Trippier, Fazio, Wimmer, Carroll, Njie
Yesterday's game was an excellent test for some of the shadow players who for long periods bossed the game against basically a former Arsenal first-team.
There were certain players of particular interest to see how they did and for me the three main ones didn't put in the kind of performance that stamped their individuality on the game within the team structure. Ugo Ehiogu spoke previously about the development squad, that a player has to find answers, he has to find a way to shine within the team first ethic.
Of particular interest to me last night were Kieran Trippier, Federico Fazio, Kevin Wimmer, Tom Carroll and Clinton Njie.
Kieran Trippier doesn't look in the same league as Kyle Walker at this stage, he looks, and I appreciate it is early days, the average Premier League player you can find anywhere. There is of course time for him to develop, to understand the system and how best he can shine within it. Ben Davies has shown what can be done, there can be no doubt he struggled last season after his move from Swansea yet now he is keeping Rose out.
We have a squad which we have to use in these games, the Premier League is more important and with Manchester City coming up we couldn't afford to wear out the players we need by constantly playing them, Alderweireld needed a rest, so too did Dier really and Kane was playing to try and break his duck.
Whether you feel a player is accident prone or not, you have to use them as part of your squad, you have to trust them at certain times. There are not many, if any, of the squad you would say stood out during their first game of the season whenever that was and Federico Fazio was making his first of the campaign, it wasn't a great one with the two obvious passing howlers catching everyone's eye.
Supporters are losing, or have lost, faith with him, but it's how Pochettino feels that matters and given it was his first game of the season I wouldn't be totally writing the player off yet. He is a dual UEFA Europa League winner so it makes sense to trust him in that competition. I would be playing him against Monaco next week to rest Alderweireld and Vertonghen again.
As an individual, Kevin Wimmer looked the better player and certainly a decent enough centre-back. Composed on the ball he came out of the game with credit, but the central pair were not great together, whose fault that was I haven't studied the footage to find out and the second goal needs to be studied to find out where the left side of our team was. Had he been pulled over too far and if so why?
Staying on that goal where was our left-sided defensive midfielder when the ball cannoned off Eric Dier and where was Danny Rose? We didn't seem to have anyone there at all and they suddenly had several. Tom Carroll continues to frustrate, he may well have been happy with his performance, but if he wants a first team place than it wasn't good enough to be blunt. There were certainly things to like, there is no denying he can pass a ball. yet he can also be lazy and pass poorly in the wrong areas, which puts us in a danger we don't need to be in.
If a defensive midfielder is playing the ball forwards, it generally means that most of the team are ahead of him so if his pass is poor and he gives away possession he has taken most of our side out of the game. Their passes, therefore, are vitally important and his tendency to several times a game give simple possession away in that area game after game suggests he isn't going to make the grade as a top four player.
To me, he looks, like Trippier, a mid table player. It's too early to write either player off, they have both only really just started their Spurs first-team careers and more games under pressure will educate as to what to do and what not to do in certain situations.
The last man is Clinton Njie, our new French signing who has arrived not match fit. He is a young prospect arriving at spurs after starting 13 games as a secondary striker and 1 as a wide player in Ligue 1 last season. Most of his goals came when he was playing centrally, at the moment he has had three cameo performances out wide on the left.
At the moment, he is simply being given game time to adapt, learn a little about the game over here, the physicality, the speed, while he gets fully match fit. The three cameos at the moment suggest he has a lot of developing to do. To me, he doesn't quite look as if he knows what to do yet. Each piece of game time will tell him what he is up against and help him decide how he is going to deal with it, for now he is searching for the answers.
It was the original plan to bring Dele Alli along slowly this season, I'd suggest that may well be going to happen to Njie with next season the important one for him. He isn't the finished article and is very much still in the development phase.
A useful exercise for the five of them, positives and negatives to take from the game with certainly some areas to work on before the Monaco tie next Thursday. The following article highlight what we are looking for, did we see it last night?
What Pochettino is looking for
Further Tottenham Reading
An excellent Paul Miller and Graham Roberts interview
There were certain players of particular interest to see how they did and for me the three main ones didn't put in the kind of performance that stamped their individuality on the game within the team structure. Ugo Ehiogu spoke previously about the development squad, that a player has to find answers, he has to find a way to shine within the team first ethic.
Of particular interest to me last night were Kieran Trippier, Federico Fazio, Kevin Wimmer, Tom Carroll and Clinton Njie.
Kieran Trippier doesn't look in the same league as Kyle Walker at this stage, he looks, and I appreciate it is early days, the average Premier League player you can find anywhere. There is of course time for him to develop, to understand the system and how best he can shine within it. Ben Davies has shown what can be done, there can be no doubt he struggled last season after his move from Swansea yet now he is keeping Rose out.
We have a squad which we have to use in these games, the Premier League is more important and with Manchester City coming up we couldn't afford to wear out the players we need by constantly playing them, Alderweireld needed a rest, so too did Dier really and Kane was playing to try and break his duck.
Whether you feel a player is accident prone or not, you have to use them as part of your squad, you have to trust them at certain times. There are not many, if any, of the squad you would say stood out during their first game of the season whenever that was and Federico Fazio was making his first of the campaign, it wasn't a great one with the two obvious passing howlers catching everyone's eye.
Supporters are losing, or have lost, faith with him, but it's how Pochettino feels that matters and given it was his first game of the season I wouldn't be totally writing the player off yet. He is a dual UEFA Europa League winner so it makes sense to trust him in that competition. I would be playing him against Monaco next week to rest Alderweireld and Vertonghen again.
As an individual, Kevin Wimmer looked the better player and certainly a decent enough centre-back. Composed on the ball he came out of the game with credit, but the central pair were not great together, whose fault that was I haven't studied the footage to find out and the second goal needs to be studied to find out where the left side of our team was. Had he been pulled over too far and if so why?
Staying on that goal where was our left-sided defensive midfielder when the ball cannoned off Eric Dier and where was Danny Rose? We didn't seem to have anyone there at all and they suddenly had several. Tom Carroll continues to frustrate, he may well have been happy with his performance, but if he wants a first team place than it wasn't good enough to be blunt. There were certainly things to like, there is no denying he can pass a ball. yet he can also be lazy and pass poorly in the wrong areas, which puts us in a danger we don't need to be in.
If a defensive midfielder is playing the ball forwards, it generally means that most of the team are ahead of him so if his pass is poor and he gives away possession he has taken most of our side out of the game. Their passes, therefore, are vitally important and his tendency to several times a game give simple possession away in that area game after game suggests he isn't going to make the grade as a top four player.
To me, he looks, like Trippier, a mid table player. It's too early to write either player off, they have both only really just started their Spurs first-team careers and more games under pressure will educate as to what to do and what not to do in certain situations.
The last man is Clinton Njie, our new French signing who has arrived not match fit. He is a young prospect arriving at spurs after starting 13 games as a secondary striker and 1 as a wide player in Ligue 1 last season. Most of his goals came when he was playing centrally, at the moment he has had three cameo performances out wide on the left.
At the moment, he is simply being given game time to adapt, learn a little about the game over here, the physicality, the speed, while he gets fully match fit. The three cameos at the moment suggest he has a lot of developing to do. To me, he doesn't quite look as if he knows what to do yet. Each piece of game time will tell him what he is up against and help him decide how he is going to deal with it, for now he is searching for the answers.
It was the original plan to bring Dele Alli along slowly this season, I'd suggest that may well be going to happen to Njie with next season the important one for him. He isn't the finished article and is very much still in the development phase.
A useful exercise for the five of them, positives and negatives to take from the game with certainly some areas to work on before the Monaco tie next Thursday. The following article highlight what we are looking for, did we see it last night?
What Pochettino is looking for
Further Tottenham Reading
An excellent Paul Miller and Graham Roberts interview
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