Progress, Transition or same old ....?

Picture the scenario:
This time next season - spurs coach Pep Guardiola (sacked by Bayern for refusing to wear lederhozen at the end-of-season party) is appealing for patience after the loss to Watford which sees the team sitting in sixth place despite the Harry/Leonel strike partnership netting a record number of goals (GD still in the negative however).
The comments on here will be exactly the same - just replace 'Poch out' with 'Pep out'.
It is the joy of being a Spurs fan - forever dreaming of what might have been and what might be!

 

Blame Levy if you like but he does not pick the team or tactics. What he did do and at the time most Tottenham fans agreed was sack Tim Sherwood and appoint an AVB mark two but worse. Botch has no credentials as a manager, no tactics other than inverted wingers and the width provided by the two full backs. Teams that favour this system usually play with three central defenders not two. We might get away with it if they had pace but Fazio has the turning circle of the Titanic and Vertonghen is little quicker. No wonder we have let in so many goals. He just cannot see past this system even when, as yesterday, neither full back had the pace or desire to go forward. Selection has been poor and often negative. We never play with two strikers. He brings Soldado on who cannot score to save his life and drops our one goalscorer into midfield. Yes, he inherited dross bought in the wake of the Bale sale but his own buys have proved little better. The most expensive player Botch has ever bought was Osvaldo, just about sums him up. Tottenham have no chance of getting into the Champions league until some Russian or Arab with more money than sense comes along. The present regime from top to bottom are also rans. Sherwood has proved at Villa what might have been. Yet we bring in another foreign manager who can hardly sring a coherent sentence together in English with no track record at all. Even his comments are laughable. The pitch is not wide enough, I am just a coach not a manager, we controlled the game against Villa, we lacked patience at Burnley and finally we will challenge Chelsea for the title! The problem Spurs have is getting rid of the deadwood nobody is going to give you even 30% of the money spent on them. The list is endless Adebayor, Capoue, Kaboul, Fazio, Soldado, Chirches, Paulinho and possibly even Lamela. We have bought all of these in the last two seasons. Baldini still employed by Tottenham yet another joke. This season Tottenham have, in my opinion, made no progress whatever. Botch is no nearer knowing what his best team is now than the day he regretably arrived.

 

I will say it again levy wants to run the team that's why he gets in yes men redknapp was the last man with any balls and he was gotten rid of by voldamort , never mind the fact we was playing great football with pace power and heart . This current squad has no heart neither the manager he just looks like a deer caught in the headlights waiting to be sacked thinking what have I done coming here . We are now the Spurs of 10 years ago mid table team who gets the odd good player but will sell as soon as a good offer comes in . How people think lamela or chadli is a better option than Lennon I don't no I know Lennon can be frustrating but at least he looks like his trying apart from erikson we haven't bought anyone who is any good latte and his form has dipped again . The manager has no back up plan some of our performances this season I doubt he had a plan A let alone a B for levy is the main problem at Spurs I'd like to see old school Spurs bought in hoddle , ledley , sherrigham , at least they would have some values . I can't see any change soon but we hope oh how we hope .

 

Anyone remember that Talking Heads song from the mid 80s .. We,re on the road to nowhere .. Sums us up at the moment .. Enough torture for one year , enjoy the summer guys , see you all next season for more no doubt ..

 

The spine of the team is so week. Jv as a ball playing center half needs a dominant centre half alongside him preferably with pace. Mason and bentaleb are neat n tidy but offer little else by the way of protection or creativity and are simply not good enuf to reach top four level. Kane has understandably hit a brick wall but there is nobody to replace him or supplement him! I honestly feel capoue and dembele would be a better pairing especially in physical games such as stoke! Cannot see where the next win is coming from!

 

Good article and fair comments by all. Totally gutted from that performance yesterday... If we want to be thinking of top four 4, then clearly we need to be picking up 3 points against the potters! Moreover, and on reflection, failure to secure maximum points at home against them, the Spammers, Baggies and the Geordies is nothing short of pathetic this season.

We must ship out these mediocre players PDQ and acquire players which have PL experience, leadership qualities and are prepared to put a hard shift in - each and every week.

 

Evening all,

I didn't see any of Stoke, but that's doubtless a good thing.
You/we have to be honest at this time.

Honest....how many of the full squad would you, as a coach, pick for your squad...Lloris, Walker possibly, Vertoghen...possibly, Rose, Bentaleb probably, Mason possibly, Dembele ..yep from me as I rate him....Chaldli probably, with a rocket up his arse, Eriksen, Kane....others.....none would get in a top 4 side, none. Only 3 of our 25 would. So staffing wise we are below par, or is it above par.
Manager. Nice but dim. You can give him time, but you know what it won't make any difference as under Poch we will never make it. In part it's the squad, but the truth is he just hasn't got it for me. Look at the likes of Morinho and Van Gaal..speak the lingo, can speak lucidly in the mother tongue....table stakes. You have to be very good, or a good communicator, or both.
We need two centre backs, a winger who works hard and Benteke....that will do.
Offload all the other dross, buy 4 players, better future at The Lane....but it must include Benteke.
This was a poor season for me....Levy, Baldini, the stadium, wasted millions, transfer inactivity...that and much more, but I'm wearied by it all. I love you Tottenham I do, but you've disappointed this year.
COYS

 

That is spot on my friend. A point I wholeheartedly agree with. Does Levy have some weird personality disorder where he likes to sack successful managers? Feels threatened by their success?
I know, let's hire an international coach to deal with his psychosis!!

 

Thankfully i was abroad this weekend so i missed the game.
But im gonna go out on a whim here and predict what happened-
At a guess il say we set up 4231, lacked width, lacked pace, lacked leadership, lacked technical ability, lacked creativity, isolated the front man, and performed a master class in the art of how to leak cheap goals ?

How did i do?

 

Its a two fold problem, Poch not willing to change his rigid system and style of play and the Players who are not up for a season long of intense high pressing game.
Poch system clearly requires a core team of young players with energy abound to continuously press higher up the pitch. However, we also need players with brains, specifically speed of thought, which we are clearly lacking with the current team. The team meanders and pass among themselves in midfield before eventually shooting sky high or into an opposition defense, because we gave them all the time in the world to regroup.

There are a few interesting articles on the high press system and how it CAN work (read Dortmund, Barcelona) and how it can easily go tits up with the wrong personnel. It was also interesting reading Morgan Schneiderlin's interview with a french publication, where he states how poch's system required the pressing to start with the striker; something Kane is obviously doing looking a his stats. However, the rest of the team have to follow suit and close the channels upfield forcing the opposition to concede possession. Unfortunately, players like Chadli, Townsend, our lightweight midfields, and defenders (bar Danny Rose) are not doing this effectively. While people may argue Chadli has been chipping in with goals, he does very little else in terms of pressing. This is why I find Lennon's loan deal very puzzling as he has been very good at tracking back and covering the fullbacks. If Poch decision to loan him out is based on the fact Lennon failed to track Hazard when we lost to Chelsea, then i question our manager's player motivation and communication skills.

I sincerely hope Poch and Paul Mitchell can work out the proper personnel this summer and our dear chairman sanctioning the signings without too much haggling. We can push forward if that happens. However, I also hope Poch is open to being more flexible with his tactics as that is the only way the a PL team can succeed.

Oh yeah, who else thinks both Poch and Koeman are trying to very best to avoid Europa?

 

Van Gaal goes into utd with a preconceived formation of a 352 which he had relative success with the dutch national team. However after results and performances wain he quickly finds a solution to fit in with the qualities of the players he has at his disposal and is able to utilize the big name/money signings such as Mata fellaini Herrera and has an about turn in results. Does this sound familiar. Or should I say not familiar? Maybe that's what comes when u hire a top class coach
other than a young wet behind the ears ststubborn one!

 

1)This team has 3 players the entire season was depending on: Lloris, Eriksen and Kane. None showed up against the Potters. I don't know the reason, but it was not because they tired of 4231.
2)There used to be a competition for starting XI earlier. Not anymore, it is very much like during AVB tenure now.
3) We ran out of both right and left full backs. Injuries is part of the business, but lack of depth is a bad business. That has to be addressed. We missed Rose and even Walker.

So, in summary, our good scorers did not show up, while our good defenders could not show up. Hence the poor result.

 

Judging from our slump in form, I agree with an above post that Poch is quite possibly actively trying to get us to miss out on the Europa on purpose - either that or he is actually diabolically rubbish and needs replacing.