That's Jose saying he needs players in Jan, nothing new and he's probably said the same thing word for word before (in fact i think he has because reading that was like reading a book you read 5 years ago). I see a battle rising between Jose and the board come January.
Ndombele was injured...had a knock in the Burnley game. Jose subbed on Lamela at Burnley znd he made a positive difference. I don't think we played well at Burnley but I also do not think we were as poor as you say in defence. Today we made wholesale changes and Lo Celso, Bale, Vinicius were all lacking match fitness while both Bergwijn and Dele are beyond out of form ... all of which made for an appallingly half. None of the team played well today and I suspect some players will not be in many squads between now and January.
I read it as him saying players should stfu about not playing cos when they do play it is only poorly. As for a battle, I think that would be a joke after getting 7 players he wanted this window so I think that's wishful thinking on your part but we'll see
Tbh I decided to take out a direct debit to a charity called Refuge helping victims of domestic violence (cases havd rocketed since lockdown started ) rather than give either the premier league or sky/bt money.
Mate i love Jose and have done ever since his first stint at Chelsea but he has a mode of working. When questioned on match selections he will pic a poor team for a game he's not too bothered about and then say "told you so", when feeling he still needs extra quality to fill his squad he will do the same so he can go to the board and say "this is what i have to work with". Great at taking the blame too, if you ask who is to blame then blame me, i picked the team (whilst saying this is why i don't pick these players ) He is a winner and cares little about the clubs or staff he works with as long as they provide what he needs to win.
Where has the Ndombele news come from? I've not seen it reported and the Spurs team news section said only Tanganga was injured. Though if he was injured (or rested), it moves to where I said Lo Celso has to stay on the pitch then, we need a creative player on the pitch at all times or at least until a game is well out of sight and into the dying minutes. We took off a creative player for a DM and kept Winks on, what does Jose expect those two do when we're chasing a game? I never said we were poor in defence against Burnley, I said we were par for the course against a side who is woeful offensively. We should be expected to keep a clean sheet against a team who struggles to score goals. It's not a good defensive performance to keep out a poor team. I agree, Lo Celso, Bale and Vinicius are lacking match fitness but hauling two of them off at HT won't really help with their cause. Especially when the two taken off are the types of players you still need on when chasing a game. To me there's been no logic to our play in the last two games and there's been a similar amount of logic to our substitutions. Jose needs to fix up just as much as these players. The last two performances by him and the team haven't been good enough and with the attacking talent we have, there isn't too many excuses for that.
I'm not so sure, I think he's just finally fed up of being asked why x and y aren't in the team each week and today's performance and result was ammo for him to basically say that's why. Problem though is there's still one or two that he's keeping faith in that need given the "Dele treatment". Realistically I only see us moving for one player in January and that'll be a CB if we can bin one of Dier/ Toby/ Sanchez off, as well as those who are barely getting sniff at the moment. The squad is beyond full capacity so Jose needs to understand that.
Mate he said a very similar thing at our place " you ask why this/these players don't play, maybe now you know"
Exactly and I bet they weren't playing because they were ****, just like ours . If you're right and he thinks we'll be making multiple signings in January he's going to be sorely disappointed. Our squad is too big at the moment and we've got players on the payroll not even getting on the pitch at any point. I'm almost certain January will be more focused on outgoings than incomings.
People(media/oppo fans)want to push the Jose agenda and make out as though these are rumblings of discontent but I make him dead right...we were not great and it’s not because of tactics. the players hunger should have got us through...it’s not as though the set up was odd. Most are fringe players and I don’t know any fan who hasn’t been all for giving the fringe players a game on Europa nights...especially the group stages. It’s not as though we got slapped and there is something for us to be concerned about going forward...we lost to another defensive brainfart sometimes this happens...we will still qualify and be ready for the business end
I can understand the precaution, he done that with Bergwijn on Monday apparently but problem with Tanguy’s role is no one other than Lo Celso can adequately play it, where as Lucas/ Lamela/ Bale can play instead of Bergwijn in a similar capacity. Lo Celso shouldn’t have come off, weren’t having his best game (who was?!) but he’s a player capable of making the passes a forward needs. We were chasing a goal and Jose went too defensive with the CM switch. Not saying that cost us but it certainly didn’t help. Jose’s gotta be better here, not been impressed the last couple matches with some of his decisions and tactics.
Take Kane and Son out and Spurs are bang average. I’ve said this a few times but people think I’m being too harsh.
The manager has to be responsible for the player’s mentality/ hunger etc though. You, I and others all criticised the mentality of the team under Poch and felt Poch was partly to blame, so I don’t think we can now just say it’s solely on the players now. It’s a group effort and in the last couple matches Jose’s made some odd decisions. He needs to fix up just as much as some of the players for me.
You probably are being a bit harsh because Lloris, Reguilon, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Hojbjerg are good players. Bale when fully fit too is obviously a top player, no longer at his absolute best but still a very good player. Realistically if you take the talisman or “talismen” out of any team you could say they’re average. The problem though is that we seem to equal out the elite with the dross, for every Son, Kane and Hojbjerg for instance there’s a Winks, Sanchez and Aurier etc. It’d just be nice to even have a few “do a jobbers” if that makes sense, players like Milner at Liverpool are fantastic players to have in a squad. Gareth Barry at City was another. Those guys who don’t take headlines but still have a massive contribution to the squad. We probably don’t have any/ many of those.
It’s no longer the same players though is it? We’ve added 8 players since Poch was sacked. 4 were in the starting XI tonight.
