28 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

This is one of the drawback of passing map, if a player move a lot, it will give you an average position plus it also doesn't capture off ball movements. 

Gallagher probably played deep first and then went forward.  That is why he received tons of ball from disasi and gusto. 

What Gallagher will do is influenced by what our rw and rb want to to. If our rw drift middle (in this pic Maatsen), Conor will stay back next to Caicedo more

But imagine, Maatsen staying wide on the side line. Gallagher will pass to Maatsen. Now what? Maatsen will be isolated. 

You will need either gusto (too far away in this instance) or Gallagher to make run to help Maatsen. 

 

 

 

The essence of successful attacks is speed and surprise. Passing to an isolated player who with help finds a solution leads to many good attacks. Almost by definition a wide player wants space and to get space they need to be isolated. A common strategy as I’m sure you know is to work the ball on one side, or in defence and the switch out wide. Isolated from defenders is good maybe from your own players less so. 
 

In the photo you show even if maatsen us on touchline there is plenty of support and options. 

Bob's got a point. I think not having a natural LB is the root cause. 

- Madueke is a naturally wide player, which leaves him more isolated vs if he was an inside forward. 

- The CAM has to combine with the LW primarily because we have Colwill at LB. 

- Madueke can combine with Gusto, but options are limited and Gusto will be responsible for a lot of running. 

- Gallagher has to step up and combine with Madueke as a result. 

 

Poch could coach Madueke to leave his position to come inside and deeper more, this will also help create gaps/channels. 

 

Upto 158 pages this thread and no doubt it is full of "he's doing okay" to "he must go" via "knew he was no good, he's f**king Spurs.......................!"

I was a strong advocate for the Pochettino appointment and have gone from happy, to not so sure back to happy and then losing faith. But last couple of performances have restored that faith somewhat. And I think this season, that was always going to be the case, with so many changes and such a young squad and then factoring in injuries. But it's crazy, as I look at our results and games we could / should have won and think we could easily have another 12 points which would put us top 4 and level with Arsenal. I know it's all ifs and buts but IF we had played Petrovic earlier and IF we had a half-decent striker, we would definitely be in a CL place. Let's not forget we are also a semi final v Boro away from a Wembley final and possible silverware.

So yes, there have been disappointments and some very poor performances, but overall, I'm comfortable with where we are. There are some very promising signs that some of the players can be the nucleus of the team for a good few seasons to come and we just need to add some real quality to have us challenging for PL & CL again (Striker and CB). I do want to see Pochettino give more chances to the likes of Mudryk, Madueke & Gilchrist rather than Sterling and Disasi and I honestly feel we can still push for top 4 this season, as it is one of those seasons where everyone is dropping points. Posted a few weeks back that I could see Arsenal winning PL this season and yet now look at them. Hilarious!!

 

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Bob's got a point. I think not having a natural LB is the root cause. 

- Madueke is a naturally wide player, which leaves him more isolated vs if he was an inside forward. 

- The CAM has to combine with the LW primarily because we have Colwill at LB. 

- Madueke can combine with Gusto, but options are limited and Gusto will be responsible for a lot of running. 

- Gallagher has to step up and combine with Madueke as a result. 

 

Poch could coach Madueke to leave his position to come inside and deeper more, this will also help create gaps/channels. 

 

If only we had a LB the club values at £30m on the bench that Poch could use...

Chilwell is back in full training as is Chukwumeka. I’d not use Chucky at left back but chiller is a possibility until the next injury. 

12 hours ago, Nibs said:

Upto 158 pages this thread and no doubt it is full of "he's doing okay" to "he must go" via "knew he was no good, he's f**king Spurs.......................!"

I was a strong advocate for the Pochettino appointment and have gone from happy, to not so sure back to happy and then losing faith. But last couple of performances have restored that faith somewhat. And I think this season, that was always going to be the case, with so many changes and such a young squad and then factoring in injuries. But it's crazy, as I look at our results and games we could / should have won and think we could easily have another 12 points which would put us top 4 and level with Arsenal. I know it's all ifs and buts but IF we had played Petrovic earlier and IF we had a half-decent striker, we would definitely be in a CL place. Let's not forget we are also a semi final v Boro away from a Wembley final and possible silverware.

So yes, there have been disappointments and some very poor performances, but overall, I'm comfortable with where we are. There are some very promising signs that some of the players can be the nucleus of the team for a good few seasons to come and we just need to add some real quality to have us challenging for PL & CL again (Striker and CB). I do want to see Pochettino give more chances to the likes of Mudryk, Madueke & Gilchrist rather than Sterling and Disasi and I honestly feel we can still push for top 4 this season, as it is one of those seasons where everyone is dropping points. Posted a few weeks back that I could see Arsenal winning PL this season and yet now look at them. Hilarious!!

 

I'll always back Pochettino unless it becomes relegation level stupidity. 

But I think we as fans become completely irrational when the going gets tough. I see so many people calling for his sacking, yet I don't see anyone say "get rid of Poch, get X in", hardly anyone ever offers a solution. I wanted Potter gone from the get-go because I felt we could get far better alternatives to Potter. I wanted us to go in for Zidane, if not Zidane then someone like Pochettino. 

I don't think Pochettino is going to win us trophies or take us to the elite level, but I think he can lay the foundations and get something clicking if we give him time. All this talk of sacking him with no solutions is ridiculous throwing your toys out of the pram mentality.

My big gripe with a lot of fans on here who want Pochettino gone is the lack of understanding as to how inexperienced this team is. And it's nothing to do with age, it's the fact that more than half of our XI playing every week is having their debut season, and some of them it's a PL debut. That is massive and I wish more people would understand that, outside age and injuries, that is the biggest factor. When has any other team gone through a transition such as this? If I remember correctly I think the only time I've seen it is with Tony Fernandes when he bought QPR, we all saw how that went. 

But I'll be completely honest in saying that we've done worse than I expected. I was confident until the injuries came, Nkunku was a big kick in the balls for me and I felt we were going to have a tricky season because our players just can't stay fit. But some players just aren't performing and Pochettino isn't getting the best out of them, the two notable ones are Enzo and Caicedo, two of whom I believe could take this team to the next level. 

18 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Poch could coach Madueke to leave his position to come inside and deeper more, this will also help create gaps/channels. 

 

There are a lot of stuff that Madueke still need to fix as a winger. One step at a time. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

There are a lot of stuff that Madueke still need to fix as a winger. One step at a time. 

 

 

Like defending. Mudryck is so much better at tracking back. Madueke could study a few Willian videos for how it’s done. 

Edited January 3, 20242 yr by ozboy

4 hours ago, Victor90 said:

I'll always back Pochettino unless it becomes relegation level stupidity. 

But I think we as fans become completely irrational when the going gets tough. I see so many people calling for his sacking, yet I don't see anyone say "get rid of Poch, get X in", hardly anyone ever offers a solution. I wanted Potter gone from the get-go because I felt we could get far better alternatives to Potter. I wanted us to go in for Zidane, if not Zidane then someone like Pochettino. 

I don't think Pochettino is going to win us trophies or take us to the elite level, but I think he can lay the foundations and get something clicking if we give him time. All this talk of sacking him with no solutions is ridiculous throwing your toys out of the pram mentality.

My big gripe with a lot of fans on here who want Pochettino gone is the lack of understanding as to how inexperienced this team is. And it's nothing to do with age, it's the fact that more than half of our XI playing every week is having their debut season, and some of them it's a PL debut. That is massive and I wish more people would understand that, outside age and injuries, that is the biggest factor. When has any other team gone through a transition such as this? If I remember correctly I think the only time I've seen it is with Tony Fernandes when he bought QPR, we all saw how that went. 

But I'll be completely honest in saying that we've done worse than I expected. I was confident until the injuries came, Nkunku was a big kick in the balls for me and I felt we were going to have a tricky season because our players just can't stay fit. But some players just aren't performing and Pochettino isn't getting the best out of them, the two notable ones are Enzo and Caicedo, two of whom I believe could take this team to the next level. 

I agree with a lot of that but the bit in bold, yes, some of the performances have been really poor but overall, when you factor in the injuries, I think we're pretty much where I'd expect but on the climb and improving.

What does get my goat is the folk who still post after a defeat, "get Mourinho back - he wouldn't lose to teams like Forest and Brentford - he'd shore up the defence, etc etc". Couldn't think of a worse coach to bring in with such a young squad. Some people have such short memories and it seems, only remember the good times.

I know we’re abit up and down but we’re in sight of 6/7th. Would like to think that with returning players from injury, we could have a little push up the table. 

4 hours ago, ozboy said:

Like defending. Mudryck is so much better at tracking back. Madueke could study a few Willian videos for how it’s done. 

To be fair Madueke tracked back several times in the last match to great effect, maybe he has sorted this in training, or he has realised he has to do it to keep his place,  but he definitely made much more of an effort.

18 hours ago, JM7 said:

I know we’re abit up and down but we’re in sight of 6/7th. Would like to think that with returning players from injury, we could have a little push up the table. 

We will be up and down rest of the season and probably 2-3 seasons after that (if we continue with the young squad). I wouldn't be overly worried about it. I actually hope we don't make the Europe. We would be better off not having to deal with European Cup games if they are not lucrative CL games. CL we won't make this season. 

I think the table position aspirations are a bit irrelevant. We need to build a core and get our players back from these horrific injuries. I would just go game by game and look for improvements and hope we are getting towards a more consistent side. When we start showing signs of that we can start thinking about where we are on that table.

On 03/01/2024 at 14:46, dkw said:

To be fair Madueke tracked back several times in the last match to great effect, maybe he has sorted this in training, or he has realised he has to do it to keep his place,  but he definitely made much more of an effort.

He tracked back very well for the England U21s, bailed out the RB a number of times. He has it in his game.

2 minutes ago, dermott said:

He tracked back very well for the England U21s, bailed out the RB a number of times. He has it in his game.

I`m always wary of questioning attacking players defending, tracking back etc as we never really know what their instructions are. They could very easily have been told to never track, always stay up as an outlet. Ive had coaches that told attacking players to stay the hell away from the defence as they cause more problems than helped ha ha...

14 hours ago, dkw said:

I`m always wary of questioning attacking players defending, tracking back etc as we never really know what their instructions are. They could very easily have been told to never track, always stay up as an outlet. Ive had coaches that told attacking players to stay the hell away from the defence as they cause more problems than helped ha ha...

Unless you are a star, manager will always ask you to track back. 

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Unless you are a star, manager will always ask you to track back. 

Nope, not even close. Even under Jose we used to leave Duff and Robben high all the time, they weren't expected to track but stay up as an outlet and to hold back full backs. 

Loads of teams have players that aren't stars that don't track.

32 minutes ago, dkw said:

Nope, not even close. Even under Jose we used to leave Duff and Robben high all the time, they weren't expected to track but stay up as an outlet and to hold back full backs. 

Loads of teams have players that aren't stars that don't track

That was a long time ago. This days no chance. If you leave 3 man not tracking back you will end up like PSG. 

 

"Loads of teams have players that aren't stars that don't track" 

Who? 

49 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

That was a long time ago. This days no chance. If you leave 3 man not tracking back you will end up like PSG. 

 

"Loads of teams have players that aren't stars that don't track" 

Who? 

Man City, Liverpool, villa, Brighton, Bournemouth. 

31 minutes ago, dkw said:

Man City, Liverpool, villa, Brighton, Bournemouth. 

Who doesn't track back for pool and villa? 

Edited January 6, 20242 yr by Bob stark

3 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Who doesn't track back for pool and villa? 

Their players.

I really have no hopes with this guy in charge. He is useless. 

A full pre season and no European football and we look like that after six months. It is embarrassing. 

Slow, boring football that would put anyone to bed even after six Red Bulls and ten espressos. 

Pochettino makes mid table Scottish league matches look like the most entertaining thing in world football. 

Gets a lot of criticism and we were poor in the first half against poor opposition but a 4-0 win in any game without a proper striker is nothing to snease at.

We looked better with his changes as well Silva coming on and scoring straight away looks good for Poch.

The 2 domestic cups will define our season so big win for him

Gets a lot of stick. But I personally think that this squad is too young and  not to mention the constant injuries. Will cause these inconsistencies. Who else would do a better job that is available.

 

 

50 minutes ago, Jezq8 said:

Gets a lot of stick. But I personally think that this squad is too young and  not to mention the constant injuries. Will cause these inconsistencies. Who else would do a better job that is available.

 

 

It's not too young to change the style of football though, something Pochettino hasn't even touched since the day he arrived. We play exactly the same way we used to play and with players that haven't even been here very long. It doesn't make any sense, they should have their own style. Mudryk is a good example of a coach not using him to his strengths and playing him in a system that doesn't work for him. He is expected to be Eden Hazard, to be capable of stopping the ball dead and suddenly taking them out of the game with quick dribbling and tight ball control, but Mudryk can't do that. He is all about using his pace to get in behind defenders and having the ball played in front of him. Almost every single one of our attackers are more suited to a direct approach. Mudryk, Nkunku, Sterling, Madueke, Jackson, Broja, they are all expected to play Eden Hazard football and burst into life from a standing position when they are all better at getting the ball in attacking positions quickly and having something to run onto.

The only tactical change we have seen is a move away from a back 3. I've been saying for a while that I don't think Pochettino has his own style of football and I think that is proving itself to be true.

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It's not too young to change the style of football though, something Pochettino hasn't even touched since the day he arrived. We play exactly the same way we used to play and with players that haven't even been here very long. It doesn't make any sense, they should have their own style. Mudryk is a good example of a coach not using him to his strengths and playing him in a system that doesn't work for him. He is expected to be Eden Hazard, to be capable of stopping the ball dead and suddenly taking them out of the game with quick dribbling and tight ball control, but Mudryk can't do that. He is all about using his pace to get in behind defenders and having the ball played in front of him. Almost every single one of our attackers are more suited to a direct approach. Mudryk, Nkunku, Sterling, Madueke, Jackson, Broja, they are all expected to play Eden Hazard football and burst into life from a standing position when they are all better at getting the ball in attacking positions quickly and having something to run onto.

The only tactical change we have seen is a move away from a back 3. I've been saying for a while that I don't think Pochettino has his own style of football and I think that is proving itself to be true.

We're definitely creating more opportunities and scoring more goals than last season. 

44 in 25 now vs 50 in 50 last season.

Granted we are conceding slightly more (33 in 25 vs 62 in 50), but on balance it is improving, albeit more slowly than we would all like, mainly due to inexperience and injuries.