Mails: Is Pochettino on Conte or Klopp’s level?

Matt Stead

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

 

Masterclass?
Conte rested his players for the league in the fa cup tie against spurs, and with the score 2-2, he lost his nerve and brought on his star men, the media calls it a Conte masterclass. Am I missing something?
MICHAEL, MUFC.

 

Conte’s half-time team talk
Lads it’s Tottenham …
B cfc (Batshauyi should shoot more)

 

One day
We’re a brilliant team, and were the better side for most of the match. One day we’ll win when it really matters.
Chris (Son at LB, FML), spurs, London

 

Tired and confused
I don’t whether it’s from the game yesterday or a result of doing too much exercise this weekend for a man of my age, but I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad we lost and my prediction from a couple of weeks ago are coming out wrong.

It could also could be linked to my sister phoning me up and ruining the result despite only having watched the 1st half at that point.

A slightly contradicting statement but, Spurs played really well apart from a couple of brain freezes on the first 2 goals and some strange dance move defending on the last 2.

Should I now put money on spurs to beat arsenal next weekend or will that make the other predictions now come true.

I’m very tired and confused.
Paul (didn’t Chelsea know we always win the cup in a year ending in 7, except when we don’t)

 

Deserving?
There is some debate about who “deserved” to win.

Tottenham had most possession, more shots, more corners, were the more aggressive team, took the game to Chelsea and dominated.

I am a fan of stats expected goals and the like, and I’m sure all the stats favour Tottenham too. I saw one tweet that claims  for a team to have only four shots on target, score all four and win happens 1 in every 500 Games. That’s not to mention the absurdly low expected goal rate of Matic’s thunderbolt.

So Spurs deserved it…

No. A moment happens once and once only. There are millions of meteors that “could” have hit earth over the last millions of years, the chances of any hitting may be tiny. But one came and made it’s everlasting impact wiping out the dinosaurs. Earth and human history changed forever. The impact happened and the moment was made.

Tottenham don’t get 500 times to play that game. It’s gone. They lost. Chelsea and Matic’s meteor own that moment forever. They are the victors. They have the spoils. The were the most excellent when it mattered.

They won.

That’s the point.

That’s why we play.

That’s why they play.

“Deserved it”…. pfffft…. Tottenham were not good enough. Chelsea were. Chelsea took the moment and impacted it with meaning and power. The moment belongs to Chelsea forever. Chelsea earned it.
Joel (Not sure about the science, but the point remains) Nottingham.

 

More conclusions
To add to Storey’s 16 conclusions; my random thoughts:

– After spending the past week eulogising Loris and Adlerweireld both were exposed and had mistakes which led to goals – especially Loris for his positioning for both 1st and 3rd goals. Is this still the classic ‘Spurs gonna Spurs’? For all their great football, they cannot be relied on when the heat is on. Is that unfair? Would be interested to see how they play v Arsenal when they will be clear favourites.

– Really disappointed with Loris. Similar to Guzan on Monday, keepers positioning is often overlooked when rating a keeper, but like a good defender; when a keeper comes back with clean shorts, you know he has had a good game.

– Chris Waddle on the radio said it wasn’t a pen. but even he admitted that the tackle from Son was stupid. To be honest, if you do that in the box, you are inviting a penalty: The classic ‘forwards tackle’.

– Eden Hazard is probably the most skillful player in England, and scored a great goal. But Kante has to win Player of the Season, more so for the narrative of winning with the league with two different teams and how they missed him when he didn’t play.

– There was some chat in the mailbox last season of Coutinho v Eriksen. I think they’re too different, and should be appreciated individually. Whereas Coutinho is more dynamic and can flip in and out of games; Eriksen is just a metronome of passing for Spurs. What a pass for Alli’s goal, similar to Kaka to Crespo in the 2005 final.

– I really like Conte, he is such a bastard to his own players, but such a winner they learn to love him. Very similar to the obituaries of Ronnie Moran on what made him great. He has been very similar to Koeman, in that both of them demand very specific things from their players – there’s none of this weird Tim Sherwood hand movements, or weird philosophy like from Rodgers or Martinez, and I think players really appreciate that. They know where they stand and what they need to do. Plus, not pretending to be the players’ mate creates a sense of legitimacy and credibility, that helps to turn stuff around when it goes to pot (see Wenger missing that with his fathering of the likes of Walcott, the Ox etc).

– On our game, it was good to see Koeman call out a crap performance. Whereas we have been exceptional at Goodison, away from home we have been really poor, not just the embarrassing defeat to Liverpool, but draws to Boro and now West Ham have really stalled any push we would have had on the Top 4. Need more decisive players to support Rom, or AN Other if he leaves in the summer. Glad to see Robles not play, but our summer transfers, regardless of Rom and Ross, need to be in goal and in defence (preferably Pickford and Keane), but we do need to redefine our attacking tactic, I trust Ronald to do this.

Cheers
Matt, EFC, London

 

Is there any reason why people are pretending Son fouled Moses when there was no contact and Moses started falling (read dive) before he even reached Son?

Speaking of Son, he shouldn’t have played, especially in that position. Poch has a knack of going too open in tougher games. He did the same against Monaco at home, Pool away, and done the same today aswell. Yes Davies was roasted by Mane but that was down to lack of protection provided to him. In a 3-4-3 with Vert near him and Wanyama just infront he’d have faired ok I guess.

Chelsea’s gameplan basically was soak up the pressure, kick lumps out of Alli and Kane and then hit on the counter. Atkinson should’ve booked Alonso, Ake and Luiz. Ake could’ve been sent off and Alonso probably should’ve been booked around 4 times but eventually got booked for kicking the ball away. Hilarious.

There was a sense of inevitability when Hazard scored. We weren’t able to penetrate and they just went to the other end and scored out of nothing really. Chelsea are a decent side. They’ll do well with these tactics next season in the CL provided they can keep hold of Hazard. But this season, just like last season, looks to me like a season where if Ferguson was around, would’ve strolled to another league title with United.

Our battle now should be looking to finish second and push Chelsea all the way. Remaining undefeated in the Lane would also be a nice send off to the great stadium aswell.
Nabil (Waiting for all the Pool fans to come out and say we bottled it) THFC

 

Chelsea thoughts
-I must say I was kind of nervous coming into the game, was happy that Diego was finally of Batman was given a chance and didn’t play too bad either. I was ecstatic that Ake was finally given a chance, but seeing Hazard on the bench was worrying. The first few minutes alleviated any nerves, with the pressing that was lacking against them in the previous game (and man utd) putting us on the front foot.

-what a free kick that was from Willian, with now 9 of his last 20 goals being free kicks (or so I heard from sherear). Little bit harsh to blame Lloris on that.

-Spurs had shown great resilience coming back and dominating the rest of the half (albeit not creating too much), and what a cross and fantastic header by Kane, can’t have any complaints about conceding that. We let them have the ball all they wanted on the half way line, but were suffocated when they tried moving into the final third.

-What a stupid tackle that was by Son, doubt he actually touched Moses, but he really didn’t need to, stonewall penalty all day. His stupidity is a testament to the greatness of Moses becoming a successful wingback, not all wingers can be defensively astute. Good to see Conte shouting for Willian to take it and Azpi doing the captains role and taking it off Batman.

-On balance of the First half I thought we needed to score one more, and maybe perhaps try to maintain possession abit better. The last three games Spurs had been able to conjure up beautiful crosses and it was always going to be dangerous with a man with the quality of Eriksen (off to Madrid to replace Modric??). Spurs were playing well but we were containing them, keeping them at arms length with a a half chance here and there.

-Spurs came out roaring again and continued to attempt a siege, and we helped them by being so sloppy with our passing. Then that Eriksen pass. The technique, the vision-absolutely outstanding, not a bad finish either. To keep Alli onside and find him in that tiny Space between Azpi and Luiz was exquisite.

-All the pundits are hailing the introduction of our two best attacking players, but they honestly didn’t do anything until Fabregas came on. We were really scrappy, with even Eden being pushed off the ball a few times. Then switching to 3-5-2 sealed the game for us. We were able to gain a foothold in midfield without losing our defensive shape, and more importantly it helped us attack better with better possession retention. Fabregas the metronome was the key. It’s also helpful as Hazard just roams to wherever he wants and finds space, without needing him to defend as much as in the 3-4-3.

-Before the corner, I thought to myself that it would be funny if we score off a free kick, a penalty and a corner. Lo and behold we did, thanks to some Liverpool-like set piece defending, leaving the best player in the premier league alone atop the penalty area. Great finish between all the bodies though.

-From that point on it just seemed inevitable that we would win, we were firmly in control when we defended, and we easily tearing them apart with counters and ball possession.

-Then that Matic goal. If you’re going to score once a season, this is the occasion, opponent, and execution to do it. What. A. Hit.

-Tough luck to Spurs, they played well, but can’t feel like it was undeserved, conceding 4 goals almost always leads to a loss. Interesting to see whether they fall away again like last year, but they look tough. This win should give Chelsea the mental boost to bring this league home, a double would be fantastic!
Shafei (CFC)

 

Is Pochettino a great manager?
Mauricio Pochettino: 45 years old. Antonio Conte: 47 years old. Jurgen Klopp: 49 years old.

Pochettino is regularly talked about as being an elite manager but looking at the respective trophy counts of his peers of a similar age, one question springs to mind: why?

The media narrative around Spurs’ semi final defeat will once again be plucky Spurs, brimming with potential, best football in the country ad infinitum.

But taking a step back, this was a Chelsea team laid low by illness (dodgy lasagne maybe) and who benched the best player in the league and their only effective striker.

Spurs meanwhile were full strength and on the best run of form in the league, they got lucky with Lloris getting away with a clear handball – yet they still lost.

It’s not just this semi final either; perhaps because Spurs were so bad and got knocked out so early, everyone seems to have forgotten their European adventure.

Today felt like a big opportunity for Pochettino to put down a marker the way great managers invariably do. He didn’t.
Adam, LFC, Macc

 

 

Spursy
‘Like Eriksen, he is a player underrated purely because of the club he plays for.’

…you mention Spurs, variously as ‘the best 11 in the country,’ ‘the most exciting team in the league,’ etc, all the bloody time.  How can they be underrated when they play for that lot?  Besides who doesn’t think Eriksen and Dembele are two of the best players in the league?

Even as an Arsenal fan I think Spurs are doing well but yesterday was a massive chance for them to take the mental initiative for the remainder of the title race and well, it all ended up a bit Spursy didn’t it.  You forgot to mention that in your gushing praise, given their history of bottling it, that seems odd.
Matt, AFC (something in the north London water… glad I moved out)

 

The real quiz
A couple of weeks ago F365 was kind enough to publish my one and only attempt at entry into these hallowed halls. I commend their taste. I’ve been reading for 15 yrs now, pretty much on a daily basis, but back in the day you needed a work e-mail to send and then there’s also the thing about me just being a lazy b*****d.

People like thayden and PG Tactics from the USA do a much better job than I could be bothered to so I respectfully stood outside the tent and nodded in agreement, or laughed, or forgot what PG was talking about and had to lie down and content myself with bothering Johnny Nic on Twitter.

Until now.  Currently, Arsenal are the lowest placed team in the the league with a positive goal difference. In 7th! is this normal? I’m the only person I know that cares.

P.S Dembele of the week is exactly the kind of humour that stole my heart 15 long years ago.
Brian M. Waterford.

 

There’s only one team in (south west) London
HOW BLOOMIN’ GOOD ARE FULHAM AT THE MOMENT????!!!!!

*swoon*
Cameron, London.

 

Auto-Matic
Great hit from Matic to round off a truly brilliant game, but best shot at the new Wembley? No way

David (Another one today please Alexis) Sheffield

 

Remembering Ugo Ehiogu
Ehiogu’s death has really got me down.

There’s a specific time when I was a little kid growing up when I liked football because it was fun to play, because I could collect football stickers and Sports Stars figures and Corinithian Microstars and cereal promotions, because Match! and Shoot magazines were mildly entertaining and because football was this huge thing which helped me bond with my dad and other older family members. But when it came to actually watching football I didn’t know what was going on and I’d usually lose interest before the end of the match.

At that age, Liverpool were still far and away my favourite team but I had a much broader, more liberal concept of support. My bedroom was covered in posters of players from dozens of different clubs, all ripped out of football magazines. It didn’t really matter who they were, just that they were footballers. I’d develop weird affinities with clubs or players that usually disappeared as quickly as they arose. Some of them were inexplicable; I liked Wolves and Crystal Palace because of their names. I liked Phil Stamp and Jamie Pollock for Boro for no apparent reason. I liked Pressman and Quinn because they were fat. I liked Ian Woan because Match! had a feature about him being in a pub band as well as being a footballer. I liked Alvin Martin because he grew up around the corner from my dad. I liked Ugo Ehiogu because I always got his sticker, because I liked his name a lot and because I could never really correlate the pronunciation with how it was written.

And then I got a bit older and spent more time watching football and I could watch and enjoy the full 90 minutes of a match. I didn’t care about Ian Woan or Phil Stamp anymore because it transpired that there wasn’t actually anything special about them. It was the flair players and goalscorers that mattered now; Shearer, Fowler, Ferdinand, Le Tissier and then Juninho, Zola, Bergkamp, Asprilla, Ginola. I never payed much attention to defenders but somehow – maybe because he was actually good, unlike my other former idols – I remained fond of Ugo Ehiogu. I guess he was the first defender I paid proper attention to, and as such probably correlates with when I first paid attention to defending as a skill.

So when I eventually turned out for my school and Sunday league teams as a centre half, dreaming of replicating my favourite ever player, Sami Hyypia, I can trace that back to peeling the backs off Ehigou stickers and carefully lining them up in my Premier League annual, or the Ehigou Microstar lined up on the shelf with the rest of my collection, or just to the way that his name rolled off the tongue.

He was never my absolute favourite player, and he was never the absolute best defender in the league but he was always a very, very good one, and to use those hackneyed football phrases; he always seemed to be a very fair and honest player and a model professional. I guess mostly I just really strongly associate him with the years when I first fell in love with football and it fucking sucks that he has died so suddenly and so young.

RIP Ugo.
James

 

The ’90s playmakers backlash
Nice list from Storey
, but I’ve got to take issue with the glaring omission of one Juan Román Riquelme! That he played for Boca (who always THE best kits) only adds to his cult status/mystique.
David, Sheffield


Zidane, better than Baggio, Laudrup and Hagi?

You must have gone utterly bonkers!
D Lane
MUFC

 

…No Hristo Stoichkov?! WTF!!
Mark B, HK