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The Problems at Spurs

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I find it worrying when players start throwing out the "fatigue" line, because they are playing twice a week max.....

Training intensity is adjusted based on upcoming games, so when you have a run of 4 games in 2 weeks they'll be doing really light stuff to compensate.

They haven't performed, simple. Take ownership and move on.


But have any of our players actually came out and said anything to that effect?

Poch certainly hasn’t

:pochunimpressed:
 
Anyway good news

Talkshite have said Sissoko and Dele back in full training but not Hugo sadly

At the risk of getting slated we need Sissoko back for this game as I would imagine we are going to undergo an aerial bombardment on Saturday!
 
But have any of our players actually came out and said anything to that effect?

Poch certainly hasn’t

:pochunimpressed:
Not from what I've seen, just a comment relating to the speculation that this is what's being said behind closed doors.

Lloris is quite clearly (in my cynical eyes anyway) banned by the club for his boozy driving antics.
 
The only thing worthy of the media witch hunt, is realising there's a hidden agenda, and always has been!

It will only stop, when WE win the League, which... unfortunately isn't ALWAYS in our hands... but hey, that's the way it goes.
We plough on regardless... fuck the rest!
SERIOUSLY... FUCK THE REST!

Honestly, name a club that has gotten more favorable treatment than us aside from Liverpool?

I barely ever hear anything about how Tottenham havent won the league in forever, but you certainly hear it alot about other clubs.

We only have ourselves to blame for the current narrative around the club.

It should get better once the stadium is complete though.
 
My Football Facts & Stats | Tottenham Hotspur | Premier League Points Won
Worth reminding ourselves that Spurs points after 5 games in the last few seasons have been :

18/19 - 9 points
17/18 - 8 points
16/17 - 11 points
15/16 - 6 points
14/15 - 7 points

So, yes we've lost 2 on the bounce in PL but cumulatively we've got the 2nd best points after 5 games in the last 5 seasons. And our last few seasons have been some of our best in the last 30 odd years.

Crisis ? What crisis ?

Our biggest footballing problem at the moment is probably central midfield - and that's because of injuries. So once Winks and Wanyama (and maybe even Sissoko !) get back to match fitness we get a whole lot better there.
 
Not from what I've seen, just a comment relating to the speculation that this is what's being said behind closed doors.

Lloris is quite clearly (in my cynical eyes anyway) banned by the club for his boozy driving antics.


Ok so why not make him train and sit him on the bench if that was the case?

I just don’t think Poch would be so irresponsible as we haven’t got a decent back up keeper

Vorm just isn’t good enough

That flap against the Dippers directly contributing to their first crucial goal was embarrassing

So before we buy anyone else in January we need a decent back up keeper
 
Ok so why not make him train and sit him on the bench if that was the case?

I just don’t think Poch would be so irresponsible as we haven’t got a decent back up keeper

Vorm just isn’t good enough

That flap against the Dippers directly contributing to their first crucial goal was embarrassing

So before we buy anyone else in January we need a decent back up keeper
Because if he did that it becomes a public thing. At the moment it's a club issue, dealt with behind closed doors.
 
Honestly, name a club that has gotten more favorable treatment than us aside from Liverpool?

I barely ever hear anything about how Tottenham havent won the league in forever, but you certainly hear it alot about other clubs.

We only have ourselves to blame for the current narrative around the club.

It should get better once the stadium is complete though.
erm, maybe Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Woolwich, Leiscster City, Burnley ... now this season Wolves, Fulham... Leeds Utd. Aston Villa, "Frank Lampard's Derby County" Shrewsbury, Preston North End...
OK, now I'm being Silly, I know!
But, you did ask!

Point is, we're really NOT at the top of the media Favourites list.... but it's OK, I can accept that, partly understand that, and I can deal with it... problem is, can you?
 
The only thing worthy of the media witch hunt, is realising there's a hidden agenda, and always has been!

It will only stop, when WE win the League
, which... unfortunately isn't ALWAYS in our hands... but hey, that's the way it goes.
We plough on regardless... fuck the rest!
SERIOUSLY... FUCK THE REST!
That wouldn't stop it, we'd be called one season wonders, our best players would be linked with moves away more than usual.
 
can someone copy the Times article. Paywall means I can only see a paragraph and I'm not paying for a publication in a different country.
This the one you're after?

In Mauricio Pochettino’s mind, Tottenham Hotspur have it harder than other clubs. He talked on Monday about the difference between perceptions of his team and the reality. “Maybe in different clubs, they have some good balance,” he said the night before the Champions League defeat by Inter Milan. “But for us, the perception and the reality are too far apart.”

Are they? The consensus among the media pack who travelled to Milan — and, yes, we would say this — was that Tottenham escape the more frenzied scrutiny that some of their Premier League rivals might attract after a third consecutive defeat.

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Tottenham are a stable club, building the right way under Pochettino despite recent resultsDAN ISTITENE/GETTY IMAGES
There is none of the fin-de-régime narrative that was unavoidable during Arsène Wenger’s final years at Woolwich; none of the crisis talk that swirls around José Mourinho when he is at war with players or executives at Manchester United, his playing style a source of anguish among the club’s legends; none of the turmoil that is rarely far from the surface at Chelsea.

Tottenham are a stable club by comparison, building the right way under Pochettino, outperforming rivals with far bigger budgets. Failure to win trophies tends to be seen through that prism, as indeed it should be.

For the first time under Pochettino, though, they have lost three matches in a row. That their latest defeat, inflicted by Inter on Tuesday, came from a position of control — 1-0 up and cruising to victory until Mauro Icardi’s spectacular goal in the 85th minute threw them into a state of panic — may mitigate the result from one perspective, but in other ways it intensifies the scrutiny. “We are coming from a negative period,” Pochettino said. “We are suffering a little bit.”

When big players and big teams are suffering, the spotlight tends to be unforgiving. Harry Kane scored six goals for England at this summer’s World Cup, winning the Golden Boot, but that does not give him immunity from the type of discussion that has surrounded his early-season form.

Kane is one of several Tottenham players who appear to be suffering a hangover from the World Cup. Pochettino may deny that publicly but he as good as predicted it before the season began, admitting concern that, having been involved in the World Cup until the final weekend, Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembélé, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Kane had not had a proper pre-season programme.

Pochettino also suggested last month that he expected this to be his toughest season since taking the job in 2014. Why? In addition to the World Cup issue, there are the delays over their new stadium and the potential impact of construction costs; there is uncertainty over the futures of Rose, Alderweireld and Dembélé amid frustration at the club’s wage policy; despite Pochettino’s statement in May about the need to “create some different ideas” and “take risks” if they were to keep progressing, there was not a single addition to his squad in the summer.

Add to that the adverse publicity surrounding the drink-driving conviction of their goalkeeper and captain Lloris, as well as consecutive defeats by Watford, Liverpool and Inter, and this season now looks even tougher than Pochettino may have feared.

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The spectacular goal from Icardi threw Tottenham into a panicMARCO LUZZANI/GETTY IMAGES
Kane’s travails have attracted the most attention, inevitably, but he is not their only World Cup player to appear out of sorts. Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier, Dembélé and Eriksen do not look in peak condition. Neither does Son Heung-min, just back from the Asian Games. Arguably their two most impressive performers in the San Siro were Serge Aurier and Davinson Sánchez, deputising for Trippier and Alderweireld respectively. Their liveliest attacking player so far this season has been Lucas Moura, another who missed the World Cup. None of this seems like a coincidence when Kane, in particular, has been labouring.

The post-Milan narrative could easily have been very different. They started poorly against Inter but stabilised as the first half went on, took the lead through Eriksen after half-time and started playing with confidence.

It seemed like the mature, composed performance that Pochettino called for but, after missing a series of chances at 1-0, they reacted poorly to Icardi’s equaliser. Whereas Inter’s players appeared galvanised, an air of panic seemed to take hold of Tottenham, culminating in Matías Vecino’s stoppage-time goal, the fourth time in three games that Pochettino’s team had conceded from a dead-ball situation.

It had been just the kind of reaction that Pochettino hoped for after defeats by Watford and Liverpool, but their meek response to the Icardi goal was troubling. Attention turns to their next game, an awkward trip to face Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening. Perceptions of Pochettino’s Tottenham remain positive, but they must stop the rot before it gets serious.
 
My Football Facts & Stats | Tottenham Hotspur | Premier League Points Won
Worth reminding ourselves that Spurs points after 5 games in the last few seasons have been :

18/19 - 9 points
17/18 - 8 points
16/17 - 11 points
15/16 - 6 points
14/15 - 7 points

So, yes we've lost 2 on the bounce in PL but cumulatively we've got the 2nd best points after 5 games in the last 5 seasons. And our last few seasons have been some of our best in the last 30 odd years.

Crisis ? What crisis ?

Our biggest footballing problem at the moment is probably central midfield - and that's because of injuries. So once Winks and Wanyama (and maybe even Sissoko !) get back to match fitness we get a whole lot better there.
The "crisis" is driven by what our rivals do, what they have spent, when they win whilst we lose.
 
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