What can coaches and managers improve?

I would never associate Pochettino's Spurs with late (undeserved?) winners... I'm not sure where you've gotten that idea from (if there is a statistic somewhere I'd be happy to see it). I recall one festive season there were a couple of notable ones and of course that night in Amsterdam. The City game was miraculous in itself but let's not forget we neutralised them at home for a deserved first leg lead. As for the final... well the less said about that the better. Yes there was an element of mismanagement but Liverpool were nothing special... play that game again and we would win half the time.

I instead remember the countless times during Pochettino's tenure that Spurs absolutely pummelled the opposition and failed to win (or indeed lost) the game. I won't plum the statistics for you but the match records are there should you care to. Let's forget for a moment all those flirtations with winning a domestic cup (which requires luck no matter how good you are) and instead just consider the 16/17 season as an example. Without wishing to appear biased I think we were the best side in England that year... best differential, most goals, least conceded, prettiest to watch. Yet we fell short to a club that could not seem to lose no matter what... a club that in fact had come 10th the previous season and would come 5th the following. So call that what you will (bad timing perhaps?) but fortune was clearly not with us that season. Pochettino won a lot of football matches (with style) yet no silverware... a lesser manager may well have done the reverse.

 

Any body else horrified by the comments from Mourino saying that he expects the nucleus of the team to be with us in 5 years time.God help us if that is the case because we will be in the championship.Is he playing games to keep in with Levy because if he is sacked they won’t be queuing up to hire him now.He understands the financial state of the club which is down to Levy wanting the lovely stadium but not realising that the playing side is also important.I know the coronavirus has changed things but other clubs seem able to raise money for players and I just don’t mean Chelsea.Can you imagine building a concert centre but not be able to afford the bands to play there.He says we have a lot of young players who will be around in 5 years which is probable but most of them are championship standard at most

 

You say bad luck, I say lack of nous from the manager and of a winning mentality from the players, and we'll have to agree to differ. As for the late winners, deserved or otherwise, the first half of last season was littered with them, and there were plenty in previous seasons. I can accept that 'you make your own luck' might apply, but where was the bad luck you believe hampered Pochettino? The only controversy in any of the big matches (in which we always fell short) was the Sissoko handball, the 2015 League Cup Final being a tame win for Chelsea, as were the two FA Cup Semis for United and Chelsea again. We weren't good enough as a team and Pochettino wasn't good enough as a manager to make the final step to glory: end of.

 

Again I'm not sure what you're talking about with the late goals. I recall a couple of injury time winners around the turn of the year last season (obviously those remain forefront in your mind) but I've never considered or heard anyone speak of it as a signature of Spurs under Pochettino. Indeed, I never could understand all the talk about his famed fitness training because while we did press a lot we never seemed to be any fitter than our opposition at the end of games.

As I said it is too easy to write your own narrative once the result is known. To suggest he did not win a trophy because he and the players were intrinsically incapable is not only very convenient but lacks any nuance of thought. You need some luck in football... it can be quite a random game in case you hadn't noticed. Have a look through the match records particularly from 15/16 to 17/18. You'll find Spurs were very seldom outplayed... including all those fixtures you mention.

 

Better Jose speaks publicly about the squad in this manner than as he did after the Leipzig defeat.

Is it true? In some sense yes... there is a core that can persist for the next few years as part of a team that can challenge for the title. They already have. But mostly they are complementary... the squad needs at few top shelf players of the same quality we have lost since 16/17.

 

I'm none the wiser about Pochettino's 'bad luck'; in the three seasons you specify, we did well, and qualified for the CL, but we never led the PL table, and finished well behind the champions, so where's the bad luck? We didn't pick up many points against the top clubs under Pochettino, and lost all the big cup games against them, so again I ask, what are your examples of Pochettino's bad luck? We failed because at least one other club was better than us when it mattered, and you don't need hindsight to see that.

 

A win but my god I really can’t watch this rubbish any more.Everton were pathetic but we still needed an own goal to get the points.Kane was the best defender on the pitch winning more balls in defence than attack.Moura again gives the ball away for fun he must be Mourinos nephew or something because he would not play in any other top ten side.Second half was once again backs to wall against a poor team instead of pressing for the killer punch.
Must say aldy was vast improvement OnSanchez.Pray arsenal get a lot of injuries before the weekend

 

Hey Chesuntboy, I think you just hit the nail on the head for a point that I have been trying to make and that I think Jose’s Ghost has made really well in this thread.
Regularly during Poch’s tenure, we outperformed other sides with good performances but luck/bad judgment cost us for the ultimate prize. The key point though is that it was only a small number of sides that managed to get above us and they had standout seasons. Now, half the league are better than us and we play like a bottom 3 side despite scraping wins like tonight.

 

probably just me..... but if I can see Poch reference in the post before I start to read the post.... I don't bother reading the post.

He's gone..... let it go

"Started well..... tailed off in the middle.... and the less said about the end the better"

 

It’s not about Poch though, it’s about the best person available for the job at the moment...if that is Poch then so be it, if not then I would welcome whoever it is with open arms...I just personally don’t think anyone out there at the moment could possibly do a better job than Poch under the conditions the job is offered.

 

2nd to 14th in 2.5 seasons.

JM since taking over has amassed the 4th best points tally in the league without having Son & Kane available for a long while, whilst managing the absolute shambles Magic Poch had left us.

 

Thanks... that is spot on. I don't think anyone could ever reasonably accuse him of being blessed with some greater sense of fortune across his time at Spurs (he would have actually won something had that been the case). A good manager... certainly not perfect... but a difficult act to follow nevertheless.

 

Be very careful felon using points gained since Mourino took over .Initially there was the new manager surge but if you check the points since February only Leicester of the top 14 have gained less points than us.Which means the initial love affair has worn off.Dont get me wrong I was all for the appointment of Mourino but he has nowhere near affected the team as I thought he would.Ithought Man U were wrong to sack him but now can see why because he has been
left behind by the new breed of manager.I really don’t know where we go from here and would be devastated if we turned as someone on here suggested to the over rated Bournemouth man.Unfortunately the best stadium in the world will not attract top managers who want to win things so until we get a buyer I think we are unfortunately going to be a second rate club.Why would the oil magnates be interested in Newcastle and not a club with all the infrastructure in place .Could it be Levy

 

If/when there is a new signing, how many matches should it take before the new signing plays his first full match in the league?
If the scouting has been great then I'd say less than three matches. When did that last happen for Spurs?

Someone who thinks it is worth the effort of making a poll might find out what fans consider to be reasonable

 

Think Son and in particular Harry kane are the factors to be looked at here. Add to that injury to sissoko bergwjin. When most have been fit weve got points on the board. 7 out of 12 since the prem came bk probably should have been 9 but that's football. 2 clean sheets out of 4 games.

 

All achieved with the playing style of Tranmere Rovers. Can’t wait until next season....