This is what I found maddening: we have the squad to do so as Rodon is Dier's understudy, yet where was he for the Southampton and Wolves games? On the bench Am I saying that Rodon playing would have reversed both those games' results? This is where we get into hypotheticals as, while Rodon's style of play does mirror Dier's he doesn't have Dier's organisational abilities so we likely would have seen some of the costly brainfarts happen, but by that same token we could have lessened those costly brainfarts by retaining the defensive system with the players best suited for it rather than rearranging things while leaving Dier's understudy on the bench
There's nothing we can do about it if the officials are cheating. I'm not saying (in this post, at least) that that's the case, just that we shouldn't factor it into anything. We can't affect that.
I see and absolutely agree. Poor decisions and officials are a given, you just have to try to make them a side issue. Conte's not referring to it, which I think is right. This squad needs to understand that their responsibility is to work hard and put everything on the pitch. If we play well enough, we'll win more games.
...and right on cue it emerges that Joe Rodon's been playing while carrying two cracked ribs And no, he didn't crack them at the same time: one he cracked in training back in January but wanted to be selected for the Morecambe game, then cracked one on the opposite side during the Morecambe match after an aerial challenge
I think that Conte should be addressing it, honestly. He should downplay it to the squad and not have them using it as an excuse, though. Publicly he should be going after the officials. We've had years of our managers meekly accepting bullshit decisions and we're seen as weak. Pochettino should never have backed down after that Burnley match, for example.
Well yeah that too. I think Conte wants 2 good players for each position but obviously the current squad is miles from that
There are positions where we don't have 2 players, never mind good ones. Striker and holding midfielder being the most obvious examples.
Think it was you who recently said that : 1. the club needs a football identity, and the DoF (via the academy etc) has part of their remit to ensure that transcends the tenure of any given manager. 2. a manager with a 'system' dogma is a liability, because if their successor has a different 'system' then you have spikes in large scale squad rebuilding, We got #1 with BMJ/Arry/Pochettino, Any Spurs manager from the 80s would recognise the genera style of play under those managers. On #2, IMHO the question is do you really want a squad full of players who can only play one 'system' ?? I want at the minimum a squad of players who can pass accurately most of the time, don't lose the ball under the slightest tussle, can control a hard/fast pass etc. I contend that from that, you will get players who can play nearly all 'systems' .
I know. Still baffles me that a striker and cdm weren’t signed in the window. I’m guessing the club think it will be ok to soldier on without them until the summer.
Having a system of signing and bringing through versatile, adaptable players could work. It would allow us to bring in managers with different philosophies and systems without an overhaul. We're not doing that, though. I'm not suggesting being married to one system, either. We've currently got the worst of both worlds, though. Our managers since Pochettino have all been defensive, counter-attacking coaches. We don't have the players or the versatility to get the best out of them or them from us.
Taking Ajax as an example ... 1. you pick up someone who went thru their academy, and you know there will be a certain "core competence" in what would be considered the minimum skill set of a player. 2. For however much we go on about how good Jan and Toby were for Spurs, do you think that Ajax celebrate them as the rebirth of Cruijff, or just go "meh" because they expected no less ??
West Ham and Arsenal have benefited from almost forcing a bit of a settled period after years of managerial upheaval. Moyes and Arteta are far from perfect, but they've been afforded a relatively large amount of backing and support from on top given their wholly unimpressive CVs and the fact that both will certainly drop plentiful points before the season is done. Both have a clearly identifiable way of playing and have been allowed to sign players over a period of time who can deliver that method. On paper, I agree with others who have said that there isn't much at all between the sides and that the inclusion of Kane and Son elevates our on paper squad above both of theirs. What we are seeing now is the long term effect of patchwork instability. Poor recruitment is a huge issue but in less than 4 years we've had 4 different managers with completely different styles. Maureen would never sign a player like Ndombele. Poch would never sign a player like Doherty. Nuno would never sign a player like Kulusevski, Conte would never sign a player like Emerson. And so on and so forth. We are looking at a painting that 4 different artists have worked on and boy does is show. The only other teams with comparable instability in the top half of the table are Chelsea and United and they have the ability to buy their way out of the problem, yet both are still massively underperforming. By contrast the most managerially stable clubs in the PL are City and Pool, and it shows. Chances are Conte won't last into next season and we'll be back to square 1 with another search and more signings who have nothing in common with the bric-a-brac squad we already have.
Catching up with this thread and it's been a thoroughly enjoyable read with excellent contributions throughout. Top forum
Your recent posts have been quite 'up' compared to your posts for the period before that I agree. It doesn't alter the fact that we are busier on here following a defeat than a win. It's also more interesting again as you can see from this thread, so don't take my comment as some kind of criticism of negative posters it was just an observation. Only a pessimist would claim that the negative posters are 'realistic'
If you mean that I failed to clap happily, whilst we took 10 weeks to appoint Nuno and about the same time to sack him? Then, you're right... ...for once!
That’s just human nature though isn’t it? People are always more vocal when they’re angry or upset than if they’re satisfied or pleased. Take online reviews for example, people rarely leave a review saying their experience was ok or satisfactory but if it’s bad then you can bet they’ll take the time to moan about it. Let’s be honest, the last few years there has been plenty to moan about regarding Spurs as the club seems to be making mistake after mistake.
The amount of * Amazon reviews that say nothing about the product and moan about how it arrived late does my head in Rate the product, not the ****ing delivery driver
