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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

Some of it is the opposition. Dortmund bossed us in the first half, we scored early 2nd half and they gave up because the tie was over at that point. Yesterday, Southampton were poor first half. Their manager made two subs and gave them a kick up the arse and they had a go at us 2nd half, made chances to score (Redmond really should have had at least 1 goal imo) and scored twice. We wilted under a bit of pressure. Mainly due to the performance of our defenders not being good enough, which it hasn't been all season. Our main defensive strategy this season seems to be relying on the opposition to miss the chances they get.

Again I’d argue Dortmund has to do what they did due to teh work we did in the first game and we did what we had to do

Easy to forget it was a knock out cup game
 
I still think we can get top 4. We might still even be third after this set of games. Three week break to reset. Most games are at home in our new stadium. I’m sure our rivals are going to drop points too,Man U at some point are due a mini slump and the others aren’t good enough to carry on winning all their games....

I can spend all day writing up why others may fail to capitalise on our slump and I’m sure people will argue why we can’t turn it around

Who knows

What I will say is united we’re dead and buried 8/9 games ago... things can change

That break hurt us and maybe this break will help us
 
I still see us getting CL so maybe its why I see it differently

I also see us having a big amount to spend with money coming in from the sale of eriksen and Toby

And Chelsea have a ban so can’t buy

We might have a slither of a chance if man utd beat the anal today and clamsea drop points but you just know that both the anal and clamsea will win today.

Its almost guaranteed, put money on it.
 
It’s all well and good ripping into them in the press, but if you don’t act on it and throw the useless clams into u14’s training they won’t learn a thing.
 
The caricature of Levy as a tight fisted chairman and Poch as a manager doing his best with his hands behind his back is obviously ridiculous, the truth is in the middle somewhere

Poch hates having a large squad, and hates having players that are around the team perhaps slagging him off that are unused, see Jansen as example 1
He also wont tolerate players not 100% onboard with his ideas, see Walker as example 1

Therefore more than likely he has been offered players, but he believes the players he has were better, however the Levy narrative does him no harm in terms of his career.
Im sure if Levy offered him N'Dombele he isnt going to say No

However we cant get a N'Dombele, so the question is if Poch is being unrealistic, or Levy overly restrictive, that we will never know, however as we managed to get Kane and Dele tied into new contracts we can get deals done

Issue i have is that in 45 minutes of football i go from we need a new RB, a CM and we will be right amongst it, to, we need a rebuild there is something wrong with this team.

The truth is again somewhere in the middle, its so obvious that without Winks we simply cannot gain any control in midfield, which is what our play is based on, thats massively screwing eriksen and has caused his loss of form, as he doesnt know if he is part of a front 4 or a middle 3 and then gets lost in-between doing neither job effectively.

We should JUST have enough to get top 4, win 6 and lose 2, however although we say it every year this summer really is crucial, mainly as our hand will be forced, poch needs to decide on a preferred system and get the players available. We then need to start getting more brutal with players we like, IF we had sold Dembele 2yrs ago and brought somebody else there may have been a meltdown, but this squad is suffering by having too many players who cant stay match fit.

Trippier, Vorm, Llorente, Wanyama, Janssen, Nkoudou, Toby OUT
Wan-Bissaka, Old or Young GK, Son Mk2, Winks Backup, Vertonghen backup IN
 
I would also add if Poch leaves it wont be due to lack of investment, it would be because the amount of investment would put pressure on him that could damage his image. (completely understandable)

Best option is Madrid and Utd go elsewhere and Poch is forced to rebuild us, realistically he would have to see that through to still be included in the mix for those jobs

Trippier, Vorm, Llorente, Wanyama, Janssen, Nkoudou, Toby OUT 60mil
Wan-Bissaka, Old or Young GK, Son Mk2, Winks Backup, Vertonghen backup IN 100mil

The headline would be Poch given 100mil for title push, even though the upgrade of the squad isnt really 100mil, and not enough to push for a title
 
Poch needs to rotate players better. His subs aren't always inspiring too. Understand the need for control but sometimes it looks like he has his favourites. Maybe something in the aura-sphere that I cannot see.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Fapatalk
 
Poch needs to rotate players better. His subs aren't always inspiring too. Understand the need for control but sometimes it looks like he has his favourites. Maybe something in the aura-sphere that I cannot see.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Fapatalk

Thats where i sit in the middle of the Poch vs Levy thing

Yesterday we had no midfield we were just banging it long to the 3 up-front, normally we would have brought on Wanyama to shore up the midfield, except Wanyama is shot and cant pass the ball.

The issue to me is that we have held on to Lamela, Dembele, Wanyama for too long, you can hold a sissoko or a Trippier in the hopes that he will improve, but you cant keep players around if physically they cant do it, as it just places too much game-time on the likes of Winks who then isnt there on days like yesterday.

There is no way that Poch was told that he had £0 to spend in 18 months, more that he didnt like the options given and the club cant force him as otherwise we have a Janssen situation which does nobody any good.

Due to the end of contract situation, Poch will now be forced to get in what he can rather than what he wants. Either way i think it will improve us as the first 11 is ok, and id rather have a fit but limited second 11 than a injury prone second 11
 
One very, very wise bit of advice I have picked up over the years is not to wast energy on a negative result when one hasn't happened yet. When this round of fixtures ends, we will still be in the top 4. We will actually still be 3rd, even if only on goal difference from Man Utd. But the fact remains, we will be in the top 4. Still.

But here's the truth, the real call to make.

Do YOU trust Pochettino to sort it out?
Do YOU trust a man who has provided us with more Premiership consistency than we have ever had, to keep us in the top 4 come May?
Do YOU trust a man who has us playing regular CL football to find a way to make sure we are back in it next season?
Do YOU trust Pochettino?

I do. 400%.
And I will stand every INCH behind that statement, just as I did when I said he would not go to Man Utd.
Technically yes, we could end up outside the top 4, Poch could be sacked/go to Man Utd in the summer. But I don't think we will. And I certainly don't think Poch will be sacked OR go to Man Utd.

If he wasn't getting angry I'd be worried. But he is. So I'm not.

But again, do YOU trust him?

I do trust him BUT there’s obviously issues at play here. Not easy to overlook our largely poor performances through the season and our nine league defeats. To end the season with eleven losses, which is more than possible given the CashRegister City, and Anfield, away days then that’s far from acceptable from a club that’s a top 4 contender.

We have no right to expect to be top 4, and of course we operate with a far lower budget than other clubs, but ultimately as a club we decided not to add players to our squad and instead let Dembele leave. That seems a questionable operating policy when we knew going in to the season that we had a tired squad and that a handful of players were injury prone.

So somewhere big questions have to be asked and big questions answered.

What is going wrong? Why can we suddenly not defend? Why do players seem full of fire one moment and then cold as a winters day the next with their playing attitudes? Where do we go next and how do we avoid a similar season?

As trust me, if answers can’t be given then we won’t even be in the top 4 equation next season as our poor performances and high number of losses will see us floating back down to mid table.

Plus Pochettino’s quoting of ‘top 4 is the limit’ is very much reminiscent of Redknapp’s ‘never had it so good’. This season feels too much like that season. Collapse and then the manager leaves.
 
I do trust him BUT there’s obviously issues at play here. Not easy to overlook our largely poor performances through the season and our nine league defeats. To end the season with eleven losses, which is more than possible given the CashRegister City, and Anfield, away days then that’s far from acceptable from a club that’s a top 4 contender.

We have no right to expect to be top 4, and of course we operate with a far lower budget than other clubs, but ultimately as a club we decided not to add players to our squad and instead let Dembele leave. That seems a questionable operating policy when we knew going in to the season that we had a tired squad and that a handful of players were injury prone.

So somewhere big questions have to be asked and big questions answered.

What is going wrong? Why can we suddenly not defend? Why do players seem full of fire one moment and then cold as a winters day the next with their playing attitudes? Where do we go next and how do we avoid a similar season?

As trust me, if answers can’t be given then we won’t even be in the top 4 equation next season as our poor performances and high number of losses will see us floating back down to mid table.

We defended outstandingly well mid week

I do think we suffer form a constant change of defenders though
 
We defended outstandingly well mid week

I do think we suffer form a constant change of defenders though

We did last ditch defending and good saves from Lloris. But what the fudge happened yesterday? Dreadful defending in the second half. Our keeper has had to make 95 saves this season. That’s twice the number that City’s keeper has had to make. City with the lowest number of saves this season. After them are Liverpool and Chelsea. We are midtable as far as the ‘saves’ statistic. That shows to me that we are conceding far too many chances.

Now, a big part of that is our central midfield as it’s been weaker this season than most with injuries, and players having moved on. But Pochettino and Levy have had two windows to address that and ended up with zero incomings. So that doesn’t bode well to be able to identify weaknesses and stand by almost as if with arms crossed behind back.

Our defending as a team isn’t good enough on a consistent basis. In previous seasons we have had an excellent defensive record, with amongst fewest goals conceded. So what happened this season?!
 
We did last ditch defending and good saves from Lloris. But what the fudge happened yesterday? Dreadful defending in the second half. Our keeper has had to make 95 saves this season. That’s twice the number that City’s keeper has had to make. City with the lowest number of saves this season. After them are Liverpool and Chelsea. We are midtable as far as the ‘saves’ statistic. That shows to me that we are conceding far too many chances.

Now, a big part of that is our central midfield as it’s been weaker this season than most with injuries, and players having moved on. But Pochettino and Levy have had two windows to address that and ended up with zero incomings. So that doesn’t bode well to be able to identify weaknesses and stand by almost as if with arms crossed behind back.

Our defending as a team isn’t good enough on a consistent basis. In previous seasons we have had an excellent defensive record, with amongst fewest goals conceded. So what happened this season?!

When were at our very best we really limit those chances and the stats show it

We haven’t defensively been anywhere near that this season

Doesn’t help with so many unforced errors in defence
 
We did last ditch defending and good saves from Lloris. But what the fudge happened yesterday? Dreadful defending in the second half. Our keeper has had to make 95 saves this season. That’s twice the number that City’s keeper has had to make. City with the lowest number of saves this season. After them are Liverpool and Chelsea. We are midtable as far as the ‘saves’ statistic. That shows to me that we are conceding far too many chances.

Now, a big part of that is our central midfield as it’s been weaker this season than most with injuries, and players having moved on. But Pochettino and Levy have had two windows to address that and ended up with zero incomings. So that doesn’t bode well to be able to identify weaknesses and stand by almost as if with arms crossed behind back.

Our defending as a team isn’t good enough on a consistent basis. In previous seasons we have had an excellent defensive record, with amongst fewest goals conceded. So what happened this season?!

Honestly I think partly what happened yesterday is that KWP played and was awful! And next to him, Sanchez had one of his poor games (which he is still prone to doing at 22). I just watched MOTD highlights again and at least one of those two did something wrong for every single one of Southampton's chances. (Obviously Verts and Rose didn't cover themselves in glory for the first goal either, but even that started with KWP losing his man and Sanchez totally missing the ball.)
 
Really want them to do well but Sanchez and Foyth, are they a problem?

Not sure they're a problem as such - they're only 21 and 22 - but maybe it is a problem (or at least not ideal) that both of our backup CBs are so young?

Then again, think a bigger problem is our first choice right-back and defensive quality and depth in central midfield.
 
When were at our very best we really limit those chances and the stats show it

We haven’t defensively been anywhere near that this season

Doesn’t help with so many unforced errors in defence

And as always, the buck falls with the manager. Why are we making those errors? Why are we not in position of control and not able to defend a lead? If the manager can’t answer those questions then is he the right manager for us? I greatly admire the work Pochettino has done for us but right now there are questions that he, and the team, must find answers to.
 
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