Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – It’s Football But Not As We Know It – Spurs Prepare To Blow The Bubbles Away

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Tottenham Hotspur’s players now have a solid 90 minutes under their belts as we look for real match sharpness and fitness as we bring the 2019/20 Premier League campaign to a close, and next up on Tuesday evening we find ourselves back at White Hart Lane as we welcome the bubble blowing brigade to our pitch.

With only a point to show for mixed efforts against Manchester United on Friday evening, manager Jose Mourinho will be hoping for a return of all three points in this fixture – there might not be any fans, but the bragging rights are still available and that Champions League place is still within our grasp at this stage and that has to be the aim despite the season we’ve had.

West Ham...

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With West Ham playing on Saturday evening, from a recovery front, that extra 24 hours could massively play in our favour. With no crowd and piped-in noises, it’s still going to be a strange watch, but the players should be better adjusted now – so hopefully three points.

In terms of team news, we will welcome back Dele Alli from his suspension and we might have Lucas Moura back as well – both will be boosts on a goalscoring front.

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  • Geofspurs says:

    There are a lot of comments regarding Jose should stay or Jose should go. Supporters can comment all they like but the reality is that Jose is here, he is in charge, and he will define the team strategy. It is what it is and no more than that. The only choice, as Tottenham supporters, is to back him and the team. Moaning about what should or could happen, when it obviously won’t or can’t, is just too depressing. More so if it’s the same repetitious moaning.

    I get all the reasons many are frustrated (I’m far from blissfully happy) but football teams are continually evolving so it seems to me that our mental health is better protected if we can accept this and wait for the next chapter to begin. It’s a matter of looking for anything positive at the moment …. even on a cloudy day the sun is out, we just can’t see it.

    As previously noted …. United could not score against us in open play despite the predictions of many supporters and media pundits. That’s a positive to start with. As supporters we should accept what we can and can’t change and focus on supporting the club …. everyone at the club.

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    Hear Hear Geof.

    Jose is no longer the enemy. He is not the Chelsea or Man U manager. He is the Spurs manager.

    I support Spurs and therefore I support Jose.

    Yes, it’s that simple for me.

    • PompeyYid says:

      HT….a simple statement but true. COYS

    • Loz says:

      Well my perspective for what it is worth is that our football has become torture to watch.. i really don’t enjoy watching it and I’m losing interest fast.

      However, i can see that things could change quickly if we get a more BALANCED squad. We have no DM yet we have several midfielders that can work with a DM. We have one left footed CB who is aging and likely to leave yet we have five right footed CB. we have one RB no natural cover and we have one LB with a potential cover who has been told he isnt ready to be a PL LB yet. Then we have one put and put striker and only a kid as back up who is also being told he is ready for the PL yet we have 4 offensive players. My guess is this has arisen because we have brought players that we got good deals rather than what we need.

      The problem i see going forward is balancing the squad with little funds and how we can raise funds, which players are we will to sacrifice. We haven’t got a lot of players to sell with a high return to bring funds in. If we sell Lamela clubs will not pay loads due to his fitness levels. If we sell any defenders who will pay a decent amount for Toby, due to his age, or Aurier who is a liability and lets be honest there is no players that will bring in lots of cash to invest. Its looking like Foyth might go, he want bring in loads. Rose looks likely to go and want bring in much and neither will Vickers and KWP. Who else is there to sell to bring in cash to re balance this squad. Plus we need to look at hometown player numbers. Losing Rose, KWP i think brings the numbers short. This squad is imbalanced in terms of hometown as well.

      I haven’t seen anything to suggest Jose is right for Spurs and i didn’t want him but he is here and i am not going to tear my hair out moaning and getting frustrated. I have taken the approach of sitting back and let it all unfold. If he does manage to turn things around and we start playing decent football then fine, if he fails then changes will be made and i wait to see what direction Levy will go after Jose. Personally as yet i don’t think Jose will last but i respect him for his achievments in the past and while i don’t really want him at th club i respect and accept. In all honesty i just don’t know how it will pan out, im no expert but so fair im not convinced and for me watching Spurs is torture because its not entertaining but also because i don’t see a direction, a togetherness between players, manager and fans. Its all flat and disjointed imo and it shows on the pitch.

      I miss the togetherness we had with Poch and the direction, the philosophy and i saw where the club were going. Yes it fell a part a bit but there were reasons for that but now i am lost in understanding what the club, manager are trying to do. Its weird now.

      Only time will tell if Jose and the club can bring back the glory days and entertain us again. Until then I’m just sitting back and watching carefully how it unfolds and staying sane. Its only football and there are more important things in life to be concerned about.

  • El Jefe says:

    Think JM has had a very difficult ride so far – coming in the way he did and how we were in terms of position and football being played and then the glut of injuries once he was helping to start turn it around for us, now CV, etc – a very, very long tough season – looking forward to next term and seeing what he can do with our squad and hopefully he gets backed as much as possible in the summer especially regarding defensive targets and then I think we can give a good account of ourselves again next season.

    Not expecting much for the rest of this campaign – at best a EL place but then that’s a poisoned chalice as we all know so just going to try and enjoy watching the games and hoping that we can get back upto speed as quickly as possible and set a blue print for a renewed assault next season especially on the top 4! Here’s hoping anyway!

  • 123spurs says:

    Jose has all his attacking players available, but he tactics dont involve attacking. Since jose took over he hasnt improved our defense, number of clean sheets backs this up.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Wow…can’t believe Guendouzi isn’t going to be charged for grabbing Maupay by the throat, what kind of message does that send? I liked this lad when he first arrived from France but he has developed into a real hothead, he has reacted very aggressively quite a few times now when his team mates have been fouled. Hope we have taken note for future NLD’s, wouldn’t be too difficult to reduce them to 10 men. :- )

  • wentworth says:

    I support Spurs but cannot support Jose. Terrible appointment. Defensive,boring and now clueless. Unless we hammer the Hammers, we are doomed to mid table mediocrity. Thanks for nothing Levy and Jose.

  • El Jefe says:

    Sounds like HK10 is going nowhere this summer judging by JM’s comments – fine by me – looking forward to him spear heading our attack for next season! Next summer could well be a different story with him turning 28 but until then more than happy to enjoy watching him turn out for us and hopefully providing us with many more great moments via his constant supply of goals!

    We’re going to need him and at his best aswell as Chelski and Utd look like they will go hard for top 4 along with the obvious suspects in City and Liverpool – and Leicester especially could also prove to be just as dangerous as they have been this season! It’s going to be a tough slog to get back into the top 4 – we’ll need our best players for that especially as it seems we’re going to struggle to do much in this summer’s transfer window – I’m still hopeful we’ll get in defensive targets to sort out our defence once and for all but it’s more hope than expectation!

  • Niall D says:

    I’m not a Jose hater I’m in the give him a chance club. Let’s see what he does. I must agree with the comment that Jose has to get it right at the back. I’m glad someone else noted that United were limited in chances most were given to them by Aurier. I still long for the old days with flair play snappy passing and high press. But as I said a smsh and grab win is still a win at present we need to adapt until Jose’s plan comes to fruition. Next season will tell.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    wentworth – you slam Jose for Aurier, Dier, Winks and Davies’ performances, but any manager can only make do with the players at his disposal.

    If you don’t think those players are good enough, that’s an acceptable opinion, but I fail to understand how anyone can blame Jose for that! Who is Jose going to play in place of Aurier? Davies?

    The reality is that our squad isn’t as good as some think it is. We failed to invest for a long time, and now some of our players have gotten older and the squad needs refreshing. When we finally did invest a little, we bought young, unproven players who will only hit their peak once the current starters are over the hill.

    If you think the squad lacks quality, fine, but blame Levy. Mourinho can only pick from the players at his disposal.

    How can we play possession football when we only have a couple of players who are comfortable enough on the ball (the irony is that one of those players is… Winks, a player you just criticised)? Sissoko is a great transition midfielder but he’s never going to control a game in midfield.

    Our only CBs who are comfortable on the ball are Jan and Toby (and Foyth, arguably, but he has other flaws). Playing those CB helps us as far as building from the back and having possession, but hurts us because of their lack of pace. Sadly, there is currently nobody at the club who is both fast enough to deal with the opposition’s quickest strikers AND comfortable on the ball. So Jose has to choose.

    It just drives me mad when fans throw out generic statements like “we should play possession football” without considering which players are actually suited to play that way, and if they’re even available to play.

    Any football system, or tactic, requires a certain type of player to work.

    Under MP, we had players like Eriksen and Dembele who could make his tactics work. They’re gone.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    As for the EL, as I said on another thread, I am beginning to think that the EL might give us an easier path to the CL than the PL would. It just might be easier to win the EL if you make it a priority, than finishing in next year’s top 4 might be.

    City and Liverpool are currently way ahead of us, and Chelsea is intending to invest massively in their squad (Werner, Ziyech to start, with the likes of Chilwell and Havertz strongly rumoured to be joining). It seems like 4th will be hotly contested as things stand, and I have little doubt that Man U will invest in ways we can only dream of.

    I have never been one to prioritise the EL in the past, but right now, it doesn’t sound so crazy anymore.

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    I thought that Aurier had a reasonably good game, Niall.

    And it was Serge winning a 50/50 ball that set up Bergwijn for his goal.

  • Geofspurs says:

    ND …. I think we all long for the old days of football with flair.

    But for now …. Spurs 3 – 0 WHU. It’s not unrealistic. Is it, folks?

    • Hot Tottingham says:

      That’s no more unrealistic than my 5-0 prediction, Geof.

      I’ll make mine a little more realistic and now call it as 5-1… 😉

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    It’s more than obvious that Harry Kane was very rusty. Which is perfectly understandable. But I have just read a stat that it was Harry that covered more ground than anyone on the pitch that day. Unfortunately, he had little chance to be effective but this just sums him up for me. He always works so hard for the team.

    I will point out that Sissoko also worked his nuts off. And he was out for exactly the same length of time as Kane. Moussa and the other Harry (Winks) protected our defence very well, IMO. And I think that Winks (along with Sissoko) is very underrated by many Spurs supporters… Funny, because I’ve recently read criticism of him that said he is overrated by many Spurs fans. 🙂

    Between the 2 of them, I think they helped out a lot in keeping United’s forwards at bay.

    I’m not saying any of our players were at their very best vs MU. (They weren’t). But I was very encouraged by all of their efforts and a strong looking work ethic.

    And if we find it weird and eerie to watch and listen to a top PL match with empty terraces and no crowd noise. Just think how strange it is for the players and our coaching staff. Then again, they won’t have to listen to the constant moans, groans and insults for a while. (And that’s from their own supporters)!

    But, they do have to listen to Captain Hugo… And Hugo was non-stop (and loud) with his instructions, encouragement and admonishment. Which is something that he has often been criticised for on here over the years, in being too quiet. He wasn’t and he isn’t. And this I presume is why he is captain for both his club and country.

    Anyway, enough of my ramblings… Just to hope for the 3 points tonight, in whichever way we can get them.

    Stay safe, stay well, stay vital…

    Up the Spurs!

  • PompeyYid says:

    In the Cup Final tonight, well it is one of Whams every season, I believe we will win, but unfortunately will still concede, so 3-1 win for me. COYS

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    People do always call this fixture WH’s cup final. But isn’t that mainly down to theirs and our supporters dislike for each other and both clubs strong London rivalry creating that kind of volatile atmosphere.

    Without the supporters, maybe the hype will not be so apparent. Although I do expect the players of both clubs to give it their all. Both much needing the 3 points of course. Them more so than us. I hope we want it more than they need it…

    Come On You Spurs!

  • Niall D says:

    HT can’t agree with your points on Aurier. He did give away 2 to 3 chances on Friday night. He has made many mistakes over the past season. He has given away at least 3 pens and I would argue his mistakes have cost us at least 12 points. He seems to lack a footballing brain, is often out of position then lunges in or another player has to cover for him. Wlnksy does the unspectacular, unspectaculary, he plays backwards and sideways mostly nothing passes. He is too light weight and is often bullied in his position. He was called out by the pundits on Friday night for lack of effort. Particularly in covering for Dier for the pen, and he shouldn’t have let Pogba get that far. Perhaps I’ve started to focus on these two. But re watch the game there is nothing that I have said that is wrong. I hope we keep a clean sheet tonite a 2 niler would do me. But I predict an Aurier mistake and 3-1

    • Hot Tottingham says:

      I won’t be rewatching the game Niall.

      You know, It can depend (not always) on which pundits are commenting and their own bias as to how they see it. All ex MU wasn’t it, on SkY? I watched a stream from NBC and they were more balanced with their views, it seemed to me.

      Anyway, we all see it differently. I tend to er on the side of the positives myself.. Pundits like to do the opposite and comment and replay on players every little error as though they as players were always perfect. And Aurier did set up SB for the goal. I do however think he is better going forward than he is defending. And Jose himself tends to like him higher up the pitch with Davies dropping deeper.

      I wasn’t talking about Serge throughout his time at Spurs, just on this one match. And in spite of his errors (which I did see) I thought he did some good as well… Anyway at this moment Jose hasn’t much choice other than to play him. With both Foyth and Tanganga injured.

  • 123spurs says:

    We need a banner flying over WHL in the 2nd half, saying Attack Attack Attack.

  • jod says:

    You set your team up to take account of two things, the strengths and weaknesses of your own players and the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition. United’s strength prior to the lockdown was their pace and power on the counter attack. So what people want to do is charge forward and invite them to counter attack us. Am I the only one who sees the flaw in that logic ? Unless you are Bayern Munich you don’t have defenders quick enough to survive that kind of suicidal strategy.

  • Loz says:

    I think tonight is a good opportunity to see how Jose manages has he has options although i felt he had options against Utd and didn’t use them.

    If we play like we did in the 2nd half against Utd then i think we can conclude this is what we have to expect from jose for the forseeable future.

    I want a win, and a good win, not a fluke or a lucky win, a good earned entertaining win.

    Personally i think we should beat them comfortably even though we are not at full fitness with injured players returning but even so Westham in their current form, we should smash them.

  • 123 says:

    Agree Jod, spot on, but now jose has put a little pressure in kane to score to night.

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