Tottenham Hotspur fans can be forgiven for moving quickly on from the embarrassment that was the Newcastle United clash last weekend and with a point doing absolutely nothing for our hopes for a strong end to the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, many are again simply looking for a more Spurs like performance when we face Manchester United this coming Sunday.
Welcoming Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devil’s to White Hart Lane, we all know this isn’t going to be an easy game at all as they will be hoping to chase local neighbours City down at the top of the table and cement their own second place finish this year. We still hanker on hopes of another Champions League adventure ourselves, but whether our ‘pragmatism’ under manager Jose Mourinho will see us get there is an entirely different story.
In terms of team news, Spurs will again be without Ben Davies and Matt Doherty, but the jury remains out on the returns of Toby Alderweireld and Serge Aurier as we see if there’s another chapter to the story of the ‘curious case of the Covid tests’.
Smoke, mirrors, behind the scenes shenanigans – we just have to hope the real Spurs show up, or this could get ugly. Or is that uglier?
As PY says, we are going round in circles here, this could almost be the same thread for any match from December on wards. Re the subs did Mourinho bring Sissoko on to try to stop the marauding Pogba?
Who knows, what I can say is that earlier this season we thumped that team 6-1 whether as some say it was a good performance or not, it was still a good result, and we should’ve been confident of at least a win against them, but they had that embarrassment in their minds, we look like we have a week in the Maldives on ours, our where in Europe will I play next season.
Now JM “has been” a good manager but he’s not the one to take us forward and that is not the squad to go anywhere we’re just too disjointed, lack lustre, pedestrian, passionless, there seems little in the way of team spirit and togetherness, I have seen a lot of good in our team at times this season, but not enough to convince me, some one (I think Aghbonlehor) mentioned in a news report about N’Dombele
how he has improved but still has a lot more potential, I see that in our team at times.
We are all asking why Bale didn’t come on earlier in both, N/Castle and ManU, some one alluded to his more than decent strike rate and I would also say without any stats probably decent assist, now he has looked disinterested since the Arsenal game, was /is his mind on staying injury free for Wales so not putting a shift in, or has he and Mourinho had words since the Arsenal game, and given his comments since and, to a degree his performance, has he downed tools.
Then we’re back to does Mourinho enervare players, we’re on the roundabout again.
ND….spot on there with your “has been” says it all.
FFS Moaninasarous OUT! COYS
That should be does Mourinho enervate players.
When did the pre-match huddle on the pitch stop. remember when they would all come together as a unit, then play would start and they’d play as a unit. They were making a confident statement before the game began …. we’re up for this, we’ve got this, all together lads! It’s just not there anymore. Bring back the huddle!!
Geoff, did you mean bring back the Hoddle? 🙂
LT …. I knew that was coming. I just didn’t know where it was coming from! : – )
Regarding the timing of Jose’s inevitable demise. It seems that Levy is desperate for Jose to succeed and would like to give him at least another season.
Will he still think that way when Kane, Son, Tangay and Dele knock on his door and ask to leave at the end of the season, their argument being that the see no progress under Jose. I say when rather than if because it is inevitable this will happen.
DH….a lot will depend on who DL takes the most notice of, if he believes Jose’s argument that it is the quality (or lack of) in our squad that is the reason we aren’t progressing then he may decide to accept that part of the process of re-building includes losing some of our best players as well as moving on the those we don’t want. I can’t really see that happening as the market is likely to be difficult due to covid (except for a few) and moving on and buying in so many players would be a mammoth task, never mind trying to integrate a large number of new players into the squad.
I’m hoping that DL will recognise that the current squad is very much underperforming under Jose’s philosophy and it would be cheaper to pay him off even if it means reducing the transfer fund in the expectation that a new coach with modern methods will better utilise the squad we have with just a small number of changes.
TQ
There are a few schools of thought here, just read “Football London” on Kane and Sonny.
Apparently they are on board with Jose’s “way forward” if that’s the right discription.
However they are unlikely to remain for a new rebuild at Tottenham under a different manager, particularly if we aren’t playing CL football.
Re the squad I would still say a decent RB, 2 CB’s and playmaker midfielder would work wonders for our team. But at present we just don’t know who stays, who goes, and who wants away, from manager right down.
Re Bale again “Football London” has alluded to his performance and stated that indeed he doesn’t work back as much as Moura, or Bergs or Lamella this is a trait which JM likes, but he does provide much much more than any of these going forward and is 3rd to Sonny and Kane for goals.
It’s obvious he’s not Mourinhos man, and to expect him to come on 10 mins here 5 min there and work miracles is a big ask at the age of 31, he needs game time.
There is one thing that is certain…….we are in a mess and history tells us this was inevitable after a couple of seasons with Jose in charge. Unfortunately, the gamble that he would win us a trophy before this happened isn’t going to come off unless this is all a cunning plan to lull City into a false sense of security then smash them in the cup final!
If a new manager comes in, he may play more attacking football etc, but if the same players are still their in defense, they will still make the same ol mistakes, a new keeper and back 4 is needed for nexext season no matter who is in charge.
We need a manger to get to players to change mentality, be more ruthless, let them fear us. Enough of this toothless tottenham. Time for a change.
123….I don’t think there is any dispute over where we need to improve the squad.
For me, the low point in this season of low points was the Arsenal match at Highb…. strike that… at Emirates–North London derby in which our players were distracted and half hearted. Emirates, no? Named after a medieval political entity, which seems about right for a gooner club.
Bale lost me that day. He had just had some really nice performances and seemed to be rounding into the world class talent that we know he can be, and then, all of a sudden, he looked sullen, disinterested, and irritated to be one the pitch. Bale has a history with us and he knows the meaning of the derby for us and he played with apparent disinterest or care. The operative word here being “looked.” Who knows what we in his consciousness that day? But he didn’t seem to be interested in the comings and goings on the pitch that day, and at his salary and history with us that’s simply not good enough. He ought to have donated the week’s salary to some charity in N17.
My impression, although that could be a projection on my part (we are, after all, participants in group therapy here), was that he was playing us for suckers who have no importance to him, but perhaps I’m being far too harsh.
Never mind Video killed the Radio star, VAR has killed the soccer star. Could you imagine as a youngster hero worshipping a guy that appears to be felled by a flick of the hand and rendered senseless one minute and then jumps up to run half the length of the pitch to score? It pains me to pick on Sonny as he is a victim of this curse and it is becoming endemic. VAR was supposed to prevent glaring refereeing mistakes and rule on factual issues like offside and goal line calls. Instead the controversies continue but the retrospection turns men into ninnies and fanatics into mere spectators. I think if it is one or the other, I’d keep Jose and bin VAR, but what a choice to have to make.
the problem with Bale at and since the Highbury, er, Emirates, derby is deeper that his not circling back to help on defense. He appeared to lack real interest in playing. Was he playing some sort of cat and mouse game to lure them into ignoring him? lol.
LT,
neither Mourinho nor VAR have worked out the way we would have liked. Two disappointments.
Things seemed to be going OK untill December, clean sheets again city, arsenal, Chelsea, top of the league. So what happened. I always thought with jose experience, he could develop the squad he has and make them they could believe they can win.
123…..that’s the 60,000 dollar question, we were playing well and it all suddenly fell apart. I think most of us felt at the time that there was a growing discontent in the squad due to Jose’s treatment of certain players.
LT…have you considered that in this instance it gave the referee the opportunity to review the action and come to the conclusion as I did that McTominay’s action was a deliberate movement of his hand to hit Sonny. I have reviewed it a number of times and see it as deliberate every time, there is no way it was just a trailing arm accident. We can all argue that Son’s reaction was over the top but, as you say, this has become an ugly part of the game now.
TQ…am in total agreement there, as our VAR refs, it seems are not watching what’s going on around in play as the Rugby VAR refs do, ie who then tell the on field ref there was an infringement, so before awarding etc, go and have a look on the monitor, because of this players are making meals of thing, plus no fear because how many times do these things get picked up.
The number of Moanino supporters are diminishing by the minute. Very sad that it has taken so long to ruin our club. He HAS to go.
When he first came,the majority (not me) wanted to give him a chance. Some thought he was the messiah!!! Some said give him a season.
I said it was a massive mistake to appoint a conceited, bighead who always gets a big pay off.
If there had been supporters, he would have been booed off ( not me) long ago. The man is from the past. He is yesterday’s news. He is past it. He is a “hasbeen”.
He is not the Spurs way. We are proud. I was proud to say I am a Spurs man through and through. We have watched Blanchflower, White, Jones, Greaves, Hoddle, Ardiles, Gascoigne,Modric, Van Der Vart, Klinsmann, Bale……all grace the WHL pitch.
And we end up with a dinosaur to coach the players. Unbelievable.
123
I suppose being more ruthless in a way also means being more canny, re the Sonny “foul” this unfortunately seems to be how the game is now played, Personally I do think it was a foul however I suppose that to actually get it the player now has to go into acts one two three, dying Swan.
How many times have we seen it, until the ref gives a red for play acting, we’re going to be stuck with this.
But we do need to up our game when we’re a goal up and not rest on our laurels and let the other team come on to us.
Not such re son, i feel the players from all clubs cheat and act and its allowed by the opposition. More ruthless as in protect a lead at all cost. Stand up and fight, be more savy, control the game to suit us. Let them worry about us.
Yes TQ, it was a foul in my view and what should have happened was a linesman vigorously waving his flag and alerting the ref by intercom to stop the game. If neither of the officials thought it was a foul, so be it. No need for VAR to spoil the game on a subjective intervention. VAR weakens the on field authority.