I'd take Ade, Kane and Soldado over Giroud, Podolski and Walcott. It's too early to tell yet how Sanchez will be as a striker, but I've always said he is a very high quality player, and I would take him over the six I listed in a heart beat, forgetting about where he plays. The quality of our players overall is highly debatable, no doubt. I'm stuck on the fact that someone who wasn't thought good enough to start for us was and is now again a very good CM with a team that has a good system, that starts him regularly, and that has continuity. My culprit at this point is not the right system/too little continuity.
Gary Neville's assessment of our defending on the Newcastle equaliser is scathing. He highlights Vertongehn and Rose talking to each other and Dier still wandering over to his RB position. He calls us mentally weak and unprepared and not for the first time. He also highlights with 4 examples, that this was a typical way of kicking off for the Geordies.
Whilst I agree withn your assessment, Luke, the managers you mentioned weren't dealing with a bunch of Prima Dona, multi millionaires. The power shift, in that sense, has definitely been huge.
Superb summary. Couldn't agree more. This is what concerns me with a lot of the Levy/ ENIC out protesters, who comes in that can realistically do better other than a Roman/ Mansour? Chelsea, City and Utd can throw money around like it's nothing and we won't compete with that without a sugar daddy. Liverpool operate quite similar to us in that they spend a lot from what they receive, although they probably net spend a bit more. Everton rarely spend and when they do it's usually on just one or two players, Kenwright is arguably very clever or very lucky, in that his two recent managerial appointments - Moyes & Martinez - have made astute signings which have allowed Everton to constantly compete with the top 6/7 teams. Soton were rarely able to spend until recent seasons but they've benefitted from a superb youth system, from which they've used to generate a lot of money which then allows them to buy new talent. Hull have Assam Allam who spends a decent amount for a club like theirs but has bizarre visions and doesn't seem like a man in it for the long haul. Stoke buy players that will always make them a competitive side but will never be anything more than mid-table. Villa usually buy cheap with perhaps one fairly big signing by their standards per summer. West Ham are similar to Villa and then the rest of the teams don't really make headlines with any superstar signings. Like it or not, Levy is the best of the rest, yes his footballing decisions can be poor but he still ensures that our club remains competitive in the league for a European qualification position. Our ambition and targets will always be to achieve top 4 status with hopefully a successful cup run but as Power says, realistically, we ARE the 5th/ 6th biggest side in the country so we have no divine right to actually expect to be in a top 4 position. If it's achieved then we've done exceptionally well, if it's not then we're simply finishing where we are technically meant to finish based on club stature. If it's top 4/ trophies people really want, then we have to have our very own Roman, which will take away our identity and make us become everything we've detested over the past decade.
I'd have more sympathy, if not respect, for Levy if he came out and admitted to the world that he knows we are not and never will be good enough to achieve a regular top 4 placing, and that we (as fans) ought not to expect to finish any higher than 6th each and every season, and that anything else is a superb achievement for the club. My abiding fear, however, is that Levy genuinely believes that the club ought to be finishing top 4 on a regular basis, and that this is the primary criterion on which he judges managers. Perhaps with a fully built and completely paid-for new stadium he will be entitled to expect the club to be competitive, each and every season for a top 4 finish - although, even then, I'm not sure which two of United, Chelsea, £ity, Arsenal and 'Pool Levy expects us to consistently replace! I know certain people on this board appear to believe that I have an "agenda" against Levy, but I have always been extremely clear and concise about what my problem with him has been, and that has never changed.
couldn't argue with anything he had to say, he actually showed more passion describing how bad we are than most of our players yesterday. He also spoke of a bad culture running through the club and poch should be given 2-3 years to root it out, similar to what Sherwood hinted at really.
The fact that this is still an issue is fairly ridiculous. We've been punished for slow starts on so many occasions and seen unprofessional attitudes to kick-offs under so many managers. How can that be something that nobody's addressed yet, as the job's not even being done by the same people? It's bizarre. I can only hope that somebody's actually paying attention this time and that this sort of crap will be dealt with a hell of a lot more harshly in the future. This simply shouldn't be happening at any professional side at any level, nevermind a Premier League side that's regularly in Europe. It's a joke.
The one constant is the players, a manager can shout and scream all day but if half of the players aren't even looking the right way when the oppostion kick off what can you do, surely a professional footballer doesn't need to be told to focus from the kick off
That's the thing though, it's not even the same players. Certainly not all of the same players, anyway. Dier came out with the wrong attitude yesterday and he's only been at the club for five minutes. That's a horrible habit to have picked up after such a short period of time. If this is something that's being passed on by players that have been at the club for a long time, then it needs to be addressed with those players. Kaboul's only been captain for a few weeks, but if he's not dealing with this sort of crap, then he needs to have it taken off him. If he doesn't show the right attitude, then how can he be expected to lead others into games? They can't follow his example if he's not going to set one.
Neville's frankly blunt comments about weakness hurt to hear but they are true. Thats probably why they hurt. Sherwood was right. He was many things during his brief management spell with us - he was tactically naive (but who hasn't been?), he alienated some players (just like Harry and AVB before him...) - but he had it dead right that some of the players at this club, talented though they may be, think they are far far better than they really are and need a serious kick up the arse, and maybe a permanent kick out of the club. If anyone but Sherwood had said it then we, or at least I, might have believed him more fervently at the time. I hope that Pochettino could be the one to stop the rot. If his past is anything to go by he will demand full commitment on the pitch and in training. Can he reasonably expect all the players to adjust to his demands by November? Probably not. But I hope he is watching and noting those who seem less than willing to adapt than others over the course of this season, and that when the time comes he can roast them in public like they deserve if there are players who are actively refusing to adapt. The bigger question on top of all of this is whether purely fixing the on-pitch problems is good enough for the progression of the club right now, or rather: can we fix the problems on the pitch without fixing some of the things out of the coach's control that have caused those problems in the first place?
So,after all has been said,where is this player that will turn all this around,give the team heart and a fighting spirit and tell the lazy bastards to wake up and earn their bloody money? Our Togo man needs to have his butt kicked before every match.Several others do,tof course this doesn't work with all players.Some need to be patted on the head and encouraged.Who they are at our club,I don't know! I remember when Bill was manager he had Eddie Baily as his assistant and Eddie would really have a go if his players didn't try hard enough. His favourite expression before a game...."Okay lads,over the top!" (Wartime expression for our younger members!) Bill would let him get on with it!
I did report at the time, that Sherwood had gained a lot of respect within the club for the way he told certain players how it should be and how they should buck their ideas up when it came to commitment to the club. He got a lot wrong did our Tim, but he also got a lot right, for which he was unfortunately criticised.
If LVG had walked in the door and said what Sherwood said about the players then nobody would have dared question it. He walked into United and said the training ground was too windy and put a vastly expensive new signing on a personal fitness regime because he didn't think he was fit enough and while there might have been the odd murmur of discontent people respected his decisions because of who he was. Too many of us, including me, didn't take Sherwood seriously and it would seem that some of the players didn't either, just as Utd. players didn't take Moyes seriously. Many of us, myself included, thought that Sherwood was covering his own failures by highlighting attitude problems - perhaps he was to an extent but that doesn't mean they weren't there, and still are. We desperately need Pochettino to assert his authority over the squad somehow, and fast.
I remember thinking 'bang on' when Sherwood had after his famous rant after the Chelsea game. It is quite worrying that our last two 'Head Coaches' in Sherwood and Poch have quickly made comments about our lack of a backbone. Recent years we are a team that will always give the opposition a chance. We generally make inexplicable decisions that cost us. Chadli choosing to volley from about six yards out when unmarked was a classic. If he takes it down and rolls it in the game was over.
Spine, backbone, guts, whatever you want to call it, should be a minimum requirement of any professional sportsman. If you haven't got it, or can't muster it, then **** off and make room for those who have got it. The whole "culture" stinks. And the culture at Spurs stinks even more!
Agreed. However, unless Levy openly backs him when the (inevitable) backlash and dressing-room fall-outs begin, and unless the club is prepared to drop and get rid of each and every single one of those players who refuse to step up to the mark and rough it out, the sad fact is that all Poch will achieve by getting tough with his players is that he will be sacked and replaced by a manager who is prepared to be a "yes" man, and so the dreadful cycle will begin over again.
A lot of reasonable comments, and reasonable disagreeing. There can be no doubt the team needs to be more focused based on the equalizer alone. I'm more concerned with the way our team does not score enough goals. We had a lead, a team there for the taking, and we hardly created a chance--while playing without a real right back, in other words, with a glaring vulnerability. Where are the goals? Why did I not see a single player try to dribble down the side of the box? Why have I yet to see Lamela take a shot from the left side of the box, which is as far as I can see the only place he's a threat to score? As unpopular as Sherwood was, his teams scored goals and won games. I think Pochettino deserves time, but he needs to get the team scoring goals. It's not just, or even mainly, a question of players' effort or dedication, IMO. The few times we've had two strikers on the field, we've gotten runners going at the goal, passes, crosses and shots heading into the box and goals being scored because defenders needed to do more than sit tight and wait for our inevitable attacks down the middle to bounce off them. Possibly, since it's only been in cup games, it wouldn't work in the PL. But it worked fine for Sherwood in the PL last year. The 4-2-3-1 will never work without two fullbacks to provide width.
For me it was just a simple case of over confidence after the 5-1 thrashing. The team thought that they just had to turn up to win.
I only heard brief comments from Neville but from what it sounds, he's bang on. We never seem ready and we are weak, especially mentally. I'm starting to think our main problem is something I initially believed to be a strength - the happy, friendly, banterous (not that it's a word) relationship between players is a detriment on how we approach games. There isn't enough professionalism amongst the players, it seems more of a fun game over the park for the lads more so than an important Premier League match with millions watching. When you look at the best teams on the planet, they have a together group of players but it's so much more professional and they only have their "fun" once they've won something (trophy/ important victory). I'm pretty sure the likes of Chelsea/ Utd/ City/ Bayern/ Real/ Barca etc don't post videos of kicking a ball in a bag, playing football tennis or performing multiple pranks. I remember reading an interview with a Real player not so long ago, can't remember who it was but they mentioned how on their first day of training, they thought they'd arrive at the training ground early to show commitment/ eagerness and to impress the coaching staff yet found Ronaldo and a couple others already working on training drills and also mentioned how Ronaldo stayed after training, how many of our players have this much commitment to improve? All of our lads seems too excited to get home and play FIFA. I'd like for Poch to impose a much more stricter regime, if the players don't like it and don't react well, show them the door. I have complete faith in Poch, usually I would blame the manager for poor form but how many times is it the manager's fault before we realise the players are the root of the problem? Playing for Tottenham Hotspur for most players should be an absolute honour, we're not the biggest club in the world but we're a damn good club with proud history and traditions and if people want to join the club looking for a fun time, big pay day only to then underperform when it matters, they should re-assess their priorities and f** off elsewhere.
