Tottenham Hotspur put Premier League woes on the backburner again this midweek, and although we have a significant advantage over RZ Pellets WAC in our Europa League Round of 32 double header, the question on everyone’s lips is will we turn up and put in a performance that shows a reaction to our current woeful run of form.
For some, Wednesday’s early evening clash at White Hart Lane is about far more than simply the result and fans will be looking at manager Jose Mourinho to ‘fix’ the problems he claims he ‘cannot resolve’ as our first team haven’t suddenly become that bad overnight, even if the form guide shows five defeats in our last six league games.
Whilst performances were hardly perfect, the wheels on the early season optimism bus have well and truly fallen off and more and more fans will soon start looking behind us, as opposed to up the table, particularly if we don’t pick up some points sharpish.
Holding a 4-1 advantage from the first leg, our route to the next round shouldn’t be in question, but the reaction of the players and the performance they put in, could be very telling in terms of how the rest of the campaign will now go.
HT Don’t get me wrong Dele did have a good game tonight which was pleasing to see which I did commente on . However he does need room in which to work which he was given this evening . I am just trying to be objective and put his performance into perspective considering his form recently . I just hope that Mourinho can play him more because if Dele can maintain this form coupled with Bale’s fitness improvement , Son and Kane feeding off their creativity we could achieve some good results and even be positive about the cup final ? ( Won’t mention the defence in this positive post !!!!)
I come back to the number of games. In a sense it doesn’t matter how well players are playing. There’s a quote attributed to Frederick The Great – “He who defends everything defends nothing”. Poch never got that, he just overplayed his key players and ran them into the ground. If Jose is going to avoid the same mistake he is going to have to use the whole squad. It’s just about picking the right players for the right games if he can and whether the league or the Europa takes priority. We just have to hope everyone, whatever their limitations, is up to the job.
As i said several times this year, it’s very easy to look good against Marine, Wolsberger etc.
Dele scored a good goal, it takes talent, but nobody is saying Dele doesn’t have talent. Talent has never been the issue.
Coasting on talent is certainly enough when you face poor opposition. However, to dominate games at the highest level, you have to have talent and work hard.
While last night was the latest proof that Dele is a talented footballer, there are still question marks as to whether he can shine in games where he won’t be afforded the time and the space.
Tim Sherwood said last night that Wolfsberger would be League One champions at best.
We’ll find out on Friday who are next EL opponents are. With a bit of luck in the draw, we could yet coast through 1 or 2 rounds without having to face anyone of significance. But eventually, we’re going to have to play a strong team en route to the final, and that’s when we’ll know whether players like Dele and Bale have turned a corner, or if Vinicius can actually be relied upon if Kane has to miss time.
In the meantime, it’s obviously a nice little morale booster, but it’s still a poor indicator of whether those players can be counted on in the biggest games.
As an aside, I remember us having big debates on VS a few years ago (2017), when we finished in the top 4 and won nothing, while JM’s Man U won the EFL Cup and the EL and finished 6th in the PL.
Both clubs were in the 2018 CL all the same, one finished above the other but the other club had 2 trophies to show for it.
Well, funnily enough, the roles are just about perfectly reversed now. We of course still have some work to do to win those 2 trophies, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see JM’s focus switch to those competitions, as the season goes on.
I said in in 2017 and I’ll say it again now: given the choice between the 2, I’ll take the 2 trophies over the “bragging rights” of finishing higher in the PL table. I can’t even remember whether we finished 2nd, 3rd, or 4th in 2017 without looking it up, but I remember Man U winning the 2 trophies…
I think the parallel between the 2 situations is fascinating. At the time, JM was slated for being very harsh to certain players (Luke Shaw comes to mind), and the general consensus was that the team was good enough to win things but was being held back by JM.
Fast forward 2 years, and most of the ex Man U players/pundits (Neville, Scholes, Ferdinand, Keane…) were finding themselves coming around to the fact that Man U’s squad was in fact short on talent, and that JM had possibly been right all along.
I am not looking at JM’s tenure at Man U with a great deal of admiration, and I will be the first to admit that he was destructive at times.
But the fact remains that Man U have won nothing since JM has left, are nowhere near the title, and that JM’s assessment of the talent in the Man U squad may have seemed harsh at first, but was arguably proven right in the end.
to my knowledge, Luke Shaw still hasn’t turned into the world’s best left back (and talent certainly isn’t the issue). In fact he was gradually replaced by an academy player, Brandon Williams, last year, and Man U eventually decided to buy Alex Telles, a Brazil international, to increase competition at that position.
The point being: JM may be an arrogant, destructive personality, but that doesn’t mean he is always wrong in his assessment.
We can rue the style, but let’s not dismiss the underlying message, which may be right in the end.
In fact, a lot of Spurs fans themselves will readily admit today that the squad needs more talent, and the others may come around to that in a couple of years.
BS….I think it’s a bit too early to write off United’s title hopes (much as it would grieve me if they did win it), I think Pep has set his sights on finally winning the CL with City this season so as the latter stages approach it may result in a slip in the PL as a result of resting players. Who knows, we’ve seen this happen before and it quickly turns around with a couple of losses even if they are 10 points clear right now.
With regards to our progress in the EL, the same could apply here where Jose may regard this competition as solving two issues in one stroke, that is ending our trophy drought and qualifying for next seasons CL. For this reason we could see a turnaround in the starting elevens going forward whereby the current PL starting eleven becomes the EL starting eleven and vice versa. That may not be in entirety of course but you get my drift, this would see the likes of Dele, Vinicius, Hart etc. playing a bigger role in the PL towards the end of the season if our EL progression continues.
Good game, Good game as someone once said.
Poor opposition has been mentioned, but as has been said many times…you can only play what’s put in front of you.
Poor opposition as some keep harping on about, wont last long when we meet the “big boy”, jesus give it a rest, the so called poor opposition were up for it last night they did get in our faces, bless em! haha
Any how’s I think we knew the fixture was over and didn’t really put out foot on the gas esp in the 1st half, which in turn did piss me off, go for it “kill em off” was my cry lol!
2nd half so much different, quicker passing, movement, wanting the ball etc thus 3 more goals.
MOM, as everyone else was Deli, oh it was against lesser’s, again give it a rest, we got from him control, willing etc + a lovely Deliesk type goal, 2 beautiful assists, Sid Vicious, who is a poacher/box player pointed where he wanted it, Deli obliged, great finish from Bale, esp with a pass that was put on a plate by Deli.
Both players DA n GB are almost back, great additions so we go on!
Sid Vicious, for me proved he is a box/penalty area striker, comes alive, knows where the goal is, so our game has to alter slightly to get the best out of him. COYS
I see there is quite a lot of talk of new goalies as a result of Hugo’s dubious form and his links with Poch. I understand the issues over homegrown squad numbers but regret us sending Gazza out on loan. I don’t feel he was ever given a fair chance at the number 1 slot, he didn’t do too much wrong when deputising for Hugo when he was out injured for quite a long period. Paulo may not be as good a shot stopper as Hugo but he is far better at dealing with corner and set piece balls into the box and I always felt the centre backs had much more confidence knowing he was behind them.
In terms of possible replacements, we have been linked with Dean Henderson in the press recently and he is a decent keeper and only 23 with quite a bit of PL experience already at SU. I am also impressed with the young lad Meslier at Leeds who is only just about to celebrate his 21st birthday.
A player plays well. I praise him. He scores a great goal. I celebrate a great goal and I praise him for that…
That’s all. It’s nothing to be analysing in any great depth… Not for me….
I’ve said all over this thread that we need to improve and play better, winning football in the PL. I said that Bale and Dele need to improve….. We all know this. They know it too.
But, a great goal is a great goal is a great goal…..
If jose doesn’t start, del boy and Gareth Wales. He is a weak manager,
It’s all very well attempting to justify Jose’s poor treatment of Dele. Especially if Dele now starts to consistently shine for Spurs once again, as he did last night. (If he actually gets the chance to).
But if it wasn’t for Levy stepping in and insisting that he will not be gone. (Sold or loaned out). He would not be at Spurs right now… And who would have blamed him.
Sorry… That was to BS.
The same goes for Ndombele as well. If it wasn’t for Levy intervening, he would also be elsewhere right now. He wanted out.
BS, I’m not sure what point you keep trying to make this season about Jose’s poor treatment of Luke Shaw at MU being the right thing. And because he is not now seen as world class? … What?
Shaw has been their first choice LB all season. An has been playing very well. He has been receiving a lot of praise for his play this season.
Or maybe that was the kick up the backside Shaw needed?
So many factors, hard to tell.
But I just loathe blanket statements saying this or that manager is bad for all. It’s disporven by facts and just plain wrong.
Sorry… That was to BS. The same goes for Ndombele as well. If it wasn’t for Levy intervening, he would also be elsewhere right now. He wanted out.
BS, I’m not sure what point you keep trying to make this season about Jose’s poor treatment of Luke Shaw at MU being the right thing. And because he is not now seen as world class? … What?
Shaw has been their first choice LB all season. And has been playing very well. He has been receiving a lot of praise for his play this season.
Point proven HT….mistreating players does work! 😉
Then again, if you were being bullied at school your learning would inevitably suffer, expel the bully and the likelyhood is the victim will recover over time and start to flourish again! 🙂
Looking to the weekend and the game against Burnley……..their recent record is 1W 3D 1L in their last 5 so it’s looking like a bore draw unless Dele or GB can come up with a wonder goal.
So I am getting the impression, that if you give someone your honest opinion about them, its not geeing them up so as to get the best out of them its “bullying” oh my god everyone please keep quiet in case it offends, snowflakes have landed lol!
Now for Sunday, we are up against Burnley, who fight/battle for Sean every season, with out a doubt, to stay in the lucrative Prem lge….
As others I agree its going to be a tough match, but we will I believe, have just to much for them, we are on the turn around, its coming starting on Sunday, undefeated rest of season lol! am I dreaming, will it be true, well here’s hoping with all the optimism I can muster. COYS
PY. If when using the term ‘snowflake’ you mean someone that is overly sensitive to criticism and can’t handle others pointing out any of their faults, without over reacting and getting all defensive and feeling insulted…?
To me, that perfectly describes Mourinho. And certainly not Dele, Ndombele or Shaw for instance. Those 3 players have just knuckled down, kept a dignified silence and got on with their job. Unlike their Boss!
HT….spot on, I was trying to say that JM, like him or not, was in my opinion trying to “gee” up certain players and is not a “bully”.
So I wasn’t describing the 3 players you mentioned, it was directed at fans who shout “bully” and as you hopefully spotted the quietly done dig at JM himself, lol! COYS
Let’s get it in prospective we have just beat the “Dog and Duck” 8-1 on aggregate, this result has no bearing, or little bearing on an awful season. What it might do is persuade JM to be real and put Deli and Bale back into the match day squads with a good chance of selection. They might not work too hard but they are both very special. I was fortunate to see Glen Hoddle in his pomp, his work rate was not the highest but with his class and match winning capability made up for it.
Frank . Didn’t Hoddle play in the relegation team of 1977 ? Couldn’t stop us going down though . However Burtenshaw then produced some golden years for us which I think was the last time we were a consistently effective team ?
Was just listening to TS on the way home, just got the headline really, they were calling for HK, Sonny, Bale and Dele all to start on Sunday, have to admit would love to see that.
It’s not the bullying that gets to me but the attempt at humiliation from a failed footballer like Moanino. He was once box office but now boring office.