A couple of observations, in no particular order, on Eps 7-9 and the series as a whole.
As starting principles, I've noted earlier in this thread (2 x posts linked) that as a documentary maker I'm clear that :
1) There is no such thing as a "fly on the wall" documentary. Everything broadcast on network TV is edited. Editing creates meaning, narratives, And when I say "creates", editing can quite literally change how a scene plays out by 180 degrees.
2) editorial control clauses would have been agreed between the three parties - the club, the production company, and Spurs - before filming began. Those clauses would have been exercised by Spurs primarily to exclude filming of certain key events, such as the sacking of Poch by Levy, and the crucial first November 2019 meeting between Mourinho and Eriksen at which the Dane told him he would not sign a new contract.
We were not shown these. Instead we were shown after-the-event set ups - such as the staged Eriksen on the sofa in Mourinho's office late January 2020 meeting. Here Levy states he would have matched any contract offer Christian received and insists that Eriksen confirms this on camera for the record.
With my knowledge of how such documentaries are made, I am almost certain that the production company would have been screaming at Spurs for being excluded from all the key discussions in the Eriksen saga, and Levy finally relented with this set up scene where he ensures he gets his version recorded for posterity. Fwiw I'm not certain we would have matched the net value of the contract Inter gave Eriksen, but who knows?
More generally, I think we all need to be cautious about over-interpreting what we've been shown by Amazon and the club. For instance, Dele is clearly immature, but the series deliberately portrays him as the club's resident idiot, not knowing how to brush his teeth and thrilled at microwaving baked beans for the first time. Yes, those things happened, but Reality TV is edited to "create" character and Amazon quite literally cast Dele as a bit of a twit. If he did say anything intelligent (unlikely, I know), it would have been left on the cutting room floor as it would have conflicted with the image of Dele we were being presented with.
The content that is most raw and real is contained in the team talks and the training sessions.
For instance, after the Sheff Utd clusterfuck, Mourinho decides to toughen us up by scheduling a behind-closed-doors intra-squad match during which Dier injures Sonny. It's not stated, but it's highly likely Mourinho instructed the players to tackle, and probably tackle as they would in a competitive match. Now this is a high risk decision by Mourinho. The last thing the club needed was a contact injury, and Sonny's leg is shown in glorious technicolour after Dier's challenge.
I would argue this entire sequence is the real stuff of the series for us Spurs fans, and it begs lots of interesting questions. Eg:
1) was Mourinho correct to schedule such a physical training match at that stage of our season?
2) was Mourinho deliberately trying to create a bit of needle and conflict in our squad as part of his mission to toughen us up mentally?
3) was Mourinho's decision inspired or counter-productive? Sonny seemed genuinely pissed off at Dier's challenge and suffering an unnecessary injury.
4) if Sonny had suffered a more serious injury, such as a fracture, how would Mourinho's decision have looked to the squad then? I suspect the answer is they would have thought it was a shit fucking decision, to quote the Special One himself.
I also believe that the series illuminates Mourinho's reaction to Sunday's Everton defeat. He clearly values mentality, defensive organisation, nullifying opposing threats, and running for the team, above almost everything else. He believed he had improved these elements of our team last season, but against Everton we were back to Square One in Mourinho terms.
So I'm not surprised he publicly stated he didn't like our team or our performance. The players can respond one of two ways:
a) by redoubling their determination
b) by calling Mourinho a cunt, and downing tools
It could go either way.
Now, having stated all of that, I'm not a Mourinho apologist. I think his decision to replace Dele with Sissoko was abysmal and craven, and did not work. The courageous decision would have been to replace Dele (or Winks) with Ndombele.
But the series has given me a better understanding of how Mourinho operates in practice. And the following rant, which is raw and real, and not created by editing, will surely be carved into Mourinho's tombstone.
“But, for 90 minutes, for 90 minutes, you cannot be nice. For 90 minutes, we have to be a bunch of cunts. Intelligent cunts, not stupid cunts.”
https://thefightingcock.co.uk/forum...entary-about-spurs.33346/page-83#post-2446219