Feels heavy to lose 2 goals in the dying minutes of the game. Wolves deserved their win though. They pressed hard and it was looking like they'd not be able to find the quality to score, but found it right at the end of the game unfortunately from a Spurs perspective.
We're being found out when it comes to squad depth; the early warning to this was against Fulham in the Carabao Cup.
@TiffyBelle@spurs I disagreed with the squad Postecoglou played. Hojbjerg is an awful replacement for Maddison & the attack was weak as a result. It always seemed a matter of time. Betancur should have started & relieved by Lo Celso when he was spent. Hojbjerg replacing Bissouma. I also wanted to see Phillips. All caution & no dare today. Let’s hope that changes against Villa. Udogie will return & Bissouma suspended. #coys#THFC
I was a bit surprised by our midfield. Not so much by PEH coming in, but in playing Sarr on the left when he's so settled on the right. Just didn't seem to work and we lacked control. Squandered possession too much.
@SwellWines@TiffyBelle@spurs I think it was a damning indictment of our lack of depth. The team stopped pushing forward with gusto the moment the goal went in. They were clearly playing to manage the score for most of the game. Things changed a little with Bentancur, Gil, and surprisingly Lo Celso, but still both Dier and PEH were trying to ice the game and win with defense. I can’t imagine that’s what Ange wanted.
@SwellWines@TiffyBelle@spurs especially after the last game, when we were playing the swashbuckling and daring high line to the end approach, to see us drop our defense so deep for large parts of the game was frustrating.
It's a real shame Dier and Davies couldn't hold on. The ratings across the back 4 were all excellent with about 20 minutes to go. Davies was in the 8s - remarkable for him.
But there was something about the way Wolves kept coming that made me think they'd sneak one. We were too deep.
My worry about PEH starting came true: I can't help but feel he'd have been the better option saved for later as a controlling sub.
If one thing is for certain he won't stop trying to play Angeball. He won't make adaptations that compromise the long-term aim or belief. The problem in this match was they didn't play. Tried to adapt too much. The balance of midfield was off. If anything, he proved his point to these players: if you stop playing our game, you're going to lose anyway.
I'm not sure any combination of current players would have done much better, sadly.
Btw, I honestly don't think he's approaching this season in terms of "we must beat team X or team Y at all costs" and adapting his tactics accordingly. He's less about winning the league this season and more about building the system and getting the squad playing his way. He's trying to build a system regardless of the players he's got, like he talked about in the recent Rio Ferdinand video and discussed here: https://trainingground.guru/articles/ange-postecoglou-beliefs-of-an-elite-manager
@spurs@Martin@SwellWines@hallenbeck@TiffyBelle@Jfrites
I’m going to be optimistic (I know, I know, it’s Spurs, I should know better. Anyway, coys) and think that maybe what you said will finally click with the current group. They’ll see how they were praised after the last game and how they gave away a game at the last minute by trying to be cautious. This is an important lesson.
Yeah, it takes a while longer with players that aren't as good, as he's demonstrated in the past with his teams. But they do click eventually. Tbf to the team today, they've played hardly any minutes together so it'll probably take a few more games for them to reach the fabled "click" point, by which point, we're going to be getting the preferred XI back. Some European football would have probably helped. It's a mess, sadly. 😅
@Jfrites@TiffyBelle@spurs@SwellWines@hallenbeck there must be some reason why he didn’t play at all. We had two young CBs on the bench for this. Ange was seeing Dier and Davies drop and still kept them on the bench. Maybe that’s a teaching opportunity, but maybe he just doesn’t trust the kids to that level quite yet.
In Ange's pre-match presser he was heavily hinting that Ash just isn't there yet. Still lots of work to do and he'll get there if he keeps training hard.
Add comment