was it Dier? I didn't get a good look at the replay. I assumed it was vertonghen, who had a great match other than his trip Dier has been frustrating this season. not awful, but when he makes mistakes they tend to be big ones
I love the back 3 system, the team is so dynamic and the opposition doesn't know what to do to counter it. We have thrashed teams that have tried to come to WHL and put 10 men behind the ball. WBA, Stoke and Everton were all draws at home last season and this year we've battered them and taken all 9 points - that makes a huge difference in the table - we now have 2 more points at home than we did all last season (38-36) and still have 5 home fixtures to go. However, we need to get a 3rd quality CB to compliment Toby and Jan, especially when we have to revert to a back 4 or if one of those is injured/rested. Dier/Wimmer and what I've seen of Carter-Vickers are not the level we need. Not sure what has happened to Wimmer, he was excellent last season and really good at the Emirates, but has been a shambles the rest of the time. Would love to get Virgil Van Dyck, but am afraid the really big hitters will be in for him.
Yeah, the Lukaku goal was the only time our defence got caught isolated - Toby was a shade too far up the pitch to cover and neither of the holding midfielders were shielding. When you are 2-0 up with 10 minutes to go, at least one of your holding mids, if not both, should be goalside of the ball. These are the kind of details that are the difference from seeing out a game comfortably at 2-0 or having to hang on for the final few minutes. However, the lads didn't panic at 2-1 and really the Valencia goal was the only chance they created after the Lukaku goal. This was a big problem for us last term but has been much less so this season. We have only dropped 5 points from winning positions and gained 14 from losing positions. When we score first we are 13-1-1 and 10-1-0 when leading at half-time.
just saw the replay. the very end you can see Dier turn around after the goal score, looking for someone to blame and then with a look realizing he was to blame... heh
i read also a lot of articles/opinions about Davies' great game. while i rate him and appreciate his efforts, i thought that he was very active, but most of his passes and crosses weren't accurate and spurs lost the ball on many ocassions after he interacted. so in general i thought he didn't have such a great game. just curious to her some other opinions here.
Tough to fill Rose's boots, but Davies is a solid guy to have in there. You're going to lose something in attack and pace, but Ben does a job patrolling the left flank. Like Dier, he is much better in a back 3 as a wing back. In a back 4, he can be exposed as we saw in the Liverpool game.