What have we learned in pre season?

[carpediem991]

Pre season already seems to be over, what have we learned?
Personally I have only watched two games myself and read about the other, feel free to correct and add impressions. I start with 10 statements.

- Like at Wolves last season, we could focus more on the 2nd half in terms of aggression and risk.

- Lucas Moura seems to be the player of the pre season. Could get lots of minutes.

- Nile John could be involved against lesser teams.

- I liked Paskotsi, one for the future

- Dele still far away from being his old self

- Nuno really tried to find his formation. Especially in the last two games he did not make big changes. Sissoko, Ndombele for example got zero pre season minutes, others as Aurier, Davies or Rodon got very few

- Tanganga has a chance to play his part, but not sure Nuno has found his RB options yet

- Reguilon not looking like the player he was in the first few months with us (at the moment)

- We desperately lack some quality on the pitch. Play making ability, creativity, goal threat, final balls. Hopefully Lo Celso, Gil and a new attacker (and Kane) will see us improve here

- We still have a lot of work with our squad (Para has).

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Lucas really stood out. The reason I say that is because I think he was our best player in the last couple months of last season too. I don't know if something just clicked for him or it's the move to playing a bit more centrally, but he is just blowing past players with ease and his dribbling has been phenomenal for the better part of 4 months now. He just looks like he is always trying to make something happen, and it's gotten to the point where something DOES happen. He's rapid and obviously extremely skillful, so if he has built consistency and end product into his game then he could have a phenomenal season.

 

[parj]

-Skipp needs serious game time and we have to back his learning curve
-Sanchez is not a total train wreck - Copa and friendlies have shown that. Him and Romero could be quite good if we play on the front foot
-Bergwijn got ruined by Jose. Where is the player that scored against man city and man utd? He lacks confidence now but we have to get him right.
-Alli is working hard and deserves a chance to get back on track
-Lucas and Son are going to be so important without Kane. Lucas will need more goals for sure.
-Bryan Gil looks a player and a half
-Tanganga has to be first choice RB and still get CB time to learn
-we lack squad depth. We really have to trust the academy players and back them

 

[JimmyG2]

Random Musings.
Prime Dele would have scored both chances and we would have won the tournament
FFSDele.
But he has grabbed his extended opportunity firmly with at least one hand.
Looks like a Nuno starter.

Sanchez and Tanganga could stay and provide more than just back-up.
Dier and Bergwijn marked in my catalogue as sale items.
No minutes for Sissoko though available. Writing on wall Moussa.
Succession to Hugo well sorted.
Moura and Sonny key figures now.
Lo Celso could be a force this year.
Skipp hype almost justified but Winks is good back up.
Hojberg a proper top man on and off the field. His interview outstanding
Spurs fans showed real class re Saka.

Harry not completely missed and he is too old now to win enough trophies to justify the change.
Club legend or riding on the coat-tails of City for half a dozen pots.
Sunk his bridges now and will never be the same even if he stays.

I will be more than satisfied if we emulate our pre-season form in the first 4 games. (8from 4)

 

[robin09]

Definitely a work in progress. If Tanguy is fit and motivated, I'd feel more confident. Likewise with Kane. But aside from that, there are positives to take. I think we'll need to take the rough with the smooth this season as we have new signings as well as Dele trying to adapt to a new role, and Skipp adjusting to the Prem.

Despite Sanchez and Lucas looking solid, I still don't trust either of them in competitive fixtures. So hopefully Romero gets a new CB partner, and Lucas is purely a strong sub/cup option.

 

[PLTuck]

Lucas, Dele and Dier will likely begin the season as starters, which will make a certain section of SC apoplectic with rage, regardless of whether they actually play well or not.

Skipp looks like a star in the making, but lets not write him off when he has some dodgy games.

The camp seems happier, despite the Kane shenanigans.

Dele has worked his nuts off and is learning a new role. I've watched him closely all preseason and people saying he doesn't track runners or gives the ball away too much haven't been paying attention.

Dier has been pretty untroubled at the back for the most part.

We will start the season with 3 in midfield.

PEH should be made vice captain immediately.

Gollini looks to be a level above our previous number 2's, and has the chance to show he is the long term successor to Hugo.

I've never really rated him but Lucas is another that appears to be changing his game for the better. Less running down blind alleys, and acting far more like a wide playmaker.

 

[idontgetit]

The most important takeaway is that it looks like Nuno fancies 4-3-3.

Lucas looks real sharp. Winks looks dead keen to fight for his spot. Skipp unfortunately hasn't nailed down his place although also hasn't really put a foot wrong. I so badly want it to work for Alli but can't see him holding a spot.

The problem is still our midfield balance and ability to dominate or control games, we still can't get it right there. Without the control in central midfield, our full-backs lose the confidence to get forward and our control in the game can easily negatively spiral which then puts excess pressure on our vulnerable defence.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Very impressed with Lucas, has been constantly good. Hope it continues.

I don’t think a midfield of Skipp and Højbjerg works, we need more creativity in there. That being said I think Skipp looks like he will be a very good player for us this season.

Dele looks slow and cumbersome but he did get into some good positions against arsenal so have to hope he just needs time to rebuild his confidence and match fitness. Would probably start him for now.

The same goes for Bergwijn regarding being off the pace. But more so. As I have mentioned previously, I have never been wild on him since I watched a lot of him for PSV. I never really thought he would get up to the calibre we need. So far he looks even more off the pace then last season. Sorry to say I would probably look to sell.

I expect the formation and especially line up to change significantly once we have made all our signings. I think we could well switch to two upfront if we get Martinez for example.

Son, although he has also been very good, isn’t a striker and we really need this sorted out soon.

Tanganga looked good at RB but I hope we just keep him in one position and make that his main one. Reality is that’s he currently our best RB but I would expect that to change soon. I also worry about his injury issues, seems to be quite prone. Still, he is obviously one of our best young talents.

We obviously still have a lot of deadwood and it will be a while before our new players will get starts imo.

I’m still not sure tactically what exactly our set up will be in regards to pressing and intensity, but that is completely normal given a new manager. It won’t be for a month or so I imagine before we know if we will be a high press, counter press etc team. The one thing is for sure, the last two weeks of the transfer window are going to be vital for our success as currently we are not good enough. But I have hope. Gil and Romero are a great start and will bring a lot I think.

 

[SUIYHA]

Lesson 1 - Nuno wants to play 4-3-3

Lesson 2 - Our squad isn't particularly well suited to it without a few key additions

 

[Trix]

Lucas really stood out. The reason I say that is because I think he was our best player in the last couple months of last season too. I don't know if something just clicked for him or it's the move to playing a bit more centrally, but he is just blowing past players with ease and his dribbling has been phenomenal for the better part of 4 months now. He just looks like he is always trying to make something happen, and it's gotten to the point where something DOES happen. He's rapid and obviously extremely skillful, so if he has built consistency and end product into his game then he could have a phenomenal season.

I think he was good for most of last season and it's one of the few things I think Jose and his team can take credit for getting right. It was non stop encouragement to be more direct in both training and matches. He worked very hard on building his confidence up in running at players.

 

[gavspur]

I have learned that I don’t like IPA. And that the word ‘wanker’ has never sounded so good than when hearing it shouted at an Arsenal player.

 

[EireYid]

Lucas really stood out. The reason I say that is because I think he was our best player in the last couple months of last season too. I don't know if something just clicked for him or it's the move to playing a bit more centrally, but he is just blowing past players with ease and his dribbling has been phenomenal for the better part of 4 months now. He just looks like he is always trying to make something happen, and it's gotten to the point where something DOES happen. He's rapid and obviously extremely skillful, so if he has built consistency and end product into his game then he could have a phenomenal season.

And he's still only 28, feels like he's been in top flight football the past 20 years.

 

[Shadydan]

Pre season already seems to be over, what have we learned?
Personally I have only watched two games myself and read about the other, feel free to correct and add impressions. I start with 10 statements.

- Like at Wolves last season, we could focus more on the 2nd half in terms of aggression and risk.

- Lucas Moura seems to be the player of the pre season. Could get lots of minutes.

- Nile John could be involved against lesser teams.

- I liked Paskotsi, one for the future

- Dele still far away from being his old self

- Nuno really tried to find his formation. Especially in the last two games he did not make big changes. Sissoko, Ndombele for example got zero pre season minutes, others as Aurier, Davies or Rodon got very few

- Tanganga has a chance to play his part, but not sure Nuno has found his RB options yet

- Reguilon not looking like the player he was in the first few months with us (at the moment)

- We desperately lack some quality on the pitch. Play making ability, creativity, goal threat, final balls. Hopefully Lo Celso, Gil and a new attacker (and Kane) will see us improve here

- We still have a lot of work with our squad (Para has).

Reguilon played well yesterday, not worried about him personally.

We look much more confident defensively playing further up the pitch as opposed to sitting in the box.

 

[Thenewcat]

I think he was good for most of last season and it's one of the few things I think Jose and his team can take credit for getting right. It was non stop encouragement to be more direct in both training and matches. He worked very hard on building his confidence up in running at players.

That’s really interesting, because other than the obvious personality flaws my biggest problem with Jose was I couldn’t see much evidence of coaching actually improving players. I just assumed Lucas is a confidence guy and is more direct when confidence is high (like Aaron Lennon in the past). Credit where it’s due if that was a Jose driven change

 

[Blake Griffin]

not a lot.

tactically we've learnt that we'll be playing 433. personally i'm not big into formations, i don't see one formation as being inherently better than the either. 442 for example can work just as well as any other formation if you have the right coaching and players. 433 is often seen as "superior" but just like any other it has its strengths and weaknesses. if you insist on the front three staying high and central then it's pivotal that you push up as a team and squeeze the space, otherwise the two outside cms end up having to get through an ungodly amount of running and you lose any control of the football match.

from a player pov i don't think we've really learnt a massive amount. strangely, tanganga has once again shown to be better suited to rb than cb, despite playing pretty much exclusively as the latter all his life up until getting into the first team. skipp has shown that he's probably not quite at the level we'd hoped just yet, ideally he'd have followed up last year's championship loan with a premier league loan this season but our lack of options has meant we've had to skip(heh) that step and just get him playing now. i hope our fans show a bit of patience if he doesn't look like a world beater just yet. john and scarlett look comfortable around the first team and should get plenty of game time in the cups/conference league. otherwise no player has really changed my mind. sanchez had a good game yesterday but he's always been capable of having a good game or even a run of good games, problem is he's always shown that the opposite is also equally just as likely. dier's been pretty solid too but same story as above really.

 

[jurgen11]

The Match Day thread is still a laugh a minute

 

[GutBucket]

That we can't depend on Ndombele and that he won't feature much, if at all. Lucas will definitely stay after those performances, that's about it.

 

[SonicSarr]

Backtracking is a 'thing'

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

- Dele still far away from being his old self

Completely disagree here.

I think most people don't understand the role Dele is playing under Nuno. He is an 8 - not a 10. His position requires a lot of the dirty work, and less of the flair.

I have seen each of the games, and bar one, Dele has worked hard in his position. He came to pre-season fit, and appears to be one of the players Nuno trusts the most right now.

Dele is not going to put up huge attacking returns from this position - because he is no longer playing as a 2nd striker, nor does he have the freedom to roam around a bit. But, as we say against Arsenal, he is getting scoring chances by arriving late in the box, and I think he will play a big role for Spurs this season.

But - people have to understand the difference in his current role, and those roles he played in a 4231 - and adjust expectations accordingly.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Here is what I have learned:

Nuno will start with a 4-3-3.

The CM3 - is a holding midfielder in the middle, and two #8s on either side (i.e an inverted triangle, not 2 in the base, with a 10). Right now we really only 4 players who fit those roles: Dele, Lo Celso, Hojbjerg, and Skipp. We could use at least one more.

Doherty is not the answer at RB. Tanganga might be.

Nuno wants to play direct - similar to Mourinho - but I can also see attacking patterns when we are in possession - unlike Mourinho. Nuno wants quick passes, and looks for run in the channels. I expect the team to be more aggressive is attack, as opposed to simply knocking the ball around waiting for an opening.

I think we will be slightly asymmetrical - meaning more attacks from Reguilon, than from the RB.

Skipp has looked better at the base of the CM - but I expect Dele - Hojbjerg - Lo Celso to settle in once Lo Celso is up to fitness, at least this fall. I don't expect to see Ndombele start, but if he stays, would be an attacking option off the bench.

If Kane stays, it will be Son - Kane - Lucas up front, with Lucas being a bit busier and behind, but Son/Kane playing off each other up top.

Gil - we have not see yet, but I think he will start the year as an attacking option off the bench - he could work to supplant Lucas eventually.

If we replace Kane with Martinez, I am expecting an attack that looks similar to Liverpool - more of a false-9, all the forwards are interchangeable.