On paper, Spurs were beaten again by Bayern Munich, but in truth game was far more about the interesting selection from The Kosher One; one that highlighted a few of the urgent tasks that need to be addressed in the Tottenham squad.
Jose has mentioned twice now in recent pressers about the lack of time at his disposal with which to work with the players. Like any intelligent person, he therefore created time. Time to focus his attention on the also-rans.
No good would have come out of fielding a better side than the one Mourinho picked. Indeed, when Pochettino went ‘all in’ with his selections in London, we lost by a margin of 5 goals.
One needs to be a little measured when outing players after such a difficult game.
Unless they’re Danny Rose or Giovani Lo Celso.
Lo Celso was also uniquely underwhelming. A passing accuracy of 75% and just 2 good tackles is substandard for a player allegedly worth £55million.
17 successful passes simply isn’t good enough. 8 of those were backwards or square all contributed to an infuriating watch and the boy was eventually hooked just over the hour mark.
I never understood why he hadn’t bothered to keep fit when we signed him. Perhaps this now tells us plenty?
Danny Rose‘s performance is one that had to be seen to be believed, statistics alone don’t really do him justice in conveying his headless chicken routine.
“I’ve never had a conversation with him [Mourinho] and I don’t see why I need to,” Rose said. “As I said before, I’m here for the next 18 months, so I don’t see why I need to have a conversation with the manager. I want to do as well as I possibly can, work as hard as I can to achieve what looked impossible a few weeks ago, and that is finishing in the top four [of the Premier League].”
This morning’s Guardian.
The arrogance, as ever, is quite unchecked.
Conclusion: Jose undoubted did the right thing in resting his key players. The bottom line is that last night we shipped in fewer goals than last time out against this lot.
Rose will be gone in the summer, ideally we could offload him sooner.
Lo Celso continues to baffle. Let’s hope this loan can be terminated next month.
Celly hasn’t even played a full match in his new country and he’s “rubbish. Think about what kind of dressing room he walked into. The boy can play. Him and sessy on the left please Jose.
Celso suffered from not being played through the middle, a bit like when Ndombele suffered from Poch playing him out of position.
Its a shame because Celso obviously failed Mourinho’s test last night he just couldnt handle the defensive duties that were placed on him and the rest of his game suffered.
Another weird Levy signing that as Gazza said amounted to a third of our summer transfer activity.
H, surely Jose has had some assurances that the squad will be improved?
We don’t know how good he is because he’s not been integrated. Everyone stunk the place out last night, picking out any player is unhelpful.
Getting rid of Paul Mitchell was an awful decision.
How many starts is that for Celso. 2? I said no more than 10. Wasted an entire window p%ssing about to get this average player on loan no less….. total utter joke.
I would say last nights game told me there was more than two you couldn’t trust, Dier, Lo Celso, Walker-Peters, Rose and Eriksen have to go for starters, they all need to be replaced.
Of the starters KW-P, unfortunately, had the worst game I have seen from him in a Spurs shirt and I have always championed the kid, so it was sad to see him perform so badly. Danny Rose is but a shell of the top class FB of 2/3 years ago and Dier was indeed, last night, unremittingly dire. As for Erikssen, another disinterested, lacklustre, display, which frankly should see him banished to the reserves.
Lo Celso, showed one or two neat touches, but his work rate is definitely suspect, he doesn’t seem fit and is quite lightweight. The other problem with Lo Celso is the loan aspect. Does Mourinho actually want him? If not then he may just nix the purchase, although it seems it is mandatory if we qualify for the Champions League. To me Lo Celso is a bit like Juan Mata, only not as good and we all know how Jose did not rate Mata as highly as I would imagine most of us did. Overall, this doesn’t bode well for the longevity of Lo Celso’s stay in North London.
Foyth is apparently a different story as Mourinho picked him out by name and was highly complimentary about him. It is to be hoped that Foyth flourishes under Mourinho. He has the talent, he just needs to learn correct defensive discipline. Naturally he was also complimentary about Sessegnon, who took his goal with aplomb and is quicker than I realised. Under Mourinho he has every chance to develop into a top class wing back.
My only complaint last night about Mourinho, was playing Lucas Moura, in a position he doesn’t like, instead of playing Parrott. What was the point in bringing Parrott, thereby not playing him the CL Youth League and then keeping him on the bench the whole game. It made no sense at all. Apart from that beef, I am sure it was a useful learning exercise for Mourinho, but not so much benefit for those fringe players who under-achieved.
BBC have Liverpool looking at Minamino of Saltzburg with a release clause of 7.25M.How come we haven’t spotted this?He would start a lot more games for us than the bindippers.This is typical of how we seem to be so far behind other teams in identifying transfer targets.
He looks a cracking little player.
I agree that time may not be on the side of some of the players under Mourinho.But we will see in January whether Levy is prepared to back his man this time or whether he will suffer the way Poch did.He has certainly made the right noises at the moment for Levy/ENIC.
Bayern were the second good side we have met since Jose took over and again it wasn’t pretty watching.His problem is the number of first 11 players who are not good enough and most of the first team squad who are not fit for purpose.
I agree with many of your ratings. KW-P will never be a PL footballer. I am unconvinced by Gazza and suspect Maureen will buy a top class keeper and sell Lloris. I think there are footballers in Foyth and Lo Celso, but I am not sure they will be given the time by Maureen who is impatient and wants immediate success, which is not always attainable. Let’s not forget that he sold de Bruyne , Salah and Lukakau for peanuts, costing Chelsea a fortune, because he was not prepared to give them the time to develop.
If only we had taken Coutinho on loan, he was brilliant last night. Levy based his valuation of 150 mill for Eriksen on Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona, but Eriksen has never been in the same league. Bayern showed us once again how to play scintillating football. Apart from superior technique to us, they had one other great advantage, pace throughout the team and speed of thought.
Gio would have flourished under a backed Poch. Jose doesn’t really use flair players in midfield…
I think Mourinho learned a lot about certain players last night and hopefully decisions will be made about them.
My thoughts on the players last night:
Gazza-some useful saves,generally good distribution,but his handling is flaky-6/10
KWP-positionally suspect for most of the game,didn’t do himself any favours-4.5
Foyth-steady performance,I hope he makes it-6
Toby-did well to keep an inexperienced side going,always reliable-6
Rose-struggled to have an impact,not as good this season as he thinks-5
Sissoko-back to his bad ways,sloppy in possession-5
Dier-where do you start,absolutely awful,don’t know how he lasted so long-2.5
Lo Celso-another one who never took his chance,needs a run in the side in preference to Eriksen.Will probably leave in January-5
Eriksen-where do you start,absolutely awful,shouldn’t play again-3
Sessignon-took his goal well showed some promise,positioning not great-5.5
Moura-headless chicken,should perhaps only come off the bench if at all-4
Comments welcome.
Spot on. This whole Lo Celso’s a wrong ‘un narrative doesn’t wash at all. Far too convenient for Levy to save a few quid. Thing is I do believe he probably wants to leave now his compatriot, Poch has gone.
Very frustrated by the situation with Lo Celso, but lets be fair. He’s a player who joined off the back of a Copa America, only to find his new manager and compatriot’s heart wasn’t in it. Add a dressing room full of wantaways running down their contracts, followed by a huge regime change, and it’s not hard to see why he’s unsettled – especially when he knows it’s currently just a loan.
His lack of fitness on joining, whilst a big concern, was partly explained by Poch at the time.
The whole situation is a mess of bad timing because the lad’s a decent player. I personally think he came to work with Poch and would rather go back to Betis now that’s out the window.
CE shouldn’t train with anyone at our club – else I agree entirely.
There is definitely a talented player in Lo Celso, 16 goals last season in La Liga from midfield testifies to that, but his work rate last night was shocking. I tend to agree with this piece. At 23 if you don’t know that the basic requirement is work rate then there is a flaw in this lads character. You’re at a new club and not in the team, you should be breaking your balls trying to make an impression when the opportunity comes your way. Take Lamela. I know he divides opinion but you can never fault his attitude or endeavour. Lo Celso strolled for the 1st goal letting BM players run beyond him and leaving KWP exposed. The time in the 2nd half he ran along the byline and played a blind square pass giving the ball away, he turns and strolls back to defend and he was found wanting for Coutinhos goal. I am sure the coaches will point all this out to him but I’m not too sure if this lad has the hunger.
I completely disagree with you about Lo Celso. I believe that a player from a different league needs at least one season to adjust to the PL. Last night he was played out of position and he has suffered injury problems. He was also the victim of one Levy’s tortuous transfer negotiations which left him on tenterhooks, not knowing where he was going to play this season. He also had a very good season for Betsi, so we should cut him some slack, rather than judging him on a couple of truncated appearances in this instantaneous Twitter sphere we inhabit. I do agree with you about Rose who has lost the plot and I would let Eriksen train with the youth team, his performances have been a disgrace. Finally, I cannot see what Maureen sees in Dier, he was appalling last night and has been all season.
exactly my thoughts
I would ban the guy from training. I honestly would not have him involved at all in any team activity. He ahs made it clear he wants to leave, he is making it clear on the pitch that he thinks he is gone already.
bang on the money there H, also why waste a spot with Eriksen, shouldn’t be giving him any pitch time