Spurs lost 3-1, our defence is shocking, thanks very much we got the memo. That said, it’s only by going through the debris that we might discover why the plane fell out of the sky.
Here’s the ball in Leeds’ counter-attack and I’d like you to focus on one man – the referee. He’s the guy in the purple shirt – Michael Oliver.
Spurs have 3 men in the frame, Eric Dier close to the ‘d’ of our area and Højbjerg and Ndombele, left of centre.
By the time the ball is in the box, Eric Dier has made his customary bad decision, and despite there being one clear choice to make – to cover the Leeds player behind him – he makes a dart to the advancing player. Which simultaneously opens Rodrigo to a pass.
Now, look where the referee is. Also bear in mind he’s not chasing the ball, he’s merely looking to be in a good place to see what’s happening.
By the time the shot is rattled in, Michael Oliver has got back faster than Reguilon, Højbjerg, and is almost level with Tanguy.
Outpaced by someone who wasn’t even playing, it says it all.
I think it’s alluded to below, but this lot just don’t like each other. Probably too many cliques, bad apples, trouble-makers and wage thieves. The ones who used to care have wised up and given up, and the ones that think their job is to turn up and go through the motions have got the manager sacked and are now running the show.
I remember when the first thing Poch did was get rid of the likes of Kaboul etc who had been rumoured to have been trouble for his predecessor and poison in the dressing room, our next manager needs to BACKED, not just with a few quid to spend, but by Levy actually moving on the dross and the bad-attitudes without delay.
Yes, I did notice this, my reaction was somewhere between livid and resigned-to
I think Lloris hit the nail on the head after the Europa shambles where by saying most of the folk who come off the bench…exception of Moura & possibly Lamela tend to just jog around…whether thats either due to believing they should start or dont like the ethos or the training regime is largely irrelevant .. these guys are well paid & atm seem like they are on holiday. I cant recall too many league games this season where by subs have come on & changed the game for our benefit.
Wow 🙁
Cheers fella
Great stuff H. You nailed it with this one.
Good links with Brighton as Paul Barber their Chief executive used to be on the board at Spurs
Yes it is he who cuts the offside so he is responsible whatever happens on this goal (again and always …)!
Yep, he was the one playing them onside, although it was fairly tight, but another mistake nonetheless.
Well said. Also well done harry hotspur as this is one of the very few sites that says the truth about what’s happening at spurs.
You’ve nailed it. These people are effectively antisocial and unprofessional when put together. No churn.
Agreed!
Bear in mind he’d only recently come on!!!!
That was another political appointment by Levy designed to soften the anti JM mob.
Isn’t Ledley the defensive coach off the pitch? Not working out, is it.
Watching Nbombele painfully entering the field exhausted after 20 meters of jogging in his substitution made me wonder if he would last 90 sek.
There does seem to some serious “people” issues at Spurs.. This seem to have started in the last year under Poch, and has continued under Mourinho. If anyone thought Mourinho was the problem, the game against leeds made it clear it was not. This is clearly not a team – and I can remember the video on Sissoko and Winks. Who ever comes in is going to have to do some serious work to get the team spirit going. There was a total lack of desire and commitment. Mourinho was criticized for his comments on the likes of Bale after the Arsenal game, but clearly he was right. These are a bunch of lazy buggers and even the likes of Son appear disinterested.
Levy is not to blame for the coaching of the players, therefore a long hard look at the coaches since Poch left needs to be addressed, the overall workrate, defensive positioning and midfield weakness is killing us.
At least a half dozen players out and the same in which would take a season to adapt, so there is not much chance of success next season as things stand, however I would accept that if it meant certain players were kicked out, and I mean kicked !
This is absolutely the ‘Thing’.. Teams play us and run rings round us because they move off the ball, create space for a pass. Our players look up and throw their arms about as if to say ‘Who wants the ball’. We just wait for either Harry or Sonny to produce a ‘Moment’.. And i also totally agree with the statement about Erikson and Dembele, they made it tick. On Saturday, once Kane’s goal was dissallowed it’s like they gave up, you could just see what was going to happen, just for the fact that leeds had energy and we actually passing the ball to their own players..
Disecting these events leads me again to a conclusion that these players do not like playing with each other. The last Europa fixture which saw a healthy advantage thrown away was a disgrace and has split this group. Why should those with an ounce of integrity be always let down by the slackers / shysters.
At Roma next season
Agree Dier has to close down Raphina. The only issue is that he arguably played them onside on the build up.
Dier is poor but if you’ve ever played the game you’d know that he has to go the the man with the ball. Not his fault there’s no other f*cker doing their job.
I’ve been harping on about this for a while now but the biggest problem is midfield … from/around the Leceister defeat onwards they simply dont have the fitness levels to play 90 minutes…which is why we nearly always concede goals in the last 20 minutes of games
Hojbjerg and Ndombele were both just jogging and made no effort to track Rafinha. Toby went missing. Absolute shambles.
Yeah that’s very true. I’d go all out for Potter then.I was just thinking a Hojberg in form alongside Bissouma would be pretty energetic.
Sign the referee.
It is very apparent when watching the team that during matches many of our players are static and not moving whilst the opposition whoever they may be appear to be constantly on the move. This is very obvious when we attempt to play out from the back. Not only do we move the ball around at a snails pace but players are not creating space for each other especially in midfield. Our problems are defence at CB and fullback and in the middle where we have no movement or transition at speed.Our best players are in attack but they get isolated and we effectively lose them for large periods of the game. This happens when we play better teams who win the midfield and cause our back line to drop deep into our own half. Erickson for all the criticism he received was a top quality transitional player as was Dembele. They have never been effectively replaced. We needed Bruno Fernandez and Levy once again showed his intent by loaning a cheap punt with the same name who was useless. Ndombele has talent but he has no engine and is most effective for us behind our front players not deeper where he gets passed around to easily
I don’t think you can apportion much blame to Dier there. He’s on his own. He has to try and cover both players at the same time. He could possibly have feinted to go towards the ball and force Rafinha to pass and then make him look silly. But that would be top-class defending and he isn’t in that bracket. He made it very easy for Rafinha. The other lads, yes. Very poor.
The defence is a shambles. If the captain, who should see what’s happening from his position & shout out, can’t organise people, give the job to someone who can. I’d be flabbergasted if Levy gave the manager’s job to an Englishman.
Who’s the defence coaching team leader? If there is one.
Or you could ask where the fk is good old Toby. If he was where he should be then Dier wouldn’t have two to track but we all know Toby can’t do anything wrong.
That would upset Brighton, losing the manager and 2 of their best players! Can’t see them selling anyone to us if Potter comes!
Well, I was proud of one of the teams on that pitch!
Great bit of analysis which absolutely sums up the problem. I’m convinced that Graham Potter is our guy. I’ve heard so much about what he not only expects from his players but what he gets from his players. We could get rid of Regulon and NDombele and get in Bissouma and Lamptey.