Home » Serge Aurier receives fresh criticism despite improved form

Serge Aurier receives fresh criticism despite improved form

By Bruce Grove -

Former Tottenham defender, Graham Roberts has singled out Serge Aurier for criticism after Spurs drew 3-3 against West Ham, despite leading 3-0 inside 20 minutes.

The Lilywhites were on course for another Premier League win after two goals from Harry Kane and one from Son Heung-Min helped them race to a 3-0 win in the first half.

West Ham somehow stayed in the game and the Hammers came from three goals down to earn a point in a pulsating game.

Roberts has now singled out Aurier and claimed that he gives away too many free-kicks.

The Ivorian had returned to the team after his fine performance against Manchester United in the previous league game where he scored and provided an assist.

But he let his team down again against the Hammers by conceding too many free-kicks according to Roberts, who won several trophies with Spurs in the 80s.

A fan tweeted at him on the game and Roberts responded: “No not at all you should have been buried but when you have aurier keep giving freekicks away then your in trouble but I would still have my team than yours”

Another fan Tweeted: “Stupid brainless defending again , stupid free kicks given away !!”

 And he responded: “Absolutely right aurier gives to many free kicks away”

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East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  England Mike

Also, if you watch it again the clearance Winks tried to close the ball down (nobody else did) at full stretch to get his foot to the ball, if he’d had time to get a second touch the ball would have been cleared from danger. In short, he had no time to put his foot through it.

We sat back too much, the subs didn’t help and Spamners kept believing. Digging Winks out is ludicrous…

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  England Mike

You are quite right , so Winks did what he was asked. The issue was that we let them have too much of the ball at 3-0 and dropping so deep makes playing out more difficult. So the individual player is following instructions but the team tactic no longer fits that set of instructions. Player, team or manager at fault of all three?

England Mike
England Mike
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

All coaching systems now involve playing out from the back,including with your hero.

mikey hughes
mikey hughes
3 years ago
Reply to  Dan

Winks is a liability.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago

He got no choice.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  England Mike

Winning it and breaking quickly with the ball is what Jose wants. Sitting deep is a tactic, when it works it’s ‘genius’ when it doesn’t it invites pressure. Winks was only trying to follow orders.

ministers cat
ministers cat
3 years ago

In the Amazon doc. Jose tells them “free kick ball comes in you shit yourselves”
how long ago was this
defensive donkeys led by lions

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago

Not in a back four, as a wing back with three and someone covering him Aurier gives some energy down the right flank. If he needs to defend he’s just going to be a liability.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

Well, this is the main thing. Will Levy step it up and try and keep pace with the rest! Chavs spent about four times what we did in this window, two of our signings are loans. Is this actually backing or going through the motions? Time will tell…

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  coys1882

I thought winning was the only thing we were going to be doing under Jose?! 🤔

England Mike
England Mike
3 years ago
Reply to  Dan

That is exactly how I saw it , he was never going to win the ball and break forward , it’s little things that cost us big time.

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago
Reply to  coys1882

I made the point earlier that the fouls by Aurier and Sissoko on that same touch line were extremely soft.But you have to learn from your mistakes and they don’t.Players these days will always look to take advantage of the slightest touch and refs seem to accommodate them.They are impulsive as are Sanchez and Dier.

Tappaspur
Tappaspur
3 years ago
Reply to  Dan

Coz he “lacks

Tappaspur
Tappaspur
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

Yes he will.

coys1882
coys1882
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

I agree in principle and that was certainly the case in the second half against Newcastle, but against West Ham, we did have further chances to ‘put the game to bed’.

The bottom line is, if we can’t defend a three goal lead, with 10 minutes left (the only time in the entire history of the Premier League this has happened), then we don’t deserve to win!

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

I understand he has inherited these players and hopefully the next window will see more change,but this means Levy will need to stay in step with Mourinho.Will he do that?

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago
Reply to  Dan

It’s worrying the number of matches Lo Celso is missing through injury..I thought Argentines were tough ,but him and Lamela seem to be bucking the trend.It’s a shame for Gio as he has such promise.

Urbane Sturgeon
Urbane Sturgeon
3 years ago
Reply to  East Stand

Interesting that Maureen played Serge and not Doc, in spite of what he clearly thinks of Serge. Jose clearly sees something worth persevering with, as do I.

Urbane Sturgeon
Urbane Sturgeon
3 years ago

I also think that Serge and Sanchez tend to buckle more when they come under continuous pressure, which happens when our midfield don’t hold the ball well or relentlessly give the ball away, as with yesterday’s 2nd half. It’s a team sport. Kane’s defensive qualities was superior to most of our midfield players’, never a good sign.

coys1882
coys1882
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

With the exception of Dier, I doubt that Mourinho genuinely does like those players, however he has inherited them and they are part of the depth of the squad. Therefore, in the absence of viable alternatives, he is forced to play them.

Clearly he can’t flog Ndomeble and Lo Celso into the ground, therefore he has to rely on Sissoko and Winks as midfield options. Neither are top four quality players in my opinion, but what other choice does he have? We are light in defensive and central midfield players of the requisite standard.

Similarly, at centre back, he has the pieces to work with that he has inherited. He didn’t hand-pick the squad. Toby, in decline, is still our best CB. He is the only one of our CB’s yet to be involved in conceding a goal this season. Dier and Sanchez have been responsible for 3 or 4 apiece.

I agree with your conclusion that either these players need to be coached to cut out simple errors or they need to be replaced. However, such drastic ‘surgery’ to the personnel makeup of the team takes time. It cannot all be accomplished in one transfer window.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  coys1882

This is true, but less sitting back when in front is required too. Can’t get away with it these days at this level…

Urbane Sturgeon
Urbane Sturgeon
3 years ago
Reply to  coys1882

BINGO Mr 1882, you beat me to it by 6 minutes, I think the ref was dumbed down by a cheating player, shame VAR didn’t intervene to give a free kick the other way, which would have been the proper outcome from where I was sitting.

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  James McKevitt

Fair point. I still think there’s a player in Sanchez though, he has at least shown it in the past. Aurier always looks like a liability in a back 4, as a wing back with a three it’s slightly less of a problem.

coys1882
coys1882
3 years ago

I am going to defend Aurier here. Having looked at it several times I didn’t even think it was a free kick. Aurier didn’t seem to touch him. In my opinion the West Ham player just fell to the ground looking for the free kick. Aurier otherwise had a decent game and was excellent against United (arguably his best game in our colours).

Rome wasn’t built in a day and Mourinho is working very hard to improve this team. It should be noted that we are top of the EPL in goals scored. Clearly Mourinho knows that the defence isn’t good enough. It’s a work in progress, but it is improving. Our defensive shape is better and we have only conceded one goal from open play in the EPL this season.

Our other goals have all come from set-pieces. 3 penalties (two of them joke decisions) and 3 free kicks. It’s very obvious therefore where our primary weakness lies, defending set pieces. So, I fully expect that Ledley and Jose will work these lads extra hard on the training ground so that this final weakness can be eliminated.

Tappaspur
Tappaspur
3 years ago

I’d like to see serge and Doherty in the same team. Serge outside right.

Tappaspur
Tappaspur
3 years ago

I hope (and I’m sure he is) Jose is putting his arm around Sanchez, many games left to play and everyone needs to be kept on their toes. Will he be here next season? The balls in his court.

Dan
Dan
3 years ago

Leeds look good , be interesting to see if they can keep this work rate up the whole season but it’s great to watch

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  MiT

We sat back too much mate, went all negative after a storming first half and lost the initiative. That’s the crux of it for me…

East Stand
East Stand
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

You say he ‘likes’ them but who else has he got? Take Winks and Sissy out of the squad and there aren’t a lot of midfielders left. Take Dier and Sanchez out and how many central defenders do you have?

This is the squad, Jose has to work with it. Poch worked with a smaller squad than this in the end and got to a Champions League final and secured top four. At what point will Levy realise that he was getting rather good value for money?! 😂

Dan
Dan
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

I think sissoko is starting by default, winks cannot start with Hojbjerg. Hopefully Lo Celso slots in when fit

Dan
Dan
3 years ago

Also bale should have been awarded a penalty due to getting rugby tackled

Dan
Dan
3 years ago

I had to torture myself again and watch the spammers goals , why why why why did winks not just hoof the ball out of play ???????? Why?????

Tappaspur
Tappaspur
3 years ago
Reply to  James McKevitt

Yep

James McKevitt
James McKevitt
3 years ago
Reply to  Eddie

I think he knows exactly how good they are, he’s not going to demolish them in public. He needs them for the moment, he can’t replace them all in one summer window. As soon as he can the ones he doesn’t rate will be gone..

pablodan
pablodan
3 years ago

It wasn’t even a foul.
Everyone looking for a scapegoat.
Usually a foreigner.
I hear no mention of how shite Winks was when he came on or why he didn’t clear the ball that led to the third goal.
The more things change the more they remain the same with some people.
Xenophobia is what its called.
That was NEVER a foul!

Eddie
Eddie
3 years ago

What is worrying is that Mourinho seems to like the players that appear to be responsible for us conceding goals,leading to us drawing or losing games.Those players are Aurier,Sissoko,Sanchez,Winks and Dier.
Either he changes personnel or gets them coached to cut out the simple errors.These are not new players that are trying to settle into a new team and are recognised as being responsible for lost points.

MiT
MiT
3 years ago

Serge does give away too many free kicks.

However, there were some very soft calls in the West Ham match, some key ones against Aurier. Easy for the simple-minded to blame him and say ‘That is that.’

Mourinho is very bright, very meticulous. He will not publicly state where the issues were in the match, but he knows … because he caused them. And he will not let it happen in the same way again.

Spurs scored their 3 goals in the first 16 minutes. There were a few good chances for more, but no more goals.

Spurs slowly adjusted from attacking to absorbing later in the first half in order to try to defensively close out the match. West Ham recognised it and adjusted at the half with more pressure, but Spurs handled it well.

Spurs controlled the spaces between the defenders and forwards well, and controlled the middle well, forcing and enticing West Ham to the outsides to try to deploy crosses.

Thus, they effectively outnumbered the Hammersin the middle to handle the crosses, comfortably playing them back out to a waiting and well-placed midfielder in transition, (often Ndombele.)

This worked fine… until the subs.

Bale, Winks, and Moura came on between the 72′ and 81′ mark. The most damaging loss was Ndombele.

Hammers scored their 3 goals from the 82′ to the 90+4′ mark.

Winks settled back trying to play the same position as Hojbjerg, and Bale, as would be expected, did not drop in for transition and coverage as much as did Bergwijn before. Bale has not played with this squad, and will need to feel his way in.

Suddenly, there was a big gap between the defenders and the attackers, with virtually no transition or coverage. Hammers could easily control the middle 3rd, and put much more pressure on Spurs’ back lines.

Any good communication previously enjoyed between Hojbjerg, Sissoko, and Ndombele was completely lost among Hojbjerg, Sissoko, and Winks. Gone, poof. Other players moved out of position trying to cover the gaps, which resulted in some fouls, and in much more opportunity for West Ham to play and finish crosses and free kicks.

Sanchez is just not good enough under pressure. BUT. He should never have been under that sort of pressure. He was not under it until those subs. Spurs were previously handling crosses easily by outnumbering West Ham in the middle with organised play.

Some fans are afraid of seeing crosses just for the sake of being crosses. However, many a minnow has beaten a big fish by repeatedly enticing an overload of play to the outside, easily handling the crosses due to dominating numbers in the middle, and leaving opposing fans muttering about blaming sh*t fullbacks and poor crosses.

Crosses are not scary when the middle is organised and controlled. However, Mourinho changed the game plan to absorb, and it worked until he brought on substitutions poorly equipped to execute that change in game plan.

He will not let it happen again. At least not in the same manner.

James McKevitt
James McKevitt
3 years ago

He’s improved lately, next step is to cut out soft free kicks especially from wide areas, because we are so vulnerable to balls into the box at set pieces. Sissoko was guilty of the same thing.

Honestly will the penny ever drop with some of these guys. Moura fell asleep and let his man get away from him into the box for a goal. If they can’t cut these needless errors out they won’t be here much longer as at the very top level these unforced errors are the difference between winning and losing.

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