Pochettino's costly plea to Mr Levy...

As Harry Kane left the field of play after just 65 minutes to be replaced by Erik Lamela, Mauricio Pochettino must have gazed up at the Spurs chairman’s luxury executive box and mouthed a solemn word; “help”.

For the rest of the game Spurs looked a man down, as if the Marko Arnautovic and eventual Mame Diouf equaliser were already carved upon the Final Score vidiprinter.

Nacer Chadli was called upon as a makeshift striker as substitute Lamela - hair freshly slicked into a Beckham-esque point - dually took a well-earned nap on the right wing. The Belgian made no significant move towards quelling our earlier fears; that our side severely lacks attacking intent without the Chigwell Ibrahimovic.

Blatant

Surely, if Mr Levy saw what we all saw on the White Hart Lane field today, his chequebook would be whipped out faster than Jan Vertonghen at a Brylcreem sale.

However, what goes on behind those Bond-villain-borrowed black tinted glasses can only be left to the imagination. One can only suggest some kind of Terminator style on-screen display, tracking the income generated from “N’Jie 7” shirts in the Club Shop.

It has been said far too many times to be dubious that Tottenham need another striker. With the sale of Roberto Soldado out of the way, surely even our shiny-headed chairman knows that. Hell, I’m sure that Joe Lewis even knows it and from what I know he hasn’t even seen Spurs play, instead spending his time answering phone calls on an American golf course. I wonder what he makes of Shaquille Courthirst’s loan move to Wigan?

The 2-2 draw to Stoke, described as a “defeat” by our Argentine manager, can only be a Gareth-Bale-in-Times-Square-sized advertisement for Mr Levy. To look ahead at our THIRD Premier League game of the season while both our first team strikers share a squad number can never, ever be a positive thing.

In an earlier article I wrote “we’re only ever a twisted Harry Kane ankle away from our season being down the metaphorical toilet”, and as I opened up Twitter to see an image of our very own England striker sat on the bench with an ice-pack strapped to his foot I have to say I heard a rather large flush in the back of my mind.

After today’s second half showing, Levy should WANT to invest in some attacking reinforcement. And yet, we know Levy so well that Pochettino is likely to have to continue bodging our striker job up until we panic buy in three seasons time after the sale of Kane to Madrid.

The unreplaceable image of Poch clad in Oliver Twist style overalls comes to mind whenever we ask for “more”.

The manger knows it, the players must know it, along with every fan and pundit in the country. Even an 18 year old blogger from Birmingham knows it, so if that doesn’t get his attention then I don’t know what will.

Have faith. COYS.

 

I do wonder why Poch persists with Lamela -he just isn't going to make it - sell whilst you can I say!! He had the ball maybe 6/7 times and lost it all but once - he went into tackles that deserved yellows!! Useless!

 

Trippier should have replaced Kane. I was saying that all second half. Poor Walker had no cover whatsoever all game and he was carded early. Hopefully Poch will learn from his costly mistake. All of Stoke's attacks came down that side, why bring Lamela on? We needed shoring up.
Anyway, Keep the faith.
COYS

 

Lamela has to go - he cannot play football end of story. Glenn Hoddle has it right in his Blog. There are still players who are just not good enough and at least 2 others must be bough,t mid field and striker.

 

Two words.....Charlie Austin!!!

 

The only positive from today's game
Was MPs post match where he confirmed that indeed Njie has not been signed as a central striker added to the fact earlier this week he said we do in fact have a striker target and something should happen soon. Which begs the question why is it taking so bloody long and has it already cost us five points in games we could and should have won. You would expect the targets to be berahino or Austin and given that they are both openly up for sale how difficult could it be. Did we need the sale of soldado first? Second question since when did dembele become a freaking inverted right winger?

 

Its absolutely essential that we BUY a quick creative/skilful midfielder who can take players on, we are bereft of ideas. It's equally imperative that we sign a defensive midfielder with leadership qualities. We need another striker, preferably someone with pace, we don't scare no one. Should seriously consider selling lame Lamela and Dembele if we have to.

 

We were allfull.No surprise there then.This manager knows one way of playing and that's your lot.The best creative player available is Yarolenko.We need him for a start.Another striker is a must (go for a German) any German who scores.Get rid of Levy(oh! Well it was a good idea) and replace him with someone who cares,that would be a nice change.Why do they do this to Spurs supporters.Levy should wear a red nose on match day.

 

Why Poch insists on playing Dier is beyond me! His positional play is 'dierbolical' and he has no imagination.

 

So kanes tired and injured 2 games into the season and is already starting to look like hes being worked out by defences, amazing how some people argued this was implausible when i said they were very likely possibilities.
The same people who said the defence has been sorted out, so much so were minus goal difference already and have leaked 3 in 2.
The 1 formation 1 tactic was again employed with players playing out of their natural positions to accomodate it. (Dembele inverted rw 'unbelievable jeff' )
Lamela is no good, we got worse when bang average Bentaleb came on and we completely collapsed when Kane went off.
At 2-0 up we were cruising, i wouldn't even minded if Poch took Kane off and Eriksen etc for a rest but FFS switch the formation up, kill the game if needs be but instead he persisted with the same system that was even weaker because one of the main cogs was gone and he simply does not have the managerial nowse to react, out think, and finish off the game. If plan A faulters thats it.
And it is an utter disgrace we started the season with 1 viable Striker and still a number of the same issues from last season totally ignored.

 

Poch will be sacked by Oct! He is demonstrating a lack of tactics, and substitution policy, inverted wingers simply do not work, no balance in the team, and a not inclusive manager of all of his players.

 

I wonder why Lamela is never ever played in any of his natural positions where he was good before he arrived. To the left and centrally in the Eriksen role.

 

Pochettino is playing Dier in midfield to send a signal. Thats all.

 

1. Pochettino made terrible tactical changes and substitutions. He has no Plan B.

2. Erik Lamela is useless and needs to be sold back to Serie A while he still at least has a reputation there and we can recoup some of the fee.

3. Eric Dier is a liability in midfield. He is a DEFENDER, is too one dimensional in midfield and makes too many under-powered passes and passes to the wrong-side of his teammates. In short, even though his defensive game is decent in midfield, his possession play is causing us unnecessary problems. Plus he doesnt have the concentration to maintain consistency in midfield for full 90 minutes.

4. Need a backup Target man striker (Austin?)/ and a pacey winger that will commit and run at defenders (Bolasie?)

5. IMO most importantly is an older, experienced, if possible World Class (25 million plus) signing in midfield that will play where Dier is playing currently for us. We should break the bank here over all other places.
A Javi Martinez/Khedira mould player or alternately a more creative player in the shape of a Cabaye/Moutinho-esqe sort of player. Either type will do, as long as they are experienced and flirting in and around the world class bracket of player.
(Note: Please do not misread this and assume I think we should sign these player literally)

 

Kane going off meant quite simply we had to hold onto the 2-0 . That was something we could not do.
Once again our renowned soft underbelly showed through.
Last week at 1-0 to Utd we fell apart for 15 minutes or so, this week we were completely overrun leading up to the first Stoke goal and again for the second, luckily the third did not materialise .
Yes we had a couple of chances but so did Stoke, two good headers straight at our keeper, who once again had a mistake in him.
The whole team still lacks 'fight' ... a Roy Keane type is required.
Bentalab, did he touch the ball.
Lamela after two seasons still seems like the school yard player he is, running everywhere just fouling, not good enough or not the right type of player for the PL or us .
Saw the Everton game, McCarthy (I know he has gone from our list) was everything we needed, tenacious in the tackle, him and Barry worked their socks off to protect their defence.
Have to agree with all those that say Kane has been worked out and Poch is one dimensional .
Will N'Jie make a difference ?!?!
Will we sign a DCM ?
COYS

 

The morning after a heavy night, thick head, can I think clearly....yep, clear enough for me.
When we got to half time at 2-0 you can imagine exactly what Mark Hughes said in his half time talk.
Stoke were really unlucky to be two down, for sure.

As the tackles rained in on Harry, as we knew they would, all around me were talking about the lack of a striker on the bench if/when he gets crocked!

The substitutions so clearly show Poch's tactical naivety, leaving Walker who was already booked with Erik the Halibut as cover. FFS.

The second half was such a painful watch and really confirmed what we all know....Poch lacking and the squad short of real quality. No player who can pick a pass, absolutely no pace, so much sideways passing, Eriksen forced too deep....not good.

Are we negative on this site. No, merely honestly representing what was in front of us today.

COYS

 

I don't know where any of these points are coming from. I was at the Lane yesterday and Walker was exceptional IMO, his defensive play was vastly improved, he just received no help from first Eriksen then Lamela in front of him.

Brings me onto Lamela. Very poor yesterday. Move him on.

We did press yesterday. But what bewildered me about it was we pressed them very high in their half, yet as soon as they crossed the halfway line there was nothing; no pressure on the ball at all. Very odd.

Worth saying as well the first half was as good as the second was bad. We should have been 5-0 up after Kane's chance early in the second half, in all seriousness.

And yes, there were boos at the end. And the general mood coming out of the South stand, at least, was that Pochettino will be axed by the end of this season.

Also, Dier looked very comfortable on the ball and was far from a liability in my opinion

 

1 defence improved? 2 of the players havent played yet. Walker has no brain, Rose improved but not good enough. Vertonghen spent last year sulking , play Trippier & Wimmer. Why all this talk of back up striker. Apart from 3 away matches play 2 up front. Why not sign Khedira? Hes not playing. Didnt want Poch anyway. We need to think big again

 

Defence personnel appears to have improved apart from Walker who must improve his defending and positional play. Then again he needs cover from the right sided midfielder. Inverted wingers do not work, and we must buy a dynamic midfield general and a defensive one, as well as one preferably two strikers.

The club must not repeat in the future, pre-season friendlies right up yo start of the season.

If we lose to Leicester City next weekend, the axe will be lowered that much closer to Poch's neck!

 

His natural position was in Rome - I look forward to him playing there again very soon.