It was never ever going to be an easy ride this season and that would have been the case even without the Covid pandemic.
The reason is simple, Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy.
Now, I will say straight up so there is no ambiguity that I fully support Mourinho, I believe he is a brilliant hire and will, if given the time, lead Tottenham to success.
I am also a supporter of Levy and what he is trying to do with the club and yes, I know that flies in the face of consensus on this site and in the wider Tottenham family.
Let’s start with Levy first and the way he runs the club and what he is looking to achieve in the long run.
Levy does own a part of ENIC, just under 30% in fact, Joe Lewis controls the remaining 70% and so naturally he treats it like a business and why not?
The idea that all he is interested in is the bottom line is far too simplistic because without success on the field of play the bottom line will not grow how he would want.
Of course, the Stadium will eventually bring in a ton of money for non-football related activities but it is in the football area that most money will be derived.
Sponsors will always pay extra to successful teams, there is more TV money, more prize money, bigger attendances and so on when a team wins silverware. When they don’t, their value diminishes, this is business 101.
Levy hired Mourinho because he wants silverware, whether that is to buff up the bottom line or not is irrelevant, what is relevant is that the cheap option was not taken because the Chairman wants glory and why any Tottenham fan would criticise that is beyond me.
In my opinion, what Levy is doing at Spurs should be applauded, he is building something that will stand the test of time and keep Spurs in the elite group of football clubs for decades to come.
Levy is an easy target because he is unfairly compared to other owners, Roman Abramovich for example, well, I hope you are sat down because this may come as a bit of a shocker but Spurs has never been run as a Russian Oligarchs toy project (or Gangster, whatever rocks your boat) and never will be.
Tottenham has always been a self-sustaining model and long may that continue.
Now, Mourinho.
As I have already stated above, I believe he is a brilliant hire and will bring us success but that does not mean he walks on water and is not immune to mistakes.
He is to blame for the defeat against Liverpool, he picked the team, he set up the tactics and strategy, he made the appaling substitutions, he did the half time team talk and so on, the buck stops at his door.
Yes, there were individual errors but the truth is that Spurs were always second best and even without those errors, would probably have lost regardless, why? Because Mourinho got it absolutely wrong.
Liverpool was there for the taking and Mourinho never took the opportunity presented to him, he reverted to type in a game that did not require his park the bus method, it needed ambition and courage, something the boss lacked.
Then to blame the players just compounded his mistakes.
Mourinho does have a very good squad available to him, I do not go with the narrative that Spurs is full of mediocrity, in my opinion, the Spurs squad is superior to that of West Ham and Leicester City etc and yet, Tottenham are below them in the standings, why? Who is to blame for that?
Mourinho will need his own players to implement his ideas and that will take time, however, to criticise the players that he currently has when it is him picking them lets him off the hook and that is simply not right.
Mourinho brought on Lamela against Liverpool, no one else, that was all the managers doing and so if it is the case that he does not play Vinicius or Bale or Alli because of what he sees in training then what is he seeing that puts Lamela and Moura in front of that trio?
It cannot be both ways, either Mourinho is getting it right with his selections or he is not, if he feels that Lamela can do a better job than Vinicius then so be it, that is on him and not Lamela when he does not deliver.
I fully expect my opinion to be dissected and belittled by some because that is what Tottenham has become today.
There are now separate factions within the fanbase, those that believe Mourinho can do no wrong and it is all the player’s fault, those that put the blame at Levy’s door and blame him for all the ills of the club, those that cannot stand the manager and feel he is toxic no matter what results he serves up and so on.
There is now very little consensus among the fans, there is the pro-Mourinho camp and the anti-Mourinho camp, those that feel that Levy is building something special in North London and those that believe he is detrimental and needs to be ousted and sadly, I do not see these differing camps coming together, even if the dust in the cabinet is hoovered up and silverware put in its place.
If we are not careful we will end up like that deluded lot down the road and that is not something we want as a fanbase.
Very good piece Mr Grove.
The fabric seems to be unravelling a bit and once again we face the problems of where to patch, where to darn and where to replace.
We are plodding along with a somewhat unimaginative program of trying to win by playing with an 8 man defence and a two man attack, hoping we can continue to capitalize on the synergistic efforts of Kane and Son in a strategy which as kids we used to call “kick and run”. Is this truly the best Jose can come up with?
We have no forward midfield that can create; our most creative player is played too deep. The idea we can just soak up pressure, suck the opposition forward and hope to get a goal on the break, then defend a 1 – 0 lead is a strategy used by Big Sam and other mangers of the perennial relegation fodder.
Oh and of course…………….we have the now somewhat predictable Kane injury which happens each January ….. kung hei fat choi……. its the year of the ankle again!
Is this Jose’s fault? Well sort of. I don’t doubt he’s identified by now what he has and what he hasn’t, and what he has to make do with or make the best of.
I think he has done some some good work so far; shoring up weaknesses, calling out bullshit which has started (tho’ still a long way to go) in toughening up our competitive mentality – (tho’ the second half on Thursday showed us up as still having a Spursy streak).
So what’s missing? Well in the summer we should have bought Skriniar or some such who could boss the defence: Dier is not that man and Toby’s legs are beginning to fray. But I think we do have sufficient squad quality in defence that a proper “boss” of the defence will bring the others into line – I simply don’t think they are being led as a unit.
We need a creative Number10, someone who can dictate play, move the play or hold the play – (sadly CE is not that player: he was at one time but for the last few years was only about 60% of that player on a good day).
Without someone who can transition from defence to attack Harry gets drawn back, which “can” work well if the opposition overextend, but more frequently leave us without a target man to clear to – and given there’s no transitional midfielder, we give the ball away or plant in into the stands – finding touch is the other code!
My guess is this is something Jose is painfully aware of and is probably highly disappointed some players have not stepped up (namely Dier and Alli) into owning those two roles.
So do we blame Jose? Not at this point I’m guessing he’s bent Levy’s ear about what he needs to happen to mould and keep the squad fresh. But still, he has to do better and be more consistent – as young Mr Grove says, he screwed up against Liverpool and its not the only occasion this season….
So what needs to happen?
Well in simple terms Levy needs to sell the players who we don’t want and replace them with players who can/will allow Jose to play the football he wants………….. and there’s the rub.
Again and as with Jose its not black and white. There’s no doubt that, as someone noted earlier, we are now aspiring top 4 not mid table aspiring for top 6. The club infrastructure is world class and but for Covid would have had us starting to roll in it. Levy has done a first rate job in positioning the club as a robust business for the future.
But Levy has never been one to over-invest in the playing staff despite all evidence pointing to the cost of under-investment. We will buy Lo Celso instead of Bruno Fernandes why? Because it was a better deal, but like buying from Aldi, it might be cheaper, but its less ………. robust/talented/injury free/aggressive (strike out according to the particular Levy deal you’re now thinking of).
We are about to see the window close and in all likelihood no significant change to the squad. Given the two year transfer lock-down when the stadium was being built, I expect that Levy will be unlikely to release funds unless we can sell, which we will find challenging as unsurprisingly, he wants to buy at Covid prices but sell at pre-Covid prices.
Given the above, I think we will see little or no squad refreshment, a style of play predicated not on what we would like to do, but on what we can do, whilst Levy/Jose groom youngsters to make the money Covid has denied us.
So what next?
I think we will see out this season trying to win a cup and staying high enough to get a berth in Europe next year. CL will be tough unless we win the Ropey.
I think the squad will continue to fray and unravel in parts and I think we will see a lot of undermining in the press and unsettling as places like Real Madrid work to unseat players: I think both Son and Kane will be under a lot of pressure this summer to leave. I also think Levy will look at the money being offered and try to talk Jose into accepting plastic instead of leather.
If Levy does not fund Jose, he won’t walk but he’ll undermine and damage and force Levy to sack him…its what he does! Nonetheless, I can’t help but admire the man: for so long we have needed someone who has the single minded focus to succeed. He’s good for this club.
So in summary, both Levy and Jose are coins with two sides – good and bad. The big question, and it still remains to be seen, is whether they will work to bring the best or the worst out of each other.
No amount of coaching will alter the fact that most of these players are simply not good enough. It’s ludicrous to suggest that our squad is stronger than Leicester’s. What you should have said was … if given the time and the money he’ll bring success.
‘but didn’t kick on. We didn’t invest to push us on, for whatever reason that is debated for eternity.’
Not for eternity mate. “Levy”….. debate over! 😂
The last manager should have been backed, in line with his achievements. That’s all water under the bridge now, as it always is with ENIC.
I just can’t see them backing Jose in the way some are suggesting. Yes he’s proven and decorated, this will appeal to their risk averse nature. However, when you look back at his CV, the clubs he achieved those things were hell bent on winning at that particular time. They were speculating, by investing in a proven winner and backing him to the hilt. Levy just won’t do that, so we’re back to the grind of the previous 20 years?
Are ENIC ever going to match City, Liverpool Utd or Chelsea’s spending? All this infrastructure will not bring that kind of comparative spending, either now, or in 10 years. The infrastructure and stadium are great but it will never elevate our revenue streams to spend with the biggest clubs.
Owners like Fenway understand the value in building a global winning brand. In order to do that you have to win in the first place by investing and speculating in that end.
Levy thinks he can do it the other way round, which is why Leicester have won the title and we haven’t. As just one example…
No. It’s regression, top 4 is crucial.
Baldy will think it too, even if the whole mess is mainly his fault…
I’m not talking about anything other than sorting out basic errors on the pitch and tactical tweaks. I think for a coach of his pedigree and having been at the club well over a year now, that’s reasonable enough.
Good to be in a final, the season is alive and kicking but the way we’ve dropped points lately is sort of concerning. Especially if it keeps happening….
Levy has failed in recruiting the right staff to get in the right players. That is unacceptable. Recruitment is not an exact science, but some of the buys have been total head scratchers and done so on the cheap.
Question is, if we win the Caffeine Cup and finish 5th, is this a good season?
We are a team that cannot compete financially with Chelsea, City, Utd, Arsenal or Liverpool. I still question how Jose will turn us into a title challenging team without substantial financial backing, when he has no record of winning in this way, even at Porto.
Managers rarely win without spending huge sums and rarely break the big teams’ reign. Clough/Taylor, Fergie at Aberdeen, Benitez at Valencia are a few. Many of Leicester’s title winning team were on bigger money than the Spurs lot too, but they have to be included. Our own Burkinshaw didn’t too bad, although we were miles away from Liverpool (The 82 League Cup summed us up, we were better than Liverpool, but lost 3-1!).
We needed Mourinho when we had Walker, Jan, Toby, Rose, Dembele, Dele, Son and Kane. 8 top, top players at the time (not even including Lloris). Jose has 2 now, with one injured. Nagelsmann and Rodgers are suited to Tottenham’s ‘historical’ style of play, but what have they won? Arteta won the FA Cup, if only Poch had taken the national cups more seriously (but Levy wanted Ch Lg and Poch delivered), but Arsenal Football Club have shown that their financial backing hasn’t been good enough as their recruitment is as bad as ours (Luiz, Pepe, Willian, Sokratis, Mustafi).
Thee is no guaranteed formula to success, but having a shed load of cash is a priority unless someone knows a Clough/Taylor combo. Ole at Utd is miraculously improving Utd. I wonder why? Might have something to do with the near £300m he has spent. It definitely isn’t his tactics.
Totally agree. Jose does not have the quality and Levy does not have a track record of ready to go players.
I hear what your saying. But how is not getting in grealish for a extra few million not for the club? When you could clearly see he would be worth more being English also. Thats poor investment. I’m sure that window we basically signed no 1. So I dont agree fully, you have to know when to not penny pinch. and you can say we never know if grealish would have been good for us. But as a run of football I think you could see grealish was a good player and clearly worth more.
He does need time and as you quoted me I will do the same.
“Now, I will say straight up so there is no ambiguity that I fully support Mourinho, I believe he is a brilliant hire and will, if given the time, lead Tottenham to success”
If given the time is the key phrase there.
However, that does not mean that he should not deal with the here and now and I criticised him for the Liverpool debacle.
But I will not ignore a Carabao cup final, 5th round of FA Cup, last 32 of the Europa League and right in the mix for a top-four place.
Considering he does need his own players and time to get these current players tuned into his methods, I would suggest he is dealing with the here and now quite well.
Yup, we becoming more and more like Arsenal as each day passes.
And rightly so. It was a big time consuming planning permission waiting project. Got it done though and will be well worth it. Big dogs in this now.
Look where we were 20 years ago to where we are now. So in 20 years levy has won one pot but also built our super super infrastructure. If you’d a said to me 13 odd years ago we’re gonna have the best infastructure in the world London’s most valuable club earning untold dough paying players £200k a week turning over big big dough with the most decorated manager in the world in charge CL football (we were struggling to get into Europa then) ida said you’re crazy. Levy got it done man. Shame we couldn’t win a little sutn sutn on the way but we had 10 odd years of good football though. Arry poch. Anyway we’re here now. Tottenham strong
West ham haven’t done anything for years. The fans have vitriolic hatred for the people in charge and they rent their stadium.
They are having a purple patch, but, this is a weird old season.
Leicester have done a fantastic job, first under Ranieri, that was a miracle to win the league, and all credit to them. Rodgers has done a great job, very good young players, good football and a very good team.
We had that under Poch but didn’t kick on. We didn’t invest to push us on, for whatever reason that is debated for eternity.
Liverpool bought in a top class manager, identified the weaknesses and invested. They play great football.
We were almost there under Poch and he just ran out of steam. Whether he was exhausted, not up to it, frustrated at not being backed who knows the full story. There was a genuine chance to do something but that’s gone and it’s history now.
The recruitment so far under Mourinho hasn’t been great, but that is a continuing theme at Spurs, bad buys and not pushing through on the quality when needed. That’s down to Mourinho to sort out going forwards and for Levy to stop messing around in the transfer market. Identify your targets and get them in as quickly possible.
Levy half gets it right and that’s a huge frustration. We have been qualifying for the Champions League regularly over the last x amount of years and got to the final 2 years ago. We need the club to kick on, with the new stadium which is incredible and the facilities the club have, hopefully now, with the right and proper investment we can finally do that.
Is Mourinho the man to deliver, well that’s a wholly different argument and as rightly said, that will divide the fans more than anything.
Money was tight when we were building the stadium. Levy gotta make the money stretch. He ain’t low balling for his own personal gain it’s for TOTTENHAM. Money too tight to mention while building a super stadium
Mourinho doesn’t have a very good squad available to him,aside from probably five players the rest wouldn’t get in any other top side in the PL.Since he came in Mourinho hasn’t really improved the squad apart from PEH and Reggie.
As for Russian oligarch’s toy project,Chelsea have certainly won a lot of trophies,because Abramovich invests in the team.Do you see the correlation here?
Whilst you belittle Leicester in your piece let me ask you a question.Who in our team would get into their’s.Kane and Sonny,that’s it.Their recruitment is excellent and the manager likes to play expansive football.What’s not to like?Oh and refresh my memory what was the score when we played them recently and we were at home.Our 1B pound folly is no football fortress it remains an ENIC w*nkfest,whilst THFC are saddled with the debt.
Some think tottenham dont own the stadium and levy and Joe are taking money out of the club. Absolute rubbish. Anchor Tennant’s. Nonsense.
This is the Levyologists blind spot.
Since when is Levy the oracle of all knowledge when it comes to growing a football club? Over 20 years and one, solitary not very significant trophy is an absolutely abysmal return..
Leicester have been in the Championship during ENIC’s time with us and they’ve won the title and are currently sitting fairly comfortably above us.
Then in flood all the excuses about ‘iffy’ South East Asian investors etc, “oh, why would we want them when we’ve got Levy?”. A League title might be one reason! I’m fed up with the constant flannel about Levy and what his intentions are.
i have no doubt that he’d love to win something big but he won’t ever see an opportunity and seize on it. The football always comes after the financial risk assessments are done, there is no manoeuvre or creativity.
Jose and Bale are more of the same, short term window dressing to cover up of the general lack of direction post-stadium completion… seen it all before.
It’s the only thing the man has cared about for about 10 years.
Invest properly in the playing staff or get out. I don’t see it changing. Ever.
‘Liverpool was there for the taking and Mourinho never took the opportunity presented to him, he reverted to type in a game that did not require his park the bus method, it needed ambition and courage, something the boss lacked.’
Your words not mine, there comes a point where the management have to take the responsibility. I can understand the idea behind a relentless Jose side, winning with ruthless efficiency and conceding very few goals.
However, when your team are finding that problematic and when it is quite obvious in games that you need to get forward and smell blood, you’ve just gotta do it. No excuses. How much emphasis is there in training to ‘switch’ things a little?
Liverpools main issue this season is defending and with our front two, giving them a hard time in that regard is the only logical tactic. Tactically it was a poor performance, individual player errors are commonplace. It’s what you do as a team that matters and Jose and his coaching staff need to solve this conundrum and quickly.
Regardless of the talk of needing more transfer windows, instilling his culture at the club etc the manager always has a job to do in the present. Jose will know how ruthless the game is, is it that hard to address this issue?
How are we different to Liverpool or Leicester or West ham? All these clubs are run as a business too and are doing better than us.
I qualified my statements by saying that he needs time. I also stated he should not be immune to criticism.
If,as you say the squad is a good one, and the examples of Leicester and West Ham that you cite are valid, then Jose has to be to blame becuase you are saying he is not getting as much out of his squad as Rodgers or Moyes are with inferior squads. BTW – I support Jose, but I am baffled by your logic.
With Mou its a tough 1, I think he is a good manager and with the right personal he could do well, he clearly doesn’t trust the back line. He style of play is a bit boring for me but if we are scoring and winning games and end up with a trophy we can not complain to much.
Levy now I respect loads for where he has taken us as a club, I remember the days of going down the lane and finishing 11th, 10th 9th etc. So levy has taken us a far
His downfall is definitely recruitment we have missed the buck with so many players that could have elevated or just what we needed to get us a bit further its like he can’t help himself when it comes to transfers he just wants to penny pinch for the sake of a extra 2 mil, I know 2 mill is alot but in the grand scheme of things we could have had grealish for like 20 somthing but levy wants to lowball the hell out of teams. Same with bruno fernandez and we end up with lo celso not saying he is bad but bruno would have been alot better for us. Its jist things like that, that are holding us back from getting over the line.
We sign a striker to cover kane and he doesn’t even come on when he is injured. Makes no sense. So he clearly is not really good enough or is not trusted by mou so not point in spending 40mil on vinny.
I still think we can make top 4 and maybe win 1 Cup, we seriously need new defenders in the summer mainly cb and get rid of Doherty he is actual terrible and was a poor signing for us. The amount of things he done wrong when serge came off if it was serge doing those things he would be getting slated by are fanbase even more. And people blaming serge for the first goal need to watch the reply back in frames and learn how to understand defending. Serge has 2 people to cover when the ball is about to be played. And islf dier and dates do what they are supposed to and keep in lin mane would be offside and we wouldn’t be talking about dier and Hugo not touching the ball. So blame dier because he can see rodon and he is not keeping in line which intern would keep Davies in line. If you don’t agree then go watch it and you will see.
Jose will no doubt get it wrong on Sunday as he parks the bus again.
It’s all he knows so it will come as no surprise.
It doesn’t work
A: anymore?
B: with this group of players?
This is HIS group of players. He’s been given enough & doesn’t seem to be kicking Dan’s door down this window for more.
If he wants to come out on live TV & tell me that Doherty is a better left winger than Bale or Lamela fine. Doubt he will though as his lunacy will shine through.
Definition of madness has a pic of Jose next to it
Backing Poch would have been the sane thing to do.
But Daniel wasn’t distracted by the Shopping Centre.
No, that did not happen.
At all.
Very good piece.
Levy is frustrating with his brinkmanship transfer dealings and needs to understand getting the players in over the desire to get the best price can be counteproductive.
However, we are a different project to the other teams and how he is building is as a business, get the foundations in and build to sustain the project. It’s sensible, but football is the here and now and granted the length of time he has been in charge the club havent won the silverware which is the barometer of success.
Poch and Mourinho are vastly different characters, Poch built up a lot of goodwill with many fans and they appreciated the journey he took the club on. At times the football was incredible and in all fairness he did an amazing job.
You read the stories, you see the way the team are set up to play football, you see his history and you make your own opinions. Personally i don’t like Mourinho, i don’t like his style of play and i am concerned that this will all end in acrimony like it has at every other club he has managed.
That’s my personal viewpoint.
The fans are split and for the first time in a long time, that was always going to happen with this appointment.
Ultimately we all want Spurs to win, to be successful and for me to play with a certain style and excitement.
It will work or it won’t, if it works, it’s a genius appointment and Levy will be proved right and this will be Mourinhos greatest success.
I hope it happens, i just can’t see it
I read this with an open mind as I have been in a foul mood since Thursday night.
Like many I was gutted when Poch got sacked. The timing was right but it should have never got to that stage. Say what you will about player recruitment; there cannot be an argument, this failed Poch.
In comes Mourinho, incredible pedigree but again, has this manager been supported in recruitment? No way. I would have rather we kept Poch but Mourinho is surely a great alternative in the circumstances. If he can’t win something in charge of Spurs, then surely no one can / they only will when ENIC decide to change their tactics or more football ambitious owners come in.
The buck stops with the top. Their neglect has meant a manager who was courted by the very biggest clubs in the world is now no longer with us – I will struggle to ever forgive them for that.
Jose in his great days of the special one had a strong defence that he trusted. He does not trust these lot and I have to agree with him. A defence of aurier dier Davies and sanchez is halloween Freddie krugger and Friday the 13th. He always played a boring style of football but it was for the most successful at any club he went to. At spurs he has players all over the pitch not fit for purpose mostly brought in cheaply by levy. When we look to buy we usually have three options for that position. Three players are identified problem is Jose and poch before him hardly ever get the first option. Blame who ever you want but I feel are best options at the moment with this squad is the cup competition if we are to win anything. Without the crowds enic will not and never have spent their own money so more pain to come I think.