Skip to content

Plenty in reserve

3 min read
by Editor
I want to go back to a point in the season when we managed three wins in a week…. with no Kane, no Dembele, no Dier and no Rose. A few years ago how confident would we have been that a trip to Middlesbrough without King, Keane, Modric and Bale would not have ended in […]

I want to go back to a point in the season when we managed three wins in a week…. with no Kane, no Dembele, no Dier and no Rose. A few years ago how confident would we have been that a trip to Middlesbrough without King, Keane, Modric and Bale would not have ended in anything other than defeat.

Mauricio Pochettino started his Spurs career by improving the first eleven, it was apparent until last year he did not truly know who his first eleven was and from game to game we would wait at the Lane for the Twitter feed to announce our first eleven, not once during the first year and a half of his reign did anyone in the pub correctly predict the starting team, Lennon, Stambouli, Lamela, Chadli, Capoue, Dembele, Mason, Bentaleb etc etc – it was pick anyone from about 10 and they would all do largely a similar job.

So what has changed? Well firstly players stepped up, Dembele finally started to play consistently at the level we knew he could, Lamela pushed on and Rose and Walker have been nothing short of a revelation. Pochettino isn’t afraid to get rid quickly if things aren’t working out, particularly in the case of Stambouli, Capoue, Mason and Bentaleb they had a chance it didn’t work out so they were moved on. Years gone by would have seen this players hang around, taking places on the bench yet not quite up to first team standard – providing little or no competition to the first team.

This allows a fresh face to come in to replace then such as Wanyama, Dier must be feeling that the big Kenyan is a threat to his guaranteed first team place of last year, motivating him to work hard and starve off complacency. Poch has now clearly identified 2 elevens and what we are starting to see is in certain positions the “reserve” is performing better than “first teamer”, playing with hunger and desire. This has led to once again us sitting in the pub scratching our heads as to who the first team will be – this is not because Poch does not know it, but because quality performances from those bought in necessitate the need for changes.

The first team with the exception of the back four and Kane cannot guarantee they will be starting each week – they know one poor performance, a moment of ill-discipline, not tracking back could lead to them being banished to the bench or worse such as the case of Kevin Wimmer off the face of the planet for a few weeks. The players that have come in have all performed well and cameos from Winks, Edwards and Carter Vickers all encourage us that there is not only strength in depth, but strength in youth. Who would bet against us now? Speaking of bets, view our full range of football betting. I dare you to put money against us!

The days are gone where the team line up was more important than getting an extra beer in, whoever out of the 25 we play and bring in we can trust in to perform and carry out the task as set to them by Poch. I haven’t heard the phrase “why is he playing?” or “I can’t believe he isn’t playing so and so” for a while now in the brewers, this is not because the pessimistic moan machine of a man in the beige coat has gone (you know who you are), but the fact we trust in Poch and Poch trusts in his whole squad.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.