Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Tanganga in the book for a cynical pull to stop the break. Looks knackered.

 

Ndombele messes up a 2 yard pass

 

Who needs Bale, we've got Sissoko? Glad there's not long left.

 

24 attempts...but Wolves were shockingly bad

 

Above West Ham

 

2-0 FT. Fairly happy with that. Started the second half well, got the second, wobbled a bit, then saw it out fairly decently.
Not sure how much of that is down to the difference between Leeds and Wolves, though.
Plenty to improve on and we need to beat Villa on Wednesday to have a good chance of European football.

 

Nice to say that after 90 minutes we deserved to win a game based on both halves.

Agree with Neville’s MOTM choice, Coady was great for them and stopped us scoring more, Hojbjerg was our MOTM.

 

Thanks for the updates - working today and you are so much quicker than the BBC - Will enjoy the highlights later

 

Good win, good performance and very watchable. I'd rather give Mason next season than some of the names we've seen linked.

 

Good to see the talent Spurs have being used properly. You can clearly see the damage caused by Jose when a novice coach can come along and make things better. Picking players based on their ability rather than the managers ego.

 

Jamie Redknapp talking facts. Souness started out saying "only Dele will know why he's not been picked" before rambling on about him being lazy. Jamie's the lesser of two twats

 

I thought that was a typo the first three times I read it...

 

Also hit the woodwork three times, which I think means we've done it more than anyone.

 

Sort of...

 

Somebody said it on Twitter the other day, but the biggest issue with Ndombele is we need a controlling midfielder in his role, and Ndombele isn't suited for that role as he's a very direct player

If you look at either Modric or Dembele they were control players as they both set the pace of our team in their own way
- Modric was a metronome who would always find the exact pass we needed if we were on the offensive, looking to pry open a team or looking to hold onto the ball for the last five minutes of a lead so that we held the initiative even if we were pinging it sideways and backwards to run down the clock
- Dembele would take the ball and move it up the pitch, and when he'd done so he would lay the ball off to Eriksen, Son or whoever as he had brought them into the game by moving the ball forward meaning that we maintained initiative

In comparison, Ndombele never does these and only looks for the most direct move available that effectively makes him comparable to Tom Huddlestone, and the issue with only looking for direct moves is that there's multiple instances in matches where that is the wrong thing to do, for example if we're up against a stubborn and well-drilled defence if somebody keeps trying direct balls they're far more likely to be snaffled up, similarly if we're hanging onto a one-goal lead by our fingernails having somebody play direct balls runs the risk of giving away possession and inviting pressure upon us

That's why we're once again seeing Lo Celso get the nod in midfield, as we regularly did last season, because while he isn't a controlling midfielder either he is better suited to playing in that role as he does have a better understanding of when to go direct and when to play percentages - but there's still a world of difference between having an understanding of the role and being the player for that role, and that's the obvious issue

Or, to look at it another way, there is a way to get Ndombele playing to his fullest potential and that involves building the team around him, and to be brutally honest that requires a hell of a lot of investment as we'd need to overhaul our entire midfield, something which is overdue by at least two years at this point (three is probably more accurate) but that does ask the question of whether Ndombele is a player worth building a team around

 

Bloody typical that I missed the game due to having a pornographically expensive lunch at Gaucho Grill

Which I wasn't paying for, thankfully...

 

You've overlooked Modric's defensive work. Insane work rate for a player who had all the talent to afford being a bit of a luxury. Tanguy is the polar opposite in this regard, and for this reason most games pass him by.

 

True, but I was trying to keep it to under 1500 words and focusing on how a player can control the game with the ball instead of without gets to the point a little quicker

In an odd way a comparison can be made with Bale, as both he and Ndombele are conspicuous by their absence when we don't have the ball, and both have a directness to their play when we do - but the difference is that Bale does understand when to make the percentage ball better than Ndombele (and, since we're here on the subject, Lucas) and a two yard prod to a teammate can be more important than a 30 yard run down a potential blind alley

The thing for us, though, is it is easier to build around Bale than Ndombele right now, as we can build a reasonably effective team to support Bale with a Hojbjerg & Lo Celso pivot while Dele presses hard at No10, although that's still a hodgepodge given Hojbjerg isn't press resistant as the Leeds match showed and that creates a weakness

To build around Ndombele, though? That likely requires a midfield three where he has two hard-working CMs screening him, much like how Juve had Vidal and Marchisio screening Pirlo a few years back, but the obvious point with that system is it is far more suited to counterattacking football