The warlord football since Poch has been a disaster. Love the term warlord, not sure which poster on here came up with it but it just brilliantly encapsulates the football we get under the likes of Nuno and Stellini.
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The warlord football since Poch has been a disaster. Love the term warlord, not sure which poster on here came up with it but it just brilliantly encapsulates the football we get under the likes of Nuno and Stellini.
I think most managers have an ego. at the end of the day they gotta manage a lot of them.
He isn't my top choice but I don't think he's as bad as people are saying and will get us playing proper football again. He certainly isn't a risk.
I didn't know about the recruitment thing but if that is the case then him and his team partly to blame for it not going to plan at Leicester.
Not every fan will be happy with who we get. Just the way it is.
Who would be your choice?
We could have been looking at 5 on the spin if it wasn't for VAR gifting is a win vs Brighton.
Genuinely though, I don't see a win on the horizon for the rest of the season, and that's not me overeacting.
Newcastle at St James, playing for UCL - Loss
United at home - Even with injuries they are playing a lot better than us - Loss
Liverpool at Anfield - Their forwards will tear us a new one. Loss
Palace at home, they are rejuvenated under Hodgson, and playing some great football (who'd have thought getting a proper manager in as interim would work, hey?) - Draw if we're lucky.
Villa at Villa Park. They're flying, and could we nick 5th spot. Loss.
Brentford at home. Brentford are on the beach, but still a tricky game. Draw?
Leeds at Elland Road. They could be playing for survival still.
I agree, I was asking Matt 1882
I know where you are coming from. For weeks I have wanted Poch but now I'm not so sure and am swinging back to Nagelsmann. If he doesn't get the Chelsea job I think we should try hard for him. He is obviously on both clubs' lists but if they go in a different direction I think he is the best option.
Other than that, I have no idea. It has to be someone in the Jol, Redknapp, Poch mould than in the AVB, Conte or Mourinho. A likeable manager who the players will respond to but who is also someone they won't want to cross. No idea what he is like as a manager but from interviews the Celtic guy seems to be like that, Potter is like that. Not saying we should go for them but they seem more like decent blokes. Surely that should be part of the criteria anyway along with tactics etc. If they cant get players to play for them, they fall out with them at the drop of a hat, then what use are they anyway.
It is my honest belief that Poch is the best option.Good piece this morning in Athletic. Ever so slightly concerning that we are still in due diligence phase.
Can Levy resist Pochettino with so much going against him?
Tottenham are becoming increasingly toxic. Bringing back Pochettino would change the mood, regardless of whether it's the right decision
theathletic.com
Cristian Stellini was the one giving the miserable post-match press conference on Saturday evening, but it could have been any of his recent predecessors sitting up there. “When we scored, we dropped,” he sighed, “and (then) we dropped again.”
Sound familiar? It might as well have been Antonio Conte, Nuno Espirito Santo, Ryan Mason (first time around) or Jose Mourinho on that same lonely stage, voicing those same complaints. Stellini is smart enough to know this. He even said that this was a “habit” the Tottenham Hotspur team have, something they have been doing for a “long time” rather than just starting now.
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Stellini talked nobly about having to “change this type of mindset” but not with any real conviction or force. How could he, when he had also admitted that these problems pre-dated him?
We are three matches into Stellini’s 10-game spell trying to save their season. Six weeks from now, he will be yet another ex-Spurs manager. In the long timespan of Tottenham as a football club, his tenure is just a brief flicker. And he is utterly powerless to do anything about the problems that he has inherited. He might as well have been talking about trying to change the weather.
It is easy to criticise the manager after a game like this.
Tottenham have had some awful days this season — Goodison Park was just 12 days before — but, as a result, this was probably the worst in the league. The one thing they have done well this season is win their winnable home games. But not this time. Not only did they lose here at home against Bournemouth, after going 1-0 up, but they did so immediately after top-four race rivals Newcastle United had lost away to Aston Villa in Saturday’s early fixture.
It briefly felt, after Son Heung-min’s opening goal, as if Spurs could put real pressure on Newcastle in the chase for Champions League qualification. It felt as if their 2022-23 season might be salvageable after all.
Until their old habits of dropping deep kicked in…
Levy is under fan pressure to get the next appointment right (Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
By the end, Spurs’ hopes of scrambling fourth place when the music stops on the evening of May 28 looked more remote than they have done all year. The issue here is not the current league table: the points gap is small, just three to Newcastle, and Spurs still have seven games left, including a run of Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool in eight days starting next Sunday.
The issue is simpler than that, and has been staring everyone in the face for weeks: this team has had every last drop of confidence drained out of it.
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We knew this at Everton, when they were 1-0 up against 10 men and still found a way to surrender the initiative. We saw this again against Brighton a week ago, when only an unlikely combination of refereeing and VAR decisions helped them to victory over opponents who were far the superior side on the day. And we had it confirmed again on Saturday, as they handed control of the game to Gary O’Neil’s resourceful relegation candidates.
Yes, if Richarlison had managed to direct his header inside the post in added time then Spurs would have won and would now be level on points with Newcastle. But it would still have been a game in which they trailed for 38 minutes, it would still have been a shambolic defensive performance, it would still have been a largely toxic atmosphere in the stadium, and it would still have provided no assurances that Tottenham are on the right path — or any path at all.
At this point, it feels extremely unlikely that anything can be salvaged from this spiralling season. Because when you watch Spurs right now, it does not take very long for something to be ominously clear: this is a team with nothing holding it together. There is no confidence or belief, no personality, no robust plan with or without the ball.
Some teams fall apart as soon as something goes wrong for them in a game. This Spurs team fall apart as soon as anything goes right. That is the only explanation for their reaction to taking the lead against Everton, Brighton and now Bournemouth. They get vertigo as soon as they look at the scoreboard.
On Friday, Stellini explained to the media that he wanted his team to be better in possession and create more chances. But when he was repeatedly asked whether that meant moving away from his old boss Conte’s blueprint, his patience started to wear thin.
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He insisted there was nothing wrong with the 3-4-3, he pointed to how many goals Spurs scored with it last season, and when Stellini was asked whether Conte was a “defensive manager”, he snapped. It was the most passionate we have seen Stellini, explaining with some anger that he wanted to speak about “reality” rather than “philosophy”, and that the key for Spurs was to “go strong” and “play with desire”, just like they did when they beat Chelsea here in February.
But Stellini’s exasperation at being asked to put any distance between himself and Conte just underlines the muddled logic of his appointment.
He is meant to deliver change from the old regime while being its most loyal lieutenant. He has to lift the spirits of the players whose confidence Conte destroyed, after spending 17 months as Conte’s voice on the training ground. He is expected to generate a new-manager bounce but without using the leverage of difference to get Spurs off the ground.
It is an idea so fundamentally confused that when Chelsea recently did the same, they realised days later they were better off bringing back Frank Lampard.
Whatever patience or credit Stellini had with the fanbase is surely gone now. It will not be long before they turn their ire on him too. But blaming Stellini for being a bad appointment is like blaming Davinson Sanchez for being a flawed defender. Not wrong, but not quite the point either. Ultimately, they are both fall guys for years of strategic drift and decay that runs throughout the whole football club.
Booing Sanchez achieves nothing - he's just another piece of collateral damage at Spurs
So the question — in this long week until kick-off at St James’ Park — is whether Tottenham can do anything to arrest this.
Tottenham
Pochettino and Levy had a strong relationship during their time working together (Photo: Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)
It barely even needs to be reiterated here that getting the next managerial appointment right is crucial to the club’s steady forward passage. (Tottenham managerial appointments are like general elections, in that every single one is sold as being ‘the most important in modern history’, but this one really is.) Get it right and there is the prospect of rediscovering some sort of unity between the players, fans and board. Get it wrong and the already mutinous atmosphere will get worse.
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Given the stakes, it is understandable Tottenham want to get it absolutely right. But fans can be forgiven for being anxious at the lack of obvious public progress so far.
The shortlist is effectively more of a long list, including names as wide-ranging as Julian Nagelsmann, Luis Enrique, Arne Slot, Vincent Kompany, Ruben Amorim, Thomas Frank, Oliver Glasner and Roberto De Zerbi. As well as its length is a list so broad, it makes you wonder whether Tottenham have put enough time into thinking about what sort of a manager they actually want, and what the strategy for the football club is. Or will they appoint a manager they like the sound of and then just engineer a strategy to fit?
go-deeper
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Tottenham need a new manager - but which one actually suits their squad?
Regardless, this process is still at the due diligence stage, with Spurs doing their research on the candidates before they start the interviews. Many fans will wonder why Tottenham have not progressed further with this given they knew for months that they would be needing to replace Conte; especially now Chelsea have sacked Graham Potter and are fishing in the same waters — but much more aggressively — rendering Spurs’ head-start irrelevant.
The most important event this week is Fabio Paratici’s appeal against his 30-month football ban, which will be held in Italy on Wednesday.
If the ban is upheld. it will be impossible for him to continue in his role at Tottenham. If the ban is overturned, Paratici might be welcomed back with open arms for the next stage of the process — although a second case potentially heading for the Italian courts could complicate that.
At this stage, there are just too many variables to be able to make any realistic guess at what will happen next. There is Paratici’s future, there is Spurs’ eventual league finish, there is a long list of candidates, and there is competition not just from Chelsea but from any other big club who may decide to change their manager at the end of the season.
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And then hovering over all of this is the figure of Mauricio Pochettino.
His name was sung louder than ever during Saturday’s game. He is still out of work, for now, and would be open to coming back to Spurs. But he is not under active consideration by Levy and Paratici, and there has been no direct contact with him about his old job.
Levy may well have good reasons for not wanting to reappoint him: a desire for a fresh start, a need for a new voice, a reluctance to fall back on nostalgia, a fear of a repeat of the sour ending to his reign in 2019. He may well want a candidate who is more like the Pochettino of 2014 — young, ambitious, cutting edge — than the Pochettino of 2023, whether that is De Zerbi, Kompany, Nagelsmann, Amorim or anyone else.
But with every mishap under Stellini, the crowd’s calls for Pochettino will only get louder. It was clear enough against Bournemouth, but what will it be like against at home Manchester United next Thursday if Spurs lose to Newcastle?
The public pressure on Levy has never been greater and is still growing by the week. He only has one lever left to pull with any hope of mollifying the supporters who are calling for his head.
That lever is Pochettino. Who knows whether he will be able to resist the temptation to pull it?
The fact is the Club is a complete disaster at the moment and my belief is that Poch can get the majority of the fans back on side especially if backed properly.
The fact is I hate the club at the moment and do not understand how Levy once again seems to be fumbling the big decisions so badly.
We never went to a 4-4-2. It was a 4-2-3-1 and gave us so many more options when going forward.
It shows how desperate we are that I'm agreeing with a lot of what you've said. The bloke is a penis though isn't he, which has to be a major disadvantage of hiring him.
Conte and now Stellini remind me of General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth with their intransigent tactics
in the morning we are going over the top
But we have been massacred 50 days consecutively doing that
Exactly Blackadder the enemy won’t be expecting us to do it again
Not the actual script but it was something like that if I recall. Point is we have a system that leads to us getting massacred and yet we persist with it
in the morning we are going over the top
But we have been massacred 50 days consecutively doing that
Exactly Blackadder the enemy won’t be expecting us to do it again
Not the actual script but it was something like that if I recall. Point is we have a system that leads to us getting massacred and yet we persist with it
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Personally I would go for Poch.
1. Fans would have more patience.
2. My belief is he is the best Coach Available.
3. One of the few managers that could get Kane to stay.
I agree apart from point 3. I cannot see Harry signing a new contract under any circumstances, I think he is gone either in the summer or on a free a season later
He would leave with my best wishes and hope that he wins some trophies , as long as he does not join the Arse or Chelsea . I don’t think he would go to either in which case , good luck Harry fill your boots elsewhere. ENIC do not deserve Kane staying
He's nowhere near my first choice but I do think that he's good enough to handle the early stages of the reset that we need. Just don't give him more than 2-3 years in charge.
And not giving him control over recruitment.
Was hard to tell especially when skipp went off - was more like 4-1-5 with Perisic and Porro as full backs I thought ardiles was back in charge - all a bit of a mess and proves stellini was a poor choice
ENIC may not deserve Kane to stay but us the fan base deserve it. Why does any other fan base deserve to see Kane play for them especially since most of them have spent the last ten years insulting him and criticising him when playing for England.
My opinion is that Poch would actually be a bad appointment because all he would be is window dressing for the fans.
Nothing would change behind the scenes with him in charge. We would play fun football again most likely but there would be no changes to how Levy goes about things. And then it will collapse again because Poch will not be brought in to do a rebuild, he will be brought in to try and win something with Kane and Son before it is too late. So we will just push all of the problems forward once more.
Poch should be the guy brought back after the core rebuild has taken place. Bring in someone else to bed in the youth and establish a new attacking identity. And if that manager is not a smash hit you bring in Poch in 3ish years when the new core is ready for a title push.
Bringing Poch back now would be purely a emotional appointment, not a logical one.
We all love poch.
1. I think better football will bring patience from fans, but your right with Poch will be tenfold.
2. I personally think Nagelsmann is the best available coach.
3. of course we need Kane to stay, He's our best player and an absolute legend. However I think he's also part of our problem. He doesn't press like he used to which is fine because he's intelligent but I don't like how he can play every single minute of every game. Every manager is afraid to sub him. We don't utilise our squad properly because of it. It took us 5 years to get him off free kicks.
Other teams take off their best players. It's just at spurs we don't and and I think it's a problem for our squad and doesn't do us any favours for the future.
Kane would be stupid to stay. He's achieved the all time top scorer, and he's not winning a trophy here.
Kane leaving is Levy's worst nightmare. He has been his get out of jail free card for almost a decade. Him leaving would show he has nowhere left to hide. My biggest worry is Levy's ego will takeover, Kane will be forced to stay again, not put 100% in and leave next season for free, and the rebuild has just been delayed again, all for Levy to 'save face'.
Yeah he seems to run people up the wrong way. But as a coach he's very good and we could do a lot worse
Yh I agree completely agree
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