For some reason Burnley v Leeds was seen as a better choice. Perhaps Sky's scheduler has a secret Swastika tattoo on their arse.
If you don’t think Troy could get ahead of some of those currently used up front then I think you are deluded. Dennis for instance is not a centre forward by any means and you will see him become rarer and rarer in the team selection once he is found out.
Midfield looked like they'd barely played together - which to be brutally honest they haven't! 2 weeks off with Tufan to come in and I think we'll be so much stronger here. Dennis can sometimes look better than Sarr going forward! We need more creativity which hopefully will come with more familiarity. Without the bachmann error we may well have held on to a 0-0 there. Definitely positive signs going forward with a kind run of fixtures coming up to hit the ground running after the break.
Tbf I don't remember him making costly errors in the first 2 games so will give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
As much as I want to be critical of our team today, we did alright. We lost the game to a stupid brain dead referring decision by Andy "I'm a closet Spurs fan" Marriner who gave a free kick which never was, and Bachmann never covered himself in glory trying to save Son's free kick. I dont't generally go at refs but wow... you could see the saliva oozing from his mouth when he blew his whistle to give something to Spuds. Pathetic. The only decent thing he did was book Kane for a foul towards the end of the first half. Not going to be cheering him in our games this season. Ok enough about the numpty on the black. To be honest I thought we looked quite compact and composed on the ball. Some of our positioning and getting back into shape was excellent especially in the first half. Spuds had loads of the ball as expected, but found is really hard to break us down. Kucka started brightly and probably had our best chance of the game shooting over when very well placed in their box. Son, Kane and Ali were not the threat I was fearing and as the half went on in looked like we might be able to sneak a goal on the break or hold on for a well earned draw. Second half, being a goal down, I expected us to up the tempo and go for it. Realistically, that could of been suicidal so we decided to hold back most of the rest of the game and keep the score down to protect our GD at this early stage of the season. Kucka was knackered very quickly, and it seemed he ran out of steam when we needed to push which was a shame. If I have to be negative, Masina had an awful game. He was caught out so often on right hand side and his hopeful long balls into the channels did nothing but come straight back. Cathcart (who went off injured) didn't exactly do well but what do we expect when we have no fit right back? Looks like Ngakia might start against Wolves after the break and he looked pretty good when he replaced Cathcart. Cucho came on for Kucka but as we were playing so deep to not concede again there was little he could do as an impact sub. Overall, we should of got a point, and our display more than deserved one. But shoulda' woulda' coulda' will get you nothing in this division. We need to be more ruthless up front, we haven't scored for two Premiership games now, but it's still very early days. No shame in losing to Spurs 1-0 away if your a "small time club" as the media like to portray anyone not in the bias world of the top six. We go again after the break with a home tie against a Wolves team who could be coming into the game looking for their first points if they lose to Manure in the late kick off. Our away form is not going to dictate if we stay up, our home form will. We need to stay ruthless at home and try to nick something away. Shout box was excellent today - thank you to everyone who took part.
Decent performance that really should have seen us take a point; Bachmann shouldn't have let that one in. On the plus side he didn't let the mistake get to him - he did well for the rest of the game and made a couple of good saves (although he did make one dire pass that could have cost us). He'll lose his spot to Foster if he continues to make blunders like the Son goal, though. I though the ref was dire. Spurs were cynically rotating fouls on Sarr the whole game, taking him out the moment he got the ball to stop him from running, and he got no protection. Two of their players should have seen yellow for early fouls and didn't (the first let off directly encouraging Spurs to engage in rotating fouls), and then we get a yellow for what was blatantly an innocent slip. Sissoko looked pretty decent, albeit not on the same wavelength as the rest of the side. But if we perform on today's level for the rest of the season we'll survive pretty comfortably, I think. More than enough quality in the forwards and the midfield, and the defense should solid enough once we are able to integrate the (presumably) first choice full backs into the side. Encouraging overall, especially for an away game against a top 6 side.
Like others have said, it's disappointing to loose to a soft goal like That, especially when we were looking fairly comfortable up to that point. We also lacked that bit of composure & cohesion in the opposition half when we have the ball and move it abit quicker. But that's something we should improve upon with more game time. Mind you, it doesn't help when the opposition looked to bring down Sarr every time he got on the ball. Still, there are positives to take from the game and plenty of promise shown. Actually thought Messina had a good game, as did the two centre backs. It's our play going the other way that needs some work.
And he doesn't fit the way and formation Munoz wants to use. 443 with 3 quick players up front - ok Sema played the first game but that was due to injuries. If we wanted to pump the ball in the area for the last 5 minutes he might be useful but certainly isn't as effective as he used to be. Dennis has probably been our best striker. Harsh to judge anyone on Spurs away who kept Man City out 2 weeks ago quite comfortably by all accounts. And if you go hell for leather against Kane and Son they'll just pick you off.
Yes. In the end it looked like we couldn't break out of our defensive mentality. The transition from defence into attack was too slow as the game wore on. I was rather disappointed with our mid-field performance in that respect. Kuco looked immense in the first half, but it looked very much to me that he tired badly before close of play.
I think a lot of it is down to the side being very new to playing together. They're still be learning each others' strengths and preferences. Only one player in midfield or attack was at the club last year, which means the entire midfield and forward line will barely recognise each other right now. They look like a group of quality players who need some time to come together. I think the end result will be good based on what I've seen so far.
Thought we played fairly well today, and it was much better than last weeks performance. I reckon we’ll get some points in the first 3 games back from international break with Wolves(H), Norwich(A) & Newcastle (H). If anything, I thought today was a promising sign for the rest of the season. I also thought Ngakia played well when he came on, he looked better than Cathcart in my opinion.
Will do a deeper dive on the game later when I’m in the cab to Heathrow. But walking away from the ground now? We hung in there without doing much. No complaints really away at Spurs - Sarr and Dennis started very dangerously but faded. But their FB’s were rightly worried. Etebo was excellent (MOTM) and Kucka effective. Cleverley I fear is too old but didn’t have long. Sissoko did everything well but clearly needs more familiarity. But sadly the defence just isn’t up to it. Sierralta stands alone as the talent. WTE knows his distribution is sh1t - so spends his time on the ball looking left and right. He really doesn’t want the ball. Right-back issues are obvious. Cathcart isn’t PL level and Ngakia is far too raw. He’s miles off being ready. Masina has never been PL level and just goes through the motions every week. Lots to do in the next 72hrs to sort this defence out.
What? He was hopeless! I was half expecting Rose to come on. A dull game really. Didn't enjoy it much. We didn't really threaten apart from the first 15 mins or so. I though Kuscka was great. Really worked hard. Obviously tired towards the end unfortunately and we didn't really ever look like making them sweat over an equaliser. In a parallel universe somewhere, Sissoko cut in and blasted in an equaliser rather than seeming to lose his nerve and hitting a tame pass, then Cucho connected perfectly with that overhead kick and smashed it into the top corner.
Frustrating - we just didn't have enough to complete. For me I'm not convinced that 4 3 3 works for us in this league. We need the shield in front of the back line, but we also need something more creative and a better link between the midfield and the front 3.
We started well and looked bright on the counter but the goal really came at the worst time. My problem is after the goal we don’t seem to have a plan as to how we are going to get back into the game. There’s no composure in our attacks and the ball is played long as if to speed up the attack giving our forwards so much to do. Playing in between the lines and to feet is the best way forward but this happens rarely. I’d also like Sarr to switch sides depending on the opposition. Tatanga would have been a target for me as he has the least experience albeit he is a good defender. I’d imagine that Tottenham would have prepared from Sarr on the right all week. Also I don’t think Munoz knows his best team… heck I don’t with all the incomings. But one thing is for sure King is no striker and Cucho is no winger. Dennis so far seems to be our best striker so he should be the middle of the front 3. Not a bad performance by any means necessary but our next game at home is a must win. We need at least a point a game to survive and we are on this now
Decent performance, needed to see improvement from Brighton and we got it. Just a shame a horrible piece of goalkeeping has cost us a point. A proper right back has to play and Rose needs to come in, Masina is looking very iffy. I don't mind WTE alongside Sierralta but we have to find a way of progressing the ball that doesn't begin with WTE, he's hopeless with the ball at his feet. Etebo did very well today but he's not the guy to come and take it off the centre backs. In the second half he made no angles for the centre backs, so Spurs just let WTE have the ball and waited for the inevitable turnover of possession. Unless we buy one then Xisco is going to have to come up with a solution using the players he has at the club, maybe Louza can do it if he gets up to speed? I think using full backs more comfortable on the ball should help as well.
Again we gave the opposition the win. Can't afford individual errors in this league. I thought the shape was ok nothing spectacular going forward but it's still work in progress. Still need a centre back even more imperative now that Cathcart is injured.
Didn't watch the whole game, but by the sounds of it we lacked that bit of creativity from the midfield, can see why Xisco didn't pick Louza, but maybe Tufan was a miss today?
We played 4 - 1 - 4 -1 with King up top on his own. Switched more defensive second half to avoid getting battered which was fair enough. We do need to work on our attacking play from a defense to attacking standpoint I agree.
It really is a sad state of affair when a fan of the opposition comes onto a forum to gloat. Should you not be giving Arsenal a hard time? They are further down the table than we are.
Bit like Spurs fans' who post rubbish then. Grow up - act your age and do something more constructive with your time.
Mixed feelings. Both sides put on very good defensive displays, with almost no clear cut chances created by either side but rather a good number of longer range efforts overall. It's a shame Bachmann's very ropey 1st half did cost us (2 suicidal passes and misreading the free kick) though to his credit he came out far more assured overall, one dud pass aside. If he puts that behind him and takes lessons from it then I'm still more than happy with him in goal as it's easy to forget how poor Foster's passing is. Cathcart I thought was defensively really solid but Masina needs to be dropped for Rose now. Spurs looked overall more threatening when going forward but we looked sporadically dangerous as well. Sissoko had a decent debut, involved in our most dangerous moments but also mis hitting some very presentable chances a few times. Kucka looked fine and Etebo broke up play nicely. With Louza yet to acclimatise and Tufan to come in, as well as Chalobah possibly we have some very good options there now. Dennis looked worse off out at LW but King I thought did a good job holding up play and trying to get forward. Sarr as usual was the most threatening of the front 3. Cucho didn't a whole lot when he came on but that's not really his fault as this wasn't a flowing game for him to make his mark. I'd like to see Dennis ST and King LW next game as I'd rather prioritise Dennis on form atm. We really miss a set piece taker. We don't look a bad side at all, and we will score goals. We just need to cut out a few unnecessary errors.
