Whats gone wrong?

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Poch's not up to it / Years of under investment

  • Poch not up to it

  • Years of under investment


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Based on the last 16 league games we'd be 17th in the table.

Either Poch's not up to it or we're paying for years of under investment in the squad.

Which is it?
4 league wins since February 11th says a lot, as positive as we all want to be, even need to be, this is fucking concerning.
The tail end of last season was given a pass for two obvious reasons, top 4 achieved and of course that magic run in Europe.
The new season started against Villa, and even tho they matched us for long periods it can be put down to a little rust and put to bed as the 3 points where won, City away was a complete bonus and the corner looked turned, but this shitshow today brought us back to earth with a bang, we are still Spurs of late 2018/19 season....

To answer your question, both are the correct answers but I’d lean 60/40 in favour of lack of investment over the last few seasons.
 
The home atmosphere will never be anything like the away fans and I can accept that. I think the standing issue is a big one plus the type of fan who sits where they sit. At whl we could have a good back and forth with the oppo fans but now it’s just dead.
I've been saying for ages that the away fans should be at the Park Lane end of the ground, almost nobody agreed with me. It was part of what made WHL intimidating for opposition fans and players, and it allowed that back and forth you mention.
 
And that's also around the same time Eriksen lost form, possibly thinking about leaving in the summer.
He's dragged us out the shit a few times in that period too, mind.
A slump in the teams form of this magnitude can't be put down to one player. There's clearly an underlying issue.
It's either down to a manager failing in his job of motivating and arranging his team.
Or its a deeper lying issue of years of under investment coming home to roost in the form of want- away players and a staleness set within the squad.
 
The atmosphere at Headingly today was something else. Never stopped believing even when all the experts and ex players in the commentary gave up on England.

Just goes to show what being positive can achieve.
Stokes was in the Zone, when shit hits the fan the star player needs to step up, and by fuck he stepped up.....unfortunately our star player is a No9, arguably the best there is, but a No 9 depends on the other 10 behind him, and there isn’t a consistent performer among them. Lucas, Alli, Son, and even Eriksen can’t do it week in week out!!
 
Few thing have gone wrong to be in a such bad form in the PL since Feb.
Lack of signings last season, not replacing Dembele, Vert being dropped, Eriksen's wanting out, Poch's conferences and he has become big headed, not replacing Llorente, Tripps being pushed out, Rose for sale scenario, poor performance in the CL final, slow starts in matches are some of the factors.

I am worried about this season and the coming weeks will be crucial .

Despite being in the final of the CL, the club position in the PL went backward and the gap to the top 2 is massive 25 points plus, due to under investment IMO.

May be Poch losing interest in the project... We will in more trouble if he leaves.
 
1. We - STILL - don't have proper, fully functioning FBs.

2. Harry decided a good while ago he wasn't gonna press anymore - it effects the whole team, as our core game has been built on charging the team's dynamo from the front. I've said it before and folk don't like hearing it, but we now play better without him, as a TEAM.

3. Poch is too cocky, too proud and too stubborn:

- Player scores amazing hat-trick in CL semi's; poch thinks, "hmmm, yes, lemme stun the football world with my amazeballz wizardry by mugging this little fella off when he's on absolute fire and buzzing his cock off and bench him for the final and start a semi-fit Kane/ dawdling Dele instead!Just how big are my fucking balls...!!"

*record scratch - it was when this happened I knew trouble lay ahead*

- Out of nowhere starts using that rancid Diamond we are not equipped to play properly...persists (until last two games).

- Is reluctant to concede error early and change things in time to maintain a footing in games (if not gain an advantage).

- Hasn't won anything - not helped by said atrocious handling of CL final - but increasingly holds the air of someone who has won everything in the game and doesn't need to answer to anyone, or anything.

We need to get back to our core philosophy of being a ferociously hard working team that plays exhilarating football and takes nothing for granted.

Our manager needs to humble himself, refocus and rediscover/regenerate that raw energy we used to have.

At the same time he needs to reconfigure himself to drop players for the good of the team, regardless of their standing.

It's odd he's happy to ruffle feathers in other regards, but not this... which would actually benefit us.

I championed us bringing in Poch very early into our hunt for a new manager.

But I've always said that, as well as being able to develop players, he also has maturing and developing to do HIMSELF.

He is not, as he clearly believes, the finished product.

P.S. Fuck Dybala off and bring in Bruno Fernandes in January, who's a much more astute procurement for us right now, and then in the summer we do everything in our power to finally fix our FB situation, because without that we ain't going to all the places we'd hoped.
 
To many fans that are moaning wankers ... just like the cunts down the road ... having a whole section of the crowd almost begging for something to whine and moan about (just like on this site) will start to impact on the players ... bloke in the bar tried the 'we're shit' dialogue last night, it didn't end well ....

This is supposed to be a Spurs fan site not a home for gooner/spanner/dipper trolls but sadly that's what it's become ... far more negative posts than positive ones ... truly depressing stuff
 
To many fans that are moaning wankers ... just like the cunts down the road ... having a whole section of the crowd almost begging for something to whine and moan about (just like on this site) will start to impact on the players ... bloke in the bar tried the 'we're shit' dialogue last night, it didn't end well ....

This is supposed to be a Spurs fan site not a home for gooner/spanner/dipper trolls but sadly that's what it's become ... far more negative posts than positive ones ... truly depressing stuff
We lost against relegation fodder at home playing shit football. How do you expect people to be positive?
 
We lost against relegation fodder at home playing shit football. How do you expect people to be positive?

We lost but we had 80% possession made over 800 passes so hardly "shit" football ... in fact only one team in over 7,000 EPL games has ever lost with more dominant numbers ...

That's not excusing the performance we were about as creative as a rap star, but the only "shit" bit was the lack of goals ... our keeper made one save, our defence allowed just three shots on goal ... even our midfield dominated possession so all that football was good ... but in the final third we created almost nothing

Not sure what the issues are confidence, system, talent but something isn't working ... sure we lost but if you think we played shit football you'd be wrong, we totally dominated 80% of the pitch we just didn't score ...

The failure to score is of course a massive problem no goals no points ... it's the lack of creativity that is the issue ... but to say we play shit football? well that's your valid opinion it's making things very black and white ...
 
We lost but we had 80% possession made over 800 passes so hardly "shit" football ... in fact only one team in over 7,000 EPL games has ever lost with more dominant numbers ...

That's not excusing the performance we were about as creative as a rap star, but the only "shit" bit was the lack of goals ... our keeper made one save, our defence allowed just three shots on goal ... even our midfield dominated possession so all that football was good ... but in the final third we created almost nothing

Not sure what the issues are confidence, system, talent but something isn't working ... sure we lost but if you think we played shit football you'd be wrong, we totally dominated 80% of the pitch we just didn't score ...

The failure to score is of course a massive problem no goals no points ... it's the lack of creativity that is the issue ... but to say we play shit football? well that's your valid opinion it's making things very black and white ...
We had 80% possession but didn't have a single shot on target until the 33rd minute. A vast majority of those 800 passes were either backwards or sideways and not penetrating forward ones.
I appreciate you are as disappointed as anyone else here but you have to surely concede that this was a thoroughly unconvincing performance. The most worrying was Poch's statement afterwards hinting that there was discord and lack of team unity and spirit within the group.
Something is definitely not right at the moment.
 
To many fans that are moaning wankers ... just like the cunts down the road ... having a whole section of the crowd almost begging for something to whine and moan about (just like on this site) will start to impact on the players ... bloke in the bar tried the 'we're shit' dialogue last night, it didn't end well ....

This is supposed to be a Spurs fan site not a home for gooner/spanner/dipper trolls but sadly that's what it's become ... far more negative posts than positive ones ... truly depressing stuff
You would think people would get a grip of themselves, I mean it’s not like we have only won 9 and Lost 10 league games in 2019 or anything crazy like that.
 
We had 80% possession but didn't have a single shot on target until the 33rd minute. A vast majority of those 800 passes were either backwards or sideways and not penetrating forward ones.
I appreciate you are as disappointed as anyone else here but you have to surely concede that this was a thoroughly unconvincing performance. The most worrying was Poch's statement afterwards hinting that there was discord and lack of team unity and spirit within the group.
Something is definitely not right at the moment.

Don't get me wrong I agree 100% this was a terrible result ... it's very clear that the quality players we have - feck that front four are all pure class - we should have scored a hat-full ... however when the creativity is not there we just seem to go through the motions ... who was grabbing the game by the scruff? who was yelling and screaming? flying into tackles? is that because of the Eriksen situation? is there something else going on? who knows?

People whining about form, yeah they have a point, but we're seventh not bottom three ... and we're only three games in ... does make the NLD a bit interesting, will Woolwich park-the-bus at home?
 
In summary, we got found out and Poch has not been able to adapt tactics to suit.

The philosophy of 'keep the ball, take your time, the goal will come' is no longer working. We don't have the quality of passing skills in midfield to open up the defense. Winks, Sissoko, Lamela, Rose, KWP cannot pass beyond the player in front of them. We are taking 4 or 5 touches on the ball each time and this allows the other team to maintain a good defensive shape.

Poch needs to take a leaf out of Klopp's book. Play possum; play 'crap', let the other team have the ball for periods of the game and drop deep. They apply a sudden change in formation and apply pressure.
 
I think it's both. These days, a manager's tactics and motivational techniques will go stale a lot sooner than they have in the past. Even the best managers aren't going to stay in the same place for 10+ years.

Even from the beginning, I thought Poch would stay for no more than 7-8 years before he grew bored or the players started tuning him out.

I think the lack of investment in recent years has expedited that process, as he's clearly grown frustrated, and there are fewer options to keep players motivated and tactics fresh.
 
I think it's down to Poch right now. Our play has been stagnating for a while now, and I've found us harder to watch for a while now. I do believe that our "shape" was better today, compared to previous weeks and perhaps most of last season, but just nothing was coming off and everyone looked poorly drilled and coached. Our defense was frequently a horror-show last season, and that shows no signs of abating this season.

A few seasons ago we looked a different setup. Sure, we didn't grab any silverware to make it count, but week-in week-out we usually looked as if we had come down from a higher league. We used to just run and play right through teams, and looked good and looked to have fun doing it.

I still have faith in Poch, but EVERYONE from himself down to the playing staff look just complacent.
 
I think it's down to Poch right now. Our play has been stagnating for a while now, and I've found us harder to watch for a while now. I do believe that our "shape" was better today, compared to previous weeks and perhaps most of last season, but just nothing was coming off and everyone looked poorly drilled and coached. Our defense was frequently a horror-show last season, and that shows no signs of abating this season.

A few seasons ago we looked a different setup. Sure, we didn't grab any silverware to make it count, but week-in week-out we usually looked as if we had come down from a higher league. We used to just run and play right through teams, and looked good and looked to have fun doing it.

I still have faith in Poch, but EVERYONE from himself down to the playing staff look just complacent.


I feel the shape is poor. We setup to retain the ball - not to score goals.

Ball goes out wide to Rose, Son, Sissoko, KWP or Lamela. They look up and there is inevitably only Harry Kane in the box vs 8 defenders. Everyone else in our team is behind the ball.

Its almost as if we are in a defensive formation at the end of their 18 yard box.

If we are going to run the ball down the sides and look for the cross; we need 4 or 5 players in the box attacking it.
 
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