Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – Spurs Looking For A Royal Performance To Return A Maximum Points Haul

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With a hard-fought, but very welcome, victory over Burnley in Monday evening’s Premier League clash, Tottenham Hotspur turn their eyes to Group J of this years Europa League campaign and next up is Royal Antwerp.

With one game played in the group, it’s first vs second on Thursday evening and the aim for manager Jose Mourinho’s boys will be to make it six points from an available six and begin building up a buffer zone on the three sides below us.

There will inevitably be changes to the starting line-up once again, but on an injury front there are doubts about Serge Aurier, Steven Bergwijn and Japhet Tanganga remains out with no return date listed by PhysioRoom.com.

Whether or not either of the first two come back into JM’s thoughts remains to be seen, but we certainly shouldn’t struggle to put out a squad that leaves us confident of yet another three points.

Then, it’s down to how they perform.

Royal Antwerp...

Win

Draw

Lose


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  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    I don’t think there is one person on this site that revels in a Spurs defeat. We all want Spurs to win every game but the fact is that we are no where near as good as some people seem to think. Talk of a title challenge is frankly nonsense. We were pathetic tonight as we have been for most of the season. A good second half against Southampton, a good performance against a ten man Manchester United and a good fifteen minutes against West Ham. Apart from that, the football has been pretty aimless with no distinctive pattern of play. Unless Kane or Son come up with something then we are pretty clueless. Jose has no idea how to set up a team to attack, we are hopeless when trying to break teams down and his so called strength in making teams hard to play against seem to has deserted him.
    Our Europa League performances against mostly really poor opposition have been aimless and appalling.
    I’ve been consistent since day one that he is the wrong man for Spurs.
    Obviously the players have to take their share of responsibility, most of them didn’t look interested last night and no one seemed to be capable of taking responsibility for themselves or the team.
    We have an incredibly tough run of fixtures after the international break. If there is no a dramatic improvement in performances from everyone (not just Kane & Son who are probably the best two players in the league at the moment) then we will lose most of those games.
    And Niall D I do not revel in the defeats, I am as frustrated as anyone and I call it as I see it.

  • Niall D says:

    PY and Block 108
    Two good posts re last nights performance.
    Antwerp were up for the game and wanted it more than us.
    They defended stoutly, many of our “fringe players” weren’t up for the fight as PY says they were playing a local park game.
    I thought I saw some pulling out of tackles just like a friendly.
    As some of us alluded to in another thread we seem to be up for the big games and get caught out against lesser teams.
    We didn’t do our home work. I would argue that all players on the pitch gave a poor performance including the subs who came on. Not a good night at the office.
    It’s not all doom and gloom we are still in the mix.
    It may give us a kick up the ar*e for the Brighton game.

  • Niall D says:

    Ah DH there ya go.
    Slagging off good old JM re his defensive tactics.
    We’ll heres a few facts for you.
    Real Madrid 326 goals in 3 seasons under Mourinho (highest scoring team in Europe’s top flight)
    Apparently Drogba/Lampard have the highest goalscoring partnership in the Premier league
    Kane and Sonny are catching this up.
    Spurs are the top scoring team in the premiership so far this season. Again under Mourinho
    So I’m wondering where this non scoring defensive team is you are talking about.
    For me m8 you always put a negitave slant on everything.
    I get you don’t like JM. But if you look at your comments.
    Good 15 minutes against W/Ham then pretty clueless.
    For many other supporters we bossed that game for 80 mins and through an OG and a worlide they got back into it.
    Beat a 10 man Man U. We were already ahead before the sending off bearing in mind we came back from 1-0 down away at old Trafford. Highest win ever against ManU.
    Look m8 for me you seem to take the joy away from our games even when we win you put some kind of negitavity on it.
    I do think you are content for us to lose just to prove your anti Jose point.
    I on the other hand do think we have improved this season, and barring last nights display, we have been good to decent with an average 2 points per game in the premiership.
    Yes some of us are looking toward a trophy or top 4 given this turn around, and given we were around 14th this time last year and looking down (who was our manager then?)
    Yes m8 we were all annoyed at last nights dismal performance, by the whole team, subs included.
    And last night you would be justified to complain as we all did.
    But you are doing it nearly all the time.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Geof…..your last article ‘Tottenham: Didn’t See This Coming’ would have been a good fit at this point! :- )

  • PompeyYid says:

    ND…thanks for the praise of my post, I can get it right sometimes lol! and regards your post at 1.53pm to DH, very well written I am 100% with you there.

    Further to that debarcle called a game last night, I believe after listening to and reading JM’s response I believe a mighty size 9 or 10 boot up the arse’s will happen, he will not stand for what we witnessed last night.

    Anyway the sort of thing that happened last night, happens, that’s football, the game we all play, have played, watch live or from an armchair but mostly we are fans and love it simple as that. COYS

  • Geofspurs says:

    TQ …. It’s a phrase we could use after every game at the moment. Just makes it more exciting. Expect the unexpected, I guess. : – )

  • jod says:

    What seems to be clear is we much prefer a team to take us on. Its when a team comes to defend that we have a problem. Thing is this isn’t something that has just happened under Mourinho, we had the same problem under Pochettino. Clearly some tactical change is needed in those matches, I’m not sure what but don’t give stupid goals away would be a good starting point.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    Niall… agree we all want spurs to win.
    DH…..Sometimes we have to give credit to the opposition playing at max ability and doing their homework on us (burnley game / w ham). Refer to BS post on this thread. R Antwerp have players who are experienced players with younger ones to do the running and close down. Yes spurs were not at the game this time, as we all saw. Jose is our manager and IMO… he has improved the squad and we are playing better than when he took over from poch.

    As to bus parking teams, Man City has good record, so perhaps we should play similar.. we have the quality so results “ground out” will happen for us. COYS

  • PompeyYid says:

    Guess what all, I just watched my recording of last nights, dare I say it game lol!, well most of it, anyway the main thing that I thought of/noticed esp in the 1st half, no leader on the pitch, no mouth piece nothing, you had a load of players with different difficulties ie language barrier for one, so a leader by example was needed, so for me JM should have had Hoj or even Sissoko out there, dishing it out, verbally or leading by example, just a thought I could quite easily be wrong. COYS

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Niall D – that’s a hell of a lot of facts you put together to dispute Jose’s defensive tactics when I didn’t even say he was defensive. You clearly have trouble reading because I clearly said that I take no joy in Sours losing and am am not that sad that I need Spurs to lose to prove a point. If you think we bossed the game against West Ham for 80 minutes then you clearly didn’t watch the game.
    I don’t think we have improved much at all – we have had a friendly fixture list so far and we have taken at least three points fewer than we would have expected. And the Europa League performances have been shabby at best. It is not negativity, it is objectivity.
    We all see things differently, there is no need to be so dismissive of my views.

  • Niall D says:

    PY and B108
    2 good posts just now. I am aware that we all want Spurs to win.
    A bad performance is a bad performance like last night. And as both You and BS referred to they were an experienced team who are reportable hard to beat at home and who are on top of their own league.
    They did their homework against us.
    Where as we were either too blasee or had a hangover from the Burnley game or the multiple changes didn’t suit either way we were poor and nieve against them.
    What I can’t take is that when we do win we are not given any credit for it.
    As you have seen written in posts above.
    You know that crap team W/Ham how many did City put past them last week. What was the result?
    Making statements that those of us who say we have a chance at the title is frankly rubbish.
    We for me we have improved.
    I don’t long for the heady days of last November when we were put out of the EFL by fekin Colchester
    And were 12th in the league going down.
    Why am I optimistic, because even though we were 12 th this time last season, we still some how got into the top 6.
    This season many of those teams who were above us last year are currently below us in the table, we in 5th position, scoring freely, haven’t lost in the prem since the opening game. I do think we have a good /decent squad and we are still in the EFL within sight of the final.
    As I said I aim for the stars and might hit the ceiling.
    In our current form we are a top 2 /3 team.
    I did say that some pundits didn’t give us a chance pre season are now changing their tune.
    This year there is no out and out leader in the league so far.
    So is it “rubbish” for the top scoring team this season to be in with a chance, I don’t think so.
    Just like PY, HT, and a few others I am of the opinion that JM is our manager and worthy of my support.
    We got it wrong last night may be a hiccup in our larger plan.
    Let’s hope so.
    Just not fond of negativity for the sake of it.
    That’s Roy Keanes job.

  • 123spurs says:

    I would not of subbed 4 of them, a good ol bollocking at half time and see if they can turn it around. Mind you the players did come on couldn’t manage a shot on target. I wonder did he give them the same treatment at full time. For me jose got wrong.

  • OyvehMaria says:

    Well I am with DH on this one …. Poch should never have been sacked! JM just spends his time sulking and when the players play bad he doesn’t talk to them, takes defeat personally because it hurts his over inflated ego. JM has a wealth of talent at his disposal and whilst everyone talks about Dele losing it JM lost it years ago ….. he is not the special one, he is not a leader of men he’s full of the brown stuff ! he spends all his time resting on his past. Look at what Carlo Ancellotti is doing with Everton with half the resources he’s got … imagine Carlo in charge of Spurs ! Any Manager who puts a photo up on Twitter of himself sulking in the Team Coach after the game making veiled threats to the players through the media and social media? … Poch would never have done that.. JM is an exhibitionist, a pantomime dame, a complete drama queen. Don’t like him and I don’t like the way he treats the players. Putting Davies in as CB and leaving Alders out what was that all about ? he’s got all the players he needs for every position so he plays Davies out of Position ? …. If JM wants respect and commitment from the players he has to earn it not using the bloody media to make his threats! Dont care what he has done in the past that was then and this is now and now JM’s not good enough! Nuff said!

  • Niall D says:

    DH
    Back At you m8.
    It’s just what you are doing being dismissive of other people’s views.
    Indeed we all see things differently.
    But how anyone thinks we’re better off at 12 th position last season than we are now is anethma to me.
    And we’re still in 3 Cup competitions.
    But it’s just me.
    Time will tell.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    I think it’s fair to say the players and Jose are equally responsible, the players didn’t gel as a team or put in enough effort while it’s also fair to say Jose made an error in making so many changes to the starting eleven.
    Let’s hope it was just a bad day at the office and, after all, in theory it was probably the toughest of our six group games.

  • wentworth says:

    I, too, am not a fan of Jose. I was very dismayed when he was appointed knowing that he is not in the Spurs mould. Yes, we have to put up with him…his sulks, his excuses, his tactics, his boring comments,his moaning.. Also I dislike the way he is still bullying Dele and the rest of the team will see this and think “am I next”? He has been lucky in that Levy opened his moth- ridden wallet and has bought in some extra players. (Levy did not support Poch who would now be able to get the best out of this current squad.) The players on Thursday looked totally disinterested in both halves. Bringing 4 subs on at half time was a coach losing his temper….he never normally subs to the 60th minute or after. Yes, he could have brought a couple on but why not motivate the ones on the pitch instead of making them feel useless. I want us to succeed However, I shall be relieved when he gets his usual massive pay off and goes into temporary retirement again. P.S. we need an outfield captain to give the players a few arse kickings and drive us forward.

  • Niall D says:

    WW
    A lot of what you have just said is true. We were bad, disinterested, nieve on Thursday night and everone has called it. I agree with the bringing on 4 subs as well and mentioned it.
    But in the times that we have played well scored a lot of goals.
    We’ve got to call that too.
    Otherwise in the times we do play poorly the complaints and assertions mean nothing and just look like a constant moan.
    I actually said initially that I’d put the names in my “Black book with a line under it as a joke.
    It’s from the” Quiet Man”
    Any on wards against Brighton hope fully we’ll win 23-0 and there’ll be no complaints.
    Now I definately know where HT was coming from.

  • Geofspurs says:

    Nobby Stiles …. A great player, RIP.

  • jod says:

    Part of the problem may be mismatches in midfield. With Ali in the team Lo Celso was playing deeper than he’s really comfortable, you could argue those two shouldn’t be playing together. Winks can’t play the Højbjerg role, I would argue he’d be much better playing the way he was when he first made the team but its not what the manager wants. We may have a ready made Højbjerg understudy on the way in Skipp but he’s not there yet. Up front we can change personnel without losing shape. In midfield when you start changing players you end up with a number of individuals who are all good players but don’t fit that well as a unit.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    I’ve suggested a number of times that Dele’s style of play just doesn’t fit the formations that Jose uses, if I’m honest I no longer think he performs that well in the formation that did i.e. 4231. Our play seems to suffer whenever he is on the pitch so I don’t think he will be afforded many (if any) opportunities to play going forward. Such a shame really, the early potential that he showed seems to have deserted him.

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