The frustrations amongst many Spurs fans with the result last night were focused upon a couple of issues, José Mourinho’s tactics and the physical failings of some players.
As was drip-fed to you in numerous build-up pieces in this place, nobody playing last night for either side had kicked a ball in anger for 3 months. Harry Kane’s absence totalled some 6 months, and it was optimistic to believe players that had recovered from injury were going to achieve the same physicality as those that hadn’t.
Perhaps Mourinho’s negative tactics were designed to protect his players from fatigue? It certainly looked that way, As Kane was effectively at walking pace after an hour.
When looking at Tottenham’s most influential players, it reinforces my suspicion that Mourinho’s instructions were based upon what he’d seen on the green carpets of Hotspur Way, in recent weeks. I’d suggest the plan was to collectively defend and attack on the break.
So were Manchester United any fitter? That’s questionable, but they saw far more of the ball, which was a natural consequence of Spurs sitting deep. So their players were more influential.
Looking at Spurs’ attacking dashboard, I’ve circled in yellow where the good passes were and in turquoise where the bad passes began.
Looking at Man United’s attacking dashboard, Spurs largely kept them at bay, but the quality in the attack was superior, with more attempts made (12vs12) and twice as many on target (6vs3).
It is clear that José made a conscious decision for Tottenham to defend collectively, as opposed to trying to attack without a designated striker.
So were there no other options? I’d suggest not, given that there were genuine doubts about Lo Celso and NDombele couldn’t even make the bench. Gedson Fernandes (whom we might resist the urge to pile on, as he’s barely through the door) was the best spare attacking option, and he was pretty hopeless.
So scream and shout all you want, but on balance – and this game gave us much to weigh up – José did a great job.
Now I’ve seen it, maybe he didn’t expect Pogba get past Dier so easily, I dont think Ben Davies would of allowed that to happen , but that’s my opinion.
Or why Winks stood there and watched.
This really is the whole point isn’t it? Once we have that unit, then we’ll see what we can do. You can see it’s coming.
Didn’t see the last half hour , but having seen the penalty decisions since, I cant see why it was Dier in the wide defending position against Pogba, and Ben in the CB’s position centrally, at that moment.
A fit and firing Kane would help us a lot. He looks a bit fat to me. Needs to lose weight.
I was encouraged by this performance. We looked a lot more resilient. CL looks unlikely now but we can still have a good run and make the Europa. At least it’s a cup we have a good chance in.
Gedson is a worry, generally you can get an idea of what a player offers even with limited minutes. You can see his technical ability, the little touches that tell you he has skill. Even though Tanguy has loads of problems we can see there is definitely a player in there. With Gedson, he tries fair play, maybe tries too much, but I can’t say there is much promise. He’s getting played out of position but Mourinho obviously doesn’t rate him as a centre midfielder.
Bumped his head in training, allegedly
Couldn’t agree more. New RB needed, and possibly a new LB as well. New CD needed also. This requires investment, something the chairman has been reluctant to do in the past and now he cannot. Potential failure to qualify for the CL will be very expensive.
What happened to Moura? Not even on the bench, I was surprised at that.
Until Jose has a defensive unit he can trust you won’t be seeing the football we expect. Why is that so hard for some people to understand
A lot don’t understand a lot. You’re wasting your time. They’re not football people
I thought the result was a fair one, even though you could argue that the first penalty was very debatable. My overall feeling was that nothing has changed with the current squad. Perhaps, I was guilty of fantasising that some of the players might have improved from the lay off, whilst, in fact, all the old faults were clearly visible. Lloris played well, but his distribution is awful. Aurier needs replacing, and Davies is no attacking threat due to lack of pace. Sanchez still has the odd weird moment, and apart from the penalty, Dier played well. Winks isn’t strong enough to play DM and Sissoko can’t pass. Lamela was Lamela, Bergwijn was good, the front two anonymous. In short, I cannot see qualification for the CL. Levy could have and should have spent money and now he can’t. The bench was very threadbare as Maureen keeps emphasising more and more. Plus ca change.
I missed the last half hour, but I thought Lo Celso came on. Kane won’t be fit for four or five games, having no alternative striker is down to Levy and it is still costing us, maybe fifty or sixty million if we miss Champions League. Our record signing is a bust and he hasn’t played five full games. We might have another N’Koudou or N’jie in Jedson. Unless we sign real quality in the summer there’ll be no challenge for the title next season as was promised.
If we had pressed them we would have more than likely be ripped apart. We defended
well, but Sanchez’s header nearly cost us, as did Aurier and finally Dier giving away the
penalty. Both CB did well, but it shows that one slip up can cost you at this level, as
Maguire showed. Lamela let himself down with that final ball, as he was a handful. We
definitely needed Moura. I can’t blame Fernandez for not getting much from Wan Bissaka,
because few do, not even Son-who could have done better with the header. Irrespective
of what Mourinho is trying to do, it’s not pleasing on the eye.