Watford VS Tottenham Saturday Jan 1st 2022 @3PM

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All were poor today. But Emerson was one of the Spurs better players.

Emerson Royal's game by numbers vs Watford:

89% pass accuracy

113 touches

13 crosses

8 touches in opp. box

7 duels won

6 chances created

5 take-ons attempted

3 take-ons completed

2 tackles

1 interception

He is the 3rd best tackler in the PL and people need to get off his back and encourage him.

He has had no pre season. He does not speak English. He is 22.

He absolutely was not. You can cite as many stats as you want, but it's pointless winning duels to cross the ball 13 times when only 1-2 of those crosses at best were of any threat to the opposition. He had more space and time than any player on the pitch and Watford allowed him to have it for the 90 because he was that poor when it came to the final third.

Having no pre-season and not speaking English does not stop a player from being able to cross a ball, he doesn't look like he's struggling with the setup or fitness or communicating, he looks like he can't swing in a cross. At all.

He makes tackles. He has a good first touch and is athletic & purposeful. But in that attacking RWB role today he was utterly wasteful, every 5 minutes he was handed an opportunity to make something happen and he failed over and over. James or TAA given that space & time pick up 2-3 assists, no question at all.
 
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From Italian press ( copy/paste by Google Translate)

LONDON - "Yes!", Screams Antonio Conte at the end of the match, after his Tottenham won over the Watford of the other Italian coach of this match, Claudio Ranieri, after a trench lasting 90 minutes and the goal in full recovery of the defender Sanchez. That spikes Son's close-range free-kick with his head and beats the home goalkeeper, the Austrian Bachmann, who was perfect until then. And therefore it is 1-0 for Tottenham. Conte still unbeaten, fifth win out of 7 for the Apulian coach in the league (and two draws), and all at home. Disappointment, however, for the Roman coach who thought he had finally broken a streak of five straight defeats for the "hornets", the last against West Ham 4-1. The sixth consecutive defeat causes Watford to sink to fourth from bottom, just two points from the relegation zone, and Burnley even have two games less.

Ranieri's bolt
In this very Italian match (Watford belongs to the Pozzo family with many former Udinese players), Ranieri took the field clearly with the bolt, to snatch the 0-0, a draw, and maybe win it with a lucky episode. Which perhaps he was denied in the 81st minute at 0-0 when Lloris intervened on the young Joao Pedro who was thrown into the net with an intervention on the edge: ball touched by the hands of the Spurs goalkeeper, legs of the attacker caught in full. But for the referee Robert Jones it is not a penalty and he does not even go to see him again at the Var. Unfortunately, however, in modern football Ranieri's strategy very often does not work and in the final Tottenham obtained a painful, but deserved victory that launches the Spurs in fifth place with 33 points, just two from the Champions League but with two games less than Woolwich, who today lost at home at the last minute to Manchester City. In a Premier League decimated by Covid like many other European leagues.

Defense ok, but almost zero counterattack
Of course, even if the catenacciara feat was unsuccessful, Ranieri had prepared it well and for most of the game he wrapped Conte's Tottenham, despite numerous absentees. Watford took the field with a 4-4-2 that often became a 3-5-2 on the mirror, with Kucka imperious on the right wing and best of the field, who marked Reguillon's gusts to man. The problem with the Hornets is that, despite defensive impenetrability, nine or ten players were almost always behind the ball. And therefore the restarts were very rare, if not impossible, apart from a weak shot by Dennis in the second minute in the arms of Lloris.
Doubtful penalty on Joao Pedro
So Tottenham played the game, always. Seventeen shots to six, 73% ball possession. A supremacy, however, sterile for large sections of the race. In the middle of the first fraction, Bachmann makes a big intervention on Reguillon, then Kane has the greatest opportunity but shoots wide from a good position in the area after the blunder of the Watford director, Louza, supported by an always overflowing Moussa Sissoko, former of the match. In the second half Ranieri inserts Joao Pedro, not that of Cagliari, in place of the team's top scorer Dennis. And here the game could change because with the 20-year-old Brazilian ex Fluminense, Watford increases its danger. Not only with the episode of the dubious penalty at the 81st that could overturn the game, with the audience roaring "Var, var!" In a sold out and maskless stadium. Joao Pedro's speed and dribbling bothers the Tottenham defense, and in the 62nd minute the referee fails to give him a dangerous lead to caution Skipp for a tactical foul. Ten minutes earlier, Lloris saved from attacker King's shot with a great intervention.
Sanchez's flash at 96 '
But the feeling is that Tottenham can win it at any time. Bachmann keeps the hornets afloat, first on Kane then with a miracle on Son. But he can do nothing about Sanchez's 96th match, after the match had been interrupted for about ten minutes due to the illness of a Watford fan in the stands, fortunately not in danger of life: "I'm very sorry because we conceded a goal like that despite all the tall players we have ”, says Ranieri at the press conference at the end of the match,“ we played well, we never conceded a counterattack, we were very solid in defense. We will do something on the market, I have faith in the company. We are alive and we will fight to the end ".
Obviously satisfied, Antonio Conte: “It was excellent to take the three points, unlike what happened against Southampton. Watford was very organized, with 10 players behind the ball, it wasn't easy. We need to improve in the last step. Also, it's another game without conceding a goal and that's very positive. " Finally, a note on Lloris, who has the contract expiring and could go away on a free transfer: “I want him to stay. He is a very important player, you can see it for how he remains in the game even if in a match like today he is not busy for long, see the parade on King. Lloris loves Tottenham and Tottenham loves Lloris. We will find a solution. "Meanwhile, Tottenham continue to eat spaghetti, as the last chorus of Spurs fans dedicated to Conte intones.
 
He absolutely was not. You can cite as many stats as you want, but it's pointless winning duels to cross the ball 13 times when only 1-2 of those crosses at best were of any threat to the opposition. He had more space and time than any player on the pitch and Watford allowed him to have it for the 90 because he was that poor when it came to the final third.

Having no pre-season and not speaking English does not stop a player from being able to cross a ball, he doesn't look like he's struggling with the setup or fitness or communicating, he looks like he can't swing in a cross. At all.



He makes tackles. He has a good first touch and is athletic & purposeful. But in that attacking RWB role today he was utterly wasteful, every 5 minutes he was handed an opportunity to make something happen and he failed over and over. James or TAA given that space & time pick up 2-3 assists, no question at all.
You can either encourage a young player and see the facts. Or speculate and pull Spurs young players down.

I choose the former.

Happy New Year.
 
All were poor today. But Emerson was one of the Spurs better players.

Emerson Royal's game by numbers vs Watford:

89% pass accuracy

113 touches

13 crosses

8 touches in opp. box

7 duels won

6 chances created

5 take-ons attempted

3 take-ons completed

2 tackles

1 interception

He is the 3rd best tackler in the PL and people need to get off his back and encourage him.

He has had no pre season. He does not speak English. He is 22.
I am sorry but I really don’t think he created 6 chances. I can’t remember any. His crosses were a mixture of being over hit, under hit, generally inaccurate and the ones that did go to Spurs players had a slow loopy trajectory that gave opposition players a chance to defend. I don’t think he was terrible to be fair but he was very frustrating. You shouldn’t get too caught up on stats like number of touches or passing accuracy either. Spurs tend to play a lot of tippy tappy sideways passes which can lead to players having a lot of touches and a high passing accuracy. He was ok nothing more
 
You can either encourage a young player and see the facts. Or speculate and pull Spurs young players down.

I choose the former.

Happy New Year.

I do see the facts. You showing he crossed the ball 13 times when we know only one of those was actually a useful cross is a fact, you're just interpreting it the wrong way. It's not a positive if you repeatedly fail to create a chance from good positions.

Me encouraging him or not won't change reality - there's a reason we are being linked to a new RWB strongly in the press. I believe him to be a good player and wish the best for him, but don't think he works as a starter in our system. Conte looked furious with some of his deliveries today.

I hope I'm totally wrong about him .. Happy New Year indeed.
 
Hope the Watford fan that took ill on 89 minutes was okay. That was actually the winning of the game for us. The long break broke Watford’s concentration and what looked like the momentum they had to frustrate us and see it out for a point.
 
British Rock GIF by The Ed Sullivan Show
I think that was Mrs Brown....
 
I am sorry but I really don’t think he created 6 chances. I can’t remember any. His crosses were a mixture of being over hit, under hit, generally inaccurate and the ones that did go to Spurs players had a slow loopy trajectory that gave opposition players a chance to defend. I don’t think he was terrible to be fair but he was very frustrating. You shouldn’t get too caught up on stats like number of touches or passing accuracy either. Spurs tend to play a lot of tippy tappy sideways passes which can lead to players having a lot of touches and a high passing accuracy. He was ok nothing more
You forgot....
He's the 3rd best tackler in the PL.....Do pay attention.
 
He absolutely was not. You can cite as many stats as you want, but it's pointless winning duels to cross the ball 13 times when only 1-2 of those crosses at best were of any threat to the opposition. He had more space and time than any player on the pitch and Watford allowed him to have it for the 90 because he was that poor when it came to the final third.

Having no pre-season and not speaking English does not stop a player from being able to cross a ball, he doesn't look like he's struggling with the setup or fitness or communicating, he looks like he can't swing in a cross. At all.

He makes tackles. He has a good first touch and is athletic & purposeful. But in that attacking RWB role today he was utterly wasteful, every 5 minutes he was handed an opportunity to make something happen and he failed over and over. James or TAA given that space & time pick up 2-3 assists, no question at all.
He’d be a good RB, but as part of a 5-2-3 where the RWB is crucial for creativity… he doesn’t cut it.
 
The fact he’s 3rd in the league for tackling is good news; and means he’ll be a reliable back up RWB, as well as being ideal vs teams like Liverpool and City where defensive work is key.

HOWEVER we need a first choice RWB who is creative… Lamptey or Mazraoui?
 
This match has resolved in my mind that we definitely don’t want Traore. What’s the point in replacing Emerson (who can’t beat a fullback nor cross) with Traore (who can’t cross). Emerson was given acres of space by Watford and he literally did nothing with it.
 
I've only seen the highlights on MOTD, so can only comment on those. Looks like we had lots of possession, goalie played out of his skin, and although we left it late, got a deserved winner.
We won, that lot down the road lost - great start to 2022.
COYS
 
Criticism of Royals crossing, but you have to remember that it is job of the players in the box to find the space and attack the ball. Outside of Dele, we have no players in our attack that are capable of attacking crosses.

You cannot expect Royal to pick out and unmarked Kane or Son in the box if they are being marked by defenders, its up to them to make the movement and fight for that ball.
 
Just watched Owen say that we deserved a penalty in the first have (Dier takedown) and that Hugo got enough of the ball that there’s no penalty there in the second.

Do I have to like Michael Owen now? I feel weird!
 
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