Mate that's just a narrative and patently not true. There was another 16 game period that same season where we had great results and decent performances.
It was "working" for a lot of the games at the start of this season where performances were strong but results inconsistent. It worked against Villa, City and Brentford this season, 3 very different teams when it comes to style. it worked against United twice already this season and Everton this season. Again, very different teams. It worked against 2 different United managers.
It worked in the Europa League this season with a heavily rotated squad and a very young average age of player in the lineup. Even worked with a younger, rotated lineup when down to 10 men for 85 minutes. It worked second half against Newcastle in the most absurd injury and illness circumstances. Granted it didn't work enough to win that game but the performance was enough to win.
Ange also adapts. And yes elite managers do stick to their system when faced with challenges. Conte made MUCH less changes to his system than Ange has when he was up against it in his second season. Pep didn't even flinch when ut came to playing his system this season because he's stubborn and believes in it. Now they are picking up results playing exactly the same way. It's just something that all elite sports people share. That doesn't mean Ange is elite but it's certainly not something we should hold against him if we want to be elite. And yes it does have an element of arrogance to it but guess fucking what? Yes, that is also something elite sports people have,
So do I and so does Ange but there are no long-term results to speak of and there won't be if we don't see out the season. Now, if it gets much worse from here and we get knocked out of the cups and Europe then we probably won't ever see the truth long-term but we can't pretend this is long-term right now because it isn't.
Who said anyone had to be visionairies? what a weird thing to say? haven't seen anyone claim to be a visionary. The only thing anyone has said is that although it is currently failing for results, that doesn't mean that is HAS FAILED. I want to see if he can reach the ceiling of his project more often and we won't know that if we only look at the team under these current circumstance which aren't conducive to peak performances and that is the reality you want people to acknowledge.
The claim that Angeās system āworkedā beyond the initial ten-game honeymoon is an appealing but ultimately flimsy narrative imo. Youāve cherry-picked isolated wins here, like those against City or United, to support your argument while conveniently ignoring the broader trend of stagnation and predictability. One or two standout performances a season donāt validate a systemāconsistency does. You mention a supposed 16-game stretch of āgreat results and decent performances.ā Care to list those games and provide evidence? Or is this just another anecdote to prop up a the managers failing philosophy?
Comparing Angeās stubbornness to Pepās is off-base, you don't win what he has without adapting to opponents. Ange, stubbornly clings to a rigid philosophy, even as itās repeatedly exploited by opponents. This is widely recognised at this point, except by his most ardent defenders who think he is rewriting how the game is played. If anything, his inflexibility highlights why heās miles away from being āelite.ā The only time Ange shows any tactical deviation is when heās backed into a corner and desperate for resultsāa far cry from calculated evolution.
Pointing to ācircumstancesā like injuries and rotation as excuses is yet another weak deflection as well. Sure, those factors can cause a temporary blip, but they donāt account for months of uninspired, one-dimensional football, I am not sure how people even find it entertaining now either, having one big blow out win against someone once every few months isn't what I consider entertaining. Even with a healthier squad earlier in the season, the warning signs were evident, and Ange has done little more than offer hollow soundbites in response to all this, like he always does.
Youāre basically advocating for sticking with a manager who has yet to demonstrate even a shred of consistency in this league outside of his first ten games and that's not a "narrative" it's a fact that is backed up by the stats.
When was the last time we even won three league games in a row? The ONLY reason this man is still in a job at this point is because Levy fucked up the last two appointments so badly he has decided to stick for once out of desperation and because of the "Big Ange" "We have our Tottenham back" narrative that is still, for whatever reason, being touted around like it's gospel and giving him breathing room.
As for the notion of being visionaries, you donāt have to explicitly claim itāyouāve repeatedly insisted that this system has a āhigher ceilingā than others. What exactly are you seeing that the rest of the football world isnāt? Thatās the real question. Is your stance rooted in objective analysis or blind hope? Because if itās the latter, it carries little weight, mate.
Listen, like I have said many times, I would love for this to all work out and be completely wrong here and Ange shove every single word down my throat but it seems highly doubtful that is going to be the case at this point, if not almost impossible.
