Nottingham Forest takeaways
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| Spurs slipped to another defeat, this time at home to Nottingham Forest |
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Nottingham Forest 2
There were 3 obvious things we saw on Sky Sports Monday Night Football...
That I have pointed out to you previously.
Will Still, the Lens head coach...
With the help of graphics...
Showed you that Tottenham Hotspur press...
From too far away.
Indeed, one of the examples was one I have even written about!
We used to be close to the opposition players...
And hunt the ball back...
But now...
The opposition have so much time on the ball...
They can easily pass around us.
Why?
Because we don't hunt as a pack...
And our press has become reactive.
By that I mean when a pass is made...
Then a Spurs player rushes to close that player down.
But he is running from at least 20...
If not 30 yards away.
That is how we press now...
As one man chasing a lost cause.
Sonnt when he plays is a prime examp,le of this.
He runs from player to player...
On his own...
With no chance of getting the ball...
Or rushing the opposition into an error.
Dominic Solanke when he came on...
Chased a ball passed to a defender from 30 yards away...
It was played 50 yards back to the keeper...
On the other side of his penalty area...
From mid-way in the half.
Solanke then chases the keeper on his own.
The keeper wasn't taking his time or trying to delay play.
We frequently have one man chase down the keeper...
And usually there is absolutely no need.
If a side want to use their keeper as their playmaker...
Let them.
Mark the outfield players.
Stay in shape.
All this wasted energy is frustrating,
Again...
It fees space for the opposition to play with, which draws out our midfield...
Leaving a hole between the defence.
The second aspect I have mentioned before...
And I used Djed Spence to do it...
Was to point out that he doesn't close down crosses quickly enough...
He stands off and lets them cross.
Well Pedro Porro did the same thing for Chris Woods goal.
Half-hearted closing down...
And the player had cut back to his right foot...
So Porro was blocking a left-footed cross...
And just aimlessly stuck out a leg.
It was nowhere near good enough defending...
And that is because he wasn't mentally switch on for the game.
He and others...
Were going through the motions...
As I fully expected our players to do...
Given none of them want to get injured.
Bentancur was half asleep.
The third point...
Well, we are back to good old Djed Spence.
Tottenham lose the ball and he simply doesn't want to know.
Jogging back again...
He even slowed down markedly... When he was 20 yards in front of the ball...
So that he didn't have to get involved with defending...
And when he did make an effort...
The ball beat him out of play.
His lazyness off the ball again is frustrating.
Like Wilfroed Zaha...
He only wants to play the game when he has got the ball.
Ange Postecoglou explained after the game...
That Spurs played well and deserved the win.
Errr no we didn't...
And we didn't.
At no point did we look threatening.
At no point did we look like scoring.
We had the ball because they let us have it.
When you have a centre-forward who isn't a goal threat...
And spends his time running around...
You are unlikely to score from 51 crosses.
Richarlison got a header with the 48th cross.
Ehat does that tell you about the crosses and about the centre-forward?
Not all crosses are going to be great...
That's understandable...
But plenty were appalling...
And plenty Richarlison was not attacking the six-yard box...
Fot the tap-ins all strikers should score regularly.
And another thing...
Why can't players kicj a ball these days?
Why when a winger plays a ball back to a player ready to cross it...
That he can't play a first-time cross?
Why does he have to roll the ball forward to set it up?
By then, the crossing opportunity is gone.
They play football on a carpet.
It isn't bobbling about the place.
Porro did this regularly.
Nottingham Forest didn't have to worry about this on the left-hand side...
Because we had no left-footer to lay it back to...
Our left-back being right footed.
That's another game out of the way before the only games that matter...
The UEFA Europa League semi-final.
COYS
The article to read if you haven't already: Postecoglou emulating Bill Nicholson
A recent article: The Elastic Band Principle and Tottenham Hotspur’s Coaching Identity
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| Another hard-hitting THBN article coming next - That's how children behave and these people are parents! |
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COYS
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2 comments
I do wonder though, why so many can never refer to 'faith' without preceding it with 'blind'. In my experience, and certainly talking for my own faiths, it's always fully considered. Putting my faith in something is never done blind. That would be stupid - as you seem to be implying.
Clive has already fully explained the myriad reasons why having faith in the project, and especially so for the manager, makes good sense. Something betting people (Not I on that score.) might put their money behind. If anything, the reasons not to have faith are those that are never voiced clearly. Perhaps because their foundation is simply fear.
COYS!!