Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[metalgear]

Money

That's all there is to think about. We have a new stadium being built and we need nothing more than a coach who can keep us where we have been for the last 4-5 years. IMO Poch is that man and given how much it would cost Levy to (i) sack Poch and his team (ii) compensate another club for taking their manager, we won't see a change in our management team unless we fall right away.

which would explain the slow (but steady) progress that we are experiencing.
i think this is the most practical scenario for the club, especially after investing all the monies for youth football development - facilities and key staff members. the fact that we did that BEFORE the stadium build is also indicative that we want to be somewhat "self-sufficient", from a footballing perspective.

 

[braineclipse]

Solid comments from Pochettino about our current defensive problems:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...chettino-fumes-at-Spurs-defensive-record.html

"We need to speak over the next few weeks about changes that need to be made to the squad, but now is not the moment," Pochettino said.

"Now is the moment to try to improve our play. It's true, I was angry with the defending against Leicester and I am not happy about our record. But it's normal.

"We are a club, a team that people expect a lot from, but in the same way we are a very young team and this is part of the process. It's important to keep calm and analyse, and try to improve our defensive game. We will try to improve that in the next few weeks. This is one thing we need to improve in the future."

"We need to be more consistent," Pochettino said. "In the way we play, always, we think to play forward and play in the opposite half and try to score.

"When the game was 2-0 up for us, I remember when we concede the goal 2-1, our full-backs are up and we try to score again. We need to keep this mentality because we are Tottenham, to give our supporters exciting football. But we need to try to get more balance between attacking and defending.

"We are in the process where we find the balance. We are young. I think we have a very good mentality but, different aspects of the game, we need to improve."

 

[Mumorn]

He says the right things. I like hearing that from him rather than him saying "oh it's just one of those days" - hopefully we can get something done about it.

 

[braineclipse]

He says the right things. I like hearing that from him rather than him saying "oh it's just one of those days" - hopefully we can get something done about it.

Agreed. Particularly when it's a recurring problem manifesting itself as clearly as that. There are "those days" in football, but this obviously wasn't one of them.

Hopefully he can get this problem sorted rather quickly. We're too vulnerable at the moment to be able to get the results needed to make the rest of the season real interesting I think. Can't rely on scoring 4 every game.

Anyone know which players will still be around for the international break that may start against Burnley?

 

[BucurestiSpur]

One criticism levelled at proponents of the "bielsa" method is that fatigue accumulates to a greater degree than with other teams towards the latter part of a season.

While our fitness levels seem to have helped us pick up points in games we haven't played well in and also we've scored many goals in the final minutes of games, does anyone see the above criticism as being valid with regards Pochettino's fitness beliefs for us this season?

There seemed to be a few voices raised last season with his SCBC team not finishing strongly.

Do you think fitness regimes like this are sustainable, and in fact, beneficial for the total entirety of the season?

It was one of my worries and whilst you can see some players flagging somewhat its difficult to say its because of this, and we have played a large number of games with a young squad, with many players not performing and so on.

I'm now quite optimistic about this method, so long as we become a bit more attractive to watch.

Thoughts?

 

[indianspur]

Looking back on the season as a whole, we have tended to perform better when playing two games a week, meaning less time to work on fitness and tactics on the training pitch. The more games we had, the better we functioned. Strange that.

sometimes players can be simply overworked in training and they fail to reproduce in a game situation.

 

[billyiddo]

Which games have we played over the season with a weeks break in between @indianspur ? Can't imagine it has been many - would be interesting to see your workings.

 

[parklane1]

The problem with our supporters are they are quick to moan about Levy not giving managers time but they are the ones the want the manager gone in the first place :/ fickle is not the word.

Best post in this thread and so true.

 

[indianspur]

Which games have we played over the season with a weeks break in between @indianspur ? Can't imagine it has been many - would be interesting to see your workings.

i guess i didnt explain myself clearly, its more about recently, like the 9 day break between the Liverpool game and the run of games against Fiorentina, West Spam and Chelski, where we didnt perform as well in those games as we did before, we lost our previous rhythm. Then we had the 8 day break between the QPR and Man Utd games, and i think that Man Utd performance was the worst of the season by far, and now again a week later against Leicester and although we won the players just didnt perform well at all.

Thats what im saying, over the season we have mostly played 2 games a week and somehow the majority of the time we have looked quite solid defensively and the players have shown excellent energy levels, not the lethargy, lack of pressing and all over the place defending we are now witnessing

could it be due to being over worked in training?

its just a thought that came to me, of course it probably means nothing but im just thinking aloud

 

[glorygloryeze]

i guess i didnt explain myself clearly, its more about recently, like the 9 day break between the Liverpool game and the run of games against Fiorentina, West Spam and Chelski, where we didnt perform as well in those games as we did before, we lost our previous rhythm. Then we had the 8 day break between the QPR and Man Utd games, and i think that Man Utd performance was the worst of the season by far, and now again a week later against Leicester and although we won the players just didnt perform well at all.

Thats what im saying, over the season we have mostly played 2 games a week and somehow the majority of the time we have looked quite solid defensively and the players have shown excellent energy levels, not the lethargy, lack of pressing and all over the place defending we are now witnessing

could it be due to being over worked in training?

its just a thought that came to me, of course it probably means nothing but im just thinking aloud

Certainly some food for thought!

 

[billyiddo]

i guess i didnt explain myself clearly, its more about recently, like the 9 day break between the Liverpool game and the run of games against Fiorentina, West Spam and Chelski, where we didnt perform as well in those games as we did before, we lost our previous rhythm. Then we had the 8 day break between the QPR and Man Utd games, and i think that Man Utd performance was the worst of the season by far, and now again a week later against Leicester and although we won the players just didnt perform well at all.

Thats what im saying, over the season we have mostly played 2 games a week and somehow the majority of the time we have looked quite solid defensively and the players have shown excellent energy levels, not the lethargy, lack of pressing and all over the place defending we are now witnessing

could it be due to being over worked in training?

its just a thought that came to me, of course it probably means nothing but im just thinking aloud

Ah ok, gotcha

I think it's probably too small of a data sample to draw any conclusions - especially if we turn it on between now and the end of the season!

Definitley something to bare in mind though - will be interesting to see how the season pans out

 

[Armchair Expert]

One criticism levelled at proponents of the "bielsa" method is that fatigue accumulates to a greater degree than with other teams towards the latter part of a season.

While our fitness levels seem to have helped us pick up points in games we haven't played well in and also we've scored many goals in the final minutes of games, does anyone see the above criticism as being valid with regards Pochettino's fitness beliefs for us this season?

There seemed to be a few voices raised last season with his SCBC team not finishing strongly.

Do you think fitness regimes like this are sustainable, and in fact, beneficial for the total entirety of the season?

It was one of my worries and whilst you can see some players flagging somewhat its difficult to say its because of this, and we have played a large number of games with a young squad, with many players not performing and so on.

I'm now quite optimistic about this method, so long as we become a bit more attractive to watch.

Thoughts?

That might well be the case. If it is, then there is a clear solution: a coherent squad that allows for rotation whilst maintaining/continuing to implement the philosophy.

We came unstuck when we tried to rotate through the busy EL/PL/LC period. Players of inferior quality came in with different skill sets to those they were replacing. Whilst it isn't reasonable to expect squad players to be of the same quality as those in the first team, we should be able to acquire players who have similar attributes to their team mates, and who bring the correct attitude and level of commitment which is also lacking in our back up options currently.

Limited players such as Danny Ings, Charlie Austin etc or the likes of Jay Rodriguez would certainly help if fatigue is an issue with the philosophy.

 

[braineclipse]

One criticism levelled at proponents of the "bielsa" method is that fatigue accumulates to a greater degree than with other teams towards the latter part of a season.

While our fitness levels seem to have helped us pick up points in games we haven't played well in and also we've scored many goals in the final minutes of games, does anyone see the above criticism as being valid with regards Pochettino's fitness beliefs for us this season?

There seemed to be a few voices raised last season with his SCBC team not finishing strongly.

Do you think fitness regimes like this are sustainable, and in fact, beneficial for the total entirety of the season?

It was one of my worries and whilst you can see some players flagging somewhat its difficult to say its because of this, and we have played a large number of games with a young squad, with many players not performing and so on.

I'm now quite optimistic about this method, so long as we become a bit more attractive to watch.

Thoughts?

There are some clear differences between Pochettino and Bielsa. Pochettino is nowhere near as extreme as Bielsa is imo.

I don't think we've looked particularly short on physical fitness in the second half of the season compared to other teams.

There are many ways to flog a cat, probably more ways that are wrong than right. But I do think a high pressing, high intensity game plan is one of the ways shown to be effective if implemented well and one that can help teams perform above their financial expectations at least for a period. As a good an approach as any I can think of actually, accepting that all approaches will have positives and negatives.

i guess i didnt explain myself clearly, its more about recently, like the 9 day break between the Liverpool game and the run of games against Fiorentina, West Spam and Chelski, where we didnt perform as well in those games as we did before, we lost our previous rhythm. Then we had the 8 day break between the QPR and Man Utd games, and i think that Man Utd performance was the worst of the season by far, and now again a week later against Leicester and although we won the players just didnt perform well at all.

Thats what im saying, over the season we have mostly played 2 games a week and somehow the majority of the time we have looked quite solid defensively and the players have shown excellent energy levels, not the lethargy, lack of pressing and all over the place defending we are now witnessing

could it be due to being over worked in training?

its just a thought that came to me, of course it probably means nothing but im just thinking aloud

I don't know. Pochettino did most of his work at Southampton with one game a week, seems very strange that he's now all of a sudden failing to adjust training intensity for that kind of a fixture list. If anything with him it was a question of how he would adapt his approach to two games a week for months and months...

I think what you're seeing is just a result of a small sample size.

 

[The egyptian]

I don't want to appear like I am creating excuses for him, but the only way to accept our Line-up yesterday is one of the coming
1.Give every player a chance/ try to sell extra players
Chirches and Paulinho were playing.
2. Build for the future
He started with Chirches instead of Daves in the CB who can be a temporary solution there
3. He doesn't want to play UC next season
Sell all extra player and play with smaller squad for one season
4. Make it clear to Levy that we don't have the depth in our squad

 

[Maltese Falcon]

I don't want to appear like I am creating excuses for him, but the only way to accept our Line-up yesterday is one of the coming
1.Give every player a chance/ try to sell extra players
Chirches and Paulinho were playing.
2. Build for the future
He started with Chirches instead of Daves in the CB who can be a temporary solution there
3. He doesn't want to play UC next season
Sell all extra player and play with smaller squad for one season
4. Make it clear to Levy that we don't have the depth in our squad

Really?

How about:

Paulinho did well against Leicester whereas Lamela and Townsend have been perpetually underwhelming and Dembele apparently has played himself out of the manager's plans... plus our centre has been a soft spot over past game; so therefore why not give Paulinho a chance?
Verts was injured, Fazio was injured; so whose the next CB in the pecking order? Yes, goodness me, it's Chiriches!

 

[The egyptian]

Well, he gave Paulinho another chance, I don't reject that, but Really? - it sounds like a good word- didn't Townsend deserve it after Italy goal. He played the last game in which we won.

And Chirches is out for so long while Daves is fit and his feet was in our game, he played as CB in his last international game and MP noticed that APPARENTLY.

You have your logic, I respect that but for me in terms of recent forms Poch's descions were not right but I can accept it if he thought that there were things more important than 3 points.

 

[Maltese Falcon]

Well, he gave Paulinho another chance, I don't reject that, but Really? - it sounds like a good word- didn't Townsend deserve it after Italy goal. He played the last game in which we won.

And Chirches is out for so long while Daves is fit and his feet was in our game, he played as CB in his last international game and MP noticed that APPARENTLY.

You have your logic, I respect that but for me in terms of recent forms Poch's descions were not right but I can accept it if he thought that there were things more important than 3 points.

No...

What Townsend does for England is irrelevant. He was poor against Utd and pretty average against Leicester. Paulinho on the other hand did very well. So why the surprise at his inclusion.

Same thing with Davies - he played CB for Wales in a back 3; totally different from our situation so it was obvious that Chiriches would be picked with the injury situation.

Why these conspiracy theories when the evidence points to a much more obvious and logic reasoning?

 

[Huddy]

After Sunday's lacklustre performance you have to wonder whether fatigue has set in now and the season will finish with a whimper.

The intense pressing has dropped off, and some of our starting eleven have lost form since the turn of the year namely Eriksen, Chadli and more recently Mason and Bentaleb.

Is this a by-product of Poch's training regime or just to be expected with the number of games we've played? Poch hasn't been afraid to rotate this season, even though we lack quality in reserve, so it leaves me questioning why our levels have dipped since the Utd game.

 

[greatwhitenorf]

After Sunday's lacklustre performance you have to wonder whether fatigue has set in now and the season will finish with a whimper.

The intense pressing has dropped off, and some of our starting eleven have lost form since the turn of the year namely Eriksen, Chadli and more recently Mason and Bentaleb.

Is this a by-product of Poch's training regime or just to be expected with the number of games we've played? Poch hasn't been afraid to rotate this season, even though we lack quality in reserve, so it leaves me questioning why our levels have dipped since the Utd game.

I always wonder if mental fatigue is a bigger factor than physical fatigue. The best managers find ways and mean of keeping their players attitudes properly tuned as the games wind down.

 

[Baleforce]

I thought the performance was totally in keeping with the rest of the season, the 3 AM's didn't spark and the D looked susceptible to the ball over the top. No one had a stand out game and made something happen. The players who were brought in didn't do any worse than the ones they replaced have been over the last few games (Vorm was fine but Lloris has obviously been excellent). There really wasn't anything here to get concerned about imo.