I suppose Pochettino has done this in the past when giving players from the academy their first chance in the 1st team. 5 or 10 minutes to get a feel of the atmosphere, ok I can understand that, but firstly Sessegnon does not need that he has played in the PL before. Secondly to send him for ONE MINUTE, on to a field where we are down to 10 men where one of the opposition has just been seriously injured? What's that so he can experience trauma? For me this is the worst decision I have ever seen Pochettino make and makes me begin to wonder if his judgement has been seriously damaged by either the pressure or even by delusions of grandeur from the last few years at Spurs. If you couple that with continuing to pick Eriksen who is clearly not contributing anything to the team and in fact is causing movements to break down by losing the ball or giving it away I have to ask the question; what has happened to Pochettino? I don't normally get involved with player selection discussions because I do not like to second guess a manager who has brought good times to Tottenham but when the chips are down, and they are, it brings out aspects of individuals behavior that you would otherwise not see. I hope that Pochettino can work through this and find solutions. You would hope that having the 3 new signings available AT LAST will help him to find a new balance and a new feeling in the team, and there is my hope for Pochettino. Unless Eriksen signs a new contract let's move on and construct a team without him, and let's give Sessegnon the respect of some time on the pitch so that he can actually PLAY.
Yeah an academy player with zero experience I could understand but Sess has played a 100 first team games already and cost us £25m. 1 minute of football for his debut is not what any player would want and it’s disrespectful to the player. It’s these sorts of decisions, selections and tactics that just lead me to the idea Poch is done here. Players aren’t playing like they used too under him either, which is why I do think he’s lost the dressing room, we used to be so energetic, creative and hard to beat, now we look lacklustre and wondering where our next win is coming from. We cannot continue like this, it’s a real shame how it’s gone because Poch doesn’t deserve this end but everyone reaches a point where they have to move on. This feels similar to Jol’s end, fans loved Jol for what he done but knew we reached a stage where a change was needed - just hopefully if Levy does make a change with Poch, it’s not during a match!
I would like to see Pochettino continue right through this season and if he works out the problems so that by the end we are playing to his earlier standard and better then I will be delighted. Not for any sentimental reasons, if he leaves now he leaves as a rich man so no sympathy required, no my reasoning is that if he can get through this period and resolve it than he will be on the way to being a truly great manager and Spurs will benefit. If we go into the market for a new manager we are once again playing poker with the club. We could be lucky and find the perfect fit but that is very unlikely, it's more probable that we will find ourselves going through the frustration once again of disappointment after disappointment each man lasting just a season as we stop and start through the games. We have to be very careful what we wish for.
I think that makes you one of the best,Colin. Some of those games I would be cursing and throwing bricks!!!!
Also of enormous concern is that in the past 4 PL games we have scored just 3 goals...even more worrying is the fact that all of them were from unforced errors/bizarre mistakes which 9 times out of 10 wouldn't have happened. We aren't scoring and on the rare occasions that we do, it has nothing to do with anything positive we happen to be doing on the pitch at the time. The Palace game feels like years ago.
The Son sending off looks more atrocious the more you look at it. It was a fairly innocuous challenge, but definitely a booking. Atkinson immediately gets out the yellow card out and everyone, including the players can see this, although he doesn't book Son straightaway as he should have done. Nothing happens apart from Gomes being treated for ages before he decides to send Son off. He hasn't had any new information which should persuade him to review his decision and change it. So the only conclusion is that he believes that as the injury is more severe than expected, the tariff should be increased. If that's his thinking then he should be demoted to reffing Halifax v Dover next week. With apologies to Halifax and Dover.
The FAckwits' official line is that the severity of the injury is what led Twatkinson to issue a red card - which only leaves them wide open to questions about (to pick one obvious example) why Ryan Shawcross wasn't sent off for snapping Aaron Ramsey's leg in half
There is a failure of logic in that Atkinson seems to believe that the fact that Gomes was seriously injured means that the tackle must have been made with excessive force. It isn't a completely stupid argument but I don't think it is correct. It's the PL that issued the clarification though, not the FA.
You still want/hope Eriksen sign a new contract after the **** he’s been producing for a whole year? Do you think signing a new contract will make him respect us again enough for him to put a shift in? Not sure I want that kind of respect for our club I want him gone
The only argument I can put forward in Eriksen’s favour is that if he commits his future to the club, it will act as a catalyst to settle the squad, and revive moral. Most pundits believe that we will turn a corner. It’s only a question of when. Perhaps Eriksen signing a new contract will be one possible turning point?
Not sure about this. A committed and settled Eriksen is about as good as we have. If he's going, I want him gone asap, but if he were to "sign da ting" then I'd be on board with that.
Not sure which of us should be more concerned...but I agree with you Felt the same when Rose acted Billy Big Bollocks in that disgraceful interview in the Scum back in 2017...prick should have been sold or left to rot in the reserves but after completely disrespecting the club, his team mates and (most importantly) the fans he was rewarded with games against Madrid, Barca, Ajax snd s CL final. The club is bigger than anyone and everyone bar the the fans so tbh Rose and Eriksen can't go quick enough.
