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Tottenham 2-0 Wolves: Verdict, 16/05/21

Nuno needs to make the call in the summer of how we’re going to set up and stick to it and recruit to suite that formation.
Yes we’ve been plagued by injuries but even still far to much tinkering with personnel and formations.
Impossible for players to gain on continuity.
 
Coady in a back 4 has been better than I expected, but needs a good CH next to him - Kilman is not it & Saiss is a stop gap.

Boly can be, but is 30 next year I think & has had injury issues. FB needs attention as Semedo still doesn't fully convince me & Jonny has had an awful time with his knee and may well not be able to come back at the same level. The cover is with kids, some of whom have potential, but they will have errors in them at this stage.

4 At the back gives us more attacking options, but that base has to be secure or it won't work.
 
I don’t get the positive comments about MGW - he seems to do little of note and is wasteful in possession.
 
I don’t get the positive comments about MGW - he seems to do little of note and is wasteful in possession.
He was very wasteful but he’s too easy to play against out wide. No real pace, no trickery, not a good dribbler, not someone who can cross from deep (no one in there anyway). He went central and he was involved in our best moments.

I’d rather him look wasteful when he’s barely played than just be totally anonymous like others were.
 
We've been better in recent weeks but that wasn't too encouraging, other than a quick five minute spell after they went 2-0 up and a couple of Adama runs we never offered enough and we always looked like we were hanging on a bit.

Semedo dealt well with Bale but there's always a but with him. Shouldn't be playing Kane on for the first goal, he was. Dreadful from Hoever on the second, don't care if it's Academy football or Premier League football, that's basic stuff. Vitinha never got in the game, Dendoncker had his usual neither one thing nor the other game that he's served up all season, Fabio faded as the game went on and MGW doesn't seem to understand how to play wide which is odd as he spent most of his time out there when playing age group stuff.

Ultimately it was a game which meant nothing to us and it showed. All done in a week which will be a relief of sorts.
 
Dreadful from Hoever on the second, don't care if it's Academy football or Premier League football, that's basic stuff.
Do find it odd people using “experience” as an excuse. It’s just lazy/stupid. Think he’s done similar before too.

If you’re doing that you make sure you’re playing the man as well, not jump over the ball and his legs! Taking yourself out the game. Even if he’s letting it go out if he “sees it out” then he’s in a position to recover if the guy does keep it in. He’s on the floor FFS!

I wouldn’t be happy with it from U13s. Experience has nothing to do with it. Just bizarre play.
 
So, been out all day. It appears we were 'really shit'........or did ok given the number of kids we used.
 
Can anyone please explain to me what qualities Dendoncker brings to the team? He doesn't tackle or break up play well, his passing is mediocre at best, his movement is almost non existent, he doesn't score many goals... I just don't know what he does well enough to be in the team. Please enlighten me.
 
Can anyone please explain to me what qualities Dendoncker brings to the team? He doesn't tackle or break up play well, his passing is mediocre at best, his movement is almost non existent, he doesn't score many goals... I just don't know what he does well enough to be in the team. Please enlighten me.
On the basis of this season, nothing. I wouldn't be sad to see him go, even at his best he should be a squad player at best.
 
Do find it odd people using “experience” as an excuse. It’s just lazy/stupid. Think he’s done similar before too.

If you’re doing that you make sure you’re playing the man as well, not jump over the ball and his legs! Taking yourself out the game. Even if he’s letting it go out if he “sees it out” then he’s in a position to recover if the guy does keep it in. He’s on the floor FFS!

I wouldn’t be happy with it from U13s. Experience has nothing to do with it. Just bizarre play.
Even Gary Neville said it happened to him , but lazy and stupid, yeah
 
When he's playing well he gives us mobility in midfield that Neves and Moutinho don't, he gives us height which we lack in general and he can actually finish.

None of that has really been in evidence all season, he's been poor throughout (but we constantly keep getting injuries and other issues so he keeps getting a game), he has done well for us in the past though. Write this one off but he can't have another campaign like this.
 
Doncks been awful for ages. He’s somehow managed to look like a defender playing in CM but then doesn’t bring any of those defensive qualities To midfield either.


Even Gary Neville said it happened to him , but lazy and stupid, yeah
Well I don’t know the moment Neville was on about. Did he try to shield it out and get mugged off? In which case it was maybe a tad stupid or good play by opponent. If he did the same as Hoever then it was lazy and stupid (good players can still do stupid things...).
 
I’ve dug out the clip. Hard to see exactly what’s going on as the quality is poor but looked like Neville tried to play the ball back to Barthez and made a hash of it. A fuck up yeah, but he tried to do something. Hoever didn’t try and do anything, so yeah, lazy and stupid.
 
If Hoever learns from it and doesn't do it again that is as closes we got to a positive from today.
Yeah, best to learn in games that don't mean anything. Same for all the youngsters.....and Nuno
 
I've said for a few months i don't think Nuno can get a side to play positive football enough, there's still no fluidity and it's flashes of brilliance that are getting us points imo. I'm still firmly in the camp that i want him to be able to do it but i don't think he can.

I have a nagging doubt that he won't be able to change the way we play. It's a bit like watching Graham Taylor's Wolves, after his England spell it seemed he wanted to prove he was more than a "wingers and long ball" merchant and got his team trying to play a bit of football as well. The result was he was caught between two stools, long ball football requires the ball played quickly into the channels but by dithering around with a few passes it wasn't and it allowed the opposition to get into position and deal with it.

Nuno has been successful by being cautious, with the emphasis on the shape of the team and every player knowing where they should be in different situations. Attacking threat has been heavily reliant on quick breaks from two or three players. It has been apparent from day one that Nuno does not want lots of players committing themselves forwards as that affects the shape of the team. Transforming from this approach to possession football requires far more movement - passing football needs team mates to make themselves available for a pass most of the time rather than the likes of Scholes or Pirlo threading passes through the eye of a needle. It requires a manager who embraces that and gets his players to commit to it and the problem is movement tends to undermine shape so if we lose the ball we are nowhere near as solid as previously. I'm beginning to believe that is is not in his DNA but perhaps equally important is it needs a lot of different players to those we have. If we're going to stick with him we need to revert to what he knows and understands rather than some half-baked evolution. A full preseason might help but i'm not convinced. Seventh place might be as far as his proven approach will take us but without significant investment it is probably as high as we're going to get irrespective of our style of play.
 
Not worth watching the game back then?

First time in a long time, I binned a game I could watch but decided spending the afternoon with my Son talking about his wedding later in the year was more exciting than watch us go through the motions. My desire for this season died a long long time ago but seeing interviews this week where the players admitted they are all but gone showed me they are doing the same as me and ticking the days off until the season ends. No end of work on the training ground will give them that extra edge required.

This time next week we can all do our end of season reviews - Easy, its been shit but I wouldn't swap a shit season where we get 45 or so points in the Prem League for a season in the Championship. All I want now is to be able to go to the 1st home game next season, meet people in the pub, shout bollocks from stands and have a proper proper goal mental (only to be ruined by VAR of course)
 
I have a nagging doubt that he won't be able to change the way we play. It's a bit like watching Graham Taylor's Wolves, after his England spell it seemed he wanted to prove he was more than a "wingers and long ball" merchant and got his team trying to play a bit of football as well. The result was he was caught between two stools, long ball football requires the ball played quickly into the channels but by dithering around with a few passes it wasn't and it allowed the opposition to get into position and deal with it.

Nuno has been successful by being cautious, with the emphasis on the shape of the team and every player knowing where they should be in different situations. Attacking threat has been heavily reliant on quick breaks from two or three players. It has been apparent from day one that Nuno does not want lots of players committing themselves forwards as that affects the shape of the team. Transforming from this approach to possession football requires far more movement - passing football needs team mates to make themselves available for a pass most of the time rather than the likes of Scholes or Pirlo threading passes through the eye of a needle. It requires a manager who embraces that and gets his players to commit to it and the problem is movement tends to undermine shape so if we lose the ball we are nowhere near as solid as previously. I'm beginning to believe that is is not in his DNA but perhaps equally important is it needs a lot of different players to those we have. If we're going to stick with him we need to revert to what he knows and understands rather than some half-baked evolution. A full preseason might help but i'm not convinced. Seventh place might be as far as his proven approach will take us but without significant investment it is probably as high as we're going to get irrespective of our style of play.
Agree with a lot of this.
I'd be happy for him to go back to what he knows, and for the team too. I get he wants to play fancy football, but Man Utd played a counter attacking style for years and look what they achieved!
We had a decent side that needed a couple of additions. Nuno changed the style he wanted without changing the personnel. Add in the loss of Raul, the pandemic, the injuries and the no rest for nigh on 2 years and it was never going to work well.
We have some great attacking players in Raul, Traore, Podence, Neto, Silva(eventually). We need a solid defence and midfield, although that might need more than 2 players. Put the latter right and go back to being solid and we can be not only back to how we were, but better.
You play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.
 
All I want now is to be able to go to the 1st home game next season, meet people in the pub, shout bollocks from stands
I am happy to do that on your behalf next Sunday even though there will be few in the ground - seeing your son was a better choice today.
 
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