• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

You know what? Props to Poch, he cared today. Put out the strongest side he could (a stronger side than even than I suggested), was constantly up and down the touchline shouting and cajoling...really backed up what he said throughout the last week.

Well done. It's a shame it didn't come off, but then Gent brought an extra man and slipped a black shirt on him before chloroforming the real ref pre-game, so there's little we could have done. We made a lot of individual errors, yes. Poch's subs were iffy, yes. Our players let Poch down..yes.

But Poch backed up his words, did what he said he would do and treated this competition seriously. After the surrender against Dortmund last year and our iffy performances in the cups over the years, this was a welcome change. I hope he keeps it up for the FA Cup.
 
You know what? Props to Poch, he cared today. Put out the strongest side he could (a stronger side than even than I suggested), was constantly up and down the touchline shouting and cajoling...really backed up what he said throughout the last week.

Well done. It's a shame it didn't come off, but then Gent brought an extra man and slipped a black shirt on him before chloroforming the real ref pre-game, so there's little we could have done. We made a lot of individual errors, yes. Poch's subs were iffy, yes. Our players let Poch down..yes.

But Poch backed up his words, did what he said he would do and treated this competition seriously. After the surrender against Dortmund last year and our iffy performances in the cups over the years, this was a welcome change. I hope he keeps it up for the FA Cup.

Let's hope you are one of his biggest defenders here if/when we drop points vs Stoke on Sunday...the effort the players put in tonight (both physically and emotionally) will have an effect eventually...
 
Let's hope you are one of his biggest defenders here if/when we drop points vs Stoke on Sunday...the effort the players put in tonight (both physically and emotionally) will have an effect eventually...

Oh, definitely. I've always maintained that 6th with a cup would do me just fine - I see no reason to change that attitude now, or in the event of us slipping up to Stoke.
 
You know what? Props to Poch, he cared today. Put out the strongest side he could (a stronger side than even than I suggested), was constantly up and down the touchline shouting and cajoling...really backed up what he said throughout the last week.

Well done. It's a shame it didn't come off, but then Gent brought an extra man and slipped a black shirt on him before chloroforming the real ref pre-game, so there's little we could have done. We made a lot of individual errors, yes. Poch's subs were iffy, yes. Our players let Poch down..yes.

But Poch backed up his words, did what he said he would do and treated this competition seriously. After the surrender against Dortmund last year and our iffy performances in the cups over the years, this was a welcome change. I hope he keeps it up for the FA Cup.

Great post, apart from the middle bit.
There was a lot of positives to take from tonight .
One moment if bad luck, one poor piece of defending and one act of sheer lunacy killed us.
Yet the team should heart and fight tonight,
In the past we would have rolled over.
 
Great post, apart from the middle bit.
There was a lot of positives to take from tonight .
One moment if bad luck, one poor piece of defending and one act of sheer lunacy killed us.
Yet the team should heart and fight tonight,
In the past we would have rolled over.
I agree, but I think it showed/highlights the weakness of our squad, with only one attacking player out injured (Lamela) who I dont think would make the first 11 when he plays the 532 system. Our bench lacks anyone to come on and really make you think will affect the game.

With the next 9 league games (5 at home) against teams we should beat (all lower half) we will be in positions when its 0-0 or 1-1 and teams holding out against us and we need to bring someone on to affect the game and I just hope jansen son etc can step up.
 
Tactically inept in Europe.

lets not forget that we are playing at Wembley which can have an effect - when Arsenal played there in 98/99 and 99/00 they had the following results :

  • 30 September 1998: Arsenal 2 Panathinaikos 1
  • 21 October 1998 Arsenal 1 Dynamo Kiev 1
  • 25 November 1998: Arsenal 0 Lens 1
  • 22 September 1999: Arsenal 3 AIK 1
  • 19 October 1999: Arsenal 2 Barcelona 4
  • 27 October 1999: Arsenal 0 Fiorentina 1
the first year there came off the back of being Champions in the 97/98 season and the second year was off the back of being runners up by a point - so relatively speaking they were a stronger side than we are currently.


probably also worth remembering that Pochettino had never managed a side in European competition prior to managing us and it's as much a learning curve for him as anyone - I think that's something that is worth reiterating in times like these, we all know that we need to afford our young players time to develop and such it follows that we also need to give our young manager time to develop as well.
 
Last edited:
You know what? Props to Poch, he cared today. Put out the strongest side he could (a stronger side than even than I suggested), was constantly up and down the touchline shouting and cajoling...really backed up what he said throughout the last week.

.

But Poch backed up his words, did what he said he would do and treated this competition seriously. After the surrender against Dortmund last year and our iffy performances in the cups over the years, this was a welcome change. I hope he keeps it up for the FA Cup.

Could not agree more with with the bits i have quoted, Poch never stopped giving instructions and trying to drive us on, and apart from the result it did happen. I hope we now go out with the same desire for the Milwall game because if we do we will win.
 
Great post, apart from the middle bit.
There was a lot of positives to take from tonight .
One moment if bad luck, one poor piece of defending and one act of sheer lunacy killed us.
Yet the team should heart and fight tonight,
In the past we would have rolled over.

This, people can moan about the result, but based on chances, possession, control of game, we should have had enough to win.

The sending off really cost us that match, nothing more ...
 
“I think that we have pushed the expectation higher but that is normal because last season we were there – second, third in the league and that is good,” Pochettino said.

“But my question is maybe we are not ready. It’s like the stadium, if we want to move today we are not ready to play there.

“We need to wait, build the foundations. It’s a problem always – to be patient, to arrive.

“But the important thing is the club. Our chairman has built the foundation. New facilities on the training ground, new stadium to provide and to be a better team, better club, bigger club.

“We’re on the way to build one of the best clubs in Europe. But now we must be patient.

“We have patience to build and try to work hard and try to find the players that we can add to achieve that. Work hard and be clever; that is very important.”

“Always football is about quality. And being clever.”

“But it’s true. It’s always about improving. We must add quality to the team if we want to fight for big things. And we will try, like always in football.

“Now is not the moment to start to talk. I think as always it’s our job as a club to find the right profile and player that can play for us.”
 
I think he's made mistakes this year but I have no complaints about his tactics in the second Gent game, we murdered them.

I dont think the red card hurt that much either as we still dominated the game.

Our finishing, especially Kane's, was woeful, that's what cost us, we've been a very profligate side for a long time now.
 
“Always football is about quality. And being clever.”

I think as always it’s our job as a club to find the right profile and player that can play for us.”

So did/do Soldado, Njai, Nduko, Sissoko and Jansen fit that criteria?
 
So did/do Soldado, Njai, Nduko, Sissoko and Jansen fit that criteria?
Soldado was bought to play under a different manager and his criteria.
Njai and Nduko play the same position with the same attributes so I think it's reasonable to think poch has a plan that requires someone like that.
Janssen was back up for kane, I think the idea of bringing in a top striker to sit on the bench behind harry is fanciful.

Must admit sissoko baffles me.
 
It wasn't Poch's tactics that got Dele sent off or made us make two sloppy mistakes in defence. If we look at tactics on Thursday night, it is hard to see how he could have got them more right.
Not so sure about that. Firstly, as soon as Son came on for Davies he started creating havoc down the left. But then for some strange reason he switched to the right where Walker was already pulling their defence apart. From that point on Son was mostly subdued although he did get one clear chance which unfortunately he fluffed.

Secondly why take off Dembele when he was still dominating in midfield? It felt like a pre-planned substitution on the basis that he would not last 90 minutes but I felt it changed the dynamic and we lost some of our impetus going forward.

Lastly what was the point of bringing on Janssen with just one minute of normal time remaining? It's not as though we needed to kill time and it was hardly a vote of confidence in someone who has failed to score from open play since his arrival.
 
Not so sure about that. Firstly, as soon as Son came on for Davies he started creating havoc down the left. But then for some strange reason he switched to the right where Walker was already pulling their defence apart. From that point on Son was mostly subdued although he did get one clear chance which unfortunately he fluffed.

Secondly why take off Dembele when he was still dominating in midfield? It felt like a pre-planned substitution on the basis that he would not last 90 minutes but I felt it changed the dynamic and we lost some of our impetus going forward.

Lastly what was the point of bringing on Janssen with just one minute of normal time remaining? It's not as though we needed to kill time and it was hardly a vote of confidence in someone who has failed to score from open play since his arrival.

The point I was making is that even with playing most of the game with ten men we were still well on top and created plenty of chances. It was individual mistakes that cost us on Thursday and not Poch's tactics.

I would argue that the performance dropped after Gent scored their second goal rather than because Dembele went off. Winks had done well in the five minutes before the goal.
 
Back