The Ugly, the bad and some good

We have all known for some time that Spurs season has been over, but today the final nail was hammered home by Manchester City in a game that epitomised our season.

We came out of the blocks quickly and had chances to go 2 or 3 up but failed to take the chances that came our way. Then City broke and our defence stood still as Aguero wandered round the back to fire home high in the near post. As much as the run was good, it was poor defending from Spurs, a feature of our season.

Kane worked hard but he was guilty of being greedy and failed to pass the ball in the second half when he had Hart on his knees. It demonstrated the fact that Kane does not have confidence in those around him. When he gets in the final third he simply goes alone and that should ring alarm bells. Kane feels only he can win games and to be fair, that is understandable.

Today, lamela worked hard but I counted at least 11 passes that went from him to a Man City Player which is simply not good enough.

Dier delivered some great balls into the box and is one to watch. Yes, he has been naive at times but he works hard and can become a great player for Spurs.

Danny Rose has had lots of stick but other than Kane has been one of our best players this season. Mason and Bentaleb started the season well but Bentaleb has looked tired since the AFCON and Mason has been poor in recent games. New contract, no desire. Sounds familiar.

Adebayor came on to collect a few thousand more quid and will still be loitering next season because no club is going to take his wages in reality.

Fazio is dreadful. Paulinho actually offered energy when he came on today but is still not exactly a player to offer excitement.

How Lennon has transformed Everton since he joined. Pace and the ability to panic defences. Once again showing the naivety of Pochettino.

And so we have a dilemma. Many will call for Poch's head but that will achieve nothing and who exactly would we get next? A bit of common sense has to come in and sticking with Poch has to be that for now.

It looks like Baldini will be gone this summer which is good news and with Paul Mitchell alongside Poch, there is a chance we could see a positive future at the Lane.

But then comes our next problem. A new stadium is no guarantee of success. More fans? Maybe? Real fans? Maybe not.

Spurs are nowhere near being a top four team. Nowhere near at all. Poch shall have the summer to get his players and then start next season with optimism.

Personally, I can't see Spurs doing any better next season than they have done this.

 

Poch is an average manager with a stock pile of average players.
The summer window was appalling under his watch, the defence is an embarrassment, the majority of the football has been dire, bar 1 or 2 performances and an unforseen wonder season from Kane Poch has failed miserably to impress.
1 formation, 1 tactic which 90%of the time is executed very badly, no grasp at all of how to defend/organise.
Do i want Poch to go? Not especially but what I want is him to be ruthless in the window and show us hes not a naieve 1 trick pony!
Get players to fit the system or change it up ffs. Otherwise i cant see the point of all of this upheaval for AvB mkII the poorer version.

 

Finding a poorer version of AVB is a task, but we may have done do.

Potchettino has so many shortcomings, but as an International standard centre back himself it is mind-boggling that he has no clue how to coach a back four.....absolutely no clue.

His one and only tactical formation is easily negated by almost all and cannot be the way to get us top four. Next year we are going to struggle as teams know how to cut off Harry Kane's effectiveness and, without him this year, we would have beeen scraping about in the same area as Villa and Newcastle.

 

All for Sherwood's return???

 

A good and realistic article. We all knew that after missing our early chances today we would be picked off by a soft goal. When will we realise we can't play a high line game with zonal marking against teams who have a top striker? For Aguero this year read Suarez last. For Pochettino this year read AVB last. 5 of the magnificent 7 aren't good enough to get a game and the 4 signed last summer are all second rate as well (Vorm aside). We have no leader on the pitch.

We are in serious decline and were it not for the emergence of Kane we would be in the bottom half. We will not invest in the squad this summer, it will be 'balance the books' again.

 

Oh, come on! It has been a pretty good season, although another 7-9 points were there for the taking by this point (May 3), including at least a draw today. So, just not an excellent season. No 'enforcer' in midfield/defense yet. And how was it possible for the whole side to let Hart throw 30 yards to Aguero and then lose sight of Aguero? Start by bothering Hart.

 

The seasons over now. I hope poch buys enzo Perez he reminds me of suarez , we can also get ings and Austin on the cheap being championship players . Or even Hernandez

The Spurs team only works with dembele in. He is a lot better than bentalab mason Paulinho plus he helps out the defence pooch sort it out

 

Good article and to me it looks like we are heading towards a predictable sixth place as many of us thought we would be come the end of season. As much as ive been a critic of Potchettino's style and tactics I still believe he should get at least another year in his job and I don't think there will be any serious consideration in replacing him at this stage if we are to come in at sixth place. Im not at all saying that sixth place is acceptable by the way, or that this is a good result for the new manager but it will keep his job safe for at least another season. But make no mistake, Pochettino had better improve his man management and tactical skills, get a few in and get a few out and no excuses come this time next year.

 

Spurs. All too predictable, as usual. Almost as bad as watching AVB's tactics. Lamela must go wide, make use of his right foot and not always be breaking inside to try to ghost past 2 or 3 defenders and invariably losing the ball. When we do move the ball to the right, how about some support instead of leaving Dier with either the choice of trying to beat a defender or flogging the ball in the middle? I thought Fazio played good defense, and Rose showed why he's streets better than Davies at this point. Ericksen seems to have blown his gasket and has nothing left to offer this season.

I'll keep saying it over and over, put Kane and Soldato up front and try the 4-4-2 to give defenders another target to worry about.

Should we finish sixth, I know that doesn't put us in the elite, but it's still a hell of a showing in a tough league, with young players still learning and no shining stars like Aguerra, Corzolla, Silva, etc., etc., etc.

Wonder if Bale or Modric would be available next season....

 

The club have moved forward and players such as Rose,Bentaleb,Dier ,Mason ,Lamela,Kane have all improved.include Chadli,Eriksen. This is down to a better attitude overall in the squad. I believe if Harry had passed to Lamela (this would have given Lamela chance to kill criticism) when he had Joe Hart at his mercy we have been 1-1. We would have then won. City gave 110% +clinical we did 110% but not clinical as team .Fazio read game well.Vertongen was terrific. Hugo was not as good as Hart but I hope it is not because "rumours".
Rose,Mason were all terrific but really joe hart was MOTM. It is someone other than Harry to be inspired and have a blinder like David Silva. It is always easy to criticise but in this game we deserved 1-1 and I felt it was luck that got city victory

 

A fair and concise reflection Matt. It has been an average season; we have had the high points of Kane, beating the goons and chelski - and the lows of 2 poor transfer windows, a number of shocking home defeats and the worrying back line.

Clearly there is plenty of work to be done behind the scenes in the summer. Baldini must go, along with numerous personnel i.e. Chiriches, Kaboul, Stambouli, Fazio, Paulinho, Soldado etc etc. Furthermore, if Poch wants to succeed he must be backed in the summer and the recruitment must be swift. His approach is based on hard graft and high levels of fitness; all of which requires a full pre-season - there is no use in getting our deals over the line come late August.

We all know what we need... Support for Kane, a proven holding midfielder, a leader at the back, an effective wide player and to retain the sevices of Lloris and Eriksen. If only if it was that simple! COYS

 

Looks like a decent showing from yesterdays game although it was really a dead rubber. Think the mentality has improved under MP to be fair we don't get the hammerings we did under avb and Sherwood and have managed to grind out some results with late goals and beaten some top four sides which historically we've failed.
Much like Chelsea a year or so ago we need to invest in a new spine as that is where we are notably weak in my eyes. A new right sided centre
half with pace a top quality cm and a second striker (preferably one who can play a variety of positions rather than playing 2nd fiddle to HK. My choices would be stones Schneiderlin berahino.
Out wide we have decent options but lamela and Townsend are much of a muchness really- young promising frustrating and inconsistent with very similar styles preferring to cut in off the right flank onto thier left peg. I would keep both for another season to see if they can fulfill that potential. Chadli worth keeping as a squaddie at best due to his knack of scoring goals. Lennon I would recall personally but I fear his days are numbered so probably be sold to raise funds or even smarter swapped for miralles. Jay rodrigues again would offer goals at a rate of one in 3 games and I think spurs interest in him his real hence him being offered a new deal while not even fit.
A starting 11 of lloris walker stones verthonghen dembele Schneiderlin eriksen miralles Rodriguez Kane. Sub's vorm dier lamela Townsend berahino bentaleb Davies would
project us into top four

 

In: Stones (yes, but unlikely - prob Wimmer); Schneiderlin; Mirallas and Benteke (if not, poss J Rod or Ings - (I fear Berahino would be a liability off the pitch))...

Out: Where do you start!?

COYS

 

Some players have had 3 years to determine theyr not good enough, others 2 how many seasons do we keep churning out the same sh;t?
Its been obvious where weve been weak for years and all this little bits of tinkering, dawdling, 'being clever' patience mantra etc is getting us nowhere.
Every window we go into with the glaringly obvious- defence needs strengthening with proper defenders, the midfield needs a leader, the midfield needs width with end product and creation, then we need 3 hungry strikers.
What will we do? Go on holiday while PR says were interested in everyone that would make a difference offer about 10 mil under their asking price then a month into the season rip the heart out of the side and buy a load of underperforming contract rebels, players that dnt really excell in any position, or youth prospects.
Different Season same ****, wel never be a big side under this circus as we have no one holding the kitty that can see the glaringly obvious deficiencies and fix it !
Too busy feeding the fans BS and rinsing us for every penny, the fact that theyv inbedded a happy with 6th be thankful were afloat mantra amongst a number of the fan base just shows what their level of ambition is- tick over lovely profit spinner.
And before the 'were building a stadium' lot start crying about Leeds etc its not for our benefit its so Enic can make more money for themselves.
Our fruits of this Leadership?

1 League Cup!

 

City went into the game having lost 4 away on the bounce and with no Kompany or Toure. So lucky for them they were playing Pochs 1 dimensional academy project to restore confidence. Its what we've done for the past 2 seasons.The comedic way we are conceding goals could make an hour long dvd on the art of defending badly with a extra brain fart section

 

If Mason is the answer what is the bloody question ?

 

Seems its only the old women on this dodgy bog that thought we played bad yesterday. Everyone else thought the team played a blinder. That Lamela was excellent. ....So again.PISS OFF

 

We deserved at least a point and we did play well but the game was a microcosm of our season. Not taking chances and very poor in defence.
Lamela tried hard but he was not excellent. As for your final comment, that is completely unnecessary and not called for.
Different opinions are fine and all valid but why you feel the need to be aggressive in your use of language is beyond me.
Make your point, but leave the language where it belongs, in the playground.

 

Another happy clapper roaring on a defeat, we played well yes a blinder no. But very predictably we lost due to sloppy defending and a limited attack.

AGAIN !