- Feb 18, 2006
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As must be pretty obvious from my posts I’m a huge Poch fan and don’t want him to leave but would understand if he walked. If that happened then based on playing style I would want a manager nobody in this thread has mentioned - Erik ten Hag. I also think he would better fit the Levy profile than some prima donna like Mourinho or Allegri.Poch has moved us forward significantly on the footballing side. I look back to the end of the AVB era where we played Liverpool and we’re blown away by their tempo and movement off the ball, something that was night and day from the turgid stuff we were playing.
Fast forward to Poch’s arrival, and the subsequent brand of high energy dynamic football was fantastic. The man himself came across as very humble and enthusiastic about building his own legacy at Spurs. The players all clearly played with a hunger about them, eager to deliver for a manager that bonded them into a team. Great times to be a Spurs fan.
Now here we are, the style and brand of football has reverted to AVB’esque, pedestrian and lacking any kind of invention. The manager appears significantly more sullen and lacking spark, much like our playing performances. His press conferences are spiky, and he seems to be (semi) publicly falling out with players. These are not the traits he initially came to the club and instilled. (Some of) The players who would once have walked over hot coals for him appear eager to run down their contracts.
Something is broken within our club. Yes it’s early days in the season, but this slump in performances is not limited to 2019/2020 seasons games only. The back end of last season was the same, and the CL run merely papered over the cracks. We have slumped to numerous defeats against teams we really should be blowing away if we have any aspirations to compete with City and Liverpool. But we have failed to do so because of repeated loss of concentration defensively, and time and again failing to show enough invention or urgency to break down stubborn defences.
I personally hope Poch can get us back playing with the sheer intensity, spirit, discipline and dynamic cutting edge of previous seasons. Style that was synonymous with his early days at the club, and had us the envy of many. On that form, I would choose no other manager at our club. But to do that, he seriously needs to rediscover his mojo, and fast. His moody demeanour does not fill me with confidence this is happening any time soon. The suggestions of Mourinho fill me with even less enthusiasm, he really is not the answer.
Back on form Poch ideally, Allegri maybe, Mourinho please no.