Oh man, he got banned before he could tell his favourite crisp. I’ll put him down as Ready Salted until he can get in touch by other means. I saw bits of the game today. Spawny goal and the ref was ****.
They deserved the win, frustrating to go down to such a lame goal though. I wouldnt be shocked to see Foster in goal for our next match. Sarr goes down far to easily for a big guy.
Really think this squad has the potential to be quite exciting. International break has probably come at a good time, fully integrate the new boys and start to pick up some wins
I’m glad this forum isn’t in complete meltdown after a loss as I thought we played well. We were very competitive. I love how committed and tough in the tackle our new signings are. Sieralta is a beast and won everything that came his way. Masina got horribly found out again, he’s just not intelligence enough to be a premier league footballer. I thought this last time we were in this league and nothing has changed. He’s the weakest link closely followed by a nervous Bachmann. There’s a good team within us we just need a few more games to get into our rhythm.
For me, Spurs decent value for the win, but enough in our performance to be optimistic about. They clearly planned to target Sarr, and worked to bring him down before he could break into space. Weak refereeing didn’t help, but they were cynical enough to keep it up all game. I think we looked levels above the side that got relegated, particularly going forward. In the relegation year, our attacking plan really consisted of nothing more than smashing it long, and hoping Geri could pick it up and make something happen. We showed some nice examples of working the ball out of the back, particularly down the line to get Sarr or Dennis running into space. There were some obvious and repeated patterns of play to progress the ball, and while it didn’t always come off, it was clearly something we’d been working on. Fair play Xisco. With King, Dennis, and Sarr, we’ve suddenly got loads of pace. Teams can’t squeeze us high up the pitch now, because we can do damage in space. The opening 15 minutes in particular were promising, where we got forward with pace and saw a few instances of combinations being used to work space in behind. Chances were sporadic after that, but we did continue to hold a threat on the break until King went off. Cucho was the right sub to make, but maybe as our midfield tired, we seemed to lose any semblance of fluidity going forward, and while Dennis and Sarr continued to give effort, there wasn’t much by the way of fluid forward play after King departed. I was surprised Rose didn’t start, even if he only had 60 minutes in his legs to give. Masina lacks consistency, and his set-piece delivery was poor. Better second half from him, but Rose should nail that spot down for his own as he gets fit. No shock their goal came from a free kick conceded by Cathcart. Nothing against him as he’s been a fine servant for us, but he has no business playing RB at this level. His injury might be a blessing if it forces us into the market. Ngakia grew into things after a nervous start, but overall his performance coming on was a positive. Sissoko and Kucka both tired, but the signs were promising, with Sissoko displaying his ability to carry the ball between the lines on a couple of occasions. Kucka did plenty of dirty work today, and showed his ability to break and combine with forward players. Good to see Sierralta back and slotting in seamlessly. He performed well against arguably one of the strongest front lines in Europe. If we can get another couple of wins in the next 4-5 games, I reckon we’ll have a great chance of staying up. I feel a lot more optimistic about survival than I did 2 or 3 weeks ago. We may surprise ourselves.
Disappointing we got no points, but a good performance at the back, with a fluke goal the only way they could score. We lacked fluency further forward, of course, but to be expected as they have hardly played together, but it is great to see the scoring potential we have now, after 3/4 years of being toothless and a midfield much stronger than we've had for years. Yes, there were the odd mistakes, from most of the players. But I think picking on Masina doesn't really stack up. If he never got beat by top notch opposition, then he wouldn't be playing for us. He was up against top-notch players and overall he did OK. We lost to a team who are now two points clear at the very top of the league. We lost by the same score as Man City two weeks ago, and we have a team you have barely met each other, let alone get used to each other. The future is bright.
Ahhh ain't that nice the official hashtag for today's match was also an instruction to send correspondence to moog: Spoiler #TOTWAT
Sounds like we were unlucky today. Haven't seen the highlights, but going by radio commentary, Cathcart gave a stupid free-kick away and Son got lucky? To only concede 1 with Cathcart and Masina starting isn't too bad tbf. Sounds as though Ekong was decent too, along with the usual suspects. Maybe this will shine a light on the need to sign a capable right-back? How did Ngakia look when he came on?
Agree RE Kane being a cheat. Also think him the hero worship he gets after missing training after (allegedly) trying to get a move was bizarre. Should have fined the gormless ****wit.
Well, perhaps the fans think the team needs him and are pleased he’s not going? Contrast Will Hughes.
I’d imagine plenty are hacked off, but they realise the value to the club in him deciding to stay and are grateful for that. Not every club ostracises wantaway players.
When he speaks it is excruciatingly painful to listen to him. Stuffed sinuses or not he struggles to enunciate the simplest of words. Which means like Alex Scott he will be perfectly qualified to present on the BBC in the near future.
I thought we missed Deeney today. King won nothing. I normally like Andre Mariner but he had a shocker today Massina seems to lack the speed of thought needed at this level. Time and again he had the chance to play someone through and dithered before clubbing a hopeful crossfield pass. Time for Danny Danny Rose
A bit sloppy at first but I thought he grew into the game. There is a player in there but I wonder if we would be better served loaning him to the championship and bringing in a starter.
A few comments: Marriner was awful. One of those refereeing performances where there was no particular error but his general officiating was so poor/biased. Every 50:50 foul/non foul decision went against us. In some ways it’s a change from the eclectically awful and incompetent refereeing in the EFL. Instead we’re back to the big club bias of PL refs. Something to become accustomed to I suspect. I thought we were decent. Prior to the goal our defensive shape and structure was as good as I can ever recall us being away against a big side. We just looked so comfortable out of possession and Spurs didn’t really create anything prior to the goal except from set pieces. Bachmann had an off day with his distribution and should have done a lot better with the goal but did make a number of sharp saves/claims. Calls to drop him are v premature. Dennis and Sarr looked a handful. Nice to see Dennis providing an alternative outlet to Sarr (who was cynically fouled throughout) and he seems to have developed quite the understanding with Kucka. They had three or four really nice one-twos. Ngakia is a really good ball-winner. I think he had more tackles in his 35 mins than any other of our players in 90. If he can work on his passing (very shaky to start off with but improved) we’ll have an ideal bottom half PL full back. Mixed performance from Sissoko. Didn’t look fully up to speed but had two of our brightest moments at the start of the second half. If he can develop the understanding that Kucka has with Dennis with Sarr then I think we’ll be giving a lot of LBs a tough time.
Nah, he was the epitome of the soft belly we had in that era. Capable of 2 worldie goals per season, but cost us 5 from being a piece of **** in defence.
