International break is upon us, and for once it feels like a blessed relief, if you follow Spurs.
Yes we’ve been playing badly, the results don’t lie and neither do the score lines, but just how badly and what are the worst aspects of the way we’re playing that have ultimately led to them?
“We were complete pony” is the usual response you give when you’ve been trounced 7-2 at home, no matter what the standard of the opposition. However, we could have been 4-0 up in the first half but that ended up being 2-0, then the recently familiar pattern of conceding a goal just before half time returned. Attack still competent, with a leggy defence lacking focus?
Fans and Pundits alike are asking “why play an ageing defence pushed that high up? Why play Aurier? We know he’s a defensive liability…” etc. It’s also clear that this is primarily a defensive issue and one that affects the personnel that play those positions.
However, most of us could well be missing the point here and this whole situation may have a certain familiarity about it. Cast your minds back to when Poch first arrived from Saints, he took over a hotchpotch squad, of the ‘magnificent 7’ Bale money incomers and random players like Fazio and Stambouli.
Plus the dead wood such as Adebayor, Kaboul and Dawson etc. Lots of players that firstly didn’t suit the way he wanted his team playing but even if they did earlier in their careers, many of them were also either at the wrong end of their twenties or in their early thirties.
Poch’s whole reputation was built around his great work, using a core of very young and hungry players, sure he can teach the odd old dog new tricks, but generally he steers clear of it.
There could well have been a complacent hierarchy within the playing staff and probably a few egos bouncing about when he arrived (as with many clubs). Poch probably knew that players like Kaboul and Adebayor, particularly at that stage of their careers weren’t going to fit into his high energy pressing game and high intensity training sessions. He may have also even seen it day to day in training, he probably already knew what he was dealing with.
Rather than just freeze these players out and have some massive stand off with them, Poch named Kaboul as skipper and played as many of the old guard as he could in the early part of his tenure. This was to let them go out there and allow them to show the world how well they could really play under his methods.
Many of the older players or the younger ones that just didn’t fit in, played like they were in shock at the sudden culture change and all fell by the wayside, as Poch pieced together a young dynamic team and the rest is history.
Could this current malaise be merely history repeating itself? The only difference this time around is that the players in question have been at the heart of the Poch project for over five seasons.
The problem now is that they no longer fit the profile that Poch wants, particularly in defence. They’re too old, too slow and want contracts that don’t reflect their intrinsic value to the manager any more, and if they were all under 26, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about this.
The fact is they aren’t under 26 any more and Rose, Verts and Toby all want one last big contract and it’s looking increasingly unlikely that they’re going to get that at Spurs.
Personally I would have tried to tie Toby down as he’s still only 28 and a quality defender. Then again, he wants a huge final contract just as his legs begin to slow him down. The same goes for the others and Aurier is what he is; just not up to the job.
Meanwhile, Sanchez, Foyth and Sessegnon are lined up for integration. In midfield LoCelso and Ndombele have also been added, also both under the age of 23.
The complacent hierarchy of players he may have encountered when he first arrived at Spurs has now emerged again mainly because of Father Time. Poch has recently spoken of a ’rebuild’, ‘agendas’ and not being a ’charity’. Poch knows what works for him and his staff and it’s pretty clear that he’s ruthless when he needs to be, as all top managers often are.
However, the way the whole thing has been handled from the top and the timing of all this is shocking, this is something that seems clearly out of Poch’s control and ultimately Levy’s responsibility.
One thing is for sure though, the old saying ‘give them enough rope, and they’ll hang themselves’ is very much applicable here. Both to Poch’s approach to his rebuild strategy and what we are currently seeing on the pitch.
Which might also explain why he doesn’t look particularly panicked by the whole debacle either…
Everyting bles like firm bres mate. Man skin tik and I don’t mean only on the bottom of my feet😁 they both come with age you know. Nows where’s my angle grinder (dewalt) I need a pedicure😂😂 oh and my “snap on” snips as my toe nails need doing too😁
Exactly, he counts on fans emotional ties to the club, not on their reason. Would have been a better way to have put it. Soz mate, wasn’t intended to offend our own.
Daughter just signed me up to another 16 years contract😁
“Mindless” we’ve been called worse. I can’t remember the last Christmas I haven’t spent money on spurs stuff.
Yes, in the psychology of enic last weekend will be viewed with huge satisfaction as an unalloyed triumph, a landmark in enic history. Somehow they have broken into the wildly lucrative US sports market and will now focus everything on expanding their unlikely connection to NFL, sweating its opportunities to the max, never letting go.
As for the harrowing scenes at Brighton, it’s almost certain no feelings of culpability or remorse will have entered levy’s head, while Joe probably doesnt even know there was a game at Brighton. Suddenly there are much bigger fish to fry.
You have to understand the psychology of a man like Daniel Levy. He is currently utterly unconcerned by any of this, truly, not on his radar as a problem. This is a minor ripple in otherwise calm seas as he journeys towards a venue with ever increasing profit margins, a venue that has de-coupled from its reliance on its anchor tenant and an eventual 2billion quid sale of the whole shebang. He’ll do just enough as and when is necessary, he’s seen it all before and he knows that there are enough mindless Spurs punters who will keep paying their subs. The hard part for him is over. Knocking down WHL, the years at Wembley, that was the shit he was worried about and Poch and the team took care of that better than he could ever imagined, so this, this is gravy.
Completely agree, there has been a complete lack of ‘churn’ in the transfer market, both ins and outs.
The situation has been neglected so long that now we have 4 key players in this situation plus lots of other dead wood.
Doesn’t change Poch’s approach though, he’s still letting them hang themselves…
that’s what contracts are for mate. TO give people security. Iwouldnt be surprised to start seeing contracts that stipulate that if after x games the teams are below a certain league position then they can be sacked for free. Football is sadly one of those places where real life is not relevant. They reward failure, their is no crime you can commit that will end your career (as long as you still are good enough when you get out) and no club will sack their best person no matter what. In the real world, if I had rocked up and showed as much care as our lot did against Brighton, I would likely be brought up in front of the boss – if I had been that way since Christmas!! Let alone CE – could you imagine publicly saying you wanted to leave, then not trying – you would be out on your ear regardless of who wants to employ you…Footballers live a blessed life.
Good write up – as usual…This goes to show another flaw in Poch’s managerial approach (or ENICs/Levy/Lewis…whomever) which is small introductions over past 5 yrs could have fixed this. We bought Sanchez and Foyth…great, but have not rotated them in enough to develop. We watched Rose and Davies age but didn’t try to fill their space. Right back we tried, but not very well. Midfielders arrived late and starting to see issues at the other end now.
This is an issue of neglect – waiting until you HAVE to spend rather than think ahead. Age is not a surprise, you can see players slowing, attitude changing, and maybe slow that or turn it around but I can predict with ABSOLUTE certainty that our entire team, club, fan base will all be 1 year older next year, and 2years the year after. If we had bought a prospect 2yrs ago, they wuld be ready now (with rotation).
Probably did it on purpose. More profit in soft drinks.
So. We ran out of bear in the third quarter. Someone lost their job today😂
Great article.
Lets hope Poch squad Mark 2 takes us to some silverware.
You know when you keep forgetting to by bread. you brush and blow off the mould for a little while, pick some of it off and that, but eventually…
Why would he be panicked?If he gets sacked he won’t leave empty handed,he’ll walk away with the best part of 30M sovs.That’s what the journos don’t understand when they write their headlines about any manager facing the prospects of being sacked.It’s a win/win situation for them and I’ve never understood the policy of rewarding failure with huge payouts.These days this doesn’t only apply to football.
Great. Piece again H as you say potch knew this situation was coming most of us on here reckoned it was inevitable looking at ENIC and their buisness model.