Traore the enigma

[Paul]

Ok if you insist, he played well, as long as the next time he pulls a Fulham performance you reciprocate accordingly.

 

[Alan]

It's not as if this was the first time he'd played well for us FFS.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Yeah he played well. But we played better as a team when he went off. That's not a coincidence.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I said it in the game thread didn't I?

I thought it was easily his best performance in our shirt.

 

[Alan]

Yeah he played well. But we played better as a team when he went off. That's not a coincidence.

No, we played better as a team when Moutinho came on ten minutes later.

 

[The Bear]

He didn't play well. He just played like an actual footballer for a change instead of a competition winner. It was an average performance.

 

[Tredman]

Ok if you insist, he played well, as long as the next time he pulls a Fulham performance you reciprocate accordingly.

Deal, but I said he was poor against Fulham

I said it in the game thread didn't I?

I thought it was easily his best performance in our shirt.

Wasn't aimed at you!

He didn't play well. He just played like an actual footballer for a change instead of a competition winner. It was an average performance.

Nonsense.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I thought he had shaky start, misjudged the flight of few long balls and lost his footing a few times, as he tends to, then ran one out of play under little pressure and I feared the worst. Can't remember him really putting a foot wrong after that though, still don't think he's a great fit for this team at the moment, very much an individual more often than not, but his runs were relatively successful for the most part.

When there was the faint penalty claim for handball against Davies I think it was a decent summary of his game. Had a good supporting run from someone else, maybe Doherty, which looked the obvious option but he either didn't see it, chose to ignore it or dallied and missed it. Ordinarily that would be opportunity missed for this team, Costa for example probably turns back and plays out to Bennett or Moutinho, but Traore on his game had it in him to get half a yard on his man again to create the crossing opportunity. Difficult to say he fucked it up or anything given he forced the corner, or potentially a penalty on another day, but bigger picture he probably didn't play as the rest of the team would've expected so on the days he's not firing and he can't get away from his man then it does become a fuck up.

I'd probably give him a solid 7/10.

 

[AndyWolves]

Encouraging and signs of improvement, just don't play him centrally. If we need someone central then Jota or MGW

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I thought he had shaky start, misjudged the flight of few long balls and lost his footing a few times, as he tends to, then ran one out of play under little pressure and I feared the worst. Can't remember him really putting a foot wrong after that though, still don't think he's a great fit for this team at the moment, very much an individual more often than not, but his runs were relatively successful for the most part.

When there was the faint penalty claim for handball against Davies I think it was a decent summary of his game. Had a good supporting run from someone else, maybe Doherty, which looked the obvious option but he either didn't see it, chose to ignore it or dallied and missed it. Ordinarily that would be opportunity missed for this team, Costa for example probably turns back and plays out to Bennett or Moutinho, but Traore on his game had it in him to get half a yard on his man again to create the crossing opportunity. Difficult to say he fucked it up or anything given he forced the corner, or potentially a penalty on another day, but bigger picture he probably didn't play as the rest of the team would've expected so on the days he's not firing and he can't get away from his man then it does become a fuck up.

I'd probably give him a solid 7/10.

Perfect summary for me.

More of the same, and iron out the bits of silly and 8/10 performances are there to be had.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

No, we played better as a team when Moutinho came on ten minutes later.

We did, but the unpredictability of AT leaving the field enabled us to improve our cohesion in the final third. Just look at how Doherty improved playing with Costa rather than AT for example.

 

[Alan]

We did, but the unpredictability of AT leaving the field enabled us to improve our cohesion in the final third. Just look at how Doherty improved playing with Costa rather than AT for example.

Doc was good with both.

 

[t3ch]

I sometimes wonder if we're all tuned into different channels.

 

[Johnny75]

We did, but the unpredictability of AT leaving the field enabled us to improve our cohesion in the final third. Just look at how Doherty improved playing with Costa rather than AT for example.

I'd agree with this. It's the best Helder and Doc have played together for a while. Costa was really impressive in particular.

 

[b3h]

He is a big talking point. I personally don't think he was very good V Liverpool and was confused as a lot on here think he was. Certainly played better yesterday though for me

 

[Banjo]

What both Traore (eventually) and Costa did on Saturday which they've not been doing this season is stay on their feet more. Too often, they've both fallen over and (Costa particularly) sulked when the free kick hasn't come. You can't afford to turnover possession in this division because you get punished for it. Falling over on the halfway line puts our defence under huge pressure. Traore is a big lad and really should be staying on his feet. The reason he's better on the right rather than down the middle is because centre halves bully him and he's on the floor by the time the ball lands at his feet.

Someone on Saturday (possibly Aikiwolf) made the comparison to Drogba's first season in England, when he was falling over constantly despite being massive. The apocryphal story is someone at Chelsea threatened Drogba with training on tarmac to see how often he'd fall over then.

Traore is a fantastic outlet for us and there were times on Saturday where he went past two, three or even four Tottenham players as if they weren't there. World class players. So you can see why Nuno perseveres with him. The starting point is this lad clearly isn't very bright (to say the least), but once you bear that in mind you can see that he's started (albeit four months into the season) to take on board the coaching staff's instructions when it comes to decision-making. Hopefully, we won't see him down the middle again - at least until he's toughened up a bit (and changed his studs). It was promising to see his improvement. The same goes for Costa, who played with the confidence and swagger of old. Let's hope that performance and goal will do for him as doing the same did for Jota.

 

[AndyWolves]

What did folk think of donck?

From what I could see from the TV coverage he kept things very simple and was very happy popping over short passes and being available for the return - in a Jack Price kind of way. He seemed calm and assured and kind of knew where to be.

He looked knackered when he came off so the rumours about getting up to fitness might be true. Nuno demands very high fitness levels which a few players have struggled to meet ( German Phil and I think Ben Marshall).

I think the more he plays the better he'll get

Edit. Can a mod move this to the Spurs thread please? I got the wrong thread

 

[darlowolf64]

What did folk think of donck?

From what I could see from the TV coverage he kept things very simple and was very happy popping over short passes and being available for the return - in a Jack Price kind of way. He seemed calm and assured and kind of knew where to be.

He looked knackered when he came off so the rumours about getting up to fitness might be true. Nuno demands very high fitness levels which a few players have struggled to meet ( German Phil and I think Ben Marshall).

I think the more he plays the better he'll get

Didn't help him when he picked up that knee injury early on but was steady enough and didn't hide himself away. Very comfortable with the ball

 

[sycophantia]

I suspect Dendoncker (along with Traore) wad all part of Nunos masterplan for the game, kept it simple, broke up play until Spurs were tiring in the second half, then bought on Moutinho anf Costa to do the classy stuff

 

[Premier Quality]

I thought Donk did ok - kept it simple but effective. A decent if unspectacular debut, against a good side.