Jose Mourinho

[wrd]

There's been a lot of smoke about Sabitzer so here's hoping

 

[Monkey boy]

I think Sissokko will stay, he will be 4-5th choice and imo that's fine. He's looked ok alongside PEH, and as a stop gap I think that's ok. The problem is when he plays with who is equally as bad(in different ways). If we are keeping just one of those two it's the one I know is limited but will always give 100%.

PEH
NDom
Skipp
GLC
Sissokko

If there is an abundance of cash then fine, I very much doubt there will be though. Priorities are key this window.

I wonder if we are putting the feelers out to get rid of Lo Celso, we know Jose didnt particularly rate him when he first arrived and this season would have done him no favours with our management team. If we could recoup our £35m then personally id be up for selling him and get somebody like Sabitzer that can control a game from start to finish.

 

[Cel]

I've read, since yesterday, that the performance is evidence that Jose was right to play ultra-defensive. He didn't want to but he had no choice. Our defenders are just THAT bad that without the protection of all six players ahead of them they'd be roasted.

I want to remind everyone that Brighton manage to play attacking, progressive football without conceding five goals every game. (in fact they have only conceded more than two goals in a game twice since October). It is possible. Their back line consists of Ben White, Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk and Solly March or Joel Veltman.

I can guarantee that no one arguing in defence of Jose has ever or will ever be demanding that we sign any of them.

Yes our keeper and defenders made errors but under Jose we seem to swing from one extreme to the other. Coaches with far less talent seem to be getting far, far more out of their group than Jose has done. Anyone can rely on the magic of kane and Son. That doesn't take any talent. Our general play is still chaotic. Our defending is still static and passive.

Brighton is an odd choice for championing attacking football - they have scored 11 less than us, in fact everyone in the top half of the table has scored more, less goals than palace, same as Newcastle. Not sure where this Potter is an offensive mastermind thing has come from. They have won only 5 games all year, and are legit 15th in the table.

 

[LeParisien]

Feels more like Spurs of old, the Jol's and Ramos's and before that Ossie's time, when folk used to say 'cracking cup game, typical Spurs'. That's nothing to be excited about.

Trolling ?

 

[Albertbarich]

Dont move the goalposts now.

Do we or do we not have a chairman willing to rebuild - good or bad players have we or not tried to bring in a large number of high quality replacements since the CL final?

I absolutely believe he is willing to invest
I dont however believe its realistic to expect him to or think he can replace the keeper, two centre backs, a right back and a centre midfielder this summer as I've seen many ask.

Wouldn't you say we should expect our highly paid manager to get more out of our current crop?

 

[GutBucket]

Brighton is an odd choice for championing attacking football - they have scored 11 less than us, in fact everyone in the top half of the table has scored more, less goals than palace, same as Newcastle. Not sure where this Potter is an offensive mastermind thing has come from. They have won only 5 games all year, and are legit 15th in the table.

Because their Xg is very high, they create good chances and don't concede great chances. Not Potter's fault he doesn't have great finishers/strikers. All he can do is put them in good positions to score and he always does.

 

[brasil_spur]

I am at point where I would love to see Tanganga and Rodon become our CB pairing for the remainder of the season that is how little faith I have left in Dier, Toby and Sanchez. Toby can still have a great game but that seems to be every 1 in 3 games these days.

They honestly couldn't do any worse IMO, so agree with this.

It's very clear that losing Jan really hit us hard, as he was our calm leader at CB for so many seasons. TA has also dipped in form which is no surprise given how well he knew Jan and how long they had played together.

IMO we need to spend big in the summer on a CB pairing, or at least spend massive on 1 CB that either Tanganga or Rodon can pair with.

We have that leader quality now in other parts of the pitch, but in defence it is massively lacking.

 

[brasil_spur]

I agree, I always thought Toby was the lynchpin behind their great partnership but since he's left it's starting to look like it was probably Jan who was the guy calling the play.

That's not a slight on Toby who was imo the better actual defender of the two.

I always thought it was Jan, but I didn't realise how much of an impact losing Jan would have on Toby's overall play.

 

[brasil_spur]

We need to move on Lloris, Gazzanigga, Rose, Davies, Dier, Sanchez, Toby, Doherty, Winks, Sissoko, Lamela, Lucas.

Bring Sessengnon, Clarke and Skipp in to 1st squad

And buy new CBs GK RB winger.

Do you trust Jose though with the task

Agree with all that apart from Lamela. I don't think we'll get much for him by selling and IMO can be a very valuable squad member, as shown last night.

 

[dudu]

I absolutely believe he is willing to invest
I dont however believe its realistic to expect him to or think he can replace the keeper, two centre backs, a right back and a centre midfielder this summer as I've seen many ask.

Wouldn't you say we should expect our highly paid manager to get more out of our current crop?

Firstly, I believe any manger that would make SC happy to get in is going to be highly paid,.

For me, this is an abnormal season. We have had a ridiculous, relentless schedule marred by injuries to players who are absolutely key to everything we hope to do. We have barely had a solid week on the training ground to work on anything other than really prepping for the next team. Some games I have expected more from everyone involved and some games I have been satisfied/happy with what I have seen based on the circumstances. So I am going to reserve my judgment on how his season has gone until the end of it, a lot can happen in a few months of football.

I don't think any manager will come in and have us playing like world-beaters with Winks + Sissoko as his number 3+4 CM choices.

 

[lemony snickets]

Really enjoyed the game last night, proper old school FA Cup match, full of mistakes, by both teams, good goals and non stop action. IMHO Jose needs to stick with a back four of Serge, Toby, Rodon and Regi for the rest of the season, when they're all fit and i reckon we'll see an up turn in results. Hugo's been a fantastic servant for the club, but i personally believe he's been on a downward spiral for a while now, him moving on is best for everyone. Pope up at Burnley would be a wise investment.

 

[Shadydan]

They honestly couldn't do any worse IMO, so agree with this.

It's very clear that losing Jan really hit us hard, as he was our calm leader at CB for so many seasons. TA has also dipped in form which is no surprise given how well he knew Jan and how long they had played together.

IMO we need to spend big in the summer on a CB pairing, or at least spend massive on 1 CB that either Tanganga or Rodon can pair with.

We have that leader quality now in other parts of the pitch, but in defence it is massively lacking.

Bit unfair to throw them in like that IMO, you need to be careful with young players, a few bad results then it could break them mentally

I'm not a fan of throwing players in like that unless they are 100% ready, especially defenders. Rodon tbf looks like he can play more games, not sure on Tanganga though.

Guess there's one way to find out though...

 

[wadewill]

I know it was a bit more "fun" yesterday, but the performance from a defensive pov was awful.

I find it very strange that anyone can look at that and think a corner has been turned. Its nowhere near, it was an enjoyable game to watch but technically it was pretty poor from both sides.

I really cannot see us getting more than a point from the next two. Which could see us in the bottom half.

 

[Shadydan]

I know it was a bit more "fun" yesterday, but the performance from a defensive pov was awful.

I find it very strange that anyone can look at that and think a corner has been turned. Its nowhere near, it was an enjoyable game to watch but technically it was pretty poor from both sides.

I really cannot see us getting more than a point from the next two. Which could see us in the bottom half.

I think for some people it's closure on what they wanted, they wanted to see attacking football and we tried to do it but it failed.

Hopefully now people are now onboard as to why we play with the handbrake on, I'll caveat it by saying that we should be going more expansive against lesser team though.

 

[Monkey boy]

Firstly, I believe any manger that would make SC happy to get in is going to be highly paid,.

For me, this is an abnormal season. We have had a ridiculous, relentless schedule marred by injuries to players who are absolutely key to everything we hope to do. We have barely had a solid week on the training ground to work on anything other than really prepping for the next team. Some games I have expected more from everyone involved and some games I have been satisfied/happy with what I have seen based on the circumstances. So I am going to reserve my judgment on how his season has gone until the end of it, a lot can happen in a few months of football.

I don't think any manager will come in and have us playing like world-beaters with Winks + Sissoko as his number 3+4 CM choices.

This for me is the point that everyone seems to be missing. Jose and his team have had so little time to prepare the team due to the amount of games that we will have played. Its one of the reasons i was advocating binning off the league and focusing everything on the cup matches. Almost use the league games as practice games for the formations that we will likely play.

After Man City (likely) beat us on Saturday i think that will put an end to our top 4 chances once and for all and then maybe i think Jose will look to start gearing up the team to make sure that when the europa league comes back around he will have the team drilled as a well oiled machine ready to destroy the opposition........

 

[Saoirse]

This for me is the point that everyone seems to be missing. Jose and his team have had so little time to prepare the team due to the amount of games that we will have played. Its one of the reasons i was advocating binning off the league and focusing everything on the cup matches. Almost use the league games as practice games for the formations that we will likely play.

After Man City (likely) beat us on Saturday i think that will put an end to our top 4 chances once and for all and then maybe i think Jose will look to start gearing up the team to make sure that when the europa league comes back around he will have the team drilled as a well oiled machine ready to destroy the opposition........

I think it's an issue because there's a clash of the club's best interests and Jose's best interests. Not getting Champions League is failure enough and, two years in a row, would presumably see him sacked. But as a club, we can't afford to miss out on the Europa League too - if we're not in Europe or stuck in the new third-tier tournament, it'll further damage our finances and make it harder to attract players. It will also hurt our coefficient, which could be bad timing given UEFA are discussing reforms where 2-3 spots in the CL could be reserved for high-coefficient clubs. So we really do need to keep up our focus in the league, rather than putting all our eggs in the Europa basket where one bad 90 minutes (and by goodness have we had a lot of bad 90 minutes so far) could cause huge damage to the club going forwards.

 

[wadewill]

I think for some people it's closure on what they wanted, they wanted to see attacking football and we tried to do it but it failed.

Hopefully now people are now onboard as to why we play with the handbrake on, I'll caveat it by saying that we should be going more expansive against lesser team though.

Suppose you are right, I'd like to know how those people would like us to play on Saturday. I think im being realistic when i say a 1 goal defeat would be a pretty acceptable result. I'm really concerned it could be quite embarrassing, we are owed a beating by City for all the luck we have had against them recently.

Our defence just isnt good enough, but at what point does that stop being the players fault and it come down to the coaching. Other managers get a lot more out of less defensively.

Reality for me is that neither are good enough at the moment, coach or players.

 

[Betha]

I think Sabitzer and 2 top centre halves would solve a lot of our problems.

With Sabitzer and two top centre halves added to this squad, even Steve Bruce would challenge.

 

[Saoirse]

Just to go on the record the only thing I care about against City is winning. 1-0 with a single shot on target deflected off Sissoko's arse after we've been penned in our own half all game is fine. We just need the three points, simple as that.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

I assume all the people who have been telling us for months that entertainment comes first and winning second, are delighted this morning, right?

Right?

I'm not 'delighted' but it's one of the very few matches under Jose i've actually enjoyed. Infact, it gives me hope that we can play a more progressive style under this manager - it's just about getting the balance right. Although i'm sure, like the West Ham match, this will just give Jose an excuse to park the bus for remainder of the season.