Pull back your expectations people

[spurs' magna carter]

.... it's Tottenham.

That was pathetic, yet again. Honestly think Conte, Kane and Son are all looking elsewhere. They are not going to win silverware with us. And, should that happen, it raises the question, where do we go from here? To put it bluntly and save lots of time writing, nowhere, absolutely f@#*ING nowhere.

The only suggestion I have to fellow fans fed up of this rut and lack silverware is to lower your expectations. Say all you like about what's on paper, there is nothing on the pitch, nor off it (ENIC), that gives me confidence.

This may be another knee jerk and taking out life's frustrations on my team, like most football fans, forgetting that we are in the midst of a major re-build, which we are. However, all I see is an empty handed club on the decline, desperately trying to reverse it to no avail.

 

[Finney Is Back]

We haven't got the money for a major rebuild unfortunately.

 

[Yiddo]

We have got to be the only team in history who peak having arguably the best team in the league at the time, all other big teams not being at the races and still not winning anything.

 

[Jordinho]

With our moaning fan base demanding instant success we look destined to go down the route of continuing to throw money at our problems without really fixing the major issues.

We need to accept that this squad of players is broken and it won't get better until most of them are gone. I think that hiring the most expensive managers in the world is neither going to win us trophies nor help us with that process.

 

[Mosquito_Coasting]

Dunno if expectations is the right word. Think when you watch your team a part of you expects to win and that’s the hope that keeps us hooked. Only times I watch dispassionately is when we’re in a dead zone where we’re so bad it doesn’t matter anymore. Which is no way to watch really.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

We haven't got the money for a major rebuild unfortunately.

We’ve already spent 300+M since the Champions League final, so I guess we’ll have to be more inventive with our scouting, can’t keep throwing around that sort of money on total dross. Hopefully Paratici has a plan/little black book for the next rebuild.

 

[Finney Is Back]

We’ve already spent 300+M since the Champions League final, so I guess we’ll have to be more inventive with our scouting, can’t keep throwing around that sort of money on total dross. Hopefully Paratici has a plan/little black book for the next rebuild.

That's what happens when you half back managers and then sack them before they have completed their rebuilds.... We've wasted lots of money because the direction from top is terrible. Even last summer we paid big money for a right back and a left winger (probably £60m combined) and then sacked the manager to bring a new one that doesn't use a right back or a left winger in his formation.

As you say hopefully Paratici improves us in that respect but I fear we will simply lurch to another manager with a completely different system once Conte walks and then go through another quarter rebuild cycle, wasting more money.

 

[Legohamster]

We’ve already spent 300+M since the Champions League final, so I guess we’ll have to be more inventive with our scouting, can’t keep throwing around that sort of money on total dross. Hopefully Paratici has a plan/little black book for the next rebuild.

Royal aside I think our ins and outs have been decent since Paratici has arrived

You could throw in Gollini being meh, but he’s a back up keeper.

We’ve got rid of a couple of big earners at a difficult time and brought in at least 2 first teamers rather than squad players.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

That's what happens when you half back managers and then sack them before they have completed their rebuilds.... We've wasted lots of money because the direction from top is terrible. Even last summer we paid big money for a right back and a left winger (probably £60m combined) and then sacked the manager to bring a new one that doesn't use a right back or a left winger in his formation.

As you say hopefully Paratici improves us in that respect but I fear we will simply lurch to another manager with a completely different system once Conte walks and then go through another quarter rebuild cycle, wasting more money.

A director of football is the key for me. Levy was crazy for not having one during that Stadium rebuild era, would love to know the reason for it because he’d been a massive advocate and pioneer of it in English football before that period.

 

[glasgowspur]

Royal aside I think our ins and outs have been decent since Paratici has arrived

You could throw in Gollini being meh, but he’s a back up keeper.

We’ve got rid of a couple of big earners at a difficult time and brought in at least 2 first teasers rather than squad players.

I don't think royal is a bad player if he's played in his natural position.
But then i did say that about winks and hojbjerg, and look how that's turning out.

 

[Legohamster]

I don't think royal is a bad player if he's played in his natural position.
But then i did say that about winks and hojbjerg, and look how that's turning out.

I don’t think he has the concentration levels are there, not his positional play.

 

[Mosquito_Coasting]

A director of football is the key for me. Levy was crazy for not having one during that Stadium rebuild era, would love to know the reason for it because he’d been a massive advocate and pioneer of it in English football before that period.

Didn't Poch want more power so we got rid of the idea?

 

[greatwhitenorf]

Sorry, Mrs. Eccleshare, but I expect Spurs to win almost every time I see them play.

We've beaten City twice this year so - knocked them out of CL not long ago. Steamed Man U 6-1 not long ago. So why the fcuk not?

I'll be fair and say I don't expect us to beat Chelsea or Liverpool but I do expect a good battle and a draw at least.

Yes, we've now got a thin squad and even a few injuries can cause issues. But I'll never turn on a Spurs game hoping we offer nothing more than damage control. At least half the teams in the PL can't offer much more than that, let alone blind optimism.

 

[braineclipse]

With our moaning fan base demanding instant success we look destined to go down the route of continuing to throw money at our problems without really fixing the major issues.

We need to accept that this squad of players is broken and it won't get better until most of them are gone. I think that hiring the most expensive managers in the world is neither going to win us trophies nor help us with that process.

I think 4-5 successful signings this summer makes a huge difference.

Our strongest eleven is good except for the lack of a real attacking right sided wing back. We have decent cover in some areas, in others not so much. Somewhere around 13-14 players Conte can trust to do a good job in his system with the right players around them. (We'll never agree on all the specific players, but somewhere around that range for me).

Make that number more 17-18, strengthen the first team in a couple of key areas in the process. That's a very different picture.

Making 4-5 successful signings is a massive ask of course. But even 3 relatively quick successes out of say 5 signings makes a solid difference. Particularly if one or two of the players already here can step up a bit.

Not going to be easy. If we fail in the summer the Conte project probably will also fail and the sacking spiral will continue.

 

[Lemonade Money]

Or the last four games could have gone either way, so we can stop the knee jerking in either direction, and support the team, and see where we're at after the summer transfer window.

 

[glasgowspur]

Or the last four games could have gone either way, so we can stop the knee jerking in either direction, and support the team, and see where we're at after the summer transfer window.

Is it Two wins in six games?
Is that knee jerk?
Yes they could have went either way, so it could actually have been six losses.
Against boro, burnley, Southampton and wolves thats not a cause for concern? Two of them at home to boot.
And finally, its not the defeats, its the manner of the defeats. For players bleating on about not winning trophies, not getting CL they don't look like they are bothered half the time.

 

[Mr Gogolak]

Nobody's happy with what happened last night but this season was never about winning things. For me (and, hopefully for the club too), it's a six-month pre-season to allow Conte to assess the squad and focus on the players he can/wants to keep and start next season with a bang.

Under Santo, we looked like a bottom third team. I didn't rate him much, but he's not an idiot or an amateur either. He got some decent results at Wolves. If we looked so poor, that's because our players are poor - something a lot of people on this very forum refused to see way back when Mourinho was our manager.

They're poor, they're not all suited to Conte's system, some of them have a suspect mentality and Conte's system is demanding. It will take time. There are plenty of positives already: despite what I read, we create chances in almost every game (that wasn't the case under Mourinho and Santo) and some players have improved over the past few months. That's something to build on but, for that, everyone need to keep calm and carry on. Getting 4th spot this season would have been nothing short of a miracle, when you think about where we were when Conte arrived. We have one of the best managers in the business. Me, I'd let him do his thing, take the defeats as a learning experience and wait until next January to assess the situation.

 

[lurker of old]

the last four games could have gone either way, so we can stop the knee jerking
Sorry Mr LemonadeMoney, you don't seem to understand the vital role of a fan message board as a place to vent, thus reducing pint glasses hurled through TV screens, domestic violence and poor cats being kicked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lurker of old]

it's a six-month pre-season to allow Conte to assess the squad and focus on the players he can/wants to keep and start next season with a bang.
I pray you are right, and that we sign players early, rather than doing the usual and letting the deals wait till the last day of the window....but we know what history tells us

 

[90sSpursBook]

Or the last four games could have gone either way, so we can stop the knee jerking in either direction, and support the team, and see where we're at after the summer transfer window.

I feel that this is the problem - almost every game could go one way or the other - there are wafer thin margins between winning and losing - BUT against the likes of Burnley and Middlesbrough and Southampton and Wolves we should be much better than them yet dont have the tools or the tactics to demonstrate the superior ability we have.

The more that has happened before and after that City win feels like a real red herring - after all Palace have beaten City this season at the Etihad too.

The inconsistency of result and performance is evidence that this is an average group of players. Football is a 'weak link' game - your weakest links get exploited and there's only so many times that your outstanding players can get you out of the brick. Conte achieved new manager bounce (we more than doubled our points per game ratio over his first six games) but since then results have plateaued. I don't suggest the problem is with him but equally I don't see that he is having much of a positive impact right now either.

I wish 'Top 4' could be dropped entirely from the conversation - we're nowhere near Top 4 levels of consistency. My expectation for the season is that Conte can establish his patterns of play and his strongest XI so that we can hit next season from a running start and some momentum. In the meantime though we will continue to see boom and bust results for the foreseeable future as we just don't possess the ability to string a run of results together.