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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Let’s be honest, we are all scratching our heads as to how and why Ange is still in a job at this moment. Ange Postecoglou led Tottenham Hotspur to their worst half-season since 2008/09 and it’s only gone from bad to worse since then. If these levels of performances continue then Ange could be setting a few more records before the end of season that he may not want on his CV.
How is it, a relatively unknown and unproven manager in top flight football is being given so much time when other managers in the past have not. Even the legendary Glenn Hoddle was only given 6 games by Daniel Levy before being shown the door in the 2003/04 campaign.
Some may argue Ange is being given the benefit due to the extreme number of injuries this season, but isn’t he partly responsible for those injuries? The sheer number of hamstring injuries certainly raises questions about his training methods, football tactics and lack of squad rotation earlier in the season.
If we are looking for answers, then maybe this January transfer window gives us a better clue as to what may be happening behind the scenes. Even by Daniel Levy’s standards, it seems inconceivable for Spurs to be entering a transfer window in such a time of crisis and yet nothing appears to be developing in either a change of coach or additional players to help ease the injury problems.
There is absolutely no doubt Ange is up the creek without a paddle right now, he has said it in his own interviews, he needs players, he needs help! In fact Ange went as far to say that Tottenham (and Levy indirectly), “were playing with fire if we don’t bring anyone in”. By this he means relegation, it’s that simple, Ange himself is making no light of the situation so why is the club so quiet when everyone else is crying out for answers.
As far as I am aware no one at the club has come out to publicly back Ange in this moment of crisis and maybe Ange himself has even realised by now he is well out of his depth for this job. It may be the kinder thing to just put him out of his misery, with only his pride perhaps stopping him from walking. Yet if Levy wont publicly back Ange, but doesn’t want to sack him or help him in the transfer market, has Ange been hung out to dry by Levy?
If so, then what is going on at this club? What we do know from the appointment of Ange Postecoglou is he was more than likely not the first choice, some believing even that he was Tottenham’s 6th choice. We know several managers came out publicly and snubbed the job after what they had seen prior with the likes of Conte, Nuno and Mourinho. Since Poch was given his marching orders for failing to produce miracles, it has been a bit of a merry go round at Spurs and it seems finding a replacement may not be that easy.
Any top managers that may be interested in the job would most likely not be available until the end of the season if they are already in employment. Not only will a lot of high profile managers not be interested in such a position, but ideally Tottenham needs to find a replacement coach who is willing to carry on the work of rebuilding this squad with the youth development that has already been put in place.
We know not all coaches are keen to go down this line as there is little reward for them to invest the time in players that cannot deliver trophies within a 2 year span, as a coach is well aware that 2 years is most likely his own life span at the club. So the alternative option may be another unknown, unproven manager who is willing to take the risk, which makes this proposition of switching managers less appealing at the moment.
This puts Spurs in a difficult and very dangerous position, to hold out until the end of the season. Sure they could sack Ange Postecoglou and replace him internally but other than Ryan Mason, who is there that you would trust? We know Ryans previous spells as caretaker manager were hardly inspiring and so in this time it would be deemed far too risky for Levy, not to mention embarrassing.
For me the logical answer is to wait until the end of the season to replace Ange Postecoglou but with whom I have no idea. If Daniel Levy is to take this route then Ange has to be backed in this transfer market, even with short term loan deals to help us get over the line! There must be an abundance of players available on loan and let’s face it they don’t have to be that good, just injury free would be nice. A couple of experienced veteran players would be good to help balance the team that’s currently packed with youngsters.
The fact that Daniel Levy seems unwilling to invest in players for Ange when they are facing a crisis only strengthens the argument that Enic are contemplating a replacement come the end of the season. As Ange said, Enic are playing with fire and may well come to regret this. I really hope not but we can’t ignore the fact we may be discussing one of the biggest relegation upsets in football’s history by May.
I’m a big believer that any manager needs to be given time in a job and I would say 2 years would be the minimum time a manager needs when he is rebuilding a squad to the degree we have been doing this last 2 seasons. But at the same time there has to be a moment when you say enough is enough. Is that moment now? Or is the prospect of a cup final and mitigating excuses of injuries and inexperienced youngsters enough to warrant him a little more time.
I like the fact our youngsters are getting a good run out this year, even if it’s mostly down to injuries. I hope these youngsters will progress and we can benefit from this in future years. If we have to watch poor performances every week, I want it to be at least for the sake of these youngsters finding their feet in the Premier league, that I can accept.
But if Ange Postecoglou is still with us come the end of the season, will Tottenham Hotspur or these young players benefit from continuing this philosophy of football. After all, if we want these young players to progress, we need them to be led by coaches who have a little bit of a clue about tactics and understanding of Premier league football.
How much can these youngsters learn from Ange ball, or as the rest of the world knows it, Predictable ball. This constant insistence of short passing with virtually no direct balls out from the back not only make it predictable and easy for the opposition to apply pressure, but it is making it much harder work for themselves. Without mixing up their play they are forever finding themselves under pressure and it is inevitable that a bad pass will occur sooner or later. Has anyone actually worked out just how many goals we have conceded under Ange that have been self inflicted ? I am quite sure that percentage will be well above the average for any team.
If you look at Arsenal’s distribution for example, they are known for playing a progressive and attractive style of football but they are willing to go long with their goal-kicks as they are short. Stats show roughly half of Arsenal’s goal kicks end in the opposition half. If you compare this to Spurs, incredibly we have gone long with just four of the last 145 goal-kicks so far this season. I would be interested to know out of those 141 short passes out, how many times were we able to get out of our own half before we lost possession?
It’s not just this playing out from the back that is the problem. These so-called inverted full backs seem to create chaos for ourselves and leave more gaps at the back than it is really worth. If you are going to play this way you need to see a lot more discipline from a defensive midfielder to provide cover, but instead the Spurs setup looks like a complete melee. When we do manage to form an attack the threat of a counter attack is imminent because our midfield is wide open. If you are going to insist on pushing these full backs so far forward then you need a holding midfielder who can be relied on, or even implement the system with three centre halfs.
To be honest, I didn’t see the point of bringing in another manager until the end of the season but the situation in the league table is becoming a concern. The last time our league position was this dire was under Juande Ramos. Interestingly this was also the last manager we picked up silverware with. Is it an omen?
However, had we not brought in Harry Redknapp when we did that season there was a strong possibility we were heading for relegation. We should never underestimate the threat of relegation, a club is never too big to go down! As far as I am concerned we are now in a relegation fight and something may have to change, especially if we lose to Everton tomorrow.
Unfortunately we know from last time around that top managers are not interested in the Spurs job and it has become rather a poisoned chalice. That’s hard to even comprehend isn’t it. Enic have spent the last 20 years rebuilding this club from the ground up, training facilities and stadium that compete with the best and revenues that make it one of the richest clubs in the world. But neither world class players or managers want to be part of this club.
That is the sad fact of things at Spurs but even with a subpar team and a coach whose football methods are more consistent with Aussie rules football, this club is making some serious money. So do Levy and the shareholders even care? I would argue that winning trophies certainly hasn’t been made a priority at this club and all these promises of bigger and better things to come when the new stadium is completed is now wavering very thin. I think it’s time some of us accepted we have had the wool pulled over our eyes!
