Tottenham v Newcastle (Sunday 25 August 16.30)

[LEGO Boy]

Fuck me, and I thought I was pissed off! Quite the rant.

 

[Park Lane Mark Twain]

“We cannot lose stupid points at home as we did last season”. Lucas Moura Saturday 24/8.

Losing happens. Losing to absolute rubbish happens. Losing to absolute rubbish with 2 ( woeful ) efforts on goal, at home....should never happen.

The league is the bread and butter and the facts are that 4 wins from 15 games is horrendous. And those performances generally don’t deserve the full 12 points gained ! Yep that’s how bad it’s become.

A claimed 1 billion pound stadium has served up utter shit against Waste Ham and today was even worse than that. We could have saved the money and played over our historic home on the Marshes and not played worse than we did. Stadiums don’t win games. Players do.

I am going to be childish below and reactionary as it’s late and I am still pissed off, which is insane as what the hell can any of us do ?

Aurier wants out after 18 months and if Kyle Walker Peters is the answer that that exit strategy then I’m truly scared. How many times in one game can an attacking full back receive the ball facing his own goal in the last third. Take one touch too many and pass it sideways. It’s ridiculous that this guy is starting games at this level.

Davison Sanchez. Oh my god. What an absolute cunt of a display. AGAIN. He will always be the man who got bullied by Solomon Rondon. He’ll never learn now.

Winks. What’s the point of becoming a professional footballer and copying Ray Wilkins, it only leads to ruin and Talksport. RIP butch. Winks plays in tribute to you each week. I have a lot of time for Winks, but someone is giving him duff advice and he keeps listening to it.

Sissoko. Cult hero’s are for shit mid table sides, think Freund in the 90’s. Ta ta mate. Do one. Harsh as there is a lot to love about the guy, but I can’t see how 2 DM were needed at home to the tossing bar codes.

Rose would not get a game for Watford on current form. You don’t want to be here but you do want the wedge. Your a prostitute son. Fuck you and fuck off up north. Sick of his pricking about. Just go.

Le Celso. Fuck me. A loan fee looks expensive. He’s not even fit ? Anyone here get away with that type of excuse on Tuesday when going to work ? Too early to judge his ability I accept that, but not being fit ! Jesus Christ.

Eriksen. He’s a “Professional footballer” so his job is the play and play to the best of his ability - but the manager says no. What the fuck is that all about ? Why is he and Jan dropped but Toby is not ? Either make a stand on all of them or don’t make a stand on anyone and pick the best players for the game ahead. Utterly nonsensical behaviour.

Son / Kane - 2017. Did not work. 2018. Did not work. 2019. Does not work. How fucking hard is it Poch ?

Lamela. I’ve defended him. I’ve cheered him and loved his spite. But I don’t want to ever see him in a Spurs shirt ever again. And I do mean ever. Creative football is not always easy, but is it that fucking hard ?

I’d be completely comfortable with giving Ben Davies Man of the Match for us today.

My frustration and sarcasm aside, I feel like we all do tonight. Pissed off and angry and desperate for this run of tripe to end. The team looks in bits already and the summer looks to have delivered a lot less than necessary.

Beyond all this I am starting to honestly question Pochettino’s attitude to the club and players. A lot of these problems he’s paid to keep in check. He really does not have that much coin to avoid a few hard truths coming his way.

And why exactly, despite everything, do so many players want to leave and why do so many not appear to be trying ? Is that ENIC and deadly Dan or something non sinister ?

At least we tend to do well at Woolwich and can recover those 3 points easy as anything.

Oh no wait a minute......

I'm not one to berate the boys often but I really think a fair bit of this post. Winks getting duff advice is something I can't argue with and the Son/Kane thing as you've said simply doesn't give us enough return for their quality.

Our future should be built around Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Dele, Sessegnon, Son, Lucas & Kane. I like KWP but I do think he'll only ever make it as backup RB, which would suit as Poch loves to rotate these areas. Winksy desperately needs to add a little more Roy of the Rovers to his game regardless of if he's being told not to and Eriksen whilst I love him as a footballer I'm really disappointed that something's gone down so much that Poch has chosen not to select him in two games, which ultimately has led to us not having enough attacking verve. Foyth I like but he needs to improve and Davinson is such a tough one as I see everything he's got but he's just a bit to scatty to be a top CB at the moment and with what our aspirations are we need top players.

I'll trust Poch on Jan but honestly he's been such a top professional that I can't fathom what's gone on here and sadly whilst I love Sissoko's heart he's a backup player now. Lamela is a Carabao Cup player, I'd rather see Parrott get his place on the bench.

It sounds like I'm moaning but if we are going to struggle I'd rather see the future given time to bed in instead of flogging the Sissoko/ Rose horse again. I love them both but I think we all know they've reached their ceiling.

Find a solution that suits Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Dele, Sessegnon, Son & Kane. Lucas keeps our depth looking decent, as does Foyth and KWP and Davinson in my eyes has this season to show serious improvements or he'll end up a backup player. It's for the greater good of Spurs.

Tricky old season but how Lo Celso and/ or Eriksen ain't getting more than half hour in this one when the warning signs were there in the first two games I'll never get my head around.

 

[Raiders]

First time in a long while I have walked away from a match upset. Everything was wrong; from the tactics to the players on the pitch. Sometimes Poch baffles me. It was like he was trying to lose.

 

[Raiders]

Fair play to Bruce though. That 5-4-1 was unwavering.

 

[Airfixx]

Fair play to Bruce though. That 5-4-1 was unwavering.

Tactically, no suprises but a far better performance than I'd expected.

 

[To Dare Is To Do.]

Listless display, from Poch's comments about the unsettled dressing room... something clearly isn't right.

Lloris 7/10- did nothing wrong, okay save from longstaff shot

KWP 2/10- BULLIED off the ball many times, can't fucking cross. Downgrade on Trips
Alderweireld 6/10- Didn't have much to do.
Sanchez 2/10- Why the fuck wasn't he marking Joelinton for the goal? Quick but brainless
Rose 5/10- Made some good crunching tackles. But can't cross either.

Sissoko 3/10- Should have closed down Atsu for the goal. Not useful against a parked bus.
Winks 3/10- Didn't take enough risks. Not as brave as last season when dribbling.
Lamela 3/10- Did nothing

Son 4/10- Tried hard, first game back so wasn't sharp.
Lucas 3/10- Missed a sitter. Poor end product, off the ball movement not good either.
Kane 4/10- Got rugby tackled when he was about to score. Not enough supply.

 

[Spaniel]

Good teams fail to beat poor teams in every league.

Unfortunately we do it consistently.

 

[Spaniel]

We aren't competing against Liverpool or City this season mate, no chance, we are fighting, emphasis on the word fighting, for a top four place, imo.

If we continue like this., we might be fighting for a lot more.

 

[Spaniel]

Well, the lucky filthy Y-fronts didn't work. In fact they seemed to have the opposite effect. So I'm going starkers to the Southampton game, just in case.

I knew I could smell something. I thought it was dead shark!

 

[Spaniel]

I think it’s a little bit early to be melting : a very poor performance, no doubt, but not really much different to the smash and grab we managed last week (except City had loads of shots). We have four points from 9, including one dodgy loss out of the way and an outrageous point at City. I agree with many that Winks and Sissoko together don’t have much creativity, and Walker-Peters is too easily muscled off the ball to be a serious threat going up and down the wing. It looked like we lacked runners beyond the full-backs when they had the ball (particularly Rose), which led to the back and side passing. Son has been out a while so I can forgive him that, but the in-between role that Dele takes is new to Lamela, so he likes to dribble it a bit instead of making a quick pass. It will come with time.

What are your thoughts on what's going on in Kane's head at the moment. He's appears totally out of it. I'm worried!

 

[Spaniel]

Agree with a lot of this Spanners. But they weren't the only 2 shitshows today mate. Fuckin fullbacks were abysmal. Fuckin 2 central midfielders were abysmal. Fuckin Moura and Son didn't have their shooting boots on. Eriksen and Lo Celso did fuck all when they came on. Did they even know what positions they were supposed to take up?? Let's face it as Spurs fans were all so used to this over the years; have a good result followed by a team we should fuck but lose to. It's like Deja Vu. Don't know the answer. When Poch has virtually a full squad i.e. Dele, Sessegnon, Ndombele back....maybe that's the time to make a judgement. It may be a tad early. But no, it doesn't bode well I'm afraid. ☹

I see you don't mention Harry. Apart from his ill advised dive, he might not have been there. Wtf is going on with him. He was better when he was a greedy ball hog.

 

[Spaniel]

I watched the Class of 92 doc about Salford City the other night and the owners (Nev/Scholes etc) were on the brink of sacking the managers they had that had got them 2 promotions in 3 seasons and were top of the league in the 4th season because the performances had been so bad for months and the team looked like they had no energy at all, which looks not massively different from how it's feeling at Spurs a little right now. For those that don't know the story, they persisted with the managers after a 4-0 to 4-4 comeback in the last 10 mins of a match and they did end up winning the league and still sacking the managers!

Sometimes you need fresh ideas, fresh mentality, whatever it may be. For all of the positives about having a squad that was young and growing together we're a few years on from Kane, Son, Dele, Eriksen, Verts etc bursting onto the scene so to speak and something isn't quite right with most of those. Eriksen wants out (believes he can do better LOL), Dele was poor last season, Kane looks massively off the pace, Verts fuck knows. These players have been with the current manager for years and have won nothing, maybe they're bored of him, maybe he's bored of some of them. Do we keep Poch and replace a few of the players or do we replace the manager? That's Levy's job to decide.

I for one don't buy into the fact that we've massively under-invested. Hugo, Trippier, Toby, Verts, Sanchez, Sess, GLC, N'dombele, Son, Sissoko and Lucas with Kane/Winks/Rose/Eriksen/Lamela/Dembele at Poch's disposal? These aren't terrible players and none of them are majorly past their peak at all. Poch has done very well with the group in terms of league placings and CL final but I think it'd be a stretch for anyone to think he's worked a miracle.

As with the above poster I also love Poch but he's not infallible and it's a fucking shambles that we are seeing such performances as today where we are so devoid of ideas. How much longer until GLC is fit to play 60 mins+ from the start?

The sad truth is Levy doesn't care whether we improve, win or lose. I can say with certainty in my mind that he's there to make money. Poch I'm afraid has lost inspiration and interest because of this. Imo, we will never really challenge with this ownership because no class manager wants to put up with Levy's shit. A lot of people were being rude and unfair to Pep but let's be honest. We hate where the money comes from but you can't build a great team in today's standard of the game without it. I see Poch going which is no bad thing, both for him and us. He's miserable, we're miserable and it shows in our complete lack of commitment. If he does go, the only manager with a pedigree available is Jose and he and Levy will hate each other and he'll be gone in one season. Having supported my team for 40 years, I'm now finding it difficult to be optimistic for the foreseeable future. Thanks Joe and Daniel. You've spoiled my team.

 

[Spaniel]

Probably, but was it in French ??

arrêtez ce putain d'attaquant vous chat

 

[Spaniel]

The way we approach home games against lesser opposition who sit deep is so predictably woeful and toothless, and it needs to change.
I can't remember the last time we really went at such a side from the outset and tried to blitz em. Poch always talks about "aggresivity" but I rarely see it in the first 20 mins so what the fuck happens on the training pitch all week?

Is that even a word? If not, how can we play with it!

 

[harry7]

Lo Celso's performance was baffling. He came on and stood idle at the edge of the 18 yard box. Never made himself available for passes and just looked clueless. WTF was that all about!!

We have been awful in all 3 games so far this season and the tactics deployed have been baffling.

Is Poch trying to get fired????

 

[rusty]

when you force their players back so that 10 defender inside the box, how are we going to thread a ball though ? we needed to be playing in the middle 1/3 of the pitch thus drawing their players out and opening up the pitch then we could play balls over the top or though the lines

 

[SouthStand Billy]

when you force their players back so that 10 defender inside the box, how are we going to thread a ball though ? we needed to be playing in the middle 1/3 of the pitch thus drawing their players out and opening up the pitch then we could play balls over the top or though the lines

Shots from outside the box? That’s how we eventually broke Villa down. We didn’t have an attempt at goal until the 33rd minute.
We just kept passing it from side to side with everyone walking a bet Newcastle couldn’t believe their luck.

 

[Hotspurpaul]

I see you don't mention Harry. Apart from his ill advised dive, he might not have been there. Wtf is going on with him. He was better when he was a greedy ball hog.

No but i said 'they weren't the ONLY shitshows today' meaning they were shit too! So i agreed with you in that sense. Everyone was shit let's face it.

 

[Murphy]

How much of today’s game involved Spurs playing the ball very slowly from one side of the pitch to the other around 25 yards from the Newcastle goal, five yard passes until the ball was played into their box to be met by a Newcastle head or boot, cleared then retrieved, rinse and repeat.
To be fair, they defended quite well but sadly only because Spurs failed to test them enough.
The non penalty at the end would have salvaged a point had it been awarded and converted but it was a pretty disappointing performance overall against a poor team.

The amount of times the diagonal to arise was on, but our players passed it sequentially really slowed our play.

An abject performance but I think if we are honest we’ve been poor for a few few games rolling into last season.

Trips alluded to a mess behind the scenes as he left. I think that’s apparent.

 

[ChrissyWaddleShares]

What are your thoughts on what's going on in Kane's head at the moment. He's appears totally out of it. I'm worried!

Not a clue. Still seems a class above when he comes and receives the ball deep but perhaps just too much pressure on him? Similar to England in the Euros a couple of years back? Definitely struggling to find any kind of space - Dele will force other teams to chase a runner and then buy Kane a yard but he seems very laboured.