Jose Mourinho

[Japhet]

Some major causes for alarm after that performance.

1) Last season I assumed that Mourinho had tried to be pragmatic with his 'lop-sided' back 4 approach. Aurier was very suspect defensively and pushing him up the pitch and using Sissoko to babysit was a kind of solution, but after seeing the way Doherty was deployed yesterday, it seems this is an actual tactical preference for Mourinho. With the remaining back 3 having to push across, it creates space on both of our flanks which Everton (James particularly) exploited continually.

2) Last season we obviously lacked a dedicated DM (and had done for some time). When we bought Hojbjerg I thought it might be a step in the right direction, although I never saw Hojbjerg as a 100% DM which is what we needed. But yesterday, PEH was given the role of chasing the ball about while Winks sat deep and played simple, non threatening passes at a snail's pace.

3) Last season, the double pivot CM was used in order to get Dele on the pitch. It was generally awful, and our better performances cam with an extra man in CM which gave us a foothold in games. Yesterday we started with a double pivot CM and Dele behind the front 3. Nothing learned from last season. When Sissoko was brought on (bizarrely) for Dele, he seemed to have been instructed to get in Doherty's way. The extra man in CM therefore gave us absolutely nothing and robbed us of the vague chance Dele might miraculously produce something.

4) Forwards still butchering relatively easy chances, especially ones that involved a simple pass to a team mate (Yes, you Sonny). Still displaying the same selfish tendencies that cost us time and again last year.

5) Set pieces absolutely atrocious still. Dier has a dreadful habit of letting attackers get in front of him which cost us their winner. Offensively we were putting in swinging deliveries to the far post where it's almost impossible to do anything with them. Those deliveries are only any use if you can get a flick on them from the nearer side of the goal. By contrast, Everton put an out swinger near the penalty spot which gave Calvert Lewin just what he needed to send a bullet header into the net.

I don't know what we've been doing in pre season and coaching, but it looks like more of the same from last season which delivered some of the worst football I've seen in a very, very long time.

 

[cirilus]

Some major causes for alarm after that performance.

1) Last season I assumed that Mourinho had tried to be pragmatic with his 'lop-sided' back 4 approach. Aurier was very suspect defensively and pushing him up the pitch and using Sissoko to babysit was a kind of solution, but after seeing the way Doherty was deployed yesterday, it seems this is an actual tactical preference for Mourinho. With the remaining back 3 having to push across, it creates space on both of our flanks which Everton (James particularly) exploited continually.

2) Last season we obviously lacked a dedicated DM (and had done for some time). When we bought Hojbjerg I thought it might be a step in the right direction, although I never saw Hojbjerg as a 100% DM which is what we needed. But yesterday, PEH was given the role of chasing the ball about while Winks sat deep and played simple, non threatening passes at a snail's pace.

3) Last season, the double pivot CM was used in order to get Dele on the pitch. It was generally awful, and our better performances cam with an extra man in CM which gave us a foothold in games. Yesterday we started with a double pivot CM and Dele behind the front 3. Nothing learned from last season. When Sissoko was brought on (bizarrely) for Dele, he seemed to have been instructed to get in Doherty's way. The extra man in CM therefore gave us absolutely nothing and robbed us of the vague chance Dele might miraculously produce something.

4) Forwards still butchering relatively easy chances, especially ones that involved a simple pass to a team mate (Yes, you Sonny). Still displaying the same selfish tendencies that cost us time and again last year.

5) Set pieces absolutely atrocious still. Dier has a dreadful habit of letting attackers get in front of him which cost us their winner. Offensively we were putting in swinging deliveries to the far post where it's almost impossible to do anything with them. Those deliveries are only any use if you can get a flick on them from the nearer side of the goal. By contrast, Everton put an out swinger near the penalty spot which gave Calvert Lewin just what he needed to send a bullet header into the net.

I don't know what we've been doing in pre season and coaching, but it looks like more of the same from last season which delivered some of the worst football I've seen in a very, very long time.

Agreed with everything.

But his reasoning yesterday wasn't bad.

Having no striker on the bench and seemingly with less man in midfield, he removed Dele (wasn't there) to control the ball and release a bit more Hojbjerg and Doherty.

At around 60' Ndombele was going to go in for Winks and later (75'?) Berg to allow Son to move inside.

He sensed no goal up until the end, and used what he had on the bench.

Apart from Davies mistake (casual), defense was solid til then.

But nothing worked that way, and there were too many rotation players on the field to really control the game.

 

[double0]

Yet again it appears our players are getting away without much criticism. We saw these exact performances under Poch and we are still seeing them under Mourinho. Therefore, if Mourinho is as bad as everyone thinks in here then I can only assume that Poch is equally terrible and a past it coach? It can't be both Poch is great, Mou is sh*t when the players are playing the same way.

The entire blame has to go on to the players. They didn't even want to run yesterday, Dele Alli continues to think he is a world superstar and yet his first touch is always so horrendous. He needs to go back to basics. Generally as a club our recruitment has been poor, we lost Dembele and never replaced him and then we lost Eriksen and have not replaced him.

We have also been incredibly unlucky with continuous injuries to players in key positions and the fact that TN hasn't settled.

I'm not going to sit here and say that Mou is the best manager ever etc etc however people branding him rubbish and all that are purely saying it based on the brand of football. Since Mou took over he has amassed the 5th most points in the league, only 2 behind 4th place and when you think of how many games we were without Kane, Son, Lloris & GLC that is relatively impressive. We were incredibly poor yesterday there is no denying that but people calling for him to go need to realise that a) it isn't going to happen anytime soon and b) you are saying this after 1 game this season, 1 game.

I have never wanted our fan base to become so entitled that we have a manager who has the 5th best record in the league while missing key players is deemed rubbish and we deserve so so much better, and these same people still pine for Pochettino who was absolutely horrendous in his last 18 months but because they like him he is deemed as not a failure. Just doesn't add up.

I guess I'm alway defending Dele Alli. Your comments about him thinking he is world class, what do you base this on.
Kane even in the documentary comes across as being out grown of the club. He bemoan not being put in by Son and was part of the players not putting in enough effort.

 

[ajspurs]

I don't know why we were so quick to abandon what we'd adopted at home to Arsenal, with Kane and Son up front and Lucas on the left of midfield and more of a traditional back 4. That was one of the only games of recent where we actually looked to have a little bit of flow about us. Then I think we went to Newcastle and although we won, had switched back and we'd lost a bit of fluidity as a result.

We are clearly struggling to play any sort of progressive football so it's frustrating to see us adopting tried and tested setups.

If he continues to use this lopsided 4-2-3-1 or whatever it is, the turgid football will continue. I would have thought he'd seen enough of it to know by now.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

It's like this:
You are the manager of a Domino's Pizza franchise that Johny Loois owns. OK, you redid the premises and them be looking real nice. Let's say the branch is in Twerton. (If you don't know where Twerton is, I recommend that you don't try to find out). Then one summer you are on vaycay down by the medditerrainian or however you spell it. And after a long hot day on the beach sipping pinas (the three first were virgin, promise) and at lunch you have this amazing pizza. The freshest basil, eco-biodinamic mozzarella and proper sourdough crust and stuff. And you think that's what you need for your Domino's back home in Twerton.

So you talk to the pizza chef, Gioseppe, and you offer him an incredible sum of sterling pounds to come work in Twerton. Gioseppe agrees. He brings is sharpest, Japanese, one-single-blade knife and a few porcelain knives too. He's one special sourdough starter and his own techniques. There is nobody like Gio.

So Gio arrives, flashing his blades. But there's no need for a super-stella japanese knife. The freezer is full of pre-sliced peperoni, and you have three industrial sized fridges with pre-grated cheeeze, so much for making the nation grate again, Gioseppe thinks to himself. So lo and behold, the new, fresh chef dishes up the same old pizza. The stock is full of useless ingredients and the premade "crust" comes every morning at 6:45 from the centralised crust dealer. Gioseppe closes the websites to the eco friendly, artisan flour makers at 3 pound per kilos and tries his best with bags of frozen peperoni.

Gio looks restless around. Dried up laziness in every corner. Any size pizza for 7 pounds if the clients call up front. And he left his beloved beach for this? At least he knows about a well-used but iconic pizza oven at a place past its due date in central Madrid. He had a work stint there and thinks he can sway a deal in his favour for the old but still functioning wood fired oven to replace the all-electric pile of rubbish. At least maybe then, maybe then, he can prove to these English twats that he still has got it. Maybe he can try a new drill with the crust.

But, won't the pregrated cheeeze still be just that, though?

 

[Alex4487]

the best thing for everyone involved is to go our separate ways thanks for the europa league spot and getting us through the covid situation but the quicker we get rid and bring in a manager whos team play on the front foot the better it is for us. i mean how can we be so turgid creating and even having attempts at goal with the attacking threat we possess its mind boggling fs mourinho is outdated

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

the best thing for everyone involved is to go our separate ways thanks for the europa league spot and getting us through the covid situation but the quicker we get rid and bring in a manager whos team play on the front foot the better it is for us. i mean how can we be so turgid creating and even having attempts at goal with the attacking threat we possess its mind boggling fs mourinho is outdated

Said no-one.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Jose deserves the criticism for poor substitutions but he was right about the first half , Everton created zero apart from a helping hand from Davis and we had two good scoring opportunities plus Harry a studs length from connecting with Son's pass .
But did Jose coach Son to pass the ball backwards from a free kick when we had all big men up in the box seconds before half time or was that stupidity from a player.

 

[John48]

Watched episodes 7 & 8 of All or Nothing & things he was saying after defeats then equally apply to yesterday's game.

It's worrying we don't see any improvement in the team over the time Jose has been in charge, especially when you consider how the likes of Arteta has improved the Gooners & Carlo yesterday had 3 new players a week & they looked far more like a team than anything we showed yesterday.

Troubling & I'm not sure there's a quick fix.

 

[JCRD]

I don't know why we were so quick to abandon what we'd adopted at home to Arsenal, with Kane and Son up front and Lucas on the left of midfield and more of a traditional back 4. That was one of the only games of recent where we actually looked to have a little bit of flow about us. Then I think we went to Newcastle and although we won, had switched back and we'd lost a bit of fluidity as a result.

We are clearly struggling to play any sort of progressive football so it's frustrating to see us adopting tried and tested setups.

If he continues to use this lopsided 4-2-3-1 or whatever it is, the turgid football will continue. I would have thought he'd seen enough of it to know by now.

Can I be honest, even that wasnt a good performance the one against Arsenal.

There really is no progression of on the pitch performances. I dont expect it to be linear but id expect it to improve over time - it really hasnt.

I watch other teams and apart from say a West Ham the majority are playing with a bit of a smile on their faces for example. I see Arsenal and we make fun of them, but they have an identity and some form of enjoyment on their faces etc

Our players look bored. We saw what happened at Manure, aJose sucked the life out of the players and i fear our players could follow suit

 

[ajspurs]

Can I be honest, even that wasnt a good performance the one against Arsenal.

There really is no progression of on the pitch performances. I dont expect it to be linear but id expect it to improve over time - it really hasnt.

I watch other teams and apart from say a West Ham the majority are playing with a bit of a smile on their faces for example. I see Arsenal and we make fun of them, but they have an identity and some form of enjoyment on their faces etc

Our players look bored. We saw what happened at Manure, aJose sucked the life out of the players and i fear our players could follow suit

I don't think it was great or anything but what I mean was that we actually passed a bit and there was some movement, the absolute bare minimums and nothing to boast about I know But despite that it's something that we astoundingly find difficult to do.

It does feel like what happened at United. I'm sure Jose's general demeanor is different to what it was at United but I do wonder if just the tactics that he adopts leaves some teams a little lifeless, as opposed to what he says and how he acts.

 

[JCRD]

I don't think it was great or anything but what I mean was that we actually passed a bit and there was some movement, the absolute bare minimums and nothing to boast about I know But despite that it's something that we astoundingly find difficult to do.

It does feel like what happened at United. I'm sure Jose's general demeanor is different to what it was at United but I do wonder if just the tactics that he adopts leaves some teams a little lifeless, as opposed to what he says and how he acts.

Youre right, I would certainly take that right now. Things need to improve or potentially this season could be a very very difficult one.

I suspect at some point the league top four may run away from us so he will target the Europa League

I mentioned this in another post, Jose hates losing more than he loves winning...

 

[Alex4487]

Said no-one.

Compare how many fans of other clubs would take jose if or when he was available after utd. We are a laughing stock and only got mou as his stock is so low and now we see why. Dinosaur manager plain and simple. Theres a reason he doesnt stay at clubs for longer periods he drains the whole football club eventually i rather we cut our loses now than wait for it to completely crumble.

 

[Johnny J]

It does feel like what happened at United. I'm sure Jose's general demeanor is different to what it was at United but I do wonder if just the tactics that he adopts leaves some teams a little lifeless, as opposed to what he says and how he acts.

I mean, the general consensus seems to be that United often looked so toothless under him because the players were following strict instructions. It's no coincidence that when he left they looked like they'd been let off their leash.

 

[danielneeds]

Can I be honest, even that wasnt a good performance the one against Arsenal.

There really is no progression of on the pitch performances. I dont expect it to be linear but id expect it to improve over time - it really hasnt.

I watch other teams and apart from say a West Ham the majority are playing with a bit of a smile on their faces for example. I see Arsenal and we make fun of them, but they have an identity and some form of enjoyment on their faces etc

Our players look bored. We saw what happened at Manure, aJose sucked the life out of the players and i fear our players could follow suit

You’ve got to say that the comparison with Jose and Arteta is light and day. You can watch Arse now and they have a clear style and pattern of play. And maybe with the defensive signings they won’t have the defensive calamities that seemed to kneecap them last year. Whereas us, I don’t see one difference from day one.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

The only laughing stock is our fanbase (as represented on spurscommunity).

 

[Johnny J]

The only laughing stock is our fanbase (as represented on spurscommunity).

Why insult not only your fellow fans, but people who post in good faith on here, just like you do? Let's just discuss instead.

You're a better poster than that.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Why insult your fellow fans? Let's just discuss instead.

Because I think that calling our club a laughing stock, even considering that we are clearly in a bad way right now, is the sort of thing a laughing stock would say.

Clearly.

 

[Johnny J]

Because I think that calling our club a laughing stock, even considering that we are clearly in a bad way right now, is the sort of thing a laughing stock would say.

Clearly.

You don't need to patronise me, I like you. If someone said that then call them out on it, don't insult the entire community. That's the sort of thing you would hate if someone else did it.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

You don't need to patronise me, I like you. If someone said that then call them out on it, don't insult the entire community. That's the sort of thing you would hate if someone else did it.

Wasn’t intending to patronise, apologies, just frustrated over the bed wetting in reaction to yesterday. I’m as upset as anyone else but the site today has been a big bag of aids. Mourinho’s is toxic, the chairman is a money grabbing whelp, every player is shit, the stadium was a waste of money. But Sunday morning when we were hyped up by the documentary and happy with our transfers barring the lack of striker so far, not a peep. I hate the hypocrisy and I hate the fickleness. It was one match. A shit match, but still just one match, and this place looks like the last days of Sodom.