The day began basking in the warm glow of the celebration of the life of Bill Nicholson, the greatest figure in the long and distinguished history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. It ended in ignominy as Spurs folded the moment the slightest pressure was applied to their fragile egos.
I’m still struggling to wash away the stench of complacency that lingers like the odour of smoke and stale beer from a night out in a 70s pub. This shower are happy to strut and showboat against inferior opposition in midweek but disappear as soon as they are required to step out of their comfort zone. The intelligence and effort required to hold onto a lead or fight back is apparently beneath them. When they said ‘wear white for Bill’, I didn’t think waving the white flag was what the club had in mind.
Embed from Getty ImagesSpurs eased into control early on and maintained it throughout an undistinguished first half without playing especially well. They didn’t have to. An injury-hit Newcastle side low on morale and points offered little resistance. We made fewer chances than we should have – Chadli missed the best of them – but had the comfort of Adebayor’s far post header from a carefully considered cross by Ryan Mason.
Oblivious to the big bloke on the left who came on for the second half, Spurs were undone by the cunning ploy of him getting the ball and running towards our goal. Unchallenged, unnoticed by some defenders, Ameobi scored, the only dispute being whether it was after 7 or 8 seconds. Utterly inexcusable. The whistle had gone but really, the cheek of starting a game before we were ready. At least for their second we tried to get in the way, another run down the left, Sissoko bulldozed through puny challenges before a cross found the smallest guy on the pitch, far too good in the air for our international centre halves.
Embed from Getty ImagesFrom then on, Spurs had no idea of how to score. Eriksen briefly flattered to deceive then faded into the morass with the rest of this sorry bunch. We shuttled the ball back and forth across the edge of the box, with each man holding on to the ball just long enough for them to be tackled. Could not keep the ball. I’ll excuse Rose, always available on the left even if not every cross was accurate, and Mason, who seems to be the only one who’s read the memo about playing the ball quickly and forward. Lennon came on to add pace and width, and resolutely kept as far away from the touchline as possible. This was beyond tactics, it was just stupid.
Last weekend I tried to pick the bones from a performance of contradictions. There was good and bad, progress since Pochettino took and regression. Now I think we have a clearer idea of where we stand.
The striker problem has been done to death. Levy has left us ludicrously short of options. Thursday night was part of Kane’s development not a sign that he’s a matchwinning Premier League striker, although I’m delighted with his progress. Other things that in the recent past I have noted but left as asides or footnotes have come centre stage. Kaboul’s heroic performance at the Emirates could, should have been a sign of much needed resilience. Instead that good game is the blip amidst a mediocre run. I read about his inability to motivate as captain – that’s not the problem. He needs to play better, especially alongside Vertonghen who’s just coasting. And if the mananger’s key job is to judge players, I question the wisdom of putting so much store in a man who has lost the spring and suppleness that made him stand out, or for that matter selling Dawson when there’s no effective back-up.
After the QPR game I characterised Lamela as our hero in waiting, and supporters have waited so long for such a figure. He doesn’t seem to want it. Rabonas are for the hipsters and the showreel. Easily crowded out by defenders when he has the ball, off it he doesn’t cover. No coincidence Newcastle put that big bloke on our right. Dier was exposed: suddenly he looked so young, the aura of strength and promise slipping away. Mason screamed at Lamela, “F**king get back”. He didn’t.
Eriksen unable to control a midfield. Chadli happy when he can play the game at his own pace but unwilling to graft when that’s required. He was not alone. Our hopes for goals largely rest on that midfield three but all they gave us was indifference.
Most worrying of all, we do not have the players to suit Pochettino’s style. A pressing game, early forward passes, high tempo – if these are his trademarks this group of players are not responding. It’s noticeable that Mason, the player who does, is young, new and so presumably willing to listen and learn. Lamela, Chadli and Eriksen remain resistant. Yesterday Poch was unable to influence matters on the pitch. This unresponsiveness from the players does not auger well for the future and is of grievous concern, given that by and large this squad will take us through to the end of the season.
No doubt you’ll read invocations of the spirit of Billy Nick in stark contrast to the lack of commitment and application of yesterday’s team. There’s a great deal of truth in that. Nicholson would indeed have been furious at the sight of such a sorry spectacle but it’s not as if he would have been unduly surprised. On plenty of occasions during his reign, Spurs’ soft centre was laid bare and the slow handclap echoed round the Lane. He may have set the standards but many times the players failed to achieve them and not in the ‘defeat has echoes of glory’ sense either. I’m talking about inconsistency and defensive openness.
There are differences though that the players, manager and board would do well to reflect upon this week as they try to turn things around. In the current climate, Nicholson would have faced persistent calls for his dismissal in the media and from supporters on social media. Spurs finished 7th, 6th and 11th in the 3 seasons following the ’67 Cup win. After the glorious Cup Winners Cup victory in 1963, league form was patchy – 6th and 8th in the next two seasons. The League Cup wins in 71 and 73 would have been adversely compared with the Double and Europe – ‘only’ the League Cup.
In fact, these seasons demonstrate Nicholson’s great strength as a manager – he rebuilt teams, twice, going on to success each time. He wasn’t dismissed. He was allowed to choose his own players, albeit within a constrained budget. He was given time.
The other difference is Nicholson’s personal committment. This was no golden age of unbroken glory. He watched many poor performances and it hurt him, deep inside. I doubt very much if anyone at the club felt that pain this morning.
To celebrate his life, I did exactly what I normally do at every home game. I think that’s what he would have wanted. ‘Wearing white for Bill’ is OK as it goes. I’m not sure signing the wall in the club shop is quite the appropriate tribute but if people want to sign, why not.
Yet on the same day, there are more stories in the papers about a possible move to Milton Keynes while the new ground is built, something that supporters in the recent Trust survey overwhelmingly opposed. I don’t know anyone who understands why the club would consider this even for a millisecond, let alone be in favour of a move.
Once again it was left to supporters to say the one thing that truly matters right now. A flag in the north west corner displayed another quote from the great man: “We must always consider our supporters for without them there would be no professional football.”
Signing a wall or buying a shirt with Nicholson’s name inside the collar is marketing, not involvement or a tribute. To me, it’s an insult. Yesterday the stands, the trains home, the burger queues, all were filled not with anger but with apathy. The distance between club and supporter inches ever wider. It’s no way to run a football team.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
On the button with your comments lemela Chadli Capoue adylazygit Rose all need throwing out is Morris being told he must play these wasters get them out and soon before we end up in a relegation fight and with no backbone in the side we might not like that
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I’m already starting to look down the league table, not up.
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Well said Alan. I still cannot believe even Spurs could let in a goal like that from the restart. The side played well first half, but the poverty of the second half performance suggests that was only because Newcastle were supine in the first half.
You can indeed see why Poch likes Mason, as he’s the one player who wants to/can play the way the coach wants, as you state in the article. Personally, I’d give Kane a real go too, he’s earned it. He should play off the striker, instead of Eriksen if needs be. Lamela is a real talent but doesn’t seem to know when or how to best use his gifts, therefore much of the good stuff he does is quite cosmetic. He’s worth persevering with imo, but needs to be given very strict instructions, it all looks a bit off the cuff at present.
Watching Swansea is very interesting this season. Sigurdsson played off the main striker looks a player of real craft and subtlety as well as grit and conviction and a goal maker and goal taker. He has been fantastic. Siggy is knocking the revolving three of Eriksen, Lamela and Chadli into a cocked hat on his own.
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It was shocking, that goal. Someone on twitter yesterday told me his 4 year old son asked incredulously, ‘why did no one get in the way daddy?’
Re Siggy, not the greatest but understands the pace and tempo of the PL game. Also prepared to muck in and Bony is better than our lot up front. I would play Kane instead of Chadli, as you say filling in when we don’t have the ball and getting up to support a striker when we do. Lamela isn’t adapting his game to PL pressing. Worries me that he’s stopped making the effort.
Regards, Al
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What can one say after that.
yesterday was the worst ever going to a game. I collected my 33 year old niece from Harrow and took over 2 hours and just made kick off. Then watched that bile, left 5 minutes early only to get caught in more traffic chaos, and finally made it home 6.30 .
my thoughts after the game was all those greats at the game to celebrate Bill Nicholson. What must have they thought of those bunch o f yellow belly’s.
Skill is not enough in a game, you need to have fight in you to push on .But the most worrying was the likes of Christian and Lamela not able to put a pass together in the 2nd half, it was as if someone had spiked their drink, they were a different team to the 1st half.
The only players who stood out from the rest was Rose, who has surprised me this season, and young Ryon who has the craft as well as the fight to be a Spurs regular.
I felt for Dier and I do not blame him for the 1st goal, the kid was not even positioned yet and what about the 2 CB, they should of read the danger and covered for Dier, but as you say Alan the team were not ready for the kick of, and the blame is down to he ref as well.
Keep up the good work Alan .
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Nightmare. bad enough just watching the game…
I don’t believe in coming down heavily on young players. Dier is a stand-in full back playing his third game in a week out of position, left unprotected. No criticism.
The fight is absent. Fist-pumping and running around a lot is over-rated but workrate is a basic requirement. Several players could not be bothered.
Cheers, Alan
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Two things: First, Sir Alex’ team talk against us, “Lads, it’s Tottenham.” Ouch! Second, Gary Neville: “You talk about typical Tottenham. He has got to affect the culture. It runs through the club. It is what I think of Spurs historically. Never ready, weak up here [head], not alert. They have to change that culture. Pochettino needs to be given two or three years to get rid of that attitude.” Double ouch! But as always, it’s sunny out here, and endless summer rolls on…
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Saw/heard those, both totally, devastatingly accurate. ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ sums up 40 years of Spurs. Not good.
Stick to factor 50 Ashley, don’t want to spoil those good looks….
Best, Alan
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I hope you bought your £5 commemorative programme, Alan. Is there no end to the level Levy will sink to make a few bob?
At Southampton there was little expectation and the players there responded well to Pochettino and played some decent and attractive football. Pochettino himself looked as cool as a cucumber win, lose or draw. Speaking in Spanish, his interviews were enigmatic and gave the impression of someone in complete control and at ease with the demands of the Premier League. Fast forward to now, watching the games and hearing him in interviews, and I’m not too sure whether he actually knows what he’s doing or whether he has the social skills or nous to manage this rag tag bunch of misfits. A bit early to say for sure, but he’s hardly Mr Motivator. Perhaps like the board and the players: he’s also just in it for the money and doesn’t really care. All a bit worrying.
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KNEW there was something I had forgotten….
Re the rest – yes. Agree with that. Pochettino may be dealing with something he’s not faced before, players with some experience and high expectations of what they want, internationals who know someone will buy them if they are not happy at Spurs. Whereas at saints he was instrumental in enabling them to fulfil potential beyond their expectations. And that’s what worries me most for the future. I look forward to the Pochettino souvenir programme in 2034….
Regards, Al
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I can’t remember having been so disappointed with a group of players as this bunch. It’s not the lack of ability as it was in the ’90s. It’s the complete lack of heart. This is now the third manager and they’ve been unable to operate in any of their systems. Last month, at Benfica, I saw AVB’s Zenit play his high line most effectively with players that Spurs could easily have bought. There didn’t seem anything wrong with that system when you have decent players who are willing to work. Yesterday it was Poch’s system they couldn’t play. Every 50/50 tackle bottled in the second half, every corner ending up at with Lloris 20 secs later (except the one kicked out of play before it reached the goal). No width, no penetration, nothing between the ears.
We shipped out Dawson and Holtby in the summer. Technically lacking perhaps but willing to put a shift in when things got tough. Compare and contrast Verthongen, Eriksen, Chadli, Lamela (my autospell changes it to Pamela and I’m tempted to leave it that way).
I really have little inclination to wander down the bottom of my road to see this lot at the moment, let alone Milton Keynes.
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Feel your pain, Pete, feel your pain. Couldn’t agree more with all of that. Interesting re Zenit – confirms that successive managers have not been given the tools for the job. We have many tools of course…
All the best, Alan
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A suitably withering analysis.
We were awful.Stank the place out. I can’t bear the booing and the bile that gets unleashed, but I can understand it. I thought our seasons under Jol & Redknapp would be a springboard for even better things to come but having been a fan for 40+ years feared they were a high point. I was right to be fearful; they were the highpoint. For a while we were in danger of being taken seriously.
It was a pathetic display and I think we could be in real trouble. At best mid-table mediocrity, at worst hovering above the relegation zone if not in it. We’ve lost three home games already. We’ve got a bunch of players who are similar to each other and pretty average. Kaboul captain? His best years are behind him. Half the team buys into MP’s system, being generous here, most can’t be arsed.
Our best results this year have been against teams that are even worse than us. We are flat track bullies. et’s celebrate beating QPR 4-0 and drawing with A******.
The reason why comments about us by Keane (‘Tottenham will always lets you down’), Ferguson (‘Lads it’s Tottenham’) and Neville (‘Weak up here (head)’) is that they have the ring of truth. Aren’t these the things that we have thought more than once over the years.
Apparently when Edgar Davids signed for us, the first thing he noticed was the lack of a winning mentality. We couldn’t even get it going on Sunday for a home game against Newcastle when a win would have put us joint 5th (I think).
Not in crisis yet, but serious problems at the club. We must stick with MP unless we are facing the drop. Maybe even keep him then, assuming he wants to stay. After all, our second greatest manager, Keith Burkinshaw, took us down in his first season.
Our style of play is dire. Slow, sideways and no width. Why are playing with one up front at home? Inverted wingers? I’ve been going to Spurs since the mid-70s and the best teams have been the ones where there are white shirts streaming forward quickly and making the pitch as wide as possible.
Also, while it was right and proper to remember and celebrate the career of Bill Nicholson on Sunday we have to drop this obsession with the past. Endlessly bringing out the same players on the pitch to talk about things that happened years ago. It’s painful. Yes we must remember and celebrate our history but those echoes of glory are getting pretty faint. Who are going to have pitchside in 10 years time? Harry talking about the glory days of finishing 4th twice in three years and getting to the quarter finals of the Champions League? Legends nights celebrating Danny Rose’s goal against A****** and a League Cup win against C******?
I need a drink.
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Find a blog and post that as an article, Russell. Pitch perfect in every way and I agree completely about the prospects for our season if this carries on.
Thanks for that, hope you found that drink, have one for me while you are about it.
Regards,
Alan
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Thanks Alan. I may well do that.
Now I know why we don’t stream forward stretching the pitch; it’s too small. If only someone else had noticed that.
Apparently Brighton haven’t won since their last league cup game. Am sure the THFC charity will sort that out for them.
Very best,
Russ
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Hi Russell/Alan,
Amazing that Poch complains about the size of the pitch, but both Eriksen and Lamela failed to bet the first man on, I think, every corner on Sunday.
Can you imagine us on a full size pitch and complaining we can’t get the ball past the 18 yard line?
These are supposed to be world class professionals ffs, not under 8’s!
Unhappy NJC
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The only way our owners can possibly salvage any pride is to back this manager by giving him carte blanche authority to rebuild the team over an extended period of time because yesterday went beyond the beyond, we’re a joke!
I fear however that replacement managers will already be being talked about in case of total collapse because it’s what Tottenham are about these days. Bottom feeders!
How ironic that the nearest we came to a second half goal was from yet another miserable attempt at taking a corner.
Lennon must never kick a ball for our team again, Lloris probably wishes that he didn’t have to.
Things tend to get worse before they get better, could be a long season.
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whys everyone panicking, this is good compared to when we have that donkey Fazio in the team partnering Chriches. The World Class midfield of picked every game for Brazil Pauline and Stambouli, that highly sought after midfield general. I think we beat Watford and Doncaster to him.
The saddest thing is hearing the team sheet before a game and thinking really is that the best we can put on the pitch. gone are the days of exciting free flowing football with a team of decent players who actually turned up. The lack of effort is embarrassing, rather than dropping these clowns they get picked again the following week. Has Levy put something in these wasters contracts where they can’t be dropped?
we got beat by Newcastle, to be fair I think Jossies Giants could beat us at the moment and I watched that programme for a few years and never saw them win a game.
We are going backwards, we play boring turgid football, we are always listening to excuses, I bought my little Son the Spurs kit at the start of the season, poor little buggar, should have bought him a jesters outfit.
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Very harsh in respect of Fazio. I disagree. He looks decent to me, played nicely on debut in Belgrade, and has shown that he is comfortable on the ball. I believe he and Jan should play together as much as possible.
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Let’s get the snarky comments out of the way: we know we are a soft touch for the top four sides, now you can include the bottom four clubs as well. On a positive note, this was an opportunity for certain players to show if they deserve to wear the shirt. Only Mason and to a lesser extent Eriksen showed they have a future. I can only add to the universal consensus that Chadli and Lamela are not equipped to play for Tottenham. Yet again they disappeared when the going got tough. Yet again Eriksen was left playing two, sometimes three, against one. Yet again we made an average side look better than us when we should have blown them away in the first half. I’ll bet Aston Villa are rubbing their hands in anticipation at scoring their first goal in six matches when they meet this week.
I’ll be very interested in the team selection at the weekend. Hopefully Mr. Po will finally accept that the favoured combination of Eriksen/Lamela/Chadli isn’t strong enough going forward or keeping it tight when called for. He clearly doesn’t fancy Dembele or Townsend, keeping them on the bench whilst Chadli and Lamela were stinking the place up in the second half. Surely Dembele for Chadli and Stambouli/Bentaleb/Lennon for Lamela will instantly add a more combative edge to assist Eriksen?
I also didn’t like Mr. Po washing his hands of any blame. He was culpable in failing to get fresh legs and ideas into the team when anyone could see Chadli and Lamela had had enough. Lennon should have come on a good 15-20 minutes earlier. Po’s dithering was in stark contrast to Pardew’s response to fixing a problem. And poor Soldado is only good enough to shin his only chance into the crowd. Well, the mutterings have started and we’re not even into November. If Mr. Po doesn’t get a grip and demonstrate that he’s in charge, can get his ideas across, has the tactical “smarts”, and can perform at a much bigger set up than what he’s been used to, then we’re back in the land of deja vu.
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Thanks David, always interesting to hear what you have to say.
I don’t pay undue attention to press conferences but yesterday Poch was muttering about the size of the WHL pitch. That is not the problem and he knows it. Disappointing when players don’t put in the effort, even more so when as you say, Poch has given several of them opportunities denied to them by previous managers, yet they are not responding. Poch himself had a bad game on Sunday – again as you say was ineffective and looked out of his depth.
I look forward to some changes in the next PL side.
Regards,
Alan
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We at Tottenham are raving mad. Over the years we have become more of what we are now than who we were then. Back then in Bill’s day we had everything we needed and since then took two steps forward an one step back and two back and one forward,almost being an ant who cant seem to get out of all things,a cup.
Every time we seem like we are on the road back to the future,we look like a cream puff that falls apart. One game brings us a state of euphoria only to find it was a mirage of sorts.
Poch has been very agitated lately.He seems angry at the players.He seems frustrated with the situation.I wasnt sure if he wasnt happy with Levy or the team but the more I see it seems like the team.
Its not good enough for managers to just have a system. They need some love occasionally,they need a big bollocking occasionally.
I cant see anything wrong with Pochs system. Maybe the players are not right,its true. Maybe they are not right for the system.
Poch was mad at Lamela not for the rabone but for mostly every else he did. He runs around like a 10 year old kid at a disco.
Eriksen while not frivolous,has not taken control of anything despite scoring here and there.Its a mans game an they are not yet men. Kaboul is not a captain,Lloris is.
Harry and Sherwood both injected energy into the team.No great plans but confidence (with Tim it lasted two seconds its true)
but they i that while AVB an Poch now havent. Why? Because they are zeroing on the plan,the system. The system is not the be and end all of everything. The players still need man management,so they can fully commit. These players havent.
In 1961-62 Billy Nick got us as close as we’ve ever been to the top…we very nearly beat Benfica (a powerhouse of that time) in the Semi Final of the European Cup to play Real Madrid for the final. Our wonderful heroes of that time were very close to the level of Madrid.
Where are we now?
You want to see commitment.Watch Real Madrid’s dismantling of Barca. They played their hearts out,within a system and with the energy of 2 year olds. Contrast that with what we suffered through.
Poch has to take responsibility.He still of course has time but he has made some mistakes too. The man thing he can do is instil some faith into the players. They were better when they were not with us an Im sure they will be better after.Now is the time to grab their souls an do something with it. Can he?
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Poch has made mistakes, the players though have to take the lion’s share of the responsibility at the moment because they are not doing the basics. Re resilience, the real problem as others have commented above it that fergie’s savage ‘it’s Tottenham’ indictment has summed us up for 30 years almost, except for some golden nights under HR. We’ll get nowhere unless Poch can change that.
Regards,
Alan
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Alan it seems that a bigger pitch might do it.
I mean how many gaps does the man need???????
I’m not sure if he said that or not but our small team should maybe think about playing on a subbuteo table rather than the holy place that Ginola made his dazzling runs on,Bale made the land speed record on and the field Push and Run was invented on.
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Perfect summary Alan. Poch must surely see that he’s made a huge mistake to build the defense around Kaboul and the attack around Adebayor for that matter. Aside from the goal he contributed diddly- squat (would Ade get into any other Premiership starting line-up? I seriously doubt it). Kane gets a hat-trick and doesn’t start (neither did Dembele who was excellent against the Greeks) and we don’t play two up front at home against a team who haven’t won away all season.
It’s not working and the manager must act decisively. The high-line nonsense and the inverted wingers must be immediately dispensed with. In terms of personnel, the likes of Kane, Soldado (he still hasn’t been given a proper run of games – say, 15 on the bounce – in the time he’s been at the club), Fazio, Dembele and Townsend – we know he’s got it in him as he’s done it for England – must be given runs in the side.
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poch has stated that his team selection is based on merit and form, so he must have very low standards to pencil in kaboul and ade every epl game
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Poch put himself in harm’s way when he chose Kaboul as captain. Why Kaboul? He looks like a good solid sort and a friendly type but was he a clever pick?
If you want emotion and a motivating captain he should have picked Lloris (unless Poch knew it was over at the end of the season). Kaboul is another plodder.A good game, a bad game,but he definately lacks pace and apparently made some noise after this game about the other players when he was one of the worst.
I dont think anyone deserve the armband more than Lloris.Not the moody Vert thats for sure. We nee someone who can lift our spirits.If Poch cant do it.Then Lloris woul; have been the man.
He has performed better than any other player.He is vocal. It was a no brainer.
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Hi Alan,
I can only blame Levy and ENIC for all this. We’ve been progressively going backwards since the “mind the gap” 12 or so points we had in front of the Woolwich. We needed to invest that January in order to stay ahead and keep up with the “Joneses” and all we got was Ryan Nelson and Louis Saha, oh and their Zimmer frames! Ok, Harry lost focus what with the operation, court case and England job, but he had a capable team around him that could and should have steered us home with that “quality” striker that we from the terraces were crying out for.
I can’t see this getting much better. Pochettino can only work with what he’s got and I suspect he won’t be getting anything more till next summer. It’s going to be a long season, one in which it would be so ironic if Wet Spam start to rise in stature, particularly when they’re about to move into that nice spanking new stadium at the tax payers expense.
What’s also galling is the atmosphere at the Lane. It was quite buoyant up until kick off when it seemed to go flat again. I stand in the Park Lane lower near the Shelf and it’s normally raucous. Sunday nobody seemed to want to know. There does seem to be an air of apathy permeating the club. One cause could be Stub Hub. There’s been a different person both to the left and right of me each game this season, all bar one being what I would call an armchair fan who is content to put his feet up and watch a game, but not urge the team along, but then be quite content to boo at the end though – their only contribution.
Not happy!
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Hi Alan. Yet another good and insightful read. Would like to pose the question, “Who is responsible for choosing which players we buy ? Is it the manager, Levy, or Baldini. I can’t believe its Mo Po as he doesn’t seem to want to play anyone who was bought in the summer (Dier only gets in as our other 2 right backs are injured) I can’t believe its Levy, otherwise, why do we employ Baldini ? Therefore it must be Baldini who is choosing this dross. Since he has arrived here he has overseen the purchase of at least 13 first team players !!! None of whom, in my opinion, would get into any of the other top 5 or 6 teams. They may have a certain amount of skills but as a collective bunch their attitude stinks
I say “Get rid of Baldini NOW”and let the manager choose who he wants to play for us otherwise we are in for many years of this pathetic drivel !!!
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How anyone can pick lennon just amazes me this bloke is without doubt the worst player i have ever seen in 60 years watching spurs. He never takes a corner or freekick because he hasnt a clue how to kick a ball correctly wont score a goal if heplays till doomsday,if our manager cant see this then i despair for our team.
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Another frustrating part is the DOF, it doesn’t work, Baldini needs binning straight away. Let the manager buy his own players, look at all the top sides. It annoys the life out of me.
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which kev are you kev?
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Hi Alan
Many, many problems at our club. Not fitting any wheels to a ‘Poch Out’ band wagon, but one of the more comical aspects of Sunday was that he actually missed the goal as he was late taking his seat. You could clearly see him do a double take as one
of his assistants had to explain what had happened. As we know as parents, if you’re in charge of children they need to be watched the whole time, until they can prove that they’ve learnt how to do things on their own. I’m going to get my lazy finger out and write that article about how as a club we’ve become infected with the ‘Spurs Way Syndrome’. Watch this space…
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Do it Rob, I’ll look forward to it. Let’s hope the children learn to behave after being kept in after school. Sunday exposed the lax underlying attitude of many of the players and the lack of ability of those like Kaboul who do get it but who can’t deliver.
Catch up soon,
Alan
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Oh dear things really do seem to be going pear-shaped.On the surface the result from last mid-week looked like a corner turned,five goals scored in one match.Sadly it glossed over some worrying trends.5-1 flattered us to be honest as in the second half particularly their balls over the top embarrassed our defence and with more quality up front they could have made it 5-5.They were neat and tidy on the ball and if anything looked more technically gifted than us.I seriously think we underestimated them.
Several things struck me about the games against Asteras and Newcastle.Considering our build up play is not particularly rapid why do we all look off balance when passing or receiving the ball with everything being at a stretch.It just makes for more misplaced passes which we seem very adapt at.Please give the corner kicks to someone other than Eriksen because the times he fails to get passed the first defender is embarrasing.
As stated by others we must play with two strikers up front at home.Newcastle were so low on confidence coming into the game we should have been out of sight by halftime,but our old problem of transferring possession into goals is not being addressed.Granted Newcastle came out with renewed purpose in the second half,but we shouldn’t be getting caught by a sucker punch like that.Somebody said the ref was at fault,but you should be fully alert for the restart.Certainly like most full backs Rose and Dier get forward well,but they are primarily defenders and this appears to be a common fault with today’s defenders.
Although we bought seven new players with the money from Bale it’s apparent most of them are not up to standard.You could argue Liverpool appear to be having a similar problem following the sale of Suarez.Either Pochetino isn’t getting his message across to the players as to how he wants them to perform,or the players are not able to carry out his instructions.He must know who he can count on by now and it will be interesting to see what happens in the January window.
Sadly I can see Lloris going in the summer and that could have been the guarantee Vorm was given for him to join us.Kaboul is not a captain and is past his best and Vertongen’s mind seems to be elsewhere.If we are serious about getting top 4 none of our midfielders are good enough to influence games.Hopefully we’ve seen the last of Paulinho in a white shirt.Personally I would give Soldado a good run of games as long as we can get enough service to him.
We have to accept that we’re not going to get the best players to join us bearing in mind our transfer policy and the wages we’re likely to offer,but teams like Southampton and Swansea have shown that there are players available who will give you value for money.But then I thought that was Baldini’s job.I was no great lover of Harry but how we miss those heady days of CL football.
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Alan . Your bang on the money. After they watched and saw all about the LEGEND MR Bill Nicholson. You would have thought that would have inspired them. But no. 27 years I’ve Been going home and away and last Sunday was a disgrace frankly I have had enough. Always defending them to all other supporters saying Tottenham always will be the best bar none. Well I can’t Keep lying anymore. I will support them, but no more backing them up until they were that iconic white shirt with pride. Like the fans do.
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