05 Dec 2019 09:57:56
Last night was a great all round performance, and to be honest one I wasn't expecting. Spurs were in better form, have the better squad and they have a manager who rarely loses games against the top sides. So to put in a performance like that was very satisfying.

Rashford was immense, he has really kicked on this season. He clearly doesn't have the game to play with his back to goal. But on the left cutting in, he is devastating.

Fred was excellent and really benefited from having McTominay back.

Greenwood worked hard off the ball and his movement made more space and opportunities for our other attackers.

I would also like to say that was the best performance of the season from Lingard. Hopefully, he is finding some kind of form.

I was surprised to see a few people slate him yesterday. He had the highest pass success rate of all of our players, he was a constant thorn in Spurs defence, linking up play and harassing the opposition when they had the ball.
I'd like to highlight one stat from the game. Key passes, they are passes made that lead to a shooting opportunity. They could be considered a better metric to measure an individuals impact than assists as an assist requires another player to actually score.

So yesterday, the whole Spurs side managed 5 key passes. While United managed 7 key passes. Of those 7, 4 were from Lingard. He made more than twice as many key passes as anyone else on the pitch.

This highlights the chances he was directly making for his teammates, and not just the space he makes by his off the ball runs.

Great performance and if we can manage that level of performance against City then we will at least give them a game and might even be able to come away with something from the game.

1.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 10:14:02
The performance was excellent yesterday Shappy.
McTominay returning lifted the energy in midfield.
Lindelof too made some good interceptions and we hardly gave anything to Harry Kane.

Let's just hope its not "1 step forward and 2 steps backward".

Because that has been the theme of our season. We have seen glimpses of our quality but we are not sustaining it.

2.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 10:40:09
when you see us play like we did yesterday it makes you think.

its not all as bad as it seems.


is it experience in the games that are not against the big teams that's costing us, is it inconsistency or a lack of older players.


no doubt we have shot ourselves in the foot with all the draws and we have dropped i think 12 points from winning positions.


but against the big teams we have done very good.

3.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 10:48:40
I definitely still feel that as a team we are better suited to playing the top sides rather than those that will sit deep in a low block and not give us any space to get in behind.

Unfortunately there are only 5 or 6 teams in the league who will attack us and give us the space in behind for us to counter in. Which sadly means that there are 13-14 teams in the league who'll sit deep and it will be hard work for us to break them down.

We still lack that player who can create a goal scoring chance when they have 8 opposition players in front of them.

Until we have that player we will do well against the bigger teams and look laboured and struggle against the lower to mid table teams.

4.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 14:02:07
So Shappy will you classify Spurs' style yesterday as sitting deep or attacking?

5.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 14:39:56
Spurs looked to try and control the game through possession and didn't sit either particularly deep or play with a high line. to be honest to me it looked like they were caught between two systems.

Spurs have been an interesting watch under Mourinho, they have scored quite a few (11), but they have conceded 8 goals in 4 games, which is very unlike a Mourinho side. They haven't been able to put out a consistent back four either.

The issues Spurs had yesterday wasn't our players running in behind them, but James and Rashford picking the ball up and running at them diagonally from wide positions.

Both goals came from Rashford running at them and being at top speed by the time the defenders are close enough to make a tackle, in the first instance they decided not to put a tackle and Rashford scores. In the second half they tried to put the tackle in and brought him down for a penalty.

Serge Aurier not tracking Rashford lead to both our goals, with Rashford running from outside to in.

6.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 16:06:00
Fair analysis Shap. I think Ndombele is a very good player and am surprised he isn't among the 1st names on the sheet.

7.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 16:57:30
Ndombele is a great player, but he hasn't settled yet. Most likely due to the upheaval at Spurs this season. Him and Winks look like a great match in midfield, with Alli ahead of them. Son on one wing, and either Moura or a new wide player on the other, and Kane up front looks solid.

It's at the back Mourinho will look to rebuild Spurs, 8 goals conceded in 4 games is very unlike a Jose side. The full backs are okay at best, Mourinho likes one more adventurous full back and one more conservative. He will also want new CB's as he won't be happy with he aging Belgians who look off the pace this season, while Sanchez is raw and can't read a newspaper let alone a football match.

two new centre backs and at least one new full back.

8.) 05 Dec 2019
05 Dec 2019 18:47:01
Brilliant post, couldn't have agreed more, Shappy 😁.