Chelsea
2 – 0
Tottenham Hotspur
Stamford Bridge
Premier League
23/01/2022 5:30 pm
Attendance: 40020
Referee: Paul Tierney
| Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ziyech (47), Thiago Silva (55) | |||||||
| Arrizabalaga | Lloris | ||||||
| Azpilicueta | Tanganga | 57 | |||||
| Thiago Silva | Sanchez | ||||||
| Rudiger | Dier | ||||||
| Sarr | Doherty | ||||||
| Kovacic | Winks | 89 | |||||
| Jorginho | 73 | Hojbjerg | |||||
| Ziyech | 90+1 | Davies | |||||
| Mount | Bergwijn | ||||||
| Hudson-Odoi | 87 | Kane | |||||
| Lukaku | Sessegnon | 56 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Alonso | 87 | Reguilon | |||||
| Kante | 73 | Gil | 89 | ||||
| Pulisic | Emerson Royal | ||||||
| Werner | Rodon | ||||||
| Bettinelli | Gollini | ||||||
| Chalobah | Lucas Moura | 56 | |||||
| Saul | 90+1 | Skipp | 57 | ||||
| Barkley | White | ||||||
| Havertz | Scarlett | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 15 | Goal attempts | 6 |
| 7 | On Target | 3 |
| 10 | Corners | 3 |
| 17 | Fouls | 14 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 65 | % | 35 |
Agree Niall. Yes we have pressing needs which will need to be addressed, but most experts seem to agree that January is a transfer window of opportunity, not a good time to address specific needs.
If we were 1 player away, it might be different. But expecting a full revamp of the squad now was always going to be a big ask.
What seems obvious is that we bought “system” players for Conte. Betancur is your prototypical midfielder for a 343. He might not be the top player we hoped for or a surefire starting player, but he should be a useful squad player nonetheless.
Kulusevski is a gamble on potential but he’s a tailor made player for a role in that front 3, and he can play on either side.
Yes, we still have needs and we need more quality in our 11. But depth has always been an issue as well and these 2 make sense as depth signings. They will increase pressure on players such as Winks in midfield, or Moura and Bergwijn in that front 3.
Probably did about as much as we could in a January window. Maybe Dele will revive his career under Lampard, maybe not. Either way it wasn’t happening at Spurs so a good move all round. I suspect we are still picking up some of N’Dombele and Lo Celsco’s wages. Two very bad bits of business on Pochettino’s watch and a warning to people trotting out sound bytes about “backing the manager”. Still better to pay some of their wages than all of them.
At the moment there is no way of knowing what the players coming in will do, or even what positions they will play in. We must just hope the scouting system has done a better job this time around and Conte knows what he’s getting. The big problem is the same one its always been since Harry Kane first came into the team, no back up centre forward. No one who is good enough wants to be a backup and Kane will always be first choice so we aren’t likely to solve that any time soon.
One point about transfers is Conte will probably not be around for all that long. So anyone we do bring in needs to be adaptable since our next manager will probably have a completely different set up.
jod – I think you have got that all wrong.
All of the top clubs, clubs that actually win things, appoint a manager they believe in, then give him huge amounts of control over recruitment and let him carry on with his job. I don’t think you can point to a single example of a successful club not being built around a certain system or philospohy.
The problem with Lo Celso and NDombele wasn’t that we backed the manager. The problem is that there are question marks as to whether either were actually players wanted by MP.
Either those players were bought because they represented a good deal at the time (hindsight is always 20/20), then handed over to MP, with MP being instructed to “make it work”;
Or they were indeed wanted by MP, in which case it would say more about MP’s ability (or lack thereof) than anything else. And if PSG’s haphazard recruitment is anything to go by, maybe MP isn’t as good in building squads as he would want to admit.
Look at the successful clubs in our league, I don’t think there is any question that City and Liverpool are buying system players for their respective managers.
If from the get go, we are already planning for life after Conte, and this is how we are going to approach recruitment, it was a mistake appointing Conte in the first place. You appoint a manager you believe in, and you back him. If you don’t fully trust the manager, don’t appoint him and find another one you’re willing to back and commit to.
And if that manager has to go somewhere down the line, you appoint the next manager with your current squad in mind, hoping that there is enough overlap between the visions of the outghoing manager and the new one that the squad can be recycled to some degree.
It is lunacy to think that a squad can be built regardless of the manager. Case in point: Dele excelled in one system, but was essentially wasted in anything else than a 4231. Yet Dele can be a devastating player when a team plays to his strengths. Plenty of other examples exist in our squad: Davies, Dier, Doherty, Royal… The issue isn’t that all over those players are one-dimensional, as that is the norm. The issue is that we have never committed to one tactical system as a club, and our recruitment is haphazard as a result.
It’s hard enough buying players who can excel in one system; if you expect any incoming player to excel regardless of the system that player is played in, that is setting an unreasonably high bar.
Well 2 in and 7 out ain’t bad. Time will tell after the usual last minute panics loved by Levy.
3 duds away on loan. Let’s hope we don’t have to suffer them again. Never heard of the buys but hopeful.
Good luck to Dele and thanks for the memories especially the first goal and the Crystal Palace cracker a la Gazza. I am sure Lampard will bring out the best in him like Poch.
So now I will be looking out for Spurs, Brighton, Coventry, Forest Green, Everton and Brentford.
Just my own opinion, but I think that we may become more workman like than cavalier and flair and if we look at who has left, they are arguably the flair,” luxury” type players if you like.
Has Conte brought in two athletic running tracking back style players, I don’t know, but I do think he is building a team mentality, these new players may slot into his ideal set up.
Unlike Jod and some others, I don’t think Conte will leave anytime soon, he has taken clubs from worse positions than ours.
Again I disagree with WW as I think we have more players than he listed as decent to good, with that said we’re all entitled to our opinions.
I am content with who left as much for their own needs as ours, I wish them well.
There is a mountain of work to do with our club, but all in all given our current flux we are in a decent position league wise and certainly playing better football.
I think Conte has a job to do and he’ll see it through, I feel given the way our players left and the sums involved, it seems perhaps Levey is finally starting to listen.
Before now he would’ve held on for top dollar.
I do think we will start, just start to see some progress, sometimes it’s a bounce of a ball the, width of a post which makes a nearly man into a hero or villain.
But I am positive and feel we have many winnable matches, I feel we will be there abouts in the top 3/5.COYS😉
https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/transfer-news/conte-paratici-convince-levy-tottenham-22939877
Sort of echoes my point, but pundits and media don’t know it all.
Niall – I think you’re being very optimisitic with “top 3/5” – I don’t think there is any reasonable chance of us finishing 3rd. 3 teams are head and shoulders better than us (as Chelsea’s 3 convincing victories recently proved). I still think a top 4 finish would be nothing short of a miracle.
However, I agree with the rest of your post.
The article you linked seems to confirm what I thought about this window, and about buying system players.
“That Paratici ended up raiding his old club late on for the club’s two signings in the window does not speak volumes for the wide net he was expected to cast across the globe as the transfer guru Levy chased for half a decade.
However, that should not detract from the suitability of both new players for Conte and the Tottenham squad being built for him.”
“Spurs’ transfer window could have been much better, even within the limits of January, but the process has begun and Conte is believed to be content at what has been done.
The Tottenham fans have constantly called on the club to ‘shift the deadwood’ and despite the brutal nature of the phrase, Conte agreed and he got what he wanted in that respect.”
I too am slightly underwhelmed with Paratici’s added value so far, and as I said earlier in the thread, if our recruitment strategy now consists of buying Juve’s misfits, the model has its limits.
But in this case, it may have worked out well for us.
On to Saturday’s FA Cup game.
Hi BS
Just aiming for the Stars, might hit the ceiling.
If Chelsea,( tho’ they beat us) carry on with their poor form against others, then we could, just could be in contention for a top 3 spot bearing in mind we have 4 games in hand on Chelsea in 3rd 2 games in hand on Man U for 4th, with no Euro distractions.
We should be able to field our strongest team in ages next week, with the new additions certainly on paper being able to give more than those who have just left.
I am aware that it is a difficult ask, but top 4 isn’t pie in the sky.
Just trying to put a bit of a positive spin on things. 😉
BelgianSpur – Hmm, so Liverpool don’t use a sophisticated data analysis system to identify targets they just ask Klopp who he wants and then go out and buy them ? I don’t think so. If you simply assume any failures are players the manager didn’t want in the first place, without anything to support that contention, then every manager is going to look good. If you assume Conte is going to be around for a long period of time then given his track record you’ve lost all touch with reality.
Even back in Brian Clough’s era the manager didn’t always do everything. Clough himself didn’t get involved in scouting, he regarded his deputy Peter Taylor as the best judge of a player in the country. Taylor identified players, Clough coached them and it seemed to work pretty well. In the modern era to think an outfit like Fenway are simply going to defer to the manager is incredibly naive. They introduced the moneyball concept to the UK and run Liverpool as a business. Klopp will have a veto but not control and you can bet your life Fenway will have a plan ready for whenever Klopp goes.
Unless, the two new signings make a massive difference, we will still be a mid table squad sometimes punching above our weight. We do have Kane and Son. However, we are still a workmanlike squad that can be easily outplayed by classier sides.
Our bench is often pretty uninspiring but we have got rid of 3 of the worst culprits.
Maybe the time has come for Skipp and Winks to up their game by passing forward and shooting from distance. Maybe Emerson and/or Doherty can live up to their transfer fees and learn how to cross the ball.
Here’s hoping the new signings will spark some life into our mundane play.
WW sometimes it’s just minor percentages or margins which make or break a player. If we are to believe those then them Kulusveski (spelling) is pretty decent and could be a decent signing.
Whilst we aren’t up there with Man C and Liverpool maybe even Chelsea.
I would argue that we, are among the best of the rest and if ManU and Leicester don’t get their 15 odd pens this year (yet again) we are in the mix.
Yes there is work to be done, and we need to be up there to compete with the best.
By my percentages and margins quote how come the great Belgian International team, arguably the best in the world this decade have won nothing with a string of super stars is simply down to margins, hitting the post when they should’ve scored a defensive error a dodgy ref decision and another cup goes, astray.
The new signings may not make a massive difference, but they may just tilt the balance between a 0-0 and 1-0, becasue at this level that is, what the difference is IMO, there are very few out and out winners in the Prem and every team can give you a bloody nose.
Just my thoughts, I think these new guys are better than whom we let go.
Niall, The new signings have to be a step up from the 3 out on loan. They were pretty grim to say the least.
Hopefully, they will get a run out against Brighton on Saturday if they are fit and ready. Apparently Son and Romero are on the way back.
We are still very weak in a few positions which will need addressing. If Lamptey and Bissouma are playing for Brighton, we shall be able to have a close look. 2 players that would enhance our squad.
jod – I don’t see how having a data-driven approach to recruitment, and buying system players, are mutually exclusive concepts.
In fact, the data will usually highlight that some players excel in some tactical set-ups, and become mediocre in others. That was Coutinho’s case, who was brilliant in a 4231, but wasted in a 433.
Liverpool aren’t relying on Klopp’s evaluation of players, but they are letting Klopp dictate what tactics he wants to play, which narrows the field of targets and focuses data-driven recruitment on specific players.
I think you have a rather vague grasp of how data-driven recruitment works and what insights it can provide.
As for Conte, he may or may not be around for long – nobody has a crystal ball. But even if he (or Klopp) has to go at some point, the club can just appoint a manager whose philosophy isn’t too dissimilar, with continuity in recruitment.
Case in point with Cheslea and Lampard/Tuchel: Tuchel hasn’t changed the system Lampard implemented, he’s just refined it and gotten slightly more out of his players. There has been continuity there. If a Mourinho-like manager was to take over now, half the squad would have to be changed. But Chelsea have been smart enough to recognise that and have appointed Tuchel accordingly.
Finally, I fail to see how relevant it is to look at Brian Clough’s way of working – that was 30 to 50 years ago. The world has changed, football has changed.
Everton (Dele) v Brentford (Eriksen) FA Cup on Saturday. Wonder if either will play.
We also have Ireland v Wales followed by Scotland V England rugby internationals.
Then Spurs v Brighton FA cup at 20.00 on ITV.
A feast to look forward to.
Bentancur scored a great goal for Uruguay https://www.caughtoffside.com/2022/02/02/video-rodrigo-bentancur-scores-first-minute-edge-of-the-box-screamer-for-uruguay/
However, he will need a visa before he can start training/playing.
I have just been looking at Dele’s best moments at Spurs…some great memories. I just hope Lampard can get the best out of him like Poch did.He should be at “White Hart Lane” on Sat March 5th. Hope to be there to welcome him back.
Dele is cup-tied and Eriksen is not match fit …that’s a shame.
BS I saw your post to Jod and agree, I suppose there could be a bit of an argument for and against data driven recruitment but as you say it only works if the system is right, so to that end it could be a useful tool, if you already know your system and if the player suits it.
BTW just looking over our signings, we are not the only ones who had “failures” in their signing process.
For Example Liverpool, Loveren, Mingolet, Allen, Ings, and perhaps Lilanna weren’t raging successes.
Chelsea, Drinkwater, Barlkley,,Batashui, Falco, Higuan, Remey, Torres all failed to make, a real mark
Even the fantastic “Salah” was a relative failure at Chelsea because perhaps the system didn’t suit.
In short, the guys we got rid of could be a success at their new club if the system suits, similarly our new signings along with a fit Romero (remember him) may just set the Spurs boat in the right direction.
You forgot Benteke for Liverpool too…
Well Steve Hitchen has just left the club. Willingly or not, who knows?
Hard to survive when 2 players costing 110 million combined have had to be loaned out unceremoniously.
I for one welcome the shake up. It clearly wasn’t working, the track record was poor, and the club needed to reform.
I said it was hard to expect different going forward, as long as the same people were still involved. Well, things are starting to change and maybe, just maybe, we might finally begin a new chapter. I think this bodes well for the future.
It really does feel like a new era under Conte.
BelgianSpur – The point is we don’t appear to have a data driven system, the only players Patrici came up with were from Juventus. That’s about local knowledge not data analysis. Other clubs are trying to emulate Liverpool, a bit from an article on Sevilla ;
“One key evolution in recruitment has been the use of data and artificial intelligence in scouting, player development and training. Two years ago the club created a department specifically for this purpose.
I am in love with data. I am in love with analysis!” says Monchi (DOF) who says he could talk for an hour just on this topic.
“We have special football apps; we are working to achieve special supplementary work for our scouts using data. The growth of the club in this area is incredible and it is one of our stepping stones that has really helped Sevilla.”
Your idea that we simply hire another Conte type seems to fly in the face of reality. The problems we had replacing Mourinho tells us there really aren’t that many attractive candidates out there and its likely to be a case of trying to find someone we think capable rather than picking from a long list someone who closely mirrors Conte’s style of play. Which means players who are perfect for Conte may prove useless for the next guy.