Jose Mourinho

[shelfboy68]

I definitely give little to no chance of us winning it but while I won’t exactly be shocked if Leipzig knock us out I'm half expecting us to do the job tbh. Like I said, if we then get the winner of Atalanta v Valencia in the QTR final I’d expect us to be in with a seriously good shout of going through to the semi at which point anything could happen. As unlikely as that all is.

But we can't beat Norwich or Southampton nor anyone in the top six I think many people are under estimating Leipzig don't be surprised if they take us to the cleaners.

 

[EastLondonYid]

But we can't beat Norwich or Southampton nor anyone in the top six I think many people are under estimating Leipzig don't be surprised if they take us to the cleaners.

The way we are now , they will tear us a new one, they play a very high intensity game and will totally dominate us.....if , as i fear, we are still in this shape come the meeting ,we will be toast......they are not top of the german league for nothing......

 

[hamsup_sotong]

One thing for sure atm is the fact that we're being out toughed. During our heyday with da moose and dier.. we were laying a body on our opponents irregardless of whether we win the ball or not and that was contagious.

The saints boys were kicking lumps out of our lads and nothing was done in kind. So disappointing.

It feels like we're mentally shot and in need a huge reboot... the aggression just isn't there

 

[SpartanSpur]

"First half we had to play more. There was the possibility to play, but we used long balls too quick"

Vertonghen in the Standard article about Kane today. I think the over-use of long balls is a confidence issue, compounded by a lack of effective movement through midfield. It's the easy option.

I have no doubts that Mourinho encourages direct or 'mixed up' play but I think its easy to put the blame of the poor football solely at his door. He was raving about Eriksen and Ndombele second half vs Norwich, neither of whom were playing 'hoofball'.

Jose inherited some major confidence and fitness/conditioning issues that have been brought back to the foreground with the heavy xmas period.

 

[E17yid]

But we can't beat Norwich or Southampton nor anyone in the top six I think many people are under estimating Leipzig don't be surprised if they take us to the cleaners.

For sure that’s why I said I wouldn’t be shocked. However while playing well in the league is important I wouldn’t read to much into it. CL is a separate competition which, if anything, may be seen by some of the players as a welcome break away from our bad league form as the CL can give you a different emotional motivation I would imagine. After all we weren’t exactly smashing it in the league last season and we got to the final.

 

[jay2040]

A lot of you look stupid now, thinking Mourinho would solve everything and it was Poch fault lol. Happy I’m not one of you

But you are one of us as you are a Spurs fan, unless that has changed recently!

 

[rossdapep]

If it’s true that Poch wanted a total rebuild and was sacked for that reason then it’s not looking so great now. The spin from the club, which Jose naturally followed, was that we have a fantastic squad of players that were performing well below what they should be. We saw a mini manager bounce but that looks well and truly over now and has done for at least a few weeks really.

It goes without saying that Mourinho needs time, of course he does, but if we’re all saying that Poch was right all along and we do need to overhaul this squad then maybe we should’ve written off this season and given Poch him a few more windows.

It’ll be interesting to see how this month and the summer pan out. I’m not expecting any incomings this month but if we see 3-4 out the door and the same in the summer you’ve got to feel for Poch as this is what he was saying needed to happen. Having said that Tobi has signed a new deal so maybe he is, for the most part, looking to work with this group (with a few tweaks) and in the next 18 months he’ll win us a FA, League or Europa Cup (when we finish outside top 4 this year) and we’ll look back and think it was definitely the right call to sack Poch for Mourinho. I’m not optimistic at that moment. I think it’s more than evident now, after well over a year of watching absolute shit, that we have a lot of players who, for whatever reason, are simply are not good enough. If that is true then we need to do a lot of business in the next 2-3 years really and 1, I’m not even convinced Mourinho will be around that long and 2, I don’t have enough faith in the club (board, scouting network) to recruit well enough to put us back in a place where we’re competing for top honours.

Obviously I’m fully behind Mourinho, in fact I want Mourinho to go full **** mode and shit house everything (as long as we win) so I’m still holding out hope that we get past Leipzig and play the winner of Atalanta v Valencia in the QTRs and then go onto win the Champions League after Jose eye gouges his opposite number in the final. Stranger things have happened.

The issue with Poch and the rebuild wasnt so much needing a few in amd a few out it was losing the salvable players such as Toby, then to ensure the likes of Kane and Son don't start turning their heads too.

With Jose we've seen Toby sign up, yes, he's not as his best but having to sign 1 CB is better than having to sign 2.

A rebuild is still needed, sure. It's just by bringing Jose in, it'll be a lighter rebuild and not an entirely new team.

Some of these players need cutting loose but some will just benefit from fresh faces around them.

 

[shelfboy68]

The way we are now , they will tear us a new one, they play a very high intensity game and will totally dominate us.....if , as i fear, we are still in this shape come the meeting ,we will be toast......they are not top of the german league for nothing......

Exactly that is what I mean we can't cope with that type of football against us we even struggled with it when we was at our peak pressing but we never liked or looked comfortable with the counter press, that is why I am so looking forward to playing Liverpool it should be a tight game shouldn't it?

 

[Gb160]

that is why I am so looking forward to playing Liverpool it should be a tight game shouldn't it?

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Seeing as it's typical to compare with Poch and some are getting at Jose, I think it's worth looking at Poch's first season.

Remember when Poch first walked through the door he had a squad full of talented players who were not the most 'professional' shall we say, and some of these had lost desire (Lloris/Vertonghen).

We started of with a couple of wins (WH away and QPR at home) but these wins only papered over the cracks as we got turned over 3-0 by Liverpool at home.

In fact after Poch's first 10 games, our record read

W 4
D 2
L 4

Hardly inspiring, we'd been turned over by both WBA and Newcastle at home.

If anyone can remember the Villa win (Kanes free kick), will be able to say that the performance was absolutely dreadful. Insipid, boring, slow football from what I recall.

It was around this point where Poch started to ditch certain players (Remember he had had a preseason to work with some of these bad apples - Jose hasn't even had that yet).

Form improved but it was still very sporadic. Five 2-1 wins in November and December showed the team were winning but still overcoming defensive and attacking issues. We lost 3-0 to Chelsea inbetween, another hammering from a bigger team.

For the rest of the season we'd win a couple only to lose 1 in 3/4 games. We even got teared apart 3-0 by Stoke. There was also the drab 0-0 with Burnley (Paulinho shot) and the basketball game (4-3) at home to Leicester.

Poch's defensive set up then consisted of Kaboul, Fazio, Dier, Vertonghen and Chiriches. I recall he would rotate them regularly and ditched Kaboul half way through the season. Protecting that back four was Stambouli, Capoue, Bentaleb, Mason - four players not good enough and quickly out the door.

The point here is that Jose is in a very similar situation. He's got a talented bunch of players (Kane, Alli, Toby, Son) mixed with some who aren't good enough (Sissoko, Foyth, Aurier), new players still bedding in (Sessegnon, Ndombele, Lo Celso) some past their best (Vertonghen, Lloris, Rose) and some who want out (Eriksen).

Add to this the fact that Jose hasn't really had a chance to implement his style, hasn't worked out his best 11, is having players get injured and the season is half way through, it just seems incredibly complicated for him to really work well.

We are going to need a couple of windows similar to Poch's second one.
In the 2015 window he sold;
Paulinho
Soldado
Yedlin
Fazio
Stambouli
Townsend
Chiriches
Friedel
Kaboul
Capoue
Lennon
Adebayor
Holtby

He then only brought in 5 first teamers.

Now I think we may need 6 but the truth is Jose needs to declutter this squad and until he's allowed to do that and work with the squad we aren't going to see consistency and we aren't going to see what he really wants from this team. If after that we still look abject, then all criticism is fair.

You sweet, gentle, life-affirming wise man. If your observations tally up this time, we have to see some good investment this window as well as in the summer to avoid disaffection consuming our best players

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Many fans go on that we need young blood but we have Foyth, Sanchez, Sessegnon, N'dombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon , Clarke, Winks, Skipp, Tanganga , KWP all under 24 , and also for the future Parrott
Jose needs to be given time to change things but we have had some poor displays and mistakes by the more experienced players.

 

[danielneeds]

Many fans go on that we need young blood but we have Foyth, Sanchez, Sessegnon, N'dombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon , Clarke, Winks, Skipp, Tanganga , KWP all under 24 , and also for the future Parrott
Jose needs to be given time to change things but we have had some poor displays and mistakes by the more experienced players.

The problem is that when a team is imbalanced like ours is, lacking confidence and has stopped running hard, then the young players coming in struggle because the foundations are shaky.

We’re essentially performing at a worse leve than Chelsea and United who are both laying the foundations for future teams while we’re in a sort of no man’s land. Our previous side is falling apart and we’re not really preparing the next side very well.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

"First half we had to play more. There was the possibility to play, but we used long balls too quick"

Vertonghen in the Standard article about Kane today. I think the over-use of long balls is a confidence issue, compounded by a lack of effective movement through midfield. It's the easy option.

I have no doubts that Mourinho encourages direct or 'mixed up' play but I think its easy to put the blame of the poor football solely at his door. He was raving about Eriksen and Ndombele second half vs Norwich, neither of whom were playing 'hoofball'.

Jose inherited some major confidence and fitness/conditioning issues that have been brought back to the foreground with the heavy xmas period.

Unfortunately history tells us over recent times that attractive, possession based and intricate football is rarely associated with Mourinho.

 

[IfiHadTheWings]

I’ve got worryingly used to having to write-off seasons.

To be fair up until 5 or so years ago it's all I've ever known when it comes to Spurs.

 

[riggi]

To be fair up until 5 or so years ago it's all I've ever known when it comes to Spurs.

Feels different though doesn’t it? Expectation level etc..

 

[IfiHadTheWings]

Feels different though doesn’t it? Expectation level etc..

Yeah definitely does, was definitely easier when we were shit as you get to enjoy the wins a lot more than going in to near enough every game expecting a win only to be gutted when you don't...easy to see how the entitlement amongst the fans creeps in and why our atmosphere has gone to pot.

 

[rossdapep]

Unfortunately history tells us over recent times that attractive, possession based and intricate football is rarely associated with Mourinho.

No but his best teams have always been noted for transitioning quick, being aggressive and with solid foundations.

If he brings in the right players to combat this then it'll work.

Also he's had Fabregas, Ozil, Modric, Essien - all players who are ball playing midfielders. He just doesn't ask them to keep possession trickling along, he asks them to be aggressive and play more forward passes.

Ndombele fits the bill.

 

[shelfboy68]

Feels different though doesn’t it? Expectation level etc..

Well the expectation level has dropped from low to severely low.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Well the expectation level has dropped from low to severely low.

Unless you pay season ticket prices ...

 

[riggi]

Well the expectation level has dropped from low to severely low.

I’ll probably put my ticket up for a lot of games. Can’t justify it..