Nick Pope

[Bin Ont Turf]

I think that his kicking has been pretty good since he got into the side, but it was bloody awful tonight.

Boots on t' wrong feet?

His double save from Sissomethingorother was brilliant though.

[starting_11]

Whole team under pressure. Needed to slow down and recompose unfortunately.

Tom would have been in the same position

[Steve1956]

When we where attacking today I lost count of the times the ball ended up back at Pope then he just kept hoofing it back to them, strange strange game today... we where absolutely shite from the first minute till the last!

[MACCA]

We had an attacking free kick that 3 passes later ended up at Pope, then Vertonghan before a spurs attack...

Off day is putting it mildly

[ElectroClaret]

He's doing ok. Had a lot of expectation suddenly dumped on his young shoulders
and he's handling it well. So he did a few dodgy kicks, no biggie.

Certainly wasn't at fault with any of the goals.

[Woodleyclaret]

Back passing was our issue today .We are too pedestrian at times and hoofing the ball down the middle only works to a very limited degree

[Top Claret]

Made 2 fantastic saves 1st half on a one on one.

Kicking was poor though

[Bordeauxclaret]

Poor kicking. Top class saves.
Although I’d like to see back the play that led to two very good saves to see if he could have come out and cleared.

[warksclaret]

Seems to rely on his feet a lot

[Oshkoshclaret]

His kicking was awful at Brighton too. I wondered if Spurs had noticed this and built it into their game plan.

[Hipper]

Wasn't the attack by Sissoko which led to the two saves caused by one of Pope's poor clearances?

Whilst of course I'm disappointed with the performance and result, in the bigger picture I'm not too fussed about this defeat. In some ways I'm rather glad of it because there seemed to be some getting a bit carried away with what we can achieve. This reminds us of our practical limits - 7th place - and that's OK!

The boys in claret are doing a bloody marvellous job so far, way above our expectations. Let's hope it continues.

[Bin Ont Turf]

Wasn't the attack by Sissoko which led to the two saves caused by one of Pope's poor clearances?

No I think that it came about from a corner for us and a counter attack from them.

[Quickenthetempo]

I hate defenders in space passing back to the keeper who get's put under pressure.

[what_no_pies]

Seems to rely on his feet a lot

So do I.

[bfcjg]

I have noticed lately that we are not given the space by the opposition to roll the ball out to defenders meaning wecare having to kick it long, when we just have one up front this means the ball is straight back at us.

[evensteadiereddie]

Exactly. Pope was often put under pressure because Spurs were pressing us so hard. There were very few times when our backs had the time, space or confidence to attempt to play the ball out.
Which is why we were thrashed.

[nil_desperandum]

Posts 15 & 16 above - spot on.
Credit Pochettino with his tactics and game-plan yesterday. They closed us down and didn't give us any time to settle or pass the ball - (in fact exactly what we normally do). But when you then factor in that as individuals their players have superior technique, pace and physical attributes to us, it was always going to be difficult for Pope to do anything with ball.
(That being said, he did seem to miss-kick the ball a couple of times, which is unusual for him).

[Claretto]

The double save was only required because he was in no man's land and slow to react. He could've come out and cut off the through ball. The defenders' reactions said it all. A terrible game for him I thought.

[wilks_bfc]

I’ve noticed recently that a lot of teams, us included, have 2 or 3 players on the edge of the 18yrd box when the opposition has a goal kick, preventing them from playing it short.
This forces the keeper to go long and effectively conced possession.