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?
BS – from what I remember of the earlier game against Man U, we were absolutely battering them even before Martial got sent off – and we carried on battering them for the whole game. it just goes to show how good this team is when they are allowed to play. Unfortunately, since then, the football has been stodgy at best with very few highlights, there is no structure to our play, no organisation, no intent to go out and beat the opposition – for me it is football played in fear. Whoever is to blame (Jose in my opinion) it is always the manager who ultimately takes responsibility – so come on Daniel, make the vast majority of Spurs fans happy and fire The Miserable Arrogant one.
Like HT I would like someone to come on here and put up a staunch defence of Jose without referring to what he has done in the past which is totally irrelevant to what he currently doing at Spurs.
Way off topic here….
RIP Prince Philip…Comrade in Arms.
DH …. That is exactly the point. What he did before coming to Spurs has no meaning here. We fans, can only judge him on what he has achieved since arriving at The Lane.
PY …. I just heard. Sad news indeed. My heart goes out to the queen and her subjects, whatever they may feel about the monarchy.
Hi Folks
A lot of points either side here, HT I remember your “open letter” and I did my best to answer it.
I think part of what you asked was were there any who had changed their mind about him, and I fell into that category, I was on the fence and supportive of JM to a degree (as our manager) but my opinion changed after a catastrophic Christmas and new year.
Alluding to DH’s comments the football has been uninspiring and lacklustre, with few highlights.
We can point to our biggest ever defeat of Man in modern times.
But there have been some, we were actually top of the league at one stage, and we are in a cup final we are still within reach of top 4. So if this happens has JM done what he came to do well (I suppose) yes.
I think in comparison to Klopp, JM has been given little time to mould the team, and not much in the way of finances, compared to the other( regular) top 4/5 teams.
It may be part of a bigger grander plan by Mr Levy in an effort to get us to win something as a springboard.
I agree with BS when (I think) he said its not all the managers fault.
Some of our players need to look in the mirror and question themselves.
It’s not just me saying this, even our own club captain said it.
And in fairness to BS he called it out when it was wrong.
My own feelings, having given (like PY) JM a fair chance to turn the ship around, I feel unfortunately that there has been no improvement, and in a lot of ways we have regressed.
I just feel that it’s a bad fit, I can’t even see it as right manager wrong time.
There just need to be wholesale changes in personnel, both management and players.
On paper we are in reality no worse off than where we hoped to be this season, but it just seems to have been a long hard road to get there
There are some people who peddle a lot of BS on this site, but I won’t name them. lol.
A lot of knobheads too, and sometimes the shoe fits.
Just remembered the name of the famous bank robber who described the motivation for his being specially remembered as a bank robber. “I robbed banks because that’s where the money is.” Willie Sutton, the Special One of mid-20th century bank robbing.
Tyrants, by the way, also think of themselves as being the Special Ones of their particular eras. Only I can solve the problems of our time. I think Donald Trump said that when he was nominated in 2016. Only I can solve the problems. I’m the Special One. I remember someone on this site who said he was fairly sympathetic to that fellow. Fair play?
If you want to find a class of people who claim to be the Special Ones, look to tyrants and would-be tyrants, from Julius Caesar until now. By your words you will be known. Only I can save the nation. I am the Special One.
Mourinho, by the way, anointed himself the Special One before he won anything at Chelsea. It wan’t a claim based on any championships he won for Chelsea. I think it was the first time he spoke to the reporters when he was appointed manager there. Just like Donald Trump proclaimed that only he could save the nation before he had done anything. but bluster. How’d that turn our? Beware of anyone who makes such claims.
Except JM went on to win leagues in 3 different countries, another CL and another EL. Unlike Trump, JM has largely backed up his outrageous claims.
Another poor comparison.
HT my earlier answer to your claim that the Newcastle result was down to the usual Mourinho defensive approach sums up what is wrong about the constant hostility here to all things Mourinho. Since this reply has been lost as the comment caravan moves on I’ll repeat it for the benefit of you all.
“Factual correction HT. We didn’t go defensive against Newcastle after going 2-1 up. The team were told to go all out for another goal and the attacking substitutions reflected this.
Maybe if Jose had gone defensive and brought in Sissoko and Dier towards the end we would have got those 3 points and the reaction here might have been very different.”
Stan – we didn’t go defensive at 2:1 against Newcastle. We simply stopped playing. Dull, uneventful football completely lacking in intensity or direction as has been typical of Mourinho’s reign. Whichever way you look at it, it is always down to the manager. He never stops claiming credit for his achievements- “I am European champion, I am Premier League champion”. It’s time he took some responsibility for the shambles we are watching now.
We just have to accept that Moanino is living in the past. His successes are yesterday and he always left a club with a huge black mark. He has failed to move with the times and has already dragged our club down. This embarrassing bore who blames the players and bullies those he dislikes has only a few supporters left who blindly believe he will come good. Leopards don’t change their spots.
Under his leadership our club has become a sad joke. Players look bored and depressed.
Where is Levy when we need him? Time to wield the axe. Bite the bullet. He has to go.
those in history who proclaim themselves the special one, from Julius Caesar, on through all the rest, take no “credit” for the defeats, only for the victories. And they accept no responsibilities for the costs assumed by others. And they then claim that the wins were because they were the special ones. I, and only I, am able to win. Buying into such claims rarely, if ever, works out well.
Stan
I must agree with you comments here, re subs I the Newcastle game.
But still can’t comprehend why he waited so late to bring Bale on.
But will argue that the Newcastle first goal was down to a defensive error rather than poor tactics.
Whilst it is time for him to go, this Jose” hate in” is now boring.
The team needs to stand a bit and be counted.
I didn’t say that we went defensive as such against Newcastle Stan… I said we sat back and invited pressure. We did… We didn’t play in a very positive way at all once we were ahead. And we just kept conceding the ball to them.
But whether we did play defensively or not, it doesn’t make it any less true that we have done it in many matches before. And we did give up yet another 1 goal lead… Which was my main point.
And Doncaster is correct. We just kept passing the ball around aimlessly, in a feeble attempt to keep the lead. And there really wasn’t much attempt to increase the lead. And my point about giving up a massive 22 shots on goal to them is still the case. Surely this proves how ineffective we were, against a very poor PL team up until we played them. We were awful on the day.
By the way. Jose was about put on Sissoko and not Bale, and then they scored their equaliser. He quickly changed his mind and put on Bale instead, in a final and pretty desperate move. But it was too late.
And so the Magpies got a draw. But I think they deserved the win much more than Spurs deserved to even get a draw. And if it wasn’t for some fantastic saves from Hugo they would have won it.
I’m not sure where this is going folks, we can all get a bit nasty.
For example over here there are those peddling Total Keek.( Used in Ireland and Scotland.)
Look it up. Many spellings( keegh) all means the same.
Let’s not get personal, we can all be sarcastic.
I’m not keen on people ganging up on anyone.
Let’s get back to Spurs winning against Man U, hoping that they have half an eye on next Thursday.
We can worry about Mourinho once the season is over, its too late now.
Anyway. Enough of all this anti-Mourinho suff and general negativity from me on here.
I think that if Jose does the right thing. Sets us up to put them under constant pressure and with a positive attitude to the game. Playing on the front foot with confidence and self-belief, I think we can beat them and beat them well.
Spurs 4-1 United!
Who’s getting nasty or personal, Niall? I certainly wasn’t.
No m8 you weren’t.
I’ve been out all day today enjoying time with my grandkids so just now caught up with Jose’s presser today….Jeez, why does he have to spend so long digesting the question asked of him the talk in riddles? God, it’s hard work sitting through the whole thing!