He was held to a far, far lower standard in the league than any of his predecessors were. This allowed him the time and luxury to concentrate solely on winning the trophy, which itself had been made an easier tournament to win than the versions his predecessors had faced. Why is this such a outlandish take?
I will remember the final two months of 2009-10, and the last half of 2016-17, far more strongly/fondly than I will any of this season. I will similarly remember the 2018-19 CL campaign far more strongly/fondly than I will the EL campaign gone.
Can I completely honest with you (trying to be as impartial as I can)? As a fan, of course the delight of winning European silverware that gets you back into the Champions League and ends a 17-year trophy drought will always be memorable. But losing 22 games, finishing on 38 points and 17th in the league is extraordinarily bad. Like, finishing 8th (for me) is disastrous. To finish 17th? It's almost unfathomable. And whilst some may argue that your team gave up on the league ages ago + your injuries played a role in your domestic collapse, there's simply no justification for a Big Six club to be finishing as low as 17th. That basically means that, outside of the 3 relegated teams, you were the worst team in the league. It is a huge red flag IMO and one that can't be shrugged off just because you won a trophy (as memorable as it may be from a fan's perspective). I guess everyone is different, and some people will have contrasting perspectives on what is acceptable and what isn't, but for me, I would find it hard to overlook just how bad the domestic form has been because the league is bread and butter. And the 22 defeats in the league need to send alarm bells ringing. So yes, the euphoria of winning the Europa League cannot be forgotten; it is a historic achievement. However, it can't, nor shouldn't, be a sentimental reason to keep things as they are. And the fear that Levy/ENIC may see this as a 'get out of jail' card to continue operating like they have is understandable cause for concern. Your club still need a major shake-up and massive changes, both on and off the pitch. That can't be lost in and amongst the jubilation.
Spurs have already had a massive shakeup, it's one of the reasons we have done so badly in the league. We have taken young players to produce the youngest squad in the league. Instead of having to bed in naturally they were chucked into the first 11 because of the massive amount of injuries we suffered during the season. These were the kind of changes that Spurs needed if we were going to progress beyond scraping top 4 and bowing out of the CL every season. As a result there is a transition, which is the season we just had. As RCL has already pointed this is what happened under Burkinshaw and what followed was one of our most successful periods. Ange may resign or he may be sacked but giving him at least the start of the next season should be where we go, rather than ripping up the plan yet again and starting all over. That is the mindset of those who somehow think Spurs are entitled. We are not neither as you can are Manchester United all teams are there today and maybe gone tomorrow it's football it's not science.
One thing that I only just realised, and hopefully this doesn't come as an unintended dig, but the major red flag for managers I see is when they rack up far more draws than makes rational sense, as that makes it look like opposition teams have worked them out but they haven't realised clubs have them figured out yet The most glaring example of this is Man Utd under the ubermensch in 2016-17 where they racked up a frankly absurd 15 draws in the league, which is almost as many as Arsenal and Everton that season combined who they finished between, and while it's patently obvious that from March onwards it was because they were prioritising the Europa League due to how far off the pace they were even by Christmas the reason they were so far off the pace is the glut of draws between early October-early December which saw the leading pack pull further and further way on a weekly basis. Luckily we didn't go and hire him a couple of seasons after this, eh...? Why did I prefix this by saying I hoped it didn't come across as an unintended dig? Well, the 14 draws Arsenal racked up this season is equal with 12th placed Palace and one behind 13th placed Everton, which does suggest that Arteta's tactics are being twigged by far more teams and their league position this season is based less on his abilities and more on the various slow motion trainwrecks that the Mansourites, Spurs, Chelsea and Man Utd have gone through this season more than anything Arteta has done, to the point it is worth wondering if there will be a noticeable drop in their league position if a couple of those teams manage to regroup next season And this is coming from somebody who wouldn't have minded nine losses becoming draws, as that would've had us comfortably in 14th...
We simply can’t reward Ange with another season because we won the Europa. Does anyone truly believe that he will completely reverse our domestic form and start winning games again in the league? We are aspiring to achieve big things but this shouldn’t be detrimental to our status in the PL. I for one cannot cope with an amateurish performance in the PL again and I have no faith Ange can turn things around. He admitted that tournaments are a different kettle of fish to the league. He simply cannot manage the team in the league whilst competing elsewhere. We are seen as a joke this season. Do we really want another season of this pathetic display, bar the Europa? We’ll always remember this season and our trophy. But equally, we are always going to remember how dismal our league performance was!
Absolutely. There’s a bad season and there’s a finishing 17th with 22 defeats bad season. I am buzzing we won the Europa, but it’s almost embarrassing to laugh at Arsenal and their trophyless season when we are as bad as we are.
Look, I'm not trying to tell you how to feel about your own club or its direction. I'm just saying, if my club were in a similar boat to you, I would still be erring on the side of caution amongst all the happiness because you can't let short-term victories/momentary happiness impact the longer-term health of your club. I've been in this position before, so I'm saying this from my own experience. I am aware of your injury crisis, and I know in some respects, Postecoglou had his hands tied. But there were a lot of things he could have done/handled better and I still maintain you should not have finished 17th in the league regardless. You may think your younger players will come out of this season stronger, and more experienced, from being thrown into the deep end. But that can also go the other way too and only time will tell whether they will have truly benefited from this or not. As I said, I'm saying this from my own personal experience when Wenger was at Arsenal. What you've said makes sense in theory, but it doesn't translate to reality in many cases. By 'shake-up', I'm not even saying you need to rip up absolutely everything, but I do believe you need to rethink what your strategy and vision is moving forward, what you want your philosophy to be, and whether Ange is the man to fulfil those things or not. If I were in your shoes, I would say it's best to thank him for what he's achieved and for etching himself into Spurs history, but it's time to move on and find someone else who can maximise the potential of your squad and to also ensure that a league campaign like this doesn't happen again.
TBH the plan is already being ripped up: Paratici (likely) returning is proof of that, as that already suggests Lange is going to be moved into youth recruitment
'I was forced out,' recalls Burkinshaw, 89. 'They didn't want me there. I was too strong for them. The way I ran the club was to push the directors aside and say, "Look, we'll talk once a month but I'm going to be doing everything". They couldn't stand it. They wanted to be doing it when they'd no bloody idea how to do it. please log in to view this image Tottenham manager Keith Burkinshaw (right) and coach Peter Shreeves (left) pictured holding the UEFA Cup after a dramatic victory over Anderlecht in the final in 1984
You're preaching to the choir here regarding Arteta. I've already given my view on his tactics and management plenty of times and concluded a while ago that he probably shouldn't be in charge. But the unfortunate reality is, he will still be given at least one more year because he has reasons to hide behind for this season that has rescued him from potentially getting booted. In my view, he has one last season to prove he can get us over the line and if not, large swathes of the fanbase will turn on him. We've seen teams and managers with lesser resources, investment and time than us win trophies, so he doesn't really have many excuses now. He's under immense pressure ahead of next season. You can tell by the things he's saying in his press conferences that he knows it too. And there can be no doubt that, if we have another season like this, he has next to no chance of surviving.
You asked which seasons we'll still be talking about in years to come. We won't be talking about this season in the literal sense of the word. We'll be talking about one (pretty atrocious) game of football at the end of which we lifted a trophy. The rest of it - and I include most of the EL fixtures in that statement - as a 'season' has been entirely forgettable. Just went on wiki to look at our season in its entirety. The only games whose highlights I'll be watching again over the summer are: League 4-0 v Everton 3-0 v United 4-1 v West Ham 4-1 Villa 4-0 v City Cups 2-1 v City 1-0 v Liverpool 4-3 v United 3-1 v AZ 1-0 v United 10 games out of 60 does not make a memorable season. 50 games range from irrelevant to embarrassing.
We've done caution What we need most all is stability we have a manager who has been here 2 seasons he has seen what happened. He is not a fool, he has already adapted his methods despite the press being largely blind to it. They all go on about how he changed to defend in the Europa we did but Ange had already done that in the league. If I was Ange I WOULD leave now with two fingers to the entitled and hug for the supporters. Personally I hope he doesn't, because we will lose the experience he has gained over the last two seasons. You have the same kind of calls where some are calling for Arteta's head because he didn't win the league. I have been round the Spurs block over 60 years I have seen these situtions play out time and time again and what is clear to me is that stability is the most important part of football success. It used to be the team that played almost the same 11 through the season, those days are over, now it's a squad game and one of the most important aspects of football management is man management and as Vialli said many years ago manageing a team of millionaires is a tough job. Ange has those abilities in spades. All Spurs need are 3 or 4 experienced players, some old heads to balance our talented youth. Given that the sky is the limit.
Stability is not what we need after 22 losses! stability is what we need when we are on an upward trajectory.
Our league position remains worse than expected based on our goal difference. I can see very few ways in which the coach can influence when goals are scored or conceded. So I maintain that GD is a better indication of the team's ability than points or league position. Which is why I remain unworried that we will finish so low in future years.
Our final GD puts us in a spread of 9th-12th for almost every season in PL history. That's probably the highest I could see us finishing under Ange, and it is still miles from being good enough.
