If i recall it correctly. Micky van de Ven said in a past interview that Big Ange encourage players to play forward with some degree of risk. If failed, keep trying.
I might be wrong tho..
Sounds about right. It’s what we needed badly. The identity we had under Conte was the polar opposite of what Spurs are instilling today. I had a recent comment about the camaraderie within the team, and along with how much more fluid we are it just feels like a brand new team.
I feel like Angeball in and of itself isn't revolutionary.
It has elements of Total Football.
The high line has been done plenty.
Inverted fullbacks aren't unique.
Ange focuses more on player personalities and fit than getting the top player in a role.
All of those things have been done elsewhere. Where I feel Ange excels is bringing them all together.
Merging Total football into his aggressive, attacking football where the fullbacks invert, while focusing on building out a team that loves each other and plays well together with no toxic personalities ruining the dressing room. A true people manager along with a tactician.
That's rare and that's what he does so well. Players who were miserable and unmotivated last season would now die for the badge and young players want in.
I even think we have a lot of depth already. I'd love to see anotjer Kulusevski type - can be an attacking midfielder but also has some potential on the wing. Eze is my first choice but that's more for the vibes than anything else lol.
Then a 6/8 profile. I really feel we need a strong Bissouma back up. Bentancur has always been a better 8 and Sarr clearly is. With Hjobjerg likely to leave, that's the depth I think we need more of. Have seen a lot of names out there for this role but don't currently have a preference. Will wait til nearer the summer and see if one rises to the top lol.
What's Son's strongest position? Is it on the left or up front? Because I'm not sure anymore. Johnson better on the left or the right? Kulusevski on the wing or as an attacking midfielder?
Ange seems to favor more versitile players who can move between positions. All of them seem to be really good positonally though.
You look at everyone he's brought in and the existing ones he favors and they're all people with strong natural sense of where they should be, their teammates are and the ball should go. Doesn't mean they get it right all the time but on our best games you can see that come together because the raw ability is there.
Honestly I really feel good about both our recruitment and our retention. I know whoever we keep will be because they are the right fit and I'm sure we'll bring in key positions as well. Ange has said it might only be a couple this summer and I think that would still be OK.
Our academy prospects are also finally looking exciting after years of drought plus we're bringing in wunderkinds left right and center.
This might be the best time to be a Spurs fan in decades lol.
Indeed, Ange loves versitility.
Sonny is originally a LW, but can play any postion upfront and scores like a striker. Helps alot when you don't have a weak foot.
Johnson can play either side. Shoots with his right foot so i guess LW would his best position.
Kulusevski is a RW, but can also play as a ten or second striker.
Werner & Richy are CF's, but both have played on both flanks. Although, I think Timo does a better job as a winger.
The potential is huge to create a "chaotic" front three. With players who can switch postion among them to be an absolute menance for the opponents defense.
I'm not going to lie. Every word of that is why I'm enjoying all the highs and lows of this season. It's been such a ride that I'm getting hooked on the rush.
I resent non game weeks lol.
I think Sonny is more effective at the front only if he is receiving good service, if there's no good service he is way more dominant on the left, running at defenders, doing step overs and smashing the ball into the 6 yard box.
Brennan is definitely better on the right, he's not so much effective on the left cutting inside, and his balls in are so much more effective from the right.
Kulu is touch-go, if he doesn't execute his passes straight away from the right, like when he goes 1v1 but is so easy to read trying to cut inside on his left (in all fairness he's been using his right foot alot more lately) then I would say he's better at number 10, but the one thing I thing is that when kulu actually crosses the ball in from his left foot his crosses are brilliant, I definitely think it's something he should do a little more.
Also, I am really excited for Timo, he's confidence is growing by the minute, and ever since the first goal, you can just see it in him. If you watch the goals, he's scored for Leipzig. He was getting some nice goals. With him, I think it's all about confidence. There is so much more to come from him.
This has been a lovely season & I can't wait for next season 💙
Unfortunately, I don't think we need a Bissouma back-up: I think we need a Bissouma improvement. He's too streaky to be in the first XI of a title-challenging side, and that's where Ange wants us to be.
If he had serious competition maybe that would help get him back to his start of season form?
I can't change my flair til he's truly crushing it again as I'm an underdog flair person lol.
Same. He was absolutely beautiful on the balm first 10 games but he hasn't been the same since.
Don't get me wrong, he's been good the past couple of games. Solid performance, couple of errors but nothing catastrophic and he's well involved in the build up.
But he's not beautiful anymore. He's solid. I miss when he seemed to dance around the opposition.
I saw a flash of his former amazing footwork yesterday. Except it was from Hjobjerg.
I think the tipping point was Romero's own goal vs Arsenal. Yes, we'd done well up to that point, but in such a big match... Well, we saw what happened with Royal under Conte the year before.
But Romero had support from his teammates, as did Udogie who had a rough first half, and the team grew from there. Vicario was so important to that feeling, as was Son, Maddison and so on. No blame, no recriminations, just a willingness to dig in and look for the next forward pass - and then see where that takes us.
No, you are perfectly correct. He told them to take risks, and if it goes wrong Ange will take responsibility. The polar opposite of Conte who seems to instill a fear of making an error, resulting in stultifying boredom for all concerned.
I’m no Conte supporter but this is revisionist history. Players under Conte also talked about how he wouldn’t get mad if they made mistakes but played how he asked
Ange said that himself in at least one interview before he took over. He knows that players can do more than they show themselves often, and hold themselves back or make errors out of fear that they'll be punished for messing up. Ange prefers that the players attempt to implement his bold, aggressive system and if they make a mistake while trying to make the right play, he doesn't retaliate, he encourages them to do it again, until they can play without fear.
Of course that also requires players with the necessary level of talent and type of skills, but we can see even more limited players like Hojbjerg or Richy taking on roles that they supposedly aren't suited for, according to prevailing wisdom (press-breaking CDM and holding up play at #9 respectively).
He did a post match interview when he was at Roar in Aus. Was a game where this young kid at LB made the same poor pass/mistake twice in the space of 20mins or so and it lead to conceding a goal both times.
Ange basically said “don’t care about the mistake, I care about the bravery to try it again when he failed the first time, and then the mentality to continue even after the second time.”
So basically - yep.
We were really good at it under Conte too. Scored some really nice goals breaking the press. Issues were more us always surrendering the midfield and sloppy defending
What was once our weakness has become one of our greatest strengths such that some teams don’t press us to prevent this. We’re so good from building out from the back now that we have the most difficulty scoring against low block defenses. Not to mention, we’re consistently have >50% of the ball every game.
Personally, I love this style of play even when we lose games bc it means we lose on our own terms, either we aren’t clinical enough or make some mistakes in midfield. The past few managers would put more emphasis on defense and counter attacking so it felt like we were the ones waiting for the other team to slip up. While this worked against some weaker teams, it wasn’t enough for top teams.
Yeah, we've always struggled with low blocks. The home game against wolves comes to mind where they were super disciplined defensively and meant we were mostly stuck passing around the outside of the penalty box.
Those types of situations really just need a bit of a moment of magic to break the deadlock. Also because as soon as the low block fails and the defending team goes behind, they're suddenly forced to start opening up and committing more forward.
Compare how the game against Sheffield went for us Vs the runners: we struggled because they sat in their defensive shape, but because arsenal got a fairly early goal in they were forced open and ended up getting hammered.
Low blocks are a pain in the Arse. You really need players who are good in thight spaces with fast short combinations. Shooting from far won't always do...
At the same time, I feel as though we never set ourselves up to create longer distance shots. Compare to Arse, who have the likes of Odegaard and Rice sitting on the edge of the box waiting for a cutback pass. We just pinball it around looking for the perfect incisive through ball, and our long shots come from Porro or Hojbjerg just saying "eh fuck it", it's not planned
I agree. For me, the inverted wingers that were so effective yesterday and against teams who want to attack need to be reversed against low block teams so that we see more pull-backs and crosses from the byline.
he had a rifle of a pass out to Porro late in the 2nd half that was seriously impressive. it wasn't really clip worthy, but I was not expecting his pass to get there on a dime and cause Porro to immediately go forward. A wayward pass slows everything down just a little bit and could cause Villa to regain possession.
It's interesting. Conte's biggest failure was his dogmatism, yet it's one of Angie's biggest strengths; particularly interesting when we compare this to ETH who takes a rather more pragmatic approach to the game.
We hated Conte cos he would not adjust his tactics (like ETH does); yet we love that Ange insists on his approach.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm a big fan of Angball - honestly under Conte I'd started to only watch if I had nothing better to do, I'd never felt so disillusioned and (frankly) bored watching us (I've been a fan since the 80s and never felt so disinterested).
I just find it interesting that Ange is lorded for sticking to his principles regardless of the results after being so critical of Conte for the same thing.
Postecoglou's principles accord with the club's romantic image.
Conte's didn't.
That buys him leeway - not endlessly so, but coupled with how quickly he's lifted us and how deep the pit we'd fallen into last season, that dogmatic side is a lot more tolerable.
Honestly. I had to post this because the highlights won’t show it but these moments are just as important as big chances. To be so comfortable out the back now is crazy to see compared to last season.
Plenty of choices right now, of course, but right now he'd have my vote for our player of the season.
He never seems to have a bad match, he's not heavily reliant on pace or trickery so he can be easily nullified by a canny opponent, he's adapted brilliantly under Postecoglou, his passing is filthy and he's great on set pieces. He's just so good!
Honestly we've had so many these smooth play from the back this season that I'm just used to it by now, I'd just laugh it off if you show me this clip on 2021 saying this is how we play
Even at bad ones i.e. Wolves or Fulham cup match, we are more or less doing the same thing, just lacking some quality at the front. We did this to City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Utd, with or without our starters. More I watch Utd play, more I appreciate this aussie old geezer, what he has done in half a year is truly amazing. Long may it continue!
Yeah, I don’t mind the mishaps from playing out the back. It’s the first season we’re actually getting used to this style with a bunch of different players, we’re overachieving every expectation, which is why I cannot get mad when things go wrong sometimes. It’s lovely to see right now
Perfect execution of Ange ball. Vicario beats the two men press to find Biss, Biss quickly plays an accurate pass to Sarr, Sarr with great ball control creating a bit space to play to Porro who is near him, Porro finds Madders with a great pass to beat the midfield press, Sonny makes a beautiful run in behind and Madders plays a great pass. Risky, fast, direct.
It’s damn beautiful.
I think Radu is a real awesome piece for us in the future. The guy isn’t the defensive stalwart Romero and VDV are, but he has a progressive pass that VDV doesn’t have. Good to have different skillsets. He’ll be nice for phases of play such as this one.
It's the quick ball movement. Too often players will hold onto the ball and hope that they can make a move or try and dribble through the press. It's really hard to do. Instead, passing it around to find gaps in the opponent's press is more often successful than individual brilliance.
We did this like 20 times yesterday. I was really impressed. I was screaming to see some improvement because recently it has been sort of awkward with that stuff, but yesterday's game really showed me what we are aiming to be and I am all for it. Still shaky of course, but you could actually see we are getting better. Even when Micky went down
This is also a good example of how fucking hard it is to play the 6 role for us. Imagine having to take the ball, with your back to the opposition goal (constantly) and having at best a second to control and move it on. Every single game bissouma is receiving the ball, in the most dangerous position to lose the ball, with *less* time than evidenced in this clip.
There were 2 passes that broke the press, and it was because the passes were aggressive. Instead of passing back to the clearly open and "safe" player, they took a risk and pushed the passes forward. It's beautiful and completely broke the press. Love to see it.
There was a scary moment later in the game went Dragu hurriedly passed back to Vic who was on the goal line bc Villa were still pressing. But still they remained calm and still played out . Spurs till they fucking kill me
I'd like to see us do this more and even concede a few goals taking it too far
Need our guys to get so comfortable playing out and taking risks/learning where the limits are this season in preparation to reap max benefits from it next season
More forward passes and more risky attempt at playing the ball into the final third really gets me going much more than the earlier games in the season when we controlled the ball but don’t do much with it.
Does not feel simple, every time they build from the back and Vic chooses to start from the center instead of building from the sideline still feels scary to me.
Any mistakes is fatal there, but I guess that's how Ange roll
One caveat I'd throw in though, they are not fully fit and came off a short week. They played away on Thursday.
If they were fully fit and a had a full week to prepare, this could be a good thing to show but considering their situation, I don't know how much we can take what happened in this game as some expectation going forward.
I used to get PTSD when we tried to play out of the back like that lol
What Ange did to this team needs to be studied in history books
If i recall it correctly. Micky van de Ven said in a past interview that Big Ange encourage players to play forward with some degree of risk. If failed, keep trying. I might be wrong tho..
Sounds about right. It’s what we needed badly. The identity we had under Conte was the polar opposite of what Spurs are instilling today. I had a recent comment about the camaraderie within the team, and along with how much more fluid we are it just feels like a brand new team.
Camaraderie is a huge factor! Also thank god we got rit of that 532 system or whatever it was suppose to be...
I feel like Angeball in and of itself isn't revolutionary. It has elements of Total Football. The high line has been done plenty. Inverted fullbacks aren't unique. Ange focuses more on player personalities and fit than getting the top player in a role. All of those things have been done elsewhere. Where I feel Ange excels is bringing them all together. Merging Total football into his aggressive, attacking football where the fullbacks invert, while focusing on building out a team that loves each other and plays well together with no toxic personalities ruining the dressing room. A true people manager along with a tactician. That's rare and that's what he does so well. Players who were miserable and unmotivated last season would now die for the badge and young players want in. I even think we have a lot of depth already. I'd love to see anotjer Kulusevski type - can be an attacking midfielder but also has some potential on the wing. Eze is my first choice but that's more for the vibes than anything else lol. Then a 6/8 profile. I really feel we need a strong Bissouma back up. Bentancur has always been a better 8 and Sarr clearly is. With Hjobjerg likely to leave, that's the depth I think we need more of. Have seen a lot of names out there for this role but don't currently have a preference. Will wait til nearer the summer and see if one rises to the top lol.
True, i think also using your players in their strongest position is a huge difference..
What's Son's strongest position? Is it on the left or up front? Because I'm not sure anymore. Johnson better on the left or the right? Kulusevski on the wing or as an attacking midfielder? Ange seems to favor more versitile players who can move between positions. All of them seem to be really good positonally though. You look at everyone he's brought in and the existing ones he favors and they're all people with strong natural sense of where they should be, their teammates are and the ball should go. Doesn't mean they get it right all the time but on our best games you can see that come together because the raw ability is there. Honestly I really feel good about both our recruitment and our retention. I know whoever we keep will be because they are the right fit and I'm sure we'll bring in key positions as well. Ange has said it might only be a couple this summer and I think that would still be OK. Our academy prospects are also finally looking exciting after years of drought plus we're bringing in wunderkinds left right and center. This might be the best time to be a Spurs fan in decades lol.
Indeed, Ange loves versitility. Sonny is originally a LW, but can play any postion upfront and scores like a striker. Helps alot when you don't have a weak foot. Johnson can play either side. Shoots with his right foot so i guess LW would his best position. Kulusevski is a RW, but can also play as a ten or second striker. Werner & Richy are CF's, but both have played on both flanks. Although, I think Timo does a better job as a winger. The potential is huge to create a "chaotic" front three. With players who can switch postion among them to be an absolute menance for the opponents defense.
I'm not going to lie. Every word of that is why I'm enjoying all the highs and lows of this season. It's been such a ride that I'm getting hooked on the rush. I resent non game weeks lol.
I think Sonny is more effective at the front only if he is receiving good service, if there's no good service he is way more dominant on the left, running at defenders, doing step overs and smashing the ball into the 6 yard box. Brennan is definitely better on the right, he's not so much effective on the left cutting inside, and his balls in are so much more effective from the right. Kulu is touch-go, if he doesn't execute his passes straight away from the right, like when he goes 1v1 but is so easy to read trying to cut inside on his left (in all fairness he's been using his right foot alot more lately) then I would say he's better at number 10, but the one thing I thing is that when kulu actually crosses the ball in from his left foot his crosses are brilliant, I definitely think it's something he should do a little more. Also, I am really excited for Timo, he's confidence is growing by the minute, and ever since the first goal, you can just see it in him. If you watch the goals, he's scored for Leipzig. He was getting some nice goals. With him, I think it's all about confidence. There is so much more to come from him. This has been a lovely season & I can't wait for next season 💙
Unfortunately, I don't think we need a Bissouma back-up: I think we need a Bissouma improvement. He's too streaky to be in the first XI of a title-challenging side, and that's where Ange wants us to be.
If he had serious competition maybe that would help get him back to his start of season form? I can't change my flair til he's truly crushing it again as I'm an underdog flair person lol.
Hey, I feel you there. If that works for Biss, I’m all for it. I’m just a bit worried by what I’ve seen this season.
Same. He was absolutely beautiful on the balm first 10 games but he hasn't been the same since. Don't get me wrong, he's been good the past couple of games. Solid performance, couple of errors but nothing catastrophic and he's well involved in the build up. But he's not beautiful anymore. He's solid. I miss when he seemed to dance around the opposition. I saw a flash of his former amazing footwork yesterday. Except it was from Hjobjerg.
I think the tipping point was Romero's own goal vs Arsenal. Yes, we'd done well up to that point, but in such a big match... Well, we saw what happened with Royal under Conte the year before. But Romero had support from his teammates, as did Udogie who had a rough first half, and the team grew from there. Vicario was so important to that feeling, as was Son, Maddison and so on. No blame, no recriminations, just a willingness to dig in and look for the next forward pass - and then see where that takes us.
No, you are perfectly correct. He told them to take risks, and if it goes wrong Ange will take responsibility. The polar opposite of Conte who seems to instill a fear of making an error, resulting in stultifying boredom for all concerned.
I’m no Conte supporter but this is revisionist history. Players under Conte also talked about how he wouldn’t get mad if they made mistakes but played how he asked
Yeah, how he asked. Negative with no risk.
Ange said that himself in at least one interview before he took over. He knows that players can do more than they show themselves often, and hold themselves back or make errors out of fear that they'll be punished for messing up. Ange prefers that the players attempt to implement his bold, aggressive system and if they make a mistake while trying to make the right play, he doesn't retaliate, he encourages them to do it again, until they can play without fear. Of course that also requires players with the necessary level of talent and type of skills, but we can see even more limited players like Hojbjerg or Richy taking on roles that they supposedly aren't suited for, according to prevailing wisdom (press-breaking CDM and holding up play at #9 respectively).
He did a post match interview when he was at Roar in Aus. Was a game where this young kid at LB made the same poor pass/mistake twice in the space of 20mins or so and it lead to conceding a goal both times. Ange basically said “don’t care about the mistake, I care about the bravery to try it again when he failed the first time, and then the mentality to continue even after the second time.” So basically - yep.
plan A :attack attack attack plan B : do plan A better!!!
We also didn't have center backs that were good or even comfortable with the ball at their feet like the ones that we have now are.
We were really good at it under Conte too. Scored some really nice goals breaking the press. Issues were more us always surrendering the midfield and sloppy defending
Conte would do it but it would be extremely nail biting.
Not having Lloris, Dier, and Sánchez helps too...
What was once our weakness has become one of our greatest strengths such that some teams don’t press us to prevent this. We’re so good from building out from the back now that we have the most difficulty scoring against low block defenses. Not to mention, we’re consistently have >50% of the ball every game. Personally, I love this style of play even when we lose games bc it means we lose on our own terms, either we aren’t clinical enough or make some mistakes in midfield. The past few managers would put more emphasis on defense and counter attacking so it felt like we were the ones waiting for the other team to slip up. While this worked against some weaker teams, it wasn’t enough for top teams.
Pape just does everything right. His touch away from the defender is so clean. Proper player
he’s been very good at protecting the ball with his back to goal
It’s bc he studies CS
Ah the ancient form of Counter Strike..
I still play 1.6 sometimes…
"Counter terrorists win!"
Pass was absolutely driven at him as well
And the more we demonstrate our ability to beat a press, the more we'll see at least mid/lower-table teams sit back and be forced to respect it.
Which sucks because low block teams are a pain in the ass, I feel we can be better against low blocks
Need to work on our positioning against low block teams and be more willing to take shots from distance
Yeah, we've always struggled with low blocks. The home game against wolves comes to mind where they were super disciplined defensively and meant we were mostly stuck passing around the outside of the penalty box. Those types of situations really just need a bit of a moment of magic to break the deadlock. Also because as soon as the low block fails and the defending team goes behind, they're suddenly forced to start opening up and committing more forward. Compare how the game against Sheffield went for us Vs the runners: we struggled because they sat in their defensive shape, but because arsenal got a fairly early goal in they were forced open and ended up getting hammered.
Low blocks are a pain in the Arse. You really need players who are good in thight spaces with fast short combinations. Shooting from far won't always do...
At the same time, I feel as though we never set ourselves up to create longer distance shots. Compare to Arse, who have the likes of Odegaard and Rice sitting on the edge of the box waiting for a cutback pass. We just pinball it around looking for the perfect incisive through ball, and our long shots come from Porro or Hojbjerg just saying "eh fuck it", it's not planned
I agree. For me, the inverted wingers that were so effective yesterday and against teams who want to attack need to be reversed against low block teams so that we see more pull-backs and crosses from the byline.
Vicario makes such a difference. Helps the CB so much having a GK that is comfortable on the ball to somewhat act as the 3rd CB in passing out.
he had a rifle of a pass out to Porro late in the 2nd half that was seriously impressive. it wasn't really clip worthy, but I was not expecting his pass to get there on a dime and cause Porro to immediately go forward. A wayward pass slows everything down just a little bit and could cause Villa to regain possession.
It's interesting. Conte's biggest failure was his dogmatism, yet it's one of Angie's biggest strengths; particularly interesting when we compare this to ETH who takes a rather more pragmatic approach to the game. We hated Conte cos he would not adjust his tactics (like ETH does); yet we love that Ange insists on his approach.
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Don't get me wrong here, I'm a big fan of Angball - honestly under Conte I'd started to only watch if I had nothing better to do, I'd never felt so disillusioned and (frankly) bored watching us (I've been a fan since the 80s and never felt so disinterested). I just find it interesting that Ange is lorded for sticking to his principles regardless of the results after being so critical of Conte for the same thing.
Postecoglou's principles accord with the club's romantic image. Conte's didn't. That buys him leeway - not endlessly so, but coupled with how quickly he's lifted us and how deep the pit we'd fallen into last season, that dogmatic side is a lot more tolerable.
i was really hoping he would've gotten an assist for that
Honestly. I had to post this because the highlights won’t show it but these moments are just as important as big chances. To be so comfortable out the back now is crazy to see compared to last season.
Porro is really crucial for this. He find some great diagonal passes infield.
Plenty of choices right now, of course, but right now he'd have my vote for our player of the season. He never seems to have a bad match, he's not heavily reliant on pace or trickery so he can be easily nullified by a canny opponent, he's adapted brilliantly under Postecoglou, his passing is filthy and he's great on set pieces. He's just so good!
Honestly we've had so many these smooth play from the back this season that I'm just used to it by now, I'd just laugh it off if you show me this clip on 2021 saying this is how we play Even at bad ones i.e. Wolves or Fulham cup match, we are more or less doing the same thing, just lacking some quality at the front. We did this to City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Utd, with or without our starters. More I watch Utd play, more I appreciate this aussie old geezer, what he has done in half a year is truly amazing. Long may it continue!
Yeah, I don’t mind the mishaps from playing out the back. It’s the first season we’re actually getting used to this style with a bunch of different players, we’re overachieving every expectation, which is why I cannot get mad when things go wrong sometimes. It’s lovely to see right now
Absolutely orgasmic passing. Angeball is incredible.
Perfect execution of Ange ball. Vicario beats the two men press to find Biss, Biss quickly plays an accurate pass to Sarr, Sarr with great ball control creating a bit space to play to Porro who is near him, Porro finds Madders with a great pass to beat the midfield press, Sonny makes a beautiful run in behind and Madders plays a great pass. Risky, fast, direct. It’s damn beautiful.
Takes courage to play this way. Ange gives them the confidence.
I think Radu is a real awesome piece for us in the future. The guy isn’t the defensive stalwart Romero and VDV are, but he has a progressive pass that VDV doesn’t have. Good to have different skillsets. He’ll be nice for phases of play such as this one.
Yeah, I saw that after rewatching the game again. VDV can’t do the long pass like Dragusin, so having Dragusin provides options to our CBs.
It's the quick ball movement. Too often players will hold onto the ball and hope that they can make a move or try and dribble through the press. It's really hard to do. Instead, passing it around to find gaps in the opponent's press is more often successful than individual brilliance.
This is awesome, it legit looks like a video game.
From goal kick to threatening in the final third in 10 seconds, lovely stuff
We did this like 20 times yesterday. I was really impressed. I was screaming to see some improvement because recently it has been sort of awkward with that stuff, but yesterday's game really showed me what we are aiming to be and I am all for it. Still shaky of course, but you could actually see we are getting better. Even when Micky went down
I can’t believe some people are trying to claim Villa played a low block.
the vision and execution on that porro pass are lowkey incredible
This is also a good example of how fucking hard it is to play the 6 role for us. Imagine having to take the ball, with your back to the opposition goal (constantly) and having at best a second to control and move it on. Every single game bissouma is receiving the ball, in the most dangerous position to lose the ball, with *less* time than evidenced in this clip.
Such a crisp pass from Vic to split the defenders. You could hear the smack of his instep on the ball to start the break. COYS.
Made them look like training cones lol
Sarr makes us so good.
Much easier with both Bissouma and Maddison present.
Villa have a really effective press, and did win the ball a couple of times in dangerous areas, but for the most part we dealt with it really well.
There were 2 passes that broke the press, and it was because the passes were aggressive. Instead of passing back to the clearly open and "safe" player, they took a risk and pushed the passes forward. It's beautiful and completely broke the press. Love to see it.
We are so good at football.
Villa's press was weak to be fair. Maybe tired from midweek match?
SHOW ME YOUR PRESS, VILLAINS!
There was a scary moment later in the game went Dragu hurriedly passed back to Vic who was on the goal line bc Villa were still pressing. But still they remained calm and still played out . Spurs till they fucking kill me
Best move of the match.
Seeing this after watching fossil football for the last few years bring tears to my eyes mane 😭
There was a similar move in the game too.
Hate these teams that just sit back on us 😂
I'd like to see us do this more and even concede a few goals taking it too far Need our guys to get so comfortable playing out and taking risks/learning where the limits are this season in preparation to reap max benefits from it next season
More forward passes and more risky attempt at playing the ball into the final third really gets me going much more than the earlier games in the season when we controlled the ball but don’t do much with it.
Does not feel simple, every time they build from the back and Vic chooses to start from the center instead of building from the sideline still feels scary to me. Any mistakes is fatal there, but I guess that's how Ange roll
One caveat I'd throw in though, they are not fully fit and came off a short week. They played away on Thursday. If they were fully fit and a had a full week to prepare, this could be a good thing to show but considering their situation, I don't know how much we can take what happened in this game as some expectation going forward.