Tottenham v Everton - Sunday September 13, 4:30pm

[Cravenspurs]

Said this earlier but will keep saying it......

There will be understandable cunt offs of individual players, but yesterday I watched an Woolwich CM Elneny and Ceballos dominate a game. The team had Rob Holding in FFS.

We have zero desire to dominate a game through either possession or territory. We cede possession with a primary aim to not concede, hoping our quality players can deliver a piece of magic for a goal (generally against the run of play).

It isn’t good enough. Everyone got a boner over Jose saying “we need to be cunts”. That’s Martin Allen level management. Tactically he has to be more impressive.

Ceballos came in at like 80 mins. So you must have been watching from that point on. It was Elneny and Xhaka. Elneny is a DM more than anything and Xhaka has more bite than either of our CMs today. Don't like either of them, but let's not write over the facts.

It really comes down to management. And Arteta is progressive rather than Jose who is a fucking shit show.

 

[Kingjewell2017]

In fairness, James at his best is better than Kaka was at his best.

Said nobody ever Jesus Christ man are you stupid ?!

 

[Bazali]

It makes it even more embarrassing that we didn't stand a man on the free kick to stop that, or draw the referees attention to it when it was happening.

No one could be bothered and that’s the problem Jose must fix

 

[Airfixx]

Im not backing his decision to play Doherty BUT...he did mention he had players in quarantine due to proximity to player with Covid. So N'dombele had Covid so maybe Aurier couldn't play? I honestly don't know. This team is a serious mess

Aurier wouldn't have been there if that was the case (which he was).

 

[Dr. Bob]

Mou can only work with the tools he's given. The team has basically been allowed to backslide for years, notwithstanding our very lucky CL run.

We have our three most expensive players not even starting and Dier, Davies and Ali still get a game. No point in buying players if we refuse to play them . Jose is a dinosaur.

 

[TomHotspur]

It's just a bit of a shit fest from top to bottom...

Mourinho undoubtedly deserves his fair share of criticism. I think most people in football can see the guy is past it. His methods are outdated, his team selections baffling, and his stupid "be a c*nt" nonsense is just that, pure and utter nonsensical rabble from a manager who is totally out of touch with the modern game.

BUT...
1. He should never have been appointed in the first place. It was an atrocious appointment that ripped apart everything that Pochettino had instilled into the club. Poch had enough for sure and should have walked himself at the end of the season, but there simply HAD to be a more suitable appointment out there than a guy who had been booted unceremoniously from his last two premier league jobs (It may be a bit tinfoil hat-ish, but I honestly wouldn't completely dismiss out of hand the theory that he wasn't appointed for purely football reasons, as he's basically starring in a documentary that's making the club a lot of money, but i digress..)
2. However the fact that Levy did go down the Mourinho route, he simply HAD to back him properly, and not shamelessly fumble around signing bargain bucket players, seemingly unwilling to spend more than 15/20 million on any player. Its just farcical, embarrassing guff. Look at the difference between Hojbjerg plodding around midfield fouling people today and Allans confident, sharp performance for Everton. It was night and day.

The sad thing is there's no quick fix. Mourinho will probably be gone at Christmas, deep down he surely knows he hasn't a hope here but why would he give a fuck? He gets his 15 million and walks into the sunset. Levy probably appoints King as interim manager, fires him in the Summer and off we go again. Rinse and repeat.

I have not been this dispondent supporting Spurs since a few games into 08/09 under Ramos. It's soul destroying stuff and I really see no end in sight.

 

[Smogz]

Sure they stole 5 yards but imagine excusing 90 minutes of dog shit performance because of this.... And Dier should have cleared it regardless.

Mou clutching at straws.

It was Alderwierelds ball. Not Diers. For fucks sake. If he had one jump in his body he would have cleared it. Dier was way better than Toby today.

 

[False 9]

It’s boring.
I’ve never seen a fan base celebrate losing a CL final as a miracle achievement and wanting the chairman sacked for not providing the tools to be competitive.

Poch finished above Chelsea, Liverpool, City and Utd regularly.
But he lost to them regularly in the cups.
He had the tools, he just wasn’t a winner.

Thats why we couldn’t catch Leicester.
And this isn’t about Poch, it’s about you lauding Everton who are fucking shit, and will finish 12th, 15th or 7th.

Take your pick. They’re a one league yo-yo club just bouncing around the table every year.
You actually think their owners have done a better job?

If you are Levy in or Enic in then you have exactly what you deserve
Most expensive tickets
Most expensive kits
Amazon Documentary
NFL Highest paid chairman
Rubbish football team
0 ambition
1 league cup in 20 years
Poch gone

Congrats hope you're proud

 

[Harrykane9]

Baffling how a bloke on 15 mil a year has showed zero coaching in nearly a year. I've got no idea what the coaching principles are. You give harry redknapp our squad and it's a guarantee the football is so much better over night. Watching all or nothing in the team meetings it's all about the opposition. Not about being on the front foot, tempo intensity. Correct me if I'm wrong but have we come from behind to win with Jose?

 

[Legacy Lilywhite]

Soon be Third Lanark mate

Bit harsh. Maybe ... Queens Park: amazing stadium but gradually declining on the pitch.

 

[GDG]

Ceballos came in at like 80 mins. So you must have been watching from that point on. It was Elneny and Xhaka. Elneny is a DM more than anything and Xhaka has more bite than either of our CMs today. Don't like either of them, but let's not write over the facts.

It really comes down to management. And Arteta is progressive rather than Jose who is a fucking shit show.

That was the point.

Xhaka and Elneny are horribly average players......

 

[Sundowner]

Aurier wouldn't have been there if that was the case (which he was).

agreed, I edited my reply after noticing he was on the bench

 

[deadleyledley]

Just want to write a post based a footballing matters here.

Its been mentioned in bits and pieces but the difference between the 2 sides is the quality in midfield. Our transfer policy of buying players with sell on value is killing us. Put Allan instead of Hojbjerg. Doucoure instead of Sissoko. Gomes instead of Winks. We win that game without the other team getting a sniff.
I posted last week after watching Denmark play that Hojbjerg quality on the ball is so poor. Both today and last week he won the ball and instantly gave it back because of the poor quality on the ball. I don't think we have improved the quality of midfield with that signing. We all know Sissoko doesn't have quality on the ball either and Winks is tidy but ineffective.
Statistically speaking the ball will pass through the middle of the of pitch the most. You need to have players in Central midfield that are actively looking to take the ball even under pressure. A player bereft of quality will always hide (Sissoko case in point). Winks doesn't hide and that is why I say he has quality on the ball but his use of it afterwards is so predictable that it doesn't harm the other team. The second half substitution may be the worst tactical change I've seen in the past decade. We became worse by having Winks, Sissoko and PEH. Dele wasn't great but he was still involved in 2 chances in the first half which we could have scored from. Dele was also the link between the midfield and the forward players. We lost this from that substitution. Lucas can't play in the middle, don't care what anyone says. Especially when there is no space to run into.

Anyway back on point. The substitution meant we couldn't transition the ball through midfield because the players don't have the quality to do so. Leaving us going to a long ball tactic. We have zero wing play, Davies won't come forward and Lucas was moved inside for the great Sissoko and the link up with Doherty obviously lacked understanding. Son was looking good against Coleman in the first half, I have no idea why we stopped isolating that 1v1.

I'm still banging on the DM bus. We need someone that can break play but has quality on the ball. Massively miss Lo Celso. Ndombele came on and tried some high risk incisive forward passing but he wasn't exactly given targets to get the ball to. The formation and pattern of play was like a 5 year old just chucking 11 players on and hoping for the best. The desire was dreadful from the players and they looked fooked. Scarily this was the first game with another 7 in just over 2 weeks. But I think Mourinho has to wear this one. Just for that half time sub and the tactics that followed it.

What I would give to watch a Modric and Huddlestone midfield partnership that season under Harry (ably supported by Palacios who is better than Hojbjerg IMO).
More recently Dembele and Eriksen. Whatever you say about Eriksen, he had quality and its superior to anything we have now.
Losing players of that quality from the middle of the park is why we no longer look like a football team.

 

[Fattynomates]

Now would be a pretty good time to announce the return of Bale, or are we saving that For later in The week in case the shit hits the fan on Thursday? :mourfacepalm:

 

[Fattynomates]

If you are Levy in or Enic in then you have exactly what you deserve
Most expensive tickets
Most expensive kits
Amazon Documentary
NFL Highest paid chairman
Rubbish football team
0 ambition
1 league cup in 20 years
Poch gone

Congrats hope you're proud

Rubbish football team?

 

[TimothéeAtouba]

Sorry no way else to put it but that was piss poor. By all of them. Dele should squared it in the first half.

my main concern (beyond PEH and Doherty looking out of touch) was that it seemed we didn’t have any game plan. Just eleven players on the field with no cohesion. I don’t think a new striker will change anything

I think we look so disjointed because there’s no midfield linking up play.

Something has to be done and we must stop playing Winks and PEH or Winks and Sissoko together, they don’t provide the creative spark that we need.

We must somehow find a way to play Ndombele and Lo Celso together, or at least one of them all the time. I think we should pull Dele and have 3 central mids behind Son, Kane and Bergwijn/Moura.

 

[Airfixx]

It was Tobys man

Yeh...

Tho' DCL had them both on toast regrettably.

 

[SpiderSpurs]

Most expensive tickets

You're not forced to buy them!

Most expensive kits

There are other 'avenues' for getting kits.

Amazon Documentary

Great brand builder and getting good reviews on the whole.

NFL Highest paid chairman

So?

Rubbish football team

Said like a true fan.

0 ambition

Nonsense

1 league cup in 20 years

So near on so many times...

Poch gone

Good.

 

[poch's coat]

So its the first game of the season so i'm trying not to be a total fucking melt.

Early signs that I was right that Doherty is a like for like replacement for Aurier and that Hojberg isnt a DM that we so desperately needed.

Worryingly I noticed Davies creeping forward like a wanabee wingback leaving us with a back two on occasion. Interesting.

I honestly rate Everton as average and they could have hammered us today. Against a decent attack things could get very very messy. I hate the back 4 with the RB constantly pushing on. Its predictable and seemingly ineffective. TBH i think the only way of getting a tune out of this squad is a 4- 4- 2.

Shit game, shit day, put it aside and move on, plenty of time for melting later in the season. COYS.

 

[Airfixx]

If you are Levy in or Enic in then you have exactly what you deserve
Most expensive tickets
Most expensive kits
Amazon Documentary
NFL Highest paid chairman
Rubbish football team
0 ambition
1 league cup in 20 years
Poch gone

Congrats hope you're proud

You forgot twats like you spewing indiscriminate bile.

.....Add that to your list and I'll pass it onto my boss... Deal?