Watch him defend...
- Thread starter FoxForceFive
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Virg knew that though
Imagine how good VVD would be if he was juiced up like Rio was! It wouldn't even be fair, teams would just refuse to play us & forfeit the game in advance.
Ha ha that is brilliant !!!
Wanyama
VVD has been great for us, and provides the leadership at the back that we have lacked since Sami left. But the praise is often too much at times from all of us, the premier league is lacking in world class forwards (like many other leagues) so before I start pouring more sunshine up VVD's arse I want to see him against the likes of Messi, and Co and see how he handles them.
I remember the AC Milan team of the early 90's - my God - I never thought anyone would ever score against that lot, Desailly, and Maldini together were absolute beasts. Right now I don't feel that way about our defence, it is still all too loose at times despite it being the best this season. Despite that great decision making by him yesterday in the incident - the defensive unit as a whole was a bit all over the place, and there have been times against the intelligent attackers he has come second best.
Also - as much as the argument is that he won us the game - lets not forget the draws that we have had that has led to our current situation - in nearly each case we have drawn games where we have scored first, which implies a defensive fault - take your Arsenal, West Ham, and Leicester games - 6 points dropped due to defensive errors. I also think the more conservative nature of our play this season has benefited the defence as a whole. He will only be considered a great player for us if actually wins one of the two big prizes otherwise he will go onto become a good memory.
I remember the AC Milan team of the early 90's - my God - I never thought anyone would ever score against that lot, Desailly, and Maldini together were absolute beasts. Right now I don't feel that way about our defence, it is still all too loose at times despite it being the best this season. Despite that great decision making by him yesterday in the incident - the defensive unit as a whole was a bit all over the place, and there have been times against the intelligent attackers he has come second best.
Also - as much as the argument is that he won us the game - lets not forget the draws that we have had that has led to our current situation - in nearly each case we have drawn games where we have scored first, which implies a defensive fault - take your Arsenal, West Ham, and Leicester games - 6 points dropped due to defensive errors. I also think the more conservative nature of our play this season has benefited the defence as a whole. He will only be considered a great player for us if actually wins one of the two big prizes otherwise he will go onto become a good memory.
He’s absolutely amazing.
But that was pretty standard defending.
Sissoko should have buried it and if he did people who have pointed the finger.
Great outcome but I wouldn’t use this as an example of amazing defending.
But that was pretty standard defending.
Sissoko should have buried it and if he did people who have pointed the finger.
Great outcome but I wouldn’t use this as an example of amazing defending.
It wasn't pretty standard man. You could say it was text book defending, i.e. what a defender should have done in the situation but could many execute it with the same ease VVD did? That elevates it from standard defending. Run it back with a different defender and Spurs score in my book.
VVD made instinctive movements and nullified the threat like some black ops, government trained killer. Virgil went full Zero Dark Thirty mode.
I'm not sure VVD could have done anything differently to improve upon what he did well bar blocking the shot from Sissoko. But he was in a two on one and limited the attacking team to a shot outside the box on the attackers weaker foot. It doesn't get much better than that. I think Big Virg has an aura about him now that just exudes confidence. You're saying Sissoko should have buried it but he didn't. He didn't want to take VVD on and the pass was also blocked off by VVD. In the end the attacker was forced to shoot outside the box. I think it was marvelous defending. Let's not play down VVD here. Let the aura around him continue to grow and let him create a bastion of invincibility.
Had it been Lovren he’d have dived in and left 2 against the keeper. It was amazing ability from Virgil.
Almost every defender on the planet would have either dived in or ran past him (if they were as fast as VVD is) & tried to block the shot or dive in from the front, either one which would have left Son wide open to receive a simple pass & shoot, the best defenders (bar one or two who could also do it as well) would have tried to do what VVD did but wouldn't have gotten the timing as perfect which would have either left the pass as an option or given Sissoko more time to shoot from a better position or use his favoured foot.
Nah, dreamy says it was just standard 6/10 stuff. That's why the football media and fans of all teams are going out of their way to make statements about how good it is. I had friends who are fans of opposing teams commenting about it in groups on whatsapp "perfect from VVD" etc. Downplaying it is BS.
Look it helped it was Sissoko in one way as he's not known for his goal scoring but he's a powerful runner yet he didn't want to take VVD on.
In a way I get what DB is trying to say but is executing it poorly. When he says it was standard defending, I presume he means VVD did exactly what he should have done in the situation. But what DB is forgetting is that real time football is not that simple. For example, how many time do we say a striker should have opened his body and taken a shot differently only to watch him snatch at it. Pressurised situations will make you act differently and sometimes the text book is thrown out the window. VVD was faced with a two on one and calmly nullified the situation. No fuss, no panic.
In a way I get what DB is trying to say but is executing it poorly. When he says it was standard defending, I presume he means VVD did exactly what he should have done in the situation. But what DB is forgetting is that real time football is not that simple. For example, how many time do we say a striker should have opened his body and taken a shot differently only to watch him snatch at it. Pressurised situations will make you act differently and sometimes the text book is thrown out the window. VVD was faced with a two on one and calmly nullified the situation. No fuss, no panic.
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I thought Virgil's awareness in a high stress moment marks him out as cool and calculating, elevating him above many defenders who would have rushed to make a tackle.
Someone keep banging on about that... can't remember who..
I got as far as him saying Matip was out of position and gave up. Matip went with his man. If he hadn't and Kane was allowed to turn with no one on him he'd have got slaughtered. Kane just happened to play an excellent quick ball round the corner.
Utter nonsense, Pat... That's a video that every young defender on the planet should be shown, as how to best defend a 2 on 1 break. There were several outcomes available as Sissoko picked up the ball - Virgil ensured that the outcome that was least likely to lead to Spurs scoring occurred. He couldn't have done it any better, and there are few defenders currently in the game who would have done that as well as he did. It was textbook stuff.
I think Matip should have taken out Kane and taken the yellow card. Or stayed put and then we would have 2 defenders defending the break instead of one. As it is, he committed, but wasn't able to win the ball or prevent a pass.
Nah. Then we would not have got that goal kick that eventually lead to us scoring a wondergoal. Virgil knew what he was doing.
I'm not as sure as some in this thread that there are that many players who would have pulled off that bit of defending as convincingly as Virgil did. There's an argument for saying it wasn't that hard to figure out what to do, but I'll bet plenty would either not have done so or would have failed to make it work in the heat of the moment. Virgil knew what to do, went through with it and made it look simple.
I think that too. You only have to imagine what Lovren would have done to realise how good it was.
There's also the context of it, we're level in a tough game that we need to win. We commit men forward , VVD is immediately outnumbered and on the back foot. Does he panic ?
Nope . He reads the situation immediately and cuts out the passing lane to Son, who is a much bigger threat around the box. To process the situation instantly and then to execute , under pressure, in an important match and moment, was just superb.
It was the turning point in the game. (From the highlights I saw anyway)
He's out best player , isn't he ?
Yep. He's the one player you can guarantee would get in any other side in the world.
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