Tottenham 1-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Carsy]

This is what Dendoncker was for though wasn't it?

He’s like a dendoncker lite. It’s just a sign of the regression we’ve witnessed IMV.

I have no issue with Munetsi as he is what he is, but if/when we expect to have more of the ball and be the front foot team that’s when you have to think whether he should be starting etc.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Yeah, no doubt Munetsi isn't as good a footballer as Donk, but he's a better destroyer.

We were probably at our best when Donk was in the team with Neves and Moutinho.

 

[YoungWolf]

Dendoncker was a much better footballer who played an important role in a much better team. I never really understood the stick he got.

 

[jlo]

Echo the above, but Jinky also agree Munetsi had a good game on Saturday. I expected a lot less and was surprised to see him keep popping up in a lot of areas getting involved.

I'd have him in the team over Hwang any day of the week too but it's a shame to see where we now are compared to only a few years ago (albeit at least we are still in the Prem so it could be worse)

 

[sycophantia]

Dendoncker was a much better footballer who played an important role in a much better team. I never really understood the stick he got.

Yeah Donck was fine, obviously got stick for the cup semi, bit harsh imo.
He had that period when he played almost as 10, he got into loads of great positions but always missed the target, seemed to affect his confidence and he went off a bit.

 

[Sniffer]

Dendoncker was a much better footballer who played an important role in a much better team. I never really understood the stick he got.

He got ruined by Lage playing him in roles that he wasn’t capable of succeeding in. He was a good central midfielder/defender. He was not a midfielder pushing out to a wide forward attacking role where he and Semedo joined forces as an attack prevention division.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

... but it’s way too early to write us off.

You're a bit late with that point of view. Almost everyone on this forum has already done that.

 

[slink]

The thing for me with Munetsi is Joao should be the one doing those things with winning the most duels, most tackles, most fouls won etc… and then we can play Arias in there with Joao and Andre and we don’t need a runner especially against the “weaker teams”. I do genuinely think the league is quite weak this year anyway so that’s more than half the league.

Doing that will enable us to control the ball more which means we don’t need another destroyer and can help us build attacks. Get pace in the wider positions too and we can push teams backs.

For all his running too it’s sometimes detrimental because there isn’t much thought in it. His pressing of Tel for the equaliser on Saturday exposed us when he should have just been ushering him down the line not letting him come back inside to cross.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Yeah he over committed with Tel, definitely.

 

[Alan]

Dendoncker was a much better footballer who played an important role in a much better team. I never really understood the stick he got.

Recency bias innit. Like basically everyone at the time, Lage sold him up a creek by trying to have him push wide to the right.

 

[YoungWolf]

Yeah Donck was fine, obviously got stick for the cup semi, bit harsh imo.
He had that period when he played almost as 10, he got into loads of great positions but always missed the target, seemed to affect his confidence and he went off a bit.

also scored the goal that put us in Europe!

He got ruined by Lage playing him in roles that he wasn’t capable of succeeding in. He was a good central midfielder/defender. He was not a midfielder pushing out to a wide forward attacking role where he and Semedo joined forces as an attack prevention division.

Recency bias innit. Like basically everyone at the time, Lage sold him up a creek by trying to have him push wide to the right.

But also yes, Bruno Lage is an idiot. Almost like he saw how Nuno used him out of possession and thought yes, let’s do that in possession too.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

That bloody channel run.

Worked once away at Brentford so let's do it every single game thereafter.

 

[Mel Evo]

That bloody channel run.

Worked once away at Brentford so let's do it every single game thereafter.

I once beat some oaf marking me too tightly by letting the ball through my legs, turning and finding he’d missed it too and I was away.
Happened in my teens and I tried it without success in pretty much every match I played until retirement in my 30s. Worked about once every 3 years.

 

[Alan]

Podence pulling off a Cruyff turn and then falling straight on his ass the next five times he tried it.

 

[Sniffer]

I once beat some oaf marking me too tightly by letting the ball through my legs, turning and finding he’d missed it too and I was away.
Happened in my teens and I tried it without success in pretty much every match I played until retirement in my 30s. Worked about once every 3 years.

I bet you felt brilliant when it worked though! Well worth the wait each time unlike the edge of the box dummy for Thommo to blast into the crowd. Did that ever work?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Didn't David Jones try the Stoke free kick week after week after it went in on the opening day? And it never went in again.

 

[AndyWolves]

Dendoncker was a much better footballer who played an important role in a much better team. I never really understood the stick he got.

I thought he had moments where he was useful, but i thought his role should have been rotational midfielder rather than some kind of number 10.

One of those decisions with hindsight where if we'd binned Adama and got a proper number 10 in (or maybe MGW being a couple of years older) could have made a huge difference

 

[Jinky]

Change of subject, but I reckon we might start to see Wolfe integrated into the starting 11 soon. Particularly if we stick with a back 4, because there’s less emphasis on our full backs doing as much going forward as there is when we play 3 at the back with wing backs. We all know Hugo’s not the tightest when it comes to his defensive work and that’s supposed to be one of Wolfe’s stronger attributes - but I’ve always felt Hugo’s attacking skillset seems to get overblown a bit by our fans too. He still turns back and passes it backwards far more then he gets down the outside to whip a cross in. Vítor may want Wolfe in there to make us a bit more solid if we stick with a back 4.

I thought he looked bang average across the board in his first few games, but it may be that he’s taken a little while to get up to speed, which we’ve seen with some of the other signings from this last window.

 

[Mel Evo]

Change of subject, but I reckon we might start to see Wolfe integrated into the starting 11 soon. Particularly if we stick with a back 4, because there’s less emphasis on our full backs doing as much going forward as there is when we play 3 at the back with wing backs. We all know Hugo’s not the tightest when it comes to his defensive work and that’s supposed to be one of Wolfe’s stronger attributes - but I’ve always felt Hugo’s attacking skillset seems to get overblown a bit by our fans too. He still turns back and passes it backwards far more then he gets down the outside to whip a cross in. Vítor may want Wolfe in there to make us a bit more solid if we stick with a back 4.

I thought he looked bang average across the board in his first few games, but it may be that he’s taken a little while to get up to speed, which we’ve seen with some of the other signings from this last window.

Certainly within the realms of possibility for him to get up to speed and become a starter.

What could emerge as the system settles down is a real issue with the unbalanced squad. We’ve understandably focused on quality, but if we end up with 4-2-3-1, which I would like if it’s working, then we’ve got an issue. You don’t really want to be changing CBs regularly, which means we’ll have a whole bunch of them sitting around doing nothing. Same with our full backs of course. I’m not convinced that won’t be a problem with the squad. Meanwhile, up front, we’ll be immediately noticing the absence of a decent wide player. The CF and number 10 options look decent, but beyond that it’s bits and pieces stuff from repurposed, inadequate, CMS. Or worse, Hwang.

It’s just crackers how we’ve ended up with the number of players in various positions we have.

 

[sycophantia]

Depends on how the midfield 3 sets up as to whether the FBs need to be more creative I suppose.