Tonight has really opened my eyes to the issues we face.

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It’s not that simple though. 3 years ago the same was true and not one person on this forum would have swapped Poch for Jose.

We all know what we’re getting with Jose. Cup success seems likely, but we have to accept that comes at the expense of youth production and probably means when he leaves (a 3/4 year cycle should history tell anything) he leaves a bit of a mess.

Personally I’m ok with the expected rollercoaster but I’m not sure how anyone can not accept scepticism.

Because three years ago I and many others thought that with the squad we had Poch would win something but it turned out that he’s not a winner and never has been or will be imv
 
2 major tactical changes made are RB going forward and LB staying back. Now teams know this they find ways to defeat it and we need to change it depending on the opposition. Knowing Rashford plays on the left we should have kept Aurier back or played Foyth and either got Vertongen to go forward on left or played Rose.
Same with no longer playing out from back but going long. Need to mix it about much more so we are not predictable.
 
Sacking Poch is one of the biggest mistakes we have ever made. Trust me.

A whole years worth of fixtures put us rock bottom of the form League. I have no doubt in what Poch is capable of but to not look at the here and now would be reckless.

Quick question.... if form had continued like it had for 11 months prior to his sacking, when would you have pulled the plug? January? March? We averaged a point per game for nearly a whole calendar year, do you know where that kind of form can lead to and take a team? Where's your cut off point to say it ain't working if the club have as you believe jumped the gun?
 
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2 major tactical changes made are RB going forward and LB staying back. Now teams know this they find ways to defeat it and we need to change it depending on the opposition. Knowing Rashford plays on the left we should have kept Aurier back or played Foyth and either got Vertongen to go forward on left or played Rose.
Same with no longer playing out from back but going long. Need to mix it about much more so we are not predictable.
They were temporary solutions to having a RB who can't defend and a left back who couldn't attack...you don't think that maybe Pochettino was found out which might explain how shite we were...
 
A whole years worth of fixtures put us rock bottom of the form League. I have no doubt in what Poch is capable of but to not look a thing the here and now would be reckless.

Quick question.... if form had continued like it had for 11 months prior to his sacking, when would you have pulled the plug? January? March? We averaged a point per game for nearly a whole calendar year, do you know where that kind of form can lead to and take a team? Where's your cut off point to say it ain't working if the club have a squad you believe jumped the gun?

I hope they will prove me wrong, but Kane and Son are not that effective under Jose. They are way too responsible for defense now. They are pretty much burned out from running all over the place.
 
I hope they will prove me wrong, but Kane and Son are not that effective under Jose. They are way too responsible for defense now. They are pretty much burned out from running all over the place.

Didn't really answer my question did it mate. Nice again, if form had continued like it hadn't been for 11 months in the league where we averaged 1 point per game, when would you have said enough of Pochettino. You're the one saying it's a huge mistake to let him go so I ask when you would have said the moment was right if for, had continued how it had been?
 
I'll be honest its Skipp I don't get, all the virtues of Harry Winks with a 360 Scott Parker turn thrown in. He is way to slow to make it at EPL level it's why I'd try a converted CB in Tanganga over him.
Is that right? We've got a guy here who inspect tickets on buses and he reckons he should have been playing for us a long time ago-even for the away game against Man City in the CL, if you don't mind.
 
First time I’ve got to sit down and reflect since getting back late from Mcr. I wouldn’t panic at what was absolutely a damn poor performance. Jose did well to get us up for Spam and Bournemouth. But he needs time to figure out how to sort us out longer term.


It will have been a very odd and difficult period for the players but they do carry a lot of the blame for where we’re at and also for many of our shit displays in key matches under Poch.

They’re athletes. Men. Professionals. Paid to do a job. They haven’t in certain key matches over recent seasons. Clearly there is still a weak mentality lurking in the background. It’s been in our club for decades. But it’s still there. Even H was weak, subdued and on the back foot. It’s almost shocking and certainly depressing. Perhaps we’ve had our hopes raised above reality in recent seasons but there is still a lot to do.

We have to give Jose time. He’s a winner by nature and history. If we’ve hired him then we need to listen to him and back him.

I think tomorrow will be a horrible game. But if Burnley are going to show up with cynical negativity then they’ll hopefully meet their match in terms of slyness and cynicism in Jose.

COYS.

:mourfinger:
 
Is that right? We've got a guy here who inspect tickets on buses and he reckons he should have been playing for us a long time ago-even for the away game against Man City in the CL, if you don't mind.
Can't agree he is young so you should never write them off...but I think he has great attitude but not convinced he has the physical attributes to be top class. Just my opinion from watching him.
 
The main factors are:
1. Our midfield is not good enough. Neither Winks or Dier are up to the job.
2. The recruitment in the summer was poor. Nearly half way to the season and none of the 3 done much so far.
3. I always wanted Grealish. The club dithered and didn’t get him. Two seasons ago we missed on Zaha.

The pl teams are generally poor this and for Spurs to miss top 4 from where we were in previous seasons is criminal.
 
What we've had for the last five seasons, is a manager and supporting team, who compelled the squad to give about 120% of what they naturally could IMO.

Look at Luke Shaw, now a bit part player at what 23/24?

Look at Rose, Alderweireld, physically undermined by the previous regimes mortgaging tomorrow for a win today.

It happens to all Bielsa's teams, run out of gas Feb-March bus-conductor bus-conductor watches a lot of French footie, he will know this pattern happens with this excessive intensity and elite fitness mantra which Poch formed from his tutelage.

What we need IMO, is the fitness team from Juve (if memory serves or was it AC Milan?), who buy up 30-33 year olds and get another 2-3years out of them. Because they will understand these players in varying forms have Lactic/Uric/Arachidonic Acid excesses at their points of weakness (previous injury sites, sites they compensate for muscular/skeletal weakness etc), as the high intensity creates an excess of Acid waste which only certain phsiologies can cycle at super high levels (which intensity training + games induces).

We need an elite recovery team, to bring the physical age of our players back down as far as is possible IMO.

These backed up metabolic residues will always manifest in this 'lack of intensity' or 'slow' starts, we have seen for over 18months almost consistently, and for 5years on/off (remember the latter season collapses in the first to seasons, just like Bielsa teams always suffer).

People complain about Kane, that proves the point, a club supporter, loves us, is he really choosing to amble around more like a championship player, rather than a Drogba like performance we saw at Spam? Of course not, his body has backed up performance residue, which compels the autonomic nervous system to make him unable to be 'at it'.

I pray that Mourinho does not do the Poch thing, of making them pay by more intensity for poor performances, it's just insanity. I hope he makes them all take rest, rest, rest. Massage the shit out of them, not massacre them.

NOTE : I AM NOT BLAMING POCH, HIS FITNESS EXPERTS SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS DEVELOPING.

I am blaming Poch.

He is well aware his methodology requires young minds and particularly young legs, due to the intensity/recovery/intensity cycle.

It is no coincidence that we were at our best when we were the youngest team in the PL.


Trying to flog one of the oldest teams the same way, after flogging them for3/4 years already, when he had viable young players at his disposal - even if he just used them as more frequent squad rotation to get rest and recovery into senior players - was piss poor management of resources.
 
I am blaming Poch.

He is well aware his methodology requires young minds and particularly young legs, due to the intensity/recovery/intensity cycle.

It is no coincidence that we were at our best when we were the youngest team in the PL.


Trying to flog one of the oldest teams the same way, after flogging them for3/4 years already, when he had viable young players at his disposal - even if he just used them as more frequent squad rotation to get rest and recovery into senior players - was piss poor management of resources.
Maybe they are not so viable as you think. The demands from the fan base and the board have progressively gone up and perhaps we wouldn't have got top 4 or a CL final if he had changed his methods to what you suggest.
 
Maybe they are not so viable as you think. The demands from the fan base and the board have progressively gone up and perhaps we wouldn't have got top 4 or a CL final if he had changed his methods to what you suggest.

You talk like we’ve been watching world class galacticos for the last two years, not the likes of Rose, Davies, Aurier, Sissoko, Dier, Moura etc

We hadn’t won an away game in 11 months.

They were viable in our context, for a team that desperately needed re-energising.
 
You talk like we’ve been watching world class galacticos for the last two years, not the likes of Rose, Davies, Aurier, Sissoko, Dier, Moura etc

We hadn’t won an away game in 11 months.

They were viable in our context, for a team that desperately needed re-energising.
i am aware of the limitations of our players, that's why getting to four AND a champions league final was such a great achievement. Young players from the academy to take their places is a gamble. Look at people losing their shit now, just because we lost one game and might not make top 4.
Poch knew who was ready and not ready. I bet Jose isn't going to flood the team with young players.
 
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