🗣 "Is it everyone's cup of tea? It's not a great watch"
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) December 6, 2020
Graeme Souness speaking about Tottenham's style of play under Jose Mourinho pic.twitter.com/A1tlLH7wvi
Grahame Souness was insistent last night that Spurs style of play was not great to watch and essentially questioned the integrity of Tottenham’s iron clad win over Arsenal in yesterday’s North London Derby.
It’s difficult to know where to start with Souness. Perhaps someone at Sky could sit him down in a viewing room for a few days and play him previous highlights of his punditry and asses if those games were entertaining for neutrals.
After very many decades of going to football matches I can assure you that supporters want their side to win. If that can be achieved thanks to some magic, all to the good, but in my considerable experience, I’ve never seen fans of a losing side leave a ground buzzing because they’s had an exciting afternoon out.
Whilst this will undoubtedly bore some readers, but in professional sport, winning is the metric. if that were not the case, horse races would not have finish lines. golf courses would not have holes.
Personally, I find Mourinho-ball electrifying, and whist watching Spurs under Martin Jol was fun (far much more fun than Pochettino) we never won anything. We were losers.
thanks for having me for a short spell,but at timesthis place resembles what i can only imagine a session of the chinese parliament must sound like..by that i mean everyone knows what the reality is. but as the leader says the opposite ,then the opposite of the reality must be the actual reality..in blog world the plain and obvious gets somehow lost in translation..i guess there are some who would find the spectacle of emulsion paint drying on a wall exciting..some might even class it as a work of artistic brilliance..some might even think that anyone who disagrees is part of a media led conspiracy..anyway im returning to the REAL WORLD..good luck everyone..ill lock the door on my way out.. kind regards
look up the score..if youre lucky enough to find someone who was at the match theyd most likely tell you the same my age has nothing to do with it..though if you want to make some ageist comment im 72 as for rubbish..if i write i was “buzzin”(thats not my word-its yours)then its because i was “buzzin” i guess its perjhaps partly because im not a spoilt brat who can only appreciate a good match if MY TEAM wins… oh whats the point!
That’s cool.
This is abject nonsense.
How old are you?
Klopp spent around 250 million on players to achieve that squad, he broke the world transfer record for a defender and keeper.They are paying insane wages to players. You cannot compare tottenham to liverpool. You use what you got. At the beginning of the season it was said by all the pundits that tottenham with their squad would struggle to get into the top 5.
I honestly dont know what more can people expect ,watching us play is like chess,absorbing the pressure, quick counter attack goal. The other team only has that amount of the ball because we allow them to have it.Any sane person can see the logic and tactics behind that. There is team work involved. I enjoy this football that we are playing presently.No one will remember what attacking football we played in years to come if we won nothing. Every season we waste points and it adds up at the end. People will remember the hammerings we got against city and and liverpool when we tried to attack them. If we had a top class squad with 11 very good first teamers then we can try slugging it with the best,with the squad that we have ,we cannot compete with the big boys in all out attack. I still remember the days under Poch when our players could hardly string 3 passes together. Let’s also be honest ,towards the end of Poch regime,we played rubbish football. Good things ahead for our club,we now are more tactically aware and have a B plan….something we did not have under Poch
He’s won titles by ‘parking the bus’, good luck to him. If we win it with him it will be in the sane fashion.
Is he actually really attack minded but we’re just too blind to see it now? 😂
Utd under Ferguson played with possession of the ball and attacked teams. Yes they could win ugly but most of the time they won pretty.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Of course you need to defend well, my point is that you quite clearly don’t need to give the opponent 75% of the ball to achieve that.
Klopp hasn’t and neither did Ferguson, so why you’re bringing him into this I have no idea. His Utd teams were exciting to watch and attack minded. Not sure what you’re on about…
We have the best attack in the league, we have the tightest defence in the league… Tell Klopp? Klopp has a long way to go to catch Fergies 49 odd trophies… We don’t have one or the other. We have both!… So you wanna try telling Sir Alex he’s wrong? For decades, never mind last season 🙈 Of course you can attack and defend well, what planet are you on.
We have the best attack in the league, we have the tightest defence in the league… Tell Klopp? Klopp has a long way to go to catch Fergies 49 odd trophies… We don’t have one or the other. We have both!… So you wanna try telling Sir Alex he’s wrong? For decades, never mind last season 🙈
It is what it is.
Suddenly some of our fans are attempting to ‘educate’ others, or redefine the parameters of all this. Perhaps they can’t bring themselves to come out with the words “we now play defensive football” and feel comfortable with it.
Whatever the reasons, we are winning which is good but you only really need to watch the highlights to see anything particularly entertaining in our play.
No crowds in the stadium has actually helped Jose and the team, I know what the Spurs crowd is like. They love to see us play football and not the flipping opponent for 75% of the game.
Now we are top of the table, when they come back in real numbers they might be more tolerant of it. I’ve seen us under Jose in the flesh and it’s not pretty…
75% possession for the opponent at home. And no, it’s not funny! 😂
i dont mind folk celebrating that were top of the league ,nor that we beat arsenal ,but to pretend its entertaining football,and technically brilliant are the words of someone whos contact lenses are steamed up …its the kind of stuff politicians spout to put a gloss on the bad news ,its the emperors new clothes “thingy”..some might even say its the ramblings of a madman….words like efficient or mission accomplished or chloroform in football form would sum up the last 4 games.no amount of spin will alter that
did ferguson ever play mark hughes or eric cantona as a defensive midfielder? to compare fergies teams (bar his last one ) to spurs playing as they are now playing…well there is no comparison..none at all.
I’ll say again, a defensive style of football is not linked to winning trophies. Being good defensively is not the same thing. You can have the ball, play on the front foot and also defend well. Most of the best sides do that. Jose is unusual if anything…
You can’t guarantee that, but I understand your point.
So you can’t attack and defend well? It’s one of the other… interesting. Tell Klopp that last season. 🤔
I don’t enjoy watching the opposition play football for 75% of the game. Each to their own…
Watching the opposition have the ball to 75% of the game.
“Attack wins you games… DEFENCE wins you titles”….. Sir Alex Ferguson
Arsenal were there for the taking. And we took them….. We have some great attacking players Kane and Son and Bale to come… Journos for years slated Fergies pragmatic approach, opposing it to Auntie Wengers creative teams… Maureens tactics are also flexible. Its why he’s won so much and why hes the only manager to do it in the three most competitive leagues. England, Italy and Spain.
Unfortunately I found that funny yes. It’s my sense of humour though bruv, black comedy, I find alot of fights and brawls and mad behaviour humourous. Passion and adrenaline takes over some.. I don’t think he meant to poke him, just point in his face, only he knows.
if it continues i most surely will..or perhaps even look up the league tables every few weeks…or months..or years lol
id say blanchflower was saying its how you win that is more important ..guess thats the difference between great teams and good teams. just as we have for example boxing champions..the ones you struggle to remember their names and the champions that everyone knows of.same with football..how long for instance will leicesters title win,,who played like we are playing now,be remembered for? nobody in 50 years time will be singing their praises in the way folk still talk of the busby babes/the brazilians of 3 world cups, the real madrids or the fergie champions or the shankley and paisley title sides ,or even come to that the spurs double team…because of course the ones that are remembered played with panache, arrogance style ,skill..the others(largely forgotten) got there by dodgy decisions ,scrappy 1-0 wins,desperate defending, boring styles,rule bending etc..make no mistake im happy where spurs are ,just not so happy about how they are doing it.
Did you find it funny when Mourinho ran from the RM bench, and sneaked up behind the Barca assistant manager’s back and tried to poke him in the eye? Incidentally, and sadly, he later died of cancer. Frankly, it was pathetic.
I always admired Fergie’s winning mentality which he imbued in his teams, somewhat similar to Mourinho’s but his tactics were very flexible. With players like Giggs, Scholes, Kanchelkis and Cantona in his teams, he could play attacking football when it suited. When Utd lost in the final of the Champions League to Barcelona, he was criticised for not being defensive enough. Arsenal were there for the taking yesterday. I was happy we won of course, but the second half was pretty dire. Football is meant to be entertainment after all.
What are you laughing at? Our excellent defending? Or our beautiful clinical goals?
Rumble in the jungle was amazing.. Alli couldn’t walk from the ring after because his hips were so swollen.
I’ll watch any football (apart from womens and thats getting better).. I think its more exciting now mainly because of the ball. It’s now much lighter, you can do more with it and it moves faster. Players today with todays science and medical knowledge have evolved. They have perfect diets and training etc.. Blanchflower was right football is about glory, and winning in style. Glory is when you win something of notable achievement.. This isn’t turning up and taking part.. In any sport at the elite level its all about winning. Even the local sunday pub teams and kids teams the whole point of the game is to win. This is where everyones passion comes from. The will to win.
Just seen Maureen when he was a sky sports pundit and he said it was the spanish and english media who started to accuse him of ‘parking the bus’. Right after he had won the league in Spain with Madrid. When he broke records for the most amount of points in a season and also most goals in a season. Hilarious facts… This ended Peps Barca reign too the poor guy had to take a couple years out due to the stress of the brawls etc.
I take your point on the pundits, some are unbearable, far too many to mention.
Take my MOTD option 👍
steve the primary reason i used to go to matches was to watch football,it depends what you go for i suppose.i dont want bragging rights…you might call it losing mentality,others might call it a football mentality..many of us give credit where credits due ,be that to a member of spurs team or a member of opposing team depending.football may well be more tactical now than it was in 60,s..but more exciting?..i cant remember the whole statement word by word that blanchflower made years ago but basically it was something along the lines of ” football is about glory,winning in style ..not about boring the fanns and sending the opposition to sleep” some might think he had something there..some prob think he was stupid or had a losing mentalty….i dont know….but heres a line from kipling lol…”treat those two imposters triumph and defeat just the same…then youll be a man my son”…again thats not word for word ,but im sure you know what i mean.
‘Sometimes’ you have to win ugly for sure. Whether you’re fighting fire with fire, or up against Messi and Neymar and you’re not quite on form, your runs and passes and shots aren’t coming off. There is always a time and a place to get ugly… Son and Kanes goals not stylish enough for you? I loved them…. The gooners were like an old feeble boxer with pathetic weak little jabs, we let them have a few then bang. Floored them twice, once with a beautiful uppercut, then finished off with a haymaker…. And our defending from Aurier and Toby was just brilliant. They were both rock solid.
United playing attacking football is a myth mate.. Fergie based his teams on three factors, winning, determination and resilience.. He also brought in team players same as Maureen.. Often grinding out 1-0 and 2-0 wins in the dying minutes after grinding out games. Fergie time was all about mentality… He often played two defensive midfielders in front of his defence, Carrick and others with him… One match against Arsenal he infamously fielded SEVEN defenders on the pitch and still won!
This is the definition of losers mentality. Buzz buzz. Lose to Spam and buzzing. I’ve never been happy losing. Playing well and losing is even worse. You know you are doing something wrong if thats the case.. Football is much better now than it was back in the 60s my friend. Very tactical these days.
I can’t agree that Utd under Fergie were horrible to watch. They played very attacking football, quite often with two wingers and won many games in the last few minutes due their relentless style. I also found Arsenal under Wenger to have played some sublime football when they had the likes of Bergkamp, Henry, Pires et al. I think you have misunderstood my previous post. I started off by congratulating the team for their gutsy and single minded performance. I also wrote that I, like any Spurs fan, will be delighted to see us win something but stating that winning and playing attractive football are not mutually exclusive is not the same thing as finding endless fault. I have never understood why any fan bothers to listen to the pundits during live matches. I , for one, always switch off the sound at half time and change channels after the full time whistle as I don’t need to hear the rubbish spouted from the likes of Souness, Jamie Redknapp, (he’s the worst), Carragher et al.
id also take issue with the point made here “that no fan leaves the stadium “buzzing”
after an exciting match if their team has lost”..well prob one of the best games ive ever seen at spurs as regards excitement entertainment and a true spectacle,which certainly left me “buzzing”(and i believe 99% of the crowd id guess) was a 3-4 defeat to west ham at white hart lane back in 1964 0r 65.Now THAT was football ,played as it should be played..the score could have been 10-10..of course then spurs didnt play with 10 defenders lol
2
buzzin
mixed feelings ..its nice to see a good defense at spurs,equally nice to see us top and with it would seem a fair to middling chance of winning something, but…im not sure id want to part with my hard earned cash to watch this type of football week after week .some would say the only thing that matters are winning and trophys,but what about the spectacle? what about the entertainment part of football? the game against man city i thought was great, after all we beat a much better team,maybe using those tactics was one of the few ways we COULD win ..against chelsea again those tactics were called for…but against an arsenal team with a very poor run of form ,one might think we might have tried to be a teeny weeny bit more adventurous?.of course every team needs a good defense ,but they also need an attack ..and it seems faintly ridicolous that with players like son and kane and bale (if bale ever comes good again) we play this type of football with our 1 plan of attack being to hoof the ball upfireld hoping son is going to get on end of it (im assuming here these are going to be our standard tactics)..the one ray of hope as regards exciting,attacking football from this team isthe great leeds team of 70,s began the same way. boring negative play but then became a team after a few seasons that played some marvelous football. though time isnt on our side in that respect…maybe im in the minority,but if i was a season ticket holder id prefer the kind of team that on their day can beat anyone,and ok,maybe quite capable of losing to anyone on a lesser day…if only the result matters and nothing else,may as well just tune in at the end of season and see who wont the trophys? my fear is if perhaps every team adopts this way of playing..every team will be playing in empty stadiums as they are today..but for different reasons.
I think it takes a really incredible amount of discipline and concentration to play in such a system, it’s almost unnatural for many players to continue to play in such a rigid structure, like we saw second half.
Letting the opposition have virtually total possession is brave to say the least, I understand the previous two games but yesterday I don’t think we needed to allow them so much of the ball, for me they were there to be knocked out not just win on points, but that’s just me.
Looking at the way Mourinho celebrated the victory at the final whistle, I think he was more happy with the way the team carried out his instructions than the win itself.
He is testing everyone with his almost unique methods, from football coaching manuals, the Peps, the players, pundits and fans alike, I hope it works for him, but more so I hope it brings a trophy.
Sacramento’s work. José tweaks it
There’s accounting for taste. Mrs Brown’s Boys is watched by millions.
I enjoy the way we play under JM, but then I was also gifted by life with the ability to see what AVB was trying to do, also.
Whilst I never said ‘you have to win ugly’, I don’t think we’re even vaguley ugly to watch, it’s a really intelligent way of playing.
It was irritating at the time listening to Souness et al ‘E X P L A I N I N G’ why we were so bad, but the day after it’s hilarious that we’ve created such a disturbance in the top four force.
Manchester United under Fergie were horrible to watch, Arsenal under Wenger were equally nasty and they both won everything. City have been electrifying to watch, but we found an antidote.
Like I say, the silution for those findng endless fault with us wiining is to only watch MOTD and see the goals go in.
But people E X P L A I N I N G how bad we are while we’re top of the table a free-scoring need to get new hobby.
Man echo dat
How much money dI’d a large majority of those teams spend.
Please tell me you don’t believe city spent all that money to win the league with 100 points.
There’s only one trophy they want, which they will never get, just like Chelsea couldn’t under Jose.
……& these are great teams we’re talking about.
Pretty football does not guarantee the trophies these teams REALLY want.
Jose proved that with Inter against maybe the best team never to win the Champions League that year.
If he can do that for us & start a dynasty for us his 2 former Prem teams will be very jealous.
I guarantee you if Jose was our manager for that Champions League Final we would be sitting on a trophy right now…… That’s the difference.
All the teams uou talk of that play that type of football have spent so much money.
Look at City & PSG in the Champions League, they must’ve been looking at us in the final thinking, “all that money we’ve spent & they play the final”.
Seems like some fans want to run before we can walk, seems Easty forgot what West Ham did when we got lazy & thought the game was done.
I for one can not fault anything Jose has dine till now, he’s going a great job.
You see the smile on his face, I think even he is shocked at how it’s all coming together.
Even in the 2 seasons we challenged for the title we were never top, what he’s doing after only 1 year is incredible.
Long may it continue.
Wolves found out yesterday what happens when you try to match a team like Pool.
Jose will have watched that closely & design a plan for 9 days time
When we used to do that in years gone by Arsenal would come back & even beat us.
Seems you have a short memory.
In the NLD, a win is a win.
Totally agree.
It’s what I was saying just below this.
You build a reputation by winning things like Manure & Livershit.
If you demand style Palarse looked good against W Brum
Sorry mate, but after all the years of being cheated at Old Trafford….. 1-6 under Jose there some weeks ago topped that 4-1 you talk of.
You keep complaining about our performances but we are 2nd or 3rd top scorers in the league, playing winning football, not opening ourselves up against the big teams [our title rivals], playng defensively brilliant.
I’m not sure what you as a Spurs fan really wants?
Only with massive investment like City & Poil have had can you play their [ or our 60’s style football] & win games, we just can’t right now.
But Jose has proved against the right opponent [Man.U] we will destroy you!
Against the right opponent we will do the same again.
This is a serious priority.
Well we’ve tried the fancy, flashy, entertaining football for many years and Poch took it to new heights, however it won us nothing except plaudits from around the globe. Okay it’s a fair point that for whatever reason Levy chose not to back Poch to the hilt and that may have been a factor, but that’s all history now.
Under Mou we are currently topping a very strong PL table even though there are several teams financially better off than us. If I want to be kept on the edge of my seat with cavalier football, then I’ll get my fix elsewhere. What I really want is to win trophies and be successful in a way that is actually measurable for once. If to achieve that we have to play the Mou way then so be it. We can still be very entertaining on the counter=attack, and watching us control big teams is very satisfying indeed.
Against Chelsea we were defensive and the game was boring. Against Arsenal we were defensive and scored two cracking goals, after which we didn’t need to risk anything. I took great satisfaction in seeing us win that game comfortably. I have never seen us look so dominant in a derby, we were never at risk of conceding, despite them having all of the possession.
With regards to the boring football, I can take it in periods were we have a heavy list of fixtures and need to grind out results. We have had some great entertaining games already this season, so I’m not going to complain, we are becoming a club with a winning mentality!
With the confidence we’ve built up and Lo Celso, Ndombele, Reggy, Aurier and Bergwijn starting to find some creative form I think once we return to the ‘lesser sides’ we’ll be a different proposition.
They’ll sit and defend like Burnley and Brom but this time I think we’ll carve them open far more frequently.
That then will be a Jose side, that GD will start shooting up.
Laughing at my club you fkin idiot. You make me sick
I was just referring to the 30 minutes against Saints we could have scored 10 not even the whole match, sure the Liverpool game was incredible, Poch had loads of great wins. I totally agree a whole 4-1 vs Liverpool is more impressive than a hot streak 30 minutes against Saints but I’m just saying in pure intense lethality that was impressive this season – we found a gap in their tactics and just returned to the same weak point again and again scoring at will. There will be moments we totally outwit/overpower opponents this season I’m sure.
Poch was good, really good, at this point still the best manager we’ve had for the last 20 years (Jose hasn’t done enough, Harry had to win a pot to compete), I respect that, but his cycle had come to an end and it wasn’t just about not being backed/personnel.
The players we had needed a new voice and in his whole time in charge he hadn’t quite shaken the ‘spursy’ tag thing. There were still questions over our mentality, and they were starting to stack up more and more with every ‘noble failure’.
We could have got Rodgers or Ancelotti but honestly I think Jose and Spurs is a far more fascinating proposition – reads like chalk and cheese as a combo but it might just be close to genius in reality.
Next season we’ll see a very different Tottenham. A much better Tottenham. A José Tottenham more in touch with our traditions. It’s gonna be great. Right now winning mentality cups
Yeah, work in progress, Jose would still replace 4 or 5 of that starting 11 ideally if he had the resources.
He’s just getting on with it.
Did loser poch have my club top of the league and in the running for all other cups in his first full season? Do you think José will use this counter attacking style next season after winning stuff with it this season? What he is doing this season is brilliant. The winning mentality.
Yeah, work in progress, Jose would still replace 4 or 5 of that starting 11 ideally if he had the resources.
He’s just getting on with it.
Jose needs to buys a quality replacement as back up to Hojbjerg in January such is his importance to the tactics being employed. Hart also is not good enough to be seen as adequate cover for Lloris if Gazzaniga leaves.
True, Gallas had the pace. I’d wager a young Terry was possibly still quicker than who we have right now.
+57 GD for Chelsea in the 04/05 season…I do think the bottom half was weaker in those days but come on, that side had loads of attacking intent, J Cole, Duff, Robben.
Jose just needs a full squad that he trusts that bit more, esp in defence, and we’ll start firing them in and steamrollering a few sides.
It’s called counter ATTACKING if you take the Arsenal game in isolation we had more shots on target then they did (3-2) despite them having double our possession. We played to our strength and exposed there weakness (same as City).
One of the greatest sporting triumphs ever was Ali beating a stronger, harder hitting George Forman through clever tactics that coined the rope a dope phrase. I would be very surprised if we play the same way against the so called lessor teams but trust JM to find a way.
At any time under Poch? I was there when we beat Klopp’s Liverpool 4-1 mate… 😂
Did John Terry have much pace?
This is the way Jose does things and if you win stuff then you accept it but his sides never play anything other than functional football.
Of course, you’ll get the odd game when his sides score a lot but anyone who’s been watching football over the last 20 years knows it won’t change. He might bring in players even better at doing what he wants than the ones he has but we are always going to be defensive under Jose. It’s what he does and has always done.
The idiots. Style this traditions that. Shut up will ya. Winning In progress. You’re like b!£ches in a sewing circle
José thought right, how can I get cups to this club quickly, this is the way he chose. What’s so hard in that for you haters to understand. Next season after winning stuff this season José will change up the style to a more flamboyant one. You khunts should get off his back. He’s doing what needs to be done now. José big up yourself mate
If Jose had Toby and Jan of 5 years ago I’m pretty sure things would be slightly different.
Right now you have a ‘lost his legs’ Toby and a ‘work in progress’ recallibrated but never going to be quick Dier. Jose wasn’t given the top of the range central defender with pace he asked for and required – what are you going to do?
We walloped United and Saints, for near half an hour against Southampton we looked ‘unplayable’ as they say – more deadly than any time under Poch.
The fact is this is half a Jose side and our defence is bargain basement still – most people said Toby was shot, Dier has been a recovery/retraining job, Aurier most people thought was shot, Davies is ok, Sanchez is less than ok right now, Rodon is bargain basement signing with potential, plus Sissy is somewhat limited in midfield.
If we had four Hojbjerg’s in defence like Jose had at Chelsea way back when then I’m sure he’d put every faith in defence largely caring for itself with one shielding mid. As it is, safety first is the right approach for a hodge podge squad that started the season with weak mentality/cohesion.
We’ll develop a swagger, all the best Jose sides develop it, it’s coming. Having one of Ndombele and Lo Celso actually stamp their authority and command that position/role and the third forward next to Kane/Son actually develop a ruthless streak/clinical touch would do it.
I’m enjoying aspects of it, the winning and the resilience but that doesn’t have to manifest itself in a defensive approach. It just doesn’t…
We had loads of resolve under the last management. In fact we had the second best defensive record in the league one season.
I don’t agree, determination to win comes in many form ms and it’s not just born out of sitting deep and being gritty…
I am enjoying watching the games but then I find the tactical setup and the way we are creating traps to turnover the ball more enjoyable than watching winks passing it forever sideways under Poch. For both the goals I was up off the sofa when the ball was still in our half as it was clear we had a major opportunity. That’s 7 points from City, Chelsea and Arsenal in the last 3 games on top of thrashing Utd 6-1 and knocking Chelsea out of the cup.
Some of the defending from Toby-Dier-PEH was exceptional, Reggie is a revelation and JM is getting a tune out of Lloris, Aurier and Sissoko with a much simpler game plan. Add to that the world class Son and Kane and I am very much enjoying it.
I hope that over time Bale will be introduced and that the handbrake will come off as we play the non top 6 teams.
I have never once seen us ‘turn on the style’ in the year that Jose had been here. We should really have gone on to pummel Woolwich about 4-0 yesterday but it was seen as ‘too risky’ even at home to push them back and get s third goal.
We defended what we had, fair enough we won but when you’re up 2-0 at home against a rival you shout try and turn the screw on them more. That’s Maureen-ball, get a head and sit on it…
Defence and mentality have been the two biggest problems for Spurs since any of us started watching the side – we’re almost known for it, the spurs way, fancy dans, lily white livered, “it’s Tottenham boys”, etc.
For that alone, instilling steel and resolve in one of our sides, I welcome this. Give it a chance, we’ll knock a few sides for 5-0 relax.
Defensive football = winning football is complete cobblers.
It’s Jose’s way and he’s won a lot of stuff but he’s one guy.
Count up the trophies that have been won by other managers and teams and you will find the vast majority have been won playing more possession based attacking football. Jose is the exception not the rule…
If we try to match Chelsea, City, Liverpool, even Wolves/Leeds potentially, at their own open/free flowing game that’s a lot of teams all trying the attacking approach and you could easily argue all the first three are better set up squad wise to do that. It would be an unfavourable roll of the dice and we’d get a few West Ham type results. Yes, Kane might get golden boot again – whoop-dee-do.
If we had the four best and most pace’y defenders in the league maybe Jose would have the confidence to let the defence totally care for itself? Unfortunately we just don’t, and luckily no side do. Hence we’re currently the best defensive side in the league because we’ve acknowledged this limitation.
There’s room for a different type of side, a different approach.
I also believe there will be many games we’ll ‘turn on the style’ this season and simply overpower sides like the Saints game again, once everyone is in place and in form (which seems to be coming together about now).
Just watch the highlights mate… 😂
First of all, congratulations to the team for a great defensive performance with plenty of guts. Whilst I agree that winning is the only metric, I cannot agree with your surmise Mr Hotspur that to win you have to win ugly. There are plenty of teams that have played entertaining football on a consistent basis and have won many trophies. Recently Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd under Ferguson have all played good football whilst winning trophies. Barcelona and Real Madrid have done the same. The Ajax treble winning European Cup team played amazing Total Football in the early 70s. Brazil in the 1970 World Cup played with great style to win the tournament. The list is endless. Will I be happy if we win a trophy, the answer is yes but I would prefer to win with style which is possible.
This baseless argument would be fair enough, If there was any actual correlation between winning games and being defensive.
Well there just isn’t any folks. If anything teams that win big are playing attacking and pressing football. So as pleased as I am we are winning games (even playing in this defensive fashion) we can all be spared this myth that “it’s all in the eye of the beholder you know, this attractive football stuff…”. No it isn’t.
Football is I agree about getting results and the manager we now have is a defensive manager, which is at odds with the spirit of the club. Jose is however doing a very good job his way so you we have no choice but to accept it and enjoy winning.
Back a more attack minded manager and the same results are achievable, Liverpool and Klopp are a prime example of that process. Therefore i’d prefer to do it that way all day long as a Spurs fan given a choice, Levy didn’t give us any choice.
Well done Jose doing your thing and getting the results but please, spare me this revisionist claptrap about it being “actually really great to watch”…
Mourinho-ball is NOT having the ball, ffs! 😂
I suppose it boils down to watching 90mins of football or jsut catching the final score.
You are aware – playing well and and winning are not mutually exclusive…right?
TOTTENHAM COME FE CONQUER. Me done tell you already
Sour Souness as usual with a face like a smacked Ars*.
He’s so bitter about something at Spurs, could it be that he didn’t make the grade as a young average footballer there?
Anyway, so nice to see things not turning out to his satisfaction, which means we must be doing something right.
I just feel like all the pundits are scared we are going to win something. All gushing over Liverpool and Man U and City, and worried that we may upset the applecart. Man U’s comeback against West ham started with a goal after the ball so obviously went out of play, and nobody said Jack-S%&t, oh United are in the top 4 again, this and that. I love that Jose smugly agrees with them all that we have no chance to win the league, and just concentrates on each game. I feel that Jose wants to get the Europa group matches out the way, get the League Cup QF done, then maybe bring in a couple of fresh legs in jan, clear out a bit more of the players he doesn’t fancy, then sit them all down and say ‘We are now going to win S&%t’ !!!