[MadMike]

Actually pretty pleased with the performance. We bossed the game for the most part and created some good chances. We were denied the win due to a defensive and goalkeeping error. Shit happens

With Pogba next to Bruno and Greenwood in the place of James this team is going places. Can't wait for next game.3

 

[Withnail]

Actually pretty pleased with the performance. We bossed the game for the most part and created some good chances. We were denied the win due to a defensive and goalkeeping error. Shit happens

With Pogba next to Bruno and Greenwood in the place of James this team is going places. Can't wait for next game.3

Yeah I was frustrated not to have won especially against Mourinho but there's every reason to be optimistic.

Let's hope Pogba and Greenwood are fit enough to start the rest of the games.

 

[The Original]

Maguire and Lindelof really shouldn't play together. I keep watching the replay for that goal and I'm certain Bailly would have made the tackle. And it's not just that Lindelof isn't as fast, he just doesn't look like he has those instincts.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Fairly happy with the point. We were unlucky not to score another for sure, but so were Spurs (De Gea save from Son).

Mou's cynicism is truly our achilles' heal - sitting deep is something we obviously struggle against and it's something he treats like an infant son.

Overall, rusty but enough to make me believe we can push for a Champion's League place.

 

[Member 113277]

Could unrealistic expectations be getting the better of us guys?

I think we're being overly harsh and quite disrespectful to the level of opponent we played. Spurs conceded a lot of goals prior to the break, but that was without the workmanlike Son defending from the front, and also against lesser teams where they had to take the initiative and attack.

This was a very different scenario, and we may be underestimating how good José is at parking the bus. This wasn't a typical low ranking PL team hanging on for dear life just because they lacked quality. This was a big game, against high quality internationals in a team that played in the Champions League final last year, and were no doubt motivated due to the magnitude of the game.

It's the kind of game pundits would have called a "José defensive masterclass" had Spurs survived. The minute we let in a goal, it was always going to be an uphill task. Don't forget Spurs turned the free flowing City over, and we did manage to unlock them, albeit via a penalty.

We also created a decent amount of chances considering, as chances don't just mean shots on goal. Unfortunately the lack of sharpness showed in the accuracy of the shots, and also the speed in getting said shots off as we saw with Martial and Rashford.

On the side, If I were a Spurs fan, I'd be wondering what José's feeling so smug about to be honest. They needed the win more than we did, and a draw is not a bad result for us away against the most difficult team (on paper) left for us to play.

Yes, it is disrespectful to Spurs - there were on a bad roll before Covid, but that was 3 months ago - prior form counts for nothing now and it's like the start of a new season. I thought they played very well in patches and looked dangerous at times - to be fair, we did, too.

When the second penalty was awarded, I thought we might snatch victory, but no complaints over the pen reversal and on balance, 1-1 was probably a fair result for both teams overall.

 

[Tom Cato]

Honestly I think we looked good. At least we got some big chances on goal this time around against a team that sat deep deep.

Pogba was outstanding.

Players being match rusty and the quality not being there all over the pitch is to be expected.

Overall, if we'd have won, it would have been a deserved outcome. Again we are the makes of our own downfall by having big personal mistakes affording the opposition a goal.

This was the thoughest game we have left this season, 1-1 draw is not the end of the world and certainly keeps us well in contention for a top3 finish.

 

[Strelok]

What did Shaw do wrong with the goal?

Watch the highlight again and you'd see. Shaw made two basic mistakes imo:

- He tried to pass the ball forward to Rashford by heading. Headings are usually not very accurate. He's a defender and he should play safe first, especially when almost all his teammates were in the other half. That's why in that kind of situation we usually see defenders try to head the ball as hard and as high as they can. So there'd be time for their teammates to fall back in case possession is lost.

- He didn't look at Rashford before heading the ball, he only looked at the ball. If he had, he'd realise that Rashford was behind a Spurs player and tried to head the ball as hard and as high as he could instead of heading the ball to Rashford.

At 0:23

 

[RedSky]

We're basically starting the season again except with a 2 week preseason, most of our players were clearly going to be rusty. I also think Ole got the team selection right with perhaps the exception of James. He wanted to reward the players who gave us the run pre lockdown with a start this game. Pogba will start alongside Bruno after a disappointing game by McTominay and Fred.

Hopefully Rashford and Martial can wake up a bit for Sheffield United. But I think the leading thought we have exiting this game is the decision with De Gea because this has happened numerous times this season. It doesn't matter if he redeems himself with a great save a few minutes later, you need a consistent keeper who saves the easy/medium difficult shots, that should be his bread and butter. Its happened far too many times in the last 18 months.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Played better in the second half. You can't completely forget about the opposition when analyzing your own team. Spurs suffocated us in the final third. When we got anywhere near their box, they pounced on us and worked their arses off. With ten men behind the ball doing this it makes it so difficult to break down; I don't care who you are. At the end of the day, we went to their ground and dominated the ball, created the better chances, and was on the front foot for the majority of it.

We were up against The Negative One and came away with a point in what is probably our most difficult fixture on paper.

 

[GenZRed]

People talk a lot about Matic's age but he is 31. He has two more years in him yet. 31 today is not the same as 31 twenty years ago. Sports science has improved to allow players to play for longer, depending on their injury history.

I feel we may have won if Matic had played behind Bruno and Pogba, or even Fred. The way some people rate him better than Scott is insane, as the OP on the 'disrespect towards Matic' thread pointed out.

 

[GenZRed]

Played better in the second half. You can't completely forget about the opposition when analyzing your own team. Spurs suffocated us in the final third. When we got anywhere near their box, they pounced on us and worked their arses off. With ten men behind the ball doing this it makes it so difficult to break down; I don't care who you are. At the end of the day, we went to their ground and dominated the ball, created the better chances, and was on the front foot for the majority of it.

We were up against The Negative One and came away with a point in what is probably our most difficult fixture on paper.

And still didn't win. That is why people are frustrated.

Easy to dominante the ball against The Negative One, as you rightly call him.

 

[BusbyMalone]

And still didn't win. That is why people are frustrated.

Easy to dominante the ball against The Negative One, as you rightly call him.

Being frustrated is fine. I'm frustrated we didn't win as I think we probably deserved it. The second half, particularly. But as I said, It's not as easy as that. Spurs did what they did really well. It's very hard to break down - I don't care who you are.

All in all, a decent result.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Did anyone notice how Rashford had picked up the ball when we got the second penalty? What was all that about? Don’t think we should mess about the penalty business any more.

 

[Tarrou]

Watch the highlight again and you'd see. Shaw made two basic mistakes imo:

- He tried to pass the ball forward to Rashford by heading. Headings are usually not very accurate. He's a defender and he should play safe first, especially when almost all his teammates were in the other half. That's why in that kind of situation we usually see defenders try to head the ball as hard and as high as they can. So there'd be time for their teammates to fall back in case possession is lost.

- He didn't look at Rashford before heading the ball, he only looked at the ball. If he had, he'd realise that Rashford was behind a Spurs player and tried to head the ball as hard and as high as he could instead of heading the ball to Rashford.

At 0:23

Seems like a bit of a stretch to be honest. It was on the half way line and he tried to retain possession from a long punt, if he’d just whacked it straight back it would be seen as a mistake too.

 

[Strelok]

Seems like a bit of a stretch to be honest. It was on the half way line and he tried to retain possession from a long punt, if he’d just whacked it straight back it would be seen as a mistake too.

This is exactly what a defender should not do when most of his teammates are on the other half. And he's being pressed from behind.

In this kind of situation most defenders would head the ball as hard and as high as they can. If you don't believe me next time when you watch a match pay extra attention to similar situations and you'd see I think.

 

[BestRed]

Thought we grew into the game really well after an understandably slowish start. But if we can get up to speed as quickly as possible there's loads to look forward to with this team.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

In the First half we were quite pedestrian and sloppy,the game didn’t really get going.We conceded a horrendous goal and I don’t think Marcus and James supported our full backs defensively at all.There was acres of space on both flanks for the Spurs players To exploit....
2nd half was much much better....We completely dominated the game and ofcourse Bruno came into his own and Paul made a decisive impact.Now the manager just needs to find a system to get the best out of both these players...All in all its a decent point but we should have got the 3...

 

[Paxi]

Martial isn’t a number 9 - he lacks that killer instinct to just get a shot away a tad quicker. Thankfully we’ve got Greenwood coming through. It won’t be long until we have one of the best 9’s in the country.

 

[Shark]

Martial isn’t a number 9 - he lacks that killer instinct to just get a shot away a tad quicker. Thankfully we’ve got Greenwood coming through. It won’t be long until we have one of the best 9’s in the country.

If Greenwood does become the number 9 many are predicting he will, will Martial accept a rotation role with him or will he go back to competing with Rashford.

 

[gerdm07]

Rashford's touch wasn't that bad under the circumstances. The only other thing he could have done is take the ball away from goal. But he wanted to keep relatively central so as not to lose the goal-scoring chance. It was an understandable decision.

Sanchez deserves the credit for defending well.

I disagree. When Rashford receives the ball Sanchez is using proper social distancing, about 6 feet. This means there was room for a somewhat bad touch and Rashford's first touch was very bad. I think most top forwards get a shot off in that situation, either with their left foot, a great first touch allow him to shoot with right and curl to corner, or stopping the ball dead and making a move to get a shot after Sanchez recovers.

The other thing you have to consider is Rashford had plenty of time to prepare his body and calculate the touch. He just failed to execute.

Great pass from Pogba.

 

[stepic]

Lots of rusty players out there. Martial, Rashford, Shaw, Maguire, James, and a clanger from De Gea. Should have won it really, as Spurs we’re rubbish. Classic Mou sitting back defending a goal. Excited to see Bruno and Pogba start next game and Greeny needs to start.

 

[gerdm07]

Martial isn’t a number 9 - he lacks that killer instinct to just get a shot away a tad quicker. Thankfully we’ve got Greenwood coming through. It won’t be long until we have one of the best 9’s in the country.

I agree. His first great chance was that nice threaded pass from Bruno. Watch the replay though. Martial makes a nice first touch (which surprised me) and then takes 3 or 4 baby steps to take the shot, just enough time for the defender to block. It made me think of how van Nilsteroy would have handled it, one touch, one step and shot. It's the sort of thing forwards practice all the time and yet in a match Martial can't seem to do it consistently.

 

[Robertd0803]

Is there a more frustrating attacking pair than rashford and martial? I dunno what they do in training but as soon a as the start whistle blows their brains lose any football intelligence. Sometimes they have some moments of magic but after a game like today they seem more like flukes than actual ability

Its a bit weird, sometimes its great othertimes its like me and you playing together where they dont even know the other is a footballer.

 

[mitchmouse]

De Gea of a few seasons ago does not get beaten by that shot.

Regardless of the defensive errors in the build up there's is definitely something up with him.

Let's hope it was rustiness and he can get back to his best but I'm losing patience that he can get his consistency back. Its odd as 29 isn't old for a keeper.

I seems to be losing concentration in "dull" games. You would never have seen that from Shmikes or VdS

 

[Gasolin]

I agree. His first great chance was that nice threaded pass from Bruno. Watch the replay though. Martial makes a nice first touch (which surprised me) and then takes 3 or 4 baby steps to take the shot, just enough time for the defender to block. It made me think of how van Nilsteroy would have handled it, one touch, one step and shot. It's the sort of thing forwards practice all the time and yet in a match Martial can't seem to do it consistently.

Martial first touch is usually good, so we can improve the first step / first shot thing, there's a striker in Ole who will focus on that. But yeah, it's a shame, that move was everything we wanted to see from Pogba and Bruno, 2 players who are good on the ball.

Btw, I am in awe with Pogba, I forgot how good he was, and I hope that he keeps fighting for the team. He seems to want it. His tackle against Aurier when losing possession near Spurs' box was amazing, it gave us right away the opportunity to go back.

We can only hope Chelsea loses points now, realistically, the best we could hope for is a draw for them I suppose? If only they could lose due to "rustiness"...

 

[jlecesne]

Takeaways from the match:

1. Every single player (on both teams) showed a little bit of rust. As good as Bruno was, he still had some heavy touches and questionable decisions. It will take a couple matches before things start clicking.

2. If Pogba is fit, he has to play. We are better with him in the side. It's that simple.

3. The jury is still out on Martial as our CF/#9. Part of me thinks that if the team around him is providing chances then he could be a prolific goal scorer. But the other half sees him as a natural winger being played as a CF.

4. I'll give Rashford a pass and I'll give Ole a pass for keeping him on. He hasn't played a competitive fixture in 6 months but he's still one of the most likely to produce a bit of magic. He's earned the right to play his way back into form.

5. Still not sure what our best midfield looks like. Bruno and Pogba are musts. But, no one else has asserted themselves as an fixture in the starting 11.

6. There is no reason to start James over Greenwood. I think you an make the argument that we should start Ighalo flanked by Martial and Rashford (or a number of different formations/combos of players). But if it comes down to James and Greenwood on the right side of a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, I don't think its up for debate.

7. I fear that mistakes from De Gea are becoming a trend...

Overall, happy with the point and I think things only go up from here.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Where is Harry Kane ?

 

[DrRodo]

35 goals combined, and you call those flukes? The way folks are carrying on, maybe we should just sell the whole squad of hopeless oafs. Honestly, I don't know where people crawl out from with these entitled views. You'd think Spurs just came along to fly kites and watch us run past them.

Oh excuse me sir for writing a knee jerk comment in the heat of a just finished frustrating tie. But the pair yesterday was absolutely clueless. Spurs defence didnt even seem to put that much effort in marking rashford. He just ran into trouble and dispossession by himself, his close control was all over the place. Martial was non existent. Don't tell me they're a pair which is lighting europe on fire. Ridiculously inconsistent the both of them. We could do better in our offensive line.

 

[Tony247]

3. The jury is still out on Martial as our CF/#9. Part of me thinks that if the team around him is providing chances then he could be a prolific goal scorer. But the other half sees him as a natural winger being played as a CF.

A natural winger is energetic, does lot of running up and down. Do you see that in Martial!?

I have started thinking this talented but a lazy boy thinks himself as 9 purely because that position allows least running among all other attacking positions.

 

[Teja]

It's also probably not worth analyzing this game endlessly. First game after a 3mo break, our passing was rusty, Spurs sat deep, and yeah we should've won but not the end of the world. Still positive signs for me.

 

[roonster09]

Oh excuse me sir for writing a knee jerk comment in the heat of a just finished frustrating tie. But the pair yesterday was absolutely clueless. Spurs defence didnt even seem to put that much effort in marking rashford. He just ran into trouble and dispossession by himself, his close control was all over the place. Martial was non existent. Don't tell me they're a pair which is lighting europe on fire. Ridiculously inconsistent the both of them. We could do better in our offensive line.

Rashord and Martial didn't finish off the chances, if Spurs defense didn't even put effort then it shows as both had some very good chances.

Rashford left foot shot saved by keeper, missed header from set piece, pogba's pass where Rashford made the run behind thier defense, also the last penalty appeal where Rashford hesitated to shoot.

Likewise Martial had shot blocked by Dier and then Lloris made superb save.

Both of them had chances but finishing was very poor. Overall they were poor vs Spurs but they had chances, so maybe Spurs defenders didn't really mark them properly.

 

[freddie the red]

I don't really see what he did yesterday that had anything to do with him being not arsed or a liability. He worked hard, actually defended quite effectively (Spurs barely had a decent chance in the period he was on the pitch) and obviously did his thing well in attack. I don't dispute he can have the qualities you mention, but he didn't show them yesterday so it seems harsh to bring them up.

A dream because of what he showed last night, what we know he can do. A nightmare because we know how good he CAN be but we don't know when he's gonna produce the goods and then there's the off field rubbish to contend with as well.
As I said, so damned frustrating.

 

[Glorio]

Oh excuse me sir for writing a knee jerk comment in the heat of a just finished frustrating tie. But the pair yesterday was absolutely clueless. Spurs defence didnt even seem to put that much effort in marking rashford. He just ran into trouble and dispossession by himself, his close control was all over the place. Martial was non existent. Don't tell me they're a pair which is lighting europe on fire. Ridiculously inconsistent the both of them. We could do better in our offensive line.

Understood, however it's still an unfair comment, and I can only respond to what I read. In my opinion, they have actually been fairly consistent this season, considering they'd been living mostly on scraps until the turn of the year.

Let's not forget how difficult chances were to come by for this team before Bruno arrived, and truthfully, a lot of the few chances we did have came from those two, which is why I believe when one was injured, the other struggled badly, as the chances literally dried up.


All this considered, they have 35 or so goals combined, having both missed about 2 months of the season via injury, with just over 2/3 of the season played. Don't get me wrong, there's room for improvement, but at their ages, the trajectory is on the up and they're already at a very good level. They've both stepped up massively from last season, and one can only expect that they'd go up another level next season.

 

[Karlos PFC]

Maguire and Lindelof really shouldn't play together. I keep watching the replay for that goal and I'm certain Bailly would have made the tackle. And it's not just that Lindelof isn't as fast, he just doesn't look like he has those instincts.

You really think after that goal that it was Lindelof's fault? Even though it came from Maguire's side?

Maguire is nowhere near a world class CB, he can't run, can't tackle and can't turn. The worst piece of business from Ole. There are CBs out there that can do the job Maguire does better and don't necessarily cost 85m.

 

[The Original]

You really think after that goal that it was Lindelof's fault? Even though it came from Maguire's side?

Maguire is nowhere near a world class CB, he can't run, can't tackle and can't turn. The worst piece of business from Ole. There are CBs out there that can do the job Maguire does better and don't necessarily cost 85m.

Never said it was Lindelof's fault. Maguire failed completely but I also can observe within the same transaction, that Lindelof experienced a secondary failure.

 

[alexthelion]

Watch it again.

What was wrong with heading the ball forwards?

Maguire and especially de Gea were at fault for the goal.

 

[Sea-Cow]

Pogba - He's definitely done enough to start the next game. Not just because of how he played, but because Fred was poor and Mctominay looked like he hadn't done any fitness training since about 2010.

Maguire - He was playing really well before the break but I just can't get my head around why it's ok for a professional footballer to look as awful and off the pace as he did in that first half. Why is he allowed to literally take 10 seconds to play a six yard pass time and time again and no one on the bench is going fecking livid at him every single time? It's basic bloody stuff. Get the ball and pass it. There is no reason to stand there thinking about it unless it's because you are too fecking rubbish to do it. LIndelof was barely any better.

We were horribly shite for an hour and then for the last 30 minutes you have to factor in that we were playing against a Mourinho side who were a goal up, and what happened was basically what ALWAYS happens in that situation. We had 7-8 decent chances but so will everyone else who plays Tottenham.

In general I enjoyed watching the game but find it pretty feeble how many players on both sides were clearly a million miles away from being fit. A lack of sharpness is understandable but things like endurance shouldn't be a visible issue after about 20 minutes. Fitness and exercising hasn't been banned for the last 3 months...although it's not like being a high end professional athlete is anyone on the pitch's job I guess...

Our refs are also absolute garbage. I've been watching football outside of the PL and what happens is the game takes place and the ref referees it and then the game ends. The PL comes back and every 3 minutes the ref or his assistants are missing something obvious or inventing things that didn't even happen, or can't tell the difference between a foul and someone clearly just throwing themselves on the floor. We're the only league in the world where the officials can't tell if a ball has crossed the line despite having a video ref, goal line technology and the fact the goalkeeper was literally rolling the ball around IN the net of the goal.

Commentary nonsense:
- Martin Tyler trying to blame Mourinho using Mourinho tactics for the 500th game in a row on the fact there wasn't a crowd.
- Neville moaning about teams travelling the same day as a game in the same sentence as expressing his shock that any hotel might be open.
- Commentator on earlier game claiming that Norwich City had booked out every room of the hotel overlooking the stadium to stop anyone watching the game, when this makes aboslutely no sense since a) the hotel would be closed to everyone except Norich City, and b) even if it wasn't someone watching the game from the window of a room they are on their own in would have made aboslutely no fecking difference to anything!

Things that make no sense:
- Not allowing the players to come out of the same tunnel, celebrate close together, or go within 2 metres of each other pre or post game...then gathering them all into a tight group every 20 minutes so they can all drink some water together, despite this not being a thing that ever needed to happen pre-corona virus.
- Thinking that anyone cares about what some other people look like watching the game in their bedrooms

Unexpected corona virus bonuses:
- Not missing about 30 minutes of the game so the TV broadcaster can keep reminding us what the crowd looks like or what Sir Alex Ferguson sitting in the crowd looks like.
- Game doesn't have to stop while Eric Dier has to go into the audience and help his brother have a fight with some random fan.

I have raised this point before, and I will do it again -- Noodlehair should be punished in some way if he fails to write up a post-match review.

I am going to let this post slide because we are all a bit rusty after the break. But normally I would expect to see a player-by-player review. Don't let it happen again.

 

[noodlehair]

Lacking match fitness.

I promise I'll come up with a better excuse for not doing it next time.

 

[MikeeMike]

Given the immediate impact Pogba had coming on I wont understand he he does not start tonight. If it was another “statement” to leave him on the bench it will backfire. He isnt the sort of player to respond to that.

 

[gerdm07]

You really think after that goal that it was Lindelof's fault? Even though it came from Maguire's side?

Maguire is nowhere near a world class CB, he can't run, can't tackle and can't turn. The worst piece of business from Ole. There are CBs out there that can do the job Maguire does better and don't necessarily cost 85m.

Really? Maguire would be a starter for almost any club in the world as he is one of the best CBs. He has his weaknesses for sure, but he has many strengths to his game. Winning headers, positioning, ball handling and leader. If he were as bad as you seem to think why would Ole make him captain?