They're absolutely superb players though, despite being nutmegged by Delle Alli. Being able to pick brilliant individuals makes any system far, far easier to implement.
Los Ladrones do Madrid aren't a particularly good example, given the mentality of the team is only tested in El Classico and the latter stages of the Champions League - and it has to be said their mentality has often been shown to be pretty weak as Barca have won the majority of El Classico matches since 2008, while in the Champions League they've been found out in the semis a few times in recent years: Juve outfought and outthought them last year, Dortmund utterly drubbed them in 2013, Bayern showed they were tougher in 2012 (shame about the sodding final, though...), they got shown up by Barca in 2011, and got dumped out in the round of 16 by Lyon in 2010.
Having a playmaker at the level of Modric is also a massive help in turns of defensive strength. The sheer vision and range of passing means that a player of his ilk is able to constantly keep the opposition on its toes and weary of committing too many men forward in case the next pass is a 60-yard defence-splitter through the eye of a needle. Players like Mason haven't quite got that range or vision, meaning that the opposition knows they won't try anything fancy for risk of giving the ball away (cf. 'Dawson, Michael and the Curious Case of the Cross-field ball', Bloomsbury Press, 2011.). This consequently allows the opposition to be more confident going forward, leaving the DM partner under more pressure.
I have bumped this up to see how people now feel after roughly a quarter of the season has past by. I was very annoyed at his team selection for the gooner cup match but he has been very good otherwise imo. I am still disappointed about being out of the cup but think we are way ahead than I thought we'd be...especially after not buying an out and out striker in the window Negatives... 1) drawing too many games 2) some puzzling substitution decisions 3) being knocked out of Capital One Cup by Arsenal 4) Performance away to Anderlect 5) players like Trippier, Townsend & Fazio being decidedly less than average (at best) 6) not enough goals (city and Bournemouth a side where we got a bit lucky...not in terms of results but in terms of goals scored...2 offside v city and at least 2 atrocious keeper mistakes v Bournemouth). 7) drawing too many games Positives 1) haven't lost in 9 league matches...and we were unlucky to lose to united 2) having a good run while having a long injury list...Son, Dembele (now back), Bentaleb, Mason (now back), Lloris (now back), Rose (now back) 3) only conceding 8 goals in 10 matches 4) kane not scoring the majority of our goals...means we are not so dependent on him 5) game for game having more points than last season (see below) 6) MP seems to have learned from some of his previous mistakes...we threw points away v stoke and Leicester but saw out tight games v sunderland and palace 7) players seem to understand what the plan is...we have been the better team in most of our prem matches bar the sunderland match. 8) we have played Liverpool, city, everton, united, and have only lost to 1 of them 9) regular clean sheets (everton, palace, pool, sunderland) 10) not conceded more than 2 goals in a match Match by match This season last season difference United away lost lost = but plus 3 goal diff Stoke home draw lost +1 point plus 1 gd Leicester away draw won -2 points minus 1 gd everton home draw drew -2 points minus 1 gd Sunderland away won drew +2 points plus 1gd Palace home won drew +2 points plus 1gd City home won lost +3 points plus 4 gd Swansea away drew won -2 points minus 1 gd Liverpool home drew lost +1 point plus 3 gd Bournemouth away drew na swap with qpr = points plus 4 gd That's plus 3 points and plus 14 gd match by match on last season. Are others being won over?
A little, we're still way too inconsistent. Defensively, we've improved (although that wouldn't have been too difficult) We still lack penetration sometimes though, especially if Eriksen is absent.
"Are others being won over?" For me the acid test is the final third of the PL season, UEFA involvement or not. That is where the CL slots are won and lost. Will Pochettino take at least 27 pts from the final 39 as Arry did in 2010, or will there be either a running out of breath / fatal collapse period (as there has been every season since then) ??
Can't compare everyone we get to Redknapp. The dynamics of the whole set up are a bit different. For what Poch has at his disposal I think he's doing a sound job. The list of positives far outweigh the negatives. One criticism from me is not taking the league cup seriously. That's because I'm a bit of a ' I want my club to take trophies seriously' kind of guy.
I am happy with MP I think he is getting better as time goes on as are the team. The squad is full of potential and if kept together can only get better. Right now Spurs are the best placed team in the PL in terms of the next 5 years. The new stadium will give us a boost that other teams will find hard to rival. The fact that we have maintained a high league place with a relatively small ground shows you the potential that awaits. Most Spurs fans are pessimistic because we have been years without major success, we are closer now than we have been for decades to a major breakthrough. Now is not the time to chop and change management. MP is doing a decent job, to change now would be foolhardy. How is the worlds greatest manager doing at Chelsea? Does this not tell you something?
I'm happy but its too early to tell. If he keeps doing things in a way consistent with his stated strategy he will always have my support.
Pochettino was given a brief. You need young energetic players so make use of our Academy players - we've got a really decent crop of them. So what's he done? He's rid us of those with bad attitudes or who were never going to cut it and created a young team with a really good work ethic and a notable togetherness and team spirit. Finally we analysed what kind of manager we wanted and bought a round peg for a round hole. Most of the players brought in during his tenure fit the same bill - Son, Dele Alli, N'Jie, Trippier, Wimmer from the last 12 months. I don't think he had anything to do with Fazio (I think I heard that he let others in the club bring in players during his first summer as he didn't think he knew what was needed at that time and that's pretty normal in Spain where he has managed before). I can't for one second think he wanted that bloke to fit his system as that would damage him slightly in my eyes. So we've got Kane, Mason, Bentaleb, Dele Alli and Dier (ok we bought the last 2) all doing very well with Pritchard soon to return and I've a feeling he's going to do well also. Waiting in the wings are Onomah, Carter-Vickers, Harry Winks and quite a few others who look very promising and it is to be hoped that young players like Berahino and Gray from Birmingham would be very interested in signing up to play for a young improving team in a great stadium with a great fan base. For the first time since we lucked out on CL in 2012 and the club dispensed with Harry I feel optimistic. Levy and Lewis are said to trust Pochettino and why shouldn't they? He's doing what they wanted and he said he'd do. It isn't going to happen tomorrow but who's to say that when Pochettino says he needs a really good striker next summer that he won't be backed in the market. The future is a good one for me if we continue on the current path.
"Can't compare everyone we get to Redknapp." At least 27 pts from the final third is a trait that PL teams that finish in the CL slots exhibit with serious regularity (there are other traits that said teams also exhibit one or more of) . Only two Spurs managers have achieved it in the past decade : BMJ (2007) and Arry (2010) . One got a CL slot. So that is a current success rate of 50% by that measure. For the other 8 seasons, Spurs have not exhibited that trait. The number of times a CL slot has consequently been achieved : zero. "The dynamics of the whole set up are a bit different." The required performance in a critical period of the season is not.
Three managers: AVB managed it in 2013. Sticking with AVB for a moment, he's an interesting test case in a manager being out of their depth or not. In his first season it appeared that he was not, because even though the Narrative has been written that Bale was digging him out of a lot of holes it can't be denied he achieved some impressive results that season (the win at Old Trafford, the 3-1 comeback against City, the comeback win in the NLD) - but in the second season he looked out of his depth as the bloody mindedness that saw us win games in his first season completely deserted the team, and when fans started to get peeved that his system wasn't producing entertaining football he lost his nerve and tinkered with it for short-term benefits only to have it disastrously backfire on him. This is what Poch is getting so right while AVB got it so wrong - Poch has his system, he knows what players he wants for it and how he wants them to play, and it is slowly but surely reaping rewards.
Pochettino's ideal for us because he seems to be very resourceful and doesn't, publicly at least, get pissed off with all the fannying around we do in the transfermarket but instead just gets on with his job as best he can. We tried and failed to get Schneiderlin, he brings Mason into the first team. He was given Kaboul and Fazio as centreback options so he ends up bringing in Dier to the first team. He was given Soldado and the Incredible Sulk as strikers so he gives Kane chances and makes him the focal point of the attack. We missed out on Kouyate, Wanyama and probably a load of other defensive midfielders so he makes Dier a defensive midfielder. He's not perfect, but no one is at Spurs(apart from Kane ofc) and I'm not convinced that are many managers better than him that would be able to do a better job with us. Look at the trouble Mourinho's got Chelsea in and he only got Pedro, Falcao, Begovic and Rahman to supplement his title winning squad. Pochettino had an okay first season and I wasn't expecting much from this season but if Liverpool and Chelsea continue to struggle I do expect us to take advantage, because that's what we've always done. Performances are improving and so are results(for the most part) so I'm optimistic that he can take us forward this season and bring success to the club longterm.
On the subject of managers being out of their depth, here's a rap sheet for Sherwood's time at Villa: http://7500toholte.sbnation.com/201...b-part-1?_ga=1.46924967.1667199174.1427659677
One thing that's impressed me about Pochettino recently is his lack of excuses and the way that he talks about our players. We've had a ton of injuries in basically the same area of the squad, but it's not been mentioned, except when he's asked about it. So much so, that when we've faced anyone with similar or even slightly better situations, the media have talked up their issues and ignored ours. Kane's poor form? He's a very good player, he'll get past it and he does a lot for the team. Team plays badly and we don't get a result? Says exactly that. Team plays well and we don't get a result? Same again. His interviews are still pretty poor and he's not charming the pants off the journalists, by any means, but it's nice to see some honesty. He doesn't publicly blame anybody or get too carried away if anyone does particularly well. It's about the team and how everyone does as a unit and I think that shows on the pitch, most of the time. We could definitely do with a bit more excitement and a little more of a goal threat at times, but I think he's doing pretty well. A little bit of adjustment in the January window and I think we'll be ok.
TBH, I think one of the reasons he seems to be so direct and brief is that his English is still very limited. If you watch him on the sidelines, he gets very animated when things aren't being done the way he thinks they should be.
Adding to PNP's point about how he gets on with the task of being our manager, what's impressed so far is how he won't get drawn into the tedious "mind games" that certain managers employ to wind up other managers and affect their teams. For example, Moron's played Wenger like a trumpet for years already, knowing full well that he'll get a reaction - yet when Moron started his usual act on the touchline when we played them in January, Poch's reaction to it can be summed up as follows...
Remember he wanted a translator to start with. MP is a bright guy and he is using his 'lack of English' as a handy tool to deal with the media. I think we do not yet appreciate how smart this guy is because his English is not that good.
