It’s definitely been an up and down season for Tottenham Hotspur and the last week and a bit hasn’t been any different with the departure of former manager Jose Mourinho and the caretaker appointment of Ryan Mason. We also had the nonsensical European Super League guff to deal with and then, unfortunately, we saw a spirited but attack less performance against Manchester City in the EFL Cup Final.
Now, we turn attentions back to the Premier League, as we welcome already relegated Sheffield United to White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Whatever Mason’s future might hold as we continue our managerial search, we all want a strong end to the season and although the blunted Blades might only be playing for pride now and have absolutely no pressure on them, this cannot be anything other than a comfortable win for Spurs in reality.
Although the Cup Final wasn’t a classic Spurs performance, Harry Kane will have benefited from minutes back into his legs and we could welcome back Matt Doherty as he has now returned to full training, but we will again be without Ben Davies.
Whatever squad we put out, should have enough to take all three points though and given it feels like it’ll be a big summer of change, we could do with all the momentum we can get.
Graham Potter is the man for me – will Levy be brave enough to go for him – I doubt it. Brighton struggle to score but for a team near the bottom of the league they have a good defensive record. I think we will do very well under him. COYS
We cannot ignore the fact that things had gone sour before Jose came. It seemed to me that he recognised our fragility at the back and concentrated on defensive coaching calculating that our counter attacking prowess would win us the games. At the time I thought that was right as a short term fix. However all it achieved was a complete loss of cohesion and confidence exacerbated by his treatment of the players he blamed for his failure. Even his so called success in motivating Tanguy was a mirage. Let’s hope for better days ahead.
Agree with a lot of that
No matter who becomes manager, klopp pep Potter, the players need to put in the effort, with tactics willing to play for eachother, and the manager etc just like Rodgers with Leicester, other wise if the players don’t, you might aswell have a a P.E teacher, let the new manager have his say on tactics and any player who do not want to follow then leave. Simply as that, u either in or out.
HT last post, spot on, re Dele, the guy is a game changer and can be a game winner, as I said both Moura and Bergwijn run up blind alleys with very little end product for all their hard work.Lamella over tries then gets injured or carded. N Dombers gives us the odd flash of brilliance but still IMO only has about 70 mins in him.
For my money Bale has now hit a bit of form, yes he is ageing but as you(HT) said how many other players could score thos goals, and goals per minute his stats are second to none.
Dele did look a bit rusty but showed some great skill at times and worked hard for the team.
Aurier best game in a Spurs shirt.
LT I was much the same opinion as you re JM appointment, I thought he was there to give a faltering team some confidence and stability over maybe 2 seasons, boy did I get that wrong.
So it’s Leeds, early kick off on Saturday, I have a few Leeds chums over here, hangovers from the 70’s hayday, I was listening to one of the punts talking about Leeds last week, saying they’re set up to be difficult to beat, he said (not word for word) that they are a team which confuses and distracts their opposition which makes them hard to beat.
Hopefully we’ll kick on from Sunday, I don’t see a 4 – 0er but I’ll take 2-0 all day.
HT – to answer your question, indeed not many players can do what Bale did yesterday. Again, I am not disputing the talent. There are very few better players than Bale, on his day, in world football.
Now answer this: if we know what he is capable of when he actually wants to perform, why isn’t he showing that in every game he plays?
Look no further than Harry Kane to see a player who will perform week in, week out, no matter the opposition, no matter the stage, no matter the tactics, no matter the manager.
Bale should be in that same category, especially for the wages he’s getting. Yet he isn’t. Not because he can’t, but because he won’t. Why is that?
You say you’d be happy enough to see Bale contribute either as a starter or from the bench. But how much is he getting paid? If we are dedicating that much money (given our limited resources) to a bench player, it’s poor value for money, no matter how you look at it.
If the club are going to agree to that sort of financial effort, paying Bale like one of the better players in world football, shouldn’t it be reasonable to expect him to perform like one, more often than not?
As for making a strong case for playing Lamela or Moura over Dele – I’m probably the wrong person to ask. But that says more about the doubts I have about those 2 players than it is an endorsement of Dele Alli.
As far as I can see, both Lamela and Moura have some qualities, but are flawed. Dele could, and probably should, be better than both any day of the week. But Dele has been invisible in plenty of games in the last 3 seasons, under 2 different managers with very different philiosophies. Again, why is that?
Everybody is fixated on what JM did or didn’t do with those 2 players, but nobody is looking at the bigger picture. Take JM out of the equation, and many of the questions we are asking today about those 2 players already existed before JM’s arrival.
Oh bum……I was hoping Burnley would do us a favour and get at least a draw against the spammers. 🙁
So was I, but let’s face it, WHU have a very easy run in. Our best chance to see them drop points is this weekend vs. Everton.
Everton still have loads to play for, so I am hoping for an Ancelotti masterclass!
That’s true BS but the spammers have been very good at home. I’m not expecting us to make top 4 but have been hopeful that we could make fifth to get automatic qualification for the group stages of Europa. Looks like a big ask at the moment.
You can’t take Moanino out of the picture because of his track record of humiliating and demoralising players he does not like. Moanino has to polish his ego by bullying and sidelining. He nearly destroyed Luke Shaw and tried it on Pogba. He also worked on Doherty and Winks. Players need a chance, need encouragement, support. Not snide remarks to the media.Moanino has gone down and down and shown he is a poor coach and tactician
Well done Dele and Bale for bouncing back now he is on retirement list yet again.
wentworth – you’re missing the point.
Those 2 players didn’t perform under JM. JM has to take some blame for that. Fine.
But how do you explain those 2 players not performing, or failing to show up, under other managers? It’s not like Dele Alli didn’t have all of the chances in the world to shine under MP. Yet he was really poor for the last 12 to 18 months of MP’s reign.
And Bale’s problems in Madrid are well documented.
If it is all down to Mourinho, how do you explain that?
Has Ryan Mason worked miracles in one week that Moaninho failed in 18 months. There is my answer. Carry on sticking up for the failed one. He has been a disaster for Spurs with his poor tactics, defensive play, bullying, humiliating and self indulgence.
We can now look forward with optimism and a galvanised group of players. Let’s get the coach that can take us back to our rightful place with attacking football.
At least we had smiles on the players’ faces on Sunday without the disdainful glares of the miserable one slumped on his seat scribbling notes on scraps of paper looking bored.
C’mon you Spurs. Let’s forget and move on.
Re Dele and Bale, agreed Bale was anonymous and failed in the Arsenal game, much like HK10 did in the Sheffield game ans Sonny did in at least the previous 3 games, we don’t actually know what happened with Bale in that “1” game.
So because Kane fell flat on Sunday against lowly opposition do we know lambast him.
What I’m saying is, sometimes you just have a bad day where things don’t go right or you’re not 100% it could’ve happened to Bale at the Arse game just like it did for Kane on Sunday, unfortunately Bale didn’t get the whole game against Arse to improve and again was subsequently left to play a few minutes here and there.
Re Dele under Poch’s latter days he was suffering (like many) from the world Cup hiatus where he appeared to suffer an injury 2 or 3 games in, this seemed to re-occur over the next season an perhaps knocked his confidence.
Or both do have massive egos which need stroked and who just want to do the sexy stuff.
Or perhaps they just weren’t Mourinhos type of player and he did little to encourage them into the team, and chose to use them as “scape goats”.
In short who knows?
What I do know that playing on form I’d rather have Dele and Bale than Lamella, Bergs, LoCeslo, or N’Dombers.
wentworth – I am not trying to stick up for anyone. Coming to the conclusion that JM has failed at Spurs is fine. Coming to the conclusion that JM couldn’t get either player to perform for him is also fine.
All I’m saying is that with those 2 players, the problem is probably bigger than JM and there is no guarantee that whoever comes in next is going to fix either player. Other managers have stuggled with them as well, which at least begs the question of whether the problems lie elsewhere.
Niall – I think you are judging N’Dombele and Lo Celso far too quickly, for what it’s worth. I think both can be world class players.
Lo Celso has struggled with injury, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet. Next season will be a big season for him but I’m quite confident there’s a good player in there if he can stay healthy.
N’Dombele, I think, is like Dembele – a player’s player. I think he gets criticised for his carelessness in possession, but when you’re looking to unlock a defence, you’re bound to take risks and lose possession.
You know who rarely loses possession? Harry Winks. Neat and tidy. But also devoid of creativity, and a “sideways and backwards” master. I think it’s time Spurs fans embraced N’Dombele for what he is – a deep lying playmaker who takes risks. If the new manager would rather have industrious, careful players in that position, Tanguy is the wrong fit. But how many times have we rued the lack of creativity, and criticised our inability to unlock stubborn back 4s?
We finally have a player who can do that and Spurs fans are turning on him already. Yet the same fans want to continue giving Dele Alli more chances, when he has had 10x more chances than Tanguy. It’s inconsistent, to me.
Spot on Niall. Dele and Bale for me.
BS agreed over N’Dombele. Highly skilled and exciting player who entertains.
I disagree over Lo Celso who is very average and one dimensional. He is very one footed and lightweight. Poor passer and limited at shooting. ( One Premier ship goal).
We need another Eriksen who can dominate the midfield and score goals. Lo Celso can never fit that bill.
I think Lo Celso can be every bit the player Eriksen was. And I rate Eriksen highly.
Lo Celso has scored plenty in Spain, he has goals in him. He just needs to get fit.
BS
I wasn’t actually putting N’Dombers and Lo Ceslo down, nor really in fact any of those others.
They are indeed good players, if you read my posts, it’s actually two things I was trying to get across.
1 Many of us were quick to criticise Bale (myself included) based on him initially tentatively coming back from injury and a bad game at Arse, Dele is a different matter and needs more looking into.
What I am saying is that we (Joe Public) don’t know much of the politics of team selection or performance at training.
I agree that N’Dombers and indeed Lo Ceslo may be good prospects.
But when I look now, I have to say that Bale took us to two wins when Sonny and Kane couldn’t score for what ever reason, currently for me Dele and Bale are on their day game changers and I would argue that Bales’ goal stats even this season speak for that, is he a good prospect for next season in my opinion yes, after that those players may start to surpass him.
It has just been that many of those players whilst industrious, have had little end product.
Good post Niall. And I pretty much agree with you on Lo Celso and Ndombele…
Dele hasn’t been a game changer for us in 2 years, at least. I feel he is coasting on his performances from 2015-2017 (which were admittedly very good).
And I think many fans are blinded by the player Dele was, and clinging onto hope that he will be that player again.
But I’m not convinced he can ever be that player for us again. How many chances should he get before we can all agree that it’s just not going to happen? We’ll all have a different number in mind, but I’m there already.
At some point it’s sending the wrong message to the young players – “it doesn’t matter how you play, as long as you can coast on your reputation from 4 years ago.” Not for me, but to each their own.
BS… With the greatest of respect to Harry Kane. (Of course). He does have bad games. As do so many players, at all levels.
I thought that versus SU for example, he was the one Spurs player that actually had a poor game. Not awful, but certainly not at his best. He was also pretty poor in the cup final.
If Harry was truly consistent, game after game, he’d score twice as many goals, given the chances he has. Indeed, if his goal scoring rate for this season was as good as Bales, he would have very close to twice as many. 😉
This is not in any way a criticism of Kane. It’s just the reality of a footballers lot. They have good days and bad. Even the very best. It’s just that the very best seem to have more good days than most…
Ironically, three players at the very top of the PL goalscoring table, Kane, Son and Salah, have all been criticised at times this season, for not being at their very best. Apparently showing some quite poor form, in spells.
But this is because their very best is at such a high standard. And yet they have still been better (overall) than the rest… Bale is no different.
It’s been that kind of a season. Some good, some bad… For nearly all teams and for so many individual players too. AND… Managers! 🙂
Oh, and chairman and owners as well….. And now supporters… Refs… VAR…. Pundits! The Prime Minister! … LOL!
Every player has a bad day at the office from time to time, but in Kane’s case they are usually few and far between.
Looking at the bigger picture for Bale, I think there’s been far more bad than good in the last 12, 24 or even 36 months, so I’m not sure the situations are entirely comparable.
I’ve just been reading a thread on the VS Forum. A discussion on whether Ryan Mason should be at all considered for the managerial role (full-time), if he can help us to win the next 4 matches and also, somehow we get to finish in the top 4? That would make his end of season stint, 6 wins in 6. And quite impressive, imo… It’s not impossible, is it?
Should Mason be in the running, if he can do this and elevate us into a CL position? No matter how unlikely this seems right now?
Not for me. Too small a sample size, against poor opposition on average. Any short patch of form could be due to any number of factors, and appointing Mason permanently would be both a huge gamble and a missed opportunity.
If Levy did it, it would be the ultimate example of going cheap.
Mourinho off to Roma. good luck Roma fans!!!
It will be interesting to see how he does.
Not that it would really change anything about his time at Spurs, but if does win things at Roma, it would still say something about our club that this would have been the only place where he couldn’t do it.
It would be a very bad look for Daniel Levy and the culture at the club.
BS….I’m not sure you can make a fair comparison in the respect, we have been in rather unique circumstances during Jose’s time with us.
Is Chris Smalling still at Roma? Wasn’t it during Jose’s reign at Manu that he was shipped out as surplus to requirement?
It’s always hard to compare situations, but that’s how recruitment has worked for decades.
We assess people, and the likelihood that they’ll be successful in a certain setting, based on how successful they have been in the past, often in very different settings.
Taking a helicopter view though, it would at least invite questions about our operations.
Levy can carry on defending his ways, but until they actually win us something, they’re unsuccessful ways, regardless of who the manager is.
I hope DL worked his payoff so that we weren’t liable for his remaing salary if he found another position before his full contract period with us was up! :- )
I wonder… Will Jose now convince Lamela (a favourite of Jose’s), that it’s time for him to return to Roma?
And, do Spurs get a refund on JM’s pay out, now that he has walked straight into another job? Surely we should do?