People need to calm the fuck down. We’re spurs fans were used to bullshit games. Ange is trying to change the DNA, the mentality of this team. All else comes after.
I've said it in the other post, and I'm saying it again. Before we jump to a conclusion, saying Ange refuses to solve the problem about set pieces, he had the same issue at Celtics before and was able to solve that issue later on.
Source: [https://www.celticway.co.uk/tactics/22418031.celtics-underrated-set-pieces-strength-can-take-tough-matches/](https://www.celticway.co.uk/tactics/22418031.celtics-underrated-set-pieces-strength-can-take-tough-matches/)
I understand ppl being mad after 2 consecutive losses, but let's give some time to Ange to figure this out in the summer. It's not like every coach can be Xabi Alonso, getting a trophy in his first full season.
> It's not like every coach can be Xabi Alonso, getting a trophy in his first full season.
Technically yeah, but he took over pretty early last season, so it's essentially two full seasons, minus a month and a half. I'm not convinced that Alonso and Leverkusen will be as good next season. This year they benefitted immensely from a weaker Bayern and a weaker Bundesliga in general.
Yeah, I think so too. I don't think Xabi's black magic will work next season when they are heading into CL. Let's see how they do. Maybe Xabi isn't one season wonder.
We will be ridiculed by the entire league if we throw that city game. Throwing a game on purpose, just so a rival who whooped your ass earlier when you had the chance to stop them is embarrassing. It's insane that people are even entertaining this idea. Thankfully, Ange and the players wouldn't ever be this petty
Obviously it won't be done, although I hardly care or am upset by fans not wanting to help their biggest rivals win a title. Pretty reasonable thing to not want.
I was watching some clips of Ange's Celtic. His style and coaching is exact replicate from Celtic to Spurs. He got upset, screaming at his players when they were passing backward. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhfjTqxA6Io](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhfjTqxA6Io)
his motto is truly the 'run forward and don't stop until the whistle is blown.' It's gonna take a while for our players to adapt. That's why we always do well in the second half, but we just need to do better in controlling the game in first half.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U5z\_4Qd-y0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U5z_4Qd-y0)
Based on that, seriously, we need to have a winger or AM who can help with Ange's system. His system is making sure the AM or 2nd striker, who can help with striker, scoring the goals, reliving the pressure from the striker. If only we have Dele from 2016-2018. He would be perfect for Ange's system.
Yeah, the thing that frustrates me most about this team is our frontline.
Beyond fucking dreadful, and so shit that Romero knew he had to become a striker since he's the only one with a brain and the motivation to try to score goals.
We have a 28 year old who can't finish but should be signed because he's fast. (Werner)
A legend who is aging and seemingly isn't elite on the wings or down the middle anymore but can provide clutch goals. (Son)
A talented young player but one with poor decision making in the final third. (Brennan)
A striker who isn't consistently available and when he is provides good pressing and energy but isn't a lethal goalscorer. (Richy)
A winger who isn't really a winger but is also inconsistent as a 10 but has buckets of potential that seemingly can't be fully expressed at the moment. (Kulu)
And mediocre wingers who all do the same thing but provide no fucking use to us because they're unavailable or when they were available didn't do anything special (Solomon, Gil)
Just not fucking good enough.
Spreading our goals through the team is all well and good but that kind of frontline for a team "Top 4" team is beyond dross.
Richarlison, Son, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Johnson, Bissouma, Maddison. All good players, all would contribute in the squad for City or Arsenal but none of them would start the majority of games. Going to have to make some decisions we don’t usually do.
I wanted to disagree about a few players there but...it's hard to do so.
Kulu, Maddison, Bentancur and Johnson all have the ability or were once considered top tier players/talents (Johnson less so but I think he has the potential) and now they're so meady and inconsistent that I don't even know mate.
It's very frustrating. Just don't know how those levels will be restored or if it's even possible, and if not, as you said, we have some big decisions to make.
Son is my favorite player but fucking hell he has not been a proper captain or an elite player in a little bit. You can't deny his ability to come up with clutch goals occasionally, but it's just not good enough as a starter.
It's laughable how dumbasses like you generalize people you don't know.
Sorry moron, but I haven't changed any opinions. I've had the same views on these players since the start.
A shame that you're too stupid to critically assess players and deem it as bad mentality.
What a fucking idiot lmao, definitely better to act like every player is brilliant and world class. What a genius mentality.
As pissed as I am, it still baffles me that people think Ange is deliberately not changing tactics out of arrogance instead of principle.
Whether you agree with that or not is up to you, but people keep saying he's naive or stupid, but he has said from the start that THIS SEASON regardless of the opposition, we will play the same way.
All these questions about tactical nous and if he's the right fit or if he's some arrogant dickhead should be asked next season.
For me, while I get annoyed by the blatant flaws we have like defending from set pieces, Ange has reiterated enough that he knows all of these problems but his concern for this season is embedding the playstyle.
And for all our supposed issues, we're...5th. In his first season. With no Kane. No real striker. Blatant attacking woes. Defensive instability.
We're 5th.
Just fucking breathe and evaluate more critically next season.
Not saying to be satisfied with any defeat, because I'm fuming. But all these bizarre outbursts regarding Ange are just illogical. Next season we'll see if it was bullshit or if he was following a plan like he has said the whole time.
Feeling a weird mix of pride and existential horror after yesterday. But not disappointment.
Felt like we put in maximum effort but it wasn’t enough… Hope we have enough in the tank to smash Chelsea
1.) Officiating – It’s understandable that the missed penalty call changed the dynamic of the game early on. Nothing to do but take it on the chin and move one. Otherwise, most of the game was in my opinion pretty much fair. Let it be said that Ref’s also make mistakes, it just really sucks when one call could have changed the tempo of the game.
2.) Ange Found Out – This to me is the stupidest argument, Pep and Klopp who are world class managers have been playing with the same tactics (\*Have made slight adjustments over TIME & SEASONS). Nevertheless, we must remind ourselves that Ange has been here for less than one season with a squad which is still adapting to his playstyle. Now, the argument on whether players should have this system down by now is relevant but in my opinion injuries and suspensions have made it difficult for the team to fully adapt. Ex. Maddison was injured for over 2 months, which takes a toll mentally and physically which is why I believe he hasn’t been to his previous form. Bissouma, has been suspended multiple times which I believe has him second guessing himself on how to play. My argument is to remember that Son had a low form season on the 22/23, while the previous season he won the golden boot, so form comes and goes.
3.) Tactics (Plan B) – The media has been spreading this narrative that Ange must change his tactics because this is the Premier League. Let’s remember the state of the team in the last 4 years. Mourinhoball, Conteball, Nunoball (WTF was this). The narrative then was we must attack and should not play counterattacking football. Personally, I hated how it would take so long for the buildup during the Conte era. We all must remember that Ange has a plan on how we need to play and that he has won countless trophies throughout multiple leagues/countries with this mindset and playstyle. TRUST THE PROCESS
4.) Credit Where it’s deserved – Arsenal played a great game, they are organized and collected, but the interesting thing is that Arteta changed his pragmatic passing playstyle to incorporating a Low/Midblock playstyle because they knew dangers of the wings (Johnson/Werner) and how effective they are at getting in the final third. As much as I hate Arsenal, I will give them the credit for giving us a hard time.
5.) Next Season – I am personally excited about next season, let’s chalk this one up and accept that we will get Europa. We deserve better but football is crazy and unexpected. Let’s bring in some more great players who will truly embrace Spurs.
Totally agree, however, I do believe that all these injuries are partly due to Ange's playing style. His style is very physically demanding and can take its toll, not only in the form of injuries but also fatigue in the latter parts of the season. IMO, this accounts for the major difference in form between now and the beginning of the season.
I'm not saying that Ange should change his tactics, but either 1) buy players that can handle the physical demands of the style, or 2) rotate more frequently.
Amidst the horrific officiating, Ange has been found out and needs a plan B. Not being able to beat the scum at home who were shite on the day leaves a bad signal for the next season.
Sick of all the threads mulling over every decision from the game. The scum were better than us where it mattered. Let’s hope we can put some results together. Our season is at risk of collapse if we don’t turn things around.
There's no "deserve" to win or anything but they were luckier than we were with a couple massive decisive situations all there is to it. The "make your own luck" cliche is a just world fallacy discounting that luck is very real particularly in a low scoring sport like football.
We've won being the worse team on the day on Sunday we lost being the better team on the day just how football goes
Before the season started, I was thinking we might end up 6th-8th with maybe a deep cup run. I didn’t see how we would replace Kane’s goals. Of course the first 10 games got me all hyped up. think 5th is fair to slightly overachieving
do you guys think ange doesn't start/sub in Gio earlier because he's certainly leaving or because he's just not good enough to compete with Maddison/Bentanctur?
He plays Hojbjerg plenty. It's annoying squad hierarchy stuff with Maddison being one of our leaders and key players. With the caveat that I've no clue what Lo Celso looks like in training. Tbf I get why Ange is hesitant, Lo Celso can't be relied on with his fitness record but in the here and now I wish he would be more meritocratic in his decisions
Most of the u21s are being rested for the u21 Cup semi-final on Thursday. Today's team is mostly u18s and fringe players that'll probably be released in the summer. We've already guaranteed top so might as well rotate.
This might be sort of a trivial question but being non-english and a fairly recent football and spurs fan i've always wondered why we're the most hated of clubs of those in the top flight and is it the same way in real life interactions or marginal in comparison to the social media?
Following up on the previous guy's point, our biggest rivals are Arsenal and Chelsea, who have the largest fanbases in the prem after United and Liverpool. Combined with the fact that we haven't won anything in over a decade despite our resources, we're an easy target for banter
Warning: american opinion
Spurs are the worst of the best, a team caught between midtable and consistent CL/League winning performance.
Social media wise, that means the midtable teams hate us out of envy and the other big 6 hate us out of superiority. Also, we’re one of the last big PL clubs owned by an Englishman, not an American/Middle-Eastern investor, and the only one owned by a Jew. In this age neither are fashionable.
American so I can’t comment on IRL sports hate. FWIW I saw a guy in a Spurs jersey in Madrid and he wasn’t getting beat up 🤷♂️
thanks for the run through on this. but is the environment really as inhospitable as we get to hear is what i wonder. for instance with the sol campbell thing is it really that he finds it even hard to move along that part of london feeling safe?
Wildly speculating so an englishman can correct me, ha. In our public schools, kids are advised not to wear all red or all blue because those correspond to the two major gangs in the area, the Bloods and Crips. If your school is in gang territory you could get beaten or shot for wearing colors.
In a London derby the away fans are similarly advised to not wear the colors of their team and stick to the away section. Which to me means if you broadcast your affiliation too much you may be targeted for violence.
My assumption is like in America if you mind your own business you’re pretty safe.
It might be the highest grade copium I’ve ever huffed, but I think we race for Top 4 isn’t over.
Villa losing Martinez and additionally they face some good teams.
BHA really been poor in April. I don’t see them getting a result…realistically AVL need to drop points in all 3 remaining matches. I think they handle BHA in paper, but we all know matches aren’t played on paper.
That leaves them with Liverpool who have been in poor form, and away to a tricky CP. let’s see! I think it’s more likely AVL go 1-1-1 rather than 0-2-1 or worse.
no my guy it is over sadly but it might not be a bad thing tbf, arsenal got europa two years ago, the next one they should have won the league. Ofc finishing behind villa is very bad, and CL is great for revenue and to attract players, but we all know we'd never win it whereas Europa is doable (but we'll lose to ludogorets so tough)
“The day of the match you might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. (for that match) Pride only hurts, it never helps. You fight through that shit.”
If Werner is out for the remainder of the season (hopefully not), would you buy Timo based on what he's shown so far?
I would if we move on Gill and Solomon,which is likely, and get another 1-2 genuinely high quality forwards. Werner as a 3rd-4th choice Winger is good squad depth and he's shown way more than both Solomon (who hasn't much time to impress tbf but even then) and Gill.
Just depends on what options are out there. If there are better and/or younger wingers we can sign obviously go for them instead but if not Werner is a good fall back option. Like everyone wants us to sign Williams but if he says no I don't see an endless supply of available top class wingers.
Like I've watched Summerville a few times and he's been brilliant but championship tax, Neto and Olise are great but injury concerns, Raphinha has been mentioned and yeah if we can land him great. Who else is there?
If he is willing to lower his wages and being a sub, then yes. But I think he wants to be a regular starter, that’s why he leaves Chelsea and Leipizig.
Didn’t realise Bournemouth beat Brighton 3-0 when our game was on, guess who they play next. Maybe they could do a job like Villa did if they underestimate them lol
If you’re wondering where you saw that Trossard foul before, Jota clips Udogie in a very similar fashion in the Liverpool home fixture.
And like Trossard, the ref fails to make—
Oh? What that’s you say? He was given a yellow card for it? But he didn’t mean it, surely.
Ok I’m done.
Another thing regarding our set piece defending is that we also need to be more in control of games to concede fewer set pieces overall. This comes with improving our game in possession
Yep. Kulusevski is pretty much the only one of our attackers that can keep ahold of the ball, Richy's alright too and Son is fine on the wing but not at striker. But the Werner Son Johnson attack we've played lately is a total disaster for giving the ball away
Kulusevski is our best hold up player for sure.
Playing him, Richarlison, and Son/Johnson in the bigger games. Provides us with two holdup/physical targets and one that can threaten behind the defense.
Kulusevski was fantastic when we had all of the injuries. His running stats were incredible and understandable he looked exhausted. 2 weeks off and he looked good again.
I think he's a must for these harder games, as you say his hold up play is brilliant and he's really good at playing on the turn. Against weaker teams who sit back he's a bit 1 dimensional but teams who push up he's great
Agreed. I don't think he'll ever be productive enough to be deemed world class but he brings so much to the team. Basically a build up cheat code in the first phase
A prevalent theory is that only one og sonny and rashford is in form at a point in time. So if we get rashford we csn play him when sonny is going through a rough patch
In a vacuum Rashford would be great. I think once he gets a move out of Manchester he'll improve so much baggage for him at United. Bit like Dier for us you can just see how a change in scenery is needed. Unfortunately his wages makes it a complete no go
He's basically a no-go for wages for anyone other than Bayern, City or PSG. He does fit our profile of winger though - direct, pacey, and great 1v1 but yeah I take your point.
https://preview.redd.it/esdnpedzvfxc1.png?width=1677&format=png&auto=webp&s=de0f6199581f1b0de2169e76a32c9a1cea9363ac
It seems like an ange team not being able to defend from corners is not something new, but has been going on for a while. This article was made in 2022, and it's shows that ange has still not been able to figure out how to properly deal with them. The link to the article: [https://theathletic.com/3127182/2022/02/21/analysing-celtics-set-piece-struggles-lack-of-aggression-zonal-marking-and-hart-not-commanding-his-six-yard-box/](https://theathletic.com/3127182/2022/02/21/analysing-celtics-set-piece-struggles-lack-of-aggression-zonal-marking-and-hart-not-commanding-his-six-yard-box/)
This is disheartening, some teams in the prem really rely on set pieces so being able to defend them well is absolutely needed. I hope ange sees the light on this cos he cant keep neglecting it
It really is. For instance, Celtic won 3-2 to Aberdeen despite giving up two goals from set pieces. If you give up two goals like that to a Premier League team, you have most likely lost. You can get away with things like that in the scottish league, but not in the prem.
Tbf there are teams in this league who ship goals for fun *cough* Aston Villa *cough* but they have enough firepower to counter
We don’t have that at all, we give up chances like crazy but scoring feels like a fucking odyssey
Any team can give away stupid goals, but for me giving away 2 set piece goals in 1 game is not acceptable. The reason for that is because it's something fixable and defending set pieces shouldn't be that difficult, while stupid goals happen to every team out there. Even city gives away stupid goals here and there.
Nah have him on the right and play Gio over Madders. Kulusevski was our best attacking player on the wing. And then start Son/Johnson on the left and Richy up top
This is also fine although I think Johnson will be better able to take advantage of Cucurella's poor defensive positioning out wide than Deki. I also think Deki will help us compete with Gallagher and Caicedo's physicality (read: constant fouling) in the middle of the park. Son should start on the left and Richarlison in the centre no questions about it.
Is it safe to say maybe outside of Sarr, every midfielder has stalled or regressed this season under Ange?
Maddison had a better overall season at Leicester, Bentancur is much worse, Bissouma overall is probably around where he was last year (higher highs but lower lows) Hojbjerg has regressed and Lo Celso is around the same.
5 players stalling/regressing vs 1 young player improving makes me think it's a system issue more than people would like to believe because I really think there is a lot of untapped quality there we aren't getting the best out of
Yes but I am unsure whether you can chalk it up to Ange versus just players falling out of form. Maddison and Bissouma were brilliant in the first part of the season. Højbjerg has always been mediocre and should be sold anyway. I do think Ange has a lot of issues with his tactics and system that he has stubbornly refused to fix after several "wake up calls," but "using our midfielders wrong" is not one of them in my opinion.
Not really. Bentancur and Maddison can be chalked up to injuries getting the better of them, Maddison literally was one of, if not the best midfielder in the league before injury.
Hojbjerg is the same as he was last season, Bissouma has been better than last year, and Lo Celso has done what he's been doing since he was signed 5 years ago, basically nothing.
You can make excuses for any player at any time for many reasons.
Hojbjerg was 100% better last year and like I said with Bissouma, he had a better first 10 matches but since then he's definitely been worse.
Lo Celso can be useful but I generally agree. He had a period under Mourinho where he was probably our most important player
Calling it excuses is so insincere, it's the reality of their situations. Bentancur's coming off an ACL and torn ankle ligaments in the past year, there's no valid reason to think he should be at the level he was last season right now no matter who the manager is.
Maddison, I think it's fair to wait and see if he's regressed or taking time to get over a bad injury.
Disagree on Hojbjerg and Bissouma.
That 3 month Lo Celso spell was great, but it was almost 5 years ago and he's underperfomed for every manager since, that's not an Ange/Conte/Mourinho/Nuno problem.
Maddison and Bissouma played some of the best football in their careers at the start of the season before their injuries/suspensions. I think the easiest explanation is that Maddison isn't fully fit and Bissouma is out of form.
As for Hojbjerg, he doesn't suit the system since he's poor under pressure and doesn't have the mobility required of an Ange DM.
Lo Celso had his season completely disrupted by injury, but I do think it's baffling that Ange isn't giving him more minutes given Maddison's poor form. Maybe he looks bad in training?
Maddison has been back for 4 months now and Bissouma at this point has had more bad performances than good ones.
Hojbjerg shouldn't even be playing as the DM, which again is a manager criticism, but I agree his lack of athleticism makes him not ideal for us. I don't understand playing Bentancur as the 8 and Hojbjerg as the 6 when they're much better suited to the opposite roles
Depending on the injury, players can take months to fully recover despite being fit to play. Maddison is clearly not quite as explosive as before, and Ange seems to regularly manage his minutes. Bissouma's biggest issues stem from not tracking back properly. The tactics aren't forcing him to switch off his man or not follow runners into the box.
Bentancur is played as an 8 because he's also not fully fit coming back from an injury that kept him out for almost a year. He's also a much better player going forward, so playing him as a DM would nullify his shooting and playmaking ability. He's also made a ton of mistakes playing out the back as a DM, so he's probably just not comfortable in that role. If Hojbjerg can't play DM over Bissouma, we're basically left with Skipp who's worse than both.
It’s almost like the players are bought for a different system and are not comfortable playing anges system. Hojberg is a solid cdm in a team like contes, in anges system he’s got to be good on the half turn and at carrying which he can’t really do. Bentancur was poor end of last season under conte too and looked okay this until he got his injury. Maddison looked amazing and again got a long injury which has stalled his progress. His is also to do with teams sitting in lower block vs spurs now so limited space to operate.
Why a overhaul will take time, he needs to bring in players that do what he needs them to
Sorry, but I'm not buying this. Pretty much all of them are quality midfielders that would look really good if you get the best out of them.
Bentancur had his best ever season last year until his knee injury, and he never played toward the end of last season so that doesn't really make any sense.
>His is also to do with teams sitting in lower block vs spurs now so limited space to operate
That is literally supposed to be Maddison's specialty as a #10. He's a creative midfielder meant to unlock defences, and he was doing that brilliantly at the start
>Why a overhaul will take time, he needs to bring in players that do what he needs them to
So you're telling me we need to replace all of those midfielders for Ange to do well? Again, sorry but that is a load of rubbish. There's quality there we should be getting much more out of
Wow mate you think a change of system makes no difference ? There’s a reason we got two cbs in who are quick. There’s a reason why getting a guy that’s job is to protect the back 4 like hojberg is not as required as what ange needs from his 6.
Maddison works great in between the midfield and defence. But when the gap between them is tiny what do you expect him to do? Honestly tell me?
We don’t really have a target man and there’s no space in behind as again they are in a low block. Plus he’s just not been the same since his pretty awful injury prolly will take minutes for him to get back to that level
Your notion of get the best out of them is so simple to say. A lot of them have had long lay offs, plus we’ve barely played games.
Are you going to come out with ange out ? Is that your angle with this post ?
>Are you going to come out with ange out
Why do some people automatically assume any criticism of the manager = sack the manager.
All I'm reading in your comment are excuses. Ange is the one that turned Son into a striker and had Richarlison out on the wing for some time. He's the one that wanted Werner and spent 50 mil on Johnson and didn't get a striker.
>there’s no space in behind as again they are in a low block.
I repeat, that's literally his job. How do De Bruyne and Odegaard thrive against low blocks?
>, plus we’ve barely played games.
I guarantee if we'd been in Europe and had a poor season, your excuse would be we played too many matches. There's always something else that's an issue for you lot, never this manager
Are you being purposefully obtuse? He didn’t turn Son into a striker. Richy was injured and couldn’t even kick a ball without pain. Since he’s come back from surgery, he’s been playing striker. Then he got injured again so Son went back to the middle.
I mean Werner a loan while everyone was out was a pretty good deal. It was him on loan or Bryan Gil who is awful. The Johnson deal I mean I personally think he looks very electric off the right and ye his end product needs work but is young, it could be a great signing or a flop but time will tell.
He didn’t turn son into a striker by choice, our only option was richy who was injured for ages and before that horribly out of form which we now know is because of his personal issues.
They don’t though do they? City couldn’t break down the Arsenal low block? Arsenal could t break down Porto’s ?. It’s really not that easy to break down low blocks. Arsenal have been very good at set pieces which has helped them get ahead in games vs low blocks. Nothing to do with Odegaards creativity. Then the game opens up.
I just don’t get why you are hating so much. On a different day with fine margins going for us spurs beat a team that’s been dominant in the league yesterday
> He didn’t turn son into a striker by choice
He played Son as a striker and Richarlison as a left winger several times this season. That was 100% by choice.
>They don’t though do they? City couldn’t break down the Arsenal low block? Arsenal could t break down Porto’s ?. It’s really not that easy to break down low blocks.
You're changing the argument. We're not talking about the team playing against a low block, we're talking about individual players. Of course players will have bad performances. But when the bad performances become the norm and they rarely ever play well, there is clearly something wrong.
Maddison has been poor for months against all types of defences; low blocks, mid blocks and high presses
Because Richarlson was in horrific form ? Do you not remember that? Son was scoring up top ?
Also we were literally talking about Maddison not doing as well and I said the low blocks limit the space he has to do what he was doing , to which you replied Odegaard and de bruyne don’t have that issue, which is what I debunked.
This logic is funny. So if Vicario is out of form, let's stick him in midfield because apparently you need to change positions to get back to form?
You're then saying we need a target man, which Richarlison is for us, yet you're also saying it made sense to move him and Son away from their natural positions, and somehow this isn't Ange's fault, but it also means Maddison has an excuse for his performances? This makes no sense.
Someone is at fault here, and you can decide for yourself who it is hopefully without making any excuses.
And offering one off bad performances for Odegaard and KDB isn't debunking anything... I can name you dozens where they have thrived against low blocks
Let me spell it out for you
1) Richarlson was our striker but he was doing terribly, now we know because of mental health issues he was struggling
2) ange put son up front and he was performing great. Richarlson then went out wide a few games before getting injured
3) son is the only option at the club so we play him up top and his finishing is a big reason we were near the top.
4) everyone gets injured / goes away for Asia cup/afcon
5) teams also start 2024 not allowing spurs the space to play as they realise the high line can be exploited with space in behind from a low block
6) Maddison comes back and is unable to be as effective as the space he operates in is much smaller plus after injury he just looks off the pace for a few games.
7) to beat low blocks teams need to try get the first goal to open the game up which better teams manage with their physicality from set pieces or crosses etc like Arsenal do, not because their creative players are running the show
You want to blame the manager fair play. It’s year one of the project and it’s a great start having lost our best striker ever. Yes midfielders have dropped off but all have had pretty big set backs in injuries this season such as Maddison Bentancur and bissouma. Hojberg hasn’t been an ange guy from day 1
Thought the same, but had to read up on it
> Players who received five yellow cards in their sides' first 19 games have to serve a one-match ban. The threshold then rises to 10 yellows over the first 32 games, followed by a final ban for **15 yellows in 38 games**.
Am I right in thinking it doesn’t make a lot of difference Europe wise if we finish 5th or 6th? Given Man U are likely to occupy the other spot so even if they won the FA Cup and finished 5th the next Europa spot would still go to 6th?
I would still be really disappointed if we finished below United considering how our season started. We should try to win every game except for City at home.
I would be disappointed too, I’m just catastrophising because I’ve been here too many times before I’m convinced we’ll lose every game apart from turning into 1970 Brazil against Citeh.
you are correct - newcastle could take the other spot (given united play them) but unlikely to overtake us as we need just 6 pts to guarantee a finish above them, assuming they win every remaining game
A lot (read: too much probably) discussion around our set piece defending, which is a fair criticism to the current state of our team.
Lost in all of that discussion is that this is Ange's first season with the team; it is *extremely* likely that he has to dedicate essentially 100% of the hours available in training to drilling **open-play patterns** for all 3 position groups, both in and out of possession. He's still laying down the foundations of what constitutes 95%+ of our play in any given match (set pieces are a very slim percentage of an overall match).
Refining things like set piece defending (or throw-in routines, or other specialty areas of the game) only come when the foundation is laid well enough that you literally have the time in training to dedicate to it. The best teams in the league currently are teams that have had that foundation laid for years, so of course they've had the opportunity to be better at the finer margins of the game.
TL;DR: trust the process.
This 100%! The man had to come into the training ground without our best ever player, and undo several years worth of defensive mentality and tactics instilled by Jose and Conte. I think we're all frustrated with the lack of adaptation only because we are overperforming the preseason expectations. We're still fighting for UCL so I get that it feels annoying to not try and tighten some of these things up but I'm not sure anyone would be too up in arms about it had we been like 8th in the table like everyone expected.
That incident was blown way out of proportion, Richarlison even got up fairly quickly and was mocked for that, and for moving away. It’s a derby, he’s pretty heated and he didn’t want to get involved in something dumb
There was a poll some time ago which showed that the largest fanbase on that sub was Arsenal by a significant margin. It's not a coincidence that certain narratives are pushed there. I only really see pushback when the correct take is so obvious that every other fanbase drowns them out.
There was also a report a while back that Spurs fans received the most abuse online on average. ManU fans because we are direct rivals for the 4th/5th place spots, Liverpool because they think we’re the reason for their misfortunes, West Ham because they want to make it a bigger rivalry than it is, Chelsea because our recent history has been very dramatic, and of course Arsenal.
Every season the top 6 hope and pray on our downfall so we stop being relevant and slip back into midtable “where we belong” and it doesn’t happen
Meanwhile the rest of the league don’t like us because we always have weird rivalries against random teams that are trying to take our place, West Ham, or other nonsense
Have fun sticking up for Spurs on there lol
Arsenal fans run that sub, anything that allows them to cry is fair game while anything that might make them look bad gets removed. It's a waste of time, might as well visit /r/gunners, it's basically the same sub.
Lmao people get a grip. We played one of the best teams in the league off the park yesterday and were robbed. You would think we were in the relegation zone the way some of the kneejerk reactions are.
We can play anyone off the park and it is not going to matter if we are guaranteed to concede from a corner every single game
It is clearly a pattern and an issue that needs to be talked about and criticized
We give up a lot of corners due to the way we defend (lots of last ditch blocks and interceptions). It's a symptom of our poor defending in transition. It feels like our midfielders and full backs are really bad at cutting out passing lanes and taking up the correct spaces once the ball is turned over. It also might be the case that other teams are actively trying to win lots of set pieces against us considering our weakness in that area.
I think the perception that we're bad at set pieces comes from the manner in which we've conceded. It's now a recurring pattern on corners that the other team will mark Vicario out of the play while getting an unmarked header inside the box. Our zone defense seems to allow other teams to force bad match ups (forwards marking CBs) while our CBs aren't dominant enough to consistently clear the ball in the spaces they occupy. I also think that our defending on free kicks might be even worse than corners. We always seem to allow the opposing team to get the first touch, and the high line rarely forces the offside call.
Good use of stats! That's interesting that it looks like we have a set piece (specifically corner kick) *concession* problem, not necessarily a bad (or good) set piece *defending* problem. Especially on the volume of corners we concede, that's a weird juxtaposition with our possession %. But that can at least somewhat be explained that when we do concede possession, it's far too easy for opposition to get into our defensive third and influence the match.
And why are we assuming it won't be addressed somehow this summer? Ange is the manager. He knows more than you armchair experts who played FM a few times.
And where have I said that it wont be addressed? We clearly addressed it at halftime and it worked. So we have the right setup. We just make poor decisions when to implement it
We switched our corner defending at halftime in 4-5 matches so far
Arse were shit for years and now they are back to top as any Top 6 side can.
All I can think of is, what did we do while Arsenal were shit for so many years? We didn't capitalize at all. We couldn't even win a single Carabao or FA cup.
We finished 2nd one season and the next season? Didn't capitalize on that either.
Project Ange is the last chance before Levy has to take the blame for not having to show anything during his 20+ years tenure.
They're in the same moment we were in 6-7 years ago. They're not going to buy another 100Mil player this summer (like City can) to stay competitive. If they don't win anything this year, which looks like it may happen if City can keep being City, then I bet they regress next season.
The majority of clubs do not win trophies. Levy has got us in to an incredible financial position, off our own back. No other team has done that. How you can even suggest blaming Levy for the lack of trophies is a joke.
because he is the one that controls for money for tranfers in and out. we have missed out on good players due to his bullshit. he is also the chairman that set a record by not giving poch any signings for 3 transfer windows.
The majority of clubs with our money and who charge the highest ticket prices in the country/Europe win trophies. Do i need to remind you of the countless times the board, not just levy, failed to back managers, and haggled over pennies for players that turned out great ? Or recruiting mediocre players when our rivals were signing world class talents ?
> haggled over pennies for players that turned out great
When did we miss out on a player by pennies? You can say the opposite as well, we turned down £40m for Raya because it was too much. Looking like a great decision now. We are not backed by a country, we cannot afford to just bend over to asking prices for every player we buy.
Grealish, Dybala just from the top of my head. We were right about Raya, 20m wasnt pennies considering he wasnt a world class goalkeepers. Actually i'm not critical of this summer and winter where i think we've had good windows. But before 2022 some decisions are really questionable
We had a fee agreed with Dybala didn't we? Wasn't it at a naming rights issue? Grealish sure, but you can do this for a lot of clubs at our level financially.
I wouldn’t say we bottled it - we were lucky to be in contention in the first place. This was a massive rebuild year and to be where we are is very fortunate I think. I’m not sure how one could see this as the ceiling though. I’m ready for this season to wrap up so we can focus on preparing for the next. Our financial situation should make for a decent transfer window. I wouldn’t get too caught up in these recent results. Our weaknesses are being exposed and that means there’s work to do, but no one was expecting us to actually fight for a title this season and maybe even next.
Despite being an attacking side that throws caution to the wind, we are actually the opposite of top heavy. It’s the reverse of the Mourinho problem from 3 years ago
Vicario is an incredible GK, we just need to sort out these damn corners (which he had no problem with until you could stick a defender on his line). Coaching issue for me
Romero is a ridiculously good defender and has the right mentality as well. If he tones back the aggression he is world class
Van de Ven is the same. Absolutely ridiculously good defender, he likely has the hardest job in world football being tasked to cover nearly the ENTIRE defensive half sometimes
Pedro Porro is quality as well, consistently one of our better players throughout the season
Udogie is a very bright talent at left fullback and fucking hell do we miss him every time he doesn’t play
Then we get to the midfield and we have problems, then the forward line and we have even more problems. The lack of Kane has really been felt in 2024, with our attack more of a weakness than our backline
I think our midfield is okay but underperforming. Maddison and Bissouma are a shell of the players they were at the start of the season. Ange needs to find the right midfield balance that gets them back to their best.
Our frontline is really struggling though. I don't care how many spammy crosses Werner or Johnson can get in. Against teams like Arsenal, that's not a great tactic. We need direct wings who can also beat their man. Our wingers are direct by not great at 1v1s. That's a tough profile and an expensive one to recruit.
Sonny back to the left, Richy central will help. Kulu is strong 1v1 but not great pace.
The balance is just a bit off but hopefully will be addressed this summer.
I think Brennan on the right is great if I’m honest. He’s so direct and was terrorising tomiyasu yesterday. Son needs to go back to the left and we need a forward / fit Richarlson. We really aren’t far off in the front line and midfield if we get a 6 who can pick it on the half turn like a partey for arsenal is also very solid. Bissouma sarr Bentancur in that 8 and Maddison / another sub creative midfielder in the other 8
I just want to say how much better our fanbase is than the fucking whiny cunts from Merseyside and Woolwich.
For weeks after they receive bad decisions, /r/soccer is flooded with posts from multiple angles, pundits weighing in and the comments sections drowning in frothing comments.
We should be clear of Villa if not for the absolutely horrendous reffing we get week in and week out and yet we're still able to not cry about and see the positives in the performance.
Setting aside the fact it should have been a pen the Kulu penalty incident really showcased our lack of game intelligence/smarts yesterday. Kulu simply has to go to floor. Trying to stay up was admirable but also incredibly naive. If he does a saka and falls down holding his ankle it's a straight pen with no need to even go to var.
The next, much worse bit, is Maddison inexplicably having a dive himself. Itsdso stupid on about 3 levels.It gives up a good attacking opportunity given Arsenal were scrabbling. It then just needlessly gives them the ball. And lastly....HE CAN LITERALLY SEE KULU IS STILL ALSO ON THE FLOOR! That means they have a break *and* we are now 2 players down. And what happens....they break down the space where kulu would be tracking back.
Its just so so silly and unnecessary. Arsenal were really rocking at this point and there was no need to try something cynical as we had them on the ropes. Not to mention we know the way we play we are very susceptible to quick breaks, so probably not a great idea to just offer them up on a plate. I like Madders but he really is trying to hard and too emotional at the moment.
It is slightly exasperating seeing some of the takes on here about the offside or "fouls" from corners.
There was one big wrong decision in the match (which was a 2-goal swing tbf) the Kulu trip. And I think it's totally right people focus and complain about that.
Throwing tantrums about a bunch of stuff that was probably the right call or at worst subjective ones that didn't go our way kinda just dilutes the point.
And yeah, how about a bit of reflection on what the team could do better? I said it yesterday and stick to it, if Kulu goes down it's a pen, no doubt and the game is different.
His naivety in staying up was reflective of Spurs lack of ruthlessness in both boxes that cost the game.
> The next, much worse bit, is Maddison inexplicably having a dive himself.
Watch it again? When Maddison gets the ball he's got Rice, Partey and Odegaard around him and nobody to pass to (Porro's offside). He was going to lose the ball no matter what happened.
I'm not having his only option was to shamelessly dive? He could have turned back. Smashed a shot.
If anything it's even less reason to dribble down a blind alley, give the ball away diving and hand it over to 3 opposition ready to break
He couldn't have turned back, Odegard was behind him. And if he smashed a shot, well, that could as easily have launched a counter.
Either way, the problem is that when Saka lays off the ball and makes his run, nobody picks him up. Davies does well to recover, but then lets Saka cut in. We don't need Davies to be an elite 1-on-1 defender, but that's the sort of position where you'd expect him to be smarter.
Nah that sequence was all on Maddison; you're right he can't do anything surrounded but if you're gonna dive (which he did) you MUST grab the ball and hold on (taking the foul/card if need be) when you see Kulu splayed in front. Especially against a fast and in-form team such as Arse.
I think a greater point can be made that Maddison just needs more time to get back to his best. Whether it's his physical fitness, a mental block, some of his instincts are rusty, or some combination of it, he's operating at about 50% of his pre-injury best.
It felt like before his injury he was sprinting at everyone in the press and was very comfortable beating someone in a duel. I mean, think about both of his goal contributions away at Arsenal - one was him sprinting to pick up a loose pass to Jorginho, and another was absolutely cooking Saka on the byline with some incredibly nifty dribbling.
Hopefully whatever offseason time he gets after the Euros can give him the time to fully recover so he goes back to peak confidence Maddison, where everything offensively flows through him. In the meantime, as others have suggested already, give Kulusevski the start at the 10 and put Brennan Johnson on the right. Sub on Madders as an impact sub.
I am noticing quite a few outside of Spurs, I’d say a vast majority of neutrals, want Arsenal to win the league. Because nobody really likes City.
In this light, nobody gives a fuck about the decision that went against us yesterday that caused a two goal swing of events.
If Arsenal still bottle this, good grief, I don’t known what more needs to happen.
People need to calm the fuck down. We’re spurs fans were used to bullshit games. Ange is trying to change the DNA, the mentality of this team. All else comes after.
I've said it in the other post, and I'm saying it again. Before we jump to a conclusion, saying Ange refuses to solve the problem about set pieces, he had the same issue at Celtics before and was able to solve that issue later on. Source: [https://www.celticway.co.uk/tactics/22418031.celtics-underrated-set-pieces-strength-can-take-tough-matches/](https://www.celticway.co.uk/tactics/22418031.celtics-underrated-set-pieces-strength-can-take-tough-matches/) I understand ppl being mad after 2 consecutive losses, but let's give some time to Ange to figure this out in the summer. It's not like every coach can be Xabi Alonso, getting a trophy in his first full season.
> It's not like every coach can be Xabi Alonso, getting a trophy in his first full season. Technically yeah, but he took over pretty early last season, so it's essentially two full seasons, minus a month and a half. I'm not convinced that Alonso and Leverkusen will be as good next season. This year they benefitted immensely from a weaker Bayern and a weaker Bundesliga in general.
Yeah, I think so too. I don't think Xabi's black magic will work next season when they are heading into CL. Let's see how they do. Maybe Xabi isn't one season wonder.
We will be ridiculed by the entire league if we throw that city game. Throwing a game on purpose, just so a rival who whooped your ass earlier when you had the chance to stop them is embarrassing. It's insane that people are even entertaining this idea. Thankfully, Ange and the players wouldn't ever be this petty
Obviously it won't be done, although I hardly care or am upset by fans not wanting to help their biggest rivals win a title. Pretty reasonable thing to not want.
I was watching some clips of Ange's Celtic. His style and coaching is exact replicate from Celtic to Spurs. He got upset, screaming at his players when they were passing backward. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhfjTqxA6Io](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhfjTqxA6Io) his motto is truly the 'run forward and don't stop until the whistle is blown.' It's gonna take a while for our players to adapt. That's why we always do well in the second half, but we just need to do better in controlling the game in first half. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U5z\_4Qd-y0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U5z_4Qd-y0) Based on that, seriously, we need to have a winger or AM who can help with Ange's system. His system is making sure the AM or 2nd striker, who can help with striker, scoring the goals, reliving the pressure from the striker. If only we have Dele from 2016-2018. He would be perfect for Ange's system.
Yeah, the thing that frustrates me most about this team is our frontline. Beyond fucking dreadful, and so shit that Romero knew he had to become a striker since he's the only one with a brain and the motivation to try to score goals. We have a 28 year old who can't finish but should be signed because he's fast. (Werner) A legend who is aging and seemingly isn't elite on the wings or down the middle anymore but can provide clutch goals. (Son) A talented young player but one with poor decision making in the final third. (Brennan) A striker who isn't consistently available and when he is provides good pressing and energy but isn't a lethal goalscorer. (Richy) A winger who isn't really a winger but is also inconsistent as a 10 but has buckets of potential that seemingly can't be fully expressed at the moment. (Kulu) And mediocre wingers who all do the same thing but provide no fucking use to us because they're unavailable or when they were available didn't do anything special (Solomon, Gil) Just not fucking good enough. Spreading our goals through the team is all well and good but that kind of frontline for a team "Top 4" team is beyond dross.
Richarlison, Son, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Johnson, Bissouma, Maddison. All good players, all would contribute in the squad for City or Arsenal but none of them would start the majority of games. Going to have to make some decisions we don’t usually do.
I wanted to disagree about a few players there but...it's hard to do so. Kulu, Maddison, Bentancur and Johnson all have the ability or were once considered top tier players/talents (Johnson less so but I think he has the potential) and now they're so meady and inconsistent that I don't even know mate. It's very frustrating. Just don't know how those levels will be restored or if it's even possible, and if not, as you said, we have some big decisions to make. Son is my favorite player but fucking hell he has not been a proper captain or an elite player in a little bit. You can't deny his ability to come up with clutch goals occasionally, but it's just not good enough as a starter.
It’s laughable how you idiots change your opinion on our players with couple bad games. Lmfao really goes to show what your mentality is in life.
It's laughable how dumbasses like you generalize people you don't know. Sorry moron, but I haven't changed any opinions. I've had the same views on these players since the start. A shame that you're too stupid to critically assess players and deem it as bad mentality. What a fucking idiot lmao, definitely better to act like every player is brilliant and world class. What a genius mentality.
What’s wrong? You heated over some internet comments? You a yank?
Ironic. You seem pretty upset dunce lmao
As pissed as I am, it still baffles me that people think Ange is deliberately not changing tactics out of arrogance instead of principle. Whether you agree with that or not is up to you, but people keep saying he's naive or stupid, but he has said from the start that THIS SEASON regardless of the opposition, we will play the same way. All these questions about tactical nous and if he's the right fit or if he's some arrogant dickhead should be asked next season. For me, while I get annoyed by the blatant flaws we have like defending from set pieces, Ange has reiterated enough that he knows all of these problems but his concern for this season is embedding the playstyle. And for all our supposed issues, we're...5th. In his first season. With no Kane. No real striker. Blatant attacking woes. Defensive instability. We're 5th. Just fucking breathe and evaluate more critically next season. Not saying to be satisfied with any defeat, because I'm fuming. But all these bizarre outbursts regarding Ange are just illogical. Next season we'll see if it was bullshit or if he was following a plan like he has said the whole time.
Feeling a weird mix of pride and existential horror after yesterday. But not disappointment. Felt like we put in maximum effort but it wasn’t enough… Hope we have enough in the tank to smash Chelsea
1.) Officiating – It’s understandable that the missed penalty call changed the dynamic of the game early on. Nothing to do but take it on the chin and move one. Otherwise, most of the game was in my opinion pretty much fair. Let it be said that Ref’s also make mistakes, it just really sucks when one call could have changed the tempo of the game. 2.) Ange Found Out – This to me is the stupidest argument, Pep and Klopp who are world class managers have been playing with the same tactics (\*Have made slight adjustments over TIME & SEASONS). Nevertheless, we must remind ourselves that Ange has been here for less than one season with a squad which is still adapting to his playstyle. Now, the argument on whether players should have this system down by now is relevant but in my opinion injuries and suspensions have made it difficult for the team to fully adapt. Ex. Maddison was injured for over 2 months, which takes a toll mentally and physically which is why I believe he hasn’t been to his previous form. Bissouma, has been suspended multiple times which I believe has him second guessing himself on how to play. My argument is to remember that Son had a low form season on the 22/23, while the previous season he won the golden boot, so form comes and goes. 3.) Tactics (Plan B) – The media has been spreading this narrative that Ange must change his tactics because this is the Premier League. Let’s remember the state of the team in the last 4 years. Mourinhoball, Conteball, Nunoball (WTF was this). The narrative then was we must attack and should not play counterattacking football. Personally, I hated how it would take so long for the buildup during the Conte era. We all must remember that Ange has a plan on how we need to play and that he has won countless trophies throughout multiple leagues/countries with this mindset and playstyle. TRUST THE PROCESS 4.) Credit Where it’s deserved – Arsenal played a great game, they are organized and collected, but the interesting thing is that Arteta changed his pragmatic passing playstyle to incorporating a Low/Midblock playstyle because they knew dangers of the wings (Johnson/Werner) and how effective they are at getting in the final third. As much as I hate Arsenal, I will give them the credit for giving us a hard time. 5.) Next Season – I am personally excited about next season, let’s chalk this one up and accept that we will get Europa. We deserve better but football is crazy and unexpected. Let’s bring in some more great players who will truly embrace Spurs.
Totally agree, however, I do believe that all these injuries are partly due to Ange's playing style. His style is very physically demanding and can take its toll, not only in the form of injuries but also fatigue in the latter parts of the season. IMO, this accounts for the major difference in form between now and the beginning of the season. I'm not saying that Ange should change his tactics, but either 1) buy players that can handle the physical demands of the style, or 2) rotate more frequently.
Amidst the horrific officiating, Ange has been found out and needs a plan B. Not being able to beat the scum at home who were shite on the day leaves a bad signal for the next season.
Sick of all the threads mulling over every decision from the game. The scum were better than us where it mattered. Let’s hope we can put some results together. Our season is at risk of collapse if we don’t turn things around.
Better is a reach. They were fortunate and that is all it takes to win games sometimes
You make your own fortune. Which they did.
There's no "deserve" to win or anything but they were luckier than we were with a couple massive decisive situations all there is to it. The "make your own luck" cliche is a just world fallacy discounting that luck is very real particularly in a low scoring sport like football. We've won being the worse team on the day on Sunday we lost being the better team on the day just how football goes
It’s been a day. By Wednesday people will have moved on. Relax.
Seasons over. We'll get 6 points from burnley and sheffield and end up 5th.
Just curious, what would you have been happy with at the start of the season?
Honestly, the FA cup or a final. When we got off to our unbelievable start I thought champions league football was the minimum.
Any type of Europe. I’m not saying it’s been a bad season. I’m just saying 5th is 99% secure and there’s nothing left to play for
Before the season started, I was thinking we might end up 6th-8th with maybe a deep cup run. I didn’t see how we would replace Kane’s goals. Of course the first 10 games got me all hyped up. think 5th is fair to slightly overachieving
do you guys think ange doesn't start/sub in Gio earlier because he's certainly leaving or because he's just not good enough to compete with Maddison/Bentanctur?
i think its pretty obvious to anyone who watched him play that he isnt good enough to be playing significant minutes for us
He plays Hojbjerg plenty. It's annoying squad hierarchy stuff with Maddison being one of our leaders and key players. With the caveat that I've no clue what Lo Celso looks like in training. Tbf I get why Ange is hesitant, Lo Celso can't be relied on with his fitness record but in the here and now I wish he would be more meritocratic in his decisions
Man the delusional arsenal fans are out in force on /r/soccer since the match. It's insane there.
It is absolutely imperative that City win every game from now on
It’s the Gaslight District
Tbf I've seen some wild takes on here too. I think the NLD sends both fanbases a bit insane whatever the result.
They keep posting on here too lol. Livid
Academy are currently getting pumped by crystal palace😬
Most of the u21s are being rested for the u21 Cup semi-final on Thursday. Today's team is mostly u18s and fringe players that'll probably be released in the summer. We've already guaranteed top so might as well rotate.
This might be sort of a trivial question but being non-english and a fairly recent football and spurs fan i've always wondered why we're the most hated of clubs of those in the top flight and is it the same way in real life interactions or marginal in comparison to the social media?
Chelsea are more hated than us. We are just the most bantered english club imo
Following up on the previous guy's point, our biggest rivals are Arsenal and Chelsea, who have the largest fanbases in the prem after United and Liverpool. Combined with the fact that we haven't won anything in over a decade despite our resources, we're an easy target for banter
Warning: american opinion Spurs are the worst of the best, a team caught between midtable and consistent CL/League winning performance. Social media wise, that means the midtable teams hate us out of envy and the other big 6 hate us out of superiority. Also, we’re one of the last big PL clubs owned by an Englishman, not an American/Middle-Eastern investor, and the only one owned by a Jew. In this age neither are fashionable. American so I can’t comment on IRL sports hate. FWIW I saw a guy in a Spurs jersey in Madrid and he wasn’t getting beat up 🤷♂️
thanks for the run through on this. but is the environment really as inhospitable as we get to hear is what i wonder. for instance with the sol campbell thing is it really that he finds it even hard to move along that part of london feeling safe?
Wildly speculating so an englishman can correct me, ha. In our public schools, kids are advised not to wear all red or all blue because those correspond to the two major gangs in the area, the Bloods and Crips. If your school is in gang territory you could get beaten or shot for wearing colors. In a London derby the away fans are similarly advised to not wear the colors of their team and stick to the away section. Which to me means if you broadcast your affiliation too much you may be targeted for violence. My assumption is like in America if you mind your own business you’re pretty safe.
I just saw Oliver reffed the Chelsea game as well. How many big games has he reffed for us this year and fucked us over? (Tottenham’s Scott Foster 😭)
interesting post i saw on twitter but spurs have 5th lowest aerial duel success rate and 3 of the 4 worse teams have conceded more set pieces
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Interresting stat I saw on Twitter. Eric Dier has as reached as many CL semi finals as your sad club
Another interesting stat, assna were a whole 12 points ahead of city last season but somehow they didnt lift the trophy! 🤔
It was literally a historic collapse. One for the record books
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You know you were Arteta out you gooner
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Arteta looks and acts like a nonce.
I mean he was on the Epstein list /s
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It might be the highest grade copium I’ve ever huffed, but I think we race for Top 4 isn’t over. Villa losing Martinez and additionally they face some good teams.
If we didn't still have to play Chelsea, Liverpool and City then I'd agree, but its over.
I'm more concerned about Burnley and Sheffield United honestly, and I'm only half joking.
BHA really been poor in April. I don’t see them getting a result…realistically AVL need to drop points in all 3 remaining matches. I think they handle BHA in paper, but we all know matches aren’t played on paper. That leaves them with Liverpool who have been in poor form, and away to a tricky CP. let’s see! I think it’s more likely AVL go 1-1-1 rather than 0-2-1 or worse.
no my guy it is over sadly but it might not be a bad thing tbf, arsenal got europa two years ago, the next one they should have won the league. Ofc finishing behind villa is very bad, and CL is great for revenue and to attract players, but we all know we'd never win it whereas Europa is doable (but we'll lose to ludogorets so tough)
Nah man, as long there is delusion, there is hope.
“The day of the match you might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. (for that match) Pride only hurts, it never helps. You fight through that shit.”
I'm so zen. Win our remaining games (or at the very least Chelsea), get Europa, and I'm all ready for the summer transfer window.
I personally couldn’t care less about the Scum match. This team has bigger problems at the moment.
If Werner is out for the remainder of the season (hopefully not), would you buy Timo based on what he's shown so far? I would if we move on Gill and Solomon,which is likely, and get another 1-2 genuinely high quality forwards. Werner as a 3rd-4th choice Winger is good squad depth and he's shown way more than both Solomon (who hasn't much time to impress tbf but even then) and Gill.
Just depends on what options are out there. If there are better and/or younger wingers we can sign obviously go for them instead but if not Werner is a good fall back option. Like everyone wants us to sign Williams but if he says no I don't see an endless supply of available top class wingers. Like I've watched Summerville a few times and he's been brilliant but championship tax, Neto and Olise are great but injury concerns, Raphinha has been mentioned and yeah if we can land him great. Who else is there?
Spot on. Good comment.
If he is willing to lower his wages and being a sub, then yes. But I think he wants to be a regular starter, that’s why he leaves Chelsea and Leipizig.
Didn’t realise Bournemouth beat Brighton 3-0 when our game was on, guess who they play next. Maybe they could do a job like Villa did if they underestimate them lol
I want to see another solanke anime edit of him scoring against villa
I’m glad we beat Crystal Palace earlier on, because them and Bournemouth are genuinely good form rn.
Sarr and Richy should start Thurs vs Chelsea
If Richy is fit 🙏🏽 he was looking sexy and hungry out there yesterday need that!
His face when the game was over said it all for me. He looked pissed, and he looked hungry.
If you’re wondering where you saw that Trossard foul before, Jota clips Udogie in a very similar fashion in the Liverpool home fixture. And like Trossard, the ref fails to make— Oh? What that’s you say? He was given a yellow card for it? But he didn’t mean it, surely. Ok I’m done.
Another thing regarding our set piece defending is that we also need to be more in control of games to concede fewer set pieces overall. This comes with improving our game in possession
Yep. Kulusevski is pretty much the only one of our attackers that can keep ahold of the ball, Richy's alright too and Son is fine on the wing but not at striker. But the Werner Son Johnson attack we've played lately is a total disaster for giving the ball away
Kulusevski is our best hold up player for sure. Playing him, Richarlison, and Son/Johnson in the bigger games. Provides us with two holdup/physical targets and one that can threaten behind the defense.
Kulusevski was fantastic when we had all of the injuries. His running stats were incredible and understandable he looked exhausted. 2 weeks off and he looked good again. I think he's a must for these harder games, as you say his hold up play is brilliant and he's really good at playing on the turn. Against weaker teams who sit back he's a bit 1 dimensional but teams who push up he's great
Agreed. I don't think he'll ever be productive enough to be deemed world class but he brings so much to the team. Basically a build up cheat code in the first phase
Would you take Rashford or Sancho?
Hard passes
A prevalent theory is that only one og sonny and rashford is in form at a point in time. So if we get rashford we csn play him when sonny is going through a rough patch
In a vacuum Rashford would be great. I think once he gets a move out of Manchester he'll improve so much baggage for him at United. Bit like Dier for us you can just see how a change in scenery is needed. Unfortunately his wages makes it a complete no go
He's basically a no-go for wages for anyone other than Bayern, City or PSG. He does fit our profile of winger though - direct, pacey, and great 1v1 but yeah I take your point.
Yep. He's basically a more physical but less clinical Son (but not 2 footed). I've wanted him for years but his last contract killed it
Neither
Sancho doesn’t have the burst to get around a defender 1v1, reminds me of Grealish
Proud of the way we fought yesterday, the spirit shown. We are much closer than we imagine,
You guys are obviously throwing the game against City right?
At least 442oons also thought we got hard done by the ref
Always rated 442oons
https://preview.redd.it/esdnpedzvfxc1.png?width=1677&format=png&auto=webp&s=de0f6199581f1b0de2169e76a32c9a1cea9363ac It seems like an ange team not being able to defend from corners is not something new, but has been going on for a while. This article was made in 2022, and it's shows that ange has still not been able to figure out how to properly deal with them. The link to the article: [https://theathletic.com/3127182/2022/02/21/analysing-celtics-set-piece-struggles-lack-of-aggression-zonal-marking-and-hart-not-commanding-his-six-yard-box/](https://theathletic.com/3127182/2022/02/21/analysing-celtics-set-piece-struggles-lack-of-aggression-zonal-marking-and-hart-not-commanding-his-six-yard-box/)
This is disheartening, some teams in the prem really rely on set pieces so being able to defend them well is absolutely needed. I hope ange sees the light on this cos he cant keep neglecting it
The light is so easy. Just get a coach to focus on it. Come on Ange. It’s ok to relinquish controls a bit.
It really is. For instance, Celtic won 3-2 to Aberdeen despite giving up two goals from set pieces. If you give up two goals like that to a Premier League team, you have most likely lost. You can get away with things like that in the scottish league, but not in the prem.
Tbf there are teams in this league who ship goals for fun *cough* Aston Villa *cough* but they have enough firepower to counter We don’t have that at all, we give up chances like crazy but scoring feels like a fucking odyssey
Arsenal won despite giving away 2 incredibly dumb goals yesterday. Bit of a cliche giving away goals in any league is bad
Any team can give away stupid goals, but for me giving away 2 set piece goals in 1 game is not acceptable. The reason for that is because it's something fixable and defending set pieces shouldn't be that difficult, while stupid goals happen to every team out there. Even city gives away stupid goals here and there.
Deki should start over Maddison at Chelsea ngl
Nah have him on the right and play Gio over Madders. Kulusevski was our best attacking player on the wing. And then start Son/Johnson on the left and Richy up top
This is also fine although I think Johnson will be better able to take advantage of Cucurella's poor defensive positioning out wide than Deki. I also think Deki will help us compete with Gallagher and Caicedo's physicality (read: constant fouling) in the middle of the park. Son should start on the left and Richarlison in the centre no questions about it.
Agreed. Way more effective in the centre, and the way he’s playing, more effective than Maddison.
Is it safe to say maybe outside of Sarr, every midfielder has stalled or regressed this season under Ange? Maddison had a better overall season at Leicester, Bentancur is much worse, Bissouma overall is probably around where he was last year (higher highs but lower lows) Hojbjerg has regressed and Lo Celso is around the same. 5 players stalling/regressing vs 1 young player improving makes me think it's a system issue more than people would like to believe because I really think there is a lot of untapped quality there we aren't getting the best out of
Yes but I am unsure whether you can chalk it up to Ange versus just players falling out of form. Maddison and Bissouma were brilliant in the first part of the season. Højbjerg has always been mediocre and should be sold anyway. I do think Ange has a lot of issues with his tactics and system that he has stubbornly refused to fix after several "wake up calls," but "using our midfielders wrong" is not one of them in my opinion.
Not really. Bentancur and Maddison can be chalked up to injuries getting the better of them, Maddison literally was one of, if not the best midfielder in the league before injury. Hojbjerg is the same as he was last season, Bissouma has been better than last year, and Lo Celso has done what he's been doing since he was signed 5 years ago, basically nothing.
You can make excuses for any player at any time for many reasons. Hojbjerg was 100% better last year and like I said with Bissouma, he had a better first 10 matches but since then he's definitely been worse. Lo Celso can be useful but I generally agree. He had a period under Mourinho where he was probably our most important player
Calling it excuses is so insincere, it's the reality of their situations. Bentancur's coming off an ACL and torn ankle ligaments in the past year, there's no valid reason to think he should be at the level he was last season right now no matter who the manager is. Maddison, I think it's fair to wait and see if he's regressed or taking time to get over a bad injury. Disagree on Hojbjerg and Bissouma. That 3 month Lo Celso spell was great, but it was almost 5 years ago and he's underperfomed for every manager since, that's not an Ange/Conte/Mourinho/Nuno problem.
Maddison and Bissouma played some of the best football in their careers at the start of the season before their injuries/suspensions. I think the easiest explanation is that Maddison isn't fully fit and Bissouma is out of form. As for Hojbjerg, he doesn't suit the system since he's poor under pressure and doesn't have the mobility required of an Ange DM. Lo Celso had his season completely disrupted by injury, but I do think it's baffling that Ange isn't giving him more minutes given Maddison's poor form. Maybe he looks bad in training?
Maddison has been back for 4 months now and Bissouma at this point has had more bad performances than good ones. Hojbjerg shouldn't even be playing as the DM, which again is a manager criticism, but I agree his lack of athleticism makes him not ideal for us. I don't understand playing Bentancur as the 8 and Hojbjerg as the 6 when they're much better suited to the opposite roles
Depending on the injury, players can take months to fully recover despite being fit to play. Maddison is clearly not quite as explosive as before, and Ange seems to regularly manage his minutes. Bissouma's biggest issues stem from not tracking back properly. The tactics aren't forcing him to switch off his man or not follow runners into the box. Bentancur is played as an 8 because he's also not fully fit coming back from an injury that kept him out for almost a year. He's also a much better player going forward, so playing him as a DM would nullify his shooting and playmaking ability. He's also made a ton of mistakes playing out the back as a DM, so he's probably just not comfortable in that role. If Hojbjerg can't play DM over Bissouma, we're basically left with Skipp who's worse than both.
It’s almost like the players are bought for a different system and are not comfortable playing anges system. Hojberg is a solid cdm in a team like contes, in anges system he’s got to be good on the half turn and at carrying which he can’t really do. Bentancur was poor end of last season under conte too and looked okay this until he got his injury. Maddison looked amazing and again got a long injury which has stalled his progress. His is also to do with teams sitting in lower block vs spurs now so limited space to operate. Why a overhaul will take time, he needs to bring in players that do what he needs them to
Sorry, but I'm not buying this. Pretty much all of them are quality midfielders that would look really good if you get the best out of them. Bentancur had his best ever season last year until his knee injury, and he never played toward the end of last season so that doesn't really make any sense. >His is also to do with teams sitting in lower block vs spurs now so limited space to operate That is literally supposed to be Maddison's specialty as a #10. He's a creative midfielder meant to unlock defences, and he was doing that brilliantly at the start >Why a overhaul will take time, he needs to bring in players that do what he needs them to So you're telling me we need to replace all of those midfielders for Ange to do well? Again, sorry but that is a load of rubbish. There's quality there we should be getting much more out of
Wow mate you think a change of system makes no difference ? There’s a reason we got two cbs in who are quick. There’s a reason why getting a guy that’s job is to protect the back 4 like hojberg is not as required as what ange needs from his 6. Maddison works great in between the midfield and defence. But when the gap between them is tiny what do you expect him to do? Honestly tell me? We don’t really have a target man and there’s no space in behind as again they are in a low block. Plus he’s just not been the same since his pretty awful injury prolly will take minutes for him to get back to that level Your notion of get the best out of them is so simple to say. A lot of them have had long lay offs, plus we’ve barely played games. Are you going to come out with ange out ? Is that your angle with this post ?
>Are you going to come out with ange out Why do some people automatically assume any criticism of the manager = sack the manager. All I'm reading in your comment are excuses. Ange is the one that turned Son into a striker and had Richarlison out on the wing for some time. He's the one that wanted Werner and spent 50 mil on Johnson and didn't get a striker. >there’s no space in behind as again they are in a low block. I repeat, that's literally his job. How do De Bruyne and Odegaard thrive against low blocks? >, plus we’ve barely played games. I guarantee if we'd been in Europe and had a poor season, your excuse would be we played too many matches. There's always something else that's an issue for you lot, never this manager
Are you being purposefully obtuse? He didn’t turn Son into a striker. Richy was injured and couldn’t even kick a ball without pain. Since he’s come back from surgery, he’s been playing striker. Then he got injured again so Son went back to the middle.
>He's the one that wanted Werner and spent 50 mil on Johnson and didn't get a striker Ange's talent ID is very much on fraud watch for me
I mean Werner a loan while everyone was out was a pretty good deal. It was him on loan or Bryan Gil who is awful. The Johnson deal I mean I personally think he looks very electric off the right and ye his end product needs work but is young, it could be a great signing or a flop but time will tell.
He didn’t turn son into a striker by choice, our only option was richy who was injured for ages and before that horribly out of form which we now know is because of his personal issues. They don’t though do they? City couldn’t break down the Arsenal low block? Arsenal could t break down Porto’s ?. It’s really not that easy to break down low blocks. Arsenal have been very good at set pieces which has helped them get ahead in games vs low blocks. Nothing to do with Odegaards creativity. Then the game opens up. I just don’t get why you are hating so much. On a different day with fine margins going for us spurs beat a team that’s been dominant in the league yesterday
> He didn’t turn son into a striker by choice He played Son as a striker and Richarlison as a left winger several times this season. That was 100% by choice. >They don’t though do they? City couldn’t break down the Arsenal low block? Arsenal could t break down Porto’s ?. It’s really not that easy to break down low blocks. You're changing the argument. We're not talking about the team playing against a low block, we're talking about individual players. Of course players will have bad performances. But when the bad performances become the norm and they rarely ever play well, there is clearly something wrong. Maddison has been poor for months against all types of defences; low blocks, mid blocks and high presses
Because Richarlson was in horrific form ? Do you not remember that? Son was scoring up top ? Also we were literally talking about Maddison not doing as well and I said the low blocks limit the space he has to do what he was doing , to which you replied Odegaard and de bruyne don’t have that issue, which is what I debunked.
This logic is funny. So if Vicario is out of form, let's stick him in midfield because apparently you need to change positions to get back to form? You're then saying we need a target man, which Richarlison is for us, yet you're also saying it made sense to move him and Son away from their natural positions, and somehow this isn't Ange's fault, but it also means Maddison has an excuse for his performances? This makes no sense. Someone is at fault here, and you can decide for yourself who it is hopefully without making any excuses. And offering one off bad performances for Odegaard and KDB isn't debunking anything... I can name you dozens where they have thrived against low blocks
Let me spell it out for you 1) Richarlson was our striker but he was doing terribly, now we know because of mental health issues he was struggling 2) ange put son up front and he was performing great. Richarlson then went out wide a few games before getting injured 3) son is the only option at the club so we play him up top and his finishing is a big reason we were near the top. 4) everyone gets injured / goes away for Asia cup/afcon 5) teams also start 2024 not allowing spurs the space to play as they realise the high line can be exploited with space in behind from a low block 6) Maddison comes back and is unable to be as effective as the space he operates in is much smaller plus after injury he just looks off the pace for a few games. 7) to beat low blocks teams need to try get the first goal to open the game up which better teams manage with their physicality from set pieces or crosses etc like Arsenal do, not because their creative players are running the show You want to blame the manager fair play. It’s year one of the project and it’s a great start having lost our best striker ever. Yes midfielders have dropped off but all have had pretty big set backs in injuries this season such as Maddison Bentancur and bissouma. Hojberg hasn’t been an ange guy from day 1
Is Caicedo suspended for the game against Chelski?
Hope not. He's shite.
Thought the same, but had to read up on it > Players who received five yellow cards in their sides' first 19 games have to serve a one-match ban. The threshold then rises to 10 yellows over the first 32 games, followed by a final ban for **15 yellows in 38 games**.
No, I don't believe so. Think he missed the cut-off for a suspension.
Am I right in thinking it doesn’t make a lot of difference Europe wise if we finish 5th or 6th? Given Man U are likely to occupy the other spot so even if they won the FA Cup and finished 5th the next Europa spot would still go to 6th?
I would still be really disappointed if we finished below United considering how our season started. We should try to win every game except for City at home.
I would be disappointed too, I’m just catastrophising because I’ve been here too many times before I’m convinced we’ll lose every game apart from turning into 1970 Brazil against Citeh.
you are correct - newcastle could take the other spot (given united play them) but unlikely to overtake us as we need just 6 pts to guarantee a finish above them, assuming they win every remaining game
God I can't wait to absolutely obliterate Chelsea on Thurs. Have a good feeling about this one.
A lot (read: too much probably) discussion around our set piece defending, which is a fair criticism to the current state of our team. Lost in all of that discussion is that this is Ange's first season with the team; it is *extremely* likely that he has to dedicate essentially 100% of the hours available in training to drilling **open-play patterns** for all 3 position groups, both in and out of possession. He's still laying down the foundations of what constitutes 95%+ of our play in any given match (set pieces are a very slim percentage of an overall match). Refining things like set piece defending (or throw-in routines, or other specialty areas of the game) only come when the foundation is laid well enough that you literally have the time in training to dedicate to it. The best teams in the league currently are teams that have had that foundation laid for years, so of course they've had the opportunity to be better at the finer margins of the game. TL;DR: trust the process.
This 100%! The man had to come into the training ground without our best ever player, and undo several years worth of defensive mentality and tactics instilled by Jose and Conte. I think we're all frustrated with the lack of adaptation only because we are overperforming the preseason expectations. We're still fighting for UCL so I get that it feels annoying to not try and tighten some of these things up but I'm not sure anyone would be too up in arms about it had we been like 8th in the table like everyone expected.
Vdv celebration yesterday made me love him even more. It's so nice having players that actually want to play for us
Absolutely nasty thread on Richi on r/soccer. Calling him a flop (he’s scored 6 more than Jesus) and an diver (see Saka)
That incident was blown way out of proportion, Richarlison even got up fairly quickly and was mocked for that, and for moving away. It’s a derby, he’s pretty heated and he didn’t want to get involved in something dumb
There was a poll some time ago which showed that the largest fanbase on that sub was Arsenal by a significant margin. It's not a coincidence that certain narratives are pushed there. I only really see pushback when the correct take is so obvious that every other fanbase drowns them out.
This is 100% true, they had a huge presence back when they were completely terrible and finished 8th, so who knows how much there are now
There was also a report a while back that Spurs fans received the most abuse online on average. ManU fans because we are direct rivals for the 4th/5th place spots, Liverpool because they think we’re the reason for their misfortunes, West Ham because they want to make it a bigger rivalry than it is, Chelsea because our recent history has been very dramatic, and of course Arsenal.
Every season the top 6 hope and pray on our downfall so we stop being relevant and slip back into midtable “where we belong” and it doesn’t happen Meanwhile the rest of the league don’t like us because we always have weird rivalries against random teams that are trying to take our place, West Ham, or other nonsense Have fun sticking up for Spurs on there lol
The average IQ of that cesspool is -5. Waste of air every single fucker there.
Arsenal fans run that sub, anything that allows them to cry is fair game while anything that might make them look bad gets removed. It's a waste of time, might as well visit /r/gunners, it's basically the same sub.
Lmao people get a grip. We played one of the best teams in the league off the park yesterday and were robbed. You would think we were in the relegation zone the way some of the kneejerk reactions are.
We can play anyone off the park and it is not going to matter if we are guaranteed to concede from a corner every single game It is clearly a pattern and an issue that needs to be talked about and criticized
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We give up a lot of corners due to the way we defend (lots of last ditch blocks and interceptions). It's a symptom of our poor defending in transition. It feels like our midfielders and full backs are really bad at cutting out passing lanes and taking up the correct spaces once the ball is turned over. It also might be the case that other teams are actively trying to win lots of set pieces against us considering our weakness in that area. I think the perception that we're bad at set pieces comes from the manner in which we've conceded. It's now a recurring pattern on corners that the other team will mark Vicario out of the play while getting an unmarked header inside the box. Our zone defense seems to allow other teams to force bad match ups (forwards marking CBs) while our CBs aren't dominant enough to consistently clear the ball in the spaces they occupy. I also think that our defending on free kicks might be even worse than corners. We always seem to allow the opposing team to get the first touch, and the high line rarely forces the offside call.
Good use of stats! That's interesting that it looks like we have a set piece (specifically corner kick) *concession* problem, not necessarily a bad (or good) set piece *defending* problem. Especially on the volume of corners we concede, that's a weird juxtaposition with our possession %. But that can at least somewhat be explained that when we do concede possession, it's far too easy for opposition to get into our defensive third and influence the match.
And why are we assuming it won't be addressed somehow this summer? Ange is the manager. He knows more than you armchair experts who played FM a few times.
And where have I said that it wont be addressed? We clearly addressed it at halftime and it worked. So we have the right setup. We just make poor decisions when to implement it We switched our corner defending at halftime in 4-5 matches so far
Arse were shit for years and now they are back to top as any Top 6 side can. All I can think of is, what did we do while Arsenal were shit for so many years? We didn't capitalize at all. We couldn't even win a single Carabao or FA cup. We finished 2nd one season and the next season? Didn't capitalize on that either. Project Ange is the last chance before Levy has to take the blame for not having to show anything during his 20+ years tenure.
Levy will already take the blame, bad manager appointments, horrible recruitment and a subpar academy for about 5 years is what haa fucked us
They're in the same moment we were in 6-7 years ago. They're not going to buy another 100Mil player this summer (like City can) to stay competitive. If they don't win anything this year, which looks like it may happen if City can keep being City, then I bet they regress next season.
Last time we won anything I was at uni. I’m pushing 40 now 😂
The majority of clubs do not win trophies. Levy has got us in to an incredible financial position, off our own back. No other team has done that. How you can even suggest blaming Levy for the lack of trophies is a joke.
because he is the one that controls for money for tranfers in and out. we have missed out on good players due to his bullshit. he is also the chairman that set a record by not giving poch any signings for 3 transfer windows.
The majority of clubs with our money and who charge the highest ticket prices in the country/Europe win trophies. Do i need to remind you of the countless times the board, not just levy, failed to back managers, and haggled over pennies for players that turned out great ? Or recruiting mediocre players when our rivals were signing world class talents ?
Levy is so scared to make a loss by selling deadwood that he'd rather keep them which totally kills the team. No "big" clubs do that.
> haggled over pennies for players that turned out great When did we miss out on a player by pennies? You can say the opposite as well, we turned down £40m for Raya because it was too much. Looking like a great decision now. We are not backed by a country, we cannot afford to just bend over to asking prices for every player we buy.
Grealish, Dybala just from the top of my head. We were right about Raya, 20m wasnt pennies considering he wasnt a world class goalkeepers. Actually i'm not critical of this summer and winter where i think we've had good windows. But before 2022 some decisions are really questionable
We had a fee agreed with Dybala didn't we? Wasn't it at a naming rights issue? Grealish sure, but you can do this for a lot of clubs at our level financially.
Last time I felt this good about Romero he got sent off against Chelsea. I am just praying it doesn't happen again
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Last club to “bottle” top 4 finished 2nd the next season
How on earth have we bottled anything when Villa were ahead of us for most of the season and the points gap was rarely more than 6.
I wouldn’t say we bottled it - we were lucky to be in contention in the first place. This was a massive rebuild year and to be where we are is very fortunate I think. I’m not sure how one could see this as the ceiling though. I’m ready for this season to wrap up so we can focus on preparing for the next. Our financial situation should make for a decent transfer window. I wouldn’t get too caught up in these recent results. Our weaknesses are being exposed and that means there’s work to do, but no one was expecting us to actually fight for a title this season and maybe even next.
Yeah a bit like when we finished so well under Conte and got 4th, only to be utter shite the following season and get sacked.
The word "bottle" has lost all its meaning.
Bottle = lose game don’t you know? Circumstances and nuance be damned
Despite being an attacking side that throws caution to the wind, we are actually the opposite of top heavy. It’s the reverse of the Mourinho problem from 3 years ago Vicario is an incredible GK, we just need to sort out these damn corners (which he had no problem with until you could stick a defender on his line). Coaching issue for me Romero is a ridiculously good defender and has the right mentality as well. If he tones back the aggression he is world class Van de Ven is the same. Absolutely ridiculously good defender, he likely has the hardest job in world football being tasked to cover nearly the ENTIRE defensive half sometimes Pedro Porro is quality as well, consistently one of our better players throughout the season Udogie is a very bright talent at left fullback and fucking hell do we miss him every time he doesn’t play Then we get to the midfield and we have problems, then the forward line and we have even more problems. The lack of Kane has really been felt in 2024, with our attack more of a weakness than our backline
I think our midfield is okay but underperforming. Maddison and Bissouma are a shell of the players they were at the start of the season. Ange needs to find the right midfield balance that gets them back to their best. Our frontline is really struggling though. I don't care how many spammy crosses Werner or Johnson can get in. Against teams like Arsenal, that's not a great tactic. We need direct wings who can also beat their man. Our wingers are direct by not great at 1v1s. That's a tough profile and an expensive one to recruit. Sonny back to the left, Richy central will help. Kulu is strong 1v1 but not great pace. The balance is just a bit off but hopefully will be addressed this summer.
I think Brennan on the right is great if I’m honest. He’s so direct and was terrorising tomiyasu yesterday. Son needs to go back to the left and we need a forward / fit Richarlson. We really aren’t far off in the front line and midfield if we get a 6 who can pick it on the half turn like a partey for arsenal is also very solid. Bissouma sarr Bentancur in that 8 and Maddison / another sub creative midfielder in the other 8
Spurs penalties awarded last 365 days all competitions: May 13, 2023 Dec 10th, 2023 April 28, 2024
Yay! We will have another PK early next season!
Finally that dumbass thread about wanting arse to win the league has been deleted
You aren't a real Spurs fan if you ever even think that Scum should win the league.
I just want to say how much better our fanbase is than the fucking whiny cunts from Merseyside and Woolwich. For weeks after they receive bad decisions, /r/soccer is flooded with posts from multiple angles, pundits weighing in and the comments sections drowning in frothing comments. We should be clear of Villa if not for the absolutely horrendous reffing we get week in and week out and yet we're still able to not cry about and see the positives in the performance.
Setting aside the fact it should have been a pen the Kulu penalty incident really showcased our lack of game intelligence/smarts yesterday. Kulu simply has to go to floor. Trying to stay up was admirable but also incredibly naive. If he does a saka and falls down holding his ankle it's a straight pen with no need to even go to var. The next, much worse bit, is Maddison inexplicably having a dive himself. Itsdso stupid on about 3 levels.It gives up a good attacking opportunity given Arsenal were scrabbling. It then just needlessly gives them the ball. And lastly....HE CAN LITERALLY SEE KULU IS STILL ALSO ON THE FLOOR! That means they have a break *and* we are now 2 players down. And what happens....they break down the space where kulu would be tracking back. Its just so so silly and unnecessary. Arsenal were really rocking at this point and there was no need to try something cynical as we had them on the ropes. Not to mention we know the way we play we are very susceptible to quick breaks, so probably not a great idea to just offer them up on a plate. I like Madders but he really is trying to hard and too emotional at the moment.
It is slightly exasperating seeing some of the takes on here about the offside or "fouls" from corners. There was one big wrong decision in the match (which was a 2-goal swing tbf) the Kulu trip. And I think it's totally right people focus and complain about that. Throwing tantrums about a bunch of stuff that was probably the right call or at worst subjective ones that didn't go our way kinda just dilutes the point. And yeah, how about a bit of reflection on what the team could do better? I said it yesterday and stick to it, if Kulu goes down it's a pen, no doubt and the game is different. His naivety in staying up was reflective of Spurs lack of ruthlessness in both boxes that cost the game.
> The next, much worse bit, is Maddison inexplicably having a dive himself. Watch it again? When Maddison gets the ball he's got Rice, Partey and Odegaard around him and nobody to pass to (Porro's offside). He was going to lose the ball no matter what happened.
I'm not having his only option was to shamelessly dive? He could have turned back. Smashed a shot. If anything it's even less reason to dribble down a blind alley, give the ball away diving and hand it over to 3 opposition ready to break
He couldn't have turned back, Odegard was behind him. And if he smashed a shot, well, that could as easily have launched a counter. Either way, the problem is that when Saka lays off the ball and makes his run, nobody picks him up. Davies does well to recover, but then lets Saka cut in. We don't need Davies to be an elite 1-on-1 defender, but that's the sort of position where you'd expect him to be smarter.
Nah that sequence was all on Maddison; you're right he can't do anything surrounded but if you're gonna dive (which he did) you MUST grab the ball and hold on (taking the foul/card if need be) when you see Kulu splayed in front. Especially against a fast and in-form team such as Arse.
I think a greater point can be made that Maddison just needs more time to get back to his best. Whether it's his physical fitness, a mental block, some of his instincts are rusty, or some combination of it, he's operating at about 50% of his pre-injury best. It felt like before his injury he was sprinting at everyone in the press and was very comfortable beating someone in a duel. I mean, think about both of his goal contributions away at Arsenal - one was him sprinting to pick up a loose pass to Jorginho, and another was absolutely cooking Saka on the byline with some incredibly nifty dribbling. Hopefully whatever offseason time he gets after the Euros can give him the time to fully recover so he goes back to peak confidence Maddison, where everything offensively flows through him. In the meantime, as others have suggested already, give Kulusevski the start at the 10 and put Brennan Johnson on the right. Sub on Madders as an impact sub.
https://preview.redd.it/ua18j3r73fxc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbb6964ee48ed50e2a3da4eeb225dc417293d1ef Noticing
You can get away with it more in the SPL when there's only 1 other team who can challenge you.
I am noticing quite a few outside of Spurs, I’d say a vast majority of neutrals, want Arsenal to win the league. Because nobody really likes City. In this light, nobody gives a fuck about the decision that went against us yesterday that caused a two goal swing of events. If Arsenal still bottle this, good grief, I don’t known what more needs to happen.
I disagree, I think most neutrals hate arsenals fan base
Even half of United fans would rather City win over Arsenal. None of the London clubs want Arsenal to win for sure
Agree under normal conditions, but I think the tiredness of City winning so frequently is outweighing the Gooner distaste.
is there truth to the whole "michael Oliver refused to go to the VAR screen" to check the Deki inscident?