Once again, we fail to finish off an opponent from a position of strength, bonehead mistakes cost us and we give away 2 points. Poor passing, poor movement, poor defending, and our best players did not show up.
No excuses other than poor coaching and team mentality... An away point is not bad but throwing away a win and 3 pts from a 2-0 with a few minutes left in half is unacceptable. It’s going to be a long season if this shite persists.
Don't understand the reasoning for playing Sanchez on the right of a back 3. It limited our attacking play as Olympiakos just left him unmarked on the right flank knowing he has no ability to cross or make a decent pass. When Poch has played the back 3, he has put Sanchez in the middle, with Toby on the right and Jan on the left, giving us more possibilities in attack. I am really worried about this season, the players have been mostly poor, but the manager has not been at it either. This could go pear-shaped really quickly.
Sanchez was fine defensively, but he is terrible on the ball, which makes the decision by the manager to play him on the right of a back 3 all the more baffling. Of all the options in defense (playing a back 4 with Walker-Peters at RB, or a back 3 with Sanchez in the midlle), Poch picked the worst one.
Not great but not bad, a point is a point. Second time that a 45th minute goal for 2-1 has changed the team talk drastically and set up the 2nd half, 2nd time it's ended 2-2. Not really sure what thread to put this idle musing in, but it was highlighted by Son coming on and moments later Moura going off so here is as good a place as any. When Son is at his absolute best as a roving inside left forward (with a license to switch flanks), Moura is almost exactly the same but starting from the right, and Kane is the very best there is at being the focal point of a fluid attack with plenty of support - why not try a genuine front 3? Eriksen or Dele (or eventually Lo Celso) as the most attacking central midfielder from the left of a 3, Ndombele or Sissoko to provide the energy in linking defence and attack on the other side, Winks or Dier playing deep. Width from full backs who aren't centre backs.
Poch: "When we are not showing that intensity that the competition demands we struggle...It's not about tactics, it's not about quality players, it's about the quality of preparing yourself to be ready to fight." Kane: "I can see why the manager is frustrated because he’s been here for six years now and we’re still making similar mistakes to the ones we were in his first year." Malaise has set in folks. Either Poch has to change the way they train, rebuild, or quit.
Are the players tuning the manager out? It is a concern. We also had 4 players who would have left the club this summer if the rght offer had come in (Aldeweireld, Eriksen, Rose and Aurier). We used to hear a lot of comments from the players raving about how much they loved the manager and how he had made them into better players, but you don't hear those comments any more.
I thought Poch's post-match comments hit the nail on the head: "We conceded a lot of chances and the way we conceded the first goal was so painful. We didn’t translate from Saturday the aggressivity that is needed in these games. We are talking about focus, concentration, anticipation. How many times did we anticipate the action? How many times were we not productive like we were against Palace? It’s not about tactics or quality players but the level of fight. You need to match the opponent in aggressivity, excitement, motivation. That is the first demand – you need to work. It’s not only the responsibility of one person; it’s everyone’s responsibility. It is not possible how we started tonight and it is a massive difference to Saturday. It’s a massive disappointment. We can talk about scoring twice and playing better second half, but this season we are conceding a lot of chances and a lot of goals. We need to change that. The only way is to be more demanding. Training needs to be harder. Psychologically harder.” Really, in 6 games this season, we have only played a full 90 minutes in the Palace game. I watched the Atletico-Juve game later, and that was played at 100 mph by both teams right to the last second of stoppage time. We are nowhere near that level of intensity at the minute.
Speaking of Atletico, I've watched a few of their games this season and I can't help but notice how seamlessly Trippier has fit in with them. He still struggles defensively but going forward, it's like he's back to the old Trippier. His crosses are better, his work rate is better, he's combining well on one-two's, his body language is better, etc. It's like a dark cloud has been lifted over him since he left. I wonder why....