*** OMT Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion ***

[diego_maradona]

It's not his fault that many of our players are distinctly average. It's his fault that we have shown zero motivation in several games, been lethargic on and off the ball and play in a pretty negative way against teams inferior to ourselves.

But he wasn't happy with what he saw yesterday either. He seemed as angry as you or I. Is it not simply a case that maybe the players let him down? Or perhaps he learned something about several players he didn't previously know.

 

[billyiddo]

after almost 'changing your mind' after the QPR game i wonder if you'll go one further if we put in a great performance get a good result against a strong team?

 

[braineclipse]

I'd been away for a week on business, got to the Lane just a few hours after returning back in the UK - wish I hadn't bothered.

Any optimism I had has been completely flushed these last few weeks. I said when we got him that I didn't think Pochettino was a good hiring and I stick by that. I must admit I nearly changed my mind after the QPR game but turns out that was more down to them being awful as they have in most of their games. Poch did reasonably well at Southampton, but if you look at it logically they had the eighth best team in the league so it made sense that was where they finished. The teams below them last year were dog****, Stoke and Saudi Sportswashing Machine finished 9th and 10th FFS. Southampton were beginning to resemble a very good team under Nigel Adkins IIRC, roughly halfway through the season, then he got the chop and replaced by Poch to the bemusement of many fans and pundits. All Pochettino did was carry on in the same vein.

We saw yesterday, just as we did at Sunderland and at home to Liverpool, that Pochettino's team only has one way of playing. Press, win the ball back if possible then pass it sideways for as long as possible so we win the possession.

I'm sick of watching half of our team trudge about and play **** every other week. Adebayor continues to turn up only when it suits him. Eriksen is hideously overrated by our fans. Lamela I wanted to kick on this season but he runs into traffic more than Jack Wheelchair. Our lack of pace among the front four is criminal, no wonder we're so easy to defend against. Our defence is tragic. We spent nearly £20m on a centre back and left back and neither can even get in our team FFS.

It's going to be a long season again. I'd be astonished if we finished in the top 6 even, at least the other teams near the top who lost have players coming back from injury or are bedding new players in to their team, they'll improve. We have the same players out there as last season and the same problems. Crap in attack, crap in midfield, crap in defence. Don't create many chances, concede plenty. As bad as we were last season we still somehow grinded out 1-0 wins lots of the time, we won't be able to keep doing that now.

Just about every Spurs fan I know is in agreement.

Patience is not something you have a lot of time for is it?

5 league games in! Five!

The WBA game was nothing like the Sunderland game where we easily deserved to win.

 

[glasgowspur]

This was my first ever game at the lane and I noticed that when in possession we are very compact which is really restricting play.
I thought there was several times rose could have released chadli quickly with an easy ball but chose to look around for another before passing to a now covered chadli.
Lamella is making good runs with the ball and is looking to make the killer pass but the movement ahead is poor.
Something we seem to be struggling to shake off from AVBs days is balls into space to run onto. I find this so frustrating!
I lost count how many times kaboul or chriches run beyond the midfield, madness!!!!
Finally, Dier was poor and I fear for his confidence if he is played out of position in a back line as bad as this.

Ken


Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

 

[thfcsteff]

Let's face it, there war some out there yesterday who were having a laugh. The manager has been dealt a hand, and it's a hand I think is starting to show some serious problems. Pre-season Poch showed a shape and pattern. Now the staff have to execute it to the MAXIMUM of their abilities. I'm not seeing that. They need to get out there and ****ing well WORK, both physically and MENTALLY. Half of them looked switched off yesterday. Unacceptable.

There was some interesting post last week about a stewardess who works footie charters to Europe. The jist of it was that most of the sides chartering to Europe were either cvnts or serious, whereas we were jokers. As nice as it was to hear how nice we are, I'd rather we were serious.

Still cannot believe we didn't back the manager to give him Schneiderlin if that's who he wanted. Groundhog Day isn't it? Baldini and Levy have some answers to give IMO...

 

[thfcsteff]

This was my first ever game at the lane and I noticed that when in possession we are very compact which is really restricting play.
I thought there was several times rose could have released chadli quickly with an easy ball but chose to look around for another before passing to a now covered chadli.
Lamella is making good runs with the ball and is looking to make the killer pass but the movement ahead is poor.
Something we seem to be struggling to shake off from AVBs days is balls into space to run onto. I find this so frustrating!
I lost count how many times kaboul or chriches run beyond the midfield, madness!!!!
Finally, Dier was poor and I fear for his confidence if he is played out of position in a back line as bad as this.

Ken


Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

A fine post.
I'm in agreement.
We are actually missing Walker tremendously, both in terms of what you describe and energy.
Lamela needs better around him for sure...

 

[glasgowspur]

For me Soldados movement up front would bring the best out of Lamella.
You know I've followed Spurs since the late 70s, granted from afar, and Hoddle was my GHod as a boy and when you think of Gazza, Ginolla, Bale, Ossie and all they stand for with the Spurs way, at the moment I would give anything for a certain Mr G Roberts in this team. Someone willing to run through walls for the team, someone who tell his teammates to get their finger out.
There is no defiance in this team, maybe even club.



Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

 

[thfcsteff]

For me Soldados movement up front would bring the best out of Lamella.
You know I've followed Spurs since the late 70s, granted from afar, and Hoddle was my GHod as a boy and when you think of Gazza, Ginolla, Bale, Ossie and all they stand for with the Spurs way, at the moment I would give anything for a certain Mr G Roberts in this team. Someone willing to run through walls for the team, someone who tell his teammates to get their finger out.
There is no defiance in this team, maybe even club.



Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

This whole post is brilliant.
You're my new hero mate.

RE: Soldado/Lamela…I think with Lennon also on the pitch you have three fast, quick, rapid movement players who can switch-off, in and around each other. The biggest issue will come with the other "DM" players, but again, if he plays Stambouli and Bentaleb (the latter, especially, is of the mentality we are crying out for) then I think we could really be onto something.

I genuinely feel that Bentaleb is a future skipper. The boy wants it. Always. If he doesn't start next weekend then I will be very sad.

 

[glasgowspur]

Yes Steff I agree on Bentaleb. He has a steely ness I like.
Once he learns some positional discipline. he should be told to work between the edge of the two boxes and go no wider than say 5 yards either side of the centre circle. When we have the ball in the oppositions half he should be our first line of defence. When we win the ball back or are breaking from out half then he needs to be the one driving us forward, with or without the ball.
If either chadli, Lamella but specifically eriksen who is the slightest of our forwards is being bullied then he should go in hard and send out the message if you kick one of ours I will kick you.
Someone should sit him down with some old videos of Souness in his pomp and tell him that we want you to be for us, a iron fist in a velvet glove.



Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

 

[thfcsteff]

Yes Steff I agree on Bentaleb. He has a steely ness I like.
Once he learns some positional discipline. he should be told to work between the edge of the two boxes and go no wider than say 5 yards either side of the centre circle. When we have the ball in the oppositions half he should be our first line of defence. When we win the ball back or are breaking from out half then he needs to be the one driving us forward, with or without the ball.
If either chadli, Lamella but specifically eriksen who is the slightest of our forwards is being bullied then he should go in hard and send out the message if you kick one of ours I will kick you.
Someone should sit him down with some old videos of Souness in his pomp and tell him that we want you to be for us, a iron fist in a velvet glove.



Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

An excellent comparison…I'd add a bit of Lampard's ability to break late into good attacking areas, as the lad has a shot on him too...

 

[Spurs7891]

Not at all surprised by this defeat. Always felt we were going to struggle this season after not signing any experienced strikers or defenders. With a young manager, this was always going to be a risky business. I think we also lack a playmaker who can unlock the defences. Eriksen is badly out of form now. And all our strikers are are not good enough for us, including Soldado. It is not logic to expect a young coach like Pochettino to do miracles with this mediocre squad.