Just win, please. Good chance Lamela makes an appearance... he's the only out and out midfielder on the bench and Dembele never makes it through 90.
There's a lot of talking points from this game - we shouldn't be losing to Leicester, the team isn't on the same page, Aurier gives the ball away too much, back line looks lost without Alderweireld, etc. All of them are worthy of discussion. Let's start with this: why can't Poch just play the most in form 11 players and figure out the formation later? There are too many boys on this team and not enough men. We have players treating league games like training and European games like a showcase. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. I'm not going to act like Llorente's been worth the money but at least he's trying to be a team player even if the goals aren't coming for him personally. I'd rather have him play for 90 minutes right and not score than whatever pathetic excuse for a shift that Alli's putting in. Eriksen and Sissoko need to take a back seat when Dembele and Winks have been better. After the APOEL game is over, I don't want to see anymore of this fullback rotation bullshit until February. Rose and Trippier must start every game until they're out of form or out of gas.
Haven't had this feeling since Poch's first season, I guess we should be appreciative of the last 2 seasons. Unfortunately Poch has completely lost the plot. Ever since that book came out saying what a genius he is, the team has been a disaster. Once again, terrible tactics playing a high line against a team with pace in attack. Leicester were just waiting for us to give away the ball, which was a pretty good tactic considering how poor our ball play was. Still don't understand the constant selection of Sissoko, he has to be the worst French technical player I have seen in a long time. Eriksen had another shocker, his and Llorente's misses summed up our season. I am afraid Llorente is the new Soldado. I am afraid too many of our key players are hearing about how they should be playing at 'bigger clubs' and it has affected their play. I don't see any of the verve and passion I saw the last 2 seasons. Wanyama and Aldeweireld out our huge misses for us.
I couldn't see this one again so I'm only going off what I read. Alli and Eriksen need to see some bench time. When they are off, we look hopeless. Son comes in and does well, remember him filling in for Kane early last year, and now Lamela is back in the picture (though I am sure he needs some time to get fully fit). It says a lot that this kind of run of form is not what we've been used to this last 2+ years. But in the league the bar seems to be raised ever higher - Chelsea's record number of wins last year and City look like challenging that already - so even short lapses in form are enough to rule you out. We'll definitely not match last year's record, and that was expected to a degree with Wembley, but even though I'll still be singing it, not quite as sure that Pochettino is magic, you know.
It is very strange - he gets the tactics and team selection spot on in the CL, but more often than not, he does the opposite in the PL. I mean, how do you go to Leicester and play a high defensive line against a team that can counter with pace? Everybody knows that (except for our manager, I guess). And I still can't get over the inclusion of Sissoko, surely we have at least one player in the squad who is better than him?
Well that concludes a rotten week for us, we started by winning our CL group and in fourth in the PL and in the span of 8 days, have dropped to SEVENTH, behind Burnley (and I can't argue with that, the Clarets are actually playing better than us). Watford, who we play Saturday, have scored more goals than us and they have nobody by the name of Harry Kane leading their line. It looks like Poch's Brave New World might have gone on sabbatical...