Another miserable Sunday afternoon was endured by Spurs fans who had dared to hope that their team might just produce a performance that was fitting enough to mark the tenth anniversary of Bill Nicholson’s passing.
There’s not much to add to such a poor display and eventual result but it is interesting to read Mauricio Pochettino’s comments as he looked to identify just what went wrong after the home defeat to Newcastle.
“It is impossible to go to the pitch not ready to start to play,” Mauricio said. “I think there was a lack of concentration from us. We need to work hard on our mentality because it is not tactical, physical – it is concentration and mentality and this is our challenge to improve.
“It is not something where you can analyse the action, sort the tactical situation and move the players. With mentality, we need to work hard. It is not easy. We need to be more strong, like a team. This is our challenge.
“We need to speak, we need to create a different situation on the training ground and work. We know how, but always you need to spend time to work in this area. It is not the same as in physical or tactical situations. It is a different area.”
As long suffering fans we have got used to venting our spleen at various managers and latterly, the Chairman. While this is often with good justification, it’s easy to sometimes forget the players’ role in abject displays such as this one.
“It is impossible to go to the pitch not ready to start to play,” Mauricio said.
brilliant tactical observation, you can see why we hired him now!
Pochetio need to learn j.klopp statitcs how to play chadli-erikson- lamela midfield chemistry and attaking style , combination as well as b.dotermounds gotze- kangawa-reus
I agree. Mistakes have been made at all levels, but yesterday was 90 minutes of complacency, spinelessness and mediocrity. The full back injuries are an allowable excuse but as dreadful as the second half was, I was very angry at half time that we hadn’t scored more than one. Poch says we played well in the first half, but I don’t agree. Sure, we were snappier and quicker than a terrible Toon outfit, but our decision-making upfront where people were taking useless shots instead of passing to unmarked players was despicable and smacked of crass complacency (Rose played quite well but why didn’t he look up instead of that gormless shot -as for Chadli’s volley, words fail me). If these players cannot come to terms with the Premiership they must be shipped out in January. The decision to sell Sigurrdson is looking worse and worse.
We don’t have the players to compete for the top 4, but against mid table teams (and lower) there is no excuse for the current team not to win. The mentality of the players is a disaster and no manager seems able to change it (maybe we should hire a professional team psychologist). Newcastle were nowhere in first half but the team never seemed to want to bag in a few to put the game to bed. As soon as we conceded the game was over and nobody stood up. And yes, Poch also has to take the blame. When we play teams like WBA or Newcastle at home it has to be with two strikers. Those two strikers should be Lamela and Kane/Soldado. For some reason Eriksen and Lamela cannot play together in midfield. Lamela is definitely not a PL winger but has bags of exceptional technique. Why not use him in another way? And please stop playing Adebayor, he is never where he has to be: in the box making life hard for defenders… Time to sell a lot of players (and restart once again…): Vertonghen (mentality sucks), Dembélé (same problem, no ambition), Paulinho (stupid, lack of vision), Soldado (not suited for the PL), Naughton and Adebayor. With the revenue we should buy two decent strikers (Bony, Benteke) and a class CB or two.
Well Pouchettino, when you get all this mentality problem sorted out I will start to watch Spurs again but over the last couple of years nothing has changed, these same players must of always had this mentality problem .There are other things I could spend my time on than watching this crap. This team has no hart and I can see them ending up no further than mid-table. You should of taken Lamela off at half time.
We will sign 1.morgen schenderlin 2.ilkey gundogon 3.xender shaquiri 4.memphis depay 5.gonzalo higuin 6. Allan dzagoev
I’m starting to think he’s out of his depth, why did we ever sack array sheer madness
i know it’s only 9 games in,but we need too start improving,for the life of me I don’t know why we play with one up front at home…what has happened too Dier comes out late for the 2nd half,high fives someone..ball over the top 1-1.think Poch is out of his depth has that clueless look about him.
Who decides when it is time to leave the dressing room before the second half ? I guess that is you Poch !
Blaming a mistake made by the coaching staff on the players is bad style..
After 45 years of supporting Spurs I’ve reached the end. No more. Chairman, DoF, Coach and players do not give a sh*t about the fans who follow them. Not one game this season has suggested the club and players have learned from their mistakes.
Levy is living in a fools paradise and appears to be out of his depth. Lewis will need to take a decision soon before his investment is fighting relegation with a cock-up of a development plan for the new stadium.
What would Bill Nick have thought watching on this mess? Glory? Not in a million years while Levy is there.
That’s it. Tottenham Hotspur, I’m signing off. No more money wasted on tickets, shirts, programmes and travel.
its no use blaming the players.we were on top in the first half.only one goal for our supremacy.one is never enough.the defence gets the blame.its not the team.its the lack of goal scorers.last window we didn’t succeed in buying any strikers.one is not enough.tactics from billy nicks day would work today.main striker and 2 wide men on halfway line,when we are under attack.this leaves 8 players in defense.the attacking team needs 5 players back
to cover the 3 attackers.a clearance of a long ball and we are on the attack.valid today as it was for billy nick.
Tony: right u are. The objective in any team sport is to score as any goals as possible as quickly as possible. Watching Spurs screw with the ball, making useless passes to “hold” the ball is just killing time while waiting for the roof to fall in. Make the other team play to our will, not theirs. We should’ve kept Modric & bale, had good soccer to watch and saved all the money. You need two stars to Win consistently. We hav none. Beating second level teams in Europe tourney 1-0 is pointless.
having listened to danny murphy this morning he is spot on poccachinno was lucky at southamptopn all the top players there none were bought by him this fucking clown is worst than avb he is clueless no pace in midfield, no width he will be out by next season I hope in hindsight we would have been better with Sherwood there another bad appointment by levy
I come up from Cornwall to watch this crap I seen great players in 45 years there’s not one player fit to shine there boots lamala holding thespurs badge on Thursday after he scored he as only just stopped getting lost in London none of you are fit to pull the shirt on and Mr levy thanks for nothing 12 years 9 managers and 1 gets us in cl and you jackass sack him I rest my case bye bye until you go levy
with the player we have my team would be
lloris
walker vertonghen favio rose
lennon dembele Stromboli lamella
kane soldardo
cant be no worse than the shit teams put out so far but need to invest in the jan window
I agree, Kane should start he deserves a chance and hes confident. teqm Lloris, walker, vertonghen, fazio, davies, lamela, eriksen, dembelee, chadli, Kane and soldado. coys
ok, let’s start with this “high 3” in midfield. Despite Poch saying they all interchange they don’t and Lamela is on the right, Chadli the left and Eriksen in the middle. Three things are wrong with it. Firstly, the “wide” players are clearly being instructed to tuck in so we end up being far too narrow. Secondly, Lamela simply has to play on the left and Chadli not be on the pitch. Thirdly, the “high 3” are 15-20 yards too high! This results in a few things going very wrong indeed.
It reminds me of a boxer who on the first bell comes out throwing wild punches. In the early rounds, a few may connect and he may be up on points. However, the opponent eventually works it out, defends a little deeper and as the contest continues picks him off and wins easily.
Teams come to WHL with a defensive choice to make. They can either play two banks of four or look to mark-up in midfield. There is a risk to each. In the first situation, possession is conceded whilst in the second a gap will be left between the back four and midfield. Take your choice. However, with our “high 3” it allows teams to play deep with two banks of four AND mark-up all at the same time. Brillaint Poch, you just made things very easy for the oppo. Yes, in the early stages, we will be on the front foot, could catch teams a little cold and may score. However, as the game progresses the opposition become very comfortable and exploit the huge gaps we have left particularly down the flanks. They will have a free run at our back four and inevitably score. Liverpool, West Brom and now Newcastle all did their homework on us and won with ease. QPR visited us first and experimented with a back 3 against our front 4 and get caught out. Southampton will be kicking themselves at being so cautious although but for a late miss of an open goal would still have gone home with a draw.
Away from home, things will be slightly different as teams naturally want to push on so again we have a chance of scoring but with our “high 3” not being part of “team defending” we will always be susceptible to conceding as the game wears on. In the matches at Man City, Sunderland and Arsenal we did score (in two of them the opening goal in fact) but ended up conceding the final goal in each game with City beating us and Sunderland and Arsenal both drawing level and then having further late chances to take all the points. Yes, we beat West Ham in the first Away game of the season despite giving them 22 goal scoring chances all of which, fortuitously for us, they failed to take.
So, nine games in and we have won just three with two of those in somewhat lucky circumstances.
The final thing to say is about Pochettino himself. I was sitting very close to the subs’ seats yesterday and whilst Pardew was very animated (making little changes here and there and massive ones at half-time), Poch spent the entire contest standing there looking utterly gormless. He said nothing, did nothing (other than make some very late substitutions) and was completely motionless as we leaked goals. I have never seen anything like it, even AVB used to do some strange crouching routine accompanied by the odd whistle. He has come out today and said “it’s not about analysing the action and then sorting the tactical situation and moving players”. This is the most worrying aspect of the whole sorry situation, he can’t see it and seems to think it’s a confidence thing. The sad fact is, it very much is about analysing the action, sorting the tactical situation and moving players, 100% it is.
Levy has picked yet another wrong’un and once again will need to wield the axe, hopefully very soon. Perhaps he will then consider apologising to Frank de Boer for overlooking him last time and beg him to come and sort things out once and for all.
wLmao all that for three words NOT A CLUE
…actually you gave me eight words and read my entire comment so it’s me Lmao now!! Next.
Lmao not a CLUE frank de boer ohh yea just as well go for a bakers dozen now we are getting like leeds some players are sulky Kane Roberto are good players Abby out lazy money grabber good luck but bye Jan v sulky good bye lamala good bye showboater Lennon head down to nowhere bye Townsend just the same bye ohhh and someone that knows nothing about football levy out and that clown that got them all those players coys wake UP ore
Are you seriously suggesting West Ham have better players than us? No, of course they don’t yet they are fourth! We have some great players but you will only see the best of them if they are played in their best positions. Ade is lazy I agree and needs a second striker alongside him (as Berba did), Lamela needs width not tucked in, Eriksen has to drop into space so he can pick a pass. Soldado is a player but only if used properly. Lennon hasn’t suddenly lost it but can’t play narrow as required in this system. As for Levy, his only (albeit a big one) is his inability to pick a manager. He has provided the money and the players bought have ability so why blame him? Anyway, if you think Poch is a better bet than de Boer I pity you.
The main problem with d team is that kaboul,ade, must not b in d starting ix. Ade does not even look like a point sticker. As 4 kaboul he is d worst captain in d league,he does not even communicate to his players and lack experience as a central defender
had such high hopes for our new manager.they are disappearing fast.kane is our best striker.better then soldado who must be the biggest waste of money in spurs history.ade past his sell by date.hes in the forward line hes in the defense.hes everywhere.great attitude,but wrong.nobody corrects him.need two strikers together at the same time.both to stay upfield.eriksen has more goals then soldado and ade together.doesnt this say something to our manager?
“Kane is our best striker”….thankfully that is not true. Good lad, great attitude and has a future in the game but not at this level I’m afraid. He will do a job at somewhere like Ipswich and good luck to him. Soldado is 10 times better but have to play to his strengths and get crosses in. If we really are going to persist with this joke of a manager and his ridiculous “system” then, yes, no point in keeping Soldado but please don’t tell me Kane is a better player, laughable.