West Ham only managed to get 4 shots on the Tottenham goal, all of which were on target, but only one beat Hugo.
[1] Came from Vlasic, who managed to keep Davinson Sanchez out of his way and get away a finer header which our captain brilliantly denied.
The second attempt [2] was classic Dier, with the defender facing the wrong way, looking into his goal, and not at his attacker again. So his jump was mistimed, and the resulting header was a deceptively accurate ball that Lloris did very well to get his fingers to.
The third [3] saw Dier involved again, and I have to say some of the hysterical reactions from some fans over Dier hitting only levels of what I would term competency really need to be binned. The ball came in, the player turned, picked his kick and the ball went it. Dier saw it all unfold but was able to do nothing.
Benrahma’s effort [4] was uninspiring stuff, but a good juncture to mention Declan Rice. What a player. More, please…
I would love to know what you’ve actually seen to warrant this billing as “potentially the best player in the prem” – I’m yet to even see a glimpse. A couple of accurate passes and the odd dribble doesn’t cut it.
Especially when the always available Davies should have been the pass to, but Dier is an accident in waiting.
Any evidence to support this? Bar a couple of passes, he offers nothing and allows our defense to be overrun. He’s not physically blessed to compete and doesn’t have the heart to make up for it. Get rid of the liability.
Why do our defenders always seem to turn the wrong way.? I suspect opponents know this and play on it. Its schoolboy stuff.
This may sound strange but for me the key to the season is Tanguy. If Conte can get this guy to play up to his abilities he can be the best player in the prem and rip apart other teams’ defenses, creating more space for Harry Sonny Lucas to operate and finish. I just don’t know if Tanguy has the self-discipline and desire to play in any formal system…
Sadly it’s going to be hard to get rid of the deadwood. The sheer volume of rubbish is astonishing and another reminder of Levy’s utter incompetence.
Very charitable!
There were three crosses into the box in the first half from West Ham that Dier. Docherty and Sanchez all failed to get anywhere near and only the acrobatics of Lloris saved the day for us. Dier then passed the ball straight up the middle directly to one of their players which resulted in Bowen’s equalizer. We need two quality CB’S. Another decent RB, an attacking creative midfielder, and another quality scoring attacker. In my mind, there is no place for Dier, Sanchez, Ali, Docherty, Ndombele, or Bergwijn in the squad that Conte needs.
Me too but just trying to get in the holiday spirit.
Id still swap Dier for Skriniar and Doherty for just about anybody.
To me the transformation on the pitch in a few short weeks under Conte is incredible. Most if not all of us here there and everywhere were ready to swap the likes of Winks, Dele, Doherty, Dier etc for a bag of balls, now these guys are at worst playable.Spacing on the pitch is vastly improved, you can see the triangles forming. The attack seems more direct. No side to side like under Poch which drove me crazy or ptb counter Jose style but more incisive cuts and longer runs to get into space. I still can’t believe Conte is here and sometimes think I’m hallucinating.
I thought we missed Skippy’s desire, composure and energy when he left the field – another good game from the lad
West Ham scored after 2 passes from that clearance ..Lloris shouldn’t have played it so short to Dier ..but I really don’t understand the praise being heaped Eric and the moment ..if Sanchez had made those mistakes he would be slaughtered …A tight arse is keeping him in play.
Dier’s clearance was that of an under 12. He didn’t even look to see what was a head of him.
Wholly agree, we’ve managed to navigate our way past two less than brilliant versions of LFC and WHUFC and this is an improvement on the relegation form we were in.
How Conte thinks Dier can be one of the best defenders in world football baffles me. Maybe Conte can train him to be one day, but it’ll probably mean him extending his contract to a minimum of 5 years!
We need a Skriniar type CB to really push on because Dier is one big brain fart. He’ll go a few games and look reasonably efficient then he does something stupid again, rinse and repeat.
Lloris is on top form at the moment and kept us in that game yesterday.
Sanchez played well as did Burger&Wine and Moura. The latter is proving one of our best player this season.
Doherty needs getting rid of as he offers nothing in the wing back role. I wish Aurier was still around because I’m sure Conte could have really improved him. Compared to the lame Doherty he was a class RB. Emerson hasn’t done anything to convince me yet either.
Kane did okay but nothing special, still looks a bit sub par and not holding up the ball as well as he could. Son needs to practise receiving the ball at a run in training because that touch was awful and had he taken it properly it could have been out third goal and taken all the pressure off us.
But on the whole a reasonable performance against weakened Spam. However we’ll have to up our game against Chelsea.
In January ideally we need a class CB, a playmaker and another striker – not a “back-up” one but a first teamer. Dream on I dare say…