Agreed. We had the players to replicate Sunday’s formation (if not the game plan) and didn’t. What we tried to do made no sense. Stick to the 433 that can be tailored game by game and get the players used to one system before messing around with another one.
Others have summed it up to be honest. And many predicted it with that line up. Very rarely (if ever) do wholesale changes work. It was a recipe for disaster trying to bed in new players and a team of youngsters. It was like a pre season fixture, as has been pointed out. I didn’t expect much from the kids, what’s the point? Being brutally honest, if we’re realistic, barely any of them will ever breakthrough and play for Spurs. For every Kane and Skipp, there’s about 30 or 40+ others that end up being loaned out or sold. - which will apply to so many of those who played last night. But what baffles me is why we persist with the likes of CCV, for example. He’s with us every summer, only to be loaned out for the up coming season. What is it now…4 years? 5 years? At what point do we sell, rather than having to waste time during every transfer window finding a club for these players who will never break through? (Romero is the same age as CCV and has recently been employed…ultimately costing us £50 odd mill.) jack clarke… any idea why we spent £12m on a lad that’s no different to a plethora of other kids in our academy? And as for the senior players…. Winks and Doherty, in particular. Both played like they are fully aware of what many fans say about them on social media. Both look lifeless, clueless, lacking confidence, and in need a fresh start elsewhere. PNP said we need about 10 players. Whilst at a first glance this looks like a bit of an exaggeration, when you look at the lack of depth, lack of quality, lack of attitude, and lack of application from many players, it’s probably about right. Beyond a “first XI”, we need established players in several positions as a minimum, IMO. When you then consider the possible departure of Kane, senior players we’ve already sold/let go, potential outgoings of other senior players, and inevitable injuries that we’ll face, we’re gonna be really short and could end up needing to throw these kids in at the deep end if we’re not careful. To give some context - bale and Vini featured 56 times between them last season and scored 26 goals. where are those goals coming from now? Bryan Gil? - he’s got the same sort of record as Lamela, who we’ve also sold, so that cancels that one out. it feels like there’s so much business that needs doing; in and out. It’s never going to happen. And if by some miracle it does, it’s gonna be a long bedding in period.
I think you and others expect too much too soon. This is the second competitive game that Nuno has conducted. He is getting to know his players and he chooses to do this in a competitive environment. It's a two leg fixture with the second leg at home so there is more than enough opportunity to win the tie. You surely have to give the manager the chance to see what he has in terms of players and to see how they react in a real game. No doubt we do need players but we also need to sell some and that's surely the problem and you can't do much about it if potential buyers are struggling for finance due to a pandemic. It makes sense in such a situation to examine what you do have and see if you are overlooking players like Clarke with a view to strengthening your options. Win 1 - 0 and we are fantastic lose 1 - 0 and we are deadbeats the hardest part of being a football manager must be managing expectations.
I agree with you to a certain extent Spurf. I’m not worried about the result or whether we’ll turn it round. I’m also certainly not getting on Nuno’s case, as he showed the tenacity last week in beating city with a set of players who looked well drilled and knew their job. I’m not even that bothered we played a load of kids last night, as you’re right, they need a chance. That’s why I highlighted certain individuals in particular and raised questions over them/their situation. - using Clarke as the example again, the question was why we spent £12m, when we aren’t exactly known for being big spenders. Even in today’s market, £12m is a lot for Spurs, and I just think it was a totally pointless signing and a waste of money that could have been used elsewhere. I also appreciate we need to shift players before we can buy, but some have lingered for so long. Here we are again, august 20th, with so much to do (presuming outgoings will need to happen first) before we can bring in replacements. How are we in a weaker position than we were last year with so few days left in the window. I just cannot see the level of business required being achievable in such a short space of time.
I actually thought he was one of the few to show promise, especially first half. Faded badly in the second but he was being moved about all over the place and to be fair he could’ve had an assist inside the first two mins. Very excited to see more from him, think he’ll be a star. No one had a great 90 mins, that needs to be said but I think Gil and Sessegnon are the only two that came out of that game with a modicum of respect.
After last season I am just happy to have moved on from Jose. In that sense we are not weaker and the performance against City must give you some hope of a renewed fighting spirit in the team. Even without changing players a new manager can make a difference and we do have 3 new additions anyway. I don't know how Nuno will do and it's not a secret that I am not in love with Portugal as a bringer of happy football, just look at the way Pacos played last night after their 1 goal. Shades of Spurs under Mourinho.........horrible. I just hope Nuno is the exception to the Portuguese tradition that I dislike so much. He has a lovely smile.
To be fair once everyone knew the squad that travelled and then especially the XI that was picked, I don’t think there were many expectations other than a bit of excitement seeing the new boys in action. I have no issues with Nuno wanting to see what certain fringe players can do but I have issues leaving every single first team player at home. Once Pacos scored it was pretty much game over when looking at our bench hoping for a game changer, our most experienced player was Jack Clarke who’s played about roughly 90 competitive combined minutes for the first team over the last couple years. I felt we (Nuno) showed a lot of disrespect to our opposition and we got we deserved with such an awful performance from a team that was very, very disjointed. I think many expect us to turn it around in the second leg but we’ve given ourselves unnecessary pressure now to do so - and let’s be honest, Spurs and pressure don’t really go well too well these days. The one positive we can take from the game is hopefully Nuno will never play CCV, Winks and even Doherty again, wishful thinking I guess but we live in hope.
Did we show disrespect? Or was it that Nuno knew what to expect? They weren't very impressive were they. They created very little against a team who had never player together before.
That’s because they’re a side nowhere near our quality, it was expected they wouldn’t be that good. The fact they won 1-0 and their keeper was never once tested though shows how badly the manager got it. If we had just 3 or 4 first teamers on the bench yesterday to call upon from around 65 mins we probably put two or three past them and give ourselves an “easy” match at home. Instead we wrecked the confidence of players like John and Scarlett whilst the new signings won’t have enjoyed their debuts.
Yes that makes sense but there is the second leg and it saves the first team players a debilitating plane journey. They now have no excuse for the Wolves game and should be full of energy to get a result. Playing Wolves must also loom large in Nuno's mind considering where he has just spent the last couple of years.
Professional footballers should be able to play twice a week. Especially when not even needing to play two full sets of 90 minutes. Son, Lucas, Bergwijn and Skipp for instance could’ve easily played 30 mins last night. We’ve given ourselves unnecessary pressure for the home tie, dented the confidence of young players, likewise new signings who will have wanted to get off to a good start. Some may not even feature in the home tie now as Nuno can’t afford the embarrassment of failing to qualify.
moving on from Jose isn’t enough for me, I’m afraid. Never should have hired him in the first place and I have higher expectations based on the progression we’ve made in the years pre Mourinho. completely agree that certain players will thrive under a new manager, it almost always happens. (and others will not). Your point about the 3 players we have signed ties in with my original post, to be honest. Romero replaces Toby Gil replaces Lamela Gollini replaces Hart/Gazza. But even before those “like for like” replacements, we all would have had a list of other senior established positions we needed players for . - we’ve also lost the goals of Bale and Vini as I pointed out. For me, we’re currently weaker.
Definitely weaker, lost Kane, Bale, Vini and the three sold. It’s the fact the club have failed to get rid of the utter dross like Aurier, Sissoko, Sanchez, Dier and Winks which is the most annoying. Until they are gone then the club is limited with who they can sign. 10 days to go and for the hype around Paratici, he’s not done much for me.
You don't seem to take into account that we have changed players at the end of their careers to players who are at the beginning of theirs. Romero replaces Toby Gil replaces Lamela Gollini replaces Hart/Gazza It remains to be seen if they will improve on their predecessors but they should be stronger if only through age and speed. Either way, once again it's too early to say. Your logical argument relies heavily on opinion and negative opinion at that. I'll wait and see, and hope.
weird you mention this, I nearly wrote something similar at the end of the post you’ve quoted. We could group our squad into say… 3 categories. Good. Average. Dead wood. Whilst I appreciate that if we look at it player by player it’ll split opinion from each of us as to which player falls into each category, on the whole we seem to be very good at shifting the players that fall into the “average” category. But no so much the dead wood. The problems is that this leaves us with such disparity between the performing “starters” and those that come in to replace them/rotate with them. im not saying that we shouldn’t be getting rid of the likes of Toby and Lamela, but they just aren’t as high up the pecking order for me as the likes of Sissoko, Aurier and Dier.
This is a good point. We criticise the club for falling to rid us of players we don't rate. I'm sure professional scouts will see what we do. The error was putting them on contracts that we can't shift them from. So an old enduring error not a new one.
Not long ago, a team including all of Sissoko, Dier, Winks, Davies, Sanchez and Dele scored 3 goals in under 40 mins against a full strength Real Madrid. These players are not utter dross. It costs more than 30m each to improve on them.
Well to be fair there are still some Spurs fans that think Winks is good so we can live in hope someone from outside Spurs thinks the same, lol.
I did but you have done such a successful hatchet job on him I feel embarrassed to even like him a bit. He was really bad yesterday and he should have been one of the senior players to step up, he didn't.
