Having got our Premier League restart up and running properly with a solid victory over West Ham United, the players should have been well rested for tonight’s trip to Bramall Lane to face now struggling Sheffield United.
Chris Wilder’s side had a great start to the 2019/20 campaign following promotion and there was an outside chance they might make the Europa League prior to football being paused, since the restart their mojo and momentum has gone, so Jose Mourinho would be looking to capitalise on that as we continue to bid for a Champions League place.
It was a bright start from both sides really, but we better dominated possession and chances, and largely against the run of play the hosts took the lead just after the half hour mark. We responded almost instantly though and Harry Kane had the ball in the back of the net before a spineless referee bowed to the overtly pathetic Video Assistant Referee nonsense as apparently (after being barged to the floor) Lucas Moura ‘handballed’ the ball, so the goal was scrubbed out.
Sadly for us, the second half was dire in many ways and the control we did have disappeared and they made it count with two further goals.
Harry Kane rightly got on the scoresheet in the 90th minute, but it counted for little on a very disappointing night.
Unused Sheff U Subs:
Sharp, Jagielka, Moore, Rodwell, Zivkovic
Unused Spurs Subs:
Alderweireld, Winks, Gazzaniga, Skipp, Fernandes.
Previous Article:
Bramall Lane
Premier League
2/07/2020 7:00 pm
Attendance: 0
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
| Sheffield United | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berge (31), Mousset (69), McBurnie (84) | Kane (90) | ||||||
| Henderson | Lloris | ||||||
| Basham | Aurier | 71 | |||||
| Egan | Sanchez | ||||||
| Robinson | Dier | ||||||
| Baldock | Davies | 81 | |||||
| Berge | Sissoko | 71 | |||||
| Norwood | Lo Celso | ||||||
| Osborn | Lucas Moura | ||||||
| Stevens | Bergwijn | 56 | |||||
| McBurnie | 91 | Kane | |||||
| McGoldrick | 63 | Son Heung-Min | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Mousset | 63 | Lamela | 56 | ||||
| Freeman | 91 | Ndombele | 71 | ||||
| Alli | 71 | ||||||
| Vertonghen | 81 | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 7 | Goal attempts | 9 |
| 5 | On Target | 2 |
| 1 | Corners | 6 |
| 13 | Fouls | 13 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 33 | % | 67 |
BS…lack of fight/Effort/pride/work/motivation….spot on, that has been creeping in at Spurs over the last 2 seasons, started with a couple of players now its the majority.
Where JM is concerned, I really just do not know its as simple as that because after all he did take on a side that was in freefall, stopped it for a moment. yeeha!, then it just carried on, utter crap.
Now correct me if I am wrong but JM has been out thought by 3 rookie Prem managers, Wilder SU, Lampard Chavs & Olly MU, so I have to ask myself, is JM past it/to predictable? a has-been in modern football? the signs for me seem to be giving me a huge answer of YES!
I do think bar a couple of additions there is a good team at Spurs awaiting the “kiss of life” that will add my 1st para today of what BS said.
My little rant over. COYS
Well well well. Here i am supporter of 50 years saying i am done, not watching any more games this season. My son supporter of probably about 20 to 25 years saying the same and now my mum 85 supporter for 70 years saying the same. She wouldn’t even stay up to watch MOTD her exact words were. Everytime she watches Spurs they don’t run, don’t look interested, slow and boring compared to the to her teams she watches including the teams at the lower end of the table.
Its obvious the balance of the team is not great, top heavy in some areas short in others and we miss a DM but that’s not an excuse when it comes to effort, movement, desire, work ethic, motivation and interest when it comes to players and its not a excuse when it comes to the coaching, selection and motivation. Its a combination of both players and coaching that is killing Spurs.
This squad do have a weak mentality and it improved under Poch but it was still there when it came to getting over the line. Poch carried this burden, he was the reason why they did improve but its like everything if you improve something through someone else it want last, its got to come from within. Its like dieting, if you diet for someone else or you do it with someone else helping you all the time it want last, you will go back to your old ways, you have to diet for yourself and do it yourself not rely on others or do it for others. With jose he as said this, motivation has to come from within as being a professional. A prime example Poch held it together and it looked like players had changed was the CL loss, they couldn’t use that disappointment like Liverpool did, they crumbled and that’s because the motivation we thought our players had under Poch was Pochs motivation gluing it all together not really coming from the players because if it had they would use that disappointment to make themselves better and use it productively, they didn’t, that is what happens when the motivation comes from another source, when things gets tough it crumbles. I would say many of these players dont have the mental strength and the improvement was a bit of an illusion, it wasn’t really coming from the players it was Poch glue, Poch motivation, they were found out and now under Jose henis finding out and the difference is he want cuddle them and gkue them together he expects them to have it as professionals, this is why we are not seeing a manager to player unity, he is not the father figure that papers over the facilities and keeps the family glued together when it comes to motivation.
However, the game last night was also down to Jose. Moura stats show he isnt creative and doesn’t score enough yet plays all the time, so no creativity from him. Stevie is still finding his feet so cant expect too much from him in terms of creativity and goals, and Son isnt actually that creative, he is a dribbler and scorer so who is going to provide creatvity? Then its down to midfield and fbs. Our one player who was on the pitch who can create is Celso but he played deep and without a DM is doing a lot of the dirty work so then the fbs. Davies doesn’t create much in this system and Aurier is hit and miss, so where did Jose expect the creativity to come from? Everyone got excited about offensive players hoping for a attacking team i didn’t, i saw immediately we would lack creativity in that line up, its obvious.
Then if you look at least 2 of their goals where was Son? In our area defending, on one occasion right at the byline where he was beaten. Do we need our most effective dribbler defending so far back, NO we don’t, but that is Jose style, he stifles offensive players and they stop being so effective in the final third. It then become boring football.
You look at rb, in fairness to Jose he hasnt much choice but Aurier is a liability, so its up to him to be creative and find solutions. He could have played Toby at rb he plays there for Belguim and this would have allowed the offensive players more freedom and its likely he would defend more and not need a CM covering him like Aurier does. There is no point allowing Aurier to bomb forward and have a midfielder cover him if Aurier is effective and most games he isnt. So play Toby let defenders defend and offensive players attack, this is being creative instead of using the dame i effective player.
In the midfield we have a problem with no DM so why not play two players there and free up our forwards instead of getting our forwards to compensate for the lack of DM and making them defend so much. Jose isnt being creative either.
Going back to offensive play you cant play Moura and Son together, they are not going to provide enough creativity for Kane, may be Son and Stevie and then you need a creative player behind Kane. So then you need to play either Celso behind Kane or Ndombele or Dele. Now Dele is off form and has been for ages, he took his eye of football and never recovered. Ndomebele is clearly unfit still which is a concern. He looked sluggish when he came on but in a role behind Kane he might be ok without too many defensive duties but Celso at present is probably best although Lamela can also play there but he just runs into trouble. So if jose plays two wingers in Son and Stevie or Stevie and Moura or Son and Moura you need a creative player behind Kane this to me is obvious. That line up did not speak creativity to me and was poor selection. It was true we didn’t create enough because of the selection but also because of the system Jose is deploying asking offensive players to defend deep and our creator Celso to play so deep and do the dirty work. This is school boy stuff, jose is not helping.
Lets look at players not getting time. Sess, he can crate and score, why isnt he being brought on as a offensive player when we need goals and creatvity? He would fair better than Moura in that department i am sure. Ndombele, while i understand we have a problem with him due to his fitness, surely he can contribute half hour when we need some creativity more so than Lamela who works hard and runs but lacks that final ball in the final third, but no, jose goes with Lamela like he dies with Moura. Then there is Dele, he is so poor at the moment, so i understand Jose not playing him last night.
Im no fan of Jose and i do think he is not the right fit for Spurs and is making some strange decisions and deploying boring football. However, i also think we have a squad that is not balanced, with players that do have a weak mentality and that was papered over by Poch very positive strong mentality gluing the squad together, and we have several players that have lost their way and have become stale and need to go. I also think we lack youth in out team that want it and want to prove themselves. Players like Sess, Skipp, Parrot all want to prove themselves and that brings work rate and urgency.
We do need a painful rebuild which is what Poch said and we needed earlier than when it began, but it didnt happen and that is why this mess was created and Poch was the fall guy and now we are in a bigger mess because Covid has hit us hard and that rebuild under Jose isnt going to happen quickly. We now have the problem of having a manager who plays restrictive football, which i might have happens when he is at a club that cannot afford big players, but less so at clubs that can buy big players. We are in the former so jose will bring this boring football to make up for the lack of quality, its unfair to say he is always like that, he isnt when he has big players he has played good football at those club but at utd he didnt have the big players so he played restrictive, boring football to achieve his objectives and its happening at Spurs. Our players our not big players, they are good players and some are very good, but they are not big players. So now we have this new boring football with very little investment and its painful to watch. Will it bring trophies, im not sure but it did at utd and other clubs so history says yes, but my gut feeling is it will not at Spurs. But im no expert, so i might be wrong.
I always said Jose has a bad start next season he will be sacked by December, i stick with that until i see improvements, i can only give opinions on what im seeing and i dont see anything to make me feel different but i acknowledge im no expert and respect Jose has won everywhere he has gone. I never wanted him and i still dont but now i think if he gets sacked who is going to come to us anyway knowing there is no money but expected to win things.
The sqaud need a overhaul and some players will go and do well, new challenges often brings about change and positivity but some will fade away and do nothing as well, its human nature. However, i cant see this overhaul happening due to Covid and finances so we are stuck for now with players and a manger and all we can do is sit back and watch it unfold, or in my families case, sit back and not watch it unfold and wait for some news that brings about change, whatever that will be. Ive and my family have no intention of watching this unfold, its woeful, so bad. So i will tune i for results but that is it until something gives.
I think a lot of us are saying the same or similar. There was an obvious lack of commitment from our players last night. Don’t forget not only were Sheffield not full of superstars, it wasn’t their strongest team. They had at least 3 first team players sidelined for one reason or another.
Many of us are screaming for a new RB, DM, and LCB for most of this season. We have been shown now on many occasions to be mentally weak when something goes against us. This has been proven even prior to JM’s tenure.
I think a few players need to look in the mirror this morning and reassess their on professionalism. If they could hand over their wages for Covid they surely didn’t earn any wages last nite.
There were a lot of heads thinking “I should be in Barbados or some where similar” instead of playing on a rainy night in Sheffield.
Reading Mourinho’s comments I think he’s baffled by the attitude of many modern players. He was successful in an era when players generally were self motivated to begin with. Some still are of course, I doubt anyone would question the attitude of Kane or Son. But there seems to be a culture now where its down to the manager to persuade the player to play. Of course for Wilder its different. The players he has know that Sheffield United probably represents their one shot at premier league and maybe European football, if they blow it then its a long way down. That probably ensures they always motivated.
It’s either change the coach n get someone who can motivate n organise the team, or change the players who can play the way the coach wants….. It will be the cheaper option, as it doesn’t appear we will be playing champs lge football for a while now…As bad as it ended up under Poch, we may be looking back and remembering that as our best period as we slip back to how we use to be.
BS & Loz have said what most of us are thinking. Jose said in the interview the players mental ability is not strong enough. After Sheffield scored 1st I could see their heads drop, and even more so after VAR cancelled Harry’s goal. I was shouting at the screen seeing the very sloppy defending as all 3 goals were almost the same.. unmarked / defenders wrong side to sheffield players,
I was reminded of the CL Final, players were demotivated after Liverpool 2nd min penalty. Which continued into this season. Now surely Levy / Joe / A Sugar etc. have to input funds.. pay off bank loans so we can borrow from the banks again ? Buy and sell players? Will FFP regs. allow this? Spurs are back to mid table as before poch arrived. 🙁
Loz….a very good long post there, I read and digested it, agree with 100% of it, well written
Two more posts followed up Loz by ND & jod, it appears the same comments through out, it was written that a couple still have an unquestionably good attitude towards their job, it has also been said that JM is baffled by the attitude of the modern footballer, well my answer to that is have a look at today’s youngster’s with their modern outlook/attitude in general, its all me me me, then add bucket loads of dosh weekly/monthly and the result is problems, look what I think we have at Spurs, of course its not every footballer but I bet the good attitude type is in the minority.
I will carry on adding years to my 63+ years a fan, thick n thin and all that.
There had my say, all look after yourselves. COYS and always will say.
Levy made a huge mistake when he panicked bought Jose. Jose is yesterday’s man stuck in a time warp of defensive, boring play. Spurs are a glamour club renowned for slick passing, attacking play not boring the opposition and fans to death. The team seems disheartened and void of ideas. Jose sits slumped in his seat or strolls around hands in his pockets looking grumpy and miserable. Where is the motivation and management skills of Poch? Levy will definitely sack him….that is one strength that Levy. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later. We used to be a top 4 club not a mid table non entity. We desperately miss the silky skills of Eriksen and the majestic Dembele. No trophies this season, not even a top 6 place. Shocking. Great stadium, hopeless coach. Harry Kane will be looking at his options knowing that we have reached a dead end with Jose. We have no young players of not even though we have magnificent training facilities. The new signings puff and blow. Our defence is weak. We have a silent captain when we need a motivator. Big signings will not come to a mid table team of losers. Anyway, Levy prefers loans, bargain basement, blue cross buys. We are in a rut and drastic surgery is required….NOW..not in December when we are trying to keep above the drop zone. Get rid of Jose.
wentworth – “Where is the motivation and management skills of Poch?” . A history rewrite ? The team was falling apart while Poch was still here, that’s why he was fired. I’d be a bit more impressed with your rant if you said who you wanted to replace Jose with. But its another man with no name , just like with players, isn’t it ?
Levy panic buying Jose? Don’t think so. Jose trophy record better than anyone. He won Europa Cup Man utd and a cup as well, not bad in 2 years there. Where were these top class managers ready to take over from Poch last november? Happy at their clubs and doing well……in germany, italy, spain, france.. and UK Rodgers, klopp / pep / lampard. So Jose was available and Levy signed him up.
Jose is very different to poch, he expects players to be professional and strong, and not need babying as poch did…. I agree in that what spurs players are paid, they should be putting in top professional performances.
1 win in 9 is relegation form. You can talk about Jose inheriting a squad in pieces but that is simply not good enough.
The big worry is the players actually looked confused in their defensive shape yesterday. Davies is simply not good enough, Aurier always crosses and hits the first man, Davinson still shaky and Dier also lost his man on multiple occasions.
Jose likes players like Davies, Moura and Dier whilst not giving hardly any or no gametime to the likes of Ndombele, Toby and Sessegnon. It says it all!
Jose out now – absolutely anyone to replace him.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/premier-league/tottenham-s-summer-transfer-priority-is-clear-jose-mourinho-needs-a-defensive-midfielder/ar-BB16iHRL?ocid=spartan-ntp-feeds
Sorry Jod. Poch was superb at looking after the players. Always ready to put his arm round. Always ready at the end of the game to congratulate and hug his players. A true Spurs fan and gentleman. Always polite to shake hands with the opposition and officials. Jose just rushes down the tunnel to moan and slag off his team. Dreadful, boring man who is taking us down and down with his negative, uninspiring tactics. Total disaster for Spurs. Eventually he will be sacked with huge pay off. We used to be an entertaining top four team team. But now , we are a mid table bunch of no hopers led by a coach with no vision and totally against the Spurs way. Give me Poch any day.
Wentworth, I would imagine Levy was smart enough to negotiate a decent pay off with Jose. He would have known this was never going to last three and a half years. In any case, pay offs never tend to be as much as the remaking time left on the contract. They largely depend on how long the sacked manager is out of work. Mark my words, Jose will be gone before the year is out COYS
Wentworth, 100% agree Levy completed panicked appointing Mourinho. Mourinho spends truck loads of money to get success, Levy tight as a ducks arse is the complete opposite to Mourinho’s template. Loz summed it up beautiful, This rot set in 2 years ago WHEN Poch WAS NOT BACKED BY LEVY, (ENIC). This squad is mediocre. How about Enic selling up.
NDombele is playing poorly for one reason only: he has been terribly mistreated by José and thus wants to play elsewhere. Too bad, for the lads got a tonne of talent. Dele also doesn’t want to play for José. In a few days it will become nearly unanimous among the players.
TK……….the scanario sounds familiar doesn’t it! He alienated the players at both Chelsea and United and we are seeing the same happening again at our club. There is only one common denominator here, and it’s not the players. That’s not to say there aren’t a few who just aren’t good enough to take us to where we want to be.
As per the article I posted last night – we blatantly need a DMC ASAP – the summer transfer window can’t come quick enough! He walks into the team end of for me. If it’s to be Hojbjerg so be it – at the very least he’s an international player, plenty of Prem experience including as a captain and still only 24/25 so for around £30-35m we could do so much worse. With that, Sissoko will be his partner for me for now, it’s then upto the likes of Winks and N’Dombele and even Fernandes to fight it out with Sissoko for the other double pivot role in CM. With Hojbjerg sticking tight and protecting the back 4, it will allow the other pivot to break further forwards freely and help dictate play and set off attacks! This would definitely be my stance against the better team’s in the Prem, can and will eg Hojbjerg play the role in all 38 games in a full season – don’t know but would hope so as although there are quite a few CM’s he could rotate with the fact is as we’ve experienced for ages none are adept at playing said role properly. Skipp might eventually become a DMC – nobody knows for sure at the moment or if he’ll be good enough to be a Prem regular especially a top one but for one he’s quite a bit shorter than Hojbjerg so that’s already not ideal unfortunately.
Personally I would like to see Lo Celso, Dele and Sonny behind HK10 on a regular basis – Lo Celso basically replacing Eriksen in our attack. JM so far favours 2 out and out wide players but I’d prefer to see the craft of Lo Celso and Dele together just as we used to have Eriksen and Dele – vital for breaking up tight defence’s IMHO!
For that though to be at it’s best we’ll need some quality attacking full-backs as we had with Walker and Rose in their pomp getting forwards and being constantly involved. Which brings me to Aurier and Davies, Davies I can still stomach for now (but hope Sessegnon can come along some time soon and eventually take over the 1st team LB spot – here’s hoping because if he can muster the defensive side of the game I think we’ll have a very good attacker there also) and on the right I’d now probably look to sell all 3 of Aurier, Foyth and KWP – leaving Tanganga and a new recruit to fight it out for the 1st team RB spot. I’m more than open to suggestions but Aarons would seem to be a good fit given he’s home grown and supposedly very talented whilst still being very young and likes to get forwards! At around £30m he’s got to be in with a shout for what again is a vitally needed buy in this summer’s transfer window.
Then in cental defence I would offer Vert’s another 12 months as he’s the only proper LCB we have and also so that he can cover at LB because there we only truly have Davies seeing as Sessegnon has to basically learn his trade all over again – (hoping he’s a quick learner lol) and I would still look to bring in another LCB to be perfectly honest – Vert’s long term replacement now and already. Do not really have many names here but someone like Ake (bit short but certainly Prem proven) or Upamecano would be ideal for me. I would then let Toby, Davy and Dier fight it out for the RCB role specifically. Dier I would have a word with and maybe convince to cover eg Hojbjerg at DMC also – the usual with Dier – taking advantage of his versatility especially now he appears to be back to full fitness and gaining decent form.
Up front we could do with another striker but I’d be surprised if the finance’s can stretch to the 3 defensive players already wanted above let alone a 4th player namely an attacker to cover HK10 properly. It would be for Sonny and Moura as usual to do this worst case for me. Maybe Parrott might finally have a say here also?!
Until we sort out our defence properly then I won’t be jumping down JM’s throat – it was already obvious to see that it needed upgrading under Poch and nothing has changed – simple as!
So for me Rose, Aurier, Foyth, KWP, CCV and Amos for sale and see what that brings in. I wouldn’t really want to sell anyone else as I think they are all at the very least good squad players and will be needed eventually.
KWP + £20m for Hojbjerg should seal the deal hopefully.
£30m for Aarons again should hopefully be enough.
So we’d need to find £50m or so for these 2 – Aurier maybe £15-20m, same with Foyth again £15-20m and probably £5m or so for each of Rose (how low he has gone FFS), CCV (getting good reviews I read currently) and Amos (about time QPR put up or shut up lol)!
That means we might actually be able to finance Hojbjerg and Aarons through player sales.
Would it be too much to ask Levy and the board to stump up the dough for 1 top LCB this summer?! Hope not!
Just my thinking at the moment – sorry as I know it’s a bit repetitive from previous posts but it’s what I feel is needed!
EJ….sorry but I don’t think Sissoko is good enough for the role you suggest, yes he can carry the ball forward but is clueless as to what to do with it when he reaches the opposition penalty area, he can’t shoot and rarely finds a good pass to one of our forwards. Lo Celso is a player much in the Modric mould and suits playing a little deeper, he carries the ball well and can pick a good forward pass.
Ndombele is the puzzle, he would also be suited to this role as he too can carry the ball well, if we could get him back to his best a pivot combination of him and Hojbjerg would allow Lo Celso to play further forward in a 4231 formation which is how we have to set up to accommodate Kane and Dele in the same side. They don’t work in a 433 which is what we should look at, imagine a midfield three of Hojbjerg, Ndombele and Lo Celso, and a front three from Son, Bergwijn, Moura and Kane, although I’m not sure he can play in this formation and may be the reason why we have never really played this way with the possible exception of when he has been out injured.
wentworth – Poch’s relationship with the players is totally irrelevant. The team was falling apart and we were tumbling down the league. Or do you live in a parallel universe somewhere with a different points table ?