Cowering behind the sofa with the dog to watch Spurs isn’t going to work anymore. The wife was already complaining about the whining and barking during the Leicester match and last night against Sheffield United it was even worse. And that was just me
So, I’m going to push the sofa back to the wall, relax, watch without expectations, and put the dog in the backyard. No one, neither man nor beast, should be expected to watch this stuff. My animal-loving neighbour might get in touch with the RSPCA if we continue.
I’m sorry to bother you again so soon. It’s not me, it’s them. Coming on the heels of Skippy’s much-heralded first goal baptism it’s a hard cross to bear. The Roller-Coaster has broken down, and in its place they’ve installed the Bungee Jump.
I thought we had nicely under control in the first half and we were ready for the second half Blitzkrieg (Don’t mention the war Jimmy). In fact, it was quite the opposite. In the second half they outplayed us and scored with their only shot on target.
If a 6ft 7 inch Goalkeeper collapses in the goal-mouth and nobody sees, has he actually attempted to save it? What a lump, but he’s in good company. Half of this team is no longer fit for purpose. Perisic had it once but has mislaid it. Kuluseski is young and might recover.
Hojbjerg and Dier conspired to give Sheffield their best chance but Coulibaly fluffed it. The back three were a disaster waiting to happen again**.. I’m told that all our recent cup debacles were with a back three involving Sanchez, Dier and Davies. (See appendix below **)
What was is that Einstein said about choosing the same back three and expecting a different result?
(Photo by Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images)
The front three were ineptness personified. Moura, (what on earth was he doing on the pitch ahead of Danjuma?) showed once again that he had missed that week at football school when they did ‘passing’. There isn’t a blind alley that he won’t enthusiastically run down.
Richarlison getting a rare start was tricky but ineffective and almost flattened the corner flag with one of his few shots. Son needs a rest and without Harry we are toothless. But we all, except the Manager and his side-kicks, know that.
You could have swapped the back and front three over probably to some advantage. But at least we can now concentrate on the Premier League and of course the CL.
Out of the Sheffield wreckage, we might salvage Pedro Porro though he would be wise to study his loan contract to see if there’s a get-out clause. Sarr was OK but even our hero Skippy couldn’t bale out the sinking ship..
So make or break time is fast approaching. In the silverware department, only the Champions League remains and even I am not bewildered enough to think we can win that. We could be out soon at the hands of AC Milan who have a one-goal advantage from the first leg.
Otherwise there’s not much left this season to make or break. We might scrape into next year’s CL but that is far from certain and since when was finishing 4th. a major achievement? If we win the CL or even qualify for next year I will be the first to apologise.
Sanchez has had more than enough chances and should go. Dier and Davies are squaddies at best.
Perisic and Moura are past their sell-by date. Richarlison is not quite the 60 million Brazilian star we thought he was.
Of course, there’s always next season and the next manager. Ryan Mason, one of our own and a little more experienced than he was before, looks odds on favourite if he isn’t too complicit with the current travails-
At least he knows what he’s letting himself in for which at Tottenham is half the battle.
Starters in defence the last 6 times we’ve been knocked out the FA CUP
17/18 – Dier, Davies, Sanchez. 18/19 – Dier, Sanchez
19/20 – Dier, Sanchez. 20/21 – Davies, Sanchez
21/22 – Dier, Davies. 22/23 – Dier, Davies, Sanchez
In that time we’ve had 5 managers
Poch, Mourinho, Mason(albeit temp),Nuno and Conte.
Make of this what you will. Even if it’s not correct, it’s very plausible
