Mourinho: "For me this is the victory of the dressing room, the victory of their spirit, the victory of the group that felt ashamed of what happened in the last week. To be ashamed I always think is a man's reaction. Don't care, don't give a shit is not for men." #THFC
— Jonathan Veal (@jonathandveal83) March 21, 2021
Who knows what Mourinho might tangibly achieve in his time at Spurs? It might be nothing, like the last guy, but unlike his predecessor, the Portuguese is at least getting stuck into the business of rooting out the time-wasters, opposed to telling the press every week how happy he is with them.
Last night we saw an incredibly tired Tottenham side, many of whom had not some 48 hours before played 120 minutes in Croatia. That game left its mark on Spurs, not just with fatigue and cramping but with the release of rage that ensued afterward via both the captain and the gaffer – live on TV.
The absence of shame in the squad – that’s been with us on and off for several years now – has resulted in so few Spurs players being linked with exciting transfer speculation. Harry Winks isn’t a player one can imagine any club is clamouring to snap up. Dele Alli’s only been linked with PSG on the basis that their new coach used to start the 24-year-old pretty much unquestioningly when at Tottenham. How many of Spurs’ long-term servants are exciting other managers? Who else was even vaguely interested in plucking Gareth Bale from Real Madrid?
My understanding from a source close to the club is that Mourinho is seeking to effect less of a coup, and more the installation of a meritocracy governed by a work ethic. Levy simply wants the discord gone and results to pick up. Basic self-respect is more valued under José than the ability to slope in and pick up your wages. What a maniac the man is, eh?
Shaw was reluctant to give up his fast food diet and lifestyle. Similar to early Ndombele regularly seen attacking the food and this accounted for his lack of stamina in early Jose era. There was never a doubt that Shaw had the potential but was never really fit enough and with constant niggles affecting his performances he always appeared sluggish.
Shaw received a reality check and he had to knuckle down and improve his fitness – moreso to spite Jose.
Skipp and Sessegnon could return, plus there’s a chance one or two youngsters might get promoted (Scarlett?).
Even then, yes, will probably still need to buy one home grown player. At least then the others could be Hojbjerg’esque bargains?
Then we would need to buy English to get our quota up and they would need to be better than the ones we’re offloading so ergo that is more expensive.
Any way you cut it,because of Levy’s penny pinching,we pay more in the long run or tread water.This is a pill Levy has to swallow or nothing changes.
Dele is a stupid boy and failed to respond to Joses gentle cajouling of him.
Dele was fortunate to have Eriksen playing balls for him to run onto but without a player like that in this spurs side Dele looks lost.
Dele can lead the press well but this happens like 1 in3 of the chances he is given.
Lets bring in a Jose replacement in the summer.
Also, the confirmation that Winks is being a bellend behind the scenes is a bit if a shick considering he comes across like hed be a nice boy. Winks can do one he is midtable at best.
Dele humiliates himself most times he speaks.
How did he humiliate Dele exactly? He played him, warned him, warned him again, warned him a third time and then stopped using him in important games. To me, Dele got more chances than his showings deserved.
The humiliation was to Dele, I understand what he tried with him but Mourinho tends to push them to what they find unacceptable, it’s taken Shaw this long to find his true form again as an example.
Have they really gone backwards? Sanchez was good at the start but has blown hot and cold since the world cup – and has seemed pretty good when paired with Toby. Winks has been unremarkable since Poch, as has Dier – he’s been given a CB spot and hasn’t made it his own. Rodon is now more trustworthy than he is.
Doherty is a strange one, but could be simply a signing that hasn’t worked out. Offers very little.
Point is, none of them have been isolated, or even called out specifically. They’ve been given a fair amount of chances, and most of them have not taken them. Hardly humiliation.
The point is he has failed with Dele who I agree has not done enough, but he is a talent and I thought Mourinho and his revered motivational skills would transform the player but it hasn’t.
That could also be what’s happened with others such as Doherty, Dier, Sanchez and Winks as examples, they have gone backwards, and you have to question why ?
Did you see Arse & Man.U 1st half performance after Europa games?
….& they went through &;didn’t play 120 mins
We’ve also played alot more games since the start of the season, I’m surprised we haven’t had more injuries after our run of games the 1st few weeks.
This is unfair on the manager. Dele was a starter at the beginning of Jose’s time but when he didn’t pull his weight, he was put on the bench, and deservedly so. Jose’s trusted Dier, gave chances to Winks and Sissoko, Aurier and Doherty.
The only one really frozen out is Danny Rose and that’s a good thing. Might add Winks and Doherty to the pile now. But I’ve never seen humiliation – I’ve only seen a man trying to tell boys to man up and take responsibility.
Well Jose wanted Dias who has ripped it up at City, but Levy wouldn’t stretch & we ended up waiting months for Bale.
So Jose did have the solution at the back.
Exactly.
…& kept playing those [dele & eriksen] for ages even when they weren’t performing.
The one factor that might help us in flogging the dead wood is that other PL team’s are desperate for discount England home growns (City were even linked to Winks before, for example – if he wasn’t English would this have happened?) and nearly all the players we want to flog are English (Winks, Dele, Dier, etc)
Agree with most of what you say here Harry, but on a minor point, you’re getting sucked into Jose’s slight exaggeration of fixture congestion – has anyone else noticed he’s always referring to 48 hours/2 days since the last game when it’s nearly always 72 hours/3 days?!
Who did he freeze out? He bigged up Dele and let Ndombele back into the fold.
Poch just didn’t ever play those he didn’t fancy, simple as that. No redemption.
And even harder to get Levy to pay for that player.Which takes us back again to the root of the problem.
Players stealing a living at the club should have been shipped out long ago even if it meant a financial hit.
After dismantling their confidence to the level of humiliation he then has to turn to them to provide the answer, which clearly has not worked.
This manager has created his own problems for himself by his individual attitude towards players, it is no surprise they have failed to perform despite fleeting glimpses.
A Hojbjerg equivalent at the back and we’d be formidable – just hard to find that player…
It’s not difficult to see who the time wasters are, we’ve known for a long time, what I find unbearable is the Danny Rose types that are still there, and some getting game time. Mourinho must have had to go against his own principles to put them on the pitch but has still done so, probably through necessity, but I can’t see how he can remedy the issue without a clearout and a number of new faces.
If he’s still in a job next season (which I hope he is), back four needs addressing. Been a shambles all season.
Jose needs to send Levy the Jim Collins book. The plans for next season needs to be completed about now as we know how long it takes to get transfers done let alone now in the current situation. We desperately need a leader in the back line even though all our defenders did pretty well (though we felt more solid when Davis came on go figure that one).
it also feels Jose has his siege mentality moment when he brings a group inside the wagons and I think he’s going to take it, maybe this is the attempt to learn our lessons unlike in previous years and really push on for the big ones.
I think he’s been trying to give everyone, and I mean everyone (cough, even Dele has been wheeled out again, cough) an honest couple of chances, at least – and I think ideally he wanted to do any of this type of stuff behind closed doors.
Now his job is potentially on the line what can he do? Time to call it what it is. In any line of work if you have an employee who’s on their ‘last warning’ and no one seems to be able to turn them round (your predecessor also failed, etc) then it’s time to remove yourself from them and hopefully in time…show them the door.