Some of the problems are the same but at least we showed fight, the players just looked like they were waiting to get back on the team bus and go home in that second half.
All I can do is take this piss tonight cos I am incapable of saying anything constructive or reasonable after watching a team of multi millionaires like Dele, Moura, Sanchez, Davies, Wanyama, Lamela and Eriksen fail to do enough to beat a league 3 team...and in Eriksens and Mouras case score against a league 3 keeper from the penalty spot. Congratulations to Colchester for showing our prima donnas that heart is worth more than a reputation Anyway Southampton next...ain't like they've ever turned us over
Oh ****, the Twitter/Reddit crowd are trying to convince themselves that Steptonho is the answer I thought we wanted exciting football, not UFC with maybe a goal or two?
Journalists saying the away fans booed the players off. Our away fans are fantastic, I've been many aways and win, lose or draw we're always supporting the team in great numbers and in full voice. If you're getting booed off by them, you know you've disgraced this club to a shambolic level.
I think Poch is in the "I don't want to be here" camp along with some other senior players, and they are all sulking and having a negative effect on the squad. Levy will not want to sack Poch because it will cost too much in compensation.
The problems lie far deeper than with just the gaffer. He was a good coach for us for 4-5 years. Just this past calendar year, things have gone sour. We don't know the facts but I think it's a combination of many things. Poch is clearly not happy anymore and that is filtering down through the players and into match day performances. Real know what he could offer them and will remember the positives from recent seasons.
In a way, everything just feels so...stale. The spark has completely gone. It's like Poch has run out of ideas, which isn't surprising tbh. I still dwell on his comments regarding the CL final and genuinely feel - despite his half-arsed attempt to double-down - that he would have left had we won the thing. I don't think he saw a clear way forward to develop us given the inevitable constraints on resources and worrying contract situations simmering behind the scenes. I think whatever faint optimism he had left in him to 'go again' was crushed once and for all by the way the summer panned out. We missed out on key targets and failed to move nearly enough players on. He knows that they won't be shifted in January and will now leave next summer for free or as close to free as is possible, leaving us with insufficient funds to properly rebuild. And so I don't think he can see a path forward beyond the next 12 months. So yes, in other words we have too much to fix and not enough time or money to fix it with.
I'm sorry, but **** that. If he doesn't think that he can do the job and it's getting him down, then he should ****ing quit. He's got a good squad and he keeps making the same mistakes for months. This is on him.
He hasn't got a good squad. Sure, it's better than what we're currently seeing, but when you break it down in the cold light of day, what do we have left? Hugo - Good Gazza - Good Aurier - Poor KWP - Unproven Foyth - As Above Dave - As above Tanganga - As above Jan - On the decline/wants out? Toby - As above Dier - Out of form for 2 years Davies - Good Rose - Out of fitness and wants out Winks - Good Sissoko - Good Wanyama - Poor Skipp - Unproven Tanguy - As above Lo Celso - As above Sess - Unproven Lamela - Good Eriksen - Wants out Alli - Out of form for 2 years Lucas - Good Son - Excellent Kane - Excellent In what way, shape or form is that a 'good squad'? And so again I reiterate, chronic under-investment and handling of contract situations, coupled with an inability (unwillingness?) to move players on as and when it becomes clear that they aren't of the requisite standard, has led us to this rather inevitable conclusion.
The squad was fine eight months ago and it's been added to. The players didn't suddenly all just go to pot. What changed? The system, tactics and playing a bunch of players out of position regularly.
The squad wasn't fine 8 months ago. It was being driven to within an inch of its life week in week out. @Spurlock's fairy bottle analogy is the best I've heard to describe it. The squad was fine 29 months ago, at the close of the 2016/17 season. It has been in decline since. And now its long-term health appears to rest entirely in the hands of a smattering of first team players (Son, Kane, Winks, Davies specifically) and a large group of untested ones (Tanguy, Sess, Gio, Foyth, Skipp, Parrott, Tanganga).
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino: "Colchester made a fantastic game, it was difficult. We are so disappointed we could not score in 90 minutes. "They beat Palace on penalties too, that can happen. That's the beauty of the competition, always something can happen. "We wanted to go further but we are out."
The core of this team has been together for around 5 years, but won nothing despite being competitive in the PL and reaching a CL final as recently as May. It's perhaps inevitable that the team will break up - even winning ones do after that period. With City and Liverpool unlikely to be challenged, it may be hard to motivate this group to go again. Perhaps Spurs should have embraced a change of personnel - and looked to have sold and replaced certain players before letting them run their contracts down. And there has been some sluggishness is replacing Dembele (and Wanyama), Trippier hasn't been replaced and Rose should have been kicked out when he got critical. Do you think that the new stadium stopped the club risking any money in the transfer market? Or maybe the club didn't think it could attract players comparable to the ones who maybe should have been sold?
And yet the team was fine 10 days ago. What happened to that? Why have we picked three completely different teams since, none of which made any sense? 5 at the back and two holding midfielders against Colchester is reminiscent of Redknapp's ludicrous team against Stevenage in the FA Cup. The almost constant use of the diamond despite it clearly not working is just nonsense. No squad is perfect and ours could clearly do with some improvement, but that hasn't caused this.
