Antonio spoke after the game and one phrase was memorable, for all the wrong reasons.
“We made many mistakes with the ball. It created mental instability…”
Each of the three Southampton goals could have been averted, had the chaotic and occasionally amateurish defending been better.
Emerson Royal’s involvement (more of which later) in every goal stood out, and it was particularly concerning that his teammates didn’t know to offer closer support.
Beaten at home by a side that was allowed far too much free rein. Personally, I would have brought the substitutes on sooner, but the real issue remains the substandard quality of a number of squad members.
Remarkable that two highly successful managers, should have poorer judgement than thee and me.
Right I have watched goals 2 & 3 so much today you will not like my findings but this is how I see it now
Goal #2 There are 7 outfield players in shot as he hits the cross. 1 makes a feeble attempt to close him down (Winks?).
Now the bit I never thought I would ever say “the 1 player faultless in this is Sanchez”. He sticks to his player while Romero is marking air. This leaves the hapless one with 2 players to mark and the rest is history.
Actually tbf I suppose if we had a leader in defence he would have shouted for Romero to pull back freeing Sanchez to mark the goalscorer but a still shot shows Sanchez as the only player marking an opponent with 5 white shirts doing fook all
Cant be arsed to go onto #3 now
It doesnt suggest anything lacking to me just poor judgement.
If Rodon isnt better than Sanchez I will go back to supporting Arsenal
What is it with Spurs and crap brazilian flops: Gilberto, Paulinho, Royal.
This game just highlighted the terrible recruitment strategy and decisions that Spurs have made over the last few years. 25 million for Emerson Royal says it all really.
Why Conte wants to persist with a wing back system when we don’t have any top quality wing backs makes no sense to me.
Dennis Cirkin was sold to Sunderland when he had far more potential than Sessegnon and Reguilon. Juan Foyth and Kyle Walker Peters were sold when they are on a different planet compared to the hopeless Emerson Royal. We have Maksim Paskotsi an Estonian international with lots of potential who is far better then Royal.
Conte’s reluctance to play academy players is a massive concern as well.
If Spurs are not willing to spend enough money needed to buy top players, then surely they need a manager who is willing to develop and promote the academy players. With neither of these things happening, it is no wonder that the squad is imbalanced and has so many average players in it.
I’m a bit puzzled about not playing Rodon, but it is noteworthy that none of Mourinho, Nuno and Conte has been inclined to play him, despite the fact our other centre halves have generally been poor. If both Mourinho and Conte choose not to pick him in those circumstances, it suggests there must be something lacking.
As for Sessegnon playing on the right in place of Emerson, for me he’s shown no sign of being a better defender than Emerson on his natural side, so I find it difficult to imagine he’d be any sort of improvement.
Easy to point the finger at Emerson for the goals, but aside from the third goal, I think there are others who are far more culpable.
If you look at the first goal, at the time the bloke puts the cross in, we have a line for four defenders of whom, one of Davies or Romero needed to be getting a lot closer to the scorer. Also, PEH, who could see the whole scene unfolding in front of him decided to be a spectator.
For the second, Emerson was tracking their number 10, which as the move started off looks to have been the right place to be and no one tracked the run of the scorer, leaving Emerson to have to move across and try and cover the gap (all to late and hence the star jump). I think the worst you might say is that he should have seen the danger sooner. However, he started moving to the ball as soon as the cross was played and the scorer moved into the box fast and late. If Emerson had moved across sooner and the ball had gone over his head to their number 10, folk would have been criticising him for committing too soon.
Star Jump.
Morning Harry, to be honest I really think Sanchez and Royale need to be shelved. Possibly Davies too.
Basic defending went out of the window yesterday. Romero wasn’t faultless, but is clearly a class above and will improve over coming weeks… the others have had their chance and are not going to take us where we want to go.
I’m no Dier fan, but he’s a better bet than Sanchez. I believe Rodon should be given a chance too. A back three of these two with Romero will at least offer a greater physical presence, and also a threat at set pieces.
Perhaps Sessegnon could play on the opposite flank, or alternatively try Mora/Berg there. Doherty is the only real natural option, which isn’t great; however he did appear to be improving the last few games, so may at least offer an upgrade on Royale.
Conte has his work cut out that’s for sure.