Have the Manager & Squad over or under performed this season?

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spursmalc

The Forum is over obsessed with ENIC/Levy, but what about the Manager & Squad. At the end of last season we ended up 4th after a poor start, added to the squad and expectations were up. Pundits predicted us to get top 4 again but not so many now.
We had the 2nd highest number of players in the WC which shows we have good players. We have had injuries but should we have done better
CL- yes we qualified but it was harder than it should have been
LC- I believe our performance against Forest was abysmal and we should be playing in the semi final tomorrow with a very real chance of winning a trophy.
PL- It is not the position in the league that matters as that is affected by others but the number of points. Conte's tactics and failure to sort out the awful first half performances has led to dropping points we should never have dropped. We should never have been in the position going into yesterdays match that had we lost we would be below Fulham and in 6th.
No one expected this Manager & squad to be top of the league but I believe we should have done much better.
If no new players arrive in the next week that is a reason to bash ENIC but this Manager & squad should be doing better than Fulham, Brighton & Brentford.
We should be capable of securing Europe whilst winning a domestic cup and getting through the group stage of the CL which we did.
First thread I have started and hope the poll works but if not please advise me how to fix it.
 
Oh god no please not another poll

general election uk GIF by BBC
 
Gooners and City seem way ahead of us this season in turns of results, I think we have been very unlucky with Injuries in the first half of the season though, when you add that into Son and Hugo both having a mare, I think if you take away the fact we are playing some fucking eye watering disgusting football then 5th isn't to bad, I think if we can keep key players fit for the 2nd half of the season namely Kane, Kulu and Bentacuar and Richi can show some of that world cup form then I would say we make top 4, and have a good go at one of the cups. Our chances would improve if we look advantage of the transfer window being open and got a decent RWB, CB and a GK.
There are still a lot of games left to play and Barring City i dont think any of the teams above us could cope with the injuries we have had to deal with so far!
 
spursmalc said:
If no new players arrive in the next week that is a reason to bash ENIC but this Manager & squad should be doing better than Fulham, Brighton & Brentford.
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Won at Brighton away, Won at Fulham away and Drew with Brentford Away so I would say we are doing a lot better than them 3 ?


Lets also look at some of Brightons home results - Beat Liverpool 3-0 and beat Chelsea 4-1
Fulham beat Chelsea 2-1, Drew with Liverpool 2-2
Brentford beat Liverpool 3-1 , Drew 0-0 with Chelsea and beat United 4-0
 
3 points behind Newcastle and ManU in 3rd and 4th position - and I appreciate we have played a game or so more, but its not a huge gap with half the season gone. We are also through to last 16 of CL too.

If we can keep more of our key players fit in the 2nd half of the season then anything is possible.
 
Under. Yeah we're 5th and that doesn't sound bad but Chelsea & Liverpool having truly horrific seasons has contributed to that, they've under-performed to an even greater extent. Brighton win their games in hand and we're 6th.

If Brentford win theirs then we're closer to them and Brighton than we are Newcastle & United. Had Liverpool/Chelsea performed to expectations we'd be sat 7th, a couple of bad results away from mid-table.

As it happens, those two have been crap, United & Newcastle are also not that good really so we're still within touching distance, which is pretty amazing for a team who have lost practically every big game they've played all season.
 
I think our feelings about the season are tainted by two things:

1) The high expectations we had of Conte and the players that were brought in on his watch
2) The success of the other lot down the road

We hyped and hyped and told ourselves what we wanted to hear and woke up to reality when we lost to all four teams in the top four. To quote Easy Rider: "We blew it!".

But, ever the optimist, I'm still hopeful that we can do something this season. I'm hopeful that we can upset the apple cart for top 4, that we can win a trophy and that, even if Conte is leaving at the end of the season, he can still leave in a blaze of glory - just like the 15 year old me hoped the injury-ridden 96/97 team would get out of mid-table and somehow go on a late run of form and qualify for Europe after being knocked out of the 3rd round of the FA Cup by Manchester United.

Fortunately, we have a lot more to play for than the team from Gerry Francis's last full season did and it's up to us to seize the day. We've spent a lot of this season on auto-pilot and hopefully our best is yet to come.

COYS
 
A lot of injuries has fucked us pretty bad, losing every forward player bar Kane is a bit mental in only half a season (Lucas, Gil, Kulu, Richy, Son), plus add in Benta and Romero and that's gonna affect any team.

How would Woolwich cope losing Saka, Martinsmelly, nketiah, their other forwards bar Jesus and Partey and Saliba for a significant chunk of the season? They defo would be a good half a dozen points worse off at least.

Even now we still have 2 out (Gil, Lucas), 2 still not at 100% (Kulu, Benta) and 1 even less fit than them (Richy), plus Son stinking the gaff out.

I also think recent events have affected Conte emotionally, and he lost a bit of intensity temporarily as a result which saw the players drop off a bit perhaps. He's uber intense and without it he's not as effective a manager.

I think he's coming out the other side now, key players are coming back and hopefully we can add a couple now.
Still fancy us for top 4 and have a sneaky feeling for us for the FA Cup.
 
spursmalc said:
The Forum is over obsessed with ENIC/Levy,
If no new players arrive in the next week that is a reason to bash ENIc
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That is because they are the root of destruction, everything they do on the pitch is half hearted.
Arrive or not , Lloris has cost us 3/4 games , Son couldn't fuck a whore with her nickers down and these problems will just roll on besides our overwhelming obvious deficiencies.
Always bash them and get them out as they can't or won't compete.
 
I think the number 1 reason why it feels like we're underperforming is that once again, we had a chance at greatness and cocked it up.

The expectations were huge - Elite manager, additions of Kulu, Bentancur, Richarlison, Bissouma, Spence all for a full season. Coupled that with a motivated Kane, Top Scorer Son and Romero..... We had every right to have great expectations.

We got into champions league at the expense of them down the road.

We should have been on a high and carried that momentum through to this season.

Instead, we've been subjected to some of the worst football since the 90s, have failed at every real test of anyone in and around the top 4/5, and inexplicably, our 'elite manager' puts a downer on everything associated with the club every time he opens his gob. He gives the impression that he'd rather be anywhere else than Spurs and that it's almost beneath him. He needs to shut up with the negativity now and get his head down and start talking up the team.

His inflexibility with team selections and formations have also felt like we're just treading water rather than taking a step forward.

So yeah, so far they've underperformed....... But that's not to say they can't turn it round for the last 17 games of the season.

Positives-

We're still in Champion's League, FA Cup and a shout for top 4.

COYS
 
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It’s not even a question is it?

Started very well in terms of results but not style of play and then a tailspin into Underperforming as we played better football teams - led by a manager who won’t rotate or seemingly can’t improve players who he deems not good enough.

Does anybody think man for man Newcastle are any better than us? I do wonder what Conte would be achieving with them right now.


But look at the games against what you could call the big 6 this season - city, United, woolwich, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle. 7 games played.
7-17 goals for/against.
1 fucking point won. Through a last minute equaliser.
Not acceptable if we claim to be a CL club.


End of the day we are doing well to be in the top 6.
Crazy to think Liverpool and Chelsea are below us really.
 
. I was at a black tie event with my Mrs a few weeks back. This guy who was apparently a former NFL coach ( a good one apparently) big bloke grey hair looked like a central casting American senator was there. So we start talking and I ask him if he has seen my "Soccer teams " ground as it was NFL ready. He says "You a Tottenham fan huh" I was both pleased at our brand cut through and dismayed at the level of pity in his eyes.

So we had a long and pretty in depth conversation, he was actually less interested in the NFL stuff ( on that he said he was pretty impressed though heard the playing surface was an issue) But he was fascinated on our continuing inability to win under an array of coaches and systems. He acknowledged we were at a financial disadvantage but was ADAMANT this was not the primary issue. He said 5/6 biggest budget was enough to win with.

So to try and keep it short He asked when the last player who had won a trophy at Spurs departed (I sort of blanked said King) 2012. So he said a decade huh makes sense. He basically said we had baked in failure in the leadership group. He meant Kane Dier Loris Davis.

He said keep only the best of them and ruthlessly dump the rest or keep on failing. He said even the best of them was not untouchable, that if you keep the same voices talking loudly and accumulating failure in a room you are denying success the space to enter this room. He said he was shocked that a succession of coaches had not addressed the simple psychology one trophy in a decade and clinging to a culture that produced it.

Got to tell you lads I was ready to put him in charge by the end. Had drunk a bit though.
 
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Shotgunofmichalebrow said:
So to try and keep it short He asked when the last player who had won a trophy at Spurs departed (I sort of blanked said King) 2012. So he said a decade huh makes sense. He basically said we had baked in failure in the leadership group. He meant Kane Dier Loris Davis.

He said keep only the best of them and ruthlessly dump the rest or keep on failing. He said even the best of them was not untouchable, that if you keep the same voices talking loudly and accumulating failure in a room you are denying success the space to enter this room. He said he was shocked that a succession of coaches had not addressed the simple psychology one trophy in a decade and clinging to a culture that produced it.

Got to tell you lads I was ready to put him in charge by the end. Had drunk a bit though.
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This.
Our fans grow too attached to mediocrity. If that's what they wanna do, they have to accept mediocrity and a lack of competitiveness.
Players like Dawson, Lennon, later career Keane, these guys were hero worshipped by Spurs fans but the lack of interest in them from the top clubs said it all.
King would have had clubs all over the world trying to sign him if he wasn't cursed. Carrick and Berbatov were off at the first chance. Bale too.

We should have been getting rid of average players that supported the best ones and improved. Instead, we lost the best and got left with the average.
 
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