MotM Review 2021/22 | Page 2 | Vital Football

MotM Review 2021/22

A Jack Russell called Skipp used to live next door to us. That's what Skipp reminds me of, a Terrier hunting down rats. Relentless and uncompromising. Its been so long his impact in MF is being forgotten. But how does he fit in now, who does he displace.
Hojbjerg has shown more attacking intent recently and Skipp admitted he himself needed to. That may have been driven by Conte and likewise for Hojbjerg.
So are Bentancur and Hojbjerg sharing responsibility or does one have more licence to get forward ?
 
The great thing about Hojbjerg, Bentancur and Skipp is they do all offer different positives. Skipp is combative and relentless with excellent tactical awareness. Hojbjerg is driven and is better than anyone at winning the ball in a high press/reclaiming possession quickly in the opposition half. Bentancur is calmness personified but turns on the aggression when needed and is a great tempo setter. We will need all of them in equal measure next season but without a shadow of a doubt, Hojbjerg was having a fairly poor season before Bentancur arrived.
 
Skippy still needs to improve his passing/vison range and accuracy, but pretty confident he'll do that, like Winks he also needs to learn how to time his runs beyond the oppositions defence..for him to add goals to his game, he really does have to learn when to arrive almost as Lampard did at Chelsea.
 
Spursex said:
Skippy still needs to improve his passing/vison range and accuracy, but pretty confident he'll do that, like Winks he also needs to learn how to time his runs beyond the oppositions defence..for him to add goals to his game, he really does have to learn when to arrive almost as Lampard did at Chelsea.
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That's if he's given licence to get forward. I got the impression from watching him play that his role was to protect the CBs. It was only in the last couple of games before he got injured that I saw him venture forward.
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
That's if he's given licence to get forward. I got the impression from watching him play that his role was to protect the CBs. It was only in the last couple of games before he got injured that I saw him venture forward.
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Early on that was exactly what he was being asked to do, which was being the water carrier/secondly defensive CM'er, but as the season progressed he was being asked to do more and started stepping up - if he's to hold his place and compete for a starting berth, he'll have to show more.
 
Spursex said:
Early on that was exactly what he was being asked to do, which was being the water carrier/secondly defensive CM'er, but as the season progressed he was being asked to do more and started stepping up - if he's to hold his place and compete for a starting berth, he'll have to show more.
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I don't know why, but I'm just not as confident as some that Skipp will make the grade at the elite level. I think he could easily follow in the footsteps of Mason and Winks and come up short. Would love to be wrong though.
 
Matic said:
The great thing about Hojbjerg, Bentancur and Skipp is they do all offer different positives. Skipp is combative and relentless with excellent tactical awareness. Hojbjerg is driven and is better than anyone at winning the ball in a high press/reclaiming possession quickly in the opposition half. Bentancur is calmness personified but turns on the aggression when needed and is a great tempo setter. We will need all of them in equal measure next season but without a shadow of a doubt, Hojbjerg was having a fairly poor season before Bentancur arrived.
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I think you need to look deeper at why Hojbjergs form was suffering.

He was clearly burnt out physically by playing so many games over the last 2 years.

You had Lucas running down blind alleys not tracking back.

Kane was sulking and barely moving because he didn't get his move.

Son was sulking because he was promised to be the main man and didn't want to cover the left anymore.

Our back 4 was all over the shop. Both full backs were not creating any chances. Our CBS couldn't play as a two.

Hojbjerg and Skippy were doing the work of 8 men. Hugo as well. Them three literally saved our bacon.

Hojbjerg was even our most creative player at one point. Goes to show how many players didn't turn up under Nuno.
 
I'm not sure that Conte was that keen on Hoj for a while.
I do still think if the right money came in for him Conte would let him go.
Personally I would love to see how the Skippy /Bentacur mix would pan out.
I myself do like Hoj, I think he puts in a very good shift, almost the opposite of N'Dombele...
 
Niall D said:
I'm not sure that Conte was that keen on Hoj for a while.
I do still think if the right money came in for him Conte would let him go.
Personally I would love to see how the Skippy /Bentacur mix would pan out.
I myself do like Hoj, I think he puts in a very good shift, almost the opposite of N'Dombele...
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Am in agreement with you there Niall regards Hoj, I also like/rate him, I believe all good teams need a player with his attitude in the side.
 
Real Deal said:
I think you need to look deeper at why Hojbjergs form was suffering.

He was clearly burnt out physically by playing so many games over the last 2 years.

You had Lucas running down blind alleys not tracking back.

Kane was sulking and barely moving because he didn't get his move.

Son was sulking because he was promised to be the main man and didn't want to cover the left anymore.

Our back 4 was all over the shop. Both full backs were not creating any chances. Our CBS couldn't play as a two.

Hojbjerg and Skippy were doing the work of 8 men. Hugo as well. Them three literally saved our bacon.

Hojbjerg was even our most creative player at one point. Goes to show how many players didn't turn up under Nuno.
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I do agree that Hojbjerg and Skipp were being stretched far too much, but he never looked burnt out to me. To me his biggest failing was his concentration and his decisions. He would very often lose his mark and he would press too late and gift space to the opposition. He was having a poor start, much like he had a poor end to the last season.

He started to improve when Conte came in but when Bentancur turned up, that is when Hojbjerg started to find his form properly. He still has little concentration lapses but nowhere near what he was and now he is making better decisions. I think Conte sorted his form out, but Bentancur arriving fixed the issue of him being stretched.

Everyone was poor last season and under Nuno and Hojbjerg was no exception.
 
Real Deal said:
I think you need to look deeper at why Hojbjergs form was suffering.

He was clearly burnt out physically by playing so many games over the last 2 years.

You had Lucas running down blind alleys not tracking back.

Kane was sulking and barely moving because he didn't get his move.

Son was sulking because he was promised to be the main man and didn't want to cover the left anymore.

Our back 4 was all over the shop. Both full backs were not creating any chances. Our CBS couldn't play as a two.

Hojbjerg and Skippy were doing the work of 8 men. Hugo as well. Them three literally saved our bacon.

Hojbjerg was even our most creative player at one point. Goes to show how many players didn't turn up under Nuno.
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And before Hoj, Sissoko was breaking lines and getting us up the pitch; so much underperformance by AMs in recent times was taking us back.
 
Real Deal said:
I think you need to look deeper at why Hojbjergs form was suffering.

He was clearly burnt out physically by playing so many games over the last 2 years.

You had Lucas running down blind alleys not tracking back.

Kane was sulking and barely moving because he didn't get his move.

Son was sulking because he was promised to be the main man and didn't want to cover the left anymore.

Our back 4 was all over the shop. Both full backs were not creating any chances. Our CBS couldn't play as a two.

Hojbjerg and Skippy were doing the work of 8 men. Hugo as well. Them three literally saved our bacon.

Hojbjerg was even our most creative player at one point. Goes to show how many players didn't turn up under Nuno.
Click to expand...
Great post RD , covers my thoughts perfectly . But I also think Mourhinho and his tactics and favourites have a lot of say in that .

At one point , we never ventured over the halfway line under him . Only Kane and Son were allowed that far up the pitch , and then only when we had bored teams to sleep, and there was a bit of space up there .
 
Walthamstow wanderer said:
Great post RD , covers my thoughts perfectly . But I also think Mourhinho and his tactics and favourites have a lot of say in that .

At one point , we never ventured over the halfway line under him . Only Kane and Son were allowed that far up the pitch , and then only when we had bored teams to sleep, and there was a bit of space up there .
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Thanks for reminding me how far we've come since those horrible days. I remember Jose trying to get Tanguy to cover all of the space between our 2 precious luxuries up front and Hojbjerg who was having a cup of tea in the back line with Toby.

I actually can't wait until Conte has removed the dependency on ay single player. Doesn't matter what their name is.
 
muttley said:
Thanks for reminding me how far we've come since those horrible days. I remember Jose trying to get Tanguy to cover all of the space between our 2 precious luxuries up front and Hojbjerg who was having a cup of tea in the back line with Toby.

I actually can't wait until Conte has removed the dependency on ay single player. Doesn't matter what their name is.
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Last para muttley 100%, it is after all a team game, everybody is important in their different positions.
 
muttley said:
Thanks for reminding me how far we've come since those horrible days. I remember Jose trying to get Tanguy to cover all of the space between our 2 precious luxuries up front and Hojbjerg who was having a cup of tea in the back line with Toby.

I actually can't wait until Conte has removed the dependency on ay single player. Doesn't matter what their name is.
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How does that dependency get reduced. By signings, coaching, formation, quality of cover, 5 subs ? A mix of all perhaps but what needs the most work?
 
Nick Real Deal said:
How does that dependency get reduced. By signings, coaching, formation, quality of cover, 5 subs ? A mix of all perhaps but what needs the most work?
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Right now it is the incomings and outgoings. That's the only relevant one because we're in the close season.

As pre-season starts, I guess Conte has to drill the formation and tactics so everyone knows their role. It will be easier for the existing players as they know the drill. I'm guessing it won't be too alien to Perisic or Bastoni / Eriksen (fingers crossed) as the've played for Conte before.

The acid test is when we have the first injury or fatigue in the system and whether it holds up when the a couple of big names aren't there. Right now you'd have to look through the spine and ask if we would cope without Lloris, Dier, Hojbjerg/Bentancur and Kane. We're not quite there yet.
 
muttley said:
Right now it is the incomings and outgoings. That's the only relevant one because we're in the close season.

As pre-season starts, I guess Conte has to drill the formation and tactics so everyone knows their role. It will be easier for the existing players as they know the drill. I'm guessing it won't be too alien to Perisic or Bastoni / Eriksen (fingers crossed) as the've played for Conte before.

The acid test is when we have the first injury or fatigue in the system and whether it holds up when the a couple of big names aren't there. Right now you'd have to look through the spine and ask if we would cope without Lloris, Dier, Hojbjerg/Bentancur and Kane. We're not quite there yet.
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With new players coming in of quality and the 5 sub rule. I would be disappointed if Conte continues with only one formation option. A plan b of say.....creativity through MF and more intricate play instead of playing on the break is might need players able to adopt it. Not dependency on the tactics and players we currently have.
 
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