Two years ago we were a basket case. We'd sold our best talent. We'd bought badly with the proceeds. We'd appointed 2 poor managers. Our captain and best player wanted to leave. Most of the senior pro's were underperforming - Vertonghen, Dembele, Adebayor. Our best hope was our young players might amount to something. Now, we've just agreed a new 5 year contract with a manager who could write his own ticket at plenty of clubs. He's cut the deadwood and promoted young hungry players. We're in the CL. Levy's given him the best contract that we've given any manager and we've reinstated the manager title because this bloke is going to be given the authority to do the job without the usual bollocks above him. Levy knows he struck the jackpot when LVG ****ed us off and we took MP instead. We've got some money to spend and something to offer to potential signings other than hopes and dreams. I trust Mauricio Pochettino and his staff to get in better players to replace some and add real strength in depth. He can be brutal. He sold Stambouli after his first season and shipped Fazio out as well. He knows who's going to cut it and who isn't. If he thinks Trippier can be improved upon, he'll do just that. The same with anyone else who doesn't want to or just isn't capable of doing what he wants them to do. A **** day but in two years we've come so far.
Agree with most of that. But, unless and until, a large number of our current players understand and adopt the mentality that makes champions, we'll never go any further. Leicester had the players with the mentality to dig deep, hold on when necessary, and turn up and front up when really necessary! That's why they're champions, and we're not!
... ..I feel the pain .. I'll leave you .. but before I go .. apart from a very small minority...Leicester City have been fabulous entertainment not only for football fans in this country ...but across the globe ..and our name is now etched on a particular trophy forever ..
Full MP interview after the game today. Sorry, did I say 'game'? I meant 'torture session'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36297838 Well worth watching the whole thing. I must say, this more than anything else has cheered me up; an excellent, brutally honest assessment from the manager who holds his hands up and admits that he owes the fans an apology. The beginning of the interview is quite subdued, contemplative, but the end of it...there's that fire again, that ruthlessness as he repeats again and again that a performance like this can never be allowed to happen again, how the past few weeks have caused him to take a frank look at the players to really see who is mentally strong enough to hit the ground running hard next season and to not stop until they're either dead or holding a winner's medal. "But it's sure, that next season from day one, we need to be sure that this never happens again...and for this we must improve our mentality. Because today wasn't about football, wasn't about tactical, wasn't about skill...was about mentality. Yes, it is true that at the beginning of the season our challenge was to be in top four, or reduce the gap on top four. Yes, it's fantastic, all fantastic. BUT, to see the future, we need to change a lot and to analyse the big goal and to be as strong (as the big goal)...be strong, because this cannot happen again."
...and we'll be fine once we've actually got a squad who are all of a similar standard. It's asking a lot for players like Chadli & co to step up, who would struggle in league 1, so we shouldn't be too harsh.
You have provided entertainment across the globe, but it was for the fairytale of a relatively small club going from relegation certainties at the beginning of January 2015 to to the possibility of being league winners in January 2016 and then going on to be champions. It was not to do with the quality of the football
...you are welcome to your opinion...which I disagree with... I've seen just about every minute of every game (which I suspect you haven't) ... some of the football has been breath taking.
This happens to Spurs from time to time though doesn't it except when AVB was coach when it happened too often proving he wasn't the right man for the job. I can go back a long way remembering similar shock results. There should, I hope, be gratitude for an improvement on last season by 2 places in the PL. If Poch does that again next season it's PL winners for Spurs. Be interesting to see who comes and goes. Whether Newcastle will bounce straight back up though is anybody'd guess. Well, sigh, have a good summer boys ok
This bloke doesn't work 12 hours a day and 7 days a week to accept some players turning up and going - "Meh, don't fancy it today." He will be brutal. If you don't do it then get your suitcases packed, because "Son, we're prepared to listen to offers for you." The cull at the end of his first season was massive. Before yesterday's debacle, we were going to invest. Now, I think we'll be bringing in 6 or maybe more. As I see it we have an elite group of Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele, Dele Alli and Harry Kane. If any of them were to be put up for sale, there'd be a feeding frenzy. They've played just about every game as we've nobody who gets close to any of them. Arguments can be made for Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen (pre-injury) but as good as they can be, there's always a feeling that from game to game they may not quite show up or in Walker's case, he has a mistake in him and his final ball is sometimes disappointing and that lets down an awful lot of good work. A good case can be made for these 4 to be upgraded, although, I enjoy watching all of them. Maybe with more competition for their places? I exempt Kevin Wimmer (superb first season and looks a real prospect), Clinton N'Jie (although I'm not sure), Josh Onomah (needs first team football), Harry Winks (same again). The rest? Well, some of them are going to be moved on. Sunderland like an ex-Spurs player and there may be a few to choose from this summer.
What I wanna know is what the actual f&#k happened to Mason and Bentaleb? They went from being solid ever presents, to scary prospects. You would think that a Bentaleb, Dier pivot would work wonders in the absence of Dembele, especially in a match where a draw will do, but it appears Bentaleb doesn't have what it takes right now to get into the team. I hope he recovers, whatever the problem is. Mason just seems like he doesn't have it. It's a shame. We needed cover for Kane, Dier and Dembele back in summer 2015. We sadly still need cover for these three players. We need to remember that Dier and Dembele in their current positions were stop gaps at best at the beginning of the season. Hopefully, the chequebook will come out and Poch is finally allowed to build his team. This 'making do' nonsense has to end. We are now in the champions league for goodness sake!! We'll get torn a new one if we try this makeshift crap going into that competition. Coming third in a two horse race is the ultimate 'Spursy' act. Just when we thought we were changing the definition.
Absolute tragic end to the season, I can't even put in to words how disappointed I am in the players for the way they played against Southampton and Newcastle, there was literally no fight or desire from anyone, all we needed was a point from two games that were completely winnable by our standards and we absolutely blew it. Kane again was dreadful, Mason was rightly taken off at half time and I think after this season his spot in the squad could be under consideration (if anything I'd point a finger at Poch as to why he even persisted with Mason after poor performances this year), the defence was a nightmare to watch, for a side who's been so solid this campaign to capitulate like they did was tough to see, the rest of the team didn't do any justice either, only Lamela due to the good finish can be given a 4/10 while the rest settle on 1/10-3/10 and even then that's being kind because some weren't even worthy of a grading. The last couple weeks have shown the weakness in having a young side but make no mistake I wouldn't change this season for any other in our Prem history. While it's been a devastating end we've had some fantastic highs, there's been numerous demolitions of teams, wonder goals galore and the emergence of some of the country's brightest players as well as a real togetherness from the club after finishing in our highest position in the Prem, plus not forgetting that we do have Champions League football to look forward too next year so that'll be great. I think there'll be a few changes over the summer, mainly the squad players more-so as I don't really see where we can get better than any of our first XI unless we pay £30m upwards which isn't really a Spurs thing to do. This experience will hopefully motivate the first teamers to ensure that they never capitulate like this again if we find ourselves in a strong position next year (which I truly believe we will). Bring on next season.
Gotta be honest mate I'm not sure what this vendetta against Chadli is all about. I've noticed he seems to be the only player you consistently slate yet it's harsh to criticise him on this season as he's barely featured. Last year he was one of the first names on the team sheet for me, Spurs were one of the only clubs in Europe to have three players score 10 or more league goals and Chadli was one of them. This season he scored our first of the campaign against Stoke and set up Alli against Leicester the game after, his form for a couple of games was a bit indifferent and then he got the nasty injury against Pool, since that moment Alli really established himself and Dembele came into a league of his own alongside Dier so upon Chadi's return there wasn't really room for him. All he's been getting is about 10-15 minutes in most matches (if that!) with the rare 20 thrown in, you can't really expect a player to do wonders in that time on a consistent basis, super subs are somewhat of a myth, clubs rarely have a top class quality player to come off the bench and change a game completely unless you're a side like Barca, Real, Bayern or City. Chadli did still manage to grab a goal and assist against Palace and then get us back into the game against Swansea. After checking transfermarkt, he's played just 933 minutes of Prem football, which you could say is the equivalent to 10 full games when you factor in extra time and he's managed 3 goals and 2 assists, for a guy who seems to be so low down in your opinion, I'd consider that a healthy return from a wide player, had he had more time on the pitch those figures could have easily doubled or trebled to the point where he'd statistically be equalling some of the league's best performers in those wide positions. I definitely feel we need a few squad changes in the Summer but getting rid of Chadli would be a mistake. He may not be considered a first team starter any more but he's one of those players I think we'd struggle to replace in terms of quality from the bench/ can come in for injuries, he's a like a Kranjcar, Dempsey or Sigurdsson, all well and good saying they're not as good as their first team counterpart but when they're gone, you begin to realise just how handy they were to have around and then ponder why on earth they were let go. Realistically, who else could get similar or better goals and assists stats than Chadli that would be happy spending the majority of the season on the bench?
We played badly but in our efforts to fall on our own swords isn't the ref kind of getting away with it? With 30 mins to play and 2-1 down and them with 10 men, there was a very good chance we'd get the one goal back we needed until his "intervention". You could argue that it doesn't matter since we conceded two other goals after that, but you can't see them in isolation to what happened before, which was diabolically wrong. There was a dive and a cheat once again was rewarded instead of punished. The evidence was *immediately available* to everyone watching on TV but not to the ref - to which I again say how can a mutli-billion pound industry run itself on subjective decisions, but that's probably a comment for another day. Anyway, at least since the ref didn't see the dive (obviously), the FA can therefore take action and retrospectively give him a card (ha ha).
Pochettino has publicly served notice on the squad. If I was certain players in the squad, I would be worried about what "hints" Pochettino got off Fergie during that lunch meeting that will be applied in private in the near future.
