A classic Spurs surrender sadly, how many times have we seen us throw away results over the years, I can think of several, tonight was just same old Tottenham. Who knows if there is something going on behind the scenes, but I wouldnt be surprised if Poch is fed up and thinking he has taken us as far as he can. He hasn`t been backed in the transfer market, there is the new stadium farce and most of his players are either out of form, fatigued, injured or returning from injury.
The lack of rhythm is because the formation is being tinkered with every week. No one is able to solidify their position because they're constantly being utilised in different roles. I don't think it's Kane's fault there's no rhythm, he's been no worse than Eriksen, Dier, Davies etc but the lads need something consistent, it's fully acknowledged that a settled side operates best yet we've been the complete opposite from a settled side.
But last season we lacked rhythm and limped over the finish line when Kane came back from injury. Too early some would say. We weren’t tinkering with the formation back then.
It's easy to be wise with hindsight, but the failure to add to the squad in the summer is looking an increasingly big mistake. SAF always spoke about adding players to "freshen things up" even if the team had been successful and he was generally happy with the players he had. Spurs clearly have areas in the squad where back up or alternative options are needed. Additionally, the obvious sluggishness in the squad after most didn't get any sort of break after the World Cup is another reason why additional numbers are required. I don't know if Spurs had targets and (like Utd) just couldn't get them and had to make do or whether there was a decision not to spend. I suspect it was a combination of the two because to add quality to the squad it means looking at players in the £30-50M bracket minimum - and that would have involved a big spend to add 3 or 4 players. But, on the other hand, other clubs manage to scout cheaper options and surely it would be better to get some players in of a decent quality even if they're not number one targets.
We weren't lacking rhythm last season, though we're definitely lacking it this. Kane wasn't looking too bright on his return from injury but the team was playing well and creating chances, Kane was still burying goals despite looking unfit. Now we're just looking lost and I really do attribute that to the failure of keeping a settled formation.
Poch said we were unlucky tonight...is he taking the piss? I keep on saying it but he needs to stop being their dad. He's refusing to learn because he's too loyal to the players so persists with them and the way they are playing, won't make any changes at critical times because he won't take them off early or at half time...doesn't have the balls...winning managers change things during games and take risks...Poch needs to have a word with himself. and buying new players shakes up the ones already there...for me it's no coincidence that I only feel enthusiasm from Lamela and Moura this season. One has been out for over a year with injury and the other is a newbie...both got a point to prove. I'm not judging Son..he hasn't really got started since his Asian cup return. The rest though...they look like they have no heart or desire. The manner of our defeats has been appalling. 5 games in and we are using fatigue as an excuse...Hazard didn't look tired when he bagged a hattrick over the weekend...too many excuses are made for our team and we certainly need to stop thinking our first XI cannot be improved on.
I thought until recently that we’d actually started to grow a backbone after all those years of just rolling over under pressure when confronted with a serious, determined challenger. Seems I was a bit premature.
It's crazy when you think about it. We have a settled squad that knows each other so well. So Poch tinkers with a winning formation that throws uncertainty into the equation. What is he thinking?
reminded me of this... to be honest 3 games should never be a crisis imho. Shankley went 6 or 7 years without winning a trophy as manager of Liverpool in the 1960s. Ferguson went 4 years without one. Burkinshaw barely escaped relegation, was relegated and scrapped promotion in his first 3 seasons. In his 4th we lost our 1st home match 4-1, lost 5 nil at home to the goons, lost 7 nil to Liverpool and took 3 matches to beat non league Altringham in the FA Cup. It took until his 5th season to win a trophy. I get people are pissed off but when you make me sound like a happy clappy mofo you know it's a bit grim tbh
Another part of me thinks what has formation got to do with the defenders failing to get their heads to the ball. Think we have already conceded 7 headed goals this season...6 from set pieces. What has tactics got to do with Kane playing like a slug and Eriksen returning to **** on the dead ball. However, what I do think is and I've touched on it before...there are a few in our squad who Poch wants to foster and take home I think...this is why I always got time for Mourinho...he does not give a **** who you are, rightly or wrongly if he thinks you are detrimental..you're on the bench, if you're having a mare he will take you off at the next given chance. Poch? He will massage their egos and tell the fans that they were unlucky...like we don't know what we are watching
I see we have the usual gloomfest. I thought we played OK last night for 85 mins and Poch was right that it was our best performance yet. The major difference between this season and previously is that we are making a lot of individual errors and losing the ball too much. That was still evident last night, but less so. Fatigue is a possible explanation for that as it makes concentration harder. If that is the case then it will improve gradually with time. I still think we are over-achieving. Individually, our players are not quite as good as some of our competitors but we play as a team and that more than makes up for it. That does give us a problem though as teamwork can easily be disrupted which means it is hard to improve the team by signing better individuals. I watched Liverpool v PSG after our match. I think Di Maria and Neymar are more skillful players than any of ours but I'm not sure they would improve our team. They don't work hard enough. It is getting increasingly hard to find players who are all of 1) better than a current squad player, 2) won't disrupt the team and 3) we can afford. It may well also be true that the stadium situation has affected the players. If there has been a fall out between Levy and Poch then that will also not be helping but I see no evidence for that. We've lost three matches in a row by 2-1. We could easily won two and drawn one of those if we had been just a tiny bit more focused. Don't panic.
I thought we were crap in the first half and very lucky not to go in behind. Once we scored Inter seemed to lose their way and really didn’t look threatening. Then we made some daft substitutions, taking Lamela off was the worst, imo, and sat back. Once we did that you could see the inevitable coming.
