On reflection, I'm not too angry with the result yesterday. A full strength side of ours would compete against them better, but would still most likely lose over two legs
However, Poch faaaacked up by not sacking off the Europa league against Fiorentina and going full strength in the FA Cup. Now we're out of both
On to Ryan Mason. I've been criticised on here before for saying he's a poor player. Well I'm amazed if anybody really thinks differently. Apart from being a hard worker, he offers nothing on a football pitch. Players run past him easily, he gives the ball away whenever he tries something other than 5 yard passes to the CBs, he can't dribble, and he doesn't score or create goals with any regularity whatsoever. I've called him a Championship player before and I honestly think he wouldn't be a standout player at that level, there are better players than him in that division. Similarly with Townsend who will likely be relegated with Newcastle
I was at the Fiorentina home game and was baffled to see him being praised on social media afterwards. Scoring a goal and almost scoring a nice volley doesn't take away the fact that all he did in that game was 5 yard passes. I suppose if you're on the winning team you get praised, and if you're on the losing team criticised, regardless of your level of performance....
He's a Spurs boy which is great and all that but the fact is he's not very good. Absolutely unbelievable that some wanted Dembele sold and not him in the summer. And I think Poch is making a mistake if he wants to keep Mason and sell Bentaleb, despite the latter not playing at his best this season
CM is an area that we could strengthen in the summer if we want to compete with the likes of Dortmund
Ryan Mason
posted on 11/3/16
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/3/16
comment by The Phenom - Thread Killer (U20037)
posted 11 minutes ago
comment by Analog (U17200)
posted 9 minutes ago
Mason did not play well against Fiorentina as I discussed in the article
Also, he was not 'very good' at the start of the season, he was average bar one very good team goal that he initiated and finished against Sunderland
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he really was mate but whatever you say
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What did he do other than pass 5 yards to the CBs and FBs and score a goal? For him it was a decent performance. For a Spurs midfielder it wasn't
posted on 11/3/16
However, Poch faaaacked up by not sacking off the Europa league against Fiorentina and going full strength in the FA Cup. Now we're out of both
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Think this is the easy conclusion to draw in hindsight, but it's worth remembering that at the time you faced Fiore you were flying high.
I'd imagine the order of priorities was always League-Europa-FA Cup in that order, and that the last couple of results in the PL (more so if he's felt they're partly due to fatigue setting in) may have convinced him that fielding such a depleted EL side at this moment in time was a risk that simply had to be taken.
posted on 11/3/16
At the time of that Fiorentina-Palaca-Fiorentina week we were in a title challenge and our second priority should have been the FA Cup due to
a) less fixtures
b) no midweek fixtures
c) CL qualification looking very likely so less need to win the Europa
posted on 11/3/16
comment by Analog (U17200)
posted 3 minutes ago
At the time of that Fiorentina-Palaca-Fiorentina week we were in a title challenge and our second priority should have been the FA Cup due to
a) less fixtures
b) no midweek fixtures
c) CL qualification looking very likely so less need to win the Europa
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Fair points all of them, tbh.
Nevertheless, the team up to that moment was playing really well, showing no apparent signs of fatigue (afaik) and coming off the back of 7 straight wins, so I understand there were reasons to be confident.
Hopefully he'll learn his lessons; the disappointment is understandable but even in the light of the recent string of results, some fans are being overly critical imo.
posted on 11/3/16
Yeah it was the same after the Arsenal game in the Carling Cup, the same fans will be singing his praises again in a few weeks
posted on 11/3/16
I hope so.
To be perfectly honest I've never had much sympathy for Spurs, but I like Poch, what he's doing with your team and the fresh faces he's brought in. Was also high time we saw this degree of a shake up in one of the big leagues, so on all counts I can only hope you do well.
posted on 11/3/16
posted on 11/3/16
I'll continue to sing his praises. But I'm not praising him for last night. Doesn't make me fickle
posted on 11/3/16
Mason and Carroll are both extremely average. Our quality midfield came to an end in 2011/2012 and both were at the club then but failed to push themselves into contention for whatever reasons.
The adage of "if you're good enough, you're old enough" will always apply, so with them being 23 before they even got a sniff of first-team football at Spurs despite not having to fight their way past quality competition says a lot to me. Some people want to give them extra leeway because they're from the academy - so what? Doesn't matter if you're from Chingford or Cambodia, quality is what matters.
To think we sacked off the FA cup too.