I think the positive is if you create a lot consistently you'll end up scoring more and it'll even itself out.
Erik ten Hag | 2024/25
- Thread starter Cheimoon
- Start date
Wrong again, we dominated a decent team away from home today. Not sure what you were watching the previous 12 months where we struggled to create
There was nothing back to normality today. We had almost never dominated teams with near 70% match possession and 2-3 big chances created before the players even walk off for half time.
It is one. Especially given how we were last season. By the way Arsenal have scored in 3 of their 4 and created less than us
Only if that’s their only method of analyzing the game. If, however, it’s used as one piece of information in amongst various other pieces of information (such as watching matches), then it’s an absolutely valid reference point. Are you trying to say the league table should just be disregarded? How many games in does the league table become relevant?
Ok we had 2 more on target chances than them, in 90 mins that is not a match winning stat.
You could say the same about United, maybe mid table midiocrity is the level we are at.
Probably after about a third of the season.
Last season was embarrassing.
If people are going to argue that any improvement from last season is tangible progress, some people on here have truly lost any sense of standard with this club.
For what it's worth, I think we played well today too until about the 60th minute. But the last 30 minutes were appalling and ETH's game management today was awful.
It's staggering how low the bar is that people are defending now.
Are you really attempting to argue against our domination in this game?
There's no way you watched Spurs 5 games, 2 of which being against relegation fodder, and seriously think they're better than us.
And I've always not bothered going by results in isolation until 8-9 weeks into the season that's irrespective of who is in charge. It's just too early doors to assume anything, unless a side cant buy a win in the first 4 weeks.
Zirkzee is a much better player for the team then Hojlund. When ETH put him off, we couldn’t create a chance. So, I don’t think Hojlund will resolve our goal scoring problems.
Consistently creating chances and doninating games is a positive. Not sure it can be seen as a nagetive. Still have to convert that to consistent wins but its a step in the right direction. Under Fergie after a bad spell a consistent run of clean sheets is usually what we aimed for before going on to put a string of wins together.
Lets see how we get on over the next 2/3 weeks
As if they can’t play together…
Context matters. The performance against Soton Barnsley and Palace have been encouraging. The poster who I was replying had said beating Barnsley was a false dawn and that is where I replied.sorry but that sentence just sounds ridiculous.
It's alarming.
This is pretty absurd when you think it through logically. Because chances of a top four finish can easily be pretty much gone if a team performs badly enough in the first 10-12 games. Failing to pick up points in the first third of the season is just as consequential to a team’s final placing as any other third of the season.
Although not exactly like Spurs, we have been in the wilderness for the past 11 years if you havent noticed yet
- We havent challenged for the Premier League or Champions League since Fergie retired.
- We have finished outside the top four on 6 occasions in 11 seasons.
- We have had 6 managers in 11 years.
- We have the largest net spend of any Premier League club since 2014.
- We have won only 5 trophies and Ten Hag won 2 of those.
- Theres a reason why Mourinho described finishing 2nd with United as one of his greatest achievements.
- Rangnick was not out of touch when he stated that United needs open heart surgery.
Celebrating a 0-0 draw because we dominated them for 45 mins is where we are at these days
You quite obviously have not followed the last 10 PL seasons where top 4 is never gone by then no matter how poor we have been
Who celebrated? Just because we are not bashing the team or moaning about no patterns of play and midfield structure that equates to celebrating?
Its a positive sign that we are playing much better. Hopefully it continues
That nobody would have succeeded under the previous structure.
I think they are enough of a threat to score goals against us. That’s why I think any assumption or expectation we’ll beat them is ill founded. You give Spurs the chances we gave Palace today and they could easily get a result.
And to be clear, I’m not predicting they will beat us. Given both team’s form, I think it’s a toss up. I was specifically taking issue with Cassidy’s assumption that we’d beat them.
Such a weird substitution to make: the players who’ve gelled well, take them out.
Who do you replace them with? The players who didn’t gel well last season: Rashford and Højlund.
Who do you replace them with? The players who didn’t gel well last season: Rashford and Højlund.
Yes, I think any team can beat any team in the Premier League and there is enough plausibility in Spurs creating enough to beat us given they are quite an attack focused side with quality players.
That being said, you mentioned how Spurs are better than us because of their league position, or at least insinuated it. I'm just pointing out that logic is very flawed.
Domination is not the same as winning, you don't win a league or a trophy by having the most possession, that is my point, this team continually fails to put away the few chances it actually creates.
Because he couldnt name a single team that has dominated an entire match this season.
The last two times we made the top four we were 7th and 4th after ten games. To suggest a team can’t do irreparable damage to their chances of making top four in one full third of the league is nonsense. It wouldn’t be mathematically impossible, but that’s not a sound basis for disregarding results for that large a chunk of the season.
I didn't say that. I said they have been doing marginally better than us so far this season. That is a fact. We have the same points but they have a better goal difference. Objectively, that is marginally better.
No they haven't. 2 of their games have been against relegation fodder. Their performances have not been better than ours and they have benefitted from easier games.
This is why looking at a sample size of 5 games to look at a league table is generally pointless, especially if there is a marginal difference.
I dont see anyone celebrating the 0-0 draw. Reasonable people are just pointing out our dominant performance and that we should have/or could have won this game.
7th.
Anyway whether we made it or not it was never off after 10 games because the competition for 4th is not as good or as consistent as you seem to believe.
You can definitely do yourself our of the titile race but we have never been out of a top 4 race after 10 games even last season
To add to that your ability to dominate games and create chances and limit opposition chances is more indicative of your final league position after 10 games than your points total
Once again a good first half and an absolute shite second half. The last 15mins were shocking. No urgency, Bruno became a wingback on the right side for some reason, Rashford asking for the ball at the halfway line instead of making runs, Hojlund doing his best Lukaku impression and letting every touch bounce off his foot.
It's not Eriks fault they don't finish their chances in the first half, but I don't understand why thus far this season we've always come out of the second half with so little energy.
It's not Eriks fault they don't finish their chances in the first half, but I don't understand why thus far this season we've always come out of the second half with so little energy.
I suppose only time will tell.
Unfortunately true.
But today we saw patterns of play, an identity, not possible last year due to the injuries.
Dominant 45 mins . Palace had the better chances in the 2nd .
And two of their games have been against very tough opposition in Arsenal and Newcastle.
You still seem to be missing the point. I was simply pointing out that an expectation that we would beat a team that is scoring more goals than us and is currently getting very similar results to us, whether we’re five games in or not, is not well founded. Do you disagree?
Newcastle are not a very tough opponent. Newcastle are actually shite, they have been playing as bad as Crystal Palace in a couple games. They lost that game anyway. They drew to relegation fodder and they played another relegation fodder at home.
They were also benefitting from an Arsenal side missing 2 vital players, and were toothless.
The stats dont even show that they are better than us, they've just played some easier sides whilst we've had Fulham and Brighton before Liverpool (both of which are better than Brentford and Everton).