The somewhat muted response to the appointment of Jose Mourinho reminded me of the Andre Villas-Boas’ days, where Spurs won lots of games, but fans behaved like overbearing restaurant critics that send back dishes over minor imperfections. After decades of losing, and watching dreadful sides be successful, I’m a little less fussy over what’s on my plate, so whilst I want to win every game, but I don’t need a Michelin star win.
We could disappear down a psychological rabbit hole with this, but this mindset stems from decades of explaining away defeat. For example, if you pop over to the Spurs’ Reddit forum, you’ll find supporters revisiting the Ajax came virtually weekly. My memory of that competition is not a happy one, as a team we then served up wholly unmemorable no-show against Liverpool, who then became European Champions. Champions of Europe dancing in the streets, as Tottenham Hotspur Football Club licked its wounds by mumbling astonishingly good Moura had been in the previous game.
As Mourinho stuttered, with injured players including Spur’s club record signing barely capable of making the subs bench, calls for Pochettino to come back echoed around social media. Pochettino, the man who was leading us to the promised land of the Championship.
Today, this graphic has emerged and it provides some perspective. Mourinho, has salvaged Tottenham’s season, and is determined should he get the chance to revive those carefree days when Martin Jol sent us all on a European tour!
So next time you’re watching Spurs win, remember how good Villas-Boas’ result were and how fundamentally daft it was to moan about him.
If Mourinho gets us into Europe, how about just a polite “thank you”, opposed to pinching your nose at the thought. Tottenham needs to rebuild, Poch told you that, and Jose is the man to do that, even under Levy’s limitations.
Back winners and back this gaffer.
Rough cider for me mate.. Some dry like thatchers maybe for a warm up before I hit the strong stuff 😊 has to be quality though, any budget brand is just nasty.
Never
As long as it’s well chilled.
Belgian trappist ale or German wheat beer is my tipple.
Strong dry cider is also good but a bit of an azz kicker.
As long as it’s well chilled.
Belgian trappist ale or German wheat beer is my tipple.
Strong dry cider is also good but a bit of an azz kicker.
Mourinho is an extremely capably football manager, not a turd polishing miracle worker – and despite this we are starting to look quite good for short spells. That first half hour against Arsenal I thought we popped it about very nicely – more of that please.
However, wage thieves like Aurier, Winks, Lamela, Davies and maybe even Moura in 2 out of every 3 games he plays eventually do their best to grind any promising spells to an end. There is quality in the squad, but the dross has to be the main priority – 2 fullbacks that can play are essential – just ned to find £100m to fund it…
😆 Sorry man I assumed it was.. Also been told off for drinking it straight from the bottle, should use the little glass apparently.. Give me a high strength but quality lager, or a sweet but strong cider over that stuff any day.
Not an aspiration, a philosophy. It’s what Bill Nich and Sir Alf took from Arthur Rowe. I’d rather Spurs look long term rather than to the next game. Barcelona hadn’t won a European Cup until 1992, even though they were one of Europe’s elite. Cryuff changed that. No matter what, they do not divert from the path. Apparently, they are waiting one more year for Xavi. Good on them. From La Masia to the First XI everyone play the same way. No reason Spurs couldn’t. Liverpool and Man City are creating this now. Look what happened to Man Utd. Moyes replaced Fergie, that was never going to work. Then Van Gaal and Mourinho who didn’t fit Utd’s style. They both won trophies but ruined the club’s identity. Chopping and changing styles has hardly proved fruitful for us has it, especially as we haven’t had the spending power of others. Levy brought in Christian Gross as a reaction to Wenger. That is what Spurs have done since the 90s, reacted to what is around them. It didn’t work with Poch, so we’ll go for someone completely different. If Levy had gone for a similar manager to Poch he would have been stuffed. He bought time by bringing in Mourinho because we all know the squad has to change to suit his style and he needs not one, but at least 3 transfer windows to sort it. The club is run by a number crunching imbecile and some basic planning back when ENIC took over would have been better for us. Instead, they looked at making money, not a football team. Let’s say we win under Jose, not guaranteed without investment, but what happens when he leaves? Another 5 year project? Levy needs to look at what makes the English teams perennially successful and copy it, not try to do things differently. We can all clearly see Levy’s unique way does not work.
A win over Leicester would be nice though. Let’s see if he can get that result.
Calling Newcastle Brown Ale a stout!?
How dare you!
I was in the West upper. Nice view no singing. I’ll never forget that night.
The injuries and covid 19 were bad timing for him weren’t they.. Hes definitely making his mark now as you say.
A nice stout would do like Newcastle brown ale.
Glory is all about winning.. Its tough to take pride and credit and recognition if you never win anything.
😆 I get both sides here really… This is exactly what manure fans were arguing about. Also their players and pundits.. Maureen gets results, but his style was never ‘the united’ way or style. He always set up negative, he parked the bus. Alot were fuming. Its been the same with us… When results went south with them he was berated by many. If he doesnt get results with us then the same will happen… Winning is everything to me I am happy if I score from halfway line, or if it’s a scrappy rough goal from 5 yards.. Outplay or outrough, I don’t care as long as we win… The glory is winning……. I like Maureen, I hope he does well, if he can’t win us a decent pot under scrooge then noone will… But I must admit Klopp,Guardiola and pochs high press and team press is just better.. I would prefer to play in those styles.. More exciting to watch too… Poch was the first to bring it over here with saints and us.. Guardiola and then Klopp followed.. They were backed properly though obviously. It’s not quite fair to compare pochs achievements at saints and spurs who sold everyone and bought noone.. While the top clubs went out and spent loads on all the best players….. Our situation once again will be down to humpty dumpty (funny because I called him this before covid 19 hit us), will our beloved chairman back the damn manager. It’s all very well making managers scapegoats. Jol, Schnapps, Botch were the three best managers for me in recent memory and none were backed. They all had targets and all were thwarted and given different players by Levy… I can only imagine Maureen will be treated the same, especially now we are in so much debt.
That’s all well and good as an aspiration, but as a get out clause, it sucks…
And.
And that is precisely why Spurs are in this perpetual state of change and don’t win trophies. So many managers, all with a different style of play. Each one the new messiah! We couldn’t beat Norwich at home in the cup, so no one can say Mourinho has worked his magic. As HH points out, 4th under Poch was not a trophy. For me, we haven’t progressed one bit. We are hoping and praying to get into the Europa League for heavens sake! We went from Poch to Mourinho, that isn’t a logical plan, it is an expensive plaster. Sometimes a team has to win ugly, but we are just a better version of Crystal Palace at the moment. When was the last time we won we’ll? Sheffield United gave us a hiding and they are a championship team who run a lot. The 2 players we are in for are hardly top draw players (Hojbjerg and Kim), if the Chinese League is such a hot bed of talent why are we the only ones buying from it? When it comes to the squad Spurs do it on the cheap. It will be very interesting to see who gets brought in to improve us because don’t forget, Aurier arrived with a winner’s mentality tag. In my experience, mentality changes when you have quality players throughout a squad. That’s Levy’s responsibility, not Mourinho’s.
Beat him yes. I was in the South stand for the 7. The only thing he’s in the history books for.
We ain’t got that in stock today sir (very popular) plenty coming in soon. For now we’ve only got “wingamesanyhow in.
If this doesn’t mean anything to you, you have no place being a Spurs fan. “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
You’re right, it was penny pinching Levy that let him down, like he did with Jol, Rednapp and AVB. The man is like an anchor holding back a fast speedboat.
Personally i’m happy just to be successful and win trophies, that’s what people remember – not the fancy Poch football that won us nothing. I’m coming around to Jose bit by bit.
You have to drop this irrational Poch beating H.
He failed at the end because Tight Purse wouldn’t spend and thought he was cleverer than the rest of the PL.
I am happy that Mourinho is changing the weak mental state that crept in. Didnt hear *ossers like Keane Neville etc shouting they will always let you down when we were pushing for the title.
I will be happy to join in with “1-0 to the Tottenham” if it gets us a sniff of the title otherwise roll on 2050.
What has any of that got to do with the bottom line? Win games Jose mate, win games.
Haha yes that’s true. Maybe our players had a particularly difficult time adapting! To be honest I do remember when Mourinho first arrived he was reluctant to change the style too much too quickly becuase he knew it would sacrifice the attacking play. Then we lost our best players to injury and he had no choice but to go full Mourinho. Now the transition is under way.
perfectly echo my sentiments!!
Mourinho has been at this for 33 games. We’ve had so much bedding he’s turning us in to Silentnight!
Wanting to win whilst playing entertaining football is not a criminal offence. Just because a team plays an attractive brand of football does not mean they automatically turn into Norwich. Going 1-0 up and shutting up shop is not in my DNA, probably because it is not in the DNA of Spurs. Wenger turned boring, boring Arsenal in to a side I hated watching because that’s how I wanted Spurs to play. Liverpool fans couldn’t stomach Woy Hodgson. Look what Rodgers did (without much backing) and Klopp (with backing) has taken them to another level. Utd fans hated how Mourinho coached, with full backs not being allowed over the half way line and Ole (with backing) has them attacking again. Guardiola (with backing) has instilled the same philosophy at City that they have at Barca. These teams’ defensive records are not too shabby either. There is of course a time to defend like dogs, but equally there are days to make hay. If Mourinho can only provide the former I will resent it, like the Newcastle game. We only woke up after they equalised. I was here through the mid 90s and early 2000s, when we were awful bar a few exceptional individuals. I’m not going anywhere, will always be Spurs. What I don’t want is for Spurs to have to find an identity again once Mourinho leaves, whether he wins a few trophies or not. The manner in which we play should never change and managers should be headhunted to fit what we want not the other way round. COYS
Wanting to win whilst playing entertaining football is not a criminal offence. Just because a team plays an attractive brand of football does not mean they automatically turn into Norwich. Going 1-0 up and shutting up shop is not in my DNA, probably because it is not in the DNA of Spurs. Wenger turned boring, boring Arsenal in to a side I hated watching because that’s how I wanted Spurs to play. Liverpool fans couldn’t stomach Woy Hodgson. Look what Rodgers did (without much backing) and Klopp (with backing) has taken them to another level. Utd fans hated how Mourinho coached, with full backs not being allowed over the half way line and Ole (with backing) has them attacking again. Guardiola (with backing) has instilled the same philosophy at City that they have at Barca. These teams’ defensive records are not too shabby either. There is of course a time to defend like dogs, but equally there are days to make hay. If Mourinho can only provide the former I will resent it, like the Newcastle game. We only woke up after they equalised. I was here through the mid 90s and early 2000s, when we were awful bar a few exceptional individuals. I’m not going anywhere, will always be Spurs. What I don’t want is for Spurs to have to find an identity again once Mourinho leaves, whether he wins a few trophies or not. The manner in which we play should never change and managers should be headhunted to fit what we want not the other way round. COYS
5 in the last 2 games against decent opposition isn’t too bad is it? I know where you’re coming from but we are creating more chances recently. We’ve had some shocking games but we’re still bedding into a new way of playing.
Yes, but we don’t look like scoring either! I watch and just can’t see where a goal is going to come from! Bring back Bill Nic!
Let’s get back to winning, the champagne football will follow. Its the weak mentality Mourinho has to change. It’s about building a team with the steel we lack, that’s why we’re after Hojbjerg and Kim.
Leicester rediscovered their form last night just in time for us. They still have the CL to play for, so I might start believing if we can can grind out a result on Sunday. Not asking for Champagne just a well kept ale.
🎼we’re the neeeeeeeew lane
We’re the neeeeeew lane
New lane tot ten ham🎵
N17 runs this. N15. call ya if we need ya🌚
Europa league. Can sometimes get 2 community tickets. My grandson and I under the lights. What’s not to love. YIDZ
🎼we’re all going on a special José tour
Special Jose tour
Special Jose tour🎵
YIDZ making movements🌚
💯 you can see it coming. We’re getting better each game now. I can’t believe I’m the only one who enjoys watching a team that don’t look like conceding every time the opposition gets the ball.