REACTION: Brighton 2-2 Tottenham

0:28This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. Oh, should we all have a moan? Oh, let's all complain because Tottenham didn't win 5-0.

0:42I said on the Patreon preview that I wasn't going to entertain any more of this sort of early frank criticism. Because it's a bit tedious, isn't it? A bit tedious having to justify why our manager's still here after a game. I mean, it's not a game. Five games into the season now. And some people say they're just raising legitimate concerns about the direction of travel. Whereas I think it's kind of choosing to neglect all of the better things that we're seeing. Today, a sort of strange-ish, frustrating performance. I think the underlying thing from this for me is that, much like with Bournemouth, Brighton aren't a pushover.

1:40They're a good side. We'd seen coming into this game that they are a team that can create a lot of chances. Since selling João Pedro, they've obviously lacked the firepower to convert a lot of those chances. I think they had one of the lower, they had a mid-range conversion rate for big chances created in the Premier League. Whereas I think they were right up there near the top of the table for chances created. And we know that about them. We know that they're a technically solid team that has a lot of talented individuals as well. Minta obviously is a very very good player who has punished us first of all this afternoon but look I mean the thing is I'm not here to talk about Brighton, I'm here to talk about Tottenham Hotspur and again I feel like this is one of those games where I'm probably I'm not going to say I am in the minority because I don't want to turn this into some like polarising polarizing oh there's two camps of people already type thing because i don't think there is i think i think there are people who are obviously quite salty that and just gone um and probably always will be at least for quite some time anyway um and i think there's some people who have some concerns over frank but or at least the games we've played so far but i would like to think that The sort of the silent majority, if you like, are on side with Frank and like what we're doing.

3:21And my point is like after Villarreal, I was happy with that. I thought, good, we've got three points in the Champions League. Not the, you know, not the finest performance you're ever going to see, but still it was good. Young team finding its feet, blah, blah, blah. Again today, two goals down. coming back to draw the game could have probably won it could have probably won it um towards the second you know by the end of the game i think had we another sort of three four minutes of injury time i would have backed us to to score but it's you know it's it's still early days in this and i will take that like i don't i i you know i'm not coming at this from the perspective like we have a right to turn up at Brighton and get three points.

4:16And I actually, again, I've got to say, again, I thought we played all right in stretches today. I mean, the first half, we started very well. We started very promisingly. I think the goal was, I will say, I think the goal was against the run of play. I think arguably maybe both of their goals are against a runner play I think we had I mean the second goal was first goal was decent well worked second goal I think Vakario needs to hold his hands up there I mean well Vakario needs to put his hands on the ball that's what he needs to do but I think that's I think that lies with him but for large amounts of the game we really controlled possession Brighton are a good team but I think we stifled them and I think we played well what's obviously abundantly clear now is the when Xavi Simmonds isn't on the pitch we see how important he is we see how important his creative influence is because as soon as he came on in the second half and he did play in that central role and this is another thing a lot you know a number of people before us were saying well we're never Frank's never going to play Xavi in a central role based on nothing based on just kind of wanting to validate their sort of opinions or negative opinions about him he's brought Xavi Simmons on second half played him centrally and he's turned the game in our favour I mean he's he's a very, very talented player.

6:05I mean, the thing is, I don't want to criticise Chevy Simmons in any way, but I'm merely remarking that he probably could have done a bit better with a couple of the opportunities that were presented to him. I think he could have, you know, he could have scored a couple of those, at least a couple of the opportunities that, you know, a couple of them he made himself and a couple of them that were put on a plate for him. I think one by Bergvold, won by Kudus. But regardless of that, I'm not here to criticise Xavi Simmonds. That's just a mere observation. The tide of the game turned massively in our favour when he came on.

6:44And that's exciting. That gives me... The thing is this. All of this is stuff that I take in a positive way. I spin the positive light on that in so much as I don't think it will be lost on Thomas Frank how much better and how much more influential Xavi was playing through the middle. I don't think it will be lost on Thomas Frank or the coaching staff how much better we looked when Xavi Simmonds was on the pitch. And, you know, I think the idea of that he's dropped Xavi Simmonds, again, it's all well and good for us to sit here and say, it's a squad game, it's a squad game, we need to rotate, we need to get better at rotating.

7:26And then when we do rotate, say that a player's been dropped or get kind of angry about it. Again, as we always sort of say, we don't know how Xavi Simons has been training towards the tail end of the week. We don't know how he's woken up this morning. If he said, I'm just, I'm not feeling 100 % today. And the decision has been made not to start him. Either way, he's come on and been, you know, he's been pretty influential when he has come on and added massively to our game. Would he have done that from the start? We don't know. We can only speculate, can't we? But look, you know, like I say, I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm delighted about that.

8:14I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to say, like, I'm buzzing. I want to see Tottenham win every single game they play. Of course they do. I don't want to see Tottenham concede two goals. I was hoping we would have won this game 2-0, truth be told. but equally, I'm not apoplectic. Brighton are a good team, and the fact that we have fought back against anybody, let alone a good team like Brighton, we fought back against anybody from two guys down, shows me that there's something there. And it is still, I mean, this is the main thing. It is still early days. Before we start having these hot takes about how we play, the limit of our capacity, all this type of stuff.

9:02I mean, let's give it at least half a season, right? Let's give it at least half a season before we start with the first sort of raft of big takes, you know? Fine, like, look, we can moan in the moment. That's our prerogative for fans. And I think that's, you know, only right that we do that because we want to vent, we want to discuss, we want to discuss the things that we react to the things that we're seeing. And I get all that. But in terms of like these big, solid, meaty takes that say, we don't do this under Frank or Frank will never do this or that. I mean, that's just based on nothing. Like, oh, you watched some games, you watched some Brentford games before because of something.

9:46Right, okay. Like, this doesn't, it doesn't wash for me. Like, let's give it at least half a season, you know? we, I mean, we gave Postacoglu two seasons, right? We had at least 18 months of not playing very well at all. And we were constantly told, let's just wait, let's just wait, let's just wait. So, you know, let's at least give this half a season and see where it's going before we start, you know, before we start melting down entirely. Sam Salinas says, once again, Bentancur is useless when we need to create anything. I mean, I think Ben Tanker is decent. I think Ben Tanker is good. I think there's probably, I mean, one thing I would say, despite everything I've just said there, I think there's maybe a slight over-reliance on Ben Tanker at the moment.

10:38I'm assuming that Frank and the coaching staff, maybe he trains really well. Maybe they just want that added experience in midfield. But it does feel like there's no reliance on a player who, physically you know does seem a bit shot if I'm brutally honest Lemontech says quality performance lacking up top we know that but great fight out there today great yes mate exactly like and that's it you know like and I I know what you're saying about lacking up top but I thought it was a good performance from Richarlison today to be to be brutally honest with you I thought he held up the ball well I thought he made decent runs I thought he got into good positions I had a couple of decent shots obviously scored a goal you know like yeah Mark Tully says I usually overreact if we don't win but I'm okay with that one coming back from two down away to them is pretty good I'm happy we managed to get a point yeah I think that's you know I think that's a a decent take to be honest

11:57Andy Nguyen says Tottenham need to sign a goalkeeper in January

12:06should I do this yeah I mean I always talk about the players in the second half but I was saying one of my sort of more knee-jerk takes and I save these more for like my my uh my pals on whatsapp they get the they get the joy of this but i was saying i think i think um i think vicario is he's rising up the list for me on in terms of the uh how soon we need to upgrade list um i think it's i think it's becoming actually quite pressing that we do and I qualify this by saying it's not just because he's made this mistake today I qualify this by saying that I think his concentration is often off often off um I think his kicking's woeful I think his general distribution is woeful I think his vision's not very good um we saw that against was it in the West Ham game maybe when there was like that there was a kind of a bit of

13:14was it West Ham or Villarreal? I can't remember but there was basically a moment between him and one of the defenders where they were sort of shielding the opposition attacker and Vicario just wasn't alert to it didn't come out and claim it he just I can't remember if I said it on here or on one of the Patreon pods probably on the Patreon pod, I'm usually a coward for hot takes really in public and I save all that for for patreon um but it's just I just get that whiff of Elio Gomez about him um and when I say like you know in terms of like the urgency of update of upgrading a player I'm talking about like if Spurs want to be like a proper team if we want to do like what Liverpool or Arsenal, teams like that do, who want to achieve massive success as quickly as they possibly can, and so they are ruthless with players, I think Liverpool or Arsenal would be replacing Vicario.

14:21Now, I think Arsenal did replace their Vicario in Ramsdale. I think there's quite a lot of similarities there in the respect that Ramsdale was a good player for Arsenal.

14:36And, you know, they just wanted somebody that was much better than that. And I kind of, that's just how I feel about Vicaria. Like, I don't think he's a terrible goalkeeper. I think he's a great shot stopper. I think he makes some brilliant reaction saves, reflex saves, as Heredia Gomez did. but I think he's lacking in many other areas of his game. And, you know, like I say, I just think teams on a level above us would be replacing that. That's just kind of how I feel. Oh well, All says, good afternoon from Miami. I'll take that. Lots of teams will slip up down there this season. Xavi gave us a wee taste there, eh?

15:20A wee taste. Lovely. Ben says Kudus is brilliant but we're putting too much creative load on him

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16:02yeah i think i do like i i really rate kudos i think i agree with you i think he is brilliant um i think he had a spell he he definitely he definitely sort of won it back towards the end last 10-15 minutes or so but I think he started the second half really poorly I think he played quite poorly for quite a bit of the second half to be honest with you I think he's played basically every game hasn't he so there's heavy creative load on him there's a heavy physical load on him you know so you have to make allowances from him I'm just saying I just think he struggled a little bit says Brighton will push top six our best performance of the season for me and played with 10 men Bergvau we weren't right in that performance then see I thought Bergvau I know what you mean I don't think he was at his very best a couple of little flashes in there though there were a couple of little sort of moments from him that highlight why he's probably quite important to the team.

17:15Well, he's definitely important to the team, but yeah, I agree. It wasn't a wonderful performance from him today. Deuces Wild says, forever indebted for the Europa winner, but Brennan is a mid-table player for a team that wants to play it on the counter. It's tough with him. It's really tough with Brennan Johnson because he does frustrate me. When I watch him, I do get wound up and I sort of think, you know what are we doing here like what's going on but we have seen him score enough goals for us to know that he has a certain level of quality I just think he's quite I think he's quite a difficult player to know how to deploy um maybe you're right like maybe you're right deuces that you know maybe he just needs to play for a team that plays a more sort of I don't know rudimentary type of football but I don't I don't think he's a useless player um I just wonder I'd be interested to see the thing is I'd be interested to see if you dropped him in at if you dropped him in at Liverpool or Arsenal if they'd get more of a tune out of him or not I'd like I'm just saying I'm just interested I would be interested to know I also sort of feel like and it's not my theory at all I've sort of nabbed this from other people I've seen saying it um I do kind of I do kind of buy that idea that he is a player from a bygone era that you can imagine like him being the little in a little and large strike partnership almost um him being a more conventional sort of Jermaine Defoe era number nine sort of player um not comparing him to Jermaine Defoe was an exceptional player.

19:03I'm not saying he's as good as Jermaine Defoe. I'm just saying that more what you would have just called a striker back in the day in a 4-4-2 kind of thing. L Swindley says it's gone it's refreshed. Where is it? L Swindley says looking forward to having Solanke back. Koulou Simmons Koudou's behind Dom will do very well. IMO. be nice to see when it um andres loftegus says koiz jack who doggy was filthy good today he was very good he's a he's an exceptional player isn't he and you know we we've all been talking about this for the past few weeks like what a nice problem it is to have having jed spence who's so brilliant and then having destiny a doggy coming back who i think people for a while had a slightly jaded opinion of.

20:02But obviously he's been half fit for a while, you know. And games like today, he's really showing his quality, right? Freddie Nelson says, think the performance is as important as the result at this stage. Actually can see how Frank wants us to play. It will get better over time. Up the spurs. Yes, go on then. Go on then. Ol also says loving this new background forgot how huge tickets were back in the day yes mate thank you very much for anyone who is watching on YouTube well for anyone who's listening if you do ever watch on YouTube you'll see like my little Spurs memorabilia and stuff that I've had sat in a box in a cupboard somewhere for years collecting so ticket stubs from a couple of our first games Spurs against Chelsea Spurs against Nottingham Forest programme from Tottenham against Chelsea in 1997 a few other random little bits and bobs yeah but it's nice do you know what I mean sucker for a bit of that also got one of the THFC flags scarves that they did after the Europa obviously I didn't get the one from being in Bilbao but still I bought one afterwards one of the ones that annoyed everybody that said it's devalued their one they got in person.

21:27But I think this one says champions on it. So I'm guessing it is different from the one that was given out in the stadium. Benedict Fox says, I'm pledging patience with Xavi because he's so important to what we need to do. Hoping goals and assists come so I don't get annoyed as I can do with new signings. But I'm committed. He's class. He is class. And I think the goals and assists will come. Andreas Loftega also says, when all comes down I think this was our best possession based chance creation game of the season

22:03let's have a look I'm quite interested to see what old sofa score is saying about this one all insights I'm not giving you$19.99 a month I'm not doing that definitely not so Tottenham today here you go do you want some stats everybody expected goals XG 1.22 Brighton got 1.28 big chances won total shots 11 forced their keeper into making two saves 10 corners 518 passes a generally good performance from Tottenham Hotspur I'm just trying to see if there's anything else I know you don't come here for this 79 % of our passes in the final third there you go how about that how about that for some stats A do you want to know more about our ground duels we won 50 of 94 so that's 53 % Arial duels, just 12 of 25, so that's 48%.

23:26This is quite interesting though. What I will say is Brighton won a lot more of their tackles. 68 % of tackles won for Brighton, 37 % of the tackles for Tottenham. So we made 27 tackles, 9 interceptions, 64 recovery challenges. Two errors leading to goals, blah, blah, blah. yeah you know I thought it was good I thought it was good you know like this is it like I'm not I'm not going to sit here and apologise I'm not going to sit here and say make excuses for Frank and plead patience like I think you should be patient I think people should be and you know we're a handful of games into a season come on man Alan Leslie says evening all though Vicaria struggled all the way the ball moved today for some reason Xavi's introduction definitely up things, plenty of room for more improvement didn't lose, Kois, yes Josh Saint says Josh Saint says very fine margins away from a win their first was such a tight onside, yep, like you say Xavi could, that should have scored Bereval taking the ball from Richie in a great position much to be positive about, I agree YouTube Guy says I think the performance was pretty good to be honest.

24:47Luck was against us today. Balanced out a bit by the own goal. A draw when down 2-0 is a good result. Definitely do. Wilson T. Take that you thieving seagulls. They do don't they? Nicking our chips. He also says Vicario is not good enough. Jonas Milner says. Overall we should still be really optimistic. That fight back was impossible under Ange. we are able to mix it with tactical managers now and are still improving if we add in january we'll be cooking i reckon we'll get savinho in i do that's kind of that's the hill i'm going to die on until january when we don't get him in but i think we'll get savinho in in january um i think we'll revisit that one um and maybe do some more business i don't know but i reckon this lot the um I think Viv will want to make a statement um so yeah uh Brian Park says Vic is the opposite of a cool calm goalkeeper to be honest remember the iconic van der Ven clearance only happened because Vicario flapped his arms about and missed the ball yeah um Jack Kenny says positive cameo from Archie too that's good I mean Jack if you hear this and you have time before I move on let me know why you felt that because I probably wasn't paying enough attention but you know I didn't I didn't notice much from it if I'm honest um mega major danger says Johnson is not very good

26:26um who uh Sasha has replied to Jonas Milne's point about it basically being a really good performance from Spurs and that we can mix it with some of the best managers tactical managers in the league certainly likes it Mako80 says two points dropped Frank cannot rest Xavi this early I mean I agree in principle if it's been if there's been a tactical decision to rest Xavi I agree because I can't see any reason for doing so but I guess we have to bear in mind that there might be some considerations that we aren't privy to that have led to the decision to start him on the bench today. I think, personally speaking, I think calling a draw under these circumstances, two points dropped away at Brighton is, I think it's a bit of an underestimation of what Brighton are nowadays, really, just in my opinion.

27:29Jask says, a draw felt like a fair result. We didn't deserve to concede the two goals, but we didn't deserve to lose the game. Brighton away is tricky for most teams. We came from 2-0 down and saved a point. Richie had a good game as well. Fought for the ball, made a good pass to Odebert at one point and got his goal. Dedant scares. I'm hoping we get a left winger in January. Like I say, I think we'll get Sveinho. Soul Sniper Gaming says, first goal, Odebert, Van de Verne and Romero all at fault. second goal Beraval and Vic but by god Vic Richarlison poor today Xavi excellent number 10 positive cameo by Gray Paulina very good Kudus good second half interesting I love Lily White says looking forward to seeing Kinski in this system thought Vacario was pretty poor today long-term a goalkeeper upgrade would maybe be the next level for us agree um also says maybe xavi is starting on wednesday which would be nice because we want to take cups seriously that is a good point um oh and jack kenny's gotten back to me on archie he said that uh frank spoke about how well he's trained despite not making the 11s dash squads he came on looked really tidy and confident with some nice touches and work with kudos on the right which is nice which is what you want to see and as you know the pod I recorded with Bardi in the week where we were sort of talking about Archie Gray and his future and everything like that despite there being a few bumps in the road I think the conclusion is always there's clearly a very talented player there so hopefully Frank will be the man to unlock that he did after all very much want him at Brentford so we'll see but let's move on to the players anyway so Juliano Vacario I thought was not very good today did you know Sam's Club isn't a store it's actually a club with cool finds and like a whole community it's a club of course Jason it's in the name Sam's Club oh yeah Come join us.

29:55Sam's Club.

30:23Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms. I don't want to do a whole podcast gunning him, but like I say, I think we need to upgrade him. I was very heartened by his comments in the week where he said that Spurs had sort of like the monkey on their back and winning the trophy has kind of given them a lift and it means that they can enter big games with less fear and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I just think quite simply, he just isn't a top goalkeeper. And if we want to be our top team, we need a top goalkeeper. So whether that's Kinski, I think it may still be a bit early for him, but maybe not.

31:11I don't know. I don't watch him in training all the time. Either way, I think Riccario is somebody that needs upgrading, really. Pedro Porro I thought was a good performance from him today he's sort of quietly been our player of the season hasn't he I think that's fair to say he probably was more busy in the opposition half than our own half because again like I say we controlled a lot of this game I do think we largely limited Brighton's chances and played pretty well and Poro is, he's generally, you know, he's a very attacking fullback, isn't he? And I think he did that job really well.

32:01He's, yeah, I don't know. He just, it's funny because he is very influential even from out wide. He keeps things ticking, always carrying the ball, always passing the ball forwards, looking for options, whipping crosses in. He's just, he's very good, isn't he? he's one of those players like Sarr that just doesn't stop running Christian Romero I thought was good today you know I thought it was I thought it was a tidy performance from him

32:35he started to seize I don't think it was exceptional but I think it was good I think it was a strong performance from him today as you'd expect especially in the second half I think he was really sort of cutting out any sort of odd break that Brighton were attempting. I think, like I say, I read before the game that they were one of the teams that they had created, I think what they'd done is, I think they created the most chances from turnovers in play this season. And I think that's largely what they were relying on today and trying to do. I think we snuffed most of it out. I think it was a good performance.

33:16I think Romero was good and has been good all season. Mickey van der Ven, decent, I thought. Mickey doing Mickey things. Destiny a doggy. I thought Destiny was brilliant today. I thought he was, and it doesn't surprise me because he's an exceptional player. Yeah, great performance from Destiny. It'll be interesting to see how often he gets used, how he's rotated with Spence, how that happens or not, you know, who knows. Frank obviously spoke about it in the week, didn't he, about the fact that Destiny's very left-footed, Spence is very right-footed and it's helpful to have both of those types of players being able to play out on the left.

34:02So, you know, we'll see. Lucas Baerval, not a, you know,

34:12not an all-timer of a performance from him today flashes of good things but you know worthwhile remembering that he's 19 years of age still learning so for all the exceptional games that he has there's going to be ones where he you know looks 19 and like a player who has a limited amount of experience although you know he's grown in experience to be fair Giaopoulinia quietly good today I thought allowed us to control the game in the most part I know it sounds mad because we went 2-0 down but I think we've sort of discussed it like their two goals were you know kind of against the run of play and somewhat fortuitous I mean that feels like feels a bit harsh to say but that's kind of how I feel Ben Tanker sort of a bit of a nothingy performance from him today Mamik Kudus did some brilliant things disappeared for 20 minutes at least of the second half where I felt like you know he was really struggling but then just decided to start actually giving what was his name Ferdi Kadioglu a horrible game like actually like suddenly kicked into that gear where he had him on toast constantly and they ended up taking him off and that's usually a sign innit it's usually a sign so overall you know a great performance plays a lot as has been said to me in the comments is probably you know we rely on him too much Wilson Odeba I thought you know I was actually pleasantly surprised to see him start the game I like I'm sort of one of those ones that quite likes Wilson Odebat I think he's I think he's a talented player I think he's a tidy player yeah I like him and I thought he put in a decent performance today again it wasn't it wasn't world class but it was definitely good very strong it was nice to see somebody with like you know I think he is the he is the truest fit in our squad to that sort of, whatever you would call it, left-wing position, basically.

36:38Tell can sort of do it there. Xavi Simmonds can sort of do it there. I think Randall Colomani can sort of do it there as well. Brennan Johnson obviously came on, replaced him, and was playing out on the left for a bit as well. but really I think Wilson Odebea is the truest fit for that position and I'm guessing the fact he's been given the nod today means that Frank also believes that as well and we're going to start seeing more and more of that Richarlison I thought was really good today, good performance really to be honest with you, got a goal, played well linked up well, held up the ball well, was a menace in the opposition final third just does what Richarlison does really quite well.

37:28Obviously, a lot of people have said to me already that they felt that Archie Gray had a good game, but Xavi Simmons obviously came on was brilliant, like, exceptional, really. He's an exceptional player. I think there's enough there. As I said, probably could have done better with a few of his chances, but still, it was a good performance for him. Brennan, Jed Spence, I mean, he had, what, five minutes on the pitch? So, you know, not really anything. Archie Gray, I didn't really know anything, but as has been said to me in the comments, you know, people have really rated it. Look, I mean, right now, I'll take that.

38:12It's a good performance. It's the early days in the league, of the season. It's the early days of our Frank era and all that type of thing. So I'll take that. two goals away at Brighton when we've been 2-0 down I think it's fine I think it's a good performance