Manchester City - H (PL) 20:00 Mon October 29th

[Don Diaz]

Some observations:

1) Sissoko put in one hell of a shift tonight. He saved Trippier's arse on more than one occasion with his tracking back. Yes, he lacks a final product but you cannot question the work ethic.

2) Lamela was excellent again, with the obvious exception being that he completely bottled a glorious opportunity. He is another guy who works very hard. For me, he has been our best player so far this season.

3) Trippier was awful and has been for much of the campaign. His delivery at set pieces was poor and lack of awareness a real concern.

4) Davies is barely holding his spot. Is offering nothing going forward right now.

5) Either Kane has to volunteer to take a rest or the gaffer needs to tell him to take some time off. He is heavy-legged and has played too much football. I don't actually care who replaces him but he needs to take a break. Either Son plays up front or we use Llorente...I really don't give a shit but it is obvious that Kane is overworked. A fresh, fit Kane buries both chances he got in this game. This version of Kane is battling though.

6) I am not sure what Dier offers. He either needs to win the ball or kick the shit out of the opposition. He doesn't really do either.

7) Dembele had a reasonable game but he is not the enforcer he once was. Time might be catching up with the great man.

Hard to argue with much of this but as posted earlier, this is Man City who won with a goal before we started and were hanging on and time wasting at the end, I thought we did well enough with key players missing and a draw would have been a fair result.

 

[Dorset]

Some observations:

1) Sissoko put in one hell of a shift tonight. He saved Trippier's arse on more than one occasion with his tracking back. Yes, he lacks a final product but you cannot question the work ethic.

2) Lamela was excellent again, with the obvious exception being that he completely bottled a glorious opportunity. He is another guy who works very hard. For me, he has been our best player so far this season.

3) Trippier was awful and has been for much of the campaign. His delivery at set pieces was poor and lack of awareness a real concern.

4) Davies is barely holding his spot. Is offering nothing going forward right now.

5) Either Kane has to volunteer to take a rest or the gaffer needs to tell him to take some time off. He is heavy-legged and has played too much football. I don't actually care who replaces him but he needs to take a break. Either Son plays up front or we use Llorente...I really don't give a shit but it is obvious that Kane is overworked. A fresh, fit Kane buries both chances he got in this game. This version of Kane is battling though.

6) I am not sure what Dier offers. He either needs to win the ball or kick the shit out of the opposition. He doesn't really do either.

7) Dembele had a reasonable game but he is not the enforcer he once was. Time might be catching up with the great man.

1. I must have been watching a different game, Trippier was so very often left isolated and no Sissoko helping him

2. Yep, Lamela was excellent, but he didn't 'bottle' anything.

3. No he wasn't, no it wasn't and no it isn't

4. Ben was OK, we were playing Manchester City not Yeovil, he did his job.

5. Nope it isn't remotely obvious.

8...10000 are there any of our players you actually rate?

 

[Don Diaz]

One quick one on the midfield conundrum, when Winks came on last night he really made a difference in terms of driving us forward. We were a bit stuck at times with Demblele and Dier often surrounded and losing possession. Also noticeable how much more often Hugo kicked or tried to kick long.... sometimes successfully!! Lamela and Sissoko carried the team with the constant energy and pressing last night. Seems that is the only way to play against City.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

1. I must have been watching a different game, Trippier was so very often left isolated and no Sissoko helping him

2. Yep, Lamela was excellent, but he didn't 'bottle' anything.

3. No he wasn't, no it wasn't and no it isn't

4. Ben was OK, we were playing Manchester City not Yeovil, he did his job.

5. Nope it isn't remotely obvious.

8...10000 are there any of our players you actually rate?

Seriously mate, get a grip. Did I not give Sissoko and Lamela credit in the post you quoted? Do I not usually defend our players on this site? Jesus, I have even defended the Chairman until recently but the stadium debacle has really got on my tits. So, I invite you to back your rubbish by quoting some other posts where I have criticised players...and for every one of those I will quote you ten of my posts where I have lavished praise upon them.

You're a ripper fella and I love reading (most of) your stuff but you do have the propensity to take shithouse potshots at anybody who holds a different opinion to your own.

And yes, it is blatantly obvious to everybody (except you) who watches football that Harry Kane needs a rest. If (more likely when) he breaks down I won't stoop so low as to come on here and say "I told you so" so I will tell you now...the guy is overworked and he is an increased injury risk as a result. It is basic asset management, which is something I don't think you actually understand. Unfortunately Pochettino is virtually forced into playing the guy because Sonny is also fatigued and out of form and Llorente has been firing blanks ever since he got to Spurs (waiting for your inevitable drive-by because I dared question a Spurs player).

 

[deejbah]

Has he got better or have some of the other come down to his level? I just... he did have a good game.

I would say that for whatever reason, he has got better. This isn't just an observation from this game, I have noticed a few different things happening for a while, particularly that others in the team are a lot more willing to give him the ball and he to receive it and also he is moving more outside of transition phases (where he has always been strong).

 

[deejbah]

One quick one on the midfield conundrum, when Winks came on last night he really made a difference in terms of driving us forward. We were a bit stuck at times with Demblele and Dier often surrounded and losing possession. Also noticeable how much more often Hugo kicked or tried to kick long.... sometimes successfully!! Lamela and Sissoko carried the team with the constant energy and pressing last night. Seems that is the only way to play against City.

Pretty much the only way to play them is how we tried and how Liverpool have beaten them - try to defend in the middle of the pitch and when the ball is in that area, press hard and if you can't win it there, get as compact as possible without dropping too deep and then look to counter into the space they will leave. The ref helped them quite a lot by not carding Fernandinho earlier as he's a real key to their team.

 

[TettenhallHotspur]

I feared the worst after the first few minutes but was impressed with how we matched them, and at least deserved a point.

You could say that they showed their class by capitalising on our mistake, but we failed to do so on theirs. But on another day Lamela would have buried that - some days it goes for you, some days it doesn't.

As much as the media and talksport in particular would put the result down to us having a loser mentality and ignore the hundreds of millions pumped into buying players and paying wages, we are punching above our weight and continue to make progress in spite of the financial restrictions Poch is having to work against.

Winks - what a great little player. He's surely going to be a key player for us in years to come, as long as he can stay fit.

 

[TettenhallHotspur]

Pretty much the only way to play them is how we tried and how Liverpool have beaten them - try to defend in the middle of the pitch and when the ball is in that area, press hard and if you can't win it there, get as compact as possible without dropping too deep and then look to counter into the space they will leave. The ref helped them quite a lot by not carding Fernandinho earlier as he's a real key to their team.

On the subject of not getting his yellow cards out, when did it become acceptable to run in and block a player from taking a free kick? I know every team does it to an extent by taking time to get back 10 yards but it's now at the point that players are block tackling free kicks and getting away with it. Surely should be a yellow every time.

 

[J.spurs]

On the subject of not getting his yellow cards out, when did it become acceptable to run in and block a player from taking a free kick? I know every team does it to an extent by taking time to get back 10 yards but it's now at the point that players are block tackling free kicks and getting away with it. Surely should be a yellow every time.

And if a player kicks it into them he gets a talking to if not a booking himself.