Super Frank Thread

[Atomiswave 6,117]

47 minutes ago, chippy said:

Much better all-round performance, but it has to be said Spurs were very poor.

I've just had a look at our remaining fixtures and it's a pretty tough run in from here.

They werent great but we also made them look more clueless.

All games are tough for us, lets buckle up and get to the finishing line ( top 4 )

[Vesper 30,083]

 

[chippy 342]

4 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

They werent great but we also made them look more clueless.

All games are tough for us, lets buckle up and get to the finishing line ( top 4 )

Yes, there are no easy games for us at the mo!

There was a time when we could look at a block of games and have a fairly good idea of roughly how many points we'd have at the end, but that's not the case now. Almost every game feels like it could go either way.

Still, I wasn't expecting much at all this season, so if you'd told me at the start we'd be 4th at this stage and playing BM in the KO stages of the CL, i'd have been more than happy!

 

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

19 hours ago, Vesper said:

Mourinho’s back five failed against one that was more natural and cohesive

https://theathletic.com/1627084/2020/02/23/tottenham-chelsea-mourinho-back-three-negative/

 by Chelsea just before Christmas, Frank Lampard scored a tactical victory over his former manager. To the surprise of almost everyone, Lampard switched to a back three and, in so doing, exposed Serge Aurier and Jan Vertonghen down the flanks. Chelsea dominated against Tottenham’s 4-2-3-1 formation and ran out comfortable winners.

Come Saturday, Jose Mourinho was desperate to avoid a repeat. He told The Athletic in Friday’s press conference that Lampard would revert to a 3-4-3 and decided to match it by selecting a back three himself.

It should be pointed out that Lampard had the benefit of almost a full week to work with his players but, where Chelsea looked as though they had a clear plan and an understanding of the system, Tottenham resembled a side with little concept of how to make it work or much idea of exactly what it was they were supposed to be doing. Mourinho has generally been a reactive manager during his career but, as his side slumped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat to fall four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, it felt like he had been too preoccupied by what Tottenham’s opposition were doing.

Having been overrun on the flanks by Chelsea in December, Mourinho doubled down at Stamford Bridge. The back three was most often a back five, with the wing-backs — and that term must be used in the loosest possible sense — Ben Davies and Japhet Tanganga instructed to play extremely conservatively. As early as the fifth minute, Mourinho was out of the dugout telling Tanganga, who is naturally a centre-back, to hold his position.

But despite Davies and Tanganga’s conservatism, they still couldn’t get a handle on Marcos Alonso and Reece James. Alonso ended the game with a goal, three shots and two key passes to his name, while James contributed two shots and two key passes. Tottenham’s wing-backs, by contrast, mustered zero for all of those metrics, underlining the gulf between the effectiveness of the two teams on the flanks. James also put in seven crosses to Tanganga and Davies’ combined zero.

The one time Tanganga did venture forward, Chelsea appeared so surprised that they failed to track his run. Had his touch been better, Tanganga would have had a tap-in after knocking the ball beyond Willy Caballero. Davies, though, resisted going forward until the very final stages and looked uncertain all afternoon. He gave the ball away 25 times — more than anyone else on the pitch — and his 54 per cent pass accuracy was the worst beside Caballero.

Alonso consistently bombed forward down the Chelsea left

 

His opposite number Davies barely got forward despite Spurs trailing for 75 minutes

 

Having five defenders sitting so deep also created problems for Tottenham in central areas. If the system was designed to protect Spurs out wide then, like a game of whack-a-mole, all it did was mean others issues popped up elsewhere. An extra defender meant one fewer midfielder and the gap between the Spurs centre-backs and midfield of Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele was cavernous at times.

This allowed Ross Barkley and Mason Mount to occupy the half-spaces and create problems for the Spurs defence. Mount broke into the box unchallenged for an early chance saved by Hugo Lloris while, in the closing stages, he drifted into an inside-right position and easily beat Vertonghen before crossing for Tammy Abraham. Again, it was only Lloris’s sharp reflexes that saved Spurs from conceding.

Tottenham’s inability to get a handle on Mount and Barkley was summarised by Chelsea’s second goal. After collecting Olivier Giroud’s header, Mount beat Vertonghen and played the ball inside for the similarly free Barkley. His pass then found Alonso, charging forward from left wing-back to double Chelsea’s lead. It was the perfect exhibition of how to make a system with wing-backs work from an attacking perspective. Likewise, Spurs showed how not to defend with a back three as their defenders were dragged out of position and their two central midfielders were left chasing shadows.

Think as well, which hasnt been mentioned at all, Frank deployed a back 5 where 4 of the 5 players have regularly played in a back 3 under various managers at other teams and here.

It isnt exactly the same obviously Frank has put his touch on it but the basics of it are the same with and without the ball, make the pitch as wide as possible with it to try utilize the free man out wide which eventually ends up creating space in the middle and then make the pitch narrow without it.

The players are used to it and have trained it alot (especially with Antonio who was hugely renowned for team shape exercises in training and obviously 343/352 is his preference tactically). Azpi under Conte here, Christensen at Mochengladbach and here under Conte, Rudiger at Roma, here under Conte and for Germany and Alonso at Fiorentina and here under Conte. Theyve also played it together countless times as mentioned with that time under Conte. 

Thats probably a huge reason as to it looked more natural and how we looked more comfortable in it I think compared to Spurs, who have predominantly deployed a back 4 under Jose (and Pochettino before) more or less every game (Jose only really ever gone 3 at the back by sacrificing a fullback for an attacker when his team needs a goal in stages of games, particularly at Inter, Madrid and here).

The players know their roles more clearly in it imo than when he play a back 4 most weeks. Alonso and Azpi aren't too sure in a 4, they know they have to go forward but leave space in behind them. In a 3 they both have different roles but it also masks issues of theirs, Alonso has a CB behind him who is better positioned to cover him and Azpi isnt as far up the pitch where he will struggle to recover/be caught out of position more.

I think going with a 4 v Bayern would be a huge mistake as well. Go for the same 3 CBs then James and Emerson although Alonso could deserve to remain in the team as his offensive contribution v Spurs was good.

[Vesper 30,083]

7 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Think as well, which hasnt been mentioned at all, Frank deployed a back 5 where 4 of the 5 players have regularly played in a back 3 under various managers at other teams and here.

It isnt exactly the same obviously Frank has put his touch on it but the basics of it are the same with and without the ball, make the pitch as wide as possible with it to try utilize the free man out wide which eventually ends up creating space in the middle and then make the pitch narrow without it.

The players are used to it and have trained it alot (especially with Antonio who was hugely renowned for team shape exercises in training and obviously 343/352 is his preference tactically). Azpi under Conte here, Christensen at Mochengladbach and here under Conte, Rudiger at Roma, here under Conte and for Germany and Alonso at Fiorentina and here under Conte. Theyve also played it together countless times as mentioned with that time under Conte. 

Thats probably a huge reason as to it looked more natural and how we looked more comfortable in it I think compared to Spurs, who have predominantly deployed a back 4 under Jose (and Pochettino before) more or less every game (Jose only really ever gone 3 at the back by sacrificing a fullback for an attacker when his team needs a goal in stages of games, particularly at Inter, Madrid and here).

The players know their roles more clearly in it imo than when he play a back 4 most weeks. Alonso and Azpi aren't too sure in a 4, they know they have to go forward but leave space in behind them. In a 3 they both have different roles but it also masks issues of theirs, Alonso has a CB behind him who is better positioned to cover him and Azpi isnt as far up the pitch where he will struggle to recover/be caught out of position more.

I think going with a 4 v Bayern would be a huge mistake as well. Go for the same 3 CBs then James and Emerson although Alonso could deserve to remain in the team as his offensive contribution v Spurs was good.

super comment 

[Tomo 21,751]

5 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Think as well, which hasnt been mentioned at all, Frank deployed a back 5 where 4 of the 5 players have regularly played in a back 3 under various managers at other teams and here.

It isnt exactly the same obviously Frank has put his touch on it but the basics of it are the same with and without the ball, make the pitch as wide as possible with it to try utilize the free man out wide which eventually ends up creating space in the middle and then make the pitch narrow without it.

The players are used to it and have trained it alot (especially with Antonio who was hugely renowned for team shape exercises in training and obviously 343/352 is his preference tactically). Azpi under Conte here, Christensen at Mochengladbach and here under Conte, Rudiger at Roma, here under Conte and for Germany and Alonso at Fiorentina and here under Conte. Theyve also played it together countless times as mentioned with that time under Conte. 

Thats probably a huge reason as to it looked more natural and how we looked more comfortable in it I think compared to Spurs, who have predominantly deployed a back 4 under Jose (and Pochettino before) more or less every game (Jose only really ever gone 3 at the back by sacrificing a fullback for an attacker when his team needs a goal in stages of games, particularly at Inter, Madrid and here).

The players know their roles more clearly in it imo than when he play a back 4 most weeks. Alonso and Azpi aren't too sure in a 4, they know they have to go forward but leave space in behind them. In a 3 they both have different roles but it also masks issues of theirs, Alonso has a CB behind him who is better positioned to cover him and Azpi isnt as far up the pitch where he will struggle to recover/be caught out of position more.

I think going with a 4 v Bayern would be a huge mistake as well. Go for the same 3 CBs then James and Emerson although Alonso could deserve to remain in the team as his offensive contribution v Spurs was good.

Also Reece did at youth level, granted at RCB which was not his position Saturday.

I've always said Jose doesn't know how to do 3atb, I was delighted when he matched us.

[Jase 43,479]

6 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I've always said Jose doesn't know how to do 3atb

Not surprising to see, TBH. In the past, Mourinho used the back 3 only when it was time to throw the kitchen sink at the opponent to try and get back into games, and even then, it was basically putting some safe numbers behind the ball and letting the other 7 players attack with abandon, if you like. And considering Mourinho is not known for coaching attacking patterns, attacking plays etc, it's not strange to see that his teams struggle with the back 3 when he goes with it from the start. The back 3 generally requires some proper coaching to actually make it work. 

[Fernando 6,585]

Third time he makes the same mistake. After winning a game with the back 3 which was specifically for that one game, he continues with it into the next game..... 

Game against Bayern hasn't started but to me this is a big mistake, again to do the same mistake a third time

He just don't learn......

We could get lucky and get a win, but with Alonso there against Bayern...I don't like this! 

[ZaynChelsea 423]

As expected, won‘t blame Lamps for today‘s defeat. However, if we miss out on Top 4, he has to go.

[Henrique 9,133]

I cant blame him for the result. The difference in quality is abysmal. Im more the concerned with the lack of organization, both defending and going forward. 

Im convinced Wolves and Leicester would put a better performance against Bayern at home than we did today. 

 

[Tomo 21,751]

3 minutes ago, Henrique said:

I cant blame hum for the result. The difference in quality is abysmal. Im more the concerned with the lack of organization, both defending and going forward. 

Im convinced Wolves and Leicester would put a better performance against Bayern at home than we did today. 

 

Wolves I'd agree but no chance with Leicester.

Brendan Rodgers record against elite opposition is worse than Wenger's.

[MoroccanBlue 5,375]

Zouma + Tomori 

Kovacic + Jorginho + Mount 

rest of the season