The first step to solving a problem is apparently acknowledging that there is one. One of the grating issues with Tottenham players talking on and off the record is that it is rare to find any of them dealing with the core problems.
We get fed a diet of ‘pushing on’ for a top-four finish, and occasionally some alleged moaning about not quite enjoying the gaffers’ training methods. In an interview relayed by the Mail Online, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg openly admits that the core issue is inconsistency, or as Antonio Conte referred to as being ‘too up and too down’
‘If you beat City away, you should follow that up by not losing the game after. And we did. ‘But it’s something we are definitely aware of and working on and not happy with, of course, at all.’
I take a view that far too many of this Tottenham squad have been around for too long and seeking to improve personnel that has heard it all before from numerous voices, is expecting to successfully push water uphill.
Certain Spurs players can routinely play to a standard that’s high enough, but too many can no longer be reached. Dele Alli’s performances at Everton (Wyscout €) so far have been just as mediocre as they were for the Lilywhites.
Conte, in relatively short order, has issued the same warning that Pochettino gave in 2019. You’ll forgive me if I don’t hold my breath waiting for any rapid improvement…
I respect Poch as a coach. Spurs played some great football under him; especially during seasons 15/16 & 16/17. The signings, that had been made by Paul Mitchell, of Dele, Son, Alderweireld, Trippier and Wanyama blended well with the likes of Hugo, Eriksen, Dembele, Vertonghen, Walker, Rose, Kane and Dier who were all signed before either Poch or Paul Mitchell joined Spurs from Southampton.
And this is my point really. Poch did well coaching players signed by other people. We are all guessing as to who identified and signed players like Sissoko, Davinson Sanchez, Aurier, Llorente, Jansenn, Gazzanigga, Nkoudou, N’dombele, Lo Celso and Clark.
To apportion all blame onto Levy for all the terrible signings we would have to give him all the credit for the very best signings. I recognise a purple patch of recruitment under Paul Mitchell and feel he deserves a lot more credit for building Poch’s most successful team than he is given credit for.
Poch was a brilliant coach but not a great manager in my opinion.
My criticism of Poch is balanced and fair. During 2019 Poch’s behavior irked me a little. I felt he was looking for a way out of Spurs. His comments before the Champions League final and his treatment of Moura was rubbish to be honest. So were Spurs up until the point he was sacked.
Mate do you know anything about the game ? Your negativity astounds me ! You’re blaming Poch ? 5 top 4 finishes including 2nd one year ,a champions league final , league cup final and several FA cup semi finals. Finally we also started finishing above Arsenal regularly. Couldn’t quite get us over the line and no doubt lack of recruitment was an issue but your criticism is just baffling. Poch gave chances to Kane,Ali,Dier,Son so I would argue that they were “his” players just to name a few.
had me worried for a minute.
excellent.
The gooners are not all that. Saka is a very decent player but there is still a lot of chaff in their squad. They haven’t done anything yet and with 13 games to go they can still implode. They keep winning by the odd goal but when they play a good side they lose.
I will believe in their project if they are 4th at the end of the season. I certainly will not give the cnuts any credit until they actually finish 4th or above Spurs. As poor as Spurs are I still believe we can finish above them.
I’m grateful to Boro. They showed the world that Harry Winks is not good enough for The Championship never mind the Premier League.
Poch accepted most of the dross that currently fills up the Spurs squad. Winks was Poch’s star pupil. It baffles me how Poch escapes the blame for Winks and the renewal of Lamela’s contract when we could have let him go on a free. If Poch had the power to get rid of Bentaleb and Edwards during the same period of time I fail to see how he is not at least partly to blame for some of the duffers.
I believe that Levy interferes in transfers and contract renewals but I doubt he would have retained Lamela or promoted Winks without Poch giving it his blessing. Poch’s best work was when coaching other people’s Spurs signings. Difficult to know how much input Poch had in the signings of Sanchez, Lo Celso and N’dombele but I think there may be some question marks regarding Poch’s judgement on player retention and recruitment at Spurs. The recruitment was dreadful and Levy did stop spending money on Poch’s watch.
Perhaps Levy had his own doubts regarding Poch’s picks by the time he stopped funding him.
You’ll never solve the problem whilst Levy and enic are in charge, their poison runs through the entire club from top to bottom, like the blue veins in a blue stilton cheese.
Yes we can focus on certain players but it makes no real and tangible difference, morale has been at rock bottom ever since it became obvious that they were not going to support Poch. Perhaps even earlier when Eriksen was not paid what he was worth.
Some of us hoped it would be different under Mourinho, it wasn’t. But if Levy abandons Conte the same way one thing is for certain, Conte will tell the world about it and Levy will get the verbal kicking of his life. If I had my way it would be a physical kicking! Either way there will be no hole left for him to crawl down, it will be well known just what a nasty little scoundrel he is.
Whatever happens between now and the summer, regarding Conte and Kane, Spurs have to dump Winks forever. Wasting more game time on this pudding has to be the most pointless exercise. The outcome is so predictable it absolutely beggars belief that Winks has somehow seen off Poch, Jose, Mason, Nuno and yet Conte still picks him.
It’s a shocking indictment on the current quality of the Spurs midfield. Harry Winks doesn’t get near any Spurs midfield since Martin Jol took over in 2004. Players like Sean Davis, Pedro Mendes, Michael Carrick, Danny Murphy, Edgar Davids, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and Teemu Tainio would all walk into the current Spurs midfield ahead of Winks. I’d even take Didier Zokora and Michael Brown over Winks.
Harry Winks has played 197 games for Spurs. That in itself is a disgrace. I think Davinson Sanchez has also reached his expiry date. He initially did OK in the unbeaten run under Conte. However; the manner of the collapse in his confidence and error strewn performances just prior to Dier returning has sealed his fate. He has to go. I also think time is up for Hugo Lloris as Spurs number 1 beyond the end of the season.
That is 3 key players Spurs need as well as at least 2 new wing backs. I personally don’t see too many redeeming qualities to Reguillon and couldn’t care less if Spurs keep him. I think it is significant that Sessegnon is being given a run in the side since Dele was escorted off the premises. I reckon Dele and Winks were the main protagonists poisoning the well. I don’t blame Lo Celso or N’dombele for their wages or transfer fees. I hope both never come back to Spurs.
This team is rotten and Winks must be flushed down the Lamela chute as soon as possible.
waiting for someone to blame Jose lol
A variety of players have come out to say similar comments to the media, but it’s the dressing room where they need to be more open and honest with each other, because it needs sorting out once and for all.
Alriiiight, slags 🤣
We’ve got problems but it’ll just take Tim…Sherwood.
Aaaargh, unwelcome flashback
If the Conte project fails, the only way Levy can save face with the fans is to bring Poch back, which is unlikely. Can’t see us getting in the top 4 with our yo yo performances which means Conte won’t be backed. Then we’ll be after the Southampton boss or someone from another league who we’ve never heard of. I imagine we’ll lose to Everton tonight with Alli scoring to add salt in the wound.
I think this whole comment shows where fans enable the club ownership in not winning.
What are the actual aims with this get CL maybe hope the better clubs struggle a season and we might sneak better?
If beating RM 3-1 is the ceiling of your expectations that’s absolutely fine. But what if some fans want more, that taste of winning, then you’ve got to go for the big boys but there is a way of doing it unfortunately and wise spending is key same with wages. Ad when you’ve a winning team attitudes often align just as well
Mr Hojberg needs to careful throwing stones about in a glass house.
English or British? Sessegnon, Davies, Dier, Kane and Winks have regularly featured for us recently. So in recent games, we typically had a British contingent making up just short of 50% of the side. In the West Ham side that played Liverpool at the weekend there were just four British (all English) players. If we assume that had he been fit Rice would have played, that puts their ratio of Brits to foreigners at the same level as ours. I would suggest that having a strong English/British core counts for little and that its the quality of the player that counts. I don’t recall the As*e struggling for team spirit back in the day when they were a French team.
It is not all about spending money , just look at Manchester Utd, we have spent money but spent it terribly. Without out a clear plan of how you want the team to play and not getting the right characters in the dressing room your always doom for failure , we all laughed at Arsenal but the board knew they needed to get a project manager to bulid the club up . they did it with home grown players and recruited well with promising young players from abroad now they have a great team spirit and direction .
Player discusses life in the dressing room….
translates to…. Blah blah blah blah BLAH …
Team spirit is key to achieving anything just look at Westham and Arsenal, they have strong core of English players in a dressing room us and Man utd dont.
A team not gelling for a game is inconsistency – but all of them running so slowly that they can be run down from behind by Championship level players is arrogance or laziness – nothing more, nothing less.
Poch gave warnings after the club had already started the rebuild.
That shows that the issue is deep rooted in the club and inconsistencies are part of that.
Simple choice either look to win or run the club as a normal business.
The ineos statement laid bare that top level premier league clubs cannot be run like business.
You’d think Joe Lewis would just ask his mate tiger about what’s required to win at top level sports (or at worse, watch the Warne documentary on amazon). But Lewis’s attitude means the club will fall short with his puppet Levy as the front man.
Levy has never been able to value players that need to be sold at the right market valuation. When Poch asked for his now famous rebuild and implored the board “to be brave”, Levy decide instead of buying the players Poch wanted, that we needed to sell first before we bought. This tired old mantra is trotted out at regular periods along with the other tired and trite phrase that “we are different from other clubs”. When Poch identified the players he wanted to sell, these included Alderweirld whom Levy valued at £75 million, Eriksen valued at circa £130 million, based on Liverpool’s sale of Coutinho and £35 million for a crocked Dembele. We all know these prices were unattainable and so they proved to be. Levy aslo let Rose run down his contract as he valued him out of the market. When PSG reportedly wanted to take Alli on loan last year, again negotiations broke down over the terms and conditions. Now he’s gone on a free with some upside based on appearances which judging by them so far will not gain us much money. God only knows how much Levy values Winks at if anybody even wants him. It’s the same pattern Levy asks unrealistic for his own players whilst underbidding on the players his manager wants to buy. Missing out on Luis Diaz will prove to be another of Levy’s penny wise and pound foolish masterpieces. Plus ca change at Tottenham whilst our much beloved chairman continues in his role as the most useless footballing CEO in the PL.
Obviously time not bloody sherwood
You may be right to be unconvinced of change but this time excuses will not do. Conte is the best he walks or is let down its over for Daniel. It will take Tim but great to watch.
Problem is, it doesn’t matter how many people acknowledge the problem, so long as the one who counts lives his life with his fingers in his ears.