Very true, trouble is that the losing always seems to hurt for longer than a day, whereas the winning quickly fades.
I think that depends on the individual and how they deal with it. When I was young the team losing would kick in a depression that would ruin my week. Hang on I thought this is about enjoying myself, it was crazy to get depressed over a football result. I promised myself never to let that happen again so when a result happens like Tuesday night I felt a bit down following the end of the game but next morning it was history and I was focusing on other things. There is no denying Spurs results can still cause mood swings but I still have a busy life so I get involved in it.
I honestly think we were unlucky in that result. Take a look at their first goal - which was pretty much their first meaningful strike on target lets not forget. Firstly, the second the guy crossed it I thought he'd mis-hit it, and I still do. I think he hooked it back from where he intended and got more elevation than he wanted as well. Basically it was a **** cross and would normally have landed nowhere dangerous. Secondly the guy that scored it was in the wrong place. As a forward he should probably have been a bit further forward than that, but as luck would have it he was accidentally in the right place. Thirdly he hits it in a worldie spectacular volley - that 9 times out of 10 he'd probably have not hit on target, and on target out of reach of the keeper. That's three things that I think were unlucky. And at that point I think we deserved to be in the lead. So a bit of perspective needed I think.
We were unlucky for sure but we should never have allowed them to be putting balls into our box in the first place. This is not a new phenomenon but in recent seasons under MP we have looked more comfortable defending leads. On Tuesday in a half where we had dominated they suddenly score a spectacular goal out of no where ok you can't legislate for that but it's what followed that we should have organised better. We were visibly put on the back foot by the equaliser and that should not happen with professionals. This is where we lack a leader on the pitch, a calm head to rally the team and remind them what is required. We did deserve our lead but we deserved to lose it by our poor reaction to pressure from a weaker team. I bet most of us could see that second Milan goal coming.
I do wonder why Vertoghen is not Captain, for me he looks the most leader like player we have and his position lends itself to seeing the bigger picture. Many times he takes the ball up pitch in an effort to make something happen that is Captain material. I don't understand the philosophy behind making a striker captain. A striker requires to concentrate on one thing (scoring goals) and any minute distraction from that is detrimental to the team. Central Midfield or Centre Back are the positions to have a captain IMO.
Guys - if we're talking luck then that works both ways. Eriksen's strike had more than touch of fortune about it....
Of course but the point is to contrast the views of those who think they have solutions to a problem that others doubt exists in the first place.
I'm not all happy clappy about this. I think there may be a serious problem but I'm not sure we can take that last match as evidence that it exists. I always follow the principle that humans are always looking for patterns and often find them where none exist by only using evidence that supports their theory and ignoring that which doesn't.
I think the fact that MP criticised the team after the win at OT is more important because it explains some of his decisions in the games following. He identified a problem in a game we won and tried to correct them in games that we lost. Time to wipe the slate and go back to what worked for him before this season. A combination of tiredness and injuries has made his task very difficult, as these two problems fade Spurs will come good again. Of course it remains to be seen how much damage will have been done to the season by then.. The proof of what I am saying is illustrated by MP's warnings BEFORE the Watford game that we were in danger of losing it.
I think to an extent, you can make your own luck in games. We suddenly became unlucky the moment we changed formation, subbing off Lamela - who was probably only being outperformed by Aurier on the night - for Winks changed our dynamics. We completely removed our threat from out wide on the right. Inter then immediately became more attack minded because of that. Icardi’s strike was a worldy, would that have happened had we not altered our formation? No one can know for sure but I’m leaning towards “no, it wouldn’t have”, seeing as we were dominating possession up until that substitution. That inter team was there for the taking, they’re 14th in Serie A for a reason and unfortunately, our manager cost us a game that we were relatively comfortable in prior to that bizarre Winks-Lamela substitution. The Rose for Kane one was just equally ridiculous, I get Nando hasn’t been great but don’t include him in a squad if you’re not going to bring him on for the player who plays in his position. Despite just one game, there’s now an uphill task to qualify in this CL group. A win, or even draw away at Inter would have been vital. We must get 6 points from PSV as well as getting 3 at ‘home’ to Inter because realistically, especially in the form we’re in, we’re not taking anything from Barcelona.
Making luck is a modern cliche that was maybe misconstrued from a famous Garry Player comment. On winning a golf tournament the interviewer suggest it was lucky in some way. Player reacted with the comment. Yeah it's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get. Luck is luck not to be confused with skill and attention to what you are doing..
Is it continually bad luck that we're ahead in big games, knockout games, outplaying the opposition and don't get them over the line? I can't buy that. 2 FA Cup semi-finals, the Europa League game against Genk, Juve last season and now Inter. We were ahead in all of them but one, where we were much the better team at 2-2 and we threw away the lot. At some point this becomes a pattern and you have to call it - we don't have the skills/nous/nerve to close these games out. If you keep losing those games, it ain't luck.
If you are a young Spurs supporter,defeat really gets to you.I remember that from experience! When you win,you are "floating!" Today as an aged Spurs supporter....I still can't get used to it!...….and in this day and age,we just don't know what the bloody team will do next!!!! Hopefully,we will be firing on all cylinders.....depending on what team turns up...….!
My point about making your own luck was more tongue in cheek, in that luck is used as an excuse for when things go wrong, we weren't unlucky at all against Inter, we threw the game the moment we changed our formation that was working fine - we were 'unlucky' because we allowed Inter to attack against an unbalanced formation. We were the better side for 72 minutes, one stupid substitution changed the game dynamics. We generally just bottle big games, simple as that, Poch has been the cause of some, the players others. For me, luck only comes into if the referee has given (or not given) an atrocious decision for or against you.
Yeah, I fully agree. In my opinion, we haven't got the monkey off our back since 'The Battle of The Bridge'. We go into these games in good shape and normally play pretty well until the game gets to its critical point, at which time we flunk it and lose. The last 3 such losses, Juve, United in the semi-final and Tuesday's loss have confirmed it for me. There's a problem and I don't think that it's just 'bottle'. The team and the management collectively show no clue of how to play out a game tactically. The substitutions are inappropriate and we continually play so as to leave ourselves open to counter attacks and having conceded one goal, lose our heads completely.
It's getting very hard to deny the allegations that we're bottles. We just can't be counted on when it really matters.
I'm quite interested in the idea of playing tactically when 1-0 up. What exactly is that. Mourinho often brings on defensive players when leading but when Poch does that he gets lambasted. Personally I think you should play exactly the same way when leading 1-0 but gradually reduce the risks as time passes so as to maximise possession. I think that's why Poch brought Winks on for Lamela. Lamela does lose the ball a lot because like Dele he tries difficult things.
