I wouldn't go that far. Mauricio Pochettino's soul is Newell's Old Boys and Espanyol. These are 2 teams that know what it is to have local rivals. We may hate the Gooners but success for them is finishing above us. Barcelona inflict an altogether different level of pain on their neighbours. MP played for Espanyol for a decade and managed them for 3 years when Pep was winning everything. Poch didn't make it above 10th. Newell and Rosario make Rangers and Celtic look like best friends. This is hatred on a universal scale. **** up, yes. Monumental let down,you bet, I'll accept it. I just don't see him thinking "Let's knock off a week early and probably blow a lead over our local rivals. When it goes tits up, I can go on TV and confess it was the worst day of my career." If I thought that, I'd want him gone now, not later today or tomorrow.
I'm not buying that the players and manager don't understand rivalries, either. They might not be 100% familiar with this particular one, but they'll all know others well. I don't really see how anyone who even watches team sports could fail to get it. I've seen various reasons given for our severe drop-off at the end of the campaign. I think that it's probably a combination of things, but they all need to be addressed. Squad depth will be the most obvious to us, but mentality is the most important. The team got to the point where teams were scared to play them and that's now totally gone.
It was a poor performance (we all agree about that) from a set of players scared of picking up an injury ahead of the Euros and the others thinking about the beach in the knowledge that CL was secure. But at 2-1 and against 10 men, they did show a glimmer of fight and looked like they might get back into it, until that farcical penalty decision, after which they just gave up and fell apart. The mentality of some is not good enough and Poch needs to change it or bring in some strong characters.
True PNP, but there's a world of difference between 'understanding' a rivalry and living it. I have no question that when the likes of Jan or Eriksen come out and say how bad they feel that we finished below Arsenal, there isn't a shred of emotion behind the words, only an intellectual 'understanding' of how this occurrence is significant to Tottenham Hotspur. To be motivated for such a game when there really isn't much to play for and the Euros are on the horizon, you have to be emotionally invested. Lamela aside, our team absolutely wasn't.
Kane definitely was, he just got no service or support. He started moving around the pitch to try and get a few touches.
Was looking to see if I could get a couple of tickets to take Mrs Remember to see her beloved Wednesday in the play off final when I came across this! have the fixtures for next season already been sorted?
I doubt we'll have many Tuesday night Premier League fixtures next season. Then again, given the ways we've been dicked by the fixture list in recent years, would it be much of a surprise if we had a Premier League match on a Tuesday even though we're supposed to be playing Monaco on the Wednesday?
