is some days the final actions click and some days they don't. Three goals up in 23 minutes and now Palace's game plan is decimated, the fourth - the best of the bunch - killed their spirit completely too.
I'm not saying the score is misleading or misrepresenting the game, it's not, I'm just saying the way we set about that game today wasn't vastly different to the Villa or Newcastle games, just when you get the early breaks like we did today it can seem like we started with more intent today, and I don't really think this is the case, we just did better things, made better decisions and executed things better when we got in their box during this early phase then we did in those previous two home games. I didn't think they were terrible performances and I'm not going to get carried away by this one. We scored 4 goals with our first 3 shots on target today, that won't happen often. To back up what I'm saying we actually had an X/G today of 1.05, against Newcastle it was 1.25, against Villa 2.57. Really good news on that front is in those three games we've only allowed XG's against of Villa 0.64, Newcastle 0.51 and Palace 0.58.
The third and fourth goals today were particularly pleasing as they came from good team moves, with the ball flowing through midfield via Sissoko/Winks, out to flanks and ended wit good final balls, especially Kane's superb pass for Lamela for the fourth.
One big difference today was this was the first home game Eriksen had started. He wasn't scintillating today but just having him out there from the get go adds a different, more intelligent dimension, more composure, better movement, which has a knock on effect on those around him.
As I alluded to earlier, Son is always lively, brings a direct threat that none of our other players really do, but can go long phases looking like his boots are spring loaded and makes poor choices, then he has games like today where he's absolutely bang on it, looks a different class and can light up a game. If only he could do this every week, or even 70% of the time.
I've got to give Sissoko a mention, there was still some clunky moments, that's just who he is, I still don't want him out there, but after a poor first few minutes he was good for the rest of the first half and actually passed the ball vertically a few times.
Tactically this was a slightly strange one. We seemed to start in the 4231, but that seemed to morph into a 4222 with the ball and a 442 without, certainly second half anyway.
I personally would have preferred Eriksen central and Son as the wide left AM. I just like him running at and cutting in from wider, inside channels and Eriksen in that more congested central zone, able to drift around, where his composure can be applied, but today it was moot.
These opening three home games have shown some green shoots of some kind of return to the former blue print, control, possession. In two of the games we've hit 7 goals. We aren't allowing - inferior quality, pragmatic - opponents to have chunks of the game and create lots of situations and chances. But both the Villa and Newcastle games still showed signs that our fragilities of the last 24 months hadn't been eradicated. But if we can keep being earnest about the way we go about things, doing the basics right, and our forwards and creatives can start delivering more composed final actions, it will bode well for the season.
Individual
Lloris - Fuck all to do.
Aurier - Good game. Please no more fucking CB's at RB Poch.
Alderweireld - Lovely ball for the first, a TA special, not overly tested but a couple of good bits of defensive tidying up at times.
Vertonghen - Decent game.
Rose - Very careless with the ball at times, didn't really contribute heaps going forward. Meh.
Sissoko - gave away another stupid free kick near our box early on, and against teams like this it's their biggest threat, and early on killed a couple of attacks with backwards passing, but for the rest of the first half was decent, playing some vertical passes. Second half faded offensively but was fine.
Winks - Good game, like Sissoko was the conduit for a goal or two.
Lamela - Great run and and finish for his goal, did some decent things and the odd clumsy thing. Decent overall.
Son - Eyes bright like a samelar hound first half for sure, exceedingly good game overall.
Eriksen - Quietly efficient game without being spectacular.
Kane - Decent game. I saw him actually pressing first half, which was nice, and his awareness and pass for Lamela's goal was the ball of the game for me.
Davies - I actually thought he looked more sure footed than Rose when he came on. Wouldn't mind seeing him get some starts in the next few games.
Ndombele - Nice little cameo, couple of moments where he dropped a shoulder, left his marker and then popped the ball forward. This is the difference between him and his almost namesake Dembele, Dembele had that shoulder drop, but would then too often drop the shoulder a couple more times before playing it square. But I do think Dembele was more robust without the ball, so I hope we find our way to a 433 if we want to get the best out of Ndombele.
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