Spurs Online

Category: Management

  • A job well done!

    A job well done!

    We have reached the end of another successful season at Tottenham Hotspur so it’s a good time to take a recap on all our achievements.

    Wow, well let’s start with the financial statements which confirmed we are the 9th richest club in the world and all those fans that happily oblige with overpriced tickets did a fantastic job in contributing to this effort.

    On the sports side, last October the 2024 NFL London Games came to Tottenham where we hosted the New York Jets, the Minnesota Vikings,  Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears, where victories were enjoyed by all. But it didn’t stop there, in March the Saracens took on the Harlequins in Rugby on another afternoon and victory to remember at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. More recently Tottenham have entertained prime boxing fights like Eubank Jr versus Conor Benn where fans witnessed a real fighting spirit.

    It’s not just sport where Tottenham have smashed it this year, the stadium has also attracted some of the biggest music artists including Pink and Declan McKenna. In fact this club has been so successful this year it hasn’t even had time to name the stadium yet leaving it with the catchiest name in football.

    Talking of football, we’ve been smashing it there too of course, reaching the semi final of the worthless cup and only narrowly missing out on the final by a 3 goal margin. Of course the European venture was fantastic too with some truly memorable nights against AZ and Elfsborg. Defeating the mighty Bodo in the semi finals on their soil (well astro turf) will certainly go down in the history books. And finally beating Utd in the final with only a single shot required, beating them for a record 5th time in one season.

    The Premiership action has been packed with action too this season, scoring over 60 goals and reaching double figures with 11 victories. 6 of those victories were at home so that was a real treat for the season ticket holders.

    But none of these achievements could have happened without the hard work of Tottenham’s owners Enic and the visionary Daniel Levy. The Tottenham fans deserve credit too, the fans that just keep on giving!

    And giving they certainly have because Mr Levy was rewarded with a salary of £6.58million in the last year which again smashes the other clubs in the division with most Premiership chairman receiving less than £2m per year.  I know, laughable right, COYS!

    In fact, thousands of those proud fans gathered outside the stadium before several of the matches to sing the chairman’s name and highlight all of his success over the last 25 years. How many clubs can boast that!

    But despite all this success there are still critics believe it or not, some have had the cheek to ridicule this club with its empty trophy cabinet. But I want to clear this up right now for all those critics that think this trophy cabinet has been just sitting there collecting dust. We have a proud history of winning trophies, this was taken from the official Tottenham Website, just look at all these awards…

    • Southern League Champions: 1899/1900
    • Western League Champions: 1903/1904
    • London League Premier Division Champions: 1902/1903
    • Football League South ‘C’ Division Champions: 1939/1940
    • Football League South Champions: 1943/1944, 1944/1945
    • Southern District Charity Cup Winners: 1901/1902, 1904/1905 (joint), 1906/1907
    • Dewar Shield Winners: 1901/1902, 1933/1934
    • London Challenge Cup Winners: 1910/1911, 1928/1929
    • Anglo-Italian League Cup-Winners Cup Winners: 1971/1972
    • Norwich Charity Cup Winners: 1919/1920
    • Norwich Hospital Charity Cup Winners: 1946/1947, 1949/1950 (joint)
    • Ipswich Hospital Charity Cup Winners: 1951/1952 (joint)
    • Costa Del Sol Tournament Winners: 1965, 1966
    • Nolia Cup (Sweden) Winners: 1977
    • Japan Cup Winners: 1979
    • Sun International Challenge Trophy (Swaziland) Winners: 1983
    • Peace Cup (Korea) Winners: 2005
    • Vodacom Challenge (South Africa) Winners: 2007
    • Feyenoord Jubileum Tournament (Holland) Winners: 2008
    • Barclays Asia Trophy (China) Winners: 2009

    Well I think we have put that myth to bed!

    So again, congratulations on another successful year at Spurs, a tremendous effort from all. However even a victory in the UEFA Europa League final wasn’t enough to keep Ange in a job (surprise surprise) but I am sure we have not seen the last of him! Unfortunately we must end this on a very sad note as one of our shareholders suffocated on a pound coin. Sources close to them say they went out like their idol, Scrooge McDuck.

    COYS!

    #timeforchange

    #changefortottenham

  • How Levy blew it 

    How Levy blew it 

    For years we have heard the stories of how world class coaches were approached by Daniel Levy only for them to turn the job down. I’m talking about coaches like Van Gaal, Slot, Rodgers, Nagelsmann, Allegri, Ten Hag, the list goes on.

    It took Levy almost 20 years but following a champions league final and the completion of a brand spanking new stadium, Levy finally managed to convince a top class manager to join Spurs and take on the almighty challenge of turning this club into winners again. 

    Unfortunately, once Levy attained one of these managers he had absolutely no idea what to do with him. In simple terms, he blew it! When Jose Mourihno reached a cup final in just his first full season in charge Levy spat his dummy and sent him packing. It was a decision that was to prove costly and Spurs have felt the repercussions of these actions to this day.

    Despite Levy making such an amateur mistake, Levy was extremely fortunate to get a second bite at the cherry, thanks only to Paraticis’ close relationship with Antonio Conte. It was a stroke of luck and if Levy had learnt his lesson from his failings of dealing with a world class manager on his first attempt, then maybe there was hope. The lesson was quite simple, listen to what these managers have to say and follow their instructions to the letter if you want this football club to succeed. 

    Unfortunately Levy hadn’t learnt his lesson, far from it in fact and so when Conte had his outburst Levy spat his dummy again! With two world class managers treated like a turd on a shoe, we are now back to square one. No top manager will ever want to join Spurs so long as Levy is running this club. With all the talk turning to who will take over the reins from Ange Postecoglu, the sad fact is we can only expect another average yes man to replace him. 

    Following victory in the Europa league final –

    • Are we better off sticking with Ange?
    • The players appear to be backing him still?
    • There has been some evidence recently that Ange can and is willing to change his methods, if this is the case, maybe it can work?
    • Even Pep Guardiola admitted to needing a season to learn the Premiership and adapt his methods. Maybe it has taken Ange a little longer but with a weaker squad and severe injuries that hasn’t helped so can he progress?
    • Arguably, we need to give a manager more than 2 seasons to see true progression.
    • Does he deserve another season? 
    • What is the alternative?

    A new coach may be required following this dismal season, but even with another average coach and more mediocre signings over the summer, we can only expect to see Spurs continue their sideways venture on the road to nowhere. 

    Thankfully and miraculously lol, not only have we qualified for Europe next season but we are even in the Champions League. This is a huge boost for 2 reasons, one it should increase the transfer budget (not getting any hopes up there) and secondly it may help attract a better manager.

    However, until the structure of ownership changes at the club I don’t expect any major changes next season. Honestly, relegation might have been the only way out of this mess and had it been any other season we may well have been looking at that reality. It’s going to take something pretty horrendous like an unimaginable relegation to force the hands at Tottenham’s board to make some drastic changes. Whilst Enic can maintain the status quo the board appears more than happy to count their pennies.

    As it stands Levy will simply replace the coaches, scouts, medical staff, the players and anyone else he can use as a scapegoat as Levy’s dictatorship lives on.

    When will the Spurs fans stand up and say enough is enough?

    Time for Change!

  • Sucked in by Ange’s bullshit?

    Sucked in by Ange’s bullshit?

    Has Daniel Levy actually been sucked in by Anges bullshit or is he just too afraid to pull the trigger?

    It’s not like Levy to be afraid to pull the trigger (he never has been before), that’s one thing we can say about him whether we agree with those decisions or not. But either Levy is stalling on the inevitable sacking of Ange because he’s running out of options, or there is another factor at play here.

    Has Levy actually allowed himself to be brainwashed by this narcissist lunatic? It was Harry Hotspur (The Boy Hotspur) who first pointed out this flaw in Ange and at first I didn’t make much of it. However, the more I listened to Anges post match nonsense it made sense, the three wise men were onto something. 

    It’s not uncommon for managers to defend their team, their tactics and performances but for a manager who’s on course to go down as the worst manager in Spurs history, this guy goes on like his shit doesn’t stink! 

    Despite each loss Ange comes out to the press with ridiculous claims that the team “played well”, the “tactics were good” and we actually “deserved to win”, but we just made “a few mistakes”. Oh boy, this guy has no shame and can only come from an narcissistic individual. 

    The problem is these narcissistic people actually believe their own bullshit and even when the truth is staring us in the face for all the world to see, people like Ange will still maintain their bullshit claims that black is white and white is black. 

    Unfortunately some people are unable to open their eyes and see the truth that is in front of them. You only have to look at the Trump show in the US for another example of a narcissistic mad man. So the question is, has Levy fallen for a mad man? Or is he simply holding off on what he knows will be another hellish search for a replacement? 

    I would like to give Levy the benefit and suspect it is the latter but in the meantime that is allowing this mad man to make a mockery of our club. If Levy could defend the sackings of top coaches of Mourihno, Conte and Nuno, then why can’t he justify it now? 

    Maybe Levy knows he’s also running out of lives. Afterall, a few more seasons like this one and we’ll be more than protesting outside the ground, we’ll be ripping his f%$#ing stadium down (joking of course). 

    It’s not just Levy that has been potentially sucked in, we are also hearing it from some of the players at the club as well they are still buying his shit, including Kulusevski, Johnson and more recently Bissouma all coming out publicly backing their manager. Maybe you think it’s admirable that this bond and belief is still there, but for me I think it’s incredible that the chairman, players and some fans are still buying this conveyor belt of excuses after 25 defeats in one season.

    Lets face it, we’ve heard them all over this last two seasons:

    • Squad needs a rebuild
    • The squad is young
    • Not enough games
    • Too many games
    • Injuries
    • Fatigue
    • Difficult grounds
    • Difficult conditions
    • Poor preparations
    • The list goes on….

    Yet this manager is still somehow pulling it off, he deserves salesman of the year in my opinion, this guy certainly has talent, it’s just a shame it doesn’t include football. The fan base is clearly divided between Ange in and Ange out, there’s still a lot of fans under his spell, I suspect there is a divide amongst the players too but we won’t see that publicly. The question is, where is Levy? Is he under the spell or is he just biding his time? 

    I’ve heard fans from other clubs accuse Spurs fans of being spoiled, ungrateful and how fortunate we are to have a chairman like Levy. But that is all nonsense of course, our fans have been loyal and supportive as any fans can be, despite 25 years of failures. Spurs fans deserve a lot of credit in fact, you only have to look at the away support, but everyone has their limits.

    Time for Change!

    #changefortottenham

  • Are players really fatigued?

    Are players really fatigued?

    So this season has been testing in more ways than one, Ange has stated he had to ‘manage’ his players with so many games and injuries to contend with to the point his players were fatigued.

    The injuries cannot be disputed and even the biggest squads would have been stretched with this sort of injury list. However, how many games have we actually needed to deal with this season? Is it really a lot? How many players were over played?

    To get an idea I thought we would compare our fixture list this season with that of Liverpool’s. They have also had more than one cup run to juggle and are a good club to compare with as they too work on a restricted budget, in contrast to the likes of Man City or Chelsea.

    So first of all let’s look at Liverpool, once they have played there final league games:

    Premiership: 1st (winners)

    FA Cup: 4th Round (2 matches)

    League Cup: Runners Up (6 matches)

    Champions League: Round of 16 (10 matches)

    Total number of matches played: 56 Matches

    Ok, so now let’s look at Tottenham, including there remaining 2 fixtures:

    Premiership: 17th (expected)

    FA Cup: 4th Round (2 matches)

    League Cup: Semi-final (5 matches)

    Europa Cup: Final (15 matches)

    Total number of matches played: 60 Matches

    We can see from this list that both teams played almost the same number of games, I don’t think we can call 4 additional games over the course of a season a substantial difference.

    So the next thing I want to do is look at the total number of games the first 11 have played this season. I will use Tottenham’s 11 players that played in the recent 2nd Leg Semi final at Bodo and compare these players against Liverpool’s first 11 that hammered us 5-1 just last month.

    Vicario (32 games) – Becker (33 games)

    Porro (49) games  – Arnold (43 games)

    Romero (25 games) – Konate (40 games)

    Van de Ven (20 games) – Van Dijk (48 games)

    Udogie (34 games) – Robertson (44 games)

    Bentancur (42 games) – Gravenberch (47 games)

    Bissouma (42 games) – MacAllister (49 games)

    Johnson (49 games) – Salah (50 games)

    Kulusevski (50 games) – Szoboszlai (47 games)

    Richarlison (22 games) – Gakpo (47 games)

    Solanke (43 games) – Diaz (48 games)

    As you can see with the exception of Porro and Kulusevski, Liverpool’s first 11 have played more games. This doesn’t take into account the rest of the squad and also does not include international commitments which could potentially make these differences even bigger.

    Of course we can explain these lower numbers for the Spurs players down to the injuries and the need for more squad rotation, but there’s no evidence of any players being over played. So are these players genuinely fatigued or is this just another convenient excuse from the book of ‘how to avoid the sack’ by Ange Postecoglou.

    We know this squad has suffered injuries and we know they have lost all rhythm and momentum throughout the season, but fatigue, that’s seems a bit of a stretch. Is Ange trying to tell us that a Professional athlete is not capable of playing 30-40 games in a season? Who is he trying to kid?

    The only person who looks fatigued to me is Ange answering the journalists questions.

    Grumble over:)

    COYS!!!!!!

  • Spurs fans are frustrated

    Spurs fans are frustrated

    Listen to Audio on Spotify

    As the season goes on the fans frustration has understandably grown and this has spilled over towards the players too.

    But the players have their own frustrations, after all they are the ones going out there week in week out working there arse’s off only to be humiliated with this ridiculous football we have all been served up this season. 

    The players get hurt by the public criticism towards them and consequently we have players like Brennan Johnson coming out publicly to explain that he plays for his teammates now and ignores the critics (the fans). 

    Recently, Romero has hinted he wants to leave Spurs at the end of the season and many fans are naturally unhappy with this statement, especially with the timing of it. But should we be critical? My opinion is we must be fair to the players, they joined Tottenham under false promises by the club and they feel cheated, just like the fans do.

    The only difference is the players have the opportunity to leave, as fans we are stuck with our club for life. A footballer’s career is short, I think we need to accept that and remind ourselves who’s fault it really is that our best players always want to leave.

    He’s not the first player to want to leave to find success and as it stands he won’t be the last. Let’s face it, all those that did move on proved to be right in their decision and that is now a worrying trend, going all the way back to Modric, Bale, Walker, Ericksen and even a reluctant Kane. They all left and they’ve all gone on to win majors. Congratulations to Kane!

    If Romero does leave the truth is he has made the right call, in fact, it would be interesting if all the team made the same request! It’s not just the fans who want to see change at Tottenham, the players are desperate for success too. It’s understandable we are all frustrated but we need to remember where the blame really lies.

    The players give their all (for the most part) but they are restricted by two huge factors, firstly their ability (or lack of) and secondly the team’s tactics in which they have no option but to follow no matter how ludicrous. I think most will agree that many of these players are not playing to their full potential, whilst some of them are just not able to do it at this level.

    Then we have the manager of course who’s been under the flack for most of the season. The manager has limitations too, firstly he is restricted by the cubs budget and transfer policy and I’m sure we can agree he’s been given more than a couple of duds to work with, especially in the forwards department. Whether he actually approved all these signings I’m not sure. Secondly he is restricted by his own lack of skills because if you hire a school PE teacher for a top flight manager job then what can you expect.

    Let’s be fair, the guy is just not a great manager, his CV tells you so and NO world class manager would dare to claim his side played well after a defeat to a bottom of the table team, not to mention if they had just conceded four goals in that defeat! Only a raving lunatic would try to defend their position after 19 defeats and sitting 16th in the table. But this man does, because he’s a moron. So you cannot blame him entirely, he’s simply not qualified or even fit to hold such a job.

    Finally we have Mr Levy and the club’s ownership under Enic, with Levy owning 30% of the club himself! So as a major shareholder of the 9th richest club in the world, what is Levy restricted by? Judging by his rare interviews I would say he is largely restricted by his own arrogance and lack of football knowledge. The fact that he has been trying to figure out a winning formula for 25 years and still can’t figure it out (despite unlimited resources) not only makes him incredibly stubborn but it’s also become a bit sad!  It’s like watching a child struggle with the puzzle ‘join the dots’ and you want to help him but he insists on figuring it out for himself even if he has to sit at the table all night.

    If we keep on venting our frustrations at the players we are not helping them or ourselves. We need to vent our frustrations at the club as only the club can fix this mess they have created. They need to stop treating this football team like it’s a division 4 club and stop buying on the cheap because it doesn’t work and you just end up buying twice (or more).

    For all the money Levy has wasted on the likes of Richarlison, Solanke, Johnson, Odobert and even loan deals of Tel and Werner, he could have gone out and bought a world class striker to replace Kane. Kane was never properly replaced and it’s been 2 seasons now. The same thing happened when we lost Ericksen, we struggled for years without a creative midfielder in his absence. Going even further back, the money from the sale of Bale was wasted on 7 players instead of seeking a world class player that could actually make the team better. 

    Levy never learns, he makes the same mistakes over and over, he’s still that little boy who insists on trying to make the square piece fit in the circle no matter how many people tell him it’s wrong! Levy has to do things his way and the rest of us suffer in the meantime as we painfully watch him screw it up time after time.

    I don’t care how many fall guys Levy hires and the list is becoming embarrassingly long, from Scott Munn, Vinai Venkatesham, Fabio Paratici to Johan Lange (and they are just the recent muppets to be lured in), the buck will always stop at Levy, it always has and always will so long as Levy is in charge. Levy just cant help himself bless him, he needs to be restrained for his own good! He probably needed mittens just to stop fiddling!

    So, what can we do about it?

    Well first of all you can subscribe to ChangeforTottenham if you haven’t already. They are organising protests and are demanding major changes at the club. Personally speaking my opinion is it’s going to take something huge and for this we must be united, that goes for the players too.

    It’s radical but can you imagine if all the fans boycotted the home games? How long would it take for sponsorships to dry up and force the hand of Enic? Protests outside the stadium are a great starting place but hopefully it can progress to the next level as the fans support grows for ChangeforTottenham. I know they have mentioned boycotting the second half of the next home fixture against Crystal Palace so that will be interesting to see.

    Even more radical perhaps, can you imagine if all the players put in transfer requests? This would be a massive statement to Enic that neither the players or fans are here just to make up their numbers!

    Sure it sounds unrealistic but it’s going to take something drastic to force the hands of Enic because the simple fact is, they don’t want to change, they are very happy as the situation stands, so long as they keep on making their profits each year.

    We have to start somewhere and changefortottenham seems like a pretty good starting place! Good luck guys, keep up the great work and please fans, get behind them any way you can.

    Time for Change!

  • Support Change for Tottenham

    Support Change for Tottenham

    Listen to Audio / Video:

    Spotify – Listen to Episode 1

    YouTube – Watch Video

    TikTok – Watch Video

    For anyone that doesn’t know who CFT are (where have you been) they are a Tottenham supporters group who have dedicated their time to demand changes for Tottenham.

    Their demands are excessive and extreme that’s for sure. There’s absolutely no holding back with them following 25 years of frustration but we all know the saying ‘reach for the stars’ so fair play to them. CFT are responsible for the recently organised peaceful protests that have been held outside the Tottenham stadium alongside thousands of disgruntled Spurs fans.

    So what are their demands? 

    Here are some of the demands but it is not the full list, the full manifesto can be found here.

    • A fan-led approach to club governance. 
    • Establish structured, regular and transparent dialogue between the club and supporters. 
    • Football first, commercial interests second.
    • Commit to appointing top-tier footballing leadership and implementing a long-term sporting strategy.
    • Daniel Levy to step aside as Chairman. 
    • Pushing for a new owner.
    • Seek new ownership that aligns with our values and ambitions for Tottenham Hotspur.

    There’s no question this is a full on list of demands and this is a result of 25 years of poor club management. These fans have had enough and let’s be honest, who hasn’t!

    You only have to go on the youtube channels and podcasts to see these feelings are shared by thousands of Spurs fans around the globe. There’s really not too many fans left who dare to defend Levy and Enics’ appalling club record. But to be honest I am a little concerned. I have been puzzled by the numbers I am seeing following CFT so far from the Tottenham community. 

    Let’s look at some of these numbers, popular youtube channels such as WeareTottenham boast 179k subscribers, Last word on Spurs have 28k subscribers, Chris Cowlin has 164k subscribers, Tottenham Away have 34k subscribers, Expressions Oozing has 402k subscribers (holy shit), you get the picture. The Tottenham community is clearly big and very active on social media.

    So why is it that a group who are dedicating their spare time in helping Tottenham fans see changes at our club, only have 371 subscribers on YouTube. No I haven’t missed the k, that’s 371 subscribers on youtube. Wtf? 

    The numbers on Facebook are a little better but still low in comparison to other Spurs fan groups with CFT at 2.4k, whereas some other Spurs groups have over 100k. It is a similar thing on X, CFT have 18k followers whilst WeAreTottenhamTV have 38k followers and Lilywhite Rose have 115k followers. Of course CFT is a newer group and these things take time so let’s hope these numbers increase asap.

    I don’t want to sound critical of Spurs fans but I hope a lot more people get behind them in the near future. Come on guys, where’s the support? Do you not want to see changes at the club or are you seriously happy with the last 25 years that Enic has dished out?

    In my opinion more fans need to speak up and support the CFT movement. Whether that’s by subscribing to their groups and channels or by joining them on their protests, that’s up to you but we need to see Spurs fans united on this cause if it’s ever going to be effective.

    I would like to see the Spurs youtube channels pushing the CFT movement a bit more too. As a Spurs fan I subscribe to all the Tottenham channels I come across and whilst I see many channels venting their frustrations over the clubs affairs, I don’t hear enough calls from them in getting fans to join the CFT movement.

    Now I am not having a go at Spurs fans or these youtube channels, far from it. We should be united as fans and many of these youtube channels are doing a great job. I appreciate some of these channels are already pretty vocal on their feelings towards the situation at Spurs, I just think more could be pushing CFT to help bring the fans together.

    Of course we are not all going to agree on every Spurs debate and I would be surprised if we agreed on every one of CFT’s demands. But we don’t have to agree on every specific demand, we just need to be united as fans and I think we can all agree changes are required. If you are still on the fence re Levy in/out or Enic in/out that really doesn’t matter either. What’s important is the fans’ shared desire to see changes for the better of this club and as fans we need to try and help get the ball rolling so to speak.

    I don’t believe even the most pro Levy and ENIC lovers out there would disagree that the last 25 years have not exactly gone to plan. The standard of football has seriously deteriorated over the last few seasons and we have not looked like a proper team since Mauricio Pochettino left. That’s before we even go into the trophy cabinet, no one would have believed we would have gone this long without a trophy. 

    Demanding change means demanding success on the football pitch and what Spurs fan doesn’t want to see that? 

    If CFT achieves just 1% of their goals it will be a step in the right direction but they cannot achieve this without the support from ALL of us. No matter where you are in the world we can all do our bit to support CFT. Hopefully sooner than later we will be adding a k to that number of subscribers!

    You know what they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day but after 25 years it seems clear to me that the fans need to be united and give this club the final push it needs to become the top club it aspires to be.

    CFT are doing a fantastic job and I believe the protests have already increased to several thousand fans which was a step up from the first one so well done to everyone involved. But doesn’t the Tottenham stadium hold 60 thousand fans? Why only a few thousand outside protesting? Come on guys, where are the rest of you? It’s going to take time, it’s also going to take fans, so next time stand up and be counted!

    Time for Change!

    Support Change for Tottenham, support Tottenham!

    CFT are planning another round of protests at the next home game versus Crystal Palace on Sunday 11th May.

    For more details on Change for Tottenham:

    Website: https://changefortottenham.com/

    Full Manifesto: https://changefortottenham.com/manifesto/

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/601260894384067/

    X: https://x.com/ChangeForSpurs

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@changeforspurs

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changeforspurs/

  • Poch 11 Vs Ange 11

    Poch 11 Vs Ange 11

    Ok let’s have a bit of fun, we need a distraction! We have been undergoing a major squad rebuild these last few seasons which we all know was long overdue after several extremely poor signings to say the least.

    A full reset was required, so after a couple of seasons of Ange Postecoglou in charge how does our best 11 square up against one of our best teams over the last 20 years under Levy, of course I am talking about the Mauricio Pochettino era. 

    As Tottenham finished 2nd in the 2016–17 campaign I will take the best 11 from that season. I know we made it to the UEFA Champions League final in 2019 but in my opinion we were well on the decline by then with Pochettino being starved of reinforcements.

    So lets do it, the Poch 11 Vs Ange 11

    Goalkeeper

    Starting in goal we have Hugo Lloris versus Guglielmo Vicario. Both goalies are pretty good shot stoppers but Vicario is slightly better at playing the ball out. I don’t think Vicario is great with his ball distribution but Lloris was pretty awful at it too and really had 2 left feet, he just never looked comfortable with the ball at his feet. However Lloris was more confident in the air and dealt with those high balls better and for that reason I have to go for Lloris. You cannot have a goalkeeper that does not know how to handle corners at this level.

    Poch 1 – Ange 0

    Full Backs

    Moving onto the full backs we had Kyle Walker and Danny Rose as first choice back in 2016 against the current Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie. Walker versus Porro is a tough one because although Walker was extremely strong and fast in his defensive role, there’s no doubt Porro offers more going forward with way more assists to his name. They are different types of full backs it has to be said but I am going to go for Walker as ultimately a full backs defensive role takes precedence and Porro gets caught out of position way too often.

    On the other side we have Rose versus Udogie and whilst Rose will forever be remembered for that wonder goal against Arsenal on his debut back in 2010, I don’t think he ever really materialised into a world class full back that we hoped. Udogie had a pretty impressive first season adapting to the English game but injuries have hampered his progress this season and we haven’t seen the best of him in recent months. Another difficult one but I am going to go for Udogie based on the potential I have seen from him so far.

    Poch 2 – Ange 1

    Centre Halves

    If the full backs were a close call these centre halves may even be tougher, we are talking about a world class Belgian pairing of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen against world cup winner Cristian Romero with the lightning Micky van de Ven. I was a big fan of Alderweireld, defensively he was pretty solid and he wasn’t immune to a few decent balls forward to help out with the assists. Vertonghen was pretty dependable too and wasn’t afraid to bomb down the left wing if given the chance. He was named the club’s Player of the Year in 2018 which sums up his importance in this team. However Alderweireld and Vertonghen were very fortunate to have a strong holding midfielder in front protecting them from that first wave of attack.

    Romero always shows that passion and aggression you want to see from your players and commits himself in everything he does. Sometimes a little too much perhaps but that is his nature. His main weakness is probably his awareness in the box which has cost us more than once. Van de Ven has been fantastic since joining us and his ability to recover is hugely important in Anges team. He’s another player that has been plagued with injuries over the last 2 seasons and this is becoming a concern. A tough choice to make but I am going for Alderweireld and Van de Ven so that’s one each!

    Poch 3 – Ange 2

    Midfield

    Moving into midfield I will select Mousa Dembélé, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli against the current Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski. Starting with the holding midfielder we have Dembele and Bentancur who both have the responsibility of protecting that defence. In my opinion it’s a role that is undervalued at times and is quite often a position that is about what a player does without the ball as much as he does with it. 

    In terms of strength and defensive ability Dembele proved to be a top player and deserves a lot of credit for that Spurs team setting a new defensive record for the club in 2016-17, conceding fewer than 30 goals in a league campaign for the first time. My biggest criticism of Dembele at the time was how few goals he scored because I knew how good he was, but it was his self discipline in that holding position that allowed the other players to flourish. It wasn’t until he left I realised just how much we needed him! Bentancur has now taken over that responsibility in midfield but in all fairness it is a much more difficult task now with such an open style of play. Nevertheless he has proven to be our most reliable holding midfielder and has done well to overcome several injuries.

    So let’s look at the creative midfielders with Eriksen and Maddison. Eriksen, twice named the club’s Player of the Year, scoring over 50 goals and 60 assists it’s fair to say Eriksen was always a threat around the opponent’s box and our most creative midfielder at the time. I don’t think we’ve had another set piece specialist like him since he left and it’s something we have missed, although I don’t miss his corners lol. On the other hand Maddison has already notched up 15 goals for us over 2 seasons and 19 assists. Whilst Maddison has largely taken over that role as set piece specialist I don’t think he is on the same level as Eriksen in that department but at least his corners are better! If Mads can stay fit he can be an important player for us as was Eriksen in his day.

    In our final midfield position we have Dele Alli and Kulusevski and let’s face it, they are both exciting players to watch when they are flowing. Dele Alli was unpredictable and could produce moments of class but his overall contribution in a game was questionable at times. In contrast Kulusevski is a real workhorse working tirelessly for the team. His forward dribbles and intricate passing around the opponents box always make him one of our most dangerous threats. A year ago I was questioning why we even made Kulusevski’s signing a permanent one but he has been outstanding this season. Some tough choices to make there but Dembele gets in without question and alongside him can go Eriksen and Kulusevski.   

    Poch 5 – Ange 3

    Forwards

    As I have decided to stick with a 4-3-3 for both teams I will have to go for Erik Lamela and Son Heung-min down the wings with Harry Kane up front of course. In our current side we have Brennan Johnson, Son again (the only remaining player from 2016) and Dominic Solanke down the middle. 

    When Lamela joined he was the most expensive player in the club’s history and exciting things were expected! There was no question of the man’s talent and had it not been for a horrific injury list I am sure he would have played a lot more games. Nevertheless he certainly offered exciting moments and one of my favourites was the rabona-style strike from outside the area in the Europa League. And we all remember the one against Arsenal:)

    Against Lamela we have Brennan Johnson, our current top scorer in all competitions. Johnson is not the type of exciting player that you would ever expect to see a rabona but he has developed the ability to get into the box and score goals and that’s always an important asset. I still think he needs to develop other parts of his game but he’s young so you never know.

    On the other flank we have Poch Son versus Ange Son and I think we all know the answer to that one. The guy is 32 years of age now yet he’s probably played more minutes this season than most in the Spurs squad. Despite this we miss the Son of old with his electric turn of pace and clinical finishing. When Son of old went one on one with the goalie there was never any doubt but in the last couple of seasons Son has lacked that confidence.

    In centre forward we have Kane against Solanke so lets be honest, Solanke does not stand a chance. Solanke has done well since coming in and works hard for the team but Kane was a class above. Not only was he absolutely clinical in front of goal like any top striker should be, but he was able to turn provider and was one of the reasons Son flourished alongside. So, my three front men have to be Lamela, Poch Son and Kane which gives Poch a clean sweep up front, sorry Ange!

    Final Score: Poch 8 – Ange 3

    Summary

    There you have it, it’s official and not biased in the slightest! The Poch team has 8 players to Anges 3 with only Udogie, Van de Ven and Kulusevski worthy of getting into that 2016–17 team. I am sure plenty will disagree with that scoring and even the player selection but the point of this exercise was to see how far we have come in the last 8 years since going as close as we ever have to a Premier league title. I am not convinced we have moved in a good direction with too many of the current players resembling athletes with hamstring issues rather than actual footballers.

    Poch Vs Ange
  • Levy’s Reputation will be the death of us

    Levy’s Reputation will be the death of us

    A new manager through Tottenhams doors is imminent but what kind of manager can we expect?

    What kind of manager would be willing to degrade themselves?

    What kind of manager would turn a blind eye to the clubs lack of ambition on the pitch?

    Levy’s reputation in the football world has never been great but in the last five years he has achieved new lows.

    First he sacked a manager who took us to the champions league final and only fell short of a premier league title due to the clubs lack of support in the transfer market.

    Second, he fired one of the most successful managers in modern football a week before the cup final that would have ended Spurs trophy drought. A manager who had NEVER failed to win a trophy at a club before or since Spurs.

    Third, Levy shamelessly fires a man after only 17 games, despite being awarded manager of the month in his first month in charge. He was told he was no longer required simply because Levy thought he had a better option available.

    Fourth, we have another proven manager in top flight football fired after just 16 months because Levy doesn’t like to hear some hard truths about the clubs lack of ambition and weak mentality. Another manager that has moved on and continued his success.

    Despite boasting a state of the art 60,000 plus stadium, Levy’s actions have left us desperate and rejected by both managers and players around the world. After multiple rejections Levy was forced to appoint an unproven manager in top flight football and even made outrageous claims we had our Tottenham back. What Tottenham he is talking about I don’t know but it proved to be a gamble that seriously backfired. It has been such a disaster that this unproven manager is likely to go down in history as our worse manager ever. 

    Yet it is Levy who needs to stand up and be held accountable for this shambolic series of mistakes.

    When will Levy step down as chairman? When will we really get our Tottenham back?

    The lies and betrayals must end. Only with new club management can we restore our reputation in the world of football. Only then can we move forward and let the last 25 years be an important lesson. Whatever side projects a club ownership may want to peruse, football should always remain the priority at the club as ultimately that is the industry they are in. That is what the fans pay for, that is what the fans expect to get first and foremost.

    Daniel Levy is too stubborn to resign, he is going to need a push there’s no doubt about it but the board is clearly too weak and Levy’s grip too strong.

    That is why we need the protests organised by Change for Tottenham to mount the pressure on Tottenham’s hierarchy and let them know changes in the club are essential.

    Whether Levy likes it or not he has failed to deliver what Spurs fans want (what any fans want) and he will go down as one of the worst chairmen that English football has seen. Congrats!

    Time for change!

  • We must be sustainable says Levy

    Tottenham’s Daniel Levy preaches the same message again to the fans, which I am sure has gone down well 🙂

  • Are we losing our identity ?

    Are we losing our identity ?

    Maybe I should be thanking Daniel Levy and Ange Postecoglou. 

    After so many defeats this season I’ve stopped counting and for the first time in my life I don’t feel anything after a loss. I no longer feel that anger, frustration or disappointment when the final whistle goes, I’m completely cured (well, almost:)

    True I can’t remember the last time I felt excitement in a game either, or the last time I could share the envision of this club. Is this what the club has come to? Has this club lost its identity? 

    Or has Enic created a new fan base that is no longer results based but instead focussed on sharing a football experience for tourists at premium rates?

    Are team selections now based on popularity rather than performances? Just how far down the list of priorities has the football results become?

    Many fans expressed their bewilderment on transfer day deadline as fans remained glued to their phones waiting for those announcements of much needed players to try salvage the season. Instead they were notified by Tottenham Hotspur of the announcement of a four day Beyonce concert this year. Not the kind of news you would expect to be announced on such an important day you would think, but that appears to be the new direction of this club.

    Maybe old skool fans like myself need to learn to change with the times and just enjoy the experience of being a Tottenham Hotspur fan and sleep peacefully knowing how fat the Spurs shareholders are all getting in this remodelled Tottenham envision. No, f@%k that!

    We have seen an increasing number of protests recently for “Levy Out”, I know I’m not the only one that is questioning the direction of this club! But this new global fan base may have given the club the power and freedom to completely ignore the loyal and long standing fan base that has helped build this club over the last 24 years under Enic.

    The fan base has changed in modern football, that is for sure, the big clubs (and Spurs) have been working on their global brands for many years now. With summer tours in Asia and round the world trips for a single friendly in Australia, Spurs are no exception to these marketing games and it seems just as much effort goes into the off season these days.

    In fact the global following is so involved now through social media we even see them online criticising other Spurs fans, if they dare to criticise the clubs methods or the managers style! But perhaps these people should check our club motto again.

    After all it’s the fans that should define a club’s identity and if we don’t live by our own motto, then what can we expect from the team and staff at Spurs?

    ‘To dare is to do’ does not mean stay quiet and it does not mean settle for second best, we didn’t win over 20 trophies because we were afraid to dare.

    Fans shouldn’t be afraid to question the club’s direction, nor should they be ridiculed for pointing out the simple facts of the team’s failures. It’s important the fans are not afraid to speak out, everyone at the club needs to be held accountable and if it’s time for change then so be it, ‘to dare is to do’. 

    The mentality at Spurs needs to change, the players have to demand better from themselves and the fans need to demand success from their club because that’s what it’s all about. 

    We need players on the pitch like the Roy Keanes of the world who are not afraid to criticise their own teammates when they are below par. And we need fans that are not afraid to confront their club and demand better, because if you want to be the best then you have to act like it, on and off the pitch. 

    If you think it’s ok to criticise our fans because they demand more from their club then you do not understand. I am guessing you took the blue pill.

    But for the rest of us we are wide awake and we see how it really is, this isn’t kindergarten soccer, it’s not about taking part, it’s about winning!

    We dare to criticise.

    We dare to change.

    We dare to dream.

    To dare is to do, don’t forget it!