Midfield must take responsibility for the second half

Midfield Must Take Responsibility For The Second Half

The second half was disappointing, pundits say Eden Hazard changed the game, I disagree, we changed the game, we changed our approach and that was the errror. that mattered.

Our game hinges on running off the ball. In the second half, a few of the players started playing keep ball which forced others too and thus we weren't playing as a team. The midfield have to hold their hands up and take responsibility.

In an attacking mindset, players run off the ball in a creative positive mentality, when you are passing backwards all the time then players mindset changes, they stop the runs that create and make runs that simply find space, usually the safe option, backwards.

Thus, you invite the opposition to attack you. Kyle W£alker was making overlapping runs and we were passing the ball backwards taking him out of the game so clearly it wasn't instructions from Pochettino, it was a few players in midfield that then saw us play more and more backwards. It happens almost without noticing.

if yu are going to play keep ball, you do it in the opposition half just beyond the halfway line. How many times did we pass back to Hugo Lloris? He then played the ball to Rose or Walker and instead of being on the halfway line we are now trapped in a corner having to hoof the ball upfield to Chelsea. That is not how we play, the player are not used to playing that way and it showed, we didn't have the calmness of mind, we didn't have the nous.

It is a mentality issue that will need to be addressed. The result was that we invited Chelsea on, we came under pressure and we lost the plot, 9 bookings tell us that. It doesn't matter what Clattenburg was allowing Chelsea players to come through the back of Kane with saying a word to them or anything else, we have to handle what is thrown at us. He had no option but to book our players and could have sent several off from both sides quite frankly.

The game will be a learning curve for a young squad.

Congratulations to Leicester City, we'll see you in the Champions League.

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