Sterling was 100% fit but Jose’s mind games got the better of Pep’s ego and he ended up benching his best player
Got so much time for how much Mou loves Højbjerg. He’s a **** but an intelligent one. Seriously signing of the season so far. For any club.
C1. The pressure was really on Spurs to win this game. Specifically for : - a statement of intent for the PL campaign - the "season compass" - the significance of Chelsky at this very moment in the season So on that front, job done.
C2. Jose went for 'pragma over dogma' (the win mattered most) . Going for "rope a dope" + counter-attacking has its inherent risks, but the team to its credit executed Joses' plan to the letter.
C3. Kane is becoming increasingly "unplayable" for opposition. Such a variety of play now in his toolbox (probably at least 4 "he's just a ..." songs that can be sung as absolute fact) .
C4. Lee Dixon made an astute comment on the game. Specifically regarding the absence of crowds. His comment was that what would the atmosphere have been like for Spurs players on the pitch, with a full WHL responding to so much time of Citeh camped in the Spurs final third. Bad enough to affect the players ?? I knew Jose was going for "rope a dope" , but I still spent a lot of the 90 mins enraged at moments where I felt somebody should be moving up to press rather than sitting back. Proof positive IMHO that there are certain games where people such as I should never be allowed to actually attend.
Totally agree, every minute was painful watching us sit back against a team like Citeh , even when we got the first all I could say was " too ****ing early " but I suppose that goes with the territory of being a Spurs fan. COYS
Just seen Jose's post match interview, Toby's injury is bad which in JM speak means he will be out until Christmas or he will play Sunday
Pass map time please log in to view this image Not happy about the No Man's Land created by Sissoko babysitting Aurier (as usual) which against most teams could cause us issues, which certainly did against Man Utd last season as it created acres of space through the middle that was exploited However, when you look at the Mansourites' pass map you see why Sissoko was drifting so wide: we had both Mahrez and Torres running into blind alleys all game, with Mahrez passing backwards whenever he got high up the pitch and Torres getting into good positions but unable to do anything once he got there please log in to view this image Also, look at their front three: not a single pass between the three of them, which is an awful lot of players in a small amount of pockets
City don't like our new stadium. They've played 3, lost them all, had 2 penalties and not scored a goal.
Citeh are in a tech "arms race". Yet despite all their money, their R+D capability cannot overcome Spurs superior VAR weaponry.