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There was a time when you could list off 90% of the squad and say Poch has taken an average player to next level.

A few years ago it was Walker, Rose, Trippier, Dier, Davies and Lamela who you could genuinely feel had become a different caliber player under him.

Dembele, Eriksen, Lloris, Kane, Dele, Rose and Walker were seen as world class, and rightly so. Try and remember people were talking about 150M for Dele.
Sánchez started well, then went downhill.
Moura hasn’t progressed in a year and a half.
Aurier is still crap.
KWP doesn’t get a look in, his debut was two years ago.

Sissoko and Winks was integrated and the magic happened..but for me every single one of those other players still at the club, bar Kane, has regressed. Massively.

I’m not interested in any stats, just watch football. We have one player today who you could say Poch has taken from nowhere to one of the best CMs in the PL but what’s happened to everyone else.

Poor tactics that don’t suit the team? Or has that great time from the Leicester season just run it’s course. Our football is by and large dreadful, and our technical ability has disappeared.

Foyth, Winks and Sissoko are the only players who look good on the ball (apart from Toby and Jan who have been solid from day one).

I don’t now know what’s happened, but “fatigue”, “Trippier” and “transfer window” just isn’t cutting it I’m afraid.
 
Rose is currently being asked to play 2 positions at once. Left back and 'Raheem Sterling'. Well, Sterling he isn't and his final ball is not what the strikers need.

Aurier has looked good when he has played this season. With a run of games I'm convinced he will be our first choice even if we make a signing.

Moura is feeding on scraps. Running after poor passes and attacking balls in the air (he's like 4ft tall).

Alli has been poor. Its been evident in the last couple of games that he is reticent to sprint and put himself in for 50/50's. Clearly the injury is still on his mind.

Despite people thinking he has been poor this season, Eriksen sits 2nd in goal assists in the EPL this season, only topped by Eden Hazard. His defensive work has improved but he still can't hit a dead ball for toffee.

Almost our starting squad was in the world cup semi finals (lloris, toby, jan, dembele, alli, kane, trips, rose, dier) + son at asia cup comps. That fatigue has shown all season.
 
There was a time when you could list off 90% of the squad and say Poch has taken an average player to next level.

A few years ago it was Walker, Rose, Trippier, Dier, Davies and Lamela who you could genuinely feel had become a different caliber player under him.

Dembele, Eriksen, Lloris, Kane, Dele, Rose and Walker were seen as world class, and rightly so. Try and remember people were talking about 150M for Dele.
Sánchez started well, then went downhill.
Moura hasn’t progressed in a year and a half.
Aurier is still crap.
KWP doesn’t get a look in, his debut was two years ago.

Sissoko and Winks was integrated and the magic happened..but for me every single one of those other players still at the club, bar Kane, has regressed. Massively.

I’m not interested in any stats, just watch football. We have one player today who you could say Poch has taken from nowhere to one of the best CMs in the PL but what’s happened to everyone else.

Poor tactics that don’t suit the team? Or has that great time from the Leicester season just run it’s course. Our football is by and large dreadful, and our technical ability has disappeared.

Foyth, Winks and Sissoko are the only players who look good on the ball (apart from Toby and Jan who have been solid from day one).

I don’t now know what’s happened, but “fatigue”, “Trippier” and “transfer window” just isn’t cutting it I’m afraid.
90% correct but you have over exaggerated the ability of Winks.
Certainly our best creative midfielder but then there is no one else and should always play if fit.
Sissoko has been good this season but
still central positions are inferior to the Dembele partnerships of 2/3 years ago . A fact that we have slightly regressed.
Wingbacks are a spent force and surprisingly Foyth looks our best asset.
Toby/Verts are still excellent but Sanchez doesn't justify his high price tag.
Dele occasionally good but none of the rapier instinct of 2 years ago.
Real investment is needed if we will remain competitive long term .
 
It's a fair opening post but it's also a relatively easy answer for me.

You refresh your squad EVERY year and that creates competition for your place and makes you play better.

Sissoko is actually an example as is Winks. And why? Because they probably felt the need to push themselves as their places were far from guaranteed.

You look at Alli, Eriksen and Trippier this season and for me you see three players who have disappointed in the face of a lack of real competition for their place.
 
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I think our biggest problem was the amount of players we had in the WC semi's, those players have not had a real break from football for nearly 2 years, they must be drained, that has a knock-on with the other players in the team having to run further to cover the space the drained players are leaving, standing off players giving them the chance to pass/cross the ball, we all know we needed fresh faces in the transfer windows,
 
It's a fair opening post but it's also a relatively easy answer for me.

You refresh your squad EVERY year and that creates competition for your place and makes you play better.

Sissoko is actually an example as is Winks. And why? Because they probably felt the need to push themselves as their places were far from guaranteed.

You look at Alli, Eriksen and Trippier this season and for me you see three players who have disappointed in thd face of a lack of real competition for their place.
Sorry, but yet again, nobody wanted competition for Dele and Eriksen. You can’t rotate someone “who should never ever be dropped”.

And this is why the window thing is not cutting it.
Had Dele and Eriksen played at their best, out football would still be better despite Trippier having a shit season.

Had Trippier been on top form, or a better RB signed, would you notice a difference when Dele gets the ball?
It’s a bit of a fake excuse, and not where I want to take the thread.

I’m thinking here that we built a team that looked like it could beat anyone in the world on its day, with high intensity pressing.
Then we abandoned our biggest asset and started playing like the Bayern Munich veterans/legends team.

All this after leaked reports of how the players were getting pissed off with Pochs training methods etc.
I think we need a rebuild too, but it’s not really about tweaking us to the next level anymore.
For me it’s about getting rid of the players who aren’t showing the right attitude in games.

Poch has got it wrong....I don’t care how nice someone is off the pitch if they are crap on it.
Give me a world class tosser now.
 
Poch has got it wrong....I don’t care how nice someone is off the pitch if they are crap on it.
Give me a world class tosser now.
Be careful for what you wish
No world class manager will come to us under such restrictions. They would demand to be backed to upwards of 60million plus every season at least.
Next man would be an Eddie Howe type and we will try and wing it till it goes tits up.
 
Be careful for what you wish
No world class manager will come to us under such restrictions. They would demand to be backed to upwards of 60million plus every season at least.
Next man would be an Eddie Howe type and we will try and wing it till it goes tits up.
I didn’t mean Poch, I meant players.
He’s too concerned with players who fit the philosophy, but I don’t see one or a game plan.

It’s not just injuries. I’d rather have Ballotelli than Llorente. I don’t care how polite someone is in training.
 
There was a time when you could list off 90% of the squad and say Poch has taken an average player to next level.

A few years ago it was Walker, Rose, Trippier, Dier, Davies and Lamela who you could genuinely feel had become a different caliber player under him.

Dembele, Eriksen, Lloris, Kane, Dele, Rose and Walker were seen as world class, and rightly so. Try and remember people were talking about 150M for Dele.
Sánchez started well, then went downhill.
Moura hasn’t progressed in a year and a half.
Aurier is still crap.
KWP doesn’t get a look in, his debut was two years ago.

Sissoko and Winks was integrated and the magic happened..but for me every single one of those other players still at the club, bar Kane, has regressed. Massively.

I’m not interested in any stats, just watch football. We have one player today who you could say Poch has taken from nowhere to one of the best CMs in the PL but what’s happened to everyone else.

Poor tactics that don’t suit the team? Or has that great time from the Leicester season just run it’s course. Our football is by and large dreadful, and our technical ability has disappeared.

Foyth, Winks and Sissoko are the only players who look good on the ball (apart from Toby and Jan who have been solid from day one).

I don’t now know what’s happened, but “fatigue”, “Trippier” and “transfer window” just isn’t cutting it I’m afraid.


Combination of factors. Firstly some of our players in my view were overrated (not their fault, the fans and media), Dele for example is a mercurial talent like Pogba but like Pogba goes missing 4 out of 5 games but can pull an assist or goal out of nowhere. He has struggled this season and people forget is still young.

It doesn’t help that we don’t have the competition in the squad to push players. Roy Keane talked about how he loved having players in his position because it kept him on his toes. A lot of places in our squad don’t have that, only two solutions, buy quality which we haven’t done for two windows or youth development which seems to have dried up. This summer we have to buy big, no ifs no buts we have to do it or stretch this squad ever more thin.

At the end of the day Poch can only work with what he has got. When you combine a lack of depth in key positions with injuries, with a World Cup in which a lot of our players played, the whole Wembley and the mental affect of that it’s a lot for this squad to deal with.

My view is that we have massively overachieved , to be 3rd and in a semi of the CL is big. Hard reality is that modern football for the most part is money, we want to be challenging for titles and the CL every year we will probably need to spend massively, that ain’t going to happen. Just enjoy what we have.
 
There was a time when you could list off 90% of the squad and say Poch has taken an average player to next level.

A few years ago it was Walker, Rose, Trippier, Dier, Davies and Lamela who you could genuinely feel had become a different caliber player under him.

Dembele, Eriksen, Lloris, Kane, Dele, Rose and Walker were seen as world class, and rightly so. Try and remember people were talking about 150M for Dele.
Sánchez started well, then went downhill.
Moura hasn’t progressed in a year and a half.
Aurier is still crap.
KWP doesn’t get a look in, his debut was two years ago.

Sissoko and Winks was integrated and the magic happened..but for me every single one of those other players still at the club, bar Kane, has regressed. Massively.

I’m not interested in any stats, just watch football. We have one player today who you could say Poch has taken from nowhere to one of the best CMs in the PL but what’s happened to everyone else.

Poor tactics that don’t suit the team? Or has that great time from the Leicester season just run it’s course. Our football is by and large dreadful, and our technical ability has disappeared.

Foyth, Winks and Sissoko are the only players who look good on the ball (apart from Toby and Jan who have been solid from day one).

I don’t now know what’s happened, but “fatigue”, “Trippier” and “transfer window” just isn’t cutting it I’m afraid.
Combination of Poch obsessing with shit tactics this season and not addressing obvious issues with the squad.

I'll start with Poch, as much as I love the man, his tactics this season have to be questioned. We've spent the last 5 years playing a certain system, 4-2-3-1, we have of course experimented and played 5 at the back a lot during his tenure, but by and large 4-2-3-1 was our go to. This system allows Eriksen, Dele and Son to roam around behind Kane, whilst having the protection of 2 players sitting in the midfield. We have completely abandoned that this season and our football has suffered. The new system we have used for most of this season is the 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond), i'm assuming the aim of playing this way is to allow Son and Moura or whoever is playing with Kane to be more central and be more of a threat to the oppo. Problem is not only does our overall play suffer, it also doesn't provide the best platform for Kane , who I've always thought is best as the main man on his own, with AM's supplying rather than with another out an out striker. This formation not only doesn't serve our best player, it also does nothing for Eriksen and Alli, make no excuse both have been well below standard all season, but this system doesn't help. They are both being forced to play way too deep, they are players who should be given freedom to roam around, rather than playing in a rigid diamond system. The formation being so narrow , not only makes us predictable and slow going forward it also makes us weaker defensively, any team playing against us in this system knows you just have to get the ball out wide and provide an overlapping run from your full back and you're in behind. Amazingly, one of the only times I could see a benefit for this system being used was last night, where we are playing against a side who like to play a lot through the middle, yet what does poch do, play 5 at the back and give up the midfield to them.

Next point is the lack of transfers, I don't know who's to blame whether it's Levy or it's Poch being too picky, but signing 1 player in the last 3 transfer windows is criminal. We are so incredibly weak in the middle of the park, to completely ignore that area even when letting Dembele go is baffling. We've ran our midfielders into the ground this season, expecting them to play every minute of every game, and are now suffering the consequences of that with our recent injuries.

Despite all of this, and the fact we've played without doubt our worst football since Poch arrived, we are still 3rd in the table and have a chance of getting to a champs league final, think we would of all taken that at the start of the season.
These next 2 games will tell us a lot , are we playing worse football but become tougher mentally? Because I know the outcome of these 2 games during the Leicester season, we would blow it and lose both, despite playing the pretty football. The boys have a chance to prove something in this next week.

COYS
 
injuries have taken their toll on this team. alli, kane, eriksen and son have played ten times in fifty five games.

obvious fatigue hits those still able to play, our scheduling has been incredibly tough in fact.

not signing anyone this summer wouldn't have been noticeable with out soo many players missing football

a good chunk of them are completely knackered
 
You say that 'fatigue' and 'transfer window' aren't cutting it, but that's absolute bollocks because they are clearly having a huge impact. Fatigue exacerbated by the World Cup, and the squad needs refreshing, it is that simple.

At the least, this summer, we need a new right wing back, one or two more 'quality' central midfielders including attacking ones.

End.

P.S You can go forth and multiply with your anti-Poch agenda to be honest. It's boring. We're not getting rid of him, he's going nowhere, and if you don't like that, well I got two words for ya...

 
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I haven't had a chance to read it all in depth as I'm just off to work but with regards to not strengthening last summer. I always felt that if the right player was there for the right fee then we would have moved. We didn't and have paid the price recently.

Perhaps Poch and the club has learnt a valuable lesson whether its about waiting for the right person, paying over the odds for the right player. Our players don't just go bad especially in the their early 20's. Fatigue and I mean mental and physical and a lack of good variation have been our downfall.
 
You say that 'fatigue' and 'transfer window' aren't cutting it, but that's absolute bollocks because they are clearly having a huge impact. Fatigue exacerbated by the World Cup, and the squad needs refreshing, it is that simple.

At the least, this summer, we need a new right wing back, one or two more 'quality' central midfielders including attacking ones.

End.

100% you can only go as far as the tank will allow. I am proud of the manager and players this season considering all of the issues we have had to do what they have done.

That being said we have a lot of stuff to sort out this summer, giving players a rest will help somewhat though.
 
This season, whilst ravaged by injuries, absolutely proves my point when I said in 2016 that alot of our squad are only good because they play under Pochettino in a system that suits them.

Since then, we've sold key components to that well oiled machine and it's now starting to stumble on by.

Losing Rose to injury, then selling Walker, then Wanyama becoming injured, to dropping Alderweireld, then selling Dembele to changing between three systems has all helped towards the predictable style we possess.

I wouldn't want to say the team peaked. Because these players are still in their prime and can only get better but the team and the system that was so in tune and in sync was ripped apart and we haven't rebuilt correctly.

As soon as that Everton game is done. (or the CL final) we need to just fucking write this season off. Fucking rest.

Rebuild in the summer and fucking pray we don't have another season as bad with injuries as this one. No proper international tournament in the summer involving 90% of our squad so no excuses
 
You say that 'fatigue' and 'transfer window' aren't cutting it, but that's absolute bollocks because they are clearly having a huge impact. Fatigue exacerbated by the World Cup, and the squad needs refreshing, it is that simple.

At the least, this summer, we need a new right wing back, one or two more 'quality' central midfielders including attacking ones.

End.

Oh my god Spurs won the World Cup .

No one else had players there. Were we fatigued when we beat City in the CL?

I thought Trippier was shit and we needed a new central midfield.....but nooooooo Wanyama is knackered from his World Cup campaign.

Llorente too, and Davies. Denmark didn’t get anywhere but Eriksen is fatigued from the World Cup...but he should NEVER be dropped.

But he needs cover.....but he should NEVER be dropped.....but we should have signed back up.....but he should NEVER be dropped.

Dele is knackered.....but Dier isn’t knackered. Dier needs replacing....errrr eerrrr if I like a player they are fatigued but if I don’t they are just shit.

Fuck off, you absolute tosser.

You people are a fucking joke with your wank excuses.
Dele has been SHIT. End of.
 
Oh my god Spurs won the World Cup .

No one else had players there. We’re we fatigued when we beat City in the CL?

I thought Trippier was shit and we needed a new central midfield.....but nooooooo Wanyama is knackered from his World Cup campaign.

Llorente too, and Davies. Denmark didn’t get anywhere but Eriksen is fatigued from the World Cup...but he should NEVER be dropped.

But he needs cover.....but he should NEVER be dropped.....but we should have signed back up.....but he should NEVER be dropped.

Dele is knackered.....but Dier isn’t knackered. Dier needs replacing....errrr eerrrr if I like a player they are fatigued but if I don’t they are just shit.

Fuck off, you absolute tosser.

You people are a fucking joke with your wank excuses.
Dele has been SHIT. End of.

Bin vote cast. Not having that abuse off you. Grow up. Here's an idea Sammy, watch a fucking game of football before you next post.

I'll refrain from calling you names. I just want you to know I have more respect for justin justin than I do for you. Now, go have a meltdown somewhere else.
 
P.S You can go forth and multiply with your anti-Poch agenda to be honest. It's boring. We're not getting rid of him, he's going nowhere, and if you don't like that, well I got two words for ya...

Never took you as a happy clapper mug....your pants have fallen right down hard man.

Too soft to say the manager has faults, without acting like a hysterical little bitch about it.
 
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