Tottenham Thread

Last season, there was no real high quality football.
Whereas in previous seasons Spurs had a recognisable brand of football (very attractive football), last season we only thrived in chaos, when we threw the kitchen sink.
Our home match against Dortmund was the exception and even then Dortmund were the better team in the first half. We were extremely luck in both CL matches against City and were helped by Guariola not playing KDB in the home tie.
Against Ajax we played one good half, by playing uncharacterisyic Spurs football.
We went almost all the way in the CL, but we didn't play good football.

In fact our best football was the last season in the old stadium. We will never get better than that season: most goals scored, least goals against, i think we won all our home matches (perhaps one draw, not sure). And on top of that fantastic football...but Chelsea had a wonder season. That was the season we should have won the league (not the Leicester season the season before that).

IMO the fans expect too much. We might win a domestic Cup and with some luck perhaps a CL (but will we ever be more Lucky in the CL than last year?), but Spurs will never ever win the EPL as long as they have the 7th budget.

Do i blame Levy and Enic? Not at all. It seems to me we are a decent and proper led football team.
 
We're in a slump now, it seems we have a few too many passengers in our squad, players not really up for it or motivated to play properly - and Poch insists on playing a system that relies too heavily on effective wing back play for us to succeed. Strengthening in wing back positions should be our main concern come January, in my opinion. I have to say though, although I'm 100% behind the man, I'm not too sure Poch will even be here come January - too many arrows pointing the wrong way.

What I am sure of though, is that we have an excellent fundament for future teams, and we will establish ourselves in the very top within the next 10 years or so - top notch stadium with the best match day revenue of pretty much any team in the world, world class training facilities, and long term we'll be able to get much closer economically to our opponents due to the increased match day revenue and everything that entails.

The now might be a bit bleak, but the future is bright, the future is lilywhite. ;)
 
Some crazy mixed reaction on us signing Jose Mourinho.

On one hand, I really wanted Poch to be the one to fix this mess, but on the other, it looked like off-field issues and Poch's strange tactical decisions were starting to mount up.

One thing to remember is that Jose is desperate to show his doubters wrong. He's mentioned numerous times the potential of our club, and he always brings something we've not had for 11 years - trophies. I also think it says a lot about the man that he's willing to burn his bridges with Chelsea to come to us. Is it determination, or simply only caring about his legacy and not love from the fans? Who knows, but he's very different to managers we normally sign.

Either we're going to change our approach and sign players, or he's going to have to change his and coach players better.

I'm hoping that opposites really do attract.
 
So Spurs sacked their best manager ever and went for the boring one. The boring one is everything Mauricio Pocchetino wasn't and vice versa. Pocchetino had a long term vision, Mourinho is all about the short term. Next season or theseason after he will the club in complete chaos. Pocchetino makes players better, Mourinho makes them worse (Pogba, Lukaku and even Hazard). Pocchetino sees young talents, Mourinho isblind for the Obvious (Lukaku, De Bruyne, Martial) One could aslo claim that Mourinho wins silverware and Pocchetino doesn't but i don't see us win things with Mourinho. IMO he's past it. It will be fun to watch both Levy and Mourinho. Levy doesn't want to spend money on players and Mourinho is all about spending money on mediocre players. Should Pocch have been sacked? Sadly, i think it might have been the right decision. What went wrong then? Well imo two things went wrong. Our most influential player left and Pocch lost the dressing room. When was the last time Spurs played really good, structured football? That was before new year. The downwards spiral coïncided with the departure of our only real star player: Moussa Dembele. Pocchetino's masterstroke was to put an attacking player just before the defense. Moussa is a unique player: a very, very physically strong player with amazing technical skills but with barely an end product (the reason? Moussa spent hours and hours playing football on a basketball pitch where the poles of the hoop were the goals. That pitch is in Antwerp and i've seen it). Moussa barely scored goals and had barely any assists but he was the glue that kept our team together. Just look at the current Spurs team and how they build up from defense, that goes very slow. Moussa was the man who not only ended attacking moves of the opposite team (he was year after year the player with highest amount of good tackles in the league) but also brought the ball up to the midfield. Putting Moussa as a DMF allowed Delle Alli to play as number 9 and a half. Since Dembele left, Alli is in decline. And what about Ndombele? He is a splendid player, but he is a different player than Moussa. His stats will be much better than Dembele's. He will score a fair amount of goals and have assits galore, but he is no replacement for Moussa. Dembele is irreplacabel unless Spurs play a different system and Pocch was not able to find a way of playing without Dembele. Secondly, Pocch lost the dressing room (unfortunately). I know a Belgian journalist who is close to our national team. He has talked with Alderweireld and Vertonghen and both players told him that the Spurs dressing room was furious that Pocch did not select Lucas Moura for the CL final and instead went for Kane who at that moment wasn't fit at all. The same person says that the majority of the Spurs squad are sick and tired of Kane. Kane sees himself as mister Spurs and the majority of his fellow players think that Spurs is more unpredictable without Kane in the team and with Son, Moura and Alli in attacking roles alternating as focal point in the attack. With Kan, everything goes in his direction and that is easier to defend. The players who went vocal about this are Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose and Eriksen (the players that don't want to renew their contracts, coïncidence?). Am i 100% sure of all this? No. It's what i've heard. As a fan i'm afraid that Mourinho will do our club harm in the long term. Let's hope i'm wrong.
 
I bet there was a collective groan in the Academy dressing room as all their first team hopes go out the window. I can't see how Levy's tight purse strings will now open for Mourinho though? As bad a start as Spurs have had it seems a bit mad to sack a manager who took Spurs to the Champions League final (and that's worth repeating to take in that achievement) a few months ago, rather than give him time to get moving in the right direction again. That said something does seem wrong there now. Spurs fans best hope Mourinho has his old mojo back rather than the Mourinho who sucked the life out of Man Utd and their fans.

I was thinking last night (and I don't know if he would ever consider it, but who knows, manager's don't have the same loyalty as fans) but if Arsenal had any sense they'd dump Emery right now and convince Poch to become their manager.
 
What a way to pay back the one coach that took them to be a competitive team across Europe.

Like he couldn't come back from this next season with a few signings.
Like Mou isn't going to demand top wage players.
 
Mourinho is done at the highest level. He's a tactical dinosaur. No manager will ever succeed at Spurs whilst Levy is there though.
 
geeeeee said:
It seems you were right :(
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Yeah. Not surprised, and although it's sad to see him go, I think it was ultimately the right decision. You simply can't survive as a manager of a top team with those results over almost a year (38 points from 38 league games), no matter how much of a hero you are at the club. He's done so much weird shit this past year, subs that make no sense, weird formations he keeps repeating with the same results, his press conferences have been odd to say the least, and it's like he's just lost that spark somewhere along the line. Hard to say what exactly went wrong, of course, but I do think it's much easier to replace the manager rather than the whole squad, so that's what we did. If it was easier to simply assemble a brand new team and have a motivated Poch coach them, I'd choose that, but such is not reality.

Mourinho is partly exciting, but also, you got a feeling of it not going to end well (does it ever though). Also, as has been pointed out, he's a bit of a tactical dinosaur - does he still have it in him? He's won trophies everywhere he's been, there's no denying that, and hopefully we'll see a more inspired match from our lads tomorrow. We've been dire for too long. It'll be intriguing to see his first starting XI. I can see Dier playing a more significant role now.
 
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Daisuk said:
Yeah. Not surprised, and although it's sad to see him go, I think it was ultimately the right decision. You simply can't survive as a manager of a top team with those results over almost a year (38 points from 38 league games), no matter how much of a hero you are at the club. He's done so much weird shit this past year, subs that make no sense, weird formations he keeps repeating with the same results, his press conferences have been odd to say the least, and it's like he's just lost that spark somewhere along the line. Hard to say what exactly went wrong, of course, but I do think it's much easier to replace the manager rather than the whole squad, so that's what we did. If it was easier to simply assemble a brand new team and have a motivated Poch coach them, I'd choose that, but such is not reality.

Mourinho is partly exciting, but also, you got a feeling of it not going to end well (does it ever though). Also, as has been pointed out, he's a bit of a tactical dinosaur - does he still have it in him? He's won trophies everywhere he's been, there's no denying that, and hopefully we'll see a more inspired match from our lads tomorrow. We've been dire for too long. It'll be intriguing to see his first starting XI. I can see Dier playing a more significant role now.
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I agree that it is sad but not surprising. The results have been terrible and the Champions League run hid our League run.

Regarding Jose, I have never liked him and his arrogance and I always said that he would not do as well at a team that cannot spend as much (admittedly though he did well at Porto). But at the same time I am excited by the change and I really hope that he proves me wrong.
 
Stan said:
So Spurs sacked their best manager ever and went for the boring one. The boring one is everything Mauricio Pocchetino wasn't and vice versa. Pocchetino had a long term vision, Mourinho is all about the short term. Next season or theseason after he will the club in complete chaos. Pocchetino makes players better, Mourinho makes them worse (Pogba, Lukaku and even Hazard). Pocchetino sees young talents, Mourinho isblind for the Obvious (Lukaku, De Bruyne, Martial) One could aslo claim that Mourinho wins silverware and Pocchetino doesn't but i don't see us win things with Mourinho. IMO he's past it. It will be fun to watch both Levy and Mourinho. Levy doesn't want to spend money on players and Mourinho is all about spending money on mediocre players. Should Pocch have been sacked? Sadly, i think it might have been the right decision. What went wrong then? Well imo two things went wrong. Our most influential player left and Pocch lost the dressing room. When was the last time Spurs played really good, structured football? That was before new year. The downwards spiral coïncided with the departure of our only real star player: Moussa Dembele. Pocchetino's masterstroke was to put an attacking player just before the defense. Moussa is a unique player: a very, very physically strong player with amazing technical skills but with barely an end product (the reason? Moussa spent hours and hours playing football on a basketball pitch where the poles of the hoop were the goals. That pitch is in Antwerp and i've seen it). Moussa barely scored goals and had barely any assists but he was the glue that kept our team together. Just look at the current Spurs team and how they build up from defense, that goes very slow. Moussa was the man who not only ended attacking moves of the opposite team (he was year after year the player with highest amount of good tackles in the league) but also brought the ball up to the midfield. Putting Moussa as a DMF allowed Delle Alli to play as number 9 and a half. Since Dembele left, Alli is in decline. And what about Ndombele? He is a splendid player, but he is a different player than Moussa. His stats will be much better than Dembele's. He will score a fair amount of goals and have assits galore, but he is no replacement for Moussa. Dembele is irreplacabel unless Spurs play a different system and Pocch was not able to find a way of playing without Dembele. Secondly, Pocch lost the dressing room (unfortunately). I know a Belgian journalist who is close to our national team. He has talked with Alderweireld and Vertonghen and both players told him that the Spurs dressing room was furious that Pocch did not select Lucas Moura for the CL final and instead went for Kane who at that moment wasn't fit at all. The same person says that the majority of the Spurs squad are sick and tired of Kane. Kane sees himself as mister Spurs and the majority of his fellow players think that Spurs is more unpredictable without Kane in the team and with Son, Moura and Alli in attacking roles alternating as focal point in the attack. With Kan, everything goes in his direction and that is easier to defend. The players who went vocal about this are Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose and Eriksen (the players that don't want to renew their contracts, coïncidence?). Am i 100% sure of all this? No. It's what i've heard. As a fan i'm afraid that Mourinho will do our club harm in the long term. Let's hope i'm wrong.
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I don’t care if Jose is boring now.

Going out to Amsterdam was one of the best nights of my life, and I’ll remember Poch fondly for that moment alone, let alone everything else he’s brought us. He’s been fantastic for us, but 24 points in 25 games isn’t good enough, players are beginning to turn on him, and things were going wrong. I agree that Dembele was an immense loss, but by his own admission he couldn’t handle the physicality here any more, and to blame our results on the loss of one player is ridiculous. Players leave, teams change, managers adapt.

I want to look at the positives - we’ve hired a serial winner, who’s won 20 trophies, who is determined to prove his doubters wrong, who has taken a year out to reflect on his own performances, and he’s taking over a team which includes 6 players he himself has tried to buy, and was even willing to burn his Chelsea legacy to the ground in the eyes of some fans by joining us.

Is it short term thinking? Maybe, but we’ve achieved our long term goals - a new training ground, an incredible new stadium, and consistent Champions League football. I don’t have anything against us thinking short term for a while, and wanting to add a trophy or two for the first time in 11 years.
 
Good start for Mourinho. We well deserved that win, and 3-2 is quite flattering for the Spammers. Great intensity and lots of positives from today. Dele was fantastic, he's so good in that false 9 role in the hole. I wonder where N'dombele and/or Lo Celso will feature for Mourinho. N'dombele is a fantastic footballer, one of the best I've seen for years, so we must make room for him somewhere. Possibly playing instead of Winks alongside Dier (who seems to be a huge Mourinho favorite).
 
Daisuk said:
Good start for Mourinho. We well deserved that win, and 3-2 is quite flattering for the Spammers. Great intensity and lots of positives from today. Dele was fantastic, he's so good in that false 9 role in the hole. I wonder where N'dombele and/or Lo Celso will feature for Mourinho. N'dombele is a fantastic footballer, one of the best I've seen for years, so we must make room for him somewhere. Possibly playing instead of Winks alongside Dier (who seems to be a huge Mourinho favorite).
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We stopped our persistent need to play out from the back. A number of times we hit the long pass and either Son or Lucas were instantly in behind their defense. Son, in particular, is so quick, and so dangerous on either foot that we should be picking him out as soon as we can, especially after turning the ball over. It was also great to see Dele, for the first time in ages, show his great positioning and creativity by finding pockets in behind the attacking 3.

It's very, very early days, and West Ham were terrible, but our first away LEague win since January is a great start for Jose.
 
I saws that match against West Ham United. The first 70 minutes were very promising. That was the Spurs we want to see and Mourinho did what Pocch should have done. He circumvented the Dembele hiatus with long balls.

The last 20 minutes were the Spurs from the last year...based on that part of the match there is not much reason to feel optimistic.

But i'm a fan and i want to be optimistic and even support Mourinho. It was vey important to win this first match and we did that. Delle Alli was great and the combination of Son, Moura and Kane actually worked (but will Mourinho play like that against big opponents? I hope so, but i doubt it).

Not so sure about Eric Dier. IMO he is not good enough for what Spurs want to be: in the short term top 4 contenders and in the longer term title contenders. (but is that realistic?). But he has been often out with illness or injuries the last months. He has been a loyal servant and deserves a chance. Personally i would play both Ndombele and Winks as holding midfielders...but against teams as West Ham, it might be important to have a creativee player like Eriksen (Lo Celso? Haven't seen enough of him to Judge him).

One more thing. I think a team like Spurs will never be able to win the league. Spurs will never invest money like both Manchester clubs, Chelsea or Liverpool. I also want to see more academy players in the squad (Troy Parott should play occasionally, the fact that we're out of the League Cup is very bad for players like him and Tanganga). This morning there was a rumour that Kraft will take Spurs over from Enic. They are huge American owners who also own one of the biggest football clubs in America (American football). BUt it seems to be fake news...
 
Stan said:
I saws that match against West Ham United. The first 70 minutes were very promising. That was the Spurs we want to see and Mourinho did what Pocch should have done. He circumvented the Dembele hiatus with long balls.

The last 20 minutes were the Spurs from the last year...based on that part of the match there is not much reason to feel optimistic.

But i'm a fan and i want to be optimistic and even support Mourinho. It was vey important to win this first match and we did that. Delle Alli was great and the combination of Son, Moura and Kane actually worked (but will Mourinho play like that against big opponents? I hope so, but i doubt it).

Not so sure about Eric Dier. IMO he is not good enough for what Spurs want to be: in the short term top 4 contenders and in the longer term title contenders. (but is that realistic?). But he has been often out with illness or injuries the last months. He has been a loyal servant and deserves a chance. Personally i would play both Ndombele and Winks as holding midfielders...but against teams as West Ham, it might be important to have a creativee player like Eriksen (Lo Celso? Haven't seen enough of him to Judge him).

One more thing. I think a team like Spurs will never be able to win the league. Spurs will never invest money like both Manchester clubs, Chelsea or Liverpool. I also want to see more academy players in the squad (Troy Parott should play occasionally, the fact that we're out of the League Cup is very bad for players like him and Tanganga). This morning there was a rumour that Kraft will take Spurs over from Enic. They are huge American owners who also own one of the biggest football clubs in America (American football). BUt it seems to be fake news...
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If you compare our squad to Jose's 2005 Chelsea there are a lot of players with similar attributes: Drogba / Kane, Robben / Son, Lampard / Alli. I'm not saying our players are as good as they were, but we have players with similar qualities that he could build a similarly structured team with - attack fast down the wings, with Alli arriving late. If Ndombele can get up to speed with his fitness then Jose may even have his box-to-box Essien like player too.

This whole argument that Spurs do not invest is a complete and utter fantasy in my eyes. Everyone gave us stick for not signing a player, blaming EVERYTHING on that, but now Liverpool goes and spends a measly £1.17m over the summer and they go and win 12 out of 13 league games. Where's the outcry about that??? I was discussing this with a bunch of fans at the ground before the Watford game a week after we lost to Liverpool and I was told 'oh but their team is better than ours'. Really???? Is that their argument? Spurs fans were banging on about how 'squads needs refreshing every year' so why don't we use the same argument when discussing other clubs? We're so hypocritical at times that it's painful to listen to. Since 2013 Spurs have spent on average £72m every season on players. Liverpool have spent £99m. I'm sorry, but the RIGHT signings and the RIGHT coaching beats an additional £27m of yearly signings.

Investment is about timing every bit as much as it is about the value, and you top it off with good coaching. I'm desperate for Leicester to have a great season this year as they are the poster boys for this way of thinking: They became the most unlikely of champions and since then were underperforming despite some excellent signing. Now they've got a good coach they're showing how dangerous they really are.

Our issue is not that we don't back our managers, but that we don't invest when we really need it, and all too often don't invest wisely enough. ENIC & Levy have undoubtedly made their fair share of mistakes, but they're also infinitely more capable than Mike Ashley, Ed Woodward, or some of the clowns in charge of other football clubs.

'ENIC out' banners at West Ham was an embarrassment.

edit:
This isn't all directed at you mate, I did kind of go off on a rant there :LOL: I needed that though.
 
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OBH said:
If you compare our squad to Jose's 2005 Chelsea there are a lot of players with similar attributes: Drogba / Kane, Robben / Son, Lampard / Alli. I'm not saying our players are as good as they were, but we have players with similar qualities that he could build a similarly structured team with - attack fast down the wings, with Alli arriving late. If Ndombele can get up to speed with his fitness then Jose may even have his box-to-box Essien like player too.

This whole argument that Spurs do not invest is a complete and utter fantasy in my eyes. Everyone gave us stick for not signing a player, blaming EVERYTHING on that, but now Liverpool goes and spends a measly £1.17m over the summer and they go and win 12 out of 13 league games. Where's the outcry about that??? I was discussing this with a bunch of fans at the ground before the Watford game a week after we lost to Liverpool and I was told 'oh but their team is better than ours'. Really???? Is that their argument? Spurs fans were banging on about how 'squads needs refreshing every year' so why don't we use the same argument when discussing other clubs? We're so hypocritical at times that it's painful to listen to. Since 2013 Spurs have spent on average £72m every season on players. Liverpool have spent £99m. I'm sorry, but the RIGHT signings and the RIGHT coaching beats an additional £27m of yearly signings.

Investment is about timing every bit as much as it is about the value, and you top it off with good coaching. I'm desperate for Leicester to have a great season this year as they are the poster boys for this way of thinking: They became the most unlikely of champions and since then were underperforming despite some excellent signing. Now they've got a good coach they're showing how dangerous they really are.

Our issue is not that we don't back our managers, but that we don't invest when we really need it, and all too often don't invest wisely enough. ENIC & Levy have undoubtedly made their fair share of mistakes, but they're also infinitely more capable than Mike Ashley, Ed Woodward, or some of the clowns in charge of other football clubs.

'ENIC out' banners at West Ham was an embarrassment.

edit:
This isn't all directed at you mate, I did kind of go off on a rant there :LOL: I needed that though.
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I don't agree with all you write (particularly when you compare our players with the Chelsea, IMO Son and Delle are better than their counterparts at that Chelsea time, and Kane is a totally different player than Drogba - but Drogba was better imo). But i really do understand you.

I follow a lot of Spurs fan on Twitter and they frustrate me. How can you recognize a Spurs fan on Twitter? Answer: someone who talks more about Arsenal than about Spurs. Gnabry scores 4 gaols against us and Arsenal are the real loosers because they let Gnabry go (one example of absolutely ridiculous posts). To be honest, i have had admiration for Wenger's Arsenal and the fantastic football they have played...i'm a Spurs fan, but i don't care about Arsenal. The day we stop talking about Arsenal, we will become a big club. But now i'm doing it too… so i will stop.

Speaking about Enic and Pocch. The timing was wrong and that was a bad coïncidence. Just after we had the season that should have been the beginning of Spurs as a team ready to win things, we had to leave our stadium. That last season at WHL was fantastic, we had the best defense and the best attack and we played fantastic football, but Chelsea were used at winning things and they won the title that Spurs should have won. Then we had the two Wembley seasons without real home matches (don't forget that in the last WHL season we lost only 1 point at home) and when we had the new stadium we lost the balance in team because had left and we did not find a replacement for him (we still haven't). I agree with you that Dembele was physically past it (i read an interview with him here in Belgium where he said that his 3 last season he didn't play a single match without serious pain in his ankles). He had to leave English football.

What i liked about Mourinho's first Spurs match that they used long balls as to do what Moussa did.

I hope we can win against Olympiakos, this could give us a massive boost...
 
Stan said:
I don't agree with all you write (particularly when you compare our players with the Chelsea, IMO Son and Delle are better than their counterparts at that Chelsea time, and Kane is a totally different player than Drogba - but Drogba was better imo). But i really do understand you.

I follow a lot of Spurs fan on Twitter and they frustrate me. How can you recognize a Spurs fan on Twitter? Answer: someone who talks more about Arsenal than about Spurs. Gnabry scores 4 gaols against us and Arsenal are the real loosers because they let Gnabry go (one example of absolutely ridiculous posts). To be honest, i have had admiration for Wenger's Arsenal and the fantastic football they have played...i'm a Spurs fan, but i don't care about Arsenal. The day we stop talking about Arsenal, we will become a big club. But now i'm doing it too… so i will stop.

Speaking about Enic and Pocch. The timing was wrong and that was a bad coïncidence. Just after we had the season that should have been the beginning of Spurs as a team ready to win things, we had to leave our stadium. That last season at WHL was fantastic, we had the best defense and the best attack and we played fantastic football, but Chelsea were used at winning things and they won the title that Spurs should have won. Then we had the two Wembley seasons without real home matches (don't forget that in the last WHL season we lost only 1 point at home) and when we had the new stadium we lost the balance in team because had left and we did not find a replacement for him (we still haven't). I agree with you that Dembele was physically past it (i read an interview with him here in Belgium where he said that his 3 last season he didn't play a single match without serious pain in his ankles). He had to leave English football.

What i liked about Mourinho's first Spurs match that they used long balls as to do what Moussa did.

I hope we can win against Olympiakos, this could give us a massive boost...
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Dembele is my favourite player to have ever worn a Spurs shirt, and I don't say that lightly. I've never seen a midfielder like him. I remember Yaya Toure trying to knock him over, and 2 seconds later Toure is on the ground. Dembele truly was one of a kind, but for all his strengths he also held the ball for too long, didn't score many goals, and wasn't very creative. It's nothing but an excuse to blame an entire 12 months of poor form on the loss of a single player, as an innumerable amount of times over the years do teams lose key players and thrive. Just look at Liverpool with Countinho currently for one of the hundreds of examples. If we can't change our style to compensate for the loss of one man, then the tactics and coaching are clearly wrong. Poch is a great guy, has brought us some of the best times as a Spurs fan in my lifetime, brought us from midtable mediocrity to Champions League regulars, and was so close to winning the Premier League twice and the Champions League once. I'll forever be gutted that he didn't win something with us, but the fact remains that he'd lost his way. The high press we were known for was gone. The quick passing was gone. The solid defending was gone. The tactical changes and quick substitutions were gone. The harmony of the squad was gone. I wanted Poch to be our Alex Ferguson or Wenger, to be with us for years and years, but we'd become stale. We needed a trophy to light the fire in their bellies, to give them that taste of winning, but I can imagine finishing runners up in 3 big competitions is mentally hard to take.

It's early days in Jose's reign, but rather than talks of a 'project' we're now talking about wanting to win, and we've hired a winner. He's won more trophies himself than our club has in its 100-year history! 11 years without a trophy has become a really heavy monkey on our back, but we couldn't have hired a better manager to give us the highest chance to put that right.

(And lastly, our players are better than their Chelsea counterparts at that time? Maybe when Son gets to 151 goals, 12 League titles in 4 countries and 30 trophies overall I'll consider him better than Robben, or when Alli reaches nearly 200 goals from midfield and 13 trophies I'll consider the same with him and Lampard. They're undoubtedly talented, but better? C'mon now).
 
Daisuk said:
Good start for Mourinho. We well deserved that win, and 3-2 is quite flattering for the Spammers. Great intensity and lots of positives from today. Dele was fantastic, he's so good in that false 9 role in the hole. I wonder where N'dombele and/or Lo Celso will feature for Mourinho. N'dombele is a fantastic footballer, one of the best I've seen for years, so we must make room for him somewhere. Possibly playing instead of Winks alongside Dier (who seems to be a huge Mourinho favorite).
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We will see ndombele , dier and winks/lo celso in midfield of 3 because mou really love big and destructive player ie matic in his prime and mctominay, actually we got a decent squad depth if mourinho wanted to rotate our center of the park. We'll see how he does that in the cl match later, actually im excited too see how mou will work on sess position
 
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OBH, my mistake, i thought you compared Son with Duff. Of course Robben is better. I'm sorry.
Also agree with what you write about Dembele.
 
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He isn't completely at fault for the regression and he's the best Spurs manager in my lifetime but Poch needed to go.

The last time this team played good football was the last season at White Hart Lane.

He used to improve players and that manifested in games but there's been a complete lack of obvious coaching for a long time.

His tactics, team selections, game management and his unhealthy obsession with that stupid diamond formation are just some of the issues.

Also starting a clearly unfit Kane over Lucas Moura in the biggest game in recent seasons must be his biggest regret with us.

He lost the dressing room long ago and change was needed.
 
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tobi said:
He isn't completely at fault for the regression and he's the best Spurs manager in my lifetime but Poch needed to go.

The last time this team played good football was the last season at White Hart Lane.

He used to improve players and that manifested in games but there's been a complete lack of obvious coaching for a long time.

His tactics, team selections, game management and his unhealthy obsession with that stupid diamond formation are just some of the issues.

Also starting a clearly unfit Kane over Lucas Moura in the biggest game in recent seasons must be his biggest regret with us.

He lost the dressing room ages long ago and change was needed.
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I agree that sacking Pocch was the best thing to do (imo he wanted to go himselg but in order to get the 12 million, he let himself be sacked, that makes sense). It is a pity because Pocch overachieved massively with Spurs. Lots of recent fans

According to a journalist close to our (Belgian) national team, it was Pocch's decision to play Kane over Moura in the final was that one too much and there he lost the dressing room. Probably Vertonghen or Alderweireld have told him this.

Yesterday's match against United was once again very poor and this against the worst Man Utd team for ages...

IMO it would be best if we forget top 4 concentrate on the FA Cup and see this as atransitional season.

What worries me is that Pu doesn't play the new players as starters. To be honest i'm not higly impressed with Ndombele (but i have to admit that i didn't see him that much and i see SPurs only on television). Lo Celso only does cameo's and mostly when the matches are already lost or won... and i haven't sees Sessegnon.

Either those players are not good enoug or Mourinho doesn't want to integrate them. Bot h reasons are very bad news.

We're in a mess...
 
I think Mourinho is playing those that he knows but after last night he needs to start picking from the rest of the squad because those starters need a reality check.

Ndombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon will completely transform the team and need to be integrated ASAP.
 
I also think we need more transfers in january.
And a very unpopular opinion: Kane is very overrated. He is a phenomenal goal scorer and now and then gives a sublime pass, but it seems he has faded because of injuries and because he Always wants to come back too soon after an injury.

Still think we massively miss Dembele and Ndombele will not replace him (different kind of player). The longer i see this team without Dembele , the more i think he was our real star player. Very underrated.
 
I get your Dembele point, but he's gone now. If you don't have a player that allows you to play a certain way - you play another way. We'll start to sound like Arsenal who STILL talks about how they've never replaced Viera..... who left Arsenal 15 years ago!

Also, I understand that football is a game that revolves around opinions, so everyone is absolutely entitled to their own, but personally I think anyone who believes Harry Kane is overrated needs their eyes checked. 132 goals in 191 games? PLaying for a team that's never even won anything? That's an incredible tally.

Let's put that into perspective shall we:
Rooney at United - 183 goals in 393 games
Cavani at PSG - 136 goals in 194 games
Lewandowski at Bayern Munich - 144 goals in 172 games
Aguero at Man City - 173 goals in 251 games

These are players who play/played for THE top team in their leagues for years, yet Kane can compare to their numbers while playing at Tottenham. At TOTTENHAM (I've obviously not included Messi, Ronaldo or Mpappe in this list as their records are just in another league).

I know some people believe he's the best striker in Europe, which I agree is pushing it a bit too far as there are some exceptional strikers around, but overrated? His goal tally is every bit deserving to be mentioned in the same bracket as these guys.
 
I'm biased but Kane isn't overrated, he's an incredible footballer.

When Ndombele and Lo Celso are permanent in the team his chances will increase and he'll score for fun in the league again.

His first goal yesterday was crucial because it's been a long time since he took shots from distance.

He used to do it regularly with either foot. The last time he scored was a year ago vs Wolves at Wembley.
 
I shouldn't have written that Kane is overrated, that is not true (although most Spurs fans think he's the best striker in the world, and i don't agree with that assessment). What i wanted to say is that i have the impression that Kane has faded a litle bit.

But yes, his goal against Burnley was very important. This was by far the best Spurs match since a very long time. That Son goal was fantastic.

With Kane, Son, Lucas Moura and Delle Alli, we have a tremendous front four. But Sissoko and Dier in midfield is not good enough. We desperately need a creative player and even more a very good DMF.

And as much as i appreciate him, please not Fellaini.
 
Rarely been more happy than yesterday when Jan scored that winning goal.
He had a very difficult match against Traoré (Jan has never been a player with pace, strange that most Spurs fans seem to be aware of it since Gnabry and the 2-7), but still he scored the winner. Wolves deserved more, and i have much sympathy for them, but... Spurs are my team and so i'm happy.

Jan isn't finished. He has Always been my favourite Spurs players (Always thought Dembele was the best, but Jan the most likeable...i even cried like a child when he got his 100th cap...).

Seriously, some fans are ruthless. When players want to leave the club they consider them traitors (Eriksen for example, a fantastic player, also glad that he gave the assist for Jan's goal), but when they are fading (Dembele) they can't get rid of them quick enough. Why would players be loyal to fans?
 
Yes, that is a very strange one...suddenly Toby decides to sign a 4 year contract...even if Juventus and Inter wanted to buy him (Inter together with Jan).

Did he decided to sign because Pocch had left? What happened there? I guess we will never know.
 
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