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The Mauricio Pochettino thread

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Primativ

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Aug 9, 2017
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It's the clear lack of investment in the squad which I think narks the fans, especially when results go sour. Some of us said the wheels would come off this season, and i have to be honest with you, I think the wheels have come off this season. You might say well we are third, and in the QF of the CL, but again, you have to look deeper than that.

For me, momentum has been lost. We have a lack of quality in key areas of the side, particularly CM and full back. Our performances all season long have been very concerning. I am not just saying that, we've been poor. We could so very easily be many many points worse off in the league. I don't think we could complain if we were 6th in the league right now, based on how we've played this season. I look at City and Liverpool and I see a team with a clear identity and system of play. I don't this that with us anymore. I did in previous seasons. I do think our squad needs a refresh. We seem to be relying on individual brilliance rather than an excellent tactical set up.

I think the lack of investment has meant a lack of competitiveness for certain positions and players in the side. It shows a lack of ambition. I do think this season has been a perfect storm, an unexpected season at Wembley, stadium delays etc but a major part of that was signing no players.

I still can't get my head around it. We were crying out for players. We really just need to get this season out of the way and hopefully secure top 4.

But things need to improve drastically in the summer. We need major work on the squad, major investment. I have absolutely no faith in Levy delivering that though. We need new owners if we want to win a title. Under ENIC we just don't win anything regardless of who the manager is. It's like their priorities are always wrong and it permeates through the club.

Even Poch talks about us needing to change the way we operate as the current way isn't working anymore, we can't go any further.


We need to sign three or four top players in the summer to give the current squad a kick up the arse and some fresh momentum. Based on last summer, I would absolutely not be surprised if we finish outside the top 4, and it will be what Levy and Poch deserve for failing to take initiative in the summer.
 

midoshairband

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Apr 25, 2006
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Players good enough for the starting XI of a title winning team:

Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Eriksen, Son, Dele, Kane. 6 players

Players good enough for a top 4 finish:

Lloris, Rose, Dier. 3 players

Decent squad players:

Gazzaniga, Aurier, Trippier, Walker-Peters, Davies, Sanchez, Foyth, Wanyama, Skipp, Winks, Sissoko, Lucas, Lamela, Llorente 14+ Players

When you consider that we lost Dembele & Walker, 2 clearly good enough for a title challenging team and have replaced their positions in the squad with players that realistically you would regard as decent squad players for a top 4 team it's clear that the quality levels for the first team are hampered by players that have backup qualities.

We currently have 6 top footballers, 3 that can hold their own and the rest that are of second string quality, meaning that in every match day we have at the very least 2 players starting who should be backup, most notably in the right back and central midfield areas.

Here is where we come up short, we have a squad too top heavy with decent squad level quality, a few that hold their own and half a dozen top players that do the dirty work. When they ain't on song the others simply don't have it in them to muster what it takes.

We have many young players that are decent who have room to grow but not enough quality surrounding the other positions. We have one player like Eriksen, have fallen back on a midfield consisting of Winks & Sissoko when before we had Wanyama & Dembele and have half the quality on the right side of our defence.

The quality we had is still there in large parts, but there is a weak underbelly that, due to injuries has slowly seeped into our first XI this season.

14 players in a 25 man squad that, let's be honest we wouldn't miss if they were sold tells you all about the class difference from the magical to the mediocre. If Poch is serious about this club, which he should be because it is a great club he needs to turn at least 5 of those decent squad positions into new signings that can more than hold their own in the top 4 or a title charge.

this. not so long ago sissoko and winks were at best our cup CM’s/sub cameos/maybe played a few here and there. now they are first choice. the drop in quality is staggering.
 

Monkey boy

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Jun 18, 2011
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The worrying thing is the amount of players that we require in the summer. Integrating so many new players into Poch system is hard enough but if you think about squad harmony it’s a very risky business bringing in so many changes all at once.

That’s why last summer was such a balls up. The maximum amount of changes in any transfer window should be in my opinion 3, Christ we need at least 3 new full backs let alone anything else. Worrying times ahead.
 

Gassin's finest

C'est diabolique
May 12, 2010
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What we need is for us supporters to stop being such fooking melts after a couple of defeats. The players have been complacent little fuckers, and Poche will have them running laps of the training ground, with gravy soaked weights strapped to their legs, while Jesus chases them with a slavering pack of barely restrained Dobermans. If there are players who aren't pulling their weight, or heads are elsewhere, you can be sure as shite that Poche won't tolerate it. He was clearly fucked off with them.

Sort it out and get behind the bloke who has put us where we are, and made it sustainable.
 

BringBack_leGin

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Jul 28, 2004
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A hint of negativity from BBLG.

Things are worse than I thought.

I did bring it back round to positivity in the end though...

Agree about some of his media comments, but the way he's navigated our injury crisis through tactical tweaks before and during games have been fantastic.

I don’t disagree, during this recent spell especially, but I feel like he kind of got the hard part right (6 weeks of no Dele or Kane) and the easy part wrong, and that has cost us a bit.

I still fully believe he’s got far more right than wrong this season, I just think that he’s got more wrong than usual and that this has been compounded by other issues out of his control.

Like I say, it’s still very much in our hands, we are still 3rd and still will be come the Liverpool game, by which point he’s hopefully going to have a fully fit squad, 1 week of training with them and 3 weeks to have gathered his thoughts. I’d not bet against him pulling something out of the bag.
 

Flashspur

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Jul 28, 2012
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What we need is for us supporters to stop being such fooking melts after a couple of defeats. The players have been complacent little fuckers, and Poche will have them running laps of the training ground, with gravy soaked weights strapped to their legs, while Jesus chases them with a slavering pack of barely restrained Dobermans. If there are players who aren't pulling their weight, or heads are elsewhere, you can be sure as shite that Poche won't tolerate it. He was clearly fucked off with them.

Sort it out and get behind the bloke who has put us where we are, and made it sustainable.

Title contenders to potential sixth place in 4 games says you’re wrong.
 

Flashspur

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Jul 28, 2012
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I am not blaming Pochettino although some of his in game strategies have been shite and he has persisted in spite of this. It’s the fucking penny pinching of Levy combined with Poch”s lame - I am satisfied with my squad trope that does my fucking head in. The squad is thin and those people who argued with me that the squad had depth at the beginning of the season , go and fucking hang your heads in shame.
 

Gassin's finest

C'est diabolique
May 12, 2010
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Title contenders to potential sixth place in 4 games says you’re wrong.
What bit am I wrong about? About the players being complacent? That Poche will be unhappy with it? That the supporters need to get behind them?

Which bit?

And "potentially" 6th? We're "potentially" anything.
 

Flashspur

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Jul 28, 2012
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What bit am I wrong about? About the players being complacent? That Poche will be unhappy with it? That the supporters need to get behind them?

Which bit?

And "potentially" 6th? We're "potentially" anything.

He won’t sort it out champ. I think the players are done. Nothing left in the tank.
 

wrd

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Aug 22, 2014
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I did bring it back round to positivity in the end though...



I don’t disagree, during this recent spell especially, but I feel like he kind of got the hard part right (6 weeks of no Dele or Kane) and the easy part wrong, and that has cost us a bit.

I still fully believe he’s got far more right than wrong this season, I just think that he’s got more wrong than usual and that this has been compounded by other issues out of his control.

Like I say, it’s still very much in our hands, we are still 3rd and still will be come the Liverpool game, by which point he’s hopefully going to have a fully fit squad, 1 week of training with them and 3 weeks to have gathered his thoughts. I’d not bet against him pulling something out of the bag.

I'm agreeing with everything you're saying, I feel like I need to preface every comment with, I don't want Poch to go anywhere, even if we finish 6th but he's not devoid of criticism. The way he handled Kane coming back into the team was all wrong in my opinion. Needed to ease him in and the reason I bring this is up is because although Poch claims that he picks players on merit, he does seem to have his favourites who feel undroppable or come back in right away and I imagine that puts a few players out of point.
 

Monkey boy

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Jun 18, 2011
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I'm agreeing with everything you're saying, I feel like I need to preface every comment with, I don't want Poch to go anywhere, even if we finish 6th but he's not devoid of criticism. The way he handled Kane coming back into the team was all wrong in my opinion. Needed to ease him in and the reason I bring this is up is because although Poch claims that he picks players on merit, he does seem to have his favourites who feel undroppable or come back in right away and I imagine that puts a few players out of point.

Kane is the best striker in the league and has scored in every game bar 1 since his return. Yes he missed a couple on Saturday but the reason for our defeats over the past 4 games has very little to do with playing our best player.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
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I hope you're all correct, but if we finish outside of the Top 4 at the end of the season my opinion is that you'll be proved wrong.

Poch has said on a number of occasions that he was brought in to secure CL football in the first season, in the new stadium. If this doesn't happen, Levy's bottom-line will be severely effected.

Added to that, the nature of not finishing in the Top 4 would involve an end of season collapse. This would give Levy more reason to pull the trigger. He's done it before with Redknapp, but this time the stakes are higher with a stadium to pay for and naming rights to secure.

And finally, if the rumours are true of Poch refusing to sign players that are offered to him, Levy may also be hacked off with that; he'll be asking the question "Has this cost us CL football?".

Just my opinion, obviously, but this is the way I see it playing out.

On a separate note...

Levy needs to take a long hard look at himself, because when we've been in a position of strength over the years, we've never once doubled-down in the transfer market, to really 'go for it' and seriously challenge for a title.

Like I said before, very frustrating.
To be fair I dont think Daniel Levy expected 3 straight seasons of CL football before moving stadium. I think his inital goal was to build us up into a CL side by the time we enter the new stadium. We're actually ahead of schedule. I doubt it will cost Poch if we miss out this season. Besides if anything he achieved his goal considering we were meant to move into the stadium in Sep. The delay in the stadium has definitely set us back and Poch can't be blamed for that.
 

mike_l

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Jul 29, 2005
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I'm agreeing with everything you're saying, I feel like I need to preface every comment with, I don't want Poch to go anywhere, even if we finish 6th but he's not devoid of criticism. The way he handled Kane coming back into the team was all wrong in my opinion. Needed to ease him in and the reason I bring this is up is because although Poch claims that he picks players on merit, he does seem to have his favourites who feel undroppable or come back in right away and I imagine that puts a few players out of point.
To add to this, I think Alli should have been brought on for the final 30 mins rather than starting. We looked really good 1st half, probably largely down to his input, but when he started to tire we went to shit. Bringing him on we might have finished strongly rather than start well and fade out, which could have seen a more palatable result.
 

spursfan77

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Aug 13, 2005
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To add to this, I think Alli should have been brought on for the final 30 mins rather than starting. We looked really good 1st half, probably largely down to his input, but when he started to tire we went to shit. Bringing him on we might have finished strongly rather than start well and fade out, which could have seen a more palatable result.

It was amazing he started him and then played him for 90 minutes following such a long time out with a hamstring injury. Hamstrings being notoriously problematic, as we've seen with him this season.
 

wrd

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Aug 22, 2014
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Kane is the best striker in the league and has scored in every game bar 1 since his return. Yes he missed a couple on Saturday but the reason for our defeats over the past 4 games has very little to do with playing our best player.

I'm not saying Kane is the reason we are struggling, I'm just talking about how he automatically puts players back in despite the squad having a good run of results, there was the possibility there to ease him back in and I see that as an example of Poch having his favourites who he doesn't sub or leave on bench no matter the circumstances.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
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We wont see our best until we rediscover our collective approach and start to outwork the opposition again. We've never really been about individual star power, even at our highest points.
 

thebenjamin

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Jul 1, 2008
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I'm not saying Kane is the reason we are struggling, I'm just talking about how he automatically puts players back in despite the squad having a good run of results, there was the possibility there to ease him back in and I see that as an example of Poch having his favourites who he doesn't sub or leave on bench no matter the circumstances.

So Kane comes back and starts scoring immediately. Son is clearly burned out and his form has fallen off a cliff. So are you suggesting Poch should've started Llorente over Kane? Or someone else?
 

thebenjamin

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Jul 1, 2008
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We wont see our best until we rediscover our collective approach and start to outwork the opposition again. We've never really been about individual star power, even at our highest points.

Don't you think the lack of that goes back to the lack of pre season and the fact our squad is palpably not fit to play the high energy style? We've been managing games all season, we just don't have the legs to press.
 
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