Jose Mourinho

[Everlasting Seconds]

If you have been a Spurs fan for longer than a season and questions whether "Spursy" is a thing, then you haven't really been following with open eyes.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

You may call it Spursy or not. Its a mentality thing and such things happen to us more often than to winning top clubs.
I think for a long time our technical and footballing abilities are not much worse than lots of winning top clubs. But signs of weak mentality when it matters have cost us winning big matches or titles the last years.

Very interesting point this. I see what you mean and agree to an extent as we've had some top teams under say Redknapp and Poch and of course now under Jose but I think in terms of quality and squad depth we've never really been on a level playing field compared to the teams we've been competing with, the best we had was under peak Poch our XI was on its day the best in the league as a collective but you can'tm tell me that a team with the likes of Wanyama and Lamela starting had more quality than say Man.City's XI at the time, Chelsea and Man.U often have extremely strong teams and squads most seasons. But sure I agree we've not been 'much worse' and that is where that mentality comes in, I think a lot of it is having the experience of winning either by getting over the line as a squad for the first time OR like now by adding players and a manager who've been there and done it so when the other players look round the dressing room they're filled with utter confidence that we can win. Jose is working on this as best he can.

 

[shelfboy68]

You may call it Spursy or not. Its a mentality thing and such things happen to us more often than to winning top clubs.
I think for a long time our technical and footballing abilities are not much worse than lots of winning top clubs. But signs of weak mentality when it matters have cost us winning big matches or titles the last years.

Bingo

 

[SpursSince1980]

Has he given any additional info on when Dier and Tanganga might be back?

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

What do people now think about the style of play?

I always thought it would be a bit better this season once key players were back from being injured and with a few new signings but I didn't anticipate us to be the leagues top scorers after 5 matches and in 4/5 of those matches to be playing blistering fast dynamic attacking football so I'm absolutely loving it to be honest, is that the general feeling?

I also think that Jose came to Spurs for two reasons:

1. So called 'sleeping giant', the infrastructure of the club is there to win trophies, with a bit of investment in the squad which he's now had he knew that we could compete in terms of quality and IF he can win something for us it will be lauded as a massive achievement given we've failed to win much in the last 30 or so years. He's taken an educated calculated risk here that given the current and potential quality of the club there is a decent chance he could win something with us, sure it will be difficult but with that level of difficulty will come greater plaudits so that would put to bed really any notion that Jose was ever past it as a manager and that he's always been and still is world class

2. The chance to win with a bit of style, he knows that with the right players he can get teams playing in a direct attacking way and we are seeing the fruits of that labour now. He's mentioning how well we are playing and how good we are to watch in all his interviews because he wants to sew the seeds IF/hopefully when he wins something with us that : A - he did it against the man.city's and Chelsea's who 'break FFP' lol and B - he's done it in style and at a club which has barely won anything in 30 years, its just such a good fit for his ego. If he doesn't win anything then fine but I don't think he will want to leave until he has because IF he can then his ego can live off that forever and he can sail off into the sun and manage portugal and read all the nice media comments about how wrong they were about him and then the narrative changes from, Jose being boring football past it Jose to world class Jose who can play attractive football.

Honestly you couldn't have picked a better club for Jose and to be honest he's a perfect fit for us in terms of changing our mentality to a winning one.

Make no bones about it when he says its all about the club and the team that is complete balls it is all 100% about his ego which is fine because that is what winners do they want to win to show off so its win win if we win haha COYS!

 

[wrd]

I don't think the manner in which we're attacking has been particularly surprising, I've mentioned a few times his Madrid team and the brilliant football they played and we're working in a similar vein.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

You may call it Spursy or not. Its a mentality thing and such things happen to us more often than to winning top clubs.
I think for a long time our technical and footballing abilities are not much worse than lots of winning top clubs. But signs of weak mentality when it matters have cost us winning big matches or titles the last years.

I think it's difficult to distinguish between our players being mentally weaker vs. under more mental strain than our rivals.

We've always had to rely on players playing out of their skins even when fatigued and/or carrying injuries, while our rivals have had more strength in depth to call upon. By matching / bettering the results of rivals, I'd argue that we've demonstrated much greater mental strength than other teams in the past, when you consider that each of our key players is under more pressure to perform.

By being under more pressure (on average), our players will surely be more prone to reaching breaking point / cracking than those of rivals with more depth.

 

[Shadydan]

You may call it Spursy or not. Its a mentality thing and such things happen to us more often than to winning top clubs.
I think for a long time our technical and footballing abilities are not much worse than lots of winning top clubs. But signs of weak mentality when it matters have cost us winning big matches or titles the last years.

The weak mentality only comes to fruition when fans are unable to accept that sometimes these things just things happen in football to all football clubs, despite the fact that these things happen few and far between to us it just seems like it happens a lot to us because this lazy narrative has been around for so long that's its now become a fallacy of this club.

So, for example, where was the weak mentality when we came back from 3-0 against Ajax?

Where was the weak mentality when we on all but two of our home matches in 2016/17?

Where was the weak mentality when we went to OT a couple of weeks ago and ran up a record score against them?

What is this weak mentality actually based on, some arbituary criteria? For example Arsenal who have won 3 FA cups in the last 5 years haven't won away to a top 6 club for 5 years, so what does that make them?

If you're gonna take selective data based on a lazy narrative perpuated by other fans myths and fantasies in order to mock us be my guest but I just happen to think that's it a whole load of nonsense, the very same people accusing this club of being 'Spursy' are the ones who ironically need to improve their mentality.

 

[nicdic]

I don't think the manner in which we're attacking has been particularly surprising, I've mentioned a few times his Madrid team and the brilliant football they played and we're working in a similar vein.

Everyone had made their mind up based on his United team. And then used a period where Son and Kane were out injured to play "I told you so".

 

[Timberwolf]

The only thing about the 'Spursy' comments (because, c'mon...that was a very Spursy thing to do') is that a lot of pundits are acting like we've been doing this loads recently. Not too long ago those very same pundits were preaching about how we were the very opposite of Spursy as we consistently ground out results under Poch.

We've been on an almost upwards trajectory for about 10 years, killed all the old hoodoos, reached a Champions League final, etc etc. Maybe on some level we do still suffer from a certain 'Spursiness' but I think there's a lot of confirmation bias due to the existence of the phrase and other teams have done plenty of more embarrassing things recently. If the word Arsenal worked with a 'y' on the end I bet something similar would have emerged when they got dicked by Bayern 5-0 in the Champions League for the umpteenth time.

Either that or we're cursed.

 

[taidgh]

The only thing about the 'Spursy' comments (because, c'mon...that was a very Spursy thing to do') is that a lot of pundits are acting like we've been doing this loads recently. Not too long ago those very same pundits were preaching about how we were the very opposite of Spursy as we consistently ground out results under Poch.

We've been on an almost upwards trajectory for about 10 years, killed all the old hoodoos, reached a Champions League final, etc etc. Maybe on some level we do still suffer from a certain 'Spursiness' but I think there's a lot of confirmation bias due to the existence of the phrase and other teams have done plenty of more embarrassing things recently. If the word Arsenal worked with a 'y' on the end I bet something similar would have emerged when they got dicked by Bayern 5-0 in the Champions League for the umpteenth time.

Either that or we're cursed.

Gunnersy? Arsenally? Arse-ish?

Yeah, not sure any of those will catch on either. Though the last sounds a bit like arse itch. ?

 

[tobi]

So far this season we've let in 13 goals. At Chelsea his team let in 15 all year. That's the Jose I hope to see. And no, it wasn't a world class defence, it had Glen Johnson, William Gallas, Ricardo Carvalho and Wayne Bridge. It was brilliant, brilliant management.

Gallas and Carvalho were fantastic defenders and both were capable of organizing others.

Bridge was a decent player, Johnson was a bit better but they both successfully adapted.

We don't have a centre back as good as Gallas, Carvalho or Terry.

 

[shelfboy68]

Gallas and Carvalho were fantastic defenders and both were capable of organizing others.

Bridge was a decent player, Johnson was a bit better but they both successfully adapted.

We don't have a centre back as good as Gallas, Carvalho or Terry.

We don't have a CB as good yet, but Jose will eventually sign one he knows where to find them.

 

[gaffers]

The weak mentality only comes to fruition when fans are unable to accept that sometimes these things just things happen in football to all football clubs, despite the fact that these things happen few and far between to us it just seems like it happens a lot to us because this lazy narrative has been around for so long that's its now become a fallacy of this club.

So, for example, where was the weak mentality when we came back from 3-0 against Ajax?

Where was the weak mentality when we on all but two of our home matches in 2016/17?

Where was the weak mentality when we went to OT a couple of weeks ago and ran up a record score against them?

What is this weak mentality actually based on, some arbituary criteria? For example Arsenal who have won 3 FA cups in the last 5 years haven't won away to a top 6 club for 5 years, so what does that make them?

If you're gonna take selective data based on a lazy narrative perpuated by other fans myths and fantasies in order to mock us be my guest but I just happen to think that's it a whole load of nonsense, the very same people accusing this club of being 'Spursy' are the ones who ironically need to improve their mentality.

Thank you, Donna.

 

[Shadydan]

Thank you, Donna.

Madame Donna to you, at least get the name right.

 

[Ionman34]

What do people now think about the style of play?

I always thought it would be a bit better this season once key players were back from being injured and with a few new signings but I didn't anticipate us to be the leagues top scorers after 5 matches and in 4/5 of those matches to be playing blistering fast dynamic attacking football so I'm absolutely loving it to be honest, is that the general feeling?

I also think that Jose came to Spurs for two reasons:

1. So called 'sleeping giant', the infrastructure of the club is there to win trophies, with a bit of investment in the squad which he's now had he knew that we could compete in terms of quality and IF he can win something for us it will be lauded as a massive achievement given we've failed to win much in the last 30 or so years. He's taken an educated calculated risk here that given the current and potential quality of the club there is a decent chance he could win something with us, sure it will be difficult but with that level of difficulty will come greater plaudits so that would put to bed really any notion that Jose was ever past it as a manager and that he's always been and still is world class

2. The chance to win with a bit of style, he knows that with the right players he can get teams playing in a direct attacking way and we are seeing the fruits of that labour now. He's mentioning how well we are playing and how good we are to watch in all his interviews because he wants to sew the seeds IF/hopefully when he wins something with us that : A - he did it against the man.city's and Chelsea's who 'break FFP' lol and B - he's done it in style and at a club which has barely won anything in 30 years, its just such a good fit for his ego. If he doesn't win anything then fine but I don't think he will want to leave until he has because IF he can then his ego can live off that forever and he can sail off into the sun and manage portugal and read all the nice media comments about how wrong they were about him and then the narrative changes from, Jose being boring football past it Jose to world class Jose who can play attractive football.

Honestly you couldn't have picked a better club for Jose and to be honest he's a perfect fit for us in terms of changing our mentality to a winning one.

Make no bones about it when he says its all about the club and the team that is complete balls it is all 100% about his ego which is fine because that is what winners do they want to win to show off so its win win if we win haha COYS!

I’ve been saying it for a while, this idea that JM only plays dour, defensive Football is a fallacy. He’s got us playing forward in the same manner his peak Chelsea and RM teams played, fast, powerful, dynamic Football in transition. He’s still working out our defensive lineup, and we are missing Lo Celso in the middle, so we’re a little weaker there than he’d like, but he’ll get us there.

 

[spurs mental]

The weak mentality only comes to fruition when fans are unable to accept that sometimes these things just things happen in football to all football clubs, despite the fact that these things happen few and far between to us it just seems like it happens a lot to us because this lazy narrative has been around for so long that's its now become a fallacy of this club.

So, for example, where was the weak mentality when we came back from 3-0 against Ajax?

Where was the weak mentality when we on all but two of our home matches in 2016/17?

Where was the weak mentality when we went to OT a couple of weeks ago and ran up a record score against them?

What is this weak mentality actually based on, some arbituary criteria? For example Arsenal who have won 3 FA cups in the last 5 years haven't won away to a top 6 club for 5 years, so what does that make them?

If you're gonna take selective data based on a lazy narrative perpuated by other fans myths and fantasies in order to mock us be my guest but I just happen to think that's it a whole load of nonsense, the very same people accusing this club of being 'Spursy' are the ones who ironically need to improve their mentality.

I genuinely believe the mentality comes more from the fans than anyone else. Think you've hit the nail on the head with your last sentence there. Look at Liverpool fans. They have the most belief out of any club in the world that they are going to win every single game regardless of opposition. It's why they've been able to generate that atmosphere at Anfield even being 3-0 down to a really good Barcelona team.

Its us, the fans, that need to have that belief.

 

[Shadydan]

I genuinely believe the mentality comes more from the fans than anyone else. Think you've hit the nail on the head with your last sentence there. Look at Liverpool fans. They have the most belief out of any club in the world that they are going to win every single game regardless of opposition. It's why they've been able to generate that atmosphere at Anfield even being 3-0 down to a really good Barcelona team.

Its us, the fans, that need to have that belief.

Exactly this, I've said this many times before about some of our fans but people weren't ready to have that conversation then, so I doubt they were ready to have this conversation now.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

The only thing about the 'Spursy' comments (because, c'mon...that was a very Spursy thing to do') is that a lot of pundits are acting like we've been doing this loads recently. Not too long ago those very same pundits were preaching about how we were the very opposite of Spursy as we consistently ground out results under Poch.

We've been on an almost upwards trajectory for about 10 years, killed all the old hoodoos, reached a Champions League final, etc etc. Maybe on some level we do still suffer from a certain 'Spursiness' but I think there's a lot of confirmation bias due to the existence of the phrase and other teams have done plenty of more embarrassing things recently. If the word Arsenal worked with a 'y' on the end I bet something similar would have emerged when they got dicked by Bayern 5-0 in the Champions League for the umpteenth time.

Either that or we're cursed.

Reached a final? Lost a Champions League final due to an entirely accidental "handball".
Spursy.

 

[spurs mental]

Reached a final? Lost a Champions League final due to an entirely accidental "handball".
Spursy.

Handball rule changes in the following season? Spursy.

Finish 4th but Chelsea win the CL, so we dont qualify? Then the rule changes the next season? Spursy.

This is what Spursy is.