Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace match thread

[Frenchaigle]

Like everyone on this site - no words can add any comfort to the awful situation we find ourselves in.

The players were under pressure for 80 minutes, so we must give some credit (And luck), to the fact it was only 2-0.

But, more importantly, my worry is the players body language. They have lost that buzz, togetherness and determination. Where are the leaders?

With regards to Sage, my greatest compliment to him is that in a game of poker, he would be a great player - because he is emotionless.

In ‘my’ opinion, a more experienced manager would know how to set up a team with 10 players - Sage was clueless!

I would have taken Canvot off (again, he had a very poor game), changed to a 441 - and brought Hughes or Lerma on.

Anyway, before you throw insults my way, I’m just saying what I feel! Bitterly disappointed.

The leader was sold to Chelsea in the summer

 

[Teddy Eagle]

Have we been relegated yet?

VAR is looking at it. So probably.

 

[park the bus]

Sacking Sage is the easy part. What comes after that will prove more difficult. Find the right replacement, preferably experienced in bottom of the table survival scraps. Give him something to work with and whatever he needs in the January window. Hope that the players respond. Let's not forget we are also in Europe. It's all a bit too much to fight relegation and compete in Cup competitions, so some bold decisions need to be taken. Sacking Sage is the easy part.

 

[TomH_CPFC]

Sacking Sage is the easy part. What comes after that will prove more difficult. Find the right replacement, preferably experienced in bottom of the table survival scraps. Give him something to work with and whatever he needs in the January window. Hope that the players respond. Let's not forget we are also in Europe. It's all a bit too much to fight relegation and compete in Cup competitions, so some bold decisions need to be taken. Sacking Sage is the easy part.

It's so early in the season that nobody is yet in a full on relegation scrap. If a change is made now, the new appointee would have time to turn things around without necessarily abdondoning all other competitions.

 

[EagleEddie]

Back post on set pieces ?! Can’t be that difficult… 3000 of screaming that there were 4 unmarked on the back post …. Surprise surprise they score… this has nothing to do with being down to 10 men. Tactical incompetence.

 

[kempshot Ken]

Our time in the premier league is coming to an end i will enjoy European football while i can as its going to be very very long time before we will see it again . It is what it is.

 

[park the bus]

It's so early in the season that nobody is yet in a full on relegation scrap. If a change is made now, the new appointee would have time to turn things around without necessarily abdondoning all other competitions.

We are. 21 goals conceded / -12 goal difference - the worst in the league. Lets assume for arguments sake Sage gets the boot this weekend, then the new manager will have Hoffenheim and Liverpool to assess the squad and impart his ideas. If by some miracle Sage is still in the post for the Liverpool game we can guarantee another loss. So yeah, we're already in a relegation scrap.

 

[TomH_CPFC]

We are. 21 goals conceded / -12 goal difference - the worst in the league. Lets assume for arguments sake Sage gets the boot this weekend, then the new manager will have Hoffenheim and Liverpool to assess the squad and impart his ideas. If by some miracle Sage is still in the post for the Liverpool game we can guarantee another loss. So yeah, we're already in a relegation scrap.

Time will tell. I still think it's early to declare a full on crisis and abandon all competitions other than the league.

 

[bright&wright]

Not as fecked off as I thought I would be.

2 - 0 could have been a lot worse.

Fair play backs to the wall and the 2nd goal was unlucky

I'll have what you're drinking.

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

The positive is we defended quite well... Except for leaving a player completely unmarked from a corner for the umpteenth time.

With no strikers other than Nketiah (who doesn't count), we had next to no chance in this game after Mateta's inexplicable and totally unnecessary tackle. Now we go to Liverpool with no Mateta or Sarr (again) and another thrashing is on the cards.

The board and Matt Hobbs are to blame for this squad, but it will be the manager who gets sacked come the international break. Fortunately, he will take the defensive coach with him, but then we have to ask who will take over. Not too many good options, but with Forest failing, we might see Glasner back at the helm for Christmas. Funnier things have happened.

I feel like some rabbits have to be pulled from the hat in January or we are Championship bound.

 

[Lanzo-Ad]

Everyone seems to think this squad is awful. I genuinely don’t think it’s that bad. There’s certainly a lot more depth to it now than we’ve had in previous years.

I’m unfortunately old enough to remember the 1990/91 season, when our back four consisted of John Humphrey, Andy Thorn, Eric Young and Richard Shaw, with Geoff Thomas and Andy Gray in midfield.

Everyone remembers Wright and Bright, but here’s the interesting thing. We scored just 50 league goals that season, conceded 41 and finished third in the First Division.

Why? Because we were an exceptionally well-drilled, organised outfit. Every player knew his job, understood the (simple) system and did what was expected of him.

Fast forward to Tony Pulis. Again, we weren’t blessed with an extraordinary squad, but we were organised, disciplined and bloody difficult to beat. The same with Roy.

That’s my fundamental problem with Sage. I actually think we’ve got a fairly decent squad, but I don’t think he’s capable of organising it. And increasingly, I think he’s been found out.

When opposition teams continually exploit the same weakness, particularly balls delivered to the back post, you do something about it. You change the marking, you adjust the defensive shape, you coach the players. That’s literally what a manager is paid to do.

Every opposition team seems to have worked out how to exploit us, yet somehow our own coaching staff haven’t worked out how to stop it.

And if the argument is that we’ve got a limited squad, then surely the manager’s job is to get the absolute maximum out of the players available, rather than persist with a system that clearly isn’t working.

Sean Dyche took Burnley to seventh in the Premier League with a squad that, man for man, I’d argue was considerably weaker than the one we’ve got now.

He did it through organisation, discipline and making the team greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s what good coaching looks like.

I don’t think our biggest problem is the quality of the players. I think it’s the inability of the manager to organise them into a functioning team.

The Squad is not awful, the tactics that Sage employs are awful

 

[Faz]

. Where are the leaders

Been like this for some time now

We sold them & did not have the understanding to question this in off season to find one did we ….Mr Hobbs ?

“ are we relegated yet “ someone asks

Hmmm kinda hard going to home & away games thinking which game we might carve a draw out of at this point not thinking about relegation rather game by game

Let’s see , we are still in bad run of form
Maybe 10 games time - let’s “ hope” ( as this is what-every interviewed player states ) we “can stick together” & win with more creativity & be a team to beat.

Let’s “ hope” a leader will stand up or we acquire one

☝️

 

[EagleEddie]

The team kept there shape they was committed to stopping them . We had no outlet with 10 men . For me I was very proud of the players they never gave up , spuds have had two games against 10 , one the keeper scored for them . The team talk is going to be easy . Show the commitment and keep the shape the tide will turn , slap a couple for not looking for the first goal . Other than that the defence stayed strong . Sage to stay until players give up 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

That’s not looking - that’s tactics. There were 4 spurs players there, exploiting the fact we never cover the back post. That’s on Sage!

 

[Lanzo-Ad]

He was crap ? Did he not deliver 3 trophies?

Do you know of another alike crap manager that can also be same crap way & win trophies too ?

NOOOO, FFS, Guehi, Munoz, Lacroix, Wharton, Sarr, Henderson, Mitchell, Eze, Mateta, they delivered the trophy's, despite, not because, of Glasner, our league form for the last 18months was Shite, His level is rubbish, 147m spent at Forest, not even a home Goal, wake up FFS, use your eyes.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

NOOOO, FFS, Guehi, Munoz, Lacroix, Wharton, Sarr, Henderson, Mitchell, Eze, Mateta, they delivered the trophy's, despite, not because, our league form for the last 18months was Shite, His level is rubbish, 147m spent at Forest, not even a home Goal, wake up FFS, use your eyes.

But since most of them have either left or been unavailable does that absolve Sage?

 

[DenTyler]

Serious question. As a manager at any level, if you have no options other than use what you have as is our case now. At what point after getting taken up the arse every week do you think to yourself… might need to try something different here?

I can’t really say I have an opinion on Sage if I am honest, he is just bland. I don’t know if he is supremely s*** or unlucky. No Sarr, hardly any Mateta. No centre back holding things together.

But surely making us hard to beat is the first rule of football in a bad place. We all remember Pulis and Big Sam. Old super Roy. Nothing we pretty and yes we had Wilf to get us results but at the core of those managers teams were solid hard working players playing as a team. Where is that in this bunch? Or rather in this system.

Wharton might be a class act but right now I would play Lerma and Hughes all day over him. Kamada unbelievably has become one of the only creative outputs but I have seen him pull out of challenges he should have won easily.

Whats happening with Doucouré? The man was an £80 million pound midfielder at one point, how is he ever going to get back to that if he does not get minutes and if he plays and is s***… it can hardly be worse that what’s happening now.

Baffling and very frustrating

 

[Eaglecoops]

Not as fecked off as I thought I would be.

2 - 0 could have been a lot worse.

Fair play backs to the wall and the 2nd goal was unlucky

What!! You mean you watched all of it, I more or less gave up on it as soon as the first goal went in. We are terrible and on the basis of that uncompetitive garbage I am actually looking forward to getting relegated and watching some football without the vagaries of var control.

 

[Palacesince64]

Out of interest what do you think Sage is good at that makes you think he can turn it around?

Does his record in France suggest he’s a crap manager? He won the cup and finished runner up to PSG! OK. Different league and style of play but that just means he needs time to adapt.

 

[park the bus]

But since most of them have either left or been unavailable does that absolve Sage?

An interesting point. One must ask what was Sage brought in to do? Carry on where Glasner left off? He adopted the same formation more or less, I presume this was all discussed as the way forward when he was interviewed by whoever represented the club. But it is indisputable that Glasner's league for was awful for the majority of the last season. I think Parish & Co were blindsided by the European victory and thought Sage could continue in similar vein. As we have seen, it's not been the case. Sage has no answers to the many questions asked of his leadership.

 

[Palacesince64]

Does his record in France suggest he’s a crap manager? He won the cup and finished runner up to PSG! OK. Different league and style of play but that just means he needs time to adapt. He’s had dreadful support from Hobbs and Parish and abysmal luck with injuries, red cards, sulking players…. If it wasn’t for bad luck he’d have no luck at all!