With Tottenham Hotspur registering back to back losses once again in the Premier League with the frustrating 3-0 defeat to Manchester United at the weekend, news on Monday of Nuno Espirito Santo’s departure from the club probably didn’t come as a great surprise to anyone.
Wherever you sit on the Nuno debate, there were obvious flaws with his handling of the group and with the players just not stepping up for him, there was a sense of unavoidable inevitability about it.
This of course means we now head into preparations for our Group G clash with Vitesse managerless as the merry-go-round has once again begun, and after October’s slip up against them, we simply couldn’t stomach another defeat if we hope to try and top the table.
With speculation returning about talks being held with Antonio Conte, whether he (or a new face) will be in place by Thursday is open to debate but whoever it is has got a massive job on their hands.
What will be will be, as the ditty goes, we just have to hope our next gamble pays off because the decision makers aren’t going to sack themselves are they.
I don’t understand your point Niall. I didn’t say that I called it that we would get in Conte. I said I called it that we may well be surprised at the quality of manager that we will get in, after Jose. This was in pre-season, or actually probably before the end of the season… Long before we ended up with Nuno. But I was just being lighthearted… Even though eventually it’s happened… We do now have a quality coach for this season.
I said this in response to those that were insisting that no decent manager/coach will want to come to Spurs. And all because of Levy. Even though we had just fired Jose. One of the most succesful ever. And now we have Conte. Currently amongst the highest rated of all coaches.
I have no reason to deny that I had bigged-up Nuno. I did! No shame there. Just the regret that it didn’t work out.
Anyway… here we are…. Never a dull moment with THFC… Unless, as Wentworth put it, we are playing football. 😉
Hullo Niall D, how’s she cutting mate ? Do ya think that now we are sucking diesel ?
We now have a world class manager, in his prime at the helm of the club. The ship is always bigger than the crew in my book but the captain decides who walks the plank. I detest and abhor player power. With one part of the equation solved i.e. the appointment of AC, one would surmise the second part of the equation will get sorted out rather quickly. The ultimate solution requires a third remedy, one whereby the current owners, acquiesce to the demands of our newly appointed captain, within reason of course. COYS!
HT….good posts as normal, agree or disagree, but for some…falling on deaf ears come to mind.
Now all this about Levy buying bargain basement players, how does anyone know this? and can prove it to me and others that it is 100% on Levy’s shoulders? am I going to get its obvious! blah blah, or could it simply be down to poor scouting.
Now on the players we currently have, how the fcuk do we know there aren’t player’s screaming to get out? under the right coach….
In last few months of Poch, who had lost his mojo simple as that, Levy got the blame, not according to Glenn Hoddle and a couple of others!
Next came Moaninasaurus! jesus how much damage did he do? ask yourself that, oh and how much dosh dId he spend?
So then came poor Nuno, me I believe when he jacked it in at WWFC, he had lost his mojo and should have taken a sabbatical/rest, but took the Spurs job, for me way to early, but maybe even if 100% still not good enough, we will never know, and plus also maybe just a stop gap, until the man/coach we wanted came available
In amongst it all, we had what I can only say was a debarcle, saga, or soap should I say, that is “am going to throw my toys out of the pram, Billy Big Bollox HK”
Now maybe we/Spurs have got the man/type of coach DL has been after, esp after stepping back and hiring a MODF, who actually gets on with the man now in charge, welcome the “Italian Job”
What I am trying to say with all the above is, surely it will have had a detrimental affect on all n sundry and most importantly the damm Players, with the “Hard Case” coach we have now, who by all accounts will stand no shit/nonsense, is it possible this is the Brush to Sweep Clean, and maybe we will see the true players hoisting their colours that are in our squad.
So lets stand/sit/wait and see as the “Italian Job” adventure begins/pans out,,,,,COYS
AC will separate the men from the boys, simply Q are you in or out.
WW…..I wouldn’t exactly call fees of around £25m bargain basement buys but you are correct in so far as we could and should have identified better players for that kind of outlay. Look at Sessegnon, I said he was overrated before we spent £25m on him, he has been injured for most of the time since we bought him, that money would have been better used going towards an attacking midfielder or a Kane backup.
Well how many more chances must Levy be given to get the footballing side right ?
If Conte can’t get it right then who can ?
Investment in the playing side must improve with more sensible purchases but if investment isn’t forthcoming and results continue as before then Conte will be kicked out then what ?
There appears to be a common denominator in all of this shambles . Who ?
Let,s see if Conte can at least instil some fight with the players and get them beginning to play for the club .
I hope that teamwork will be a big factor in Conte’s thinking and we cruise past Vitese win our final two games and qualify for the knockout .
HT- You have just proven my point. I made a statement that “I think Levy’s compass is broken and his strategy for our club is never going to deliver trophies if we carry on like we are”.
And you pointed out that Levy had:
– brought in 2 world-class managers (which, while true, is cherry-picking somewhat, conveniently fomitting the not-so–world-class ones in between);
– done his utmost to keep hold of two of the worlds best strikers (not mentioning the many world-class players who did leave in recent years, ie Bale, Modric, Eriksen, Walker…);
– built a shiny stadium.
Last time I checked, none of those things count as trophies. My point still stands…
PY – Over the years, players have come and gone, managers have changed, the same problems have arisen again and again.
Isn’t it fair to look at the only constant in all that time?
We can all look at the failures in recruitment, failures in coaching, failures in games etc. and come to the conclusion that not all of those things are directly DL’s fault. But ultimately, the people responsible for those things either report directly into Levy or were hired by him. At some point, as chairman, DL has to assume responsibility for all things Spurs. It’s why he is paid the big bucks.
If someone DL hired makes a mistake, ultimately it is DL’s mistake.
I find it baffling that some fans still are unwilling to hold DL accountable.
Anyways, we have talked very little about the game tomorrow. I personally hope Conte will rotate heavily yet again, happen what may.
Conte needs time on the training pitch with his players and this game is an unwelcome distraction.
In the entire 139 year history of THFC. The club has won a total of 19 major trophies. Including two 1st Division titles. (I’m not including the Charity Shield wins, but I do include 2nd division titles).
By contrast, Man U have won the top division title 20 times! And have won 47 major trophies or so, in total.
And yet somehow, because Levy hasn’t managed to get us anywhere near the level of stature of the likes of United, for example, he is this great failure…
And yet our history doesn’t in any way give us the right to think that we are the club that we all seem to think we should be. And Hod knows, we were so much more worse, pre-Levy/ENIC. And, for quite a while before.
Overwhelmingly, history tells us that we are more on a par with Wolves and Aston Villa, and far removed from the likes of MU. (Or Liverpool)…
Even Wolves won the old 1st division 3 times. Villa have won it 7 times. In fact Villa have won more major trophies in all, than Spurs. Even that other Midlands lot the Foxes have won trophies much closer to Spurs record total, than Spurs have to the likes of MU.
So, why do Spurs fans feel such entitlement to winning more trophies than we do? Why has ENIC got such a bad name in all this? What makes THFC the club that we all believe it should be? When in fact it’s nothing of the sort. And never has been.
Stop all your bratty whinging Spurs supporters! It could be so much worse. We could be Millwall! Or, West Ham! Haha!
BS…..Conte might see it as an early opportunity to check out the attitude of a few players!
I think conte will see this as an opportunity to win a first trophy…..a trophy is a trophy….and put the players out there to see their attitude before the weekend…coys
That’s fine. Just as long as it’s the backup players!
I take your point, but I still think the ECL is a waste of time.
Hi Arky
She’s cuttin’the full of the blade 😉
Hope all’s good your end.
Yep I am very much positive about Conte coming to Spurs.
I fell we will have to expect and accept his style of play which may be more about fitness and energy over style and skill.
For me I’ll take that for a while to get back to winning ways.
He does have Mourinho traits in his playing style, but hopefully not as negative and pedestrian.
I’m hoping for somewhere between Poch and Mourinho, who knows maybe better than both in his tactics.
With that said he dies have a job on his hands, I hope he gets the backing he needs.
Then we’ll be suckin’diesel. 😂
Is this the last chance saloon for Levy after disastrous coach/manager signings and grim player signings.
Hopefully, he will slacken the purse strings so we can attract two or three decent players. Midfielder and striker critical.
I’ve never been that bothered about winning trophies. However, watching Spurs play attacking, possession football with skilful and exciting players has been a priority for me. I have been lucky enough to see some superb players over the years but with the exception of Son and Kane many of our present squad will be easily forgotten unlike Greaves, Gascoigne, Hoddle, Ardiles, Modric, Klinsmann, Ginola, Lineker, Bale,King, Keane, Sheringham, Mabbutt etc.etc. This is why I have loved following Spurs and am very disillusioned at the moment.
You play to win trophies, why enter a cup if you have no interest in winning it. Playing sexy footie and winning nothing which happened under poch. We have got to semi finals, finals but just failed on the day.
Do we even get a choice of entering a cup?
It’s something that happens by default, not something you sign up for willingly.
Always want to win but in style. Football is entertainment. Football under Poch was entertaining. Since then it has been paint dry stuff.
What has poch to show for his entertainment football. He has won nothing.
123 …. WW has just told you what Poch had to show …. EVTERTAINING, EXCITING FOOTBALL. That’s why football fans started watching the game in the first place. Cups may, or may not come, that’s the nature of a highly competitive league. But, under MP, I’m sure most fans were happy to be in the mix. Something wrong with that?
I feel that the team ought to be a strong one for tonight since we have seen that making whole sale changes has produced poor performances .. After all winning produces confidence even if by winning this cup we have played considered lesser teams even making derogatory comments by calling one team farmers !! If we fail to get out of this group it will demonstrate that we are no better than them .
The team has not been over worked recently according to the stats , even giving them a week off , so why not put out a team to get the job done win the final two games and progress .
At present it is the only comp that we will succeed in winning so why not go for it ?
Anything Conte can produce for us will be a bonus but we ca’;t rely on that .
HT – Even looking at our own history, the current drought of 13 years without a trophy is the longest such drought since before WW2.
2008
1999
1991
1984
1982
1981
1972
I could go on and it only gets more frequent from then on.
We don’t bneed to benchmark against anyone else. Against our own history, ENIC has overseen the least successful era of the club on the pitch, trophy-wise, in almost a century.