I've started to join in the criticising of players and specifically of Kane and Ndombele but I ask myself, is that fair? The problem we have to deal with in the first place is the tactics of the manager. Is Kane not trying, or is he just stymied and frustrated by the tactics used that are producing so little in the way of shots? When you take into account that the other half of our attack, Son is also struggling it does suggest it's more to do with the team set up than individual players not performing. Would a different manager have re motivated Kane? I am not sure about the answer to these questions but what is clear is the boring football Spurs are producing and the lack of fight in the team. As I have said many times I hate the style used by Portuguese football as I have witnessed in their national team for many years. We have also seen it at Spurs 3 times now with AVB, Jose and Nuno and all 3 have produced the same sterile football. It does get results for sure Portugal have a much better record than England in international football and Portugal produces some fantastic players. Maybe that's the problem. It's easy if you have the likes of Ronaldo who can produce a moment of magic to change the course of a game, precisely what happened yesterday as United opted for counter attacking football. This is not Spurs DNA though, we don't follow Spurs to watch negative tactics and I for one would not be writing this critical stuff even if we were losing games just as long as we showed fight and intent on progressive football. We really need to get a more suitable manager.
I thought Kane was horrendous yesterday, that for me was a truly terrible performance from him but generally I do believe that the tactics are stifling him - and Son. There’s been other games where I don’t think his lack of impact has been down to him not trying or being mentally checked out as others have said. Our other striker, albeit a kid, has also massively struggled but due to his age people have just been saying he’s not ready, which personally I think he is (for certain ECL matches) but if he gets no service he can’t make an impact, I don’t think the poor lad has had a shot on goal in any of his games. There isn’t a single player who is currently standing out under Nuno. If Kane and Son were **** but x and y were good, you could argue that it’s mainly on the two players for not performing but that isn’t the case. Pochettino had XI players plus some subs that excelled for a number of years. Jose had Kane and Son playing unbelievable football with Hojbjerg and Lloris also doing well. Nuno… Jack ****. Not one single player has truly stood out. There are definitely some players who regardless of manager are not performing and that’s because they’re not good enough. Doherty, Winks, Dele, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Bergwijn are in my opinion players that need to go but players like Kane, Son, Hojbjerg all suddenly underperforming suggests to me something is seriously wrong with the coaching, tactics and management.
Exactly this. He's a decent man and doesn't deserve the lack of application he is getting from the players. That said so many of his decisions are wrong, the teams, the tactics and it is tricky to sack several players. I wish him well, but not here.
As a separate issue from our performance I did think there were two interesting refereeing issues yesterday. The first was Ronaldo's arm into Romero's face. The Laws say that any contact with the head by the arm while not challenging for the ball is a red card unless the force is negligible. The force certainly wasn't negligible and the ball wasn't close. So why wasn't it a red card. The second was the sequence of play where Fred brought down Ndombele to break up an attack and the ref played advantage. The ball ran on to another Spurs player who was also deliberately tripped by Fred and then the ref stopped play and Fred kicked the ball away. Surely he deserved three yellow cards for that? The Laws don't really cover that situation but it seems weird that if advantage is played the player due to receive the yellow card should get a free chance of committing another foul without punishment.
I mentioned the Fred incident earlier and possibly on another thread. Lascelles did something similar last week v Palace. Refs just don't give out two yellows in one passage of play, unfortunately. I don't think that Ronaldo deserved a red for that foul. A yellow would've been fine, as he was making a deliberate foul, but it wasn't particularly bad. He didn't get either, of course.
I agree about Ronaldo but it isn't what the Laws say. Just spotted your post on Rival Watch. I know it's what happens but I don't think it is right. None of Man U, Man C, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea would have conceded the second goal yesterday because if playing for them, Skipp would have rugby tackled to stop the break when the ball was lost. I am in two minds as to whether to be pleased that we don't cheat like that or think we are naive.
Myself and about three others around me all shouted to take out the Utd player on that attack. It's a dark art and it's unsavoury but it's also part of the game nowadays and I think it's better to get with it than often be a victim of it. I must admit though I'm partially a fan of it anyway, I think it shows a player is willing to do all it takes to help the team. Take a yellow card or potentially see the opposition score? We used to have a bit of a nasty side under Poch, albeit it faded as years went by but the likes of Lamela, Dele, Dier, Vertonghen and even Dembele were prone to the occasional "professional foul" and also one or two had a knack of winding up opposition players too. Lamela was the only one that continued it even after Poch's tenure and I think it's why he gained a cult hero status at the club, whilst he wasn't the most consistent and certainly unreliable with his fitness, whenever Lamela was on the pitch he done all he could to help Tottenham gain an edge, even if it meant bending the rules.
It's not cheating if you never get punished for it And that's the issue: there's one rule for one set of teams and another for the rest, for example if Everton or Brighton ever adopted the machinegunning tactics that Fraudiola utilises (but he's so different from the ubermensch...) they'd be rotating their sides every week due to the constant string of suspensions
In my time of watching Spurs I remember Ardiles, Archibald, Roberts, Miller, Yorath, Falco, Samways, Gazza, Paul Stewart, Walsh, Edinburgh, Howells, Pat Van Den Hauwe, Tanio, Dawson Chimbonda, BAE, Kaboul, VDV, Walker, Rose Toby, Dele and Lamela all "bending" the rules and were key to us improving and or winning things. And I have missed plenty out. EVERY team that does well has players that do this. Skill with steel is a winning mix.
Tainio is one of my personal cult heroes. He bled Spurs (literally! Huge Spurs fan) and in terms of none goalscoring or skilful moments, his pointing to the scoreboard to Belletti and Cole and then telling Drogba to shush in the LC Final after having been booked for deliberate time-wasting with the throw-in remains a personal favourite of mine. The guy will forever hold a place in my heart for that! I've said before but Sergio Ramos is the current GOAT at winning at all costs though. I'm pretty sure if you looked up "Winner" in the dictionary his name would be there.
I too like players who play hard but the Laws ought to be written so that deliberate fouls lead to a worse outcome for the offender. That would stop them happening.
My theory is that a squad is like wine. It improves as it ages up to a certain point. Then it turns to vinegar and needs to be thrown out. I think that everyone, even the players whose effort level seems most open to question, are trying, on some level, to behave like professional football players should. But a veteran who's part of a squad that's turned to vinegar drops his head pretty quickly, because it seems like the same old inevitable story of failure, while a young team who have been properly motivated will keep running through walls for 90 minutes.
Dier's got potential in that area. Don't forget the England game where in the first few minutes he completely unnecessarily splatted (I think it was) Ramos himself, which set up England for a notable victory.
That's the real reason Dier ran into the stands a couple of seasons ago: he hears somebody was about to beat his record on Snake, and he couldn't allow it
I'm sure the anti-Poch agenda from all the English-speaking PSG fans who have supported the club through thick and thin since 10th August 2021 won't twist this in any way...
