What do we think of Tottenham?

27 comments

1. Surely with Manu having a tough trip to palace this week then us away will tire them just that tiny percentage we can edge them ? I’m looking for any positives , I haven’t commented on a football forum since before Emery was appointed but now the hope has got me 🙁 . Anyway utd have two tough away days we could edge it

   1. Palace have always flattered to deceive this season. Don’t think Palace trip is a tough one for United.

2. I read where Richarlison, too, was complaining that Martinelli dove. Wonder if he forgot about his decisive dive against us when he was on Watford?

   https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/15/richarlison-has-punished-dive-against-arsenal-it-had-decisive/

   I for one won’t ever forget that one. Not to mention, he was giving stick back to Arsenal fans complaining about the dive on social media way back in ’17, but I guess he doesn’t like Ramsdale giving the Spuds fans stick. Karma’s a b*tch, ain’t it Richarlison?

3. i like richarlison. he has a bit of luis suarez in him; talented, passionate and loyal. arteta probably wouldn’t know how to manage that fierce personality. with jesus out, it would certainly be nice to have his quality as an option right now. bottom line, he’s an intense guy you want to go to war with on match days. the same goes for granit xhaka. did you see him after the full-time whistle looking to defend his keeper? he was willing to give work to anyone that wanted to come out of the stands and get it. i absolutely love that about him. after the 2018 world cup, everyone was wanting him to leave but i was like nope. arteta felt the same. he was clever to keep xhaka without denying him the move to roma.

   like you tim, i was worried about kulusevski and the work he could give to zinchenko. i even mentioned it before the game. tottenham need a new coach to provide them a more sound strategy…..and they need to buy an entire new center back pairing and a new goal keeper. their strategy reminds me of unai emery when he was at arsenal; a strategy that doesn’t consider the qualities of the players he has available.

   before the game, i was watching fulham and said that bernd leno would be a huge upgrade to hugo lloris….but arsenal gave him away for a ham sandwich. strangely, fulham, along with brighton, have been very clever in the transfer market with signings like leno. in fact, arsenal may collect the entire £8 million for him in the end.

   1. Kulu never got isolated against Zin because in a 3-4-3 the wide midfielder holds the width, which was Doherty on Spurs’ right. That was Zin’s assignment, not Kulu. Their front 3 were all very narrow, playing like strikers, so it was chiefly the CBs and Partey picking them up. But the setup was asymmetric.

      Arteta knew they wanted to attack down the left and create overloads with Son running beyond Kane. So he asked BW to track Son and Saka to track Sessegnon. This meant Saliba and GM could match up 1:1 with Kane and Kulu, while Partey was spare. So we always had bodies on all the forwards and a roving destroyer who turned into an open outlet when we turned them over.

      1. Let’s look at my match notes.

         45+1 – Zinchenko turnover, no pressure on Hojbjerg, Kane header, great save Ramsdale
         46 – Them pressing high?
         47 – Kulu shot, Gabriel doesn’t close the space at all
         50 – Kulu great pass to Kane, good save by Ramsdale
         52 – Sessegnon shot, Arsenal in trouble half step off the pace – Nelli wins a corner but still has 0 key passes off corners. Weird that we persist with him.
         56 – Kulu curling shot again, but Kane was wide open
         60 – Now I’m nervous. Bad pass and Kulu AGAIN – Arsenal should buy Kulusevski! What changed? Kulu attack higher? More focus on exploiting 1-v-1 (apologies to the English readers, this is just how I think!) with Zinch?
         Spurs whine more than Pork Chop watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

         Ok, so it was only 15 minutes or so, and I know that Zinchenko won both his tackles (1 on Kulu, the other was high up the pitch) and that Kulu technically won ZERO of 4 dribbles, but that just highlights a problem with the stats. You can’t tell me that he didn’t impact the game and that he wasn’t a huge problem in those 15 minutes. And let’s not pretend that we defended him well.

         I’m not saying Zinchenko sucks or that we should stop playing him but that entire left side was far too easily exploited for much of the 2nd half.

4. as for the goals, hugo lloris is a keeper i’ve never been a fan of because he’s fundamentally flawed. some keepers can get away with bad basics because of their talent/athleticism. i feel the same way about manuel neuer. well, time has caught up with him and his athletic degradation means he won’t have a career like gianluigi buffon.

   on the first goal, the first fault was he fell backwards into his goal mouth. you never fall backwards when making a save. you always attack the ball. i don’t know what they call it in goal keeper terms but in boxing, we called it being
   “glove shy”. this is a rare dilemma when you had a fighter who was scared of being punched. so we’d put him in the ring with 3 guys until they were comfortable with the fact that they’d be punched in the face. with my u19s, i used a similar technique when i had a keeper who was afraid of being hit with a hard shot. i put him in a u8 goal facing the goal with his heels on the line and lined the whole team horizontally and ten yards out with a ball. when i said the player’s jersey number, it was their turn. when i blew the whistle, the keeper would turn while the player would commence a run-up to strike the ball fairly hard at the goal. i expected the keeper to make the save but more importantly, they could NOT be in the goal at any point. bottom line, after a few weeks, my keeper was no longer afraid of the ball.

   second, lloris needed to be outside of the goal mouth before saka shot. that way, if you flap at the ball, it goes into the side netting for a corner and not into the net for a goal. disclaimer, i’ve never been a goal keeper but these are things i was taught at a goal keeper course about 7 years ago. perhaps someone who is a keeper can offer better insight.

   on the second goal, i give a big credit to eddie. his diagonal run froze the defense and made space for odegaard to get his shot away. these seemingly insignificant nuances are imperative for a center forward. they have absolutely nothing to do with him scoring but are fundamental for good center forward play. this is why you can’t just throw a “striker” on and play him at center forward. strikers often fail to appreciate these qualities that are foundational to good center forward play.

   sorry i went into coach mode right then.

   1. Insightful analysis

   2. Basic question here. What would you say is the difference between a striker and a center forward?

      1. oh.. not this shit.

         1. What?!?!🤷🏽‍♂️

5. If Richarlison isn’t punished for the shove in the face of Ramsdale, then that’s all I need to see about the bias of the FA.

   Richarlison is such an overrated c**t of a player. Despite the wonder goal at the WC, I thought his in-game play was completely mediocre and despite his goal record I’m still at a loss as to how he’s ahead of Jesus and Firminho in the pecking order. In fact, I think it’s a big part of the reason why they flopped.

   The attitude he gives matches a Luis Suarez, an Alexis Sanchez or a Carlos Tevez but his output matches Gervinho.

   He cost £60m, has zero prem goals at the half way stage and I’ve yet to see any pundit or journo call him out for the flop that he is. It’s actually making me feel a bit guilty about Nicholas Pepe’s treatment tbh.

   1. The reason Richarlison starts for Brazil is because Jesus likes ball to feet and Richarlison plays off the ball. Brazil has too many players that like ball to feet.

      1. And he’s more of a 9, and a more reliable goalscorer in Brazil’s setup. Jesus is a better all round player. Before his wonder goal in the world cup, Richarlison hadn’t contributed anything to the game.

         I see Martinelli, 2 footed, direct and hungry, as eventually playing centrally and taking his place.

         As for that face poke on Ramsdale, what is the FA waiting for? Why havent they announced a postgame red card as yet?

         Hey Josh…Zinchenko was out of this world superb yesterday. He is one of the cleverest full backs ive ever seen.

         1. Yes. Interestingly, a couple of times Zinchenko roamed off to the RIGHT side of Partey when the team was on the ball. At this point, he is playing like a free deep-lying playmaker when in possession while Partey anchors.

            As Tim said, he was absolutely getting beasted by Kulusevski while in defence though. Kulusevski is such an interesting player, a slow winger who is just somehow so productive in terms of end product. The sort of player we should get against deep blocks.

            1. Show me one clip of Kulusevski beasting anyone, let alone Zinchenko in this game.

            2. Funny because in my notes I wrote “we should buy Kulusevski!” I was only sort of joking.

            3. Doc, that’s the thing. We won’t find him on YouTube. He doesn’t really burn anyone with pace or out dribble the fullback like Martinelli or Son would. He gets into little nooks to pull off passes and diagonal shots. Happened at least 3 times in the derby, particularly in second half.

               He loses his markers with movement and touch, rather than anything eye catching. He created the Son chance, crossed for Kane’s header, got free in the box to cross/shot a couple of times. And then I keep wondering how he managed to lose both Martinelli and Zinchenko to get to those positions in the first place.

               He reminds me of those aging wingers in the early 2000s like Figo and Giggs who had to play small touches in the box because they lost their legs. Except that he is only 21 and has the stamina to track back as well.

               Still, we won! ☺️

6. I was nervous before this game, but I didn’t need to be. Arsenal simply proceeded to control the game like they should given the tactical and individual quality disparity between the squads. Spurs did create some big chances. Dier’s long ball to Sessegnon was tracked all the way by Saka, and Arsenal were 5 v 2, but Sessegnon played a throughball that caught the CBs flat and Son was presented with 0.4 xG worth of goal to aim at. Ramsdale got down and saved Arsenal. This was Spurs’ LWB playing a throughball from the right halfspace from a fortuitous second ball. That’s what it took to open us up. That was also Spurs’ best chance of the game. In the second half, Arsenal sat back with a 2 goal cushion and let Spurs knock it about. They caught us out once, again with Sessegnon crashing the box from a rapid transition, but after that they didn’t create much.

   For people worried about Zinchenko’s physicality, I’ll highlight the first minute of the second half. Dier aims a diagonal towards 6’1″ Matt Doherty. In defense of his flank, 5’9″ Zinchenko perfectly high points the ball, sending a robust clearance from his goal and leaving Doherty in a heap behind him. He did that 3-4 times. Zinchenko was never once never once dribbled past, was a perfect 2/2 on tackles, and was credited with winning 4 aerial duels. Kulu’s one key pass came from a header that Zinchenko won against Doherty (again) that Martinelli miscontrols into Kulu’s path. He turns Xhaka too easily and plays in Kane who has a shot from distance. That’s just the defensive stuff. He was also outstanding with the ball, and that deserves its own paragraph.

   1. I wasn’t nervous before the game, I’m pretty much never am. However, in the 60th minute, after they’d had about 4 unanswered shots the anxiety kicked in. Was weird, good, bad, all at once.

7. As controlled an NLD win as I’ve ever seen – that’s not easy to do, these guys might be something special. The club should ideally push the boat out for reinforcements, but we’ve been here before so que sera.

   The decent forwards lost to insane valuations in the last 18 months is quite a list – Grealish, Calvert-Lewin, Maddison, Isak, Raphinha, Felix, Mudryk. Can’t say the cub’s not trying. From the ‘familiar’ names, we’re left to make a run at Jonathan David, Yeremy Pino, Rafael Leao, maybe Neto (injured). Kolo Muani and Moussa Diaby are probably now in the conversation. None of those seem like deals just waiting for Edu’s signature. Jan 2022 redux seems the most likely outcome.

8. Been seeing so much anti-Arsenal smack the past few days, even after our win yesterday and it occurred to me that we are no longer underdogs or long shots. We’re favorites. We’re the team everyone is aiming for and trying to beat. And we’re also so good that people fear us. So that manifests as hate. Welcome to the top of the league. It’s good to be hated because we win.

9. boys, i wasn’t critical of zinchenko’s performance on sunday. i merely mentioned pregame that my biggest concern was that matchup as i believe kulusevski has the beating of zin, and most fullbacks, the majority of the time. zin’s a clever player but i don’t think he’s a particularly good 1v1 defender. if i were conte, i would have looked to isolate zinchenko and make him defend the entire game. as i’ve mentioned several times, the most important quality of a defender is their ability to defend. all the other stuff is gravy. zinchenko’s defending is slightly suspect and i would have picked on him like a fat kid on the playground. however, in possession, zinchenko is showing his brilliance. for me, the newcastle game was his best; he blew my skirt up a bit.

   a big shoutout goes to ramsdale. the son chance early in the game was dangerous. that harry kane header right before halftime is the archetypal goal that he scores against arsenal; not only the chance but the timing. that ball was served in from hoijberg (after he won a challenge with zinchenko) and the save was big time. likewise, the shot that came in from kane that doc mentioned, assisted by kulusevski and right after halftime, usually goes in for kane. the same goes for the sessegnon save; once again, a typical goal arsenal concedes away to spurs. ramsdale was the difference on sunday. great signing.

   lastly, they may need to replace that goal that partey nearly destroyed with that volley. that post has got to be bent. you could even see the spurs fans behind the goal looking on in absolute bewilderment.

   1. That Son chance in the first half sure looked offside to me. It didn’t result in anything, so no VAR, and they didn’t really show much in the way of replays, but watching in real-time, looked like it would have been called back had he actually scored.
      On Kulusevski, based on form from that match, he’s the second best player on Spurs after Kane. Son was 1st or 2nd, but hasn’t looked all that great this year. And yes, the way we play Zinchenko has risks against a good winger on that side.

10. How does Tim feel about Arsenal pre-announcing the summer of Declan Rice?

    1. Surely you mean “how does Tim feel about Arsenal giving an early preview of Chelsea’s transfer strategy” 🙂

       Rice is a baller. A faster, younger, more mobile, more goal and assist productive Xhaka.

    2. We have more chance of signing Kylian Mbappe.

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