After three defeats on the spin, Tottenham Hotspur got their proverbial butts back on the horse with a Harry Kane inspired victory over West Bromwich Albion in our last match and now it’s all eyes to the FA Cup once again as we face Everton in the fifth round on Wednesday evening.
It might not have been a classic performance, but we were more on the front foot again for most of the 90 minutes and we did look better for it, but given the quality of the opposition it’s unlikely to have changed any opinions about manager Jose Mourinho.
The FA Cup is the FA Cup though and with Premier League form wobbling, it undoubtedly remains one of the best chances we have for silverware in the 2020/21 campaign as even the most optimistic Spurs fan probably has to accept with a 14 point gap to top spot, we aren’t challenging for the title anymore.
With a game in hand and a point better off than we are, Everton will be a tough cookie to crack though, and we are going to need to be better than we have been in recent weeks if we want to progress. With some rotation expected, the team selection could be absolutely key to this one.
I think I’ll take up my usual position, hiding behind the settee.
Jod – if you haven’t noticed the Jose way has taken us to eighth in the league whilst boring the pants off of us.
If Jose uses this game to prove that his defensive set up is the way to play then Levy may as well fire him now. Obviously we need to eliminate the defensive mistakes (which were also happening when we were set up defensively). Everton are a good team but our attacking play was thrilling at times – we could and maybe should have been three goals up before Everton got back into the game.
Are you brave enough to keep this attacking mindset Jose or are you going to sink back into your negativity and alienate both the players and fans. We will win a lot more than we lose playing this way. COYS
I didn’t know the PL ended on February 11th.
Well! what can I say of any relevance…
Typical old school FA Cup encounter…thumbs up!
Fairly decent attacking football by Spurs…thumbs up! except that after the 1st 30mins we tended to be to slow in our decision making, incl’ poor final balls throughout the game, 1 or 2 bloody good ones, but the rest mmm!
Fairly decent attacking football by Everton…thumbs up! though in my opinion they attacked faster with more precision and looked like they could always score, esp in the 2nd half and extra time.
Sods law regards Spurs…thumbs up!
This game showed inadequacies in our Spurs team/squad…definately thumbs up! to me it proved we need improvement in certain areas of the team/squad.
Did I enjoy it, as a neutral YES!, as a bloody Spurs fan I hated it because we lost! simple as that.
Ah well! over to you Mr Marmite.
Next! COYS
I presume that it is possible to have a potent attack whilst still maintaining defensive solidity. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. If we had a top coach it certainly would be possible. Unfortunately we are stuck with a once great coach who has lost his nerve and doesn’t know what he is doing anymore.
It was a one-off, win or lose FA cup match. In which we saw 2 equally matched PL teams going all out to win it, from start to finish. The fact that Spurs lost it, doesn’t change this.
Both teams looked like they could’ve scored more. Both teams looked like they could’ve conceded more goals.
Being either a Spurs or Everton supporter doesn’t make this match any more or any less thrilling than it surely was. And, it doesn’t take a neutral to see this…
Supporters cope with either winning or losing in many different ways. And me, I’m not in the slightest bit upset that we lost. And simply because I still believed right up to the end that we could still possibly win it. This all happened in real time for me. Losing doesn’t change that.
The PL is and will be very different to this one-off match, simply because it is not a knock-out competition. I do not expect to see both teams that are looking to finish the season in the top 4, playing like that every time they play. That would be ridiculous.
I will not be happy conceding 5 goals every week. This is obvious. And the Toffees, despite winning, will not be happy in conceding four at home (or away) on a regular basis. This is also obvious. Especially when we look at the two highly experienced and successful managers of both teams. Neither will be happy with their defence for last night.
But it is what it is… And at the end of the day it was one hell of an entertaining and exciting game of football. Whether you are a Spur, a Toffee or a neutral….. And only one team could win it. Unfortunately it was them and not us…. Oh well……… Nobody died!
Jod ref your 09 00 post .
I understand your comments however in the last 4 prem matches we lost convincingly 3 and won a game which after 70 mins we decided to shut up shop against a very poor side .
The 3 where we lost we were playing defensive , poor passing and hoofing the ball upfield what I would call non football .
Last night saw us play a bloody good game of football and with players who can control the ball we would have won .
If we played similar to last night in most matches then yes we will not win the league but we will win more than we lose , be more enjoyable to watch and with some decent players purchased could do well next season .
If anyone is to blame for the way we played is Jose, so if those that would have preferred a more defensive nature, then the only one to blame is the person who set out the team to play not the fans who want more attacking football. The rest can talk about the disappointment of the result whilst enjoying the game, end of the day we all entitled to see things the way we do.
Ossie – I can accept that, but maybe fans need to be a little less definitive about how this team should be set up, then. As we have seen yesterday, being positive is no guarantee for better results.
And if the results aren’t there, how long would it take for fans to be unhappy anyways, no matter how entertaining the games were?
We can all accept the odd entertaining defeat. Would fans accept 10 entertaining defeats in a row? I doubt it.
We’ll all have our opinions on what we expect from a football game, the entertainment, the results etc.
All points of view are on show after a “marmite” game like this, and the outcome will probably only reinforce long-standing beliefs which existed before this game.
All of this aside, I wanted to bring up another point. Regardless of tactics, there have been many suggestions on VS regarding team selection, and questions why this or that player wasn’t playing more.
The 4 biggest names to come back repeatedly, when it comes to a lack of opportunities, are Toby Alderweireld, Gareth Bale, Dele Alli, and Carlos Vinicius (to a lesser extent, there is also a recurring complaint that Harry Winks is perhaps playing too much, but that is yet another story).
JM has been slated repeatedly by some for not playing these 4 players more.
Looking at a game like last night, it’s obviously just one game so the sample size is small, but it was a timely reminder as to why there are question marks about all 4 of those players at the moment.
Toby started, and we shipped 5 goals, committing many silly mistakes around the box. Toby is supposed to bring experience and stability on our back 4. He just hasn’t done that recently. Worse, when he has played, he’s either made mistakes himself, or has been very naïve in dealing with opposing strikers.
Dele Alli’s performances are nowhere near good enough at the moment, and haven’t been in a while.
Carlos Vinicius has shown glimpses against mediocre opposition, but seems very green against better defenders. He was invisible in his PL start against Chelsea, and again failed to make much of an impact last night.
Gareth Bale – where to even begin?
If last night was anything to go by, can we really second-guess JM for not picking those players more often?
The JM doubters will use any opportunity to criticise him, that’s fine.
But any specific personal dislikes aside, would I blame any manager for not playing these 4 more at the moment? Probably not.
That I agree….although Vinicius hasn’t really had enough game time to really prove himself and I doubt he will, I’m not one of those who felt a back up striker was a needed, as Son will feel that space, Alli doesn’t fit in the 4 3 3 system, I can see why he isn’t picked, Toby getting on now and lost his pace..Bale was a gamble that didn’t pay off, I doubt he’s even bothered he’s not playing.
The idea is not be be good on attack and poor on defence, or to be good on defence but poor on attack. The idea is to master both attack and defence. HK10 seems to understand this, as he usually is good at both. The team as a whole doesn’t seem to have grasped this most basic of pointe, however. The team seems to be swinging from one emphasis to the other like a bipolar mental patient. We either look brilliant on attack–as the team was yesterday or neurotically focused on concentrating on laying back on defence. This is a managerial choice, it would seem, and that’s most bizarre when we have one of the most experienced managers in the world. But, as a team, bipolar seems to be the right word.
Frankly, I don’t see us playing a balanced football while we are under the spell of JM. He’s too focused on JM to manage the team. He may be special, but there’s nothing special about a team out of equilibrium.
BS
Goes back to some of my earlier posts that the players we have brought in or inherited are not good enough .
Mourinho wanted an experienced centre back but got Rodon . We needed an experienced centre forward as back up but got Vinicius Doherty can’t stop falling over . Mourinho is unlucky with Lo Celso and Reggie but has Lamella ( for how long ? )back but basically the recruitment policy appears to be floored . Is it that Levy went cheap / loanees thus not providing the back up required to make a reasonable attempt at the league ?
Well, it is very well documented that I am not Levy’s biggest fan, but where I do give him credit is actually spending some money. Money was always going to be tighter this year due to Covid, but Levy sanctioned a few deals and big wages for Bale.
While the squad got better and deeper, we were never just 1 or 2 players away from the title and that reality is becoming clear now. We were also never promised a title-challenging squad by Levy this year, so can we really complain that we didn’t get it?
It goes without saying that as fans, we would much rather see the board back a manager extensively, and bring in world class players if we have the opportunity to.
However, JM took the job accepting that money would be tight(er) at Spurs than in his previous jobs, and he still sanctioned the deals which we completed. He has to take responsibility for any failures in recruitment too. That is part of accepting the job.
MP had a different strategy. He would rather buy no one than buy a player which he wasn’t sure would improve the squad. That’s another extreme.
In the end, I think JM went into this eyes wide open, so he can’t complain about lacking backing (he hasn’t done so, so far, it must be said). He also never said that we would be mounting a title challenge this year.
We as fans would all like to see the team “up there”, but JM never thought we’d be in the conversation for the title.
As I said a few weeks ago, it seems that spending a few weeks top of the table may have created some unrealistic expectations amongst a certain group of Spurs fans, when in reality our squad screams of “in the conversation for top 4 and maybe a cup”, but nothing more. Which is… where we are today.
For me last night put simply, loved the game, enjoyed our offensive play, hated the result.
For the neutral, last night I feel football won, and in the current climate that’s what supporters want, a real good game of football. I’m much like HT ‘S feelings in this one, we were in it to the end, created great chances and a bit of luck here or there the game could’ve went our way, I just don’t feel as bad as the god awful Chelsea or Liverpool defeat, if I can put it that way.
But when we bore into it, I suppose I have to agree with BS and Allan’s sentiments, many of which are the same as my own, Dele has lost something, Vinnie did look out of his depth, we have a central defence issue and it looks like none of our current recruits can fix it,similarly at RB Aurier has too many mistakes in him and often needs a covering player, Doherty whilst athletic for me is much the same as Sissiko can run in straight lines but can’t really do much with the ball at his feet.For me Bergs though industrious brings very little and is just like Dele often anonymous in games,Bale what can I say say I heard his hair needed washing last night. someone last night thought Winksy was, an Everton player.
Lloris, though has some great saves in him, there were a couple where he could’ve narrowed the angle better or actually saved the frikin thing. I think he is on the downward slope, but still good on his day
There is so much that needs fixing, I think 7 out +manager 5 or 6 in +new manager.
Can that be done in a season.
Niall,
This comment sums up much of my thoughts on the match. I loved the comment about Bale being more interested in washing his hair.
Was VAR there working ?? Having seen the whole match last night, and read the posts on here.. I’m happy we attacked and yet I am disappointed we lost but from about 15 mins we eased off again, began to play on the back foot and were playing catch up to Everton, until the end. Yes we were subject to some bad decisions by ref. (hk10 free kick was a hand ball by 2 everton players one deflecting the ball onto 2nd who moved his upper arm to defleect the ball again). Everton goalie kept them in the game 1st half, I am concerned Lloris was not catching the ball and just parried it into dangerous areas. Hoj. penalty unfortunate. Defending we have to do better. I agree we need better quality players, but Levy cant afford them now, and has to sell first. Sanchez did well scoring 2 goals, but Doherty is lacking game confidence, and awareness, his fault 5th goal. Dele is another player with lack of game sharpness and confidence.
As jose said in his interview, we score 4 goals we have to win, not give away 5 to opponents, and I agree, on that point. So we now have to recover rapidly for away at city, and they will run at us from 1st whistle, so a return to “effective” football by spurs I do / is expected by jose. Sooner regulion and lo celso back the better as we are stronger.
OY Veh.. Levy may / will try to increase stadium prices of food and drinks, but we the fans dont have to buy anything, bring our own food, drink the from free water fountains around the stadium, and he will be forced to reduce prices after a mountain of wasted food / drinks after a couple of games.
108, it seems that Doherty isn’t the only player lacking in confidence. JM seems at this point in his career to be a specialist in raising self doubts in players–Not the skill I want in a manager. we saw the same from JM when he was in Manchester. A manager should elevate confidence and elevate reasons for players to be confident. Tearing players down predictably worsens performance and results.
All the while, Kane and Son have never had better individual seasons, the likes of Hojbjerg, Reguilon & NDombele hardly seem to be struggling, and even Aurier, while hardly a reassuring presence, is much improved compared to previous seasons…
Everywhere JM has been, some players have reacted very positively to his methods, while others have struggled. Can’t the same be said about every manager in the world? To suggest that every Spurs player’s confidence has gone down under JM is a plain lie.
We all know you dislike JM and that’s fine. But as you have said yourself, he can do no right in your eyes and that clouds your judgment.
I am perfectly OK with anyone pointing out JM’s many flaws – there is plenty to go around there already.
But making blanket statements about his methods is hardly constructive, and it just discredits the people making them.
Did I say that “every player” had lost confidence under JM? Why are you appearing to call me a liar? Come off it, man.
I am not even going to begin with you – judging by your exchanges with other posters who tried to point out that your posts were misleading. Pretty soon, you’re going to run out of people to talk to on VS, with that rhetoric…
TK
Do you or anyone else know anything about Doherty’s history, I knew nothing of him from Wolves.
They just weren’t a team I would watch, unless playing us, as some of you know both EJ and I wanted Castagne, but we went for Doh I thought initially it was down to his Prem experience, but now I think it was just down to price, looks like we was robbed.
It appears that Mourinho cannot get the best out of Dele, Aurier, Bale, Doherty, Bergwijn, Vinicius, Winks and Moura. It seems that Levy cannot get the best out of Mourinho. So time for Mourinho to pack his bags. So fed up with this dinosaur.
I think its probably be easier for Mourinho with our current squad to win the treble than for anyone to make Aurier into a half decent defender. Or for Sissoko to look like a midfielder that can play football.
This is everything that’s wrong, fro me, at he minute. Not to single this post out specifically, but it’s is just such a perfect example.
Is Mourinho failing to get the best out of those players, or are those players just not that good to begin with?
Dele struggled under MP too. Aurier has struggled his whole career. Bale doesn’t want to play anymore. Doherty screams of “system player” who excelled in Wolves’ 352 but is lost in any other system (go watch him play for Ireland if you don’t believe me). Bergwijn and Vinicius were foreign players who had some degree of success in weaker leagues and are finding life in the PL harder (join the club). Winks has always been neat and tidy, but wasn’t exactly bossing PL games under MP either. Moura’s struggles are well documented, and except for one bright night in Amsterdam earning him legendary status, he has flattered to deceive ever since his arrival.
To somehow think that those players’ struggles are Mourinho’s fault, or that those players wouldn’t struggle under another manager, is wishful thinking at best.
It’s far easier to take the simplistic view that it’s the manager’s fault, but it’s the simplistic view…
Careful Wentworth. You’ll be attacked as a liar soon. How dare you call JM a dinosaur? Don’t all managers become dinosaurs? Stop being so negative. It shows you don’t really love Spurs. You’ve got to love JM and all managers when they manage Spurs if you love Spurs, or you’re just being negative and dragging us all down… Or something like that.
It’s okay, though. TK agrees with you about being fed up with this dinosaur.
Niall, I don’t know why you’re asking me what I know about Doherty’s history. I haven’t been talking one way or the other about his history, or him in particular. Just pointing out that a lack of confidence didn’t seem to be limited to him.
But there does seem to be a bunch of players playing timid football for Spurs in quite a few matches these days.
And I think JM is responsible for this.
Is there anyone who really disagrees with this? Except for the last match vs Everton, we’ve seen:
All the back passing, even passing the ball our of bounds from being nervous to make an errant pass. I would think that observation would be obvious to just about one and all who cares to watch Spurs matches recently.
I don’t remember saying every player lacks confidence, as someone thought I said, and I didn’t say anything that referred to Doherty’s entire life history as a player.
Égua! as they would say in Belem, Pará.
WTF? as they would say in New York, NY.
My guess is people reading this thread can make the appropriate translations.
No TK
Was only wondering has he regressed since joining Tottenham as he was never on my radar at the time of acquiring a RB my focus was, Aaron’s or Castagne we didn’t go for them and went for Doherty instead. Was only wondering if you or any poster had any knowledge of him because on current form I can’t see any reason why we signed him. Was he a better player for Wolves than he us for is and if so as TK (I think) suggests is JM the reason why he has regressed or was he over rated.
Because at present RB is a real issue for us.
Hey Niall. I don’t really know any more than anyone else on this site how Doherty was before coming to north London for us. I have now idea whether he is worse under JM or not. But I do know that the team as a whole seems dispirited these days, and I think that’s down to the horrible bus parking, back passing, 10 defenders way of JM. If someone told me that Doherty was more spirited a player before coming to us, and that he’s turned into more of a zombie under JM. I wouldn’t find that shocking, but truth be told, I really didn’t follow him particularly before coming to us. I do follow some players on other teams fairly closely, but they tend to be Brazilians that I knew before they came to England. I live half the year in Pernambuco, in the NE of Brazil, and I have a step son there whose a fanatical follower of Brazilian football and give me detailed reports about them when they move to England. Richarlison, for example, arrive for the Toffees with great expectations that I would be sorry he hadn’t signed for us.
Listen, mate. I truly am sorry that I did some knobheaded thing that perturbed you. I still don’t quite get it, but that is why I call myself TK–the knobhead. Damned smart in some ways, but a blundering knobhead sometimes.
Anyway, I cannot blame JM directly for a decline in the play of Doherty since coming to Spurs, but it wouldn’t shock me if someone said that he’d gotten worse at Spurs with JM. It would fit my general sense of what is real. But I don’t know that JM is guilty of this particular infraction on good taste.