Whilst Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Everton at the beginning of the week was hardly a classic or the kind of performance that fans wanted to see, it at least returned three points and if nothing else, manager Jose Mourinho has to end the season with more positives than negatives to give us some momentum going into the 2020/21 campaign.
Thursday’s clash with Bournemouth at Dean Court won’t be any easier, despite their lowly league position as we simply can’t trust our own performances levels and forms in the way we had become accustomed.
Europe feels like a pipe dream now with so many points to make up for, but our recent defeat left most thinking that way.
Bournemouth...
Win
Draw
Lose
Get the win, put in a performance with improvement and the vast majority of fans would no doubt take that at this stage of the year with so few games left. Next year has its own questions to be answered – but that’s for a later date.
Some momentum, some continuity and then some big decisions need to be made.
This squad hasn’t turned bad overnight…but something needs to change. if our aims haven’t.
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HT….hahaha love that word “might” how many connotations for its use, oh yes! here’s one we “Might” win, and then there is “Maybe”, but do not forget the “Ifs & Buts” lol! COYS
BelgianSpur – Sound byte meaning nothing, is that really the best you’ve got? I’m pretty sure the club hasn’t factored in the ground being hit by a large meteorite either. So presumably by your reasoning another failure.
jod – The last time you were this convinced about being right, it was when we were talking about the impact that European nights have on league standings.
I pointed out, many sources in hand, how wrong you were. After that, you went into hiding.
When we give you the best we have, you crumble and stop answering. So what’s the point?
When it comes to the stadium, the proof is in the pudding. And you can’t argue otherwise. You can try to put things into context, cite mitigating circumstances, etc. But it won’t change the fact that we’re now saddled with a huge, stadium-sized amount of debt, and currently, very few opportunities for revenue. Those are facts, whether you agree with them or not.
But never let facts get in the way of your delusion, I suppose.
Belgianspur, Jose also said that he would rather be in the Europa League than not. I Waukesha suggest that Daniel Levy would also like the income it brings in (not inconsiderable even if not at Champions League levels).
A bit of an eye opener for all the Jose “haters” here. Indeed we WERE playing bad boring football Poch.
For some reason players didn’t want to extend their contracts. Again before JM came. JM has inherited a unique set of circumstances this season. With injuries, contract issues, ageing players, not his own squad and obviously Covid.
The results lately ManU, Everton, W/Ham were all good results. Sheffield was a bad result, however there was a bit of bad luck involved. There was a good item on Harry hotspur today on this matter.
Yes folks I don’t like the way we are currently playing. But as many have said I’ll take a bit of boring football for a trophy or two.
Give JM his own squad with his own choice of players, if he doesn’t bring home the bacon. Then we’ll gut him.
Tomorrow night hit em fast hard score early. Hopefully we won’t be a revival game for the cherries.
Update. Fabulous stadium. Magnificent training facilities. Mediocre team. Dreadful boring football after years of exciting, attacking football. No youngsters of worth coming through. Dismal and morose coach. Mean and tight fisted chairman. Mid table beckons after several years of top 4. It can only get better but say not with Jose. He will be sacked and get a great pay off/pension for another year out. We have to move on with a younger, vibrant coach who can motivate players and fans. Sadly Jose is yesterday’s man. Levy has not recognised revitising the team. We should still have Poch in charge if Levy had supported him. The glory years are in the past but given a change of management and chairmanship, we will be back. Hopefully it won’t get any worse until it gets better. A poor result against Bournemouth and it could be much sooner.
Spurs are like, this rich guy playing golf, great car, best dressed with expensive clothes, best golf clubs, best golf bag, expensive electric trolley, but couldn’t even swing a baseball bat,
Looking forward to a good performance and a victory although I guess at the very least 1 eye will be on Sunday’s game for sure! With that in mind and having only 2 full days to rest again, the same happening here after Monday night’s Everton game, will be interesting to see who we put out today – no Dele, no Dier and the same of Foyth and Tanganga.
Davy to replace Dier and partner Toby most probably – with the 2 full-backs keeping their place again as usual – would be nice to see Sessegnon play but will he even get on the bench?!
In central midfield N’Dombele is surely due some minutes, even the likes of Fernandes and Skipp given we will have had 3 matches in total this week and another 2 next week! Rotation definitely needed – Sissoko can’t play them all and neither can Winks and with Dele out Lo Celso is “forced” to play further forwards in the no.10 role along with Lamela possibly also as an alternative there. Luckily on the wings we have Sonny, Moura, Bergwijn and also Lamela can play there and even Sessegnon could get a sniff here (not for want of trying on my part lol)….?!
Up front HK10 will want to play in all of them but surely we’ll need a bit of rotation minimum (no Parrott unfortunately) so Sonny and Moura to cover when and as necessary – like I say we have plenty of alternatives on the wing so either can slot in centrally no problem!
Defence is going to be stretched with 4 games in 10 days but hopefully we can pull through it and come out the other side with as many points as possible and maybe nick a EL place after all – better than nothing I suppose……!
ND, Jose has definitely seen himself with a unique set of circumstances to challenge him, since arriving at Spurs. And it has to be very tough for him. It would be just as tough for anyone else too.
But all of those things that make it tough for him, have little to do with his general footballing philosophy, on a tactical level. And those of us that have been criticising Jose for his safe, boring and (overly) defensive game-plans, were criticising him for this long before he came to Spurs. It is what he is known for. And the people that also dislike JM for his personality and general demeanour will not be seeing Covid-19 etc., as their reasons why. They already disliked him.
Me. I am always with Geof on the subject of gaining cups, regardless of how (non)entertaining the football is . Continuous boredom rather than the sheer joy of some great football on a weekly basis? Well that’s not for my liking. I’d rather lie down, relax and just gaze at the ceiling for 90 minutes.
I just don’t get the logic of winning just for winning sake, as a spectator. Yes, when Hugo is lifting that PL trophy at the end of next season I will be ecstatic and screaming for joy.I will celebrate good and proper… But if I am bored senseless for the 10 months leading up to that 1 day of joy, then where’s the fun in that. I won’t be receiving a winners medal. I won’t be getting a pay rise from Levy or offers to go play for Barca!
Covid-19 is a sad, sad thing but it hasn’t stopped me laughing at a funny joke. It hasn’t turned me off of my favourite tunes or movies. And it hasn’t suddenly made football such a different and new way of kicking balls about, that boring now becomes acceptable to me as a spectator and supporter. I want to be entertained. It’s simple. Maybe now, (in spite of Covid), more than ever, I want some joy in my life… Don’t we all?
Jose is doing what Jose has been doing for years. And no matter the unique circumstances he finds himself in… football is football, is football……. And I won’t be making any excuses for him when it’s dull. Being dull is not a strictly necessary trade-off for a much-needed 3 points. And, when I’m watching football, it’s not just about seeing the team getting from A to B. I wanna enjoy the ride, the journey. Take in the scenery, have a bit of fun.
I will continue to back Jose until the end of this season at least… And I won’t be hounding him out of the club. But when I’m bored, I ain’t gonna pretend that I’m not.
Football ain’t just about not conceding goals. And, there’s a reason why on the whole, most supporters worship top strikers, No. 10’s and sexy playmakers, more so than any great centre backs or full-backs they have admired… And that is why Jan is on £100k a week, Davies is earning just £60k and Harry is on £200k a week… There is no Golden Boot award for top tacklers. Or, a silver shin-pad trophy for the defender with the most lobbed clearances.
And 5-4 gets you the same 3 points and + goal difference as 1-0 does… Not that 1-0 has to be dull but, we certainly ain’t paying Harry all that dosh just for his defensive usefulness at corners. And Greaves, Chivers and Klinsmann are not really remembered for their tracking back! 🙂
Great post HT. I can imagine Sonny asking his agent to find him another club, you can clearly see his frustration at having his attacking instincts stifled by Jose’s footballing philosophies.
Danny……….. 8/9 months on there can be no more excuses as to why to page 2/delay in posts appearing issue hasn’t been resolved, it’s nothing short of disgraceful. I worked in the IT services industry for many years, in the period up to retirement within a major company whose services included fully managed hosted solutions, an issue such as we are seeing would have been sorted within a few hours generally and at worst within 24/48 hours for a particularly hard to track down issue. I believe we are owed an apology from the top of Vital with an explanation of what action is being taken to solve the issue because for some time now this has appeared to be nothing!
IT IS RUINING THE SITE AND DRIVING PEOPLE AWAY!
Good posts on this thread. I agree we need a trophy win anyway we can, boring or enteraining.. silverware win is what matters. One trophy in 12 years is not good, Harry R. wasted the Europa League years when we could have won something, playing modric, Bale etc…. spurs have been a “nearly team” in semi finals / final… now time to try and win something with Jose. Levy has to back transfers in and out.
FA decision a bit harsh, banning Dier 4 games and 40k fine… Seems to me they refereed to E Cantona incident years ago, and thought Dier similar. Which of course was not as bad as Kung Fu kick Cantona did.
Bournemouth game should see us a 2-0 win COYS
HT – great post. Can you please post some of those funny jokes at 10 minute intervals during the game tonight. I suspect it may be the only thing that keeps us awake tonight. COYS
Wentworth – Unfortunately, how is the situation going to get better, as long as we are run the way we are?
You can point to Jose being the wrong manager for the club, and that’s fine. That’s a matter of opinion, but I understand the doubts. I don’t agree with all of them, but fine.
Let’s imagine we do go out and hire a “young, vibrant coach” like you suggested. How long is the honeymoon going to last before that young coach runs into the same difficulties as his predecessors?
We had a “young, vibrant coach” in MP, and despite very entertaining football, he couldn’t deliver a trophy, despite being given plenty of time. What would be the point of hiring another one, and have him experience the same hurdles?
For me, there is no point in making any more coaching changes until there is either a significant change in how the club is run (and asking a leopard to change his spots is always going to be difficult), or a change in ownership.
HT….you talk of not wanting to be bored, then you write an epitaph lol! am try to be funny, its tough do that the way I feel at the mo, not football by the way and that’s bad enough, hope you can read between the lines and keep trying to be cheerful and making us all smile.
Am going for a 0-2 win, Our Arry and Lo-Celso. COYS
HT …. I’m confused! It’s probably an age/memory thing but …. did I write your last post or did you?
I felt obliged to echo your 1st post on here Geof. I couldn’t help myself.
PY, I’m not writing for fun, you know…
HT …. In other words, I wish I had!
I’m all for winning “ugly” when it’s seen as necessary. As when your two top strikers are out or you’re missing 1 or 2 defenders or you’re down to ten men or playing to stay up…… But when all your top flair players are there along with your best defenders etc., And it’s Sheff United or Bournemouth for example, then Spurs do not need to play so safe. And guess what? We still conceded 3 vs Sheff U anyway. And the 1 goal scored vs the Toffees was an own goal from a shot that was going well wide.
Sheff U are not prolific goal scorers. They have scored just 35 PL goals this season and yet we conceded 3 of them. It was down to poor defending for sure… But even with Kane, Son and all on the pitch, we never looked like equalling them… Then, Everton and Spurs just cancelled each other out with their equally, play-safe tactics. Neither here nor there. Both defences played well enough but weren’t exactly overworked.
If we don’t go for the throats of the Cherries tonight and instead of being a lot more positive in attack, we treat them in the same fashion as we did a far superior MU, then what will be Jose’s excuse if we lose? The Weather?!
I look forward to tonight and reserve my judgement until it’s over… But just as much as entertaining doesn’t mean winning… Boring doesn’t mean it, either.
Great Post HT!!!
HT….on form there, very good post! COYS
BelgianSpur I agree with most of what you say. However, our young vibrant coach MP was not supported by the miserly Levy when we will all crying out for reinforcements. We even went through a transfer window with nothing to refresh our ageing squad. We would not be stuck with the clueless and boring Jose now if we had refreshed the squad. I am convinced that the players seem depressed and disillusioned with the ghastly tactics we are employing. A win tonight will cover the cracks a defeat will sink our season. We also have no youngsters of worth coming through despite fantastic facilities. Something is very wrong at the moment.