Spurs T-Shirt: Ange will fix it!
Ange Postecoglou needs a big push from his players with Euro glory hanging in the balance and the Premier league table looking pretty bleak.
Tag: premierleague
Surely we can?
Preview:
If we don’t beat Southampton at home I don’t care about Europe, he has to go ffs.
Fixture:
Sunday 6th April, 14:00
Tottenham Hotspur Vs Southampton
Premier League
Available On:
Hub Premier 4
Optus Sport
Sky Sport 5 NZ
Result: 3-1 (Tottenham Win)
B. Johnson (13′, 42′)
Mateus Fernandes (90′)
M. Tel (90’+6 pen)
Match Report:
The day started most importantly with renewed protests outside the stadium, organised by Change for Tottenham and this perhaps set the mood for the day.
But it was an even more momentous day for the Southampton fans as Spurs sealed their fate to the Championship following this comfortable 3-1 win. Comfortable! Not often we say that in the same sentence as Spurs but even for a struggling Spurs side that is low on confidence this was really as easy as it gets.
Johnson tapped in early from a Spence cross in the 13th minute and despite a disallowed goal Spurs still went in at the break 2 goals up. Of course the Spurs tempo fell off in typical fashion in the second half as they seemed quite content to hold onto there lead. Not even a 90th minute goal from Southampton though could cause a wobble this time round and instead Spurs replied well with a late penalty and rare goal for Tel.
Whilst the performance was nothing spectacular and the opposition far from competitive it was an important win nonetheless. Not only does this victory stop the rot but it prepares them well for the biggest game of the season so far.
With that European fixture just 4 days away Ange chose to make only the 2 changes from the defeat at Chelsea and that was probably a wise move as this team searches not only points but also some vital momentum in these final stages of the season.
Porro came in at the back and Spence moved over to the left, in place of Udogie who has struggled for form since his return from injury. It didn’t bother Spence which side he played as he provided that early cross for his third assist of the season.
In the front line Odobert was replaced by Johnson who scored a brace so that worked out pretty well too. Like many fans I’m still not convinced by Johnson as a winger but he’s certainly showing Solanke where the net is. Johnson has now netted 16 goals this season and is the clubs top scorer!
If you look at the stats you wouldn’t think there was much in it but Spurs were the more clinical side on the day with Southampton lacking in quality. The stats show a 50/50 possession, 13 to 12 shots and 25 to 24 touches inside the box. But then if you looked at the Chelsea v Spurs stats you may be fooled there too.
On a final note, Ange sets another record today, sending a team down to the Championship as the earliest relegation in Premier League history. Well done Ange, at least it wasn’t us!
Entertainment Value: 7 / 10
Probably being generous there, 2nd half was boring but at least we got a few goals in the match!
Standout Players: I will give it to Johnson as he was involved in all 3 goals so credit where credits due.
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!
It is what it is mate!
Spurs T-Shirt: It is what it is mate!
Ange Postecoglou may be on course to become the worst Tottenham manager in our Premier League history, but has he not entertained us:)
Sucked the life out of us more like lol
A rebuild that works!
Preview:
Chelsea is up next and they are showing exactly how a rebuild is done. You see Levy, it doesn’t have to take 25 years!
Fixture:
Thursday 3rd April, 20:00
Chelsea Vs Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League
Available On:
UK TV – Sky Sports Main Event
UK TV – Sky Sports Premier League
Optus Sport
Result: 1-0 (Chelsea Win)
E. Fernández (50′)
Match Report:
With just a single win at Stamford Bridge in our last 40 attempts, of course the focus was never going to be on the result but rather the level of performance.
Could Ange turn this team around? Are the players still behind Ange? Are the fans still backing Ange ball?
Well as most would have predicted (no prizes there) it was another under par performance with a 1-0 defeat that perhaps deceives the eye. The difference in class was clear to see and at the end of the game a 1 nil defeat actually felt like a bit of a result for us!
Looking at the lineup it was about as good as we could have hoped for in all fairness, with the only missing player worth noting being Kulusevski. Besides him this was Spurs at full strength, yet Spurs were nowhere near the levels of Chelsea. Chelsea are by no means the finished article right now and have been struggling for form themselves as of late, but top teams know how to grind out results.
The fact is the Tottenham players were doing their best, but too many of these players are just not in the same league as the top teams and that coupled with questionable tactics, means players are being found out week in week out. Until we have a chairman that is willing to invest in top class players we cannot expect any more of our team, this is what Levy has brought us to because he simply does not understand football and is more concerned about his spreadsheets and profit margins.
Tottenham have been heading in the wrong direction for some time and it has to be said these problems started well before Ange Postecoglou came onto the scene. The problems were already visible when Mauricio Pochettino was at the club when the team was neglected for the new stadium build. It’s been a steady decline since and not even world class coaches like Mouruhno and Conte could stop the rot, so what chance does Ange have with no experience of top flight football?
Fans may be distracted with the hope of glory in Europe this year and may feel Premier league results are irrelevant now with nothing to play for. This may be true but what is more important is this set of players discover their form and get some momentum going. Form is not something you can just turn on when you feel like it, it comes from putting a string of decent results together, gaining confidence and that feeling of invincibility. It is fair to say Spurs have not had this feeling for quite some time. Since Ange took over Spurs have won 36 of his 73 games in charge with just a 49 per cent win percentage.
So, how bad is it?
- It is Spurs’ most number of defeats in a single season since the 2008/09 season.
- Spurs are on course to finish in our lowest Premier League place in history, which was previously set in the 1993/94 term when we ended up in 15th.
- Spurs could also finish the season with our lowest ever points tally, which was previously set in the 1997/98 season, with just 44 points under Christian Gross.
- It means that Postecoglou is on course to become the worst Tottenham manager in our Premier League history.
Entertainment Value: 6 / 10
Based on Chelsea’s performance as Spurs were crap.
Standout Players: It is hard to pick out players at the moment, no player really deserves a special mention so I will have to give it to young Mikey Moore (un used Sub), nice to see him back in the squad 🙂
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 🙂
Tell us what you think Ange!
An interview with Lilly White
Spurs suffer another defeat in the Premier League, this time to Fulham raising more questions on the future of manager Ange Postecoglou.
Our interviewer Lilly White puts some tough questions to Ange!
Training Exercise
Preview:
With nothing to play for in the league I expect rotation and hope for opportunities for the youngsters.
Fixture:
Sunday 16th March, 13:30
Fulham Vs Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League
Available On:
Astro Premier League 2
Hub Premier 3
Optus Sport
Sky Sport 3 NZ
Result: 2-0 (Fulham Win)
Rodrigo Muniz (78′)
R. Sessegnon (88′)
Match Report:
I don’t care what you say, only in ‘Ange World’ does a midfield of Bentancur, Bissouma and Gray make any sense. Gray has waited patiently all season for this opportunity and that’s his reward, being teamed up with those two numpties.
There was a time when we only got to see our 2nd string of players in Uefa cup matches, now it has reversed and we get to see them in the Premier league fixtures instead which tells you everything you need to know about our dire league position this season.
Once again we start with Mads and Bergvall on the bench in Kulus absence and once again it doesn’t work, surprise surprise! Of course the result hardly matters and we shouldn’t criticise him for squad rotation after everything that’s happened to the players this season. But I don’t think there’s any excuse for not playing a single creative midfielder, that’s just fu$%ing stupid!
Sure at half time Ange makes changes but when you start with such a lacklustre lineup you are chasing the game from the start. We went out with a negative team setup and consequently we got what we deserved from the game.
Was we unlucky with the penalty claim on the Bergvall tackle? Maybe we had a claim but didn’t Fulham have a claim in the first half?
Was it fate Sessegnon came on and scored Fulham’s second to seal the game? When we are relying on players like Davies in the back four you’re always going to concede sooner or later and let’s be honest, it was poor from Davies!
Clearly Van de Ven still isn’t 100% fit so I suspect we won’t be seeing him on the pitch again for another month! But what was more disappointing was the absence of young Mikey Moore who didn’t even make it on the bench. I don’t know if he was unavailable, maybe he had homework, I don’t know and am too fed up to even do my research.
But I would like to see these remaining Premier league games used to rotate the young players and continue the development of players like Moore because at the end of the day, it’s all about next season now and how much experience these players can gain between now and then.
Does Ange care about next season? I am guessing not, I expect he knows he’s got very slim chance of being at Spurs next season.
The commentary said the Spurs players looked jaded after Thursdays midweek game, yet only 3 of those outfield players had started In Thursdays game. The pundits may easily be fooled but the supporters know better. This wasn’t a jaded performance, this was just another sub par performance that was of no surprise to any of us.
Ange has been a very lucky boy this season, had it not been for ALL the injuries he wouldn’t be in a job still, I am sure of that! But his luck is running out and so are his excuses…what have we had so far…
- The players don’t play enough (last season).
- The players are over played! (this season).
- We cannot cope with injuries.
- The players have fatigue.
- It’s just where are are!
- And in Fulham’s post match interview he even used the WIND as an excuse I shit you not!
I’ve had enough, bring back Ossie!
Entertainment Value: 4/10
Standout Players: No one stood out in this poor game but Romero was probably the key difference, once he left the pitch Fulham found space to score 2 goals (both from Romero’s side).
“Last night was a reflection of where we are”.
Preview:
They were the words of Ange following the defeat to AZ. If that’s the case we may as well give Bournemouth the points now!
Fixture:
Sunday 9th March, 14:00
Tottenham Hotspur Vs AFC Bournemouth
Premier League
Available On:
UK TV – Sky Sports Main Event
UK TV – Sky Sports Premier League
Astro Premier League 2
Bein Sports English 1
Optus Sport
Peacock Premium
SuperSport Premier League
Result: 2-2
M. Tavernier (42′)
Evanilson (65′)
P. Sarr (67′)
Son Heung-Min (84′ pen)
Match Report:
When you look at the lineup you know 2 things straight off.
- Ange has absolutely no interest in using Gray in midfield and is delusional if he thinks the likes of Danso and Bissouma should be picked ahead of anyone let alone Gray.
- With Kulu out injured and Mads and Bergvall on the bench we were going to lack any creativity from the midfield.
With most players available for selection now we have quickly shifted from the excuse of injuries to “it’s where we are”. Yes mate, unfortunately we can all see where we are!
So kick off began:
20 Seconds…
It took Bournemouth all of about 20 seconds to see where we are, when Romero passed the ball straight to Evanilson and Vicario was forced into action pulling off a great save.
4th minute…
Just a few minutes later Bissouma loses possession in front of goal and Vicario pulls off a double save this time to keep the score level.
6th minute…
It’s not until the 6th minute when Spurs manage something half decent themselves as Spence plays a nice through pass for Odobert who has all the time to put a decent ball into the box. Unfortunately that’s as far as it gets!
14th minute…
When Johnson breaks away down the wing in the 14th minute there looks to be a real chance for Spurs as he uses his pace to get past his man. With no one in the box to fire in a cross Johnson tries to cut in and beat his man again on the inside but it all goes horribly wrong. Perhaps that’s why we never see him try this normally!
17th minute…
Johnson releases Porro who puts in the cross but it goes to the goalkeeper who parries it away and now a Bournemouth counter is on. Within moments Bournemouth were on the half way line with 3 against 3! With one quick pass that quickly materialises to Romero finding himself up against 2 men to defend. Romero does pretty much all he can do and brings down Kluivert on the edge of the box to stop the attack.
19th minute…
We lose possession on the half way line but this is only the start of more comical defending. When the ball goes all the way through to Vicario there looks to be no problem, right? Haha, in typical Angeball style, Vicario goes short to Romero which looks fine at first. Romero, with all the time in the world, decides to pass straight back to Vicario. Yes I Know, it makes no sense. Now Vicario is under pressure for absolutely no reason at all other than stupidity. Vicario just manages to scramble the ball away before being dispatched and now Bournemouth are on the attack again!
20th minute…
Spurs do manage to go on the counter themselves though with Bentancur breaking away. He brings the ball into the Bournemouth half and has Johnson and Porro available to him. Johnson cuts in and Porro goes on the overlap leaving a simple through pass for Bentancur to make. He fails to find anyone with the pass!
41st minute…
Spurs find themselves with all the space and time on the half way line and Porro has options ahead of him with 3 white shirts providing Spurs with opportunity to make a decent attack. Instead Porro passes direct to Bournemouth’s full back who now has all the space he needs to attack himself. With Porro out of position he is able to run down the wing unchallenged and by the time Porro gets anywhere near him he is already in a position to look for the cross. The cross is absolutely inch perfect, beating Danso and Spence. It’s a great cross and a nice finish from Tavernier.
1 nil to Bournemouth!
44th minute…
But if things couldn’t get more comical one of my favourite moments was when Bissouma picks up the ball in Bournemouth’s half but his first time touch is so poor he somehow dribbles the wrong way with the ball, back to his own half. Eventually losing possession on the half way line he is forced to bring down the Bournemouth player to stop yet another self inflicted Bournemouth attack. Bissouma receives a yellow card for his efforts. For this I am awarding Bissouma with “funniest moment of the match”! Well done mate.
HALF TIME…
Ange makes 2 changes with Bergvall and Son replacing Bissouma and Johnson. Bissouma was having a stinker of a game and I would say he looks like a player that has lost interest in either playing for Ange or playing for Spurs altogether.
Something I have also noticed about Anges peculiar team selections is the fact that he has picked on more than one occasion Bergvall and Maddison to play together in an away fixture, when I would expect us to start with a more reserved midfield. He did this against AZ and I even recall him doing it against Galatasaray back in November when Bergvall had next to no experience. We lost that game course.
Yet here we are in a home fixture against Bournemouth and with Kulu out injured, we find both Mads and Bergvall starting on the bench. Make sense of that if you can! I don’t understand how a midfield consisting of Bentancur, Bissouma and Sarr makes any sense at all for a home game when we have those 2 players available for selection.
51st minute…
Bournemouth go on the attack again and Kluivert has miles of space to run into, he puts it away with ease. But the linesman’s flag goes up and there is an offside at the start of the play. We’ll take it! We are at home to Bournemouth and we are hanging in lol.
54th minute…
Now it’s Spurs turn to form an attack and Bentancur finds Sarr who moves it quickly onto Sonny. In this position you know there’s only one thing on Sons mind and that’s curl it into the far corner. He makes some space to get the shot away and it looks close! It brushes the post and it’s just wide.
61st minute…
After an hour of play I was beginning to think another 1 nil defeat would be a good result for us here. After all this is where we are! Not even the introduction of VDV and Mads gave me any optimism for a better result. But with Mads and Bergvall both on the pitch the midfield was beginning to resemble a midfield at least.
63rd minute…
Mads and Bergvall link up with Spence and Sonny down the left flank, Mads makes a nice one-two into the box. Sarr comes into the box late and is wide open for the shot, he looks certain to score. Unfortunately the shot that followed resembled something I would expect to see at your local pub team. He completely scuffs his shot and the ball goes a mile wide.
65th minute…
Moments later Bournemouth are on the attack again and an easy pass through releases Evanilson who calmly slots it away with a chip over Vicario. This time the linesman’s flag stays down.
It’s 2 nil to Bournemouth!
66th minute…
When Son lays it across to Bergvall there doesn’t appear to be much on and that’s maybe what Bergvall was thinking because he cracks it from 30 yards catching everyone off guard. The goalie looks beat, but it rattles the post! Fabulous effort though.
67th minute…
When Sarr picks up the ball on the half way line we have 3 white shirts going forward with him. A through pass to Odobert looks the obvious choice but instead he decides to cross it into the box with only Solanke in the box! Incredibly, the cross is so far off the mark it finds the back of the net. A superb strike lol but the lack of celebration tells us all we need to know about that attempt.
It’s now 1-2 to Bournemouth.
69th minute…
More self-inflicted pressure at the back after a slow back pass from Bergvall and Vicario scrambles back to save his blushes.
73rd minute…
Bournemouth, you guessed it, attack again. 3 versus 2 so it’s the standard defending setup from Spurs. Bournemouth break into the box with ease and get away the shot. This time Vicario can only watch as it hits the post! Don’t know how but somehow we are still hanging in!
82nd minute…
Ok so we have highlighted just how many times Spurs try to play out from the back and put themselves under this self inflicted pressure and quite often even concede a goal! Well this time it actually works so lets enjoy it!
Vicario plays it out to VDV, who finds Son and quickly plays it off to Spence. Spence plays a simple pass to Mads and now we are in Bournemouth’s half. Mads plays a quick through pass releasing Sonny who has continued his run. Son gets into the box and the goalie makes the decision to come out but Son beats him to the ball. It’s a Penalty!
Crazy moments from Kepa but we don’t mind, Sonny can bring us level:) With a low in confidence Son stepping up I have to say I was a bit nervous but wow, it’s a cheeky one as he just ‘dinks’ it into an open net with Kepa diving to his left. That just rubs salt into the goalie’s wounds, I love it!
It’s 2-2, don’t ask me how!
Final minutes…
With 5 minutes remaining, Spurs have available both Scarlett and Tel on the bench for a final substitution but instead Ange opts to bring on defender Udogie. That probably sums up the feelings towards this unexpected draw. So two-all it finished as incredible as it seems.
Did we deserve it? Not a chance.
Will this give the team confidence before Thursday’s big game? I doubt it!
Are we near the end of this whacky experiment ? I really hope so:)
It’s only City!
Fixture:
Wednesday 26th February, 19:30
Tottenham Hotspur Vs Manchester City
Premier League
Available On:
UK TV – TNT Sports
Optus Sport
Peacock Premium
Result: 0-1 (Manchester City Win)
E. Haaland (12′)
Match Report:
Looking at the lineup I cant say it gave me much confidence. With Kulu on the bench, Spence dropped for Porro and Udogie, Gray back in centre half position and a front line that was teaming up for the first time.
It almost felt like Ange had looked at the coming fixtures and thought bollox, lets not bother with this one! I am guessing that Ange was hoping a quicker front three would be more of a threat on the counter in a fixture we always expect to be open. And of course, it was!
It didn’t take long for City to score with a goal coming from very little effort on there part to be honest. Dans-no was so far out of position you would have thought he was playing striker in those opening minutes. When Danso does finally get back he is caught out completely ball watching and nowhere near his man who ultimately sticks it in the back of the net unchallenged. To be fair its an improvement on last weeks game when Danso was sat on the floor for the Ipswich goal.
If that wasn’t enough of a concern, Porro was getting run ragged by Doku and it made me wonder how Spence would be managing against him? After half an hour we could be three goals down with one way traffic offering no way out for Spurs. How City had not scored more at this point is incredible and the only question to ask was can we hold onto this 1 nil loss til half time!
Both Porro and Udogie were struggling down the flanks and Danso was resigned to wrestling his man down to the ground to stop City’s relentless attacks. It was poor, but not a surprise. After all we weren’t playing Ipswich or Brentford, this is a top 4 side and despite City’s struggles it was clear which side was in the top half of the league table.
Something had to change because City were being allowed to play how they wanted and Doku was given so much space you could have got a jumbo jet down that side. Despite this, we know from watching City this season if you put them under enough pressure they can crumble. A bit like Spurs lol.
After half an hour of attacking from City they looked to be finally taking a breather and a couple of fouls provided free kicks in some useful positions for Spurs which provided some half chances, but at the very least eased the pressure off the Spurs defenders. Minutes later we did it!! The half time whistle went and we were only a goal down, that was a positive for the first half.
No changes at half time but Spurs did come out looking a bit more lively. With Bentancur struggling with the pace, Bergvall still learning his trade (I don’t think he’s being played to his strengths but who is in this system), the reliance was on Mads to produce some magic in that midfield which had been largely overrun in the first half. But for every positive play we managed, City looked equally dangerous on the attack too.
However it was Spurs who made the best chance to score with Porro putting in a low cross in the 55th minute and Odobert looked a certain on the far post to find the equaliser. The chance was missed but Spurs were growing into the game. As Spurs grew in confidence City looked more willing to sit back and try hold onto the one nil lead. Not like the City of old but we weren’t complaining as the pressure mounted on City now.
On the hour mark Spurs made 4 changes with Spence, Kulu, Sarr and Son all coming on. Spence made an instant impact creating a great chance for Sarr but another chance felt wasted as he scuffed his shot wide. It was one way traffic in our favour with corner after corner and with City happy to sit back, it felt like we still had a chance of rescuing a point at least.
Despite such an open game and chances coming our way, nothing was ever clinical enough in the final third growing to frustration amongst players and fans! With only ten minutes remaining it was clear Ange was ready to throw in the towel as Timo came on for one final roll of the dice.
Johnson made a couple of excellent runs down the right and although his first cross went behind Kulu, the second cross finds Son who forces a save from goalkeeper Ederson. That was the chance! Spence looked a constant threat, Kulu was trying to make a nuisance of himself but time was running out. Now 4 minutes into injury time Haaland scores but there appears to be a handball? The referee rules the goal out and despite some VAR confusion the decision is no goal!
Before City could even digest what was going on Spurs were quick to go straight up to the other end only for Sarr to head over the bar from just a few yards out. It could have been 2 nil, it could have been 1-1, it finished 1 nil. Confusion at the end with VAR but it looked like handball in my opinion and made no difference to the end result.
Did we deserve a draw? Probably not as City sat back for most of the second half and we were still unable to find a way past a struggling defensive unit. But what is for sure is the damage that was done in the first half hour of the game.
Ange Postecoglou said after the game, “In the second half we dominated in all the areas but missed a goal to get something out of the game.”
Yes mate! We dominated a team that was happy to sit back and win the game. Yes mate, we didn’t score and we lost, he’s learning the rules at least:)
A defeat for Spurs but at this stage of the season it really doesn’t matter in terms of our position. What does matter is getting more players back from injury and finding some consistent form that’s been lacking for the last 2 seasons.
I’m not optimistic at this stage. Time for Change? Somebody call the A-Team!
