Would have been tough to turn and orient on target for Richarlison on a first timer shot but that is what is necessary against this organized Brentford defense.
I’ll take it for a first game. There are goals in the team and with reinforcements I think we will be just fine. VDV really impressed me. I was expecting him to be a bust. Long way to go but he can certainly play when we have the ball. Remains to be seen how he does when we are bunkered in.
I like it. Unfortunate about Romero so early, Sanchez did fine though, probably overran their second goal but had some good track backs that did well to stop a few of their counters. Absolutely must see more from Son and Richarlison. Richy was stifled all match with their low block, fotmob says he got 34 touches, least of anyone who played the full 90’.
I actually think Sanchez can play on this type of team also for the same reason. He was terrible in a back three on a team that didn’t possess the ball.
remains to be seen if he can bomb a pass like those guys but yeah, his positioning and play with the ball at his feet surrounded by players he's only met 3 days ago is impressive.
Oh yea this fits his skill set so much better. I’d hang onto him as a reserve. Dier looks out regardless, but we all know he can’t play this style.
Richarlison was also excellent in tracking back and with his hold up play. One big thing that nobody mentioned about him too is that he didn’t go down easily and cry all game. I think that will pay huge dividends. It was not working for him last year.
I think we all would’ve taken a point coming in. By the end you could tell Brentford we’re ready for it to end and we looked like the team on top wanting more time. Good to see. Bissouma, Maddison, VDV and Udogie all impressed. Vicario had a couple of moments but good overall. The front 3 aren’t clicking yet but a team that sits back like that are going to make it difficult for them. Hopefully Son and Richy grow into the system. Anyone else see Bissouma pull up towards the end? Hopefully nothing but i fear there may be something wrong there.
I'm convinced Son is still running at about 75%. Hopefully he can regain his fitness soon. Credit to Brentford's back 3 -- they pretty much blanketed our front 3 all game.
Likewise, while the Richarlison surgery rumors were overblown, he could also be carrying a knock with no other suitable backups to spell him. Come on down, Gift Orban (please).
I just rewatched the last few minutes. I think he's alright. Tired legs maybe, that's probably the hardest he's worked in 2 years.
Our engine room seems legit this year with Biss and Maddison. Sub in Sarr for Skippy and baby you’ve got a stew going.
Just remembered we still have Bentancur still to come in for Skipp. Obviously injuries will happen but our starting midfield could be one of the best in the league when at full strength. And they all seem to fit together very well.
At about the 75 or 80 minute mark I saw something happen and the camera panned to Ange who appeared to be looking at the situation, but he went on to play after that.
Anyone else hear the commentator say that he had a rough debut was exposed a little bit? Was wondering if he had watched the same game i did.
Agreed but the league is super deep this year with starting midfielders. It’s actually pretty amazing.
He did have some injury issues, but Conte would never have allowed his dribbling from today. There were some Dembelesque moments in there today.
This was later on; maybe the 88th to 92nd minute. In the Brentford half he passed it off and felt his groin it looked like. Camera panned away right away. Hopefully nothing.
Yes, I heard that too. Besides the goal that I'm pretty sure deflected off of him (which I'm not sure you can blame him for whatsoever) I don't understand the comment.
Somehow forgot all about him til just now, listening to the Dr Tottenham pod, but surprised we didn’t see Lo Celso today. As much positivity we heard around him this summer i figured he may start in Skipp’s spot, but ended up not getting off the bench. Curious if maybe he might get sold or just a DNP-CD. Personally I’d have him above Skipp and Sarr.
You may be right. Could just be a case of selling him and developing the youngsters since we have Bentancur coming back. He has value. We also are supposedly looking at other midfielders.
so apparently Munn was at the game also. These guys are definitely behind the transfer targets. Honestly, our recruitment since Paratici arrived has been so much better. It is not an overnight transition and obviously central defenders and system of play played a big part in what looked so bad last year. We may be closer than we think with a couple of more key signings.
At least right now Lo Celso is backing up Madders imo. Dude was still running well at the time of the last change so they left him in. I bet we don't see Bentancur until November. I think we're pretty far away. We lost an enormous talent in Kane, and most of the teams that finished around us or ahead of us in the table last year have improved this window. I don't think Spurs have even come close to replacing the talent we lost when Kane got sold and I doubt it will be possible the rest of this window -- maybe a depth player or someone who can push Richarlison or Kulu (both of these guys need to play a lot better than they last year and I didn't really see it today).
I thought we were going to see Lo Celso on for Skipp when we had them on the ropes later on in the game. Richy seemed to have 2 guys on him at all times in the box. Part of the low block. Son and Kulu were both quiet but part of the system. This is definitely not Kane dorpping back and hitting through balls on to Son which maybe was jus the perfect situation for him thrive.
We have 31 remaining first team players (not counting Austin through Scarlett) so we need to sort some outs and balance home grown and youth players too. It looks like we are at the max of 17 international players if we assume outs from Lloris, Reguilon, Hoijberg, and Ndombole. This means we need to sell them to bring anyone else in internationally and still sell one more international player per international player we bring in. If this is the case, I think we may need to get rid of some combo of Gil, Sanchez, Dier (doesn't count as homegrown in premier League), and Lo Celso, to get some of the targets that have been talked about. This is going to be very challenging, and people are going to flip if Sanchez gets sold and Dier and/or Tanganga stays, but it may be necessary with the numbers we have and Dier's reluctance to leave. We also likely hang on to Sessegnon in this scenario especially since he is injured anyway. It also feels like Phillips and/or Veliz may be rostered since they don't impact those slots. The way I see it is we have 8 slots remaining for new players and any of Sanchez, Gil, Dier, Lo Celso, Sessegnon, Phillips, Veliz, and the 5 England youth players, but we need to sell some of the above to bring in new international players. Red - almost certainly out Bold - homegrown Green - International 1st number = roster slot taken 2nd number = roster number (geez on some of these low numbers riding pine) Lloris 1 (out) Reguilon 3 (out) 1 Skipp 4 (homegrown) Hoijberg 5 (out) Sanchez 6 (out, maybe) 2 Son 7 3 Bissouma 8 4 Richarlison 9 5 Maddison 10 (homegrown) Gil 11 (out, maybe) 6 Royal 12 7 Vicario 13 8 Perisic 14 Dier 15 (1/2 homegrown but not PL, out maybe) 9 Romero 17 Lo Celso (out, maybe) Sessegnon 19 (homegrown, out, maybe) 10 Forster 20 (homegrown) 11 Kulusevski 21 12 Porro 23 Spence (homegrown, out) Tanganga (homegrown, out) 13 Solomon 27 Ndombole (out) 14 Sarr 29 15 Bentancur 30 16 Davies 33 (homegrown) Phillips 35 (homegrown, youth) Veliz 36 (youth) 17 van de Ven 37 18 Udogie 38 Not counted... Austin 40 (homegrown) Whiteman 41 (homegrown) White (homegrown) Devine (homegrown) Scarlett (homegrown)
Seemed like lo celso really impressed during pre season but the bench and now Napoli rumors making me think he’s gone
First off, thanks NYGator for putting that together. (Next up on your to do list: put together a chart for us that explains all the financial fair play rules and how we have to follow them but apparently Chelsea do not ) If they have to sell Sanchez there's going to be a big ole depth problem at central defender because this system demands backs that can press a high line and have enough pace to recover when caught on a counter. Minimally, they must be able to do this. Dier is a statue. This is why I'm not all lathered up about signing this Orban guy. Seems like they need to sell some players or they'll run into a serious numbers problem with foreign players before they can consider purchasing another one.
If he made a big case for himself and increased his price, why not accept a mildly inflated fee in one of our deepest areas of the pitch? When Bentancur is healthy, we’d have Bent, Maddison, Bissouma, Skipp, Sarr, [Hojbjerg], [Devine], [White], [Lo Celso], [Ndombele]. Those in brackets obviously being sold or loaned. With all gone, we’d still have five across three positions and no European competitions. I also want to still see Deki at the 8 and bring in a Doku/Nico Williams type. It’s unlikely we even sell or loan all, that would show a level of salesmanship that Levy hasn’t shown himself capable of, to shed deadwood.