Time away from Tottenham On My Mind, and more to the point from the ground. An opportunity for reflection. Take a step back. Big picture, overview, that sort of thing.
Nah. I’m unsettled, disengaged. Not feeling it. This is my longest period away from the Lane since my kids were young in the nineties and it’s done my mental well-being no good at all. I can see the game better on television, frankly, but that’s not the point. There are many ways of being a Spurs fan, all equally meaningful. It’s just that my way is being there. A lifetime connection not just with this football club but the thread of my life. Trace it to find my true self, boy to man, son to father to grandfather. And so, if I don’t feel it, what then?
This should be about missing a few games for a perfectly reasonable reason. I now have a new knee and should soon be able to hold my own in the post-match sprint for the Northumberland Park queue. Instead, and perfectly unreasonably, it exposes the dogged obsession that my support has become. After a defeat, I’m irritable and distracted, my energies drained by the strain of suppressing disappointment and frustration.
Yet I’m even more consumed by not being at the Ipswich game. For most, a lucky escape. For me, bordering on an existential crisis because I couldn’t make the effort to watch on TV. If I’m not feeling it, this thing that has followed me and led me through my life, then what’s left?
There have been times in the recent past where any sense of logic driven by finance and family could have meant I broke the chain and stepped away. More recently, the club have brazenly displayed their disdain of loyal supporters, with high prices, the Roma game being the latest example, and the changes in the senior concessions is a barefaced message to all fans that income matters, loyalty is just another commodity to exploit. Instead, everlasting support for the navy blue and lilywhite carried me through dark times that I would not wish on anyone. Now, here comes the biggest threat of all – indifference.
It’s ok. Just a blip. Back on the beat now. I’ll never let go. Haven’t failed the ultimate test – five minutes before kick-off at the Lane, where in the world would I rather be? Nowhere but here. I’ll enjoy it all the more when I’m back, because I know what I’ve missed.
My new knee is fine, it’s the rest of that leg that hurts. It has swollen to Paramot-esque proportions. My physio is keen that I define progress goals. When I said it was to climb to row 49 for the Liverpool game, she responded with a blank look, wrote something in her file then thought better of it and scribbled it out. Maybe it was, ‘hopeless case’.
So taking a step back to consider where the team is at might be the way to go. But little changes – is it two steps up and one back, or one step up and two steps back? This is Tottenham, there are never any neat answers.
It’s the former for me, just about. There’s progress without consistency. If I’m honest, this time last year I would have said that by now, we would be further down the road, but much of that comes from my frustration. I keep returning to Ange’s biggest problem, the burden of the past. Not his fault but he’s weighed down just the same and has to exert undue effort to escape the quicksand of thwarted expectation.
Tottenham should be a club with secure foundations to build upon. Now is the time, finally, or it should be. Ownership is settled, the club not merely financially secure but positively blooming, taking over £5m per home game. Yet the legacy of the last two decades is one of uncertainty and lack of purpose, with an absence of real direction. Such doubt and ambiguity has a way of seeping into the cracks and causing subsidence. Lloris’s recent comments in his autobiography about how before the Champions League final the chairman proudly presented each player with a watch, paid for by sponsors not the club, to commemorate being finalists may be taken out of context (I haven’t read the whole book) but have the ring of truth, that Levy is content to be at the top table without committing wholeheartedly and ruthlessly to be a winner. His proposed membership of the Super League is another example, entering a competition he had no intention of trying to win.
This season, we continue to evolve. We’ve played some dazzling football and have a squad full of talent. Also, Ange has shown his ability to alter his tactics to get the best from his players, although listening to most media pundits chuntering about the high line you wouldn’t know this, notably moving Kulu to be the fulcrum of our play (he’s had an outstanding season), which also enables him to play two out of three of Sarr, Bentancur and Bissouma, giving us more solidity in the middle. Solanke is an excellent buy, and I’m delighted with Johnson’s form. Our pressing is an important weapon now. The full-backs come inside but sometimes they don’t, according to what we need. That is as it should be.
Quincy Jones, the great arranger and inspirer of funkiness in whatever he tackled, died last week. Ange’s approach is football jazz. Some arrangers write out each part and the musicians duly play the dots, whereas like Quincy, Ange suggests a theme within defined chord structures, then allows his players to improvise.
I warm to the way he encourages and develops creativity and individual responsibility, and I think the players do too. Ange is creating positive change but two problems remain. One is where Spurs come up against a more drilled, systems based approach. Teams this season continue to exploit our weaknesses, either by a dense low block with no room in and around the penalty area and/or where they press and man-mark high up the pitch. More recently a couple of teams of gone three at the back which cuts out our favoured angled ball into wide channels.
We haven’t found a consistent answer to this, which leads to us giving the ball away in dangerous areas and players being isolated on the ball. If we can draw sides out, we are much happier, as against W Ham and Villa. At the risk of oversimplifying, this remains a fundamental issue facing our manager. We don’t protect our back four as well as other sides do, especially the full-backs, where our wide forwards do not defend well. I get it, I know why, but that leaves us vulnerable without compromise.
The other is us, maybe. How much time will we give him to sustain progress? Do fans have unreal expectations? Judging by social media, many do, but we forget a lesson that anyone who has ever watched the game should know, which is that these things take time. We have a relatively young squad with a great deal of potential. We are going to have to watch them make mistakes, and sometimes crumble.
That learning process would be accelerated if in January and the summer we are able to buy a couple of players with proven experience and leadership qualities, especially a dominant figure in centre midfield. Such players are few and far between but there’s something lacking there at the moment. They don’t have to be top class because of the talent around them, but some players exert an influence on their team-mates over and above their qualities with the ball at their feet, and we need someone like that. Even another Wanyama, a man with limited abilities but who alongside more talented contemporaries was smart and uncompromising and who enabled others to be the best they could be.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
Great post. I really like your slow deliberately crafted melancholia alongside occasional positive tempo rifts. Just like jazz…
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you can see right into my soul…
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you can see right into my soul…
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Alan I love reading your posts. I think your honesty, openness level headedness and passion when you write are comforting in this crazy world and the crazy world of Tottenham. Hopefully your comfort with your knee and Tottenham will heal quickly.
Its very difficult from one week to another to be able to know who we are.
Chameleons without the Karma.
Others go on good runs and bad runs but we pretty well know who they are. Tottenham are sheep dressed up like mutton and mutton dressed up like sheep. Jazz is a good one about Im not sure if Quincy created the right kind of jazz for Tottenham. His was smooth.
Ours is more experimental. Smooth for a game, electric for 15 minutes,incoherent at times…sometimes raw…. rough around the edges….
Alan wish you the best health and same for our team……I wonder sometimes why I bother with them….whats that Amy Winehouse song about rehab??????
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I feel like the abandoned Japanese soldier – alone with rifle on Mt Postecoglou- defending his name as Emperor whereas I’ve become disenfranchised with the parochial attitude of too many Spurs fans. I hope Ange gets to change the history but fear I’ve seen this script under current ownership before.
I feel there’s finally a drinking implement hanging over the dromedary spine with Spurs & me. Living 400 miles to the North and in failing health is making it easier
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I’m 81 ……. first went with my Dad aged six, alone since thirteen, regularly through the sixties, after marriage only when I could, now watch whenever they’re on the box, and even on the ‘streams’. So, we’re in the same ball park except I’ve never had a season ticket, because I never had the time or the money. Now I DO have the money and the time, but I honestly wouldn’t go because I find myself so regularly disappointed, upset and cross.
I feel our team don’t all care. Some are waiting on the next move; some are just not that bothered; some are up for it totally. But as a machine, it only works now and again, the manager seems to have no idea how to fix it, and the owner thinks it’s a good little earner and on that basis it will do for now. I invest so much in the team emotionally, but wonder whether I should any longer.
Thanks for your blog – one of the few sane things left in relation to our team.
Brian
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I started attending Spurs games on a regular basis in the late 1970’s, from then until now some things haven’t changed. In particular a lack of mental strength, the ability to grind out results regardless of circumstances. Its something Ange is struggling with like managers before him. Its one reason I don’t go with the “sack the manager” philosophy, because changing managers hasn’t worked in my time as a supporter. We saw the problem at its worst when Leicester won the title. Spurs could and should have won it but they fell apart. Maybe Burkenshaw got closest to solving the problem. Even though his team still struggled with consistency they did win trophies. That might be where Postecoglou ends up. Maybe Ange can solve the mental problem given enough time and make us a league title contender, he seems to have more control over how the club is run than previous managers. I suspect though that we need to focus less on players skill sets and more on their mental strength for that to happen.
I find the talk about ticket prices a bit strange. The only London club that seems to keep their ticket prices fairly low is West Ham. But I ask myself do we want to be like West Ham . There’s also the question of just how low prices would have to go for say a pensioner wjthout a company pension to afford them. Assuming that happened and demand for tickets consequently shot through the roof how would the extra fans be accommodated given the ground is pretty much full every game. As I say the comments I read don’t seem to have a lot of thought behind them.
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Loved your thoughts, best wishes for your knee, (I’ve just had an emergency uadruple by-pass with added ablation problems, so know about hospital fun). One thing, you make no mention of Son. Q. Is he a busted flush? would love to hear thoughts about him….
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Postecoglou is now entering dangerous waters that claimed much better managers than him (Conte and Mourinho) both of whom became incredibly frustrated at the lack of support from Levy when they asked for upgrades to the team. They manufactured their departures when they realised the funds were being held back. I’m not sure AP is the answer to our problems. He’s created most of them himself with his predictable set up and tactics and we now have an average manager leading an average team. The table doesn’t lie – we are bang average – and lesser teams now fancy their chances against us with Postecoglou owning some pretty damning numbers that can only lead to one thing. Just three wins away from home in 2024. Goals flying into our net and the team getting turned over by any old rubbish. We are losing points to teams like Ipswich, Leicester, and Palace and it makes talk of a top four spot a joke. Teams like Liverpool have difficult days, too, but they possess an inner resilience that enables them to scratch out points in adversity. There is no ‘core’ to our team. Too many fragile personalities, no leadership on the pitch to hold things together at difficult moments. The club’s transfer policy favouring young players is partly to blame because Postecoglou cannot work wonders with kids like Bergvall and Gray. But at some point we must balance between investing in potential and investing in the team to compete right now with experienced talent. We shipped out a bunch of midfielders this year but crucially did not replace Hjobjerg and we are paying the price for that error. Why did it take us a year to replace Harry and why are we taking so long to replace the gaps in our midfield? Talk about managerial complacency. Our defence is leaking goals because our midfield of Sarr, Kulu and Bents is built to feed the attack, instead of its priority of protecting our goal. Poor team selection, tactics, investment, and leadership on and off the pitch have combined to create the mess we have at the moment. Technical Director Johann Lange and Chief Football Officer Scott Munn are no longer new. They have been here exactly a year and they need to start showing their worth. When Ipswich, Palace, and Galatasary can turn us over so easily then you know we have a problem. Other managers love playing against us because the entire team talk is, “Lads, It’s Tottenham.” And who can blame them?
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A realistic assessment of Spurs under Postecoglou, not a rose-tinted, misty-eyed look back towards the club’s almost forgotten great days. ‘Give him time’ is the unvarying mantra of the believers, but time is precisely what no modern manager is allowed. The days of Nicholson, Shankly or Busby running their clubs for decades vanished with Camp Coffee and corn plasters, and consistent improvement is required NOW, not in another two or three seasons. Son is clearly showing his age, Romero his lack of commitment, Vicario his many weaknesses, VDV his suspect hamstrings, Maddison his style without substance – I could go on, but we can’t build a winning team with so many inferior components, and Postecoglou has to sort things out NOW, instead of mumbling his excuses and looking at his shoes.
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I wish you a quick return to health & hope your new knee does for you what it did for my friend, who said it’s been a game changer for him. Re Spurs, it’s always the hope that kills you (Peter Cook?)
Ivor Haskins
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The big problem with the “buy more players” approach is if the current players aren’t playing to their potential then why would new ones do any better ? There’s also the small question of how much money you can spend before you breach the financial rules. Generally when people talk about Levy not backing the manager they omit details like how much we have to spend, who we should be buying and why they would change a culture which has seemingly survived one manager after another for decades. There’s also the small detail that our mental fragility was there long before Levy. But hey, why talk seriously about something when you can just blame a scapegoat.
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It’s a great puzzler, the question of whether we squeeze better performances from our existing squad or seek upgrades elsewhere. But it’s the job of the manager to get the best out of the individuals and the team and the results are not supporting that approach. We are in need of midfield reinforcements especially after today’s news about Bents but we need a fulcrum to the team. Newcastle have Guimares, Liverpool MacAllister, ManU Fernandes, Arsenal Rice/Odegaard, Chelsea Caicedo ManC (pick any three from the squad even with DeBruyne and Rodrigo injured). We don’t have that quality. I’m not sure about Maddison. He still needs to convince the manager by the look of things and can’t get into the team let alone the England place he covets. So, yes, the team must move forward by investing in experienced talent. If you don’t move forward you are falling behind (to rework the cliche). Putting the responsibility at the manager’s door and our new football hierarchy isn’t scapegoating -it’s their job!
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It sometimes feels like we’re destined to be on repeat. At Spurs, for every high there’s a new low. For each new dawn, the clouds will roll in before noon. It needs to change.
When change is needed, it has always been the manager who goes. Enough of this short-term managerial policy. I’m tired of the managerial merry-go round. What needs to change (and is changing) is the structure, the ethos, the mindset and the strength throughout the whole organisation.
You cannot change things without changing things. Postecoglou recognises that.
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Good article Alan. I agree with most of what you say. How can I not? But the frustration of our inconsistency is what is paramount for me right now. When we play badly (as in the Palace and Ipswich games) it’s pretty much across the whole team. They seem to infect each other with underperformances and you never know which Spurs team is going to turn up. It’s massively disappointing that any oppostion can thwart us and our creative players cannot work out a way around it on the pitch. We continually carry on doing the same thing in poor games and generally that’s moving the ball too slowly. Even against Villa we plodded on in the first half with Udogie continually coming inside and leaving Son with two defenders to try and get around. It took a halftime break before Ange came up with the solution, for Udogie to come outside Son and draw one of the defenders away, leading to different options and goals. I noticed against Ipswich that Udogie came outside Son more in the first half, but we were let down by awful passing and a collective poor team performance on the ball. I watch other teams and obviously see a much more open Premier League this season, with Man City, Arsenal, Newcastle and others struggling for consistency too. But those teams still primarily have plan B’s, C’s and D’s to get the job done. Whereas our players still seem to not be able to work it out, particularly away from home.
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Good luck with the Knee Alan. Hope you get back to the ground asap.
Could go either way this with Postecoglu. Levy sacked Graham just before FA SF and Mourinho just before a League Cup Final, so waters can be very choppy at ENIC Towers even if nearing “success”. He certainly seems to have the support of the match going fans, with very little needed to get them singing the Ange song. This streamer from far far away is increasingly less enamoured.
My feeling is a cup CAN be won, as we are a good side and the football can be devastating, if inconsistently. Much like it’s been in most of my 50 years watching tbf. Look at where some of our great cup winning sides of yore finished in the league in those seasons. Still, football a different beast these days.
IMO the defensive workload and responsibility on 2 central defenders and “No.6” and dogma against doing what even the very best sides do and mix it up (pragmatic) building up is incapable of winning a league or even consistent CL finish (5th would help) unless have the very best players as at Celtic, etc. More clubs than ever it seems to me are genuinely in the hunt for top 4. I think, ultimately, we play naive football too often to think can win the very top prizes.
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Still, watching front football is important to me and he should be given all this season and the summer window and up to November/Xmas to see where we are and if looks like might work, because if it does click it could be wonderful.
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Tricky things knees Alan. Still, onwards & upwards to row 49.
I looked at ways of posting images on the blog but they were far too complicated for a computer numpty like me so links only in the post below.
Hibberni
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I’m curious about the argument that because modern managers are often not given time we should do the same. Guardiola and Klopp were given time, Arteta is in his 5th season with Arsenal and Thomas Frank his 6th at Brentford. All I would argue successful managers who have not been part of the hire and fire philosophy. There’s a saying that repeating the same actions and expecting different results is a sign of madness, but that doesn’t stop a lot of football fans thinking the next sacking will produce different results.
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Hi Alan,
I’m trying to send my prepared post on positional play & relationship play and how it applies to Spurs but cannot see it appearing on the blog.
Can you let me know if that is the case at your end?
Tks
Hibberni.
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We’ve got our Spurs back!
When DL uttered those immortal words little did he realise what was to follow.
So, have we got our Spurs back?
Doesn’t look like it at the moment. If anything ‘plus ça change’ or ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’.
For me ‘getting our Spurs back’ does not mean playing the Guardiola way.
The Postecoglou Predicament or…
Positional Play VS Apositional/Relationship/Functional Play…
Please see the 2 links below for explanations of both (including video & diagrams)…
decoding-soccer.medium.com/understanding-functional-play-7f02cd80900e
medium.com/@stirlingj1982/what-is-relationism-c98d6233d9c2
What’s evident in the videos in these links is the speed of attacking play and the salient fact that the defensive teams have not had the time to put any sort of block in place. Indeed, on occasion the attackers outnumber the defenders.
So is Postecoglou producing that fast flowing attacking football that we hoped would return?
Of course he’s not. What we’re seeing is a poor imitation of possession football coupled with some runs into the opposition half from defensive players.
Only when our build-up play (eventually) reaches the attacking 3rd are there signs of what is described in the links above as relationship or functional play.
Why are we so slow in transition?
Well even Guardiola mixes & matches players & tactics to suit the opposition but this seems to be a bridge too far for Postecoglou. We cannot create space in the attacking 3rd if we continue to adopt the slow route to goal by following the touchlines.
We do not, for example, adopt an overload around our ball player in the middle third in order to entice a low block out of position or to create space on the opposite wing.
I have already observed that when our possession stats are more balanced with the opposition’s we’ve had better games mainly because of the absence of a low block which afforded us more space in which to play some functional football.
Regrettably with stubbornness comes predictability, and another label is now firmly attached to our club.
Hibberni
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Ok Alan solved the problem…
It seems that WordPress doesn’t like https etc in front of a link address so readers will have to copy & paste the links quoted above.
Hibberni
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MANC 2
Whou’da thought it?
I must be honest, I had already prepared myself mentally for humiliation and the tirade that would follow in this post. Let’s also be honest in that this City team is a team in decline and with ageing players to boot and, I suppose we need to count ourselves lucky for the wayward shooting from City.
Still, it was what it was (ugh).
Despite all that I cannot fault the speed of our counter attacking and through the middle too and, at last, Madison imposes himself on a game!
I noticed that Pedro was getting an ear-bashing from Vicario and Sonny in the tunnel before the game. I guess it was to emphasise his defensive duties and, looking at his heat map, that was probably the case. Still got his goal didn’t he though and in true Pedro Porro style.
I’m not getting carried away with this result; too many false dawns. What’s important now is how we build upon this going forward isn’t it AP?
P.S.
Never underestimate the value of Timo’s speed which left Walker flat-footed to set-up the fourth goal.
Hibberni
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MANC 2 addendum
Saturday’s attacking display was a fine example of relationship play, all assists coming from attacking players coupled with speed of movement and accurate passing.
Of note were Sonny’s back-heel & Kulu’s & Timo’s passes into spaces where they expected a colleague to arrive as opposed to playing keep-ball.
I’m still calling for a defensive/set-piece coach. City had 17 shots & 43 touches inside our box and that’s simply not acceptable. Neither do I accept Postecoglou’s view that the ride will be bumpy. We’ve had decades of bumpy rides, enough is enough!
Hibberni.
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Agree 100% Alan with your comment on reluctance of our DMs to protect the back four properly…Ive observed that throughout our whole premier league era. Sides that regularly win cups are always well drilled when they loose the ball to tracking back, not ambling back. Their DMs almost always arrive on time to defend facing away from their goal. For Spurs that’s a rarity.
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Roma
Well, that didn’t take long for normal service to be resumed.
Quote from Postecoglou yesterday “Why can’t it just be entertaining, mate?”.
Looking at Sofascore’s schematic for player average positions we played 2-4-4 last night.
Well that’s certainly entertaining but it undermines the ‘tactical balance’ of the team and the ‘positional responsibilities’ assigned to the players (see comment above regarding our DM’s).
So is the risk reward of Angeball worth it?
Applying 3 & 1 points to the 19 league & cup games played so far we have amassed 35 points or 1.84 per game of which there were 2 draws, 11 wins & 6 losses.
Points dropped 22, goals for 40, against 21.
Well, at this point in our season we’re ahead of the game but not convincingly so but if you’re entertained so be it.
For me I just can’t come to terms with the tactical imbalance & the danger it portends.
I hope I’m wrong.
Hibberni
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We were not at the same level against Roma as against City. However we created more than enough chances to win comfortably, we just didn’t take them. It was nothing like the abject second half performance against Brighton. Its what makes analysing us so difficult, there’s not really any common thread from game to game. A big problem is clearly the injuries. Trying to manage players minutes has become a major challenge. Of course its not just us who are in that position. If you overplay your players their level will drop. That’s inevitable and nothing to do with tactics. They are also likely to pick up more injuries. No doubt if Postecoglou goes back to picking fringe players for the Europa games he’ll get criticised but I don’t really see that he has a choice.
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Fulham
Much of a muchness.
There were periods when we looked tired.
Sonny especially is showing signs of physical and mental fatigue so why he wasn’t subbed instead of Werner is beyond me which brings me to the following thoughts.
I think it’s stretching a point to say players are overused when we are only a third of the way through the season.
My view is more focussed on the style of play being used to employ Angeball, specifically sprints.
We were top of the 23/24 season for the number of team sprints (close to 2000) and Sonny and Kulu were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the player table. This season it looks like we’re heading for similar stats.
So, is this by-product of Angeball another imbalance and how much does it contribute to player injuries?
There are a lot of games this month, a testing time methinks.
Hibberni
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Bournemouth
Dominate but couldn’t penetrate sums up last night which was hardly surprising as we continue to favour the slow route to goal.
B’mouth had 17 shots inside our box which, as well as the manner in which the goal was conceded, continues to underline the need for a defensive/set-piece coach.
I know I’m repeating myself so unless there is a tactical change, defensive improvement, something I can be positive about I’m stopping my match commentaries for now.
Hibberni
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Message to DL
Before we’re reduced to playing an U21 side in the EPL, you might want to consider the damage that Postegolou is doing to the value of your senior players, something that I feel may be close to your heart!
When you choose your next coach(s) (not a manager) soon, please ensure that the incumbent(s) have the expertise and wisdom to employ methods that suit the current squad (which is one of the best we’ve had for some time) rather than the previous three imposters (includes AP) whose only skills were to impose unsuitable patterns of play regardless of players’ individual skills and strengths.
I say coach(s) because you have directors of football (where are they by the way) so a manager is superfluous. In this respect you might want to consider capturing the likes of Zidane and Bettoni after what they achieved at Real Madrid.
What you do not want to do is employ a ‘my way or the highway’ personality therebye avoiding yet another season of player turnover.
Hibberni
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Enjoyed your post as ever Alan, albeit before the City game and the collapse thereafter.
just wanna throw my 2 cents in, regarding Ange etc al.
Firstly Ange may need to learn that the EPL is the hardest in the world and not like the SPL, which is more like the EFL, maybe league 1,barring 2 teams, so when you have many injuries to your defence and your central MF is thin, meaning you are playing Bisuma and Sarr every game due to Bentacur’s stupidity, you need to adapt, not play high line, plus get your players somehow rested, (hard to do without replacements) but cannot play same way as if have full squad, it’s suicide. Every pundit could see Vs Chelsea that the MF was overrun but still no change, even after their third goal, still no change to put on an extra mf, any of them, even the younger ones to plug that gap…. But here lies the rub, we do have a thin squad, we do have injuries and we don’t have experience nor leaders on the bench, nor leaders on pitch too.
I do feel the fact we played a 4-2-3-1 last season and did relatively good for first season with new philosophy but are playing a 4-3-3 mostly this season can also be a factor, although I think we played 4-2-3-1 v city, not sure why we changed, but seems it’s something Ange does, at first I thought it was due to injuries or lack of DMs but it’s not.
listening to Maresca after the game saying his on field players know if their levels drop they have someone competing for that spot. I struggle to see any spot on our team that has competing positions, maybe Sarr, Bisuma and bentacur when all available but at least two of three may play. Vicario, Romero, Vdv, porro, udogie, son, Kulu, Johnson, solanke all know that they can have bad games and will still be picked as nobody is vying for their position, again barring injury/suspension. I’ve noticed this has been a trend in spurs for while now, but other teams are getting competition for positions as it’s healthy to squad. This falls on one man and we all know what way it goes. Recruitment has failed many times too, how many ‘sicknotes’ have we signed in Levy’s yrs let alone my lifetime – Sessegnon, Lo celso, Richarlson, Solomon, Ndombele, maybe VDV , to add to Anderton , redknapp, king
Mr levy has choices, 1. Buy new players to improve, add quantity and add cover in January. 2. Recall some players from loans, ie Phillips, devine, gil,etc to add cover. 3. Give Ange time and convince him injuries be over and all be fine by summer, just go for a cup and forget top 4 this season. 4. Fire manager by Xmas, get new guy in, buy him couple 18yr olds that go out on loan anyways on deadline day and convince himself next season be better, as he saving money not buying young PL experience players.
We all know what choice he gonna make…
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Just adding… I read a sta today that was worrying but true, apart from us only winning 4 away games all calendar year we have only accrued 26 points from our last 22 games including from end last season, and 47 points from last 33 games which would on average pts per game, to us having 53 points in a 38 game season.. food for thought if that’s progress..
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Genuinely thought we would have rested lot more against rangers last night, not sure why resting solanke but putting son as striker when lankshear was available so either play Son on favoured position or rest him & play Werner, albeit subbed a half time anyway, Porro and Udogie need rest, id of played Gray instead of Porro and played Barnett, u21 player beside dragusin, with bergvall starting too, as Porro/udogie cannot play each game without consiquences which was evident in recent games, I get that we may not have won anyways but knowing that 2 games left, both in new year when either players back or new players in, then having somewhat fresher players for Sunday and Thursday. Thursday game now massive as lose that and it’s another missed chance. The fact he not pick Spence for his euro 25 man squad biting him now, pick him instead of Werner as lots cover in that area compared to RB/LB.
read his press conference for Sunday game and talking about not caring about player mindset as they are in a fight to get wins (realistically we shouldnt be in such a fight for wins if squad was bigger or used rotation more) etc would worry me as a player as sometimes players need rest to energised their mental aspect and fatigue doesn’t go away with positivity or extra effort, this is a reason why injuries happen. Also said if we got another CB it would just be another name on the roster without playing, again saying that means what CB would want to join us in Jan knowing you not gonna play if Vdv and Romero fit this proving he will mainly use same players repeatedly each game. This is my point (recent post) about competition in positions not being in our squad, as surely you play dif CB pairing in cups so yes it is needed. (by the way Ange we have 3 CBs not 4 as you keep saying , Davies is a LB mainly, and would be used if Udogie was out meaning would be still left with 3 cbs)
As a fan and looking at our next few games leading up to new year Im struggling to see were our next win will come from as Southampton gonna be fresher without midwk game, more time to work out strategy to beat us, plus our away form brutal. Then United in league cup where again be fresher as amorim rotating to find best 11 and all of them want to show him they deserve be picked not sold in Jan. Then Liverpool who are just beating everyone bar 2 this season. Then forest away who looks great under Nuno (who I personally thought was not given enough time nor players to put his imprint on team) as each corner/free kick from them will be panicking with our defence with their goal threat in the air. So I presume Tamworth in fa cup most likely but by then not sure Ange be in charge as be way down in league position.
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The other side of….
While I’m in no way suggesting that our injury list is beneficial, it does at least provide an opportunity for players who have had little game time so far.
Dragusin in particular is starting to show the qualities for which he was purchased and underlines the requisite that certain ‘squad’ players, where we are short of cover, must be accorded that facility regardless of who’s fit and who’s not and I don’t mean 15 minutes at the end of the game.
What happens if Solanke get’s injured?
Please don’t tell me that Postecoglou will play Sonny at N° 9 again…
In this respect I’m hoping to see Lankshear start a game before the New Year.
Hibberni
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so glad I got the Southampton one wrong in a way, with my ‘not knowing where next win will be’ comment. Does however show how putting Spence into the squad would have eased for Porro/Udogie and he should have been added to our Europa league 25 man squad. I’m hoping this will give more starts in matches for Bergvall, Lankshear, Spence and perhaps others in upcoming games as only getting 15 mins at end of games when rest of team are tired and not pressing or passing accurate or when we losing so unable to do much in those minutes. I know it’s easy for me to say players need to play that way in first half every game and be consistent as Madison, Son, etc need to be but tiredness is a factor. Also playing a 4-2-3-1 formation suits this team better.
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‘Injurious B……s’
I can remember Postecoglou saying that he was building a team that was not a’ one-shot deal’ but one that can compete for silverware every season.
We had 22 players out at some point last season, with 37 separate injuries recorded overall (source BBC).
This season is looking like the injury manifest will be even worse.
Now, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the training regime required to support ‘Angeball’ will be every bit as rigorous as the games themselves.
Then there is the ‘Angeball’ highline which forces players to turn and sprint back when possession is lost. Awareness, agility and reaction time are critical to the success of this obligation and Sonny for example, because of his age, is struggling to meet these demands.
So, when I hear Postecoglou making excuses for results due to unavailable players does he not realise that his situation is self-inficted and, more importantly, that he has no chance of building a legacy with a crippled squad.
Merry Xmas Alan et al.
Hibberni.
P.S. points per game is still falling, 1.35 currently.
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was not expecting us to beat Liverpool but was also not expecting it to be that bad, but if we look at the facts it’s not surprising.
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