Les grandes équipes...

Why when defending a corner do we not put four men on the halfway line they would then keep at least five defenders back making it much easier for our keeper to come of his line and claim the ball as our area would be less congested.

 

Was travelling so didn't get to watch the Inter game, had to rely on Twitter updates. Sorely disappointing to see a winning position forfeited so late in the game.

Poch has just signed a new contract, so sacking him at any time in the next two years would likely be an almightily expensive prospect.

The question I always ask myself, when pressure starts to build on a manager, is 'who do you get in to replace him?' Is there a genuinely better prospect out there at the moment, one that would be a marked improvement on what we've got? I can't think of anyone that wouldn't be a hit and hope, so I'd have to stick with Poch for now...

 

I don't envisage a scenario where he woukd get sacked anytime soon as he's got plenty of credit in the bank unless it was a ridiculous string of results.. However I do see the pressure building and his frustration also coming out more and who could blame him after building a very good side on the brink of titles and not only has he not been backed with finances we've took backward steps so I could see him walking. I felt he may have walked in the summer in particular when the Madrid job came up but I don't seem him turning down a job of that ilk again.
On replacing him if need be my choice would be a motivator in the shape of simeone or conte. Failing that someone who would let the team play with freedom ie Ranieri or Zidane.

 

As things currently stand, I wouldn't want to see Pochettino sacked, but he's got to stop the rot before a blip becomes a death spiral (mixed metaphors or what?), starting against Brighton. At the moment we're still talking about getting back into the top four and the difficulty of getting out of the CL group stage (and failing to do either would be pretty disastrous financially), but if Kane doesn't find his old form and the rest of the team (bar Moura) continues to play without Eddie Baily's old mantra of G&T (guts and tenacity), we could be facing the prospect of the EL or worse, and then would he be safe?
Sacking a manager when relegation is threatened, as in 2008 with Ramos, is fairly predictable, but Levy has dispensed with at least two (Graham and Redknapp) in far more dubious circumstances (two weeks before a cup semi against Arsenal, and just after finishing fourth playing the best football in the PL, according to SAF), and that's leaving Jol and Sherwood out of the story.
Whatever his strengths, Pochettino has no track record of consistent progress at any of his three clubs; Espanyol were back where he found them when he left, he was only at Southampton for a couple of years, and we're clearly weaker in 2018/19 than we were in 2016/17 - he's got to go into unknown territory to get us back to where we were a couple of years ago - can he do it?

 

At this moment in time finishing bk in the CL places rather than progression out the group is far more important right now I'm sad to say. I'm in no doubt Levy could and would sack poch if say we lost another 3 games or so on the bounce however I'm confident if he can turn this around but he will need to play his best system of a 4231 with his best bk four which include Rose n Toby and moura and Son flanking Kane. I'd bring wanyama bk into the team also personally . If he continues to chop n change and flit between the systems and personnel then....

 

That's far too sensible ever to happen; it's the same with throw-ins in our own half - 90% of the time we wait until everyone is close-marked before taking them, and then gain nothing from them, or actually loose possession. Most managers and players just can't think outside the proverbial box, which is why the exceptions are rarer than hen's teeth.

 

I disagree with panic reactions on this board. Spurs played well and dominated most of the game. It was not anything close to Liverpool loss. I agree with Poch that the performance was the best of the season. The result is very much upsetting, obviously. But we were slow out of the gate every season since Redknapp, that's what Spurs do, or, otherwise, we would still have had AVB as a Head Coach.
We need to buy an established goalkeeper come January. We already have a striker in Moura.

 

Has anyone else read the BBC column by guillem balance who is a friend of pochetino and co wrote a book with him.He has said that spurs finishing in the top four will take a miracle and it is clear that he knows more than us supporters.He said that other managers he knows are surprised that poch has not walked away after the promises made to him by our beloved chairmanIt also looks like he knows that we did not receive any offers for our want away players in the windowI t really is an interesting read and you can make up your own mind as to the validity of the article

 

Sorry Yiddo's but I'm too depressed to post. Worrying times. If I was Poch I'd be royally p'd off with DL... Mmmm

 

To spurporter. When you say : I agree with Poch that the performance was the best of the season. I can confirm that was a good performance until the 80-85 minutes but the Manu performance was better and Poch has to take his responsabilities one time in his life by saying that he made some wrong decision by changing all his 3 forward players to put Winks or Rose on the ground. Immediately after winks arrival Inter change his mind and they were suddenly better with a winner mentality. Poch is one of our best if not the best manager of the last 20 years but he cannot always flee his responsabilities

 

I certainly agree that it's an interesting read, but it doesn't really explain Pochettino's current state of mind - is he disillusioned with Levy, with his players, or with himself for taking the easy option of a 60% pay rise rather than accepting a fresh challenge at Real Madrid (assuming it was his for the taking, of course)? The conclusion of the article is hard to dispute though - if Spurs really were as good as they've been hyped-up to be for the past three years or more, why is one league cup final defeat in 2015 the closest they/we have come to silverware? An empty trophy cabinet doesn't lie, sadly.

 

How things are portrayed by the club and their undying loyalists are always very skewed to serve purpose

Pochettino is constantly happy with his squad and can't find anyone in world football that can improve it.

Can't find a second striker because no one wants to play second fiddle.

Pochettino & Kane choose Spurs over Madrid when there was only ever 'interest' and nothing substantial to back it up. I'm sure if Madrid slapped 150mil + down and offered 500k wages etc things would be a lot different.

Having been through a 2/3 year patch where every other top 5 club has had a big wobble/transition collectively and having a team where many of the already placed players matured at the right time again isn't a sign of 'how far we've come' it's circumstancial.

The academy is booming producing a conveyor belt of talent due to Pochettino and his work with the young really?

The stadium is last part of the jigsaw to greatness- based on ? The Arsenal model as evidence?

Trophies won't change us, because continually not winning them will make us more equipt for all those trophies wel be scooping once the so far 18year project with no projected completion date comes to fruition.

Spursyness is a thing of the past, too many flops, crashes and near misses to list...

This team will just get better and better besides evidence to the contrary.

Levy is an astute businessman - that clearly now no one wants to entertain or do buisness with and is currently overseeing a vanity project crumbling around him haemorrhaging money.

There were/are plenty who came screaming on here in the summer and other times in the staunch defence of all mentioned above but they've all dissapeared again funny that

 

Interesting articles today. If you combine the BBC Balaque interview with the Telegraph article on Levy making a hash of expected £150m funds that failed to come in it gives a slant on the situation.

Levy gets Poch on a new 5 year deal with promise of substantial funds during the summer - £150m I expect would be from naming rights on the new stadium over 10 years or so.
Madrid try to get to Poch but Levy reminds them about their behaviour in the 'special relationship we had with them after the Bale deal and they go elsewhere.

No stadium naming deal materialises. No money for Poch's transfers. No new names in. None out.

This is one (more) MAJOR f***-up from Levy.

I very much doubt that is the case.
I do feel for Poch. It's no wonder he's getting defensive in his press-conferences and talking about cows. He's been hood-winked into believing he was going to get a large enough transfer kitty, dealing with a dated squad with no new competition to shake it up, on top of which he has his star-man on his last legs and no-one of suitable standard to step in.
The only thing he has left is that (IMO) the main squad DO want to play for him and that may be the only thing that scrapes us through to a Europa place this year.

 

The Telegraph article seemed to suggest that Levy expected to fund last summer's phantom war chest of £150 million from the sale of Alderweireld, Rose and Dembele, and he's even more out of touch than we feared if that's true. Rose was the best left back in the PL eighteen months ago, and would have been worth as much as the best right back, instead of which his value is probably nearer fifteen than fifty million today, if anyone actually came in for him, that is. Alderweireld is pushing thirty, and will be available for nothing (or twenty-five million if Spurs exercise their one-year option) next summer, so who would realistically offer the seventy-five Levy was supposedly after? As for Dembele, even his most deluded admirers must recognise that he's a busted flush, probably worth ten if that, even in today's mad market, making a realistic total of sixty or seventy million at most. If Levy was holding-out for double that, it's yet another example of his tenuous grip on football and financial reality, though it pales into insignificance against the unfolding stadium disaster - best chairman in the PL? Sure, no doubt whatsoever, same as Pochettino is the best manager and Lloris the best keeper (and I'm also the Queen of Sheba, but I don't like to brag about it).

 

Valid point. I agree. Poch's love affair with Winks must end. Or my love affair with Poch will. COYS!!!

 

Lads have got to step up today or could be 9 points off those silly big spending clubs in 6 games

 

So a gritty win yesterday, squeaky bum time again at the end but 3 valuable points!

We are not firing on all 4 cylinders by a long shot but we have 4 wins out of 6 in the league and we know we start slowly under Poch

Many positives to embrace

Lucas is the new signing we didn’t get!
Alderweireld is back in favour so we have two of the best cb ‘s in the league
Son, won’t be firing rounds at he North Koreans but will be firing goals for us instead
Lamela is going to come into his own this season -already scored more in last 4 games
We are 100% when Hugo has played

All this and we had a crappy pre season due to World Cup commitments and we still don’t have a home ground I , for one (and I appreciate I may be alone) am relatively pleased with 12 points out of a possible 18 - once Hugo is back the defence will improve

Let’s stay positive and get behind the boys

 

I am convinced that if Gazza played in those 3 losses we could have won in last two. Let's see who will start against Watford. I'd like to see the Argentinian, if Hugo has not sobered yet.

 

Made it hard work for ourselves but got the much needed win in the end. Again not a vintage performance but a very difficult place to go. Points wise again I'll say it.. Its been a very reasonable start although the football has been poor. We're notorious slow starters as is Harry Kane so hopefully kick on from here. The title is unrealistic but I'm hopeful on another top 4 spot and maybe a cup. Gazza impressed me as did Rose and lamela. I'd expect wholesale changes v Watford but should progress.

 

12 from 18 is respectable, especially given that the good parts from all six games probably add up to 45 minutes in total, but we're currently the least convincing of the top four candidates, barring only United, who have an irritating habit of coming good when it matters. If we can build another run of good results (and preferably performances), the crisis which seemed to be looming only a few days ago might be averted, but I remain doubtful that we'll be good enough for a CL place next May, while getting out of our CL group this season looks like being a real struggle, so it's the domestic cups or nothing (unless qualifying for the EL counts as success, of course), starting at our new spiritual home, lovely Milton Keynes.