He could have given them twice as much time though. A few of the passes from Winks, Dele and Bergwijn were only a little off target. They need encouragement not criticism.
Davies is not a centre-half. Winks is not a holding midfielder and neither is Lo Celso. None of that midfield were. Bergwijn and Lo Celso looked injured or at least miles away from match fitness, which Bale is also clearly suffering from. Don't start a bunch of unfit players in a nonsensical system and then blame them when it goes wrong. That's on the manager.
your questioning Jose’s motivation and prep? you think he sent them out there mentally half baked? no chance...he can only tap into their heads as much as they want him to...the rest is up to them on the pitch...maybe some are just not intelligent enough...hence why they are not first team players in a PL season that finds us 2 points off the top no way do I believe he hasn’t got a clue about game preparation or that he is unprofessional in his approach therefore failing to get the best out of individuals...it’s the individuals...they don’t have it in themselves to perform at the required standards set by themselves previously or set by Jose. He had no problems motivating some of the best players in the world to great glories and other average players have ran through brick walls for him like his Inter team...he hasn’t lost his mind...he’s doing the right things. Our players(some) just don’t have it in them. Oh he did lose his battle with Pogba...but if you think Pogba was right then yeh oook All the players with a winners mentality do the job for him...you and I can name them all...the rest need to get out hopefully and replaced with more of Jose’s personalities.
Not really...we have a match to try and change...as is being proven it falls on the managers head so he was well within his rights to try to change it. They train together everyday...I’m sure he encourages them everyday...matchdays are their to get the win and to be leaving it all on the pitch. Jose is well renowned for making subs when he sees fit as oppose to the unwritten rule of 65 minutes plus...nothing wrong with that
Davies can play left of a 3...so it wasn’t too outlandish to suggest he can understands the role. This was their chance to get some match fitness...it’s not as though he took them off after 20 minutes...it’s perfectly fine to give players returning to match fitness, a half of the game. Like pre season...yesterday’s game was perfect for it when it comes to importance considering all factors. They are obviously not that injured that they can’t play...they are passed fit by the medical team to perform no doubt and like I say...he gave hem a half. its like he’s getting blamed for not giving chances and encouragement then he’s getting blamed for taking them off too soon(so he’s obviously giving them game time) and then he’s getting slated for picking them in first place because they are not 90 minute match fit...he’s snookered.
I'd say two of them just need binning. Neither encouragement nor criticism seems to work. Winks - Now in his 5th season, never had a good season for Spurs. Dele - Now in his 6th season, had two excellent seasons, one decent season, two poor seasons and is now even worse. At what point do you just draw the line and say "they're done" and time to move them on? I think this is a problem at Spurs, the culture around the club feels like we're too forgiving. Spurs as a club needs to be ruthless if we ever want to reach that sacred "next level", persisting with mediocrity and hoping it'll come good is more or less like polishing a turd. There are far too many players who have overstayed their welcome and January needs to be the beginning of a cull, we've got a huge squad but it's not filled with enough quality.
If he saw his shot at the end of the game then he'd understand why he always goes sideways and backwards.
They should either not be in the team at all or be given a decent chance. One half is not one thing or the other.
Mourinho is an excellent manager but has some weaknesses as we all do. Half time substitutes being one of them
A progressive pass can be classed as knocking something two yards in front of you. Compare his version of progressive passing to Ndombele’s and they’re world’s apart.
Would now be a bad time to mention that Hojbjerg's passing is just as sideways as Winks' is? This goes a long way to explaining the issue, though: Hojbjerg gets a pass because he's a DM, or at the very least a defensive CM, so nobody takes issue with him making percentage plays as he's also toughening up our midfield. The issue is that Winks has been miscast as a 6 for two years at this point, so he makes the percentage plays that Hojbjerg makes - but as he doesn't break up play, and if our midfield is getting overrun he's not picking off loose balls like he could when he had Dembele or Wanyama beside him, his weaknesses get accentuated There is a conversation to be had about why he has gone from operating in a Modric/Rakitic role who would fire off 20+ yard through balls from deep like he did in 2016-17 to what he's doing now, with the usual argument being his ankle injuries have made him afraid to take opponents on while occam's razor says that having Wanyama next to him had a lot to do with that, but realistically that soon leads back to the far bigger argument: why haven't we got a DM? Don't get me wrong, I think Hojbjerg has been a very canny signing as he can both break up play and retain possession, while the rest of our CMs are good at one task and one task only, but we clearly need someone who can reliably screen our backline - and, as I said during the match, if we can't get a dedicated DM (as we have failed to do for two summers in a row) we need someone capable of winning the ball and then playing a defence-splitting pass to get us on the front foot, and trying to cast Winks in this role has been a failure for two years
Sorry for side tracking but re Dele... 1. I believe that to get the best out of anyone or to dismiss you need to undrrstand them as a person. 2. For a person to grow and develop they must understand their strengths and faults and address them with honesty. For the first part, when Jose first arrived. I think he made an effort and Dele responded for the first month or so. However I think Dele has a whole series of issues (such as the not insignificant issue re his father and his childhood ... this led to him asking to be called Dele rather than Alli) that he has not addressed in a healthy manner snd it has led to a series of poor choices which has caused his career to nose dive. While I have sympathy for anyone with mental health issues and struggling to cope with childhood issues I think Dele has acted in a pisspoor manner and has not taken responsibility for his actions. On a small level, it was moronic to pose in his customised rolls royce on social media earlier this year...it gavd the impression that he only cares about his image, was oblivious to the hardship that Covid was causing and that he was distracted from getting his form and performances back to an acceptable level. On a serious level, I will never understand his disgusting "joke" where he filmed a south east asian looking guy at an airport, then showed himself wearing a mask and said Covid wouldn't get him. He continually denied it was racist (which the morond at the fa accepted). If Harry Kane had fimed a black, mixed raced or asian guy and then showed himself in an anti stab vest and then said "no one's stabbing me" he would rightly have been slaughtered. Dele is at a crossroads but seems to prefer to blame others for the state of his career...that's why he should go imho...if he was to honestly try and address his issues like Adams and Merson then he would deserve empathy and support but that does not seem to be the case. Sorry for the ramble
