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’m a great car driver very entertaining. But that won’t pass me and get my full licence. You play to win the trophy and the competition you are in. it was great that poch got us top4 fantastic. Its like you order a take away you find it cold, driver tells you he took the scenic root.
I don’t think you can compare different eras in terms of odds of winning trophies, it was a far more level playing field back in the 80’s and beyond if you’ll excuse the pun. TV money and super rich owners have resulted in a smaller number of clubs hogging the silverware, when in the past did anyone win the league cup 4 years in a row like City did? West Ham only knocked them out this year because City are clearly focused on winning the CL. It’s still likely to be one of the usual suspects winning the PL and FA Cup, possibly League Cup as well with Chelsea and Liverpool still involved.
TQ2Spurs – my point was that no Spurs fan in his right mind is expecting the club to challenge for titles every season, like say a City fan might at present.
But there is a difference between that and expecting to win something once in a while. A trophy per decade doesn’t seem unreasonable when we get 30-40 chances at it.
I just reject the argument that expecting us to win something once in a while is having unreasonable expectations., for a top 10 club in world football.
There is no valid reason why clubs such as Swansea, Birmingham City, Leicester, Portsmouth and Wigan have won domestic trophies more recently than we have, or clubs like Shaktar Donetsk or Zenit St Petersburg in Europe.
Sure, we’re always going to struggle when compared to far richer clubs than us. But that was never the point I was trying to make.
My comment wasn’t specifically in response to you BS, it was just a general reflection on the difficulty of competing for trophies now compared to say the 60’s when I first attended games at WHL. I do agree though, we aren’t being unreasonable in wanting to win something occasionally.
TQ2S, good post regards the different era’s of football, I well remember the 60’s/70’s/80’s stuff/times then came the massive changes orchestrated by SKY.
Now you say its not unreasonable in wanting to win something, “wanting to win something” is a fair line, typical of all fans, the problem we have is the “expectation to win something” two completely different words/meanings….Wanting and Expectation.
BS…you mentioned Pompey winning a Trophy, almost bankrupted only to be saved by their fantastic fans, where are they now? so ask any Pompey fan if they would swap that Trophy for where we are now?
A big/confidence booster win tonight…..COYS
PY – why does it always have to be “either/or”? Is it impossible to win things once in a while without going bankrupt?
Sure Portsmouth fans have had it tough since that FA cup win. But that’s also an extreme scenario given the successive administrations. They were essentially, with Leeds, the poster childs of bad management in football.
Take Leicester. They were in the PL just like us when ENIC took over. In the last 20 years, they have known the lows of League One and the highs of a title and a cup win. Which fan base is happier? That will be a question of opinion, I suppose.
The point is that 20 years is a long time to own a club of Spurs’ magnitude with only one trophy to show for it.
Anyways, we could go on and on but there is a game to worry about tonight. Whatever happens, no injuries please.
This is a funny debate between winning vs. playing the right way. Let me suggest the the best outcome is to win while playing the right way.
Winning by cheating or boring the world to death isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit mixed with donkey urine.
Playing the right way while consistently losing indicates that your play isn’t quite the right way. The debate needs to spend a bit of thought on what “the right way” entails.
But, to me, the central point is that winning isn’t worth it at all if the way you win diminishes who you are. When I heard a Spurs captain make this point when a was a lad, that was the day I committed by heart to our club. Winning the wrong way isn’t worth it. Falling over to obtain fake penalties isn’t worth it. Pretending you were hit in the face isn’t worth it, even if it does gain a CL championship or a WC.
Every time I picture Maradona scoring on a hand ball, Maradona is diminished. How can one really feel good about winning by blatant cheating? Playing boring football isn’t the same as winning through a purposeful handball, but it’s not something i’d remember fondly.
If I turned rich through elevating the suffering of others–which is pretty common for those who obtain riches–I’d just as soon muddle along with a meager salary. I want to live a life worth living, even if I win no championships. If I can win some championships while doing it right, now that’s a nice bonus. But it isn’t the reason to live.
So back to the football of our club: Play the right way. Play football that is worth playing and worth watching. Don’t fall down like some combination of criminal and clown just to get a penalty. Don’t bore the world to death just to get some off sides calls. Play so that you are worth watching. Thrill us with the beauty of the game. Make us rise up in appreciation of the play. Don’t encourage us to look at our watches because we’re bored watch you.
Winning cups or playing beautifully? Both would be nice, but playing beautifully is the more important. Cheating and boring your way to a cup isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit mixed in with donkey piss.
Is this tonight’s pre-match team talk TK? If not it should be! :- )
I have a good feeling about tonight…….I’m going for a 4-0 win.
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
An age-old debate.
This being said, as TK pointed out, why can’t it be both?
Regardless of which side you lean on, it doesn’t have to be a debate of “either/or”.
Nice Danny Blanchflower quote, WW. that’s what made me a solid Spurs supporter for life, Itbs about going out to beat the other team, not to bore them to death.
It’s about living right, inluding while your on the pitch, Winning by cheating takes away what makes it worth winning, Winning by boring the world to death is not winning at all, It’s self delusion,
Does anyone know if Tony Conte has his working papers in the UK yet? Post Brexit it must be much more complicated and time consuming for an Italian to start working in London.
Can our Tony Conte be on the touchline today? If not, who will be the manager for the day? Mason? Is there anyone who has the requisite badges?
Yes TK, he has his Visa.
I’m available. I’ll do it on Zoom, or by cell phone on WhatsApp.
Just a bit of a point here.
On footballing style and I always use this analogy.
The 1974 World Cup final, where Germany took on Holland, now the Dutch were the most skillful entertaining team that year, but lost to the “workman like, Pragmatic” Germans, however when I look at it, it didn’t make the Germans bad or not entertaining, it’s just that the Dutch were nicer on the eye, but importantly didn’t win.
However I’ll take a bit of athletic, workman like, fast performances for a while, not as entertaining as we have been in the Poch days, but certainly stronger, faster, athletic and more enjoyable than JM or Nuno.
But, if we can win by playing expansive enjoyable, entertaining but winning football under Anto then all the better.
I do feel a trophy for this year.
Bear in mind when he won the leage with Chelsea, they were 10th around this time of year and he won the league😉
Big win tonite 4-0 2 goals for Kane.
Cheating nobody likes that,butbits allowed in the game, it will only stop when a player get a straight red, also look at all the throw ins taken rarely from the correct place isn’t thay cheating aswell. We have one of the best managers in world right now.
Play to win, not to try not to lose. Play without relying of cheating–that only provides the illusion of winning.
Of course we want play that pleases the eye, but the main point is to play to win.
As to cheating: I raised my children to have self respect, and one cannot respect one’s self when one knows that you only won by cheating. Play so you can look in the mirror afterwards without feeling the least bit queasy.
If you can cheat and feel good about it, I don’t want you on my team.
Maradonna left football and his life was largely a mess. The hands of god didn’t help him. Free medical care in Cuba did. The only people who are comfortable gaining through cheating have problems of a sort best avoided in the first place.
Play to win. Do it right. If you dare.
there ought to be motivation to play well today. Who among the players would want the embarrassment of losing this one with Tonton Conte arriving.
plus: this is the first impression since Tony Conte arrived. Don’t make a bad opening impression on Antonio Conte–the is not a man who is known for being forgiving. He wants winners. Play to win starting now. Do it right. We didn’t hire Gennaro Garruso.
Well if these players aren’t up for playing for one of the greatest well respected managers. Then we all know where the problem lies.
At last a strong team .
Lets put these matches to bed and win a trophy whatever some on here think .
We were incompetent to qualify for anything other than this comp . Why can’t posters accept our limitations and just accept that at present we will not win anything other than this comp .
If we can’t win this comp then we know how low under Levy we have dropped .
Mason 1st team coach, is conte picking his mates
It takes approximately 3600 minutes of football to complete a PL season. The euphoria of actually winning it lasts a few moments at best. I know what spurs me on, pun intended, it is to be entertained for those 3600 minutes. Winning is a bonus.