There’s a rather unpleasant undercurrent of fan opinion – in my view – that everything is José Mourinho’s fault. This is a simplistic approach, to put it mildly. Then when Mauricio Pochettino was struggling in his final seasons at Spurs, perhaps the same critics believed it to be all HIS fault too.
One huge benefit for me watching games has been the occasional opportunity to listen to the games as nature intended. So you can hear the coaches, hear the expletives; experience warts and all.
This fan also heard what I did.
The lack of intensity from us during this game was frankly appalling. It’s probably a positive thing that fans were excluded from the stands.
There’s a deep-rooted problem at this football and slandering José Mourinho is not going to solve that issue.
I’ve held off doing one of those ‘20 years of ENIC‘ pieces, however, the time is now right. What a mess.
Opinion: the players do not care about the history of the club, what it stood for, Jenas never cared for the club during his 8 years. The performances for several seasons since we all had our hopes built up have been painful. Supporting this club has always been complete pain and frustration.
I think that goes to Johnny D too. The reply to my post offered absolutely nothing. As trolling goes, this is child like.
Everything about those 3 opening sentences are true. If you can’t see it take the blinkers off. Fans were getting excited because we had won 5 in a row, but we’d played average teams. Since November, as soon as we have come up against a decent outfit we have struggled, therefore why would Kane and Son hang around? If you disagree let me know why. Simples.
I’ll admit to being one of those and to being so wrong!
Yes
Plenty of “Docherty would be an amazing signing” comments on here before it was done.
Just sayin.
And the alternative is Aurier for gods sake! Would he have been a massive improvement?
But the manager picked Doherty right??
Churning the squad won’t happen of course and most of the players will be here next season.
Yes I do believe that. Yes we have Harry, Son and PEH, Reggie as well but there are 8 or 9 of this squad that could be moved on. Harry has said It’s the players who are making the decision to drop deep and sit on leads.
We won the Carling Cup with a side that narrowly avoided relegation… ’tis the Tottenham way of oblivion football
Why did we go so strong against Zargreb? Perhaps he’s given up on top 4 and sees Ropey as the only way to get into the CL? Ironic that we win a wooden spoon trophy or two in a season when we’ve been so poor, if we do.
The line up tells you what Mourinho’s tactics were. That was an extremely attacking line up. That mess of a performance was down to the players. And several times Doherty made a good run down the right but didn’t get passed to. Happened a few times with Regi too. Ball got passed back inside where it was congested. The problem is absolutely not the manager who is one of the most successful managers of all time.
I totally agree
I can’t see Mourinho walking though
You honestly believe that’s the only reason? A team with Kane, Son, PEH in it? Are they all as bad as you say or is this manager just not getting the best out of them?
For Jose to work we would need a massively refitted team of experienced pros that play his way, so little resale values and all priced at about 35-50m a pop. Does anybody think Levy would sanction that?
ENIC are wasting everyone’s time, so if that’s the case then we might as well be watching decent football. What else is there when you just tread water?
Jose will walk in the summer, I’m sure of it…
I’m not saying sack Mourinho, and clearly the players as a whole were not ‘up for it’ for a lot of the match. However… anyone knows you have to hook off ‘Loco’ if he has yellow card and is still showing signs of recklessness (which pretty much is every time that occurs). Also… Bale is fantastic for unlocking poorer quality teams (which we’ve struggled with for two seasons at least), but against a quality side you need a right winger with strong defensive qualities (Bergwijn or similar) to support whatever sub-standard right-back we are playing. Those are managerial decisions… and I reckon the ‘genius’ stuttered today.
What were the tactics yesterday?
We had 4 attackers on the pitch
2 attacking full backs
Ndombele an attack minded midfielder
So on the face of it an attacking line up.
However barring Lamelas moment of brilliance, purely as he has no right foot, we had 1 shot on goal in near on 75 minutes.
Hardly any attacks.
Not much possession
No press
What was said before the game?
Do the players not understand?
Do the players not listen?
Are they too scared to try anything?
Are they worked into the ground in training and just too tired?
There is a huge disconnect between player performance, fan expectation and then the Managers summary at the end of the game.
The fans expect at least bare minimum pride, effort and passion with a little sprinkling of attack minded football and god forbid a tiny amount of flair.
We are served up dreadful, negative, gutless tripe.
The Manager says we played well for 6 minutes, totally controlled the game, the players are really sad, the opposition shouldn’t have had a throw in, the referee is rubbish and i am the best coach bar none in the World
Hmmmmm
To be fair to Bale he did have a stinker, but Doherty was so bad that Bale couldn’t get forward without exposing us down that flank.
It’s incredible that we hugely over spend on a football stadium, but when is comes to the team we penny pinch.
The recruitment has been terrible, there is supposed to be a committee that identifies and buys players, wtf? So this recruitment committee, with a network of scouts and contacts managed to buy Doherty? Bring in Fernandes and Vini? Plus so many others. How can so many people identify such poor footballers.
The club for years have been set up to try and play front foot attacking football, barring George Graham i can’t remember the last negative manager that we have had. Sure we have had some poor managers in our time, and Mourinho cannot be labelled as a poor manager. History shows he was one of the best and most successful managers in the game.
For it to work for Mourinho we need to spend fortunes, the only way we do that is sell our best assets to raise funds. That severely weakens the team and can you trust these bumbling idiots to reinvest in quality? That leaves Mourinho with a worst squad, no talisman, no get out of free card, negative football and the fans back in the stadium.
Doesnt sound like a recipe for success if you ask me.
There are many fans saying Mourinho is being let down by the quality in the squad, we need to be realistic, at the start of season we were a match for most teams. Look at the results over the last few months, we beat pub teams, but are out played and tactically out manoeuvred by any average team. There is no way Arsenal, West Ham, Brighton have better squads than us. We rolled over and didn’t bother showing up against Man C, Liverpool, Leicester, Chelsea Brighton.
There have been far too many poor performances, far too many excuses, the Manager says we played really well when we were down to 10 men and deserved a draw? We were outplayed for 75 minutes, they hit the post and bar, they could and if they were any good should have been out of sight.
The chairman has let us down continually for years, the manager is doing a poor job and the players for whatever reason arent playing.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect one of the highest paid managers in the league, with his winning mentality to summon up more than he is.
TYPO: ’that’s’ not hate.
Bale wasn’t helping Doherty out enough is the opinion of some. Others might argue the logic that asking a player of Bale’s ability to have to help out a Championship level fullback playing behind him just isn’t a plan hate going to get you anywhere fast…
It seems like a combination of issues. However, Jose isn’t able to sort it out so he’s part of the problem but not the root cause. He looks like he’s given up.
”Let’s to the Amazon thing she see how we get on” they probably said in Levy’s office when he took the job. Well you ain’t getting on well enough are you. Not so much the Dynamic Duo, more Laurel and Hardy. Only not funny…
I have seen no other team in the EPL start so many matches with such a lack of intensity or energy as this club, No matter what position the other clubs may be in their players at least show energy and intensity. How is it possible that a match of this importance both in terms of points and pride fails to generate any sense of passion or desire?. How is it possible that a Mourinho team can go out with such a mindset? Is it the players? Is it the manager? Is there a collective responsibility? Whatever the root cause the reality is that this team and this club will never achieve any success of any significance. This is a team that appears to be unable to show any consistent desire from the kickoff. I sensed within the first ten minutes of this match that we were simply mentally not prepared for this NLD. Even looking at Mourinho I sensed an apathy and lack of energy. Kane looked injured but also looked uninterested in the first half. That is a worry as he has always been fired up for the NLD. Perhaps this is indicative of the possibility that he has already decided this is his last season at the club. Let’s talk about Bale. Bale has quite rightly come in for some severe scrutiny and criticism since his return. Recently he has shown some good form and his resurgence has to a degree carried the team out of its run of poor performances and losses. Within the first few minutes of this match I could see his body language was all wrong for a NLD. With his history with the club he knows more than most the importance of these matches.Yet, there was zero energy and intensity. I doubt I actually saw him make any kind of runs or attempts to get involved. With Son going off injured this was an opportunity to take centre stage. He looked however totally disinterested. In doing so and he unravelled all the good work he has done over the past few weeks in answering those in the media who have questioned his desire and abilty at 31 yrs of age.Mourinho said his psychological scars had healed.Yet this display suggests otherwise. My question is what goes on behind the scenes that allows a team to leave the dressing room with such a negative and lack lustre mindset? It looked as if there had been some sort of problem pre match that had triggered this approach to the game.Tactically we failed to continue with the attacking press that had turned our season around in the last few games and reverted back to a low block and no pressing anywhere on the pitch. Is this because Arsenal were so good? Is this because these were the tactics discussed? Yet I have seen posts saying that Mourinho was shouting from the line to push up and press. Does that mean that Mourinho’s instructions were ignored by the players? If so what does that indicate. I do not want to hear any more after match pressers with players saying we did not show enough energy and that the players are disappointed and must now focus on putting things right in the next match.Neither do I want to hear £15 million pound a year managers like Mourinho dissecting matches up into 20 min segments saying we controlled matches at certain times. The game is about 90 mins.We have yet to control any entire match against quailty opposition this season. My predictions are that we will not het top four. We will not win the EuropA League. We may sneak the Carabo Cup if City have an off day. We will not get CL. We will have a new manager next season. We may well lose Kane, Son and Bale. Ndombele looks as if he would rather be playing with his mates at PSG and LLoris and Ali will be there with him. We will have the beginning of yet another groundhog day project while ENIC continue to suck the soul out of the club and the money out of the fans wallets.
I’ve seen both Levy and Jose described as ‘geniuses’ at times on here and other places.
There is nothing involving genius either in the way we are run, or the way we’re playing at present.
Levy needs to sack himself if he’s going to apply the same ruthlessness to his own levels of failure as he had done to the 13 managers he’s put in the hot seat…
Well said.
We have no identity as a team and I put that down to a few key points;
It’s the only sane thing to do…
He’s Championship or bottom half Premiership standard. How can you bring in a player to put pressure on Aurier who’s not even good enough for this level. Jose signed him, Portuguese agent etc, I take it Jose dodges this particular bullet too does he? 🤔
So a coach getting paid 15m a year (plus bonuses) isn’t responsible for at least gaining a level of consistency? We were on a run of decent results (albeit against poor sides), there was no reason why we should have been so flat as a team in what could have been a defining result for the rest of our season.
Sure, play as well as possible and if the players come up short in quality etc then you hold your hands up.
That wasn’t a cohesive performance, win, lose or draw. The manager had st the very least the responsibility to get a basic level of team performance. Otherwise what’s his job, exactly? 🤔
Arteta was ruthless enough by dropping Auby to the bench for
“disciplinary reasons”!!
From a defensive perspective when the penny finally drops hopefully commanding ignored Rodon is selected for the League Cup Final against City plus a permanent fixture of the side hereon in for the rest of the season!!
With everybody entitled to an opinion a bit of respect and decorum by playing the ball not the man please being my understanding of the sacred rules!!
These guys are professional football players, they are young lads, paid obscene amounts of money, travel in luxury, who have a little run round during the week, get pampered, make some hilarious videos for Spurs tv and are then really tired when it comes to match day.
Poor little devils, i actually feel sad for them.
Successful teams play lots of games.
If we play less games next season i would think that means we aren’t having a good season
You can have a bad day, true, but this isn’t a one off.
There have been many poor performances where we just haven’t been up for the game, have been thoroughly outplayed and dropped points.
Playing Doherty who has not had one decent game and has been at fault for numerous goals and offered nothing going forwards, what leads us to believe his next outing is going to be any better? He isn’t good enough, stop playing him.
Dier when he plays, week in week out he makes a mistake and we concede a goal. He isn’t good enough, stop playing him.
Sanchez, every time he plays he does something stupid, he isn’t good enough stop playing him.
Permanently drop the dross, put kids in, at least they mess up it’s part of the learning curve. These imbeciles who mess up every week, they are senior pros, they are calamities. There is no point playing them.
Doherty today, the Goons inexperienced manager targeted him because he knew he was Sh!te. The Spurs fans know he is Sh!te. Yet he is picked. Wtf?
That is just plain stupidity.
We need the Manager to be ruthless, if he keeps picking these idiots it will ultimately cost him his job.
Sure there aren’t many alternatives, a cone or a lamp post would have a better game than Doherty every would.
I an not deliberately picking on him, he is probably a really lovely lad, great bantz and all, he just can’t play football.
You must have failed English or is it not your first language. Is the ‘D’ for DickH…
I think you’re being a bit hard on the players in regard to fitness levels. We’ve played more games than anyone and we’ve overused our best players. Covid and no real pre season don’t help. It’s not just physical fitness it’s the ability to peak each game which is a mental thing. That we’re still well short quality wise I can’t argue with that.
Christ on a bike. The three opening sentences from your GCSE Essay are “We are far from a complete team. We have been poor for a number of years now. To cap it off, the only two genuine top class players we have will be on their bikes next Summer”
You’ve failed my son. Thanks for the effort, though!
We are far from a complete team. Today’s loss is so frustrating because even though we were terrible we could have got out with a draw. This would have simply papered over the cracks, but the embarrassment of losing like we did is hard to take, especially against a bang average Arsenal team. Arteta’s eyes must have lit up when he saw Doherty’s name. They exploited our weaknesses, but we didn’t exploit theirs until we were down to 10 men. The players’ attitude was poor, that was plain to see. I would have subbed Bale well before half time. I don’t care if he ‘wants to be loved’ and he ‘deserves a run of games’. He is paid unbelievable sums of money to give a damn for us, the fans, and today he didn’t.
We have been poor for a number of years now though, Mourinho took over an ailing team and unfortunately 3 transfer windows later he has the same squad Poch left him with, minus Jan and Eriksen. Why? Who decided to keep all these muppets? I laughed when Jose came to the club and he said he was happy with the squad. We need to ship a hell of a lot out. Lloris, Doherty, Sanchez, Dier, Aurier, Davies, Winks, Ndom, Sissoko, Bale, Dele, Vinicius, Bergwijn and Moura are all surplus to requirements for me. You can shove your ‘squad’ players where the sun does not shine. You are either good enough or you are not, this isn’t amateur football where the manager appeases everyone by giving them all a game. I have to go to work tomorrow and get laughed at by my Arsenal colleagues all because that shower didn’t show enough fight or quality, but they haven’t done for quite some time! We cannot possibly offload all of them, Hitchen would have to do some work for a start, but none of them are making us better and the longer they are at our club the worse it will be for us.
To cap it off, the only two genuine top class players we have will be on their bikes next Summer. No training ground or top class stadium is going to keep Kane or Son. As for Mourinho, this is not the first time he has questioned the player’s attitudes. When this became more toxic at Chelsea and Utd he had to go. How long can the players tolerate him and will he win the battle of the personalities? History tells us there is only one outcome. Then where will we be? Sack the players, not the manager.
If you’re a Spurs player and have to rely on someone else to get you fired up for the NLD…you shouldn’t play in it.
I suppose Doherty was playing because there was no one else – Serge is coming back from injury and Tanganga is probably out injured himself.
Well articulated analysis.
Nothing personal completely out of his depth I simply can’t tolerate Doherty being selected per se!
What is it about people that makes them want to view the world as black and white? Its a simplistic and frankly lazy approach. Maureen as with anyone else can have a bad day and make wrong decisions: (like Donkerty)!
That’s not rubbishing Maureen, its just like saying, “Harry’s a top class striker but missed a couple of sitters today” or “Hugo’s a great shot stopper but dropped that one and cost us a goal”. It happens.
Tanguy and the Viking looked lost, Sonny finally gave out and Harry was not at his sharpest. They pressed, we allowed them to and but for the woodwork the game could have been over way before half time.
For me, he has not fired the team up sufficiently prior to them stepping onto the pitch; they didn’t even look warmed up! I’m imagining a sort of…., “don’t worry about all this derby nonsense, its just another game go do what you usually do; just because its Arsenal we don’t change our play”.
That certainly looked like the outcome; maybe he has misjudged the mood who knows? But the goons on the other hand come out fighting…..sorry if this upsets the family feel of the blog H, but the reality is they came out to f**k we came out for a w**k.
It was an utterly soulless dismal Spurs performance unbefitting of a NLD!
So what’s the solution??
I blame everyone, including Mourinho.
Tiredness just caught up with them in time for the NLD did it? They didnt look tired a few days ago against Zagreb or Palace 7 days ago. Ndombele was fully rested on Thursday and looked like he was playing with stones in his shoes. Tiredness is no excuse for profrssional footballers these days.
Spot on.
Players that aren’t fit for purpose is the underlying problem. More like players that simply aren’t good enough in ability and attitude.
I guess we need to see how serious Sons injury is but maybe its time to give one of the youth team a start on the left or even Vinicius .. Sons injury deprives us of pace & someone who can use both feet.. Arsenal had a freshness about them we couldnt match which for a local derby is pitiful. What you will get from the youth is energy & it will give first teamers a jolt to up their game.
We are only playing well against very poor teams.
We haven’t played well against a decent team for months. We are regularly out thought, out fought and tactically out manoeuvred.
Today was a real low, a NLD played with no passion, fight and desire.
To continue to pick Doherty is absurd, he is a dreadful football player, can’t defend and trouble use of the ball.
Sanchez and Dier two appalling defenders.
We would be better to play Tangana and either a young full back or Rodin.
It’s a miserable watch everytime you switch on and watch us against anyone half decent. We either concede possession and start really slowly with a mad 10 minutes at the end of the game trying to chase. Or start quickly, go one up and concede possession, lose all impetus and throw points away.
I am at a total loss to understand our game plan and tactics, we are totally lost and don’t seem to have any game management.
It’s difficult to see how this gets better, the prospect of losing out best players, no champions league and this dire brand of football is something i fear is going to be the norm for sometime
Maybe injured,not even on the bench.
I try to be more charitable to the players and put it down to fatigue, the most games played in the division, lack of pre season, lack of recovery time.
Yes the effort against Arsenal was pitiful but these good runs of form and then crashes are now par for the course not just with Spurs but lots of other teams, bar the mega squad at Man City.
Add in the usual suspects, lack of depth in quality players, no refreshing of the squad during the infamous blank windows. Add a gaggle of players that aren’t fit for purpose and you have this maddening inconsistency.
Its been clear for a while teams with pace highlight the right side of our defence, Doherty it seems has no pace or very little tactical awareness… Arsenal were there for the taking & we let them off the hook…Bale was pretty much a passenger in most of that game. Changing the manager wont help, whats needed is a recycling of several squad players. Having said that, I dont understand why Japhet cant start at RB after his fine display there 2-3 weeks ago& why Moura isnt played centrally as he’s wasted on the flanks.