Injuries in football happen. They are not incidents for which football clubs are shocked or surprised by. In any professional sports, especially a contact sport, one is in fact, fortunate to avoid injury.
Even Mourinho’s staunchest, most unforgiving critics must be able to acknowledge that this squad – which began collapsing well before the moment Mauricio Pochettino was asked to clear his desk – had become an afterthought in ENIC’s portfolio.
The arguments against having a second striker are for me, are so very mind numbing, I refuse to give them house room in this place. Of course, the issues extend beyond Harry Kane’s absence.
Must I really wheel out the instances of us being the “only side in Europe’s top 5 Leagues not to buy anyone in back to back transfer windows” again? Must I? It appears I must, because those aiming their frustrations at José seem to believe that scandalous inactivity like that somehow magically heals itself over time. It does not.
I’d assert that no manager on the planet could weave these oddments, these end of lines into a fabulous collection.
Indeed, it spoke volumes that Daniel sprang for Mourinho in the first place. According to Forbes, the Portuguese is on double Pochettino’s money. The cynic in me cannot help but feel that £15million was deemed by the Spurs board (no laughing at the back, please), infinitely cheaper than spending what Mauricio needed to make Tottenham whole again on the pitch.
There are many great lines in the Italian Job (1969), but this one feels especially pertinent.
The Mafioso, Altabani, ambushes Charlie Croker and pushes his car off a mountain road, where the Aston Martin falls forever, smashing into the rocks on its way down into the dark.
After Croker does his “every ice cream parlour” speech, Altabani smiles and says:
“Well, gentlemen, it’s a long walk back to England. And it’s that way.”
It’ll be a long wait until we reach the next transfer window, and we will spend much of that wait sat in a billion pound shopping centre.
There must be a reason that Liverpool decided not to demolish Anfield and erect a revenue-stream behemoth in its place. Perhaps it’s because Fenway Sports thought spending money on players the coach wanted was a better idea. The fools…
