Musings on the fixture list ... A CL winter away trip to Belgrade has been avoided (although November is hardly summer, similarly for Munich) . The Munich games are nowhere near PL fixtures with the top 6 usual suspects, so there is scope for decent squad rotation (for a manager who understands this is vital) .
Fixtures for September : September 1 : PL - Goons (A) September 14 - PL : Palace (H) September 18 - CL : Olympiakos (A) September 21 - PL : Leicester (A) September 21 - League Cup : Colchester (A) September 28 - PL : Soton (H) A reasonable list on which to "make hay" on all fronts, and get some proper squad rotation going. After the NLD comes the Euroland transfer window close + internationals break, so WTF is irking Pochettino needs to be sorted before the Palace game.
Right, with internationals break now on ... 1. The performance against busparquet has been poor, and getting increasingly worse. The reason why Citeh + Poool hardly suffer from it is not because of a squad embarrassment of riches, but because they do NOT PLAY SLOW SLOW SIDEWAYS SLOW. Those are the opposition we need to make hay from in order to maintain PL top 4 status. AVB 2013-14 teaches us what happens when you fail to do so. 2. The lack of an on-pitch leader is now becoming an issue. There is NOBODY taking the team by the scruff of the neck or reading the riot act when pressing or picking up players is not done. The time IMHO has come to give the captaincy to a defender or MF, whether they want it or not. 3. Passing out from the back. The disasters are a direct consequence of 1. 4. Pochettino As Spurlock said the other day, the "transfer window" excuse is soon dead. If you want to play passing out from the back, then IMPROVE the training drills so tis done better. Winks is now statto fodder for commentators on his sideways passing. Time to be brave and tell him and Skipp that the one who moves the ball FORWARD more often, and is FASTER with it, is the one who is not going to be a squad number and little more.
I agree it's not the squad depth that's costing us, it's the fact that City/Pool still press like their lives depend on it. We ditched the press over a year ago. A baffling tactical regression...I don't buy the whole burnout thing.
One positive to date ... Spurs have now done two PL away fixtures against the top 5 of last season, and the like for like on that is : Pts +2, GF + 2, GA -1. Slay the busparquet, and usual service will resume.
By the way, how long you got that name for? Makes me shudder every time I issue a Predictions reminder.
Rather bizarrely, I became quite attached to Tony Adams avatar. He looked very smart in his business suit. I think it’s the fact that it pissed off Pixie, that he wasn’t wearing an Arsenal kit, that made it okay.
You seen the post I tried to tag you in (although I think the tags aren't working)? https://www.not606.com/threads/rival-watch.112743/page-2949#post-13120212
PL (like for like with 2018-19 after 6 games) : Pts -4, GF +3, GA +2. League Cup : exit at round 3 (against a lower league team) . AVB 2013-14 alarm bells ringing big time now.