"I really thought we could have nicked something at the end. Maybe a draw. Maybe even a win."
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 11, 2020
Japhet Tanganga on his 'bittersweet' debut.#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/1BjGcYUECa
This is just a tiny selection of the positivity created by Japhet Tanganga’s Premier League debut against Liverpool this weekend.
Watching the young ace’s post match interview, one can’t help but be buoyed by the maturity of the 20-year-old both on and off the pitch.
OPINION
It was interesting that José Mourinho told Sky Sports – just minutes before kick off – that he and his coaching team had also factored in Tanganga’s preseason data when making the decision to select the boy.
Surely another question mark to place over Mauricio Pochettino’s head, given the Argentine had no convincing ‘Plan B’ when occasionally refusing to play Vertonghen.
Onward and upwards.
Very true regarding Sadio Mane and can be added to the long list of botched transfers/transfer failures by Levy that includes Eden Hazard, Moutinho, Willian, Mousa Dembele, Sessegnon (the first time), Maguire (chose Leicester over us), Lopes (young Spanish international keeper), Sancho, Barkley and Grealish.
A huge roster of talent, that would have seen a title winning team assembled at very reasonable prices. Where, just to illustrate the sheer penny wise/pound foolish incompetence of Levy, the re-sale value of Hazard, alone, would have covered the purchase of EVERY player on that transfer list COMBINED!
As an example of the different approach between our two clubs and why they are successful and we are not, is Sadio Mane. Poch was very keen to sign and I believe he even showed him round the training ground, buy Levy wouldn’t pay his demanded salary of £130,000 per week. Liverpool signed him for £34 mill and the rest is history. What is he worth now? The list of very good players that we could have signed over the years but failed because of Levy’s incompetence is too long to mention but continuing to make the same mistakes over the years is a sign that Levy’s time is done and he should be sacked.
There is a similar article on the BBC about how Spurs and Pool have travelled in opposite directions since the CL final and it is sobering.It starkly lays out the different attitudes of the owners towards the teams and the future for us is not bright.
We are only in the top half of the table by virtue of other teams failing to take advantage of our slip ups (shades of our top 4 finish last season) and who would have hope of getting anything from Watford next weekend.The result next week could see us back in the lower half of the table,but Levy probably won’t look to spend anything until about 2 days before the window closes.Ergo no new signings.At least next season we won’t have the distraction of European football,conversely nothing to attract the quality of players we so desperately need.
Anybody with the money can build a football stadium, but it takes genius to build a winning football team.
The speed of our decline is shocking.
You are preaching to the converted. I wrote a similar piece yesterday, and suggested that contributors to this site read an article on Eurosport which was written on Friday which detailed precisely what you have just said. Having got their priorities on the pitch right, Liverpool will now extend their capacity at Anfield.
Now we set Japhet up, load our dreams and hopes on a nineteen years olds shoulder, then when he turns out to be a mere mortal, get rid of the useless pr*tt.
And 15 big ones for the manager. The top is doing well.
Spot on re Eriksen. As soon as Walker was sold and not replaced we lost our free flowing, attacking football. The worry will be Levy holding any money from sales for later windows which is the pattern.
The only relevant comparison is as follows. In this corresponding fixture, just over 2 years ago, we thrashed Liverpool 4-1 at home (at Wembley), At that time we had finished above Liverpool eight times in nine years, including that season, 2017/18. Since that game however the two clubs have gone in exactly opposite directions. The single determining factor? The ambition of the respective ownership groups
The Liverpool ownership, under John Henry, prioritised building the team, over developing their stadium. Lewis and Levy (ENIC), prioritised property development over building the team. The disparity between our (world class) new stadium and the (second rate/second class) team currently playing in it, as opposed to Liverpool’s first class/CL winning squad, bears testimony to that fact.
The bottom line is this. Without significant investment, to rebuild the team, we are not going to finish in the top four again any time soon. City and Liverpool are a class apart and Chelsea and Utd are now ahead of us and no doubt willing to invest in their squads, which are currently stronger than ours, to stay there. If Lewis and Levy can’t match the ambition of the fans, then the message is clear. Sell the f*cking club and hand the reins over to an ownership group that can.
If Jose and his team factored in pre-season data it took a bloody long time for him to act after our appalling results against bottom teams. Nothing to do with Poch whatsoever. Jose and his team knew we needed pace and mobility down back against Liverpool. He tried to resurrect Dier, a pointless exercise and Verts is so slow he can no longer start. Pretty obvious I would have thought.
Jose’s plan B ought to have started with at least one of Lo Celso or Lamela. Winks and Eriksen had disaster written all over it.
It should av been 3 or 4 nil before the chances at the end….
Yes. And instead of focusing on these huge and very real issues what do the social media twatter Spurs fans focus on??
#star in the making
After one match that was a defeat due to said players mistake.
Lunacy. Kool aid Levy cult.
I remember when Carter Vickers looked impressive in an early match and he was talked up as the next Ledley……😵😵😵
Spin, expectation management and flat out bollox. ENIC.
Any Tottenham fan who’s optimistic on account of yesterday’s match I really have no advice at all cos it’s a lost cause. Keep throwing money at them I suppose….
Spot on and well said.
He is on £70,000 pa for a player whom Levy valued at 150 mill. Why was he not offered a commensurate rate several seasons ago. I can’t imagine why he was deemed to be worth so much less than Lloris, Alli and Son. I don’t blame him for going. In fact, I wouldn’t blame any player for wanting to leave Spurs. We are not a club based on the right principles.
Ah ok, I thought that might be the case. Thanks for confirming.
Managers, Directors Of Football, Donna Cullens… all designated fire breaks to take the heat off Levy and ENIC.
It’s a familiar corporate trick, remember the horse meat in the Findus pies scandal? Blame the supply chain and the suppliers.
Only no refunds for season tickets, like you’d get on a faulty washing machine..
Well the ENIC spin is in full flow now. Jose was very happy with the performance and thought it was one our best since he came. Talk about looking for crumbs on a bare table. It was a shocking first half in which we just threw a defensive line across our last third and invited Liverpool to camp in our half. Long ball hoofs anywhere , no midfield whatsover and only a matter of time before they scored. Yes Tanganga had a good debut and he looks an athlete and maybe will come good but our problems go way deeper than that. This is a squad and football club in free fall.We have no strikers. We have no wing backs. We have no midfield. Levy will look to offload Eriksen ,Foyth and Wanyama in order to raise funds. It will be the same tired and ambitionless practice of only using funds from selling to buy. That equates to zero investment which equates to zero ambition. It looks an increasing certainty that we may have no European football next season and that I suspect will see possible transfer requests come in from Son and Kane. Eriksen is gone but at one time he was a world class talent and one of the lowest paid at the club. Whatever Eriksen is now he is a product of ENIC and Levys making. I do not blame him from wanting out. He is an intelligent guy I suspect and does not wish to waste his career at a club owned by these lying parasites.
She is there purely to deflect any criticism of Enic and Levy by making gratuitously untrue statements about how well the club is run. So in fact, she serves no identifiable useful purpose.
Levy should be sacked.
It’s the typical hype from ENIC, throwing little crumbs to the starving peasants while they cream it in.
Tanganga looks very promising and it was a highlight with the team in the doldrums.
However I agree, using a kid in a vain attempt to brighten the skies around ENIC’s penny pinching and a terrible performance is quite beyond parody.
No wonder some of our kids get startled in the headlights at Spurs. Too much is put on them to deflect from the real issues.
The summer before last, ahead of the year of signing nobody, Donna Cullen said how lucky the fans were to have Levy in charge and how Skipp and Amos would step up and be like new signings.
18 months later we are still waiting for that offensive rubbish to be substantiated…
Who is Donna Cullen, what does she do apart from make pointless statements every couple of years?
The loan repayments for the stadium debt have to be made. Then Joe Lewis has to be paid his dividends and Levy has to get his over inflated salary and his undeserved bonus, so there is no money left for player recruitment, QED!
When you’re Levy, everything is difficult when it comes to football. 😂
I believe it wasn’t long ago the boy Tango was on his way out…looks very good but lets not get carried away…. Parrot obviously isn’t ready so Levy really needs to spend some money, why is it so bloody difficult…
This is getting weird now…..”winning mentality” they lost.
It’s Pochs “I feel like a winner” all over again.
It’s 1 match and the kids being used as a smokescreen for the utter disaster this x football club is….he’s gonna single handedly tear ENIC fc out of the doldrums into a trophy winning dynasty!😬😧
Circus never leaves town.