Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

Just belt it at the wall at face height. There's lots of players who will put their hands up to protect their looks...and I reckon Arsenal have more than most

 

And now, the Skyte Sports player ratings

Tottenham
Hugo Lloris 7, Serge Aurier 7, Toby Alderweireld 7, Eric Dier 7, Sergio Reguilon 7, Moussa Sissoko 6, Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg 9, Heung-Min Son 7, Giovani Lo Celso 5, Steven Bergwijn 5, Harry Kane 8

Arsenal
Bernd Leno 5, Rob Holding 6, Gabriel 6, Kieran Tierney 6, Hector Bellerin 4, Thomas Partey 4, Granit Xhaka 5, Bukayo Saka 6, Willian 4, Alexandre Lacazette 6, Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang 4, Dani Ceballos 6, Eddie Nketiah 5

They don't actually watch games, do they?

 

Shame Giroud wasn't there still. He would protect his looks at all costs

 

The forwards are barely getting the ball, which is a big part of the problem. We are ranked 18th in the league for chances created, 18th for % of crosses completed and 18th for fast breakaways. We are averaging 9.5 shots per game, which is the equivalent of every bottom European side in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France. We've had more foul throws (5) than goals (4) in the league since October.

I don't know if this 'clear the air' session was effective or not, but the reports suggested the players were more determined than ever to put things right by the end. Maybe they did have that intention. They didn't show that enough in the match. And I think it's because we lack quality.

This is the thing - what Arteta was doing before isn't working anymore, partly because I believe teams have sussed us out. We used to try and play accurate balls over the top in the channels in between the CB and full back for Aubameyang to run onto, and rely on lofted balls into our wide players making diagonal runs into the penalty area. We're so reliant on width that we have no guile or improvisation in the middle of the pitch, which makes us so much easier to defend against if our only threat is from the wings. He's so focused on structure when that stifles creativity. Not every pattern of play can be rehearsed.

Yeah, I mentioned this before. The powers that be have left a huge rebuilding job in the hands of 3 rookies - Edu, Arteta and Vinai. None of them have ever been in the thick of it like this before. It's a new experience for them and they've struggled to handle it very well. It's a horrible situation to put the fate of our club in the hands of people who aren't equipped to deal with it.

We do have a hefty wage bill that will be fairly significantly reduced by Summer, but without the allure of European football, it may be hard to attract the calibre or profile of players we want. And even then, we need our recruitment to be on point, in addition to relying on our youth players making a big step up in the Prem, which (so far) they haven't proved able to do yet. Whether this is because they're not mature enough or whether they're being hindered by Arteta's mismanagement, I don't know, but he needs to find solutions. And fast.

He's running out of time.

 

That's pretty much spot-on. When you're in this position, every bad decision needs 2 or 3 or 4 to be right to correct it.

You appoint a bad coach, then you've got to clear out him, his staff and his mistakes in the transfer market. Backing Arteta in January would be a big call...

 

"I'm going to cut down a tree every time Bellerin makes a foul throw."
"Calm down, Bolsonaro."

There have been 16 foul throws in the Premier League this season. Bellerin has made 5 of them. No other player is responsible for more than one.
That's a lot of basic ****-ups, both by one player and in general. When did everyone get **** at something so easy?
People took the piss when Liverpool hired a throw-in coach. They clearly had a point.

 

A report on corners in elite football.




5. Conclusions The main conclusions that can be drawn from our study are 1) corner kicks are uncommon and largely ineffective, but are often decisive in the outcome of a match; 2) more elaborate corner kicks—sent to the far post, following a short initial kick and the intervention of three or four players in a dynamic set-up—are more effective; and 3) corner kicks taken under these circumstances have a 57.6% chance of resulting in a shot between the posts.

 

So stop moaning about short corners, they are the most effective.

 

No, short corners that are played to four other players are, apparently. How often does that happen?
Even then the result is only for shots on target. They might all be **** hoofs from miles out.

I wouldn't apply statistics to this too much, anyway. Teams like City probably get more corners than anyone and don't necessarily do much with them.
It's something that we definitely need to address, as ours are generally crap, but I doubt we're statistically much worse than the average.

 

The image of Danny Rose watching Lamela nutmeg Townsend has now been replaced.

 

I agree but nevertheless the research is interesting but the point you make is correct, 'played to four other players' it doesn't happen often does it. perhaps it should as hoofing it to the near post only produces 2% goal chances. Pretty much a waste of time.

 

Can anyone else smell boiling piss?

 

Would any other manager have this? There are up and downsides to it, in my opinion.
Not Martin Twatkinson closing down Serge Aurier on our 2nd goal. Bizarre.

 

I think Spurs have snidely capitalised on the videos that the Asian YouTuber was doing initially. They were at games pre-rona and solely focusing on Jose on the touchline as well as bits of Son and it was getting a ton of views, good few hundred thousand if I remember rightly.

 

To be fair to the club, it's not like he could continue to do them now.

 

I love them vids

the guy is mesmerising and box office

 

Alfie.These young ladies MUST be brought up the correct way. It's the Tottenham Way or the wrong way!

 

Something that Gary Neville pointed out during the game is very evident in that one.
Mourinho's coaching staff are all busy. They all have things to do and make their voices heard to the players and officials.

I wonder how much of a difference they've made to his attitude from his days at Utd?
He seems happier as part of a group, while Arteta looked a stark, solitary figure in comparison.

 

he also seems to coach the crowd

Spurs is his home now and he behaves as such...It’s like United and their fans were desperate to show him that they are bigger than him...dunno why...must be insecure but definately arrogant

there loss is defo our gain

COYS