What's all this nonesense about 'Arry turning a mid-table team into contenders? We had been a mid-table team for more than a decade before Martin Jol arrived in 2004. BMJ took a team that had finished 14th the season before, to 9th, 5th and 5th again. We sacked him, suffered Ramos for a year, then 'Arry took over a team that had finished 11th the season before, and achieved 8th, 4th and 5th. If, for argument's sake, only the top three Prem teams got CL footy, 'Arry's record would be hardly better than BMJ's, and no one can argue that 'Arry doesn't have a substantially better squad to play with. We were right to replace BMJ at the time, but obviously picked a very poor replacement. We were right to install 'Arry when we did. Now our chairman needs to make the right choice about who and when to replace 'Arry.
Alan Hansen said the other day that... a.) Moyes should leave Everton b.) Spurs and City are looking for new managers. Way to force three managers out at once, Al! If we want to nail on one manager as our saviour, we should hope that Ancelotti's talk of wanting to return to the Premier league holds true, because he'll get results and serve as a statement of intent to our players that we're looking upwards.
Its great to have excuses isnt it, England job blah blah blah. If my manager was leaving I'm sure my work performance would plummit!!!! mind you she is a very sexy blonde
I'm sorry to repeat myself but Harry must be replaced at the end of the season. Portsmouth he took up yes but then they finished 13th,16th and 17th. West Ham started brightly..ish and then went steadily worse and so will we if he stays. He's done his job and thank you....but goodbye.
Despite Spurs desperately trying to throw away any chance of a top 4 finish are still well in the race for it. I worry for them during the summer though with constant talk of bigger teams sniffing around there better players.
A real sinister one today was one linking MUPLC to Leighton Baines (read: MUPLC linking themselves to Lieghton Baines...) which also said that because Everton had cash troubles he could be bought for as little as £5m. It's one thing to link yourselves to other teams' players, but then when a derisory figure like that is quoted with some pretty capitalistic scumbag logic behind it, that's why they're hated by so many - and, indeed, the fact this tactic has been taken up by Chelsea and City in recent years.
From being front-runners for automatic qualification to limping into the play-offs in the space of six weeks is certainly a failing - just like Kevin Keegan should be classed a failure for having Newcastle finish runners-up in '95-6.
We don't have a great chance because we're **** and simply have to win the rest of our games just to stand a chance. I've been waiting for the turnaround for awhile now but even after a great performance against Swansea we slipped straight back to our normal pattern.
We are feeling negative Luke because we know what these players are capable of. Most of us Spurs fans on here seem to agree about the mess Spurs appear to be in on the pitch. Yet Harry is still giving us his positive spin. We were unlucky we played well etc etc. It would appear from the fans at the match to us on here that we disagree. We watch in frustration as our players show little discipline on the pitch (or perhaps that is what Harry has told them to do) Players all over the park getting in each others way, queuing in the middle in front of a wall of QPR defenders. Not just this last game but for a few weeks now the same thing. It clearly does not work so why? The same training routine is followed as far as I can tell when perhaps a difference needs to be introduced to change the mind set of the players. Harry seems to think nothing needs to change we have just been unlucky. That sounds wrong to many of us and to be honest it just sounds as though he has run out of ideas. IMO you can't blame the players, it is unlikely they would all perform badly at the same time. My eyes tell me they are still trying (apart from the last 15 mins at Wembley) to give it there all. It has therefore to be laid at Harry's door, he is the main man it's his responsibility.
'the only thing missing was the end product' yeah,quite important id say....and all those fans of other clubs especially Newcastle fans who all of a sudden think we are being 'fickle'..'not grateful' etc........im sure i saw none of you here when we were very supportive of Harry....... you boys only sing when your winning(metaphorically speaking)
Put any relegation-threatened team from any division into Spurs' position in the table right now. Take the kind of team that wins one game in every nine and put them amongst the likes of Newcastle and Chelsea. Would you say they had a "great chance" of finishing above both of those teams with four games to play? We do not have a great chance. You do not understand how bad it is right now. You can point to the general trend of games and see the stats - say how we keep having 60% of the possession and more shots on target, more corners etc. But the point is that we've still deserved barely anything from these games. We're so utterly toothless and frail at the moment that teams only need 40% of the possession and five or six shots to probably beat us.
Back to Harry for a second, he is a master of a short term turnaround, he never looks into the future, never builds for future obstacles. He's taken you as far as his limited ability can. I still believe you were wrong to fire Jol, you had a few bad results, so what, everyone does. Ramos was a mistake. The only suitable candidate i see for the job is David Moyes, sensible, no-nonsense, and a proven track record.
it does make you wonder how we'd be doing right now if BMJ had the resources that harry's had. That sacking was totally baffling.
'Arry hasn't been allowed to spend anywhere near as much as was spent under Jol, although he inherited a much better squad and was actually allowed control over who got signed.
maybe YV, but look at the players he brought in. Benny, Bale, Dawson, Kaboul, Lennon, THudd.... + more those named, are still with us now, which says it all. - should have just let him carry on as he was. What Levy was thinking with Ramos, I will never know.
We definitely treated BMJ badly and I was very disappointed when he left. However, I think it fair to say that he never hit the heights that Harry has in terms of performance. For the first half of this season we were as good as anyone in the league except for Man City, that could never be said for Jol. I still remember how frustrating his negative tactics could be, always bringing on defensive mids (Tainio) when we were one up, and always failing to beat the bigger teams. At least Harry has given us victories over the Gunners to enjoy. I hope he has another season and learns from the problems we are having. There is a fair chance Newcastle wont win another point, so this season may yet be a success (although I am losing heart on that one). Newcastle games Wigan (A) Chelsea (A) Man City (H) Everton (A)
you've gotta remember though HD, Jol started with total and utter dog. it takes time to build a decent squad and he was half way there. players like tainio and malbranque wouldn't have lasted much longer, and new faces would have come in, improving us further. IMO, the "negative tactics" were just a way of us "not losing" as it was the best tactic to play with some of the limited ability players we still had left, in order to pick up points where we wouldn't have in the past. i just don't get how a manager that takes us to two 5th place finishes after being total dross, can get sacked? but anyway, that's all in the past now. As for Newcastle, predicting them to not pick up a point in 4 games with the momentum they've got behind them.... massive statement! 7 points out of 12 there, for me.
Much as I loved BMJ and was shocked how he was treated one thing he surely cannot have credit for is the signings that Comolli made for him whilst he was here.
