There’s a lot to take from the match today. But let’s not kid ourselves; it hasn’t been this sort of game we’ve been struggling with this season. We’ve gone toe to toe with Arsenal, City (twice), Spurs (lol), and Liverpool (one out of two) and taken points. We can play against the big boys and not look out of place. Today is great, but it doesn’t tell us much about whether we’ve sorted out our struggles against the minnows.
But there are still plenty of pluses. Going back to the front, we’ve seemingly sorted out the issue of our number one quietly and without fuss. I can’t remember the last time I was this relaxed about our keeper. The guy just does his job and saves when it’s needed. The job is his to lose now.
Disasi: The Perfect Mature Center Back
Disasi was huge today. In fact, the whole backline played well. The only concern for me is Gusto. He played brilliantly, but he looked like he was running on fumes by the end. I think we need to be using Gilchrist more to give him some breathers; otherwise, we’re going to run him into the ground. In the meantime, the question of whether James gets his first team place back isn’t the ridiculous question it was a couple of months ago, even if the answer is still “yes.”.
Midfield is starting to look worth…well, not the money we paid for them, but at least a fair bit closer to it. Worked hard and linked up well going forward. Gallagher was an energizing bunny, popping up all over the place. Any team is better with that much energy at the heart of it.
There are still issues up front, of course. Sterling was being Sterling for most of the game, until he turned up with the goal. Even that was a case of Sterling messing it up, getting lucky to get another chance, and putting it away like the experienced pro he is. Infuriating doesn’t cover the other half of it. But as long as he’s getting the goals, he’s worth a place (but not at £300k a week).
I got to question Poch’s tactics towards the end, though. He was just inviting them on for the last part, almost daring them to score. Up until then, we’d created some chances to keep the City honest. I’d rather we’d kept that threat on the break a bit better, personally. Pinching the second would have been huge.
Pochettino: Spot on With Game Tactics
As for Pochettino in this game, he got his tactics spot on. Just like he does in most of the games where he’s expected to be on the back foot, namely Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Spurs, Villa, and Brighton. One major blip aside (4-1 L at Anfield).
Throughout his Prem career, in fact, he has been an excellent underdog. Even with Spurs, he finished second in the league by picking up wins against the big teams (and bottling against the small, low-blocky teams).
The problem is that against low-block teams like Newcastle, West Ham, Wolves, etc., where he’s expected to be on the back foot, he struggles.
Of course, one solution would be to let the other teams dictate possession, suck them in, and use the same hard work and hounding to prevent easy chances and goals before hitting them on the break. But that’s much easier said than done.
The solution is unknown, but we have the personnel, manager, and work ethic to be a top counter-attacking team. Let’s see how it develops against the low blocks, but if we can figure out how to break them down, maybe with Nkunku, then who’s saying we cannot reach the top 5-6? 12 points seems like a lot, but the way Spurs and Villa have been bottling, you never know.
Good vibes heading into the final. We have to play with this intensity against Pool, and we can’t sit back and let them play like today. This is the level we should be playing at, and we have to go out and show that we aren’t anyone’s underdogs. If we go into next week with a mid-table mentality, we’re in trouble. We’ve got to show our teeth.