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Jose Mourinho

How do you feel about Mourinho appointment

  • Excited - silverware here we come baby

    Votes: 666 46.7%
  • Meh - will give him a chance and hope he is successful

    Votes: 468 32.8%
  • Horrified - praying for the day he'll fuck off

    Votes: 292 20.5%

  • Total voters
    1,426

Frozen_Waffles

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2005
3,760
9,505
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.

You mention the weak mentality but I see it as more like an underdog/imposter syndrome. The match that sums up spurs was the Juventus game a couple of years back. We dominated, we were the better team and we lost.

It's not just us, the aforementioned Juventus have it when they get to the latter stages of the cl. We need to generate that mentality where we know we are the best in any game. PSG against Barca was a good example. The best teams don't capitulate.

Jose has referred to it a few times, we are a big club we have world class players etc.. he is bigging up spurs at every opportunity.

There is one difference between the exceptionally talented and the elite players and it is mental. There are some players who have that arrogance and know they are the best modric is a good example, bale too. Not only are they very talented, they know they are the best players on the pitch so they are even better when the nerves affect other players.

That's what Jose has been trying to sign and the mentality he is trying to drum into his players.

I actually think that the West ham game was a freak and not a capitulation. But we shall see.

Do Harry winks, davinson and aurier have that arrogance and belief needed to play at the top level? I am not convinced.
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,907
78,649
You mention the weak mentality but I see it as more like an underdog/imposter syndrome. The match that sums up spurs was the Juventus game a couple of years back. We dominated, we were the better team and we lost.

It's not just us, the aforementioned Juventus have it when they get to the latter stages of the cl. We need to generate that mentality where we know we are the best in any game. PSG against Barca was a good example. The best teams don't capitulate.

Jose has referred to it a few times, we are a big club we have world class players etc.. he is bigging up spurs at every opportunity.

There is one difference between the exceptionally talented and the elite players and it is mental. There are some players who have that arrogance and know they are the best modric is a good example, bale too. Not only are they very talented, they know they are the best players on the pitch so they are even better when the nerves affect other players.

That's what Jose has been trying to sign and the mentality he is trying to drum into his players.

I actually think that the West ham game was a freak and not a capitulation. But we shall see.

Do Harry winks, davinson and aurier have that arrogance and belief needed to play at the top level? I am not convinced.
Yeah, I agree, we'll have to wait and see if that's the case. We went behind to United and previous Spurs teams would have ended up losing that 3 or 4 nil as they would have crumbled at such a bad start. Yet we ended up doing it to them instead shows very strong mentality. Racing into a 3 nil lead against WH showed a very ruthless streak and our last four games we've scored 7, 6, 3 & 3 - which shows a team that fully believe in themselves.

Obviously the defensive issues are there but that may solely be down to inability at set-pieces. Shore that up and we won't be losing 3 nil leads again.

All good teams have bad moments in them. I remember when United got hammered 6-3 by Southampton and they seemed to struggle at the Dell yet no-one ever questioned their mentality. I also remember when United got beat 3-0 by York City in the league cup, it's, as Jose says 'football'.

Time will tell on whether that was a capitulation on our part or if it was just a freak result. I've been leaning towards freak result as the circumstances in the game and the goals that WH scored (Sanchez OG and Lanzini's strike) were not regular goals
 

SpursSince1980

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2011
4,732
14,447
Monday will tell us a lot about the players attitude and mental state after the Spammer debacle. Also will give us some indication of how Jose dealt with it internally. Judging by Thurs performance, the team looked unflustered, albeit different players and different type of competition. But as we know, sometimes a really rough result can mess with some players mentally. Hopefully he will have the team focused and prepared to deal with exactly the same tactics employed by the Spammers. As those moments of stupidity and fear need to be stamped out.

The Citeh and Spammer result today will help with player mentality I think, as it shows that there will be lots of bonkers results this season, and unlike many other teams we tore west ham defense a new ass hole. I’d like to think we can do the same to Burnley.

Lastly... a word on Ndombele and Jose.... it fills me with joy when I see them on the touch line hugging. They clearly have both worked hard to work out each other. As a result, Jose has faith in Tanguy, and Tanguy feels like he belongs and has an important role to play. That relationship might very well be one of the most important aspects of the season and a barometer of our potential success. Because it is so clear that TN, is an incredible talent. A rare talent. One of very few players in the league who can make something happen out of nothing. And for a team that is playing in a style that relies on fast break, direct attacking football, you need someone like TN who can switch defense into dangerous attacks instantly. Much like KDB.

Stuff like this gives me a lot of confidence in Jose. He will take us to where we want to be.
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
Initially. His 'bad period' saw him actually undo most of it imo - there were lots of strange comments, can't recall verbatim, but wasn't he saying things like if he won something he'd leave because it would just be the pinnacle or something?
Generally the performance of the team seemed to coincide with MP's turn from modest to, sort of, believing the hype that he was elevating the players to something greater than they were. That would be a bit of a knock to their mentality really, and it's possibly the difference between Liverpool's reaction to a CL loss and ours.
Completely agree whereas contrast that to Jose who is so open and honest just calling out that nice guys don’t win and we need to improve our mentality etc the players will feed off that as they will get behind the journey, not that they didn’t play for poch but I can’t help but think him saying if he won something he’d leave and some other odd remarks certainly won’t have helped the overall motivation and players are sensitive creatures they have egos and they certainly listen to their managers press conferences etc and I think poch built us up massively and Jose is now hopeudlly taking it to that next level.
 

KikoSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
379
936
I was thinking that Jose might be leave if we win something this season but I have a strange feeling that we can be his Porto 2.0.
 

Rout-Ledge

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2005
9,611
21,718
Completely agree whereas contrast that to Jose who is so open and honest just calling out that nice guys don’t win and we need to improve our mentality etc the players will feed off that as they will get behind the journey, not that they didn’t play for poch but I can’t help but think him saying if he won something he’d leave and some other odd remarks certainly won’t have helped the overall motivation and players are sensitive creatures they have egos and they certainly listen to their managers press conferences etc and I think poch built us up massively and Jose is now hopeudlly taking it to that next level.

Poch was undoubtedly the master of his own downfall sadly. I think the interest of big clubs went to his head. He hadn’t properly proved himself as being a truly world class manager at Spurs but by the end he was behaving as if he had. The fact he hasn’t accepted an offer in almost a year out of work tells a story (about both his expectations and how coveted he is by the biggest clubs).
 

ralvy

AVB my love
Jun 26, 2012
2,505
4,603
Poch was undoubtedly the master of his own downfall sadly. I think the interest of big clubs went to his head. He hadn’t properly proved himself as being a truly world class manager at Spurs but by the end he was behaving as if he had. The fact he hasn’t accepted an offer in almost a year out of work tells a story (about both his expectations and how coveted he is by the biggest clubs).

I think it was a huge warning sign when he allowed that book to be written. He should have waited to at least win a championship or two before deciding to stroke his ego that way.
 
May 17, 2018
11,872
47,993
I think it was a huge warning sign when he allowed that book to be written. He should have waited to at least win a championship or two before deciding to stroke his ego that way.

Same fate that Tim and Harry had - "the media are my mates" yeah - they love the chef as long as he's cooking.

Mourinho is smarter, where even as a pundit he is wary about the vultures. He knows they are self-serving and it's probably why he's his own confidence-factory - it's foolish to rely on the words of the 'critics'.
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
Sadly you are right. He started to contradict himself from one presser to another. It was clear to me that he was starting to check out mentally and that he was hoping the CL final would be the moment he could sail into the sunset.

In the beginning he was very consistent with his message and very positive about everything, even the constraints the club was under weren't effecting his outlook. Somewhere just before that summer we didn't sign anyone, something seemed to happen with his outlook and in that final season his pressers became quite painful to watch, with him regularly having to clean up what he actually meant.

As much as I liked the book, I think it was a warning sign that someone was becoming a little bit too highly thought of by themselves and to think it wouldn't cause issues was massively naive. Players don't want that stuff out in the public, it's an unwritten rule. Also, if you read that book, you'll notice how often he goes against his own rules.

I hope Poch can really learn from that experience and I hope he doesnt become too arrogant either.

Jose has a massive job on his hand with mentality and rather than try keep drumming it into some players has decided to buy some with a stronger mentality. My worry was that Poch would have rather have signed 'good boys' he could control. That's not what this club needs, it needs strong characters who can call out bad performances and drive the team on.

I think we are a strong CB, in terms of leadership and playing style, away from winning a title now. It's the only real weakness we have.
Spot On
 

Mungo63

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2020
364
524
I agree about the book, but I think another problem was Poch was too cozy with the team around him and they looked like nodding dogs. Fergie regularly changed his coaching staff to keep both them and himself on their toes.
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
I agree about the book, but I think another problem was Poch was too cozy with the team around him and they looked like nodding dogs. Fergie regularly changed his coaching staff to keep both them and himself on their toes.
I also think there was an element of being too close to the players too. There was one thing that struck me when we beat Ajax. I didn't mention it at the time, but as Kane ran onto the pitch after the final whistle, he ran past Poch. As he did, Kane ruffled Poch's hair! I thought maybe I was overreacting, but that struck me as being far too familiar a gesture to the person who was, without any doubt, Kane's boss.

When I think about it, I ask myself whether a player would do that to Jose. Who knows? Maybe they could. But I don't see it myself.

And maybe that's Poch's style. Or maybe Kane was just caught up in the moment? Or maybe Kane's a dick (I'm just speaking hypothetically). Ultimately, who am I to judge? But I've seen managers of people in the 'real world' who've tried to be chummy with the people they manage, and made that mistake myself too, and I've never seen it work. I think a measure of distance between manager and managed is essential. If that wasn't present, then it may have contributed to the ending of Poch's time with us.
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
I was thinking that Jose might be leave if we win something this season but I have a strange feeling that we can be his Porto 2.0.
Yea why on earth would he leave, he’s building something here. He’s at a huge club I’m terms of our infrastructure (stadium & training ground) with an amazing squad in the best league in the world and it’s in London so he can ‘commute’ home it ticks all his boxes. The other only thing he would now want to do is manage the Portugal national team at some point but trust be he ain’t leaving for any job as winning something with spurs and in Style basically cements his entire legacy, no more Jose is/was past it comments and no more boring Jose football comments it would just be wow fair play to Jose winning a trophy with spurs and in style that’s a great achievement, he’s one of the most successful managers of all time and oh by the way he doesn’t just play boring football, did you see how he got that spurs team playing.

But yes we could be his Porto 2.0, win something with us would be a beautiful end to an incredible club managerial career.

He keeps talking about what Klopp has done with Liverpool, I think that’s his goal with us and why not, dream big. We have the stadium the training ground and now this season the squad quality and depth to do it and now we have a world class proven winner manager who better to get us over the line and win things again.
 

RikkiRocket

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2015
1,605
3,277
I agree about the book, but I think another problem was Poch was too cozy with the team around him and they looked like nodding dogs. Fergie regularly changed his coaching staff to keep both them and himself on their toes.

he got the nodding dogs to the CL final and played some great (not latterly I’ll grant you) football along the way.

man builds team, team buys into methods, team do well, but are nodding dogs. F..k me.
 

longtimespur

Well-Known Member
Sep 10, 2014
5,830
9,949
he got the nodding dogs to the CL final and played some great (not latterly I’ll grant you) football along the way.

man builds team, team buys into methods, team do well, but are nodding dogs. F..k me.
I think he meant Poch's coaching staff not the players
 

ClintEastwould

Well-Known Member
Jul 3, 2012
4,748
9,845
I still can’t believe we went from literally the most boring side I’ve ever seen away to Bournemouth last season to a few months later scoring goals for fun.

I was so wrong about Mourinho which is very strange because I’m right about everything else ?
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
I still can’t believe we went from literally the most boring side I’ve ever seen away to Bournemouth last season to a few months later scoring goals for fun.

I was so wrong about Mourinho which is very strange because I’m right about everything else ?


;)
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,957
I think it was a huge warning sign when he allowed that book to be written. He should have waited to at least win a championship or two before deciding to stroke his ego that way.

Im thinking of going back and reading it now with the benefit of hindsight. Might be a different read.
 
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