I think JM, Nuno, Pochettino and Conte knows more about football than I do but it doesn't mean that can't be behaving pigheadedly, too conservative or be plain wrong about a player or a tactic. I wasn't the only one who saw that Danny Rose was a liability from 2018 onwards yet Pochettino's perseverance with him regularly cost us. The same is true of him not using Llorente properly, not signing any players in 2018-19 and signing Sessegnon. I wasn't the only one who criticised JMs bizarre tactic of scoring early and then defending deep with a team including Lo Celso, Ndombele, Winks, Aurier and Sanchez or his refusal the play Bale. Some of Conte’s choices are very difficult to understand for me. Sessegnon, Sanchez and Royal are really poor. I'm glad Sessegnon scored today, but it doesn't change the fact that he has been poor for us since he signed. Sanchez has not improved in 4 years and regularly makes mistakes that cost us goals and Royal is just poor yet Conte persists with starting two of them no matter what. We (imo) should not constantly spend the first half giving teams the advantage and having to force our way back into games. I don't think conte should go by a long shot but do think we have the right to criticise him on here
"“We aim to equalise before the other team score. We should get our retaliation in first.” - Danny Bllanchflower
Steve Bruce knows more about football than I do. He's still a useless, cabbage-headed ****er. Avram Grant was well known for his expansive knowledge of the game. He still should've stuck to trying to defeat Danger Mouse. Steve McClaren won the League Cup with Boro and reached the UEFA Cup final. He also won the Eredivisie with FC Twente and has been Assistant Manager at Man Utd twice. Still wouldn't him managing Spurs U11s.
Sessegnon has great potential (still just 22 years old), and would benefit from a run of games rather than being in and out of the team. He is a player we should be persisting with, he could develop into a top player given more confidence etc. Sanchez has not improved since he arrived and has never been good enough barring a few games when he had little to do, put him under pressure and he folds almost every time. Royal is a hapless RWB and won`t be a top RB either from what I have seen.
Watching the first goal back and whilst Sanchez and Royal are the obvious focus points of blame, Bissouma doesn't do nearly enough in that phase. He is jogging back and completely unaware of their runners to his left.
And Liverpool lost again. The Spurs players have been told by the manager to conserve energy in the first half- which is why we keep seeing these slow periods in the games. It's game management by Conte which this season is extreme due to the circumstances. Conte keeps saying , 'let's get to the second half of the season still in contention and take it from there'. He wants to stay in touch with the leaders in the league and still be in cup competitions and then we strengthen in January and go for it. It's not pretty but on the whole it has been effective. He is at present succeeding.
This is a really good point. It would also explain why every first half has been total dross to watch. However, if this is the plan, we still need to defend better!
It’d be great to believe we’re conserving energy but with the injuries we’ve racked up and the fact Conte himself has spoken of risks with playing certain players, add in that our second half performances haven’t always achieved the desired results, I don’t think we’ve conserved anything. If anything, with the amount of energy we’re using in many of these second halves there’s arguments to say we’re over compensating for the first halves and that we’ve possibly used up too much by becoming so desperate in the second 45. There’s about 5 or 6 players that feel like they’re one extra long stretch away from a torn hammy.
If you bow to Conte's greater knowledge then perhaps you should be asking the question: What is happening here rather than telling us and Conte what he is doing wrong. You can moan all you like about the qualities or otherwise of Royal, Sessegnon and Sanchez but these are the players Conte has. He has to use the squad in the way HE deams best and as he has daily contact with the players he is in a better position than all of us to make the decisions. Incidently all 3 of these players have put in some good performances over the course of the season despite the trashing they get.
And the way we’re playing we won’t be for much longer, as luck isn’t a reliable method. We were top under Nuno and Jose for spells.
We have not been out of the top 4 all season. You don't do that by making as many mistakes as you suggest.
NO when we were in the top 4 we were in it but when we were out of it were out of it. In any case the fact they were sacked was as much to do with fan pressure as anyting else. That doesn't mean it was the right decision for the club in the long term. Fergusson would have been sacked at United if it had been up to the fans. Managers are sacked all the time, but if you are seriously expecting me to believe that the average fan makes better decisions than managers like Mourinho or Conte, or that he has a better knowledge of the players then dream on. I am convinced that Conte is a top manager because his record speaks for itself, I therefore think that if we allow him to do the job he is paid for he will probably produce some decent results and so far he has. Fans getting on his back will not improve things it will in the end lead to his sacking or resignation and so the cycle starts again. That's why Spurs don't win stuff.
And the signs were there we’d be out of it under both of those managers we just didn’t want to accept it at the time. Now those exact signs are here again and this time we have a better squad than what both of those managers had. You were also extremely vocal in calling for Mourinho’s head during his tenure. So I don’t think you need me supposedly trying to convince you that the average fan knows more than Conte or Mourinho when you were happy to tell everyone Mourinho should’ve been sacked, clearly you knew more than him at the time…
