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Mauricio Pochettino

Maybe but I’m talking about players like Keane, Dawson and Defoe who I consider club modern legends

Fair enough, mate - just mentioning that the squad weren't all good uns like those three. :p

I have spent many evenings wondering the same...

Me too, but I stopped after a while because there's no point - literally everything would have been different, forever, and the possibilities would have been limitless.

Winning that trophy would have been the greatest moment in our 137-odd years in existence - it would have put to bed, utterly and finally, the idea that we're terminal bottlers. To win the biggest trophy in club football, after getting there the way we did, with everything stacked against us...

...history would have changed that night, and we would all be different people, following a different club.

There's an alternate universe where that happened - where we took our spot as a normal club at long last, free from our past, our fragilities, our self-destructive tendencies. An alternate universe where we are likely a lot louder, a lot more defiant, full of belief in ourselves and in a bright future. One where the players don't feel they have to leave the club to win things - where that CL trophy sits in the museum, alongside Poch's black shirt. And where, every weekend, without fail, the giant stands at the Lane echo to a simple song.

'He's magic, you know....'

Sigh. No point in imagining what could have been, though. Like I said, everything would have been different, and we're instead left to pick up the pieces of another broken dream - one that lasted all of 40 fudging seconds.
 

One thing he mentions at length, which I think is important to note, is the huge task he had to change this club - its mentality, and its self-image. He mentions that, when he arrived, the view of us was that we were southern softies, Fancy Dans who played pretty stuff but never really won when it mattered - a club shorn of self-belief. And he details how one of his biggest tasks, over five long years, was convincing us that we could win - that we could believe that we could win.

Jol said much the same thing - he got it, he got *us* and who we were. Are. And, like Poch, he refused to accept it - he tried to get us to change our nature, just as Poch did.

Neither of them succeeded, though. This disastrous year has done a lot of intangible damage, but one of the more damaging things may be the evaporation of what belief he was able to instill, to be replaced again with the self-doubt that eats away at us behind the scenes.

If Mourinho does just one thing here, I sincerely, earnestly, with all my heart, hope he draws on all those trophies, all that arrogance, all that experience and passion - and does what Jol and Poch couldn't. I hope he makes us believe we can win.

That's much, much, much tougher than it sounds.
 
It’s fine lines and also being ruthless. Poch wasn’t IMO ruthless enough (the Danny Rose situation is classic), big maybe he felt he couldn’t be ruthless as he didn’t know who the replacements would be ...

It depends how you define ruthless. He wax clinical that first season, was very, very clear that the likes of Stambouli, NJie, N'Koudou and (to some chagrin from some) Andros. He similarly loved Ryan Mason but moved him on, he would not back down with Bentaleb and he refused to tolerate Walker when it was clear there was an issue. Similarly Trippier. I would agree he did have favourites, like all managers, but those favourites gave him every ounce.
 
Fair enough, mate - just mentioning that the squad weren't all good uns like those three. :p



Me too, but I stopped after a while because there's no point - literally everything would have been different, forever, and the possibilities would have been limitless.

Winning that trophy would have been the greatest moment in our 137-odd years in existence - it would have put to bed, utterly and finally, the idea that we're terminal bottlers. To win the biggest trophy in club football, after getting there the way we did, with everything stacked against us...

...history would have changed that night, and we would all be different people, following a different club.

There's an alternate universe where that happened - where we took our spot as a normal club at long last, free from our past, our fragilities, our self-destructive tendencies. An alternate universe where we are likely a lot louder, a lot more defiant, full of belief in ourselves and in a bright future. One where the players don't feel they have to leave the club to win things - where that CL trophy sits in the museum, alongside Poch's black shirt. And where, every weekend, without fail, the giant stands at the Lane echo to a simple song.

'He's magic, you know....'

Sigh. No point in imagining what could have been, though. Like I said, everything would have been different, and we're instead left to pick up the pieces of another broken dream - one that lasted all of 40 fudging seconds.

It remains the most curious, bizarre and ultimately soul destroying journey I've ever made to a Spurs match. Yes. 40 seconds. Unbelievable.
 
Fair enough, mate - just mentioning that the squad weren't all good uns like those three. :p



Me too, but I stopped after a while because there's no point - literally everything would have been different, forever, and the possibilities would have been limitless.

Winning that trophy would have been the greatest moment in our 137-odd years in existence - it would have put to bed, utterly and finally, the idea that we're terminal bottlers. To win the biggest trophy in club football, after getting there the way we did, with everything stacked against us...

...history would have changed that night, and we would all be different people, following a different club.

There's an alternate universe where that happened - where we took our spot as a normal club at long last, free from our past, our fragilities, our self-destructive tendencies. An alternate universe where we are likely a lot louder, a lot more defiant, full of belief in ourselves and in a bright future. One where the players don't feel they have to leave the club to win things - where that CL trophy sits in the museum, alongside Poch's black shirt. And where, every weekend, without fail, the giant stands at the Lane echo to a simple song.

'He's magic, you know....'

Sigh. No point in imagining what could have been, though. Like I said, everything would have been different, and we're instead left to pick up the pieces of another broken dream - one that lasted all of 40 fudging seconds.
That team going out there like rabbits in headlights with no tactical cohesion, no effort, no freedom - that's what put the nail in the coffin with him for me.

World's biggest football match and we went out there like frightened little school kids, whilst Poch just watched and didn't know what to do. Outbottled the biggest serial bottler while he did it.

You can bet Mourinho would have prepped the team properly for that.
 
That team going out there like rabbits in headlights with no tactical cohesion, no effort, no freedom - that's what put the nail in the coffin with him for me.

World's biggest football match and we went out there like frightened little school kids, whilst Poch just watched and didn't know what to do. Outbottled the biggest serial bottler while he did it.

You can bet Mourinho would have prepped the team properly for that.

Watch it again. Some of what you're saying is simply hyperbolic.
 
That team going out there like rabbits in headlights with no tactical cohesion, no effort, no freedom - that's what put the nail in the coffin with him for me.

World's biggest football match and we went out there like frightened little school kids, whilst Poch just watched and didn't know what to do. Outbottled the biggest serial bottler while he did it.

You can bet Mourinho would have prepped the team properly for that.
We don’t as fans know how we prepared
We do know that pool played a team from Portugal IIRC who they had them set up just like us. They played them several times in the heat of Portugal
It was bloody hot in Madrid and both teams had a long break between competitive games. This rehearsal games could have made all the difference
 
Watch it again. Some of what you're saying is simply hyperbolic.
The Victims were awful that night. Even at half of our potential we'd have won.

The penalty killed us. That should have been strategised. We should have known exactly what to do if we went goal down. We just let them sit and play on the break as they like to do.
 
We don’t as fans know how we prepared
We do know that pool played a team from Portugal IIRC who they had them set up just like us. They played them several times in the heat of Portugal
It was bloody hot in Madrid and both teams had a long break between competitive games. This rehearsal games could have made all the difference
We know it wasn't effective.
 
I felt really sad when I watched the interview on BT Sport; and I thought Poch looked sad.

That said, I was glad when he went; as much for him as for the club. It had run its course - he was shattered, he wasn’t making logical decisions and he had, to my mind, lost a lot of the players.

I’d love to see him back - maybe after 5 years in Spain, Italy or Germany, and with a couple of trophies under his belt. I’d be surprised if it ever happened though. I think he’s more likely to go to Saudi Sportswashing Machine and fall in love with the fans up there.
 
I felt really sad when I watched the interview on BT Sport; and I thought Poch looked sad.

That said, I was glad when he went; as much for him as for the club. It had run its course - he was shattered, he wasn’t making logical decisions and he had, to my mind, lost a lot of the players.

I’d love to see him back - maybe after 5 years in Spain, Italy or Germany, and with a couple of trophies under his belt. I’d be surprised if it ever happened though. I think he’s more likely to go to Saudi Sportswashing Machine and fall in love with the fans up there.
The pressure that is gonna come up there will be quite significant and will change their fan base like it has at City
 
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