It made sense for Poch to not pick Lo Celso as he was either injured or unfit, and when you this in Poch's militancy about match fitness and his reluctance to use subs before the 78th minute meant he didn't feature as much as we'd have liked - yet he still featured, starting against Red Star and Sheffield United What I simply do not understand is that, even with Eriksen still harrumphing about leaving, he's the option from the bench and not Lo Celso - and while that worked against Olympiacos it clearly didn't against Chelsea or Man Utd
Gio started Poch’s last two games - Red Star and Sheffield. It felt like he was beginning to establish himself as he looked great against Red Star and was then probably a small bright spark vs Sheffield in a dour performance from the team. Since Jose has come in he’s gotten 7 minutes of football in the Prem and 65 mins in a dead rubber CL match. I’m not buying the ‘he ain’t ready’ nonsense Jose keeps spewing, we all just know Jose hasn’t fancied creative players in recent years (see KdB and Mata in recent clubs). I’ve said before I can live with sacrificing style for substance but Jose has failed miserably in two of his three biggest games so far, couple months or not, when you’re being paid what he is, he has to be criticised if he’s not delivering when it matters.
I'm afraid that just makes it worse. Either his overall fitness is SO poor he can't be risked (even as a sub) both today and against Norwich, or Jose truly is as finished as I think he is.
Good to see Lamela return early from his annual winter hibernation. Really hope he can stay fit for the rest of the season. He doesn't score as many goals but his overall contribution to the team - especially his work rate in helping to cover for the clown we play at RB - is simply superior to Lucas on every level.
Some of his comments after the Chelsea game were revealing. When asked about the abysmal defensive record this season (which appears to have gotten worse with him in the dug out), he commented that he can fix 100% of the defensive issues in a very short time span, but that to do so would require sacrificing what the club wants to do. I took that to mean that he could implement Busparkball tomorrow and have us bore teams to death much like his latter Chavs side and United teams did to concede fewer goals. I admire the fact that he acknowledges that to do so would be a slap in the face of the Spurs philosophy. But now I feel that he is caught in two minds. He wants the defensive pragmatism that became his comfort blanket over the years, but also wants football with a flair as expected by Spurs fans since 1882. And so currently we are delivering neither unless the opposition turn up without a cohesive game plan (cf. Burnley). As soon as there is a whiff of tactical acumen from the opposition, the whole thing collapses as it was so fragile to begin with. Defending with players who aren't good enough at defending and attacking with players who can't pick a pass is bound to fail eventually.
This is not going to end well today - Winks & Sissoko is a recipe for disaster, add Aurier into the mix, the opposition playing 3 at the back and the fact that we have never got a point on amazon and I can only see one winner!
This is all to be expected when you have a defensive has been as manager, admittedly even I didn’t think it would go sour this quick but hey ho. Boring 1-0 win courtesy of long ball is the aim today.
Delighted to see the unpersoning of Mr Danny Rose continues apace as Tanganga takes his place on the bench. And Eriksen not starting ahead of Sess is also a positive step in the right direction for Maureen. See, I can find the odd positive thing to say about him once in a while.
I'll cheer us on but regrettably, I'm not expecting much.....I'm already wondering how long before we sign Matic and more so,how long this is going to last?
