- Jun 1, 2011
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Ahhh I said I didn't want to do it but seen as Poch's comparisons are going on I'll do it.
August
Started with a 1-0 win over West Ham. Not a great performance but was a very satisfying win to start with. Followed by a hammering of a very weak QPR (4-0). But then got completely exposed with the high press by Liverpool at home, losing 3-0.
Very mixed start but you could see we were miles away from the Poch team that was to come. Many many flaws in the team.
September
Next up, a travel up north to play an awful Sunderland side that ended in a 2-2 draw. Again a very indifferent performance, very similar to the AVB era. We then got embarrassed at home, losing 0-1 to WBA, before we managed to scrape a draw at Arsenal.
6 points from 6 games so far, not a lot to be excited about, still, early days. Although I do recall many saying the club screwed up getting Poch when bigger coaches were available.
October
Started with a decent 1-0 win against Southampton - although I don't really recall this game or performance. However, it's important to note that Poch was mixing up his starting 11 game by game. Players like Kane and Dembele still on the bench, Chiriches in and out of the team.
Then consequently got hammered 4-1 by City.....and then beaten 2-1 at home by Newcastle.
9 points from 9 games and not looking great at all! This is around about the time the cries for Kane to start started.
November
Next came that famous Villa game with Kane scoring the late winner but the performance was still largely poor and once again it was real concerning to see us plug away and look lacklustre and out of ideas.
The strange thing is that so many people refer this to Poch's turning point. Well, we lost 2-1 at home to Stoke and I think this may have been the real turning point in terms of certain players no longer being trusted (Kaboul, Adebayor, Capoue). Back to back wins for the first time vs Hull and Everton gave us some hope again.
18 points from 13. Poch's best month yet with 3 wins.
December
Started with a 3-0 spanking vs Mourinho's Chelsea, however the performance was quite promising. Drew with Palace in a pretty drab affair but then beat Swansea, Burnley and Leicester all 2-1 as we started to find momemtum. The performances were hardly stellar, but little signs were there. Lamela was impressing, Kane was scoring and Dembele was finding his way.
We drew 0-0 with United to finish the year with 29 points from 19 games. So very similar to this season.
January
Incredible 5-3 win vs Chelsea to start the year. The attack started to form but we still had issues as we were humbled by Crystal Palace 2-1. Scraped a 2-1 win vs Sunderland but got k'od in the FA Cup vs Leicester. Made damn hard work of beating a tier 3 Sheffield United to reach the final of the League Cup. Finished by beating WBA 3-0, first real accomplished performance since Poch walked in the door.
So 38 points from 23 games and whilst there was certainly improvements, Poch was still having difficulty overcoming dogged teams and the team were still capable of a bad defeat. But this month Poch had started to really define his team - 6 months after first starting with them.
February
Beat Arsenal with a great display but lost a silly game against Liverpool 3-2 to show many weaknesses defensively. Very lucky to draw 2-2 with West Ham after being 2 down and playing awfully. Also got knocked out of the Europa by an average Fiorentina.
42 points from 26 games and still a long way from looking like a consistent team. There was still a lot of doubts about Poch and the team and most of the focus was on how special Kane was and how lucky we were to have got him. Although there were some promising signs. But we'd all been here before.
March
Got schooled in the league cup final by Jose. But beat Swansea and QPR to keep the optimism rolling. Although a 3-0 hammering by Van Gaals United had many wondering if we'd picked the wrong coach. We finished the month with an uncomfortable 4-3 win vs Leicester at home. Still, 3 wins out of 4.
51 points from 30 games and most were wondering if we could sneak top 4 in spite of our inability to avoid a poor defeat every 3 or 4 games.
April
Put in a horrible performance to draw 0-0 with Burnley (Paulinho game) and got humiliated against an awful 10-men Villa team, losing 1-0 at home. Beat Newcastle 3-1 and drew 2-2 against Southampton. 5 points from 4 games amidst some pretty abject performances.
56 points from 34 games and still not sure what to think of Pochettino's Tottenham. Could look very decent and intense one moment, the next completely bereft of ideas and toothless.
May
Final month of the season with still a slight chance of CL qualification. But that proved to be more hope as we lost 1-0 to City without putting a mark on them and then got humiliated losing 3-0 vs Stoke - of all teams. Finished the season beating Hull and Everton to secure Europa, although the team were pretty much coasting by that point.
64 points and 5th place finish. We were close but never really close enough to CL qualification and other than a good bit of form from late December to February, the team were far from looking special.
The odd stellar performance every now and again but it was a very tough watch most of the season. A lot of wins by one goal, showed that the team were just scraping by and finding each game a slog. Poch was identifying the foundations and still understanding his best 11, right up until the summer of 2015. Trying to get the team to buy into the press and identify those who were incapable.
In fact, this followed on into the next season. We lost to United, drew with Stoke, Leicester and Everton squeezed past Sunderland in the first two months. All far from convincing, looking quite toothless all the while. Some time after it all clicked and we became the monster team we all loved.
The point I'm making is that it took a hell of a long time for Poch to really work his magic and the first 14 months or so were pretty rocky, good performance, average performance then poor performance. Different 11 week in week out. It was really hard to see the direction we were headed but because Poch was given time he was able to really imprint his style onto the team and get everyone on board.
Jose needs similar time and trust. I see some similarities, average performances, some good results, some bad results, certain players looking finished, some lacking form and belief. We just need to be very patient.
Cracking postSo i apprently am too negative about jm and his outdated methods of seige mentality and his poor tactics or lack of that i got banned from another forum.
Can anyone provide me with a positive to what ive said