Never said otherwise, I was answering the comment about Odegaard playing and this being easier for Arsenal. But also don’t act like this was a one off tactic. Arteta has you playing like Stoke in every big match, even when healthy. Agree, that’s why Ange needs to do something. Playing midweek might be a blessing. Rotate more players in, get in some momentum by beating teams we should beat and get out of this pattern of playing once a week with the same XI. Creative players like Bergvall and Odobert need more chances to do something. Not Johnson and Maddison doing the same thing every week.
I spent 20 years sitting on a high horse talking about the right way to play. I still want us to....but at the end of the day these are professsional football players that want to win. And they'll do anything for it (Unless we're up at the Etihad )
Beat teams you should be beating but also doing a bunch of travel and having to manage the squad better. Spurs still struggled with injuries last season and they had no Europe and got knocked out early in both cups. I just don't think they're going to handle the workload well. We've seen European commitments negatively impact Manchester United, Newcastle, and Brighton just last season. And this season Europe is even more games.
I'm more realistic than the manager (who continues with title talk) so I'm not at a faith losing point with him yet. The cups will make or break his season. Maddison is frustrating / inconsistent but again, that's partly why they're at Spurs. You can place the same blame at several players. If they were great they'd probably be playing elsewhere. I don't think you know what you're going to get from a lot of these players from one week to the next. Van De Ven is probably the only one that Spurs can safely rely on and typically he is the one that has had the fitness concerns in this team.
Or Son, for that matter. As much as I love what he's given us over the years, he's riding on the coat-tails of the past. His place as first on the team sheet has to be under threat, but Ange obviously still thinks he's the best we've got.
It depends what you mean by handling it well. I don't really think Spurs would be much better without Europe. We're a team that have limitations regardless of an extra cup competition. I said before the season I didn't really understand the optimism around us, today is a performance that epitomises why. We'll finish top 6/7 which is probably where we'd be without Europa League football too. I'd sooner be in it which a chance (HA!) to win it than out of it with little benefit.
I'm not exactly saying you're better off out of Europe. Far from it. Just that the manager and team don't seem well equipped to handle it and to improve in the league. Doesn't help that the team has been poor for a while now on the whole. Spurs just seem to be getting worse, not better. It's strange to me. You'd at least expect them to be a free flowing football side going forward but by the end today it looked like they barely knew eachother.
I always think Europe's an easy excuse. Particularly the Europa League. Spurs just aren't well equipped to improve anyway. It feels like we're very easy / predictable to play against. On a separate note, another win for Arsenal at our new place. It's only been open five years and I think they already have more wins than we do at the Emirates. Pathetic showing.
I think Arsenal were worthy winners tbf. Executed what they wanted to do perfectly but it's infuriating that when the margins are this tight, we've lost on a set piece. Again.
We are getting worse just because last season the start was so unbelievable and not sustainable. The squad had a major overhaul this past summer and is rebuilding, Ange is just not rotating them yet for some reason (his stubbornness). The optimistic in me says Europe will help us. Bergvall, Odobert, Gray, Solanke, Moore need more time playing together. They are young and talented but they need time to play together so Ange needs to find a way to get them in. I’m not saying we will win Europa, but any playing time for those guys to develop is a win. Ange needs to stop with the ‘title challenge’ nonsense and realize this is a rebuild and squad overhaul season.
We've tried to do this a few times last season to mixed results. I already mentioned Villa and Newcastle but the two City games as well, Porto both legs + Bayern away. There's a nuance at play. There are times like today and up at the Etihad (tbf I don't think City got enough credit for how much they boxed us in at times last year) where we will accept what we want to do and just go and do it. But there are other times where teams of a good good level (Porto, Villa, Newcastle) will look to mid block and neutralise the game and we'll join in and make it a war of attrition. And those games happen a LOT in the latter stages of the Champions League so I'm perfectly ok with us developing that facet of our tactical repertoire.
Watching that is depressing. Football used to be so much more entertaining. I hate what Guardiola has done to the game I have to be honest, making it all about possession and creating simple to score chances.
Said this pre game to add to the points below. He obviously doesn't necessarily mean the title but there's a lot of confidence in a team that haven't started the season very well. It'll be interesting to see how the season develops. There was a bit of leeway last year but there's a bit more expectation this season. It's strange that he's adding to that pressure / expectation on him. He's potentially going to be the cause of his own downfall if he doesn't deliver. Whether he walks or whether he's dismissed, I don't see him surviving a trophyless season at Spurs. Even Mourinho and Conte, proven winners, were a bit more measured in what Spurs could achieve.
