Match Threads Spurs vs Olympiacos - Match Thread

[TottenhamLegend]

Not watched the game back yet but the one big thing that jumped out at the ground was our long diagonals up to Son. 95% of them were intercepted by the RB but nearly every time Dele was there collecting the 2nd ball and the pitch really seemed to open up for him.

Yes I noticed this too. Absolutely certain it was a tactical instruction for Alli to loiter and wait for that second ball.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Yes I noticed this too. Absolutely certain it was a tactical instruction for Alli to loiter and wait for that second ball.

I think in the first Dele was trying to create something but it wasn't happening,timing was a bit off then in the second he was tremendous.
Not sure if that was the plan. Olympiakos were more of a problem for our defence as their attack were making great runs and hitting some accurate quick passes forward
We were not moving the ball.It was a clever things to put Eriksen on. Jose knew his ball retention was good so with that we could control the ball which wasn't happening as we were hastily giving the ball away early and it put us on the front foot

 

[Yid-ol]

Jesus will you melons stop calling him Maureen? its terrible.

I am sure his name isn't terrible!

 

[wrd]

Jesus will you melons stop calling him Maureen? its terrible.

I can understand when people give somebody a nickname to drop a syllable when speaking but when typing it makes no sense when its literally only one extra character to call him Mourinho. I mean saying Jose would make more sense.

 

[The Scarecrow]

They just drew their last game to the bottom of the table team.

Sorry if that detracts from their record as the only fucking decent team in Greece. But its just to place some perspective on things.

It happens. Manchester City, the best team on the planet last season, lost to Norwich ffs.

 

[TonyS]

I have to be honest, at 2 down, I didn't panic like I would have done under previous regimes. Don't ask me why. I loved when Mourinho was telling them to calm down. Before, we would have been running around like headless chickens and bang, before you'd know it, we would be 3 down.
The second half was much better and still a lot of work to do but for me, the single biggest thing Jose has done for the better, is to knock this fucking around with the ball at the back from a goal kick, right on the head. We could never do it, but persisted with it. It was so infuriating watching it.
I trust Ndombele and LeCelso get a run in the team, because from their earlier performances so far this season, they add quality, especially Ndombele
I have to say, I can't wait for the next game, something that I haven't said in a while.

Come On You Spurs

 

[Gb160]

I can understand when people give somebody a nickname to drop a syllable when speaking but when typing it makes no sense when its literally only one extra character to call him Mourinho. I mean saying Jose would make more sense.

They do it for the hilarity mate.
I mean, we all know how side-splittingly funny it is to replace a male name with a female name.
I was honestly struggling for breath reading the thread earlier.

Also, mentioning no names (@Phomesy), anyone who refers to him as 'Mou' deserves to have their face chopped off...imo that's in the same severity bracket as 'CR7'

*shudders

 

[Matthew]

I'm sorry... What?

What "tactical nous" exactly has "got us through" these early tough opponents in West Ham in relegation form and Olympiakos - in dire recent league form and who have only taken points from us so far in CL?

We are playing the exact same formation and tactics as we have under Poch. The only change Mourinho has made is starting Moura and Dier consistently. And he hooked both before 60 minutes.

I mean this as no criticism of Mourinho but the fact is he's changed almost nothing. If anything he's taken us BACK to our comfort zone of 2 years ago and that failed when Olympiakos went through Dier and WInks like hot knife through butter.

I don't blame Mou for this - he's gone back to what made us so successfull when he played against us - but to pretend he's performed some sort of tactical magery is simple nonsense. It's projection. We have performed no better - yet - under Mourinho than we did under Poch. Let's stop talking shit hey?

Hopefully Mourinho has learned that what we had in 2016-18 no longer applies and changes things accordingly. There is ZERO evidence to suggest that's happened so far. In fact the first half tonight was a massive backward step. Which is fine. He has to know what doesn't work to know what does.

But let's stop this "he's working miracles" bullshit meme in its tracks. It's not true; it doesn't help anyone least of all the team. We need change. We need him to change it. Otherwise what's the point?

Maurizzio, is that you? tell your dad we still love him.

 

[Misfit]

Hang on a Mo... I did user that moniker when he was at other clubs but now he has his boots under our bed I will use the name Jose a lot more.

Exactly what I've started doing. He was Maureen at Chelsea. Not due to a seethig hatred or anything but you know, he was a bit moody and Chelsea are ville.

He's Jose now and hopefully much much more in the future.

 

[Phomesy]

Maurizzio, is that you? tell your dad we still love him.

You seem to think I'm criticising Mourinho and/or defending Pochettino.

I'm doing neither.

 

[Phomesy]

They do it for the hilarity mate.
I mean, we all know how side-splittingly funny it is to replace a male name with a female name.
I was honestly struggling for breath reading the thread earlier.

Also, mentioning no names (@Phomesy), anyone who refers to him as 'Mou' deserves to have their face chopped off...imo that's in the same severity bracket as 'CR7'

*shudders

How about "JM24" (I think that's how many trophies he's won?)

Edit: It's 25 including Charity Shield's etc... Thanks for the new sig idea @Gb160

 

[Matthew]

You seem to think I'm criticising Mourinho and/or defending Pochettino.

I'm doing neither.

twas a joke, dont be so precious.

 

[Ronwol196061]

I have to be honest, at 2 down, I didn't panic like I would have done under previous regimes. Don't ask me why. I loved when Mourinho was telling them to calm down. Before, we would have been running around like headless chickens and bang, before you'd know it, we would be 3 down.
The second half was much better and still a lot of work to do but for me, the single biggest thing Jose has done for the better, is to knock this fucking around with the ball at the back from a goal kick, right on the head. We could never do it, but persisted with it. It was so infuriating watching it.
I trust Ndombele and LeCelso get a run in the team, because from their earlier performances so far this season, they add quality, especially Ndombele
I have to say, I can't wait for the next game, something that I haven't said in a while.

Come On You Spurs

Right on Tony!I agree 1000%

 

[wrd]

We did well to come back last night but let's not forget we have in the past come back from similar set backs, away at Juventus 2-0 down to come back 2-2 and also more notably 2-0 down at halftime vs Ajax, Llorente on at halftime who was instrumental in the fight back to win 3-2. Both far better teams so although Jose deserve praise for the turnaround yesterday, Poch to his credit was apart of a couple himself.

 

[Ronwol196061]

We did well to come back last night but let's not forget we have in the past come back from similar set backs, away at Juventus 2-0 down to come back 2-2 and also more notably 2-0 down at halftime vs Ajax, Llorente on at halftime who was instrumental in the fight back to win 3-2. Both far better teams so although Jose deserve praise for the turnaround yesterday, Poch to his credit was apart of a couple himself.

The results are one thing.Its the football itself that is bigger for me when talking about quality. If we play well which we did last night,we automatically have more confidence even when we were down. Olympiakos were excellent in the first half with sharp passes forward. But we were not playng bad we were chasking a bit and Jose put on Eriksen thinking someone needs to just get hold of the ball.It was a good move.
Last season against Ajax I thought they were killing us all game and somehow they let up (took us for granted?they got tired?)
I fee Poch was actually shocked we pulled those games out after terrible performances.
This was different. Jose did try to calm us down and we got better

 

[Kingellesar]

Refreshing to feel ok at 2 down and actually come away with the result. I always have hope we can turn it around but deep down you think ok panic stations we are going to lose. Last night though there just seemed to be a relaxed atmosphere and we knew we couldn't play as bad as we did first half, so it opened the game up a bit more and we took more time on the ball in the second half.

Another win though, got to keep the wins going and build up some momentum and more importantly, confidence. If this team can get its confidence back, the arrogance will start to appear and we can start becoming a team others fear playing again. I've said in another thread, I miss the fortress of WHL and teams hating coming to play us, we need to do that now. Get another win against Bournemouth and just keep going.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Sorry buddy but everything you've just described has been, as I said, played before under Poch when Mourinho played against us.

He's taken us back in time. Which is fine. He needs time to sort out what our best formation is. He's gone back to something he knows from experience WORKS.

The left back tucking in is also something Poch did but ONLY when Davies was playing? Why? For the same reason Mou did it when Davies started because he CAN do it. Rose CAN'T. So it was a tactical failure for him to try it tonight. And we got exposed.

You, like many, are pretending this is all some revolutionary shit when it's not. It's back to basics. Poch's basics. Mou's said this himself.

And he's learning that it doesn't work. We were horrendous in that first half. If the West Ham game had gone another 10 minutes we would have lost.

You write like we've been world beaters his first two games - this is simply not in line with reality. He's just gone back to the Tottenham team of two years ago with the change that Moura starts ahead of Eriksen. If Poch did that you'd be howling - especially when Mourinho brings Eriksen on over Lo Celso/Ndombele - but Mourinho is going on history.

I'm sorry if this annoys you but we haven't had a decent performance under Mourinho yet. Not even close.

I just don't think that's his fault.

Yet.

But I dont' pretend that beating the worst West Ham side (form wise) in living memory and going 0-2 down to Olympiakos represents any positive sign of his "tactical fucking nous" yet.

And I don't think Mourinho would either.

He will improve us.

He hasn't yet.

Isn't that obvious?

I dunno, I suppose the 35 agrees my post recieved shows that most others agree but it’s ok for you to think differently no worries.

 

[1882andallthat]

I'm sorry... What?

What "tactical nous" exactly has "got us through" these early tough opponents in West Ham in relegation form and Olympiakos - in dire recent league form and who have only taken points from us so far in CL?

We are playing the exact same formation and tactics as we have under Poch. The only change Mourinho has made is starting Moura and Dier consistently. And he hooked both before 60 minutes.

I mean this as no criticism of Mourinho but the fact is he's changed almost nothing. If anything he's taken us BACK to our comfort zone of 2 years ago and that failed when Olympiakos went through Dier and WInks like hot knife through butter.

I don't blame Mou for this - he's gone back to what made us so successfull when he played against us - but to pretend he's performed some sort of tactical magery is simple nonsense. It's projection. We have performed no better - yet - under Mourinho than we did under Poch. Let's stop talking shit hey?

Hopefully Mourinho has learned that what we had in 2016-18 no longer applies and changes things accordingly. There is ZERO evidence to suggest that's happened so far. In fact the first half tonight was a massive backward step. Which is fine. He has to know what doesn't work to know what does.

But let's stop this "he's working miracles" bullshit meme in its tracks. It's not true; it doesn't help anyone least of all the team. We need change. We need him to change it. Otherwise what's the point?

Whilst it's far too early days to say Mourinho has transformed us permanently into serial winners, I think it's fair to say that on the evidence of what we have seen so far this season, immediately before he was appointed, there is a strong suspicion that if Poch was in a similar position 2-0 down he may not have turned it around, and I base that purely on our performances this season, in seasons gone by maybe he would have done, but few have confidence that he would have done this had he been at the helm last night.
You may rightly say that he would not have started with Dier and Moura, and that maybe true, but regardless of that, you are surely not suggesting with slightly different personnel under Poch, we couldn't possibly have been 2-0 down. We have been 2-0 down under Poch, and there was no response, when he did change things it was too late, we've also been 2-1 down on a least 2 other occasions this and we haven't turned it round, we've also been 1-0 down at home to Watford and Newcastle,and in nether case did we turn things round to win the game.
I can't prove it, and none of us can, but we can all form a view as to whether we'd now be looking at having to goto Bayern Munich to get something that and that would most probably have been a win, given Red Star Belgrade's away fixture Olympiacos and and their form, to guarantee qualification.
I'm convinced we most probably would have been looking at that scenario if we go down 2-0 under Poch this season, and under Poch this season, there is nothing that would be confidence to suggest we could have gone there with him and won away at Bayern.
Thankfully that pressure is not on us, and some credit to that extent must and should be going Mourinho's way for that.

 

[TwanYid]

You really think either of them has played well enough for that?

Ok dude lol'd at that one. Well played bro; I needed that this morning,

 

[Strikeb4ck]

I have to be honest, at 2 down, I didn't panic like I would have done under previous regimes. Don't ask me why. I loved when Mourinho was telling them to calm down. Before, we would have been running around like headless chickens and bang, before you'd know it, we would be 3 down.
The second half was much better and still a lot of work to do but for me, the single biggest thing Jose has done for the better, is to knock this fucking around with the ball at the back from a goal kick, right on the head. We could never do it, but persisted with it. It was so infuriating watching it.
I trust Ndombele and LeCelso get a run in the team, because from their earlier performances so far this season, they add quality, especially Ndombele
I have to say, I can't wait for the next game, something that I haven't said in a while.

Come On You Spurs

I felt the same, but upon review I have to think a decent amount of that feeling of not panicking was down to the team we were playing against. If we were 2-0 down in Greece it'd be a different story, but Olympiakos at home is not a panic situation IMO.