The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[Gassin's finest]

? I was eight when Mabbo's knee struck. I cried in my replica kit. It is what it is.

Bring on the cup tie tonight!

COYS

Presactly the same as me. Apart from the replica kit bit. Hoddle's goal against Oxford had captured my imagination, and then Mabbs was giving me my first taste of Spursy disappointment.

I should have seen the signs and got out early.

 

[Seafordian Spurs]

Wow I was

Wow I was 23

Ha!

Don't want to clog up this thread with something else but I think it's quite relevant regards how social media has changed how we communicate and what we know about things like football.

There is a fantastic article out there in the Guardian about that FA Cup Final. There was so much going on behind the scenes at Spurs, absolutely mental. Today we'd all have known about it and would blame it for the loss. At the time everyone just thought 'oh plucky Cov, the magic of the cup'

 

[shelfboy68]

Presactly the same as me. Apart from the replica kit bit. Hoddle's goal against Oxford had captured my imagination, and then Mabbs was giving me my first taste of Spursy disappointment.

I should have seen the signs and got out early.

Trouble is if they gave out awards for coming close we would come 2nd or 3rd in that.

 

[Thewobbler]

We have, on paper, an easy run coming up. Saints, brighton and watford. If we don't take all 9 points then I will really start to worry about the poch and the team.

 

[dontcallme]

If I was a betting man, right now, I would have West Ham to finish above us all day long.

Give that some thought

Makes me think that you shouldn't bet.

 

[danielneeds]

We have, on paper, an easy run coming up. Saints, brighton and watford. If we don't take all 9 points then I will really start to worry about the poch and the team.

There are no easy runs when you can't stop conceding goals.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Trouble is if they gave out awards for coming close we would come 2nd or 3rd in that.

Trouble is if they gave out awards for coming close we would come 2nd or 3rd in that.

 

[Gb160]

If I was a betting man, right now, I would have West Ham to finish above us all day long.

Give that some thought

Ive had a think and this is why you'll never meet a skint bookie.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Ive had a think and this is why you'll never meet a skint bookie.

He's our bread and butter mate.

 

[shelfboy68]

We need a defensive shield.

 

[gaffers]

We have, on paper, an easy run coming up. Saints, brighton and watford. If we don't take all 9 points then I will really start to worry about the poch and the team.

Very fair comment, that

 

[beats1]

I dont see how we won't reach top 4 to be honest, we have the squad and players to do it

That said last season we weren't drawing alot of games instead just nicking them, all those 1-0's and 2-1's are now not falling our way anymore

 

[shelfboy68]

I dont see how we won't reach top 4 to be honest, we have the squad and players to do it

That said last season we weren't drawing alot of games instead just nicking them, all those 1-0's and 2-1's are now not falling our way anymore

Conceding two goals a game won't help

 

[olliec]

people blaming Poch for bringing Wanyama on, I wasn't happy, but he wasn't the cause of us conceding, Leicester are a good team, and worked the equaliser well. the winning goal was a strike from distance, a very good goal.

If you watch the second goal again you will see he didn't even put a foot out to block the ball. I can bet my last dollar that Sissoko would of thrown himself at the ball and blocked the shot So yes I do blame him for the second goal

 

[ajspurs]

Conceding two goals a game won't help

It's strange as I though our lack of options going forward was our biggest problem and I guess we have somewhat addressed some things with the acquisition of Ndombele who is the only signing to actually really feature for us and Lamela being fit and playing well gives another decent option too but it's our defence or actually more so our general openness that is a really big problem right now.

We desperately need to start tightening up and being more solid in the midfield, plugging the holes and not letting one ball split right through us so often. If we can achieve that I think we have more than enough elsewhere to be absolutely fine. Easier said than done of course.

 

[shelfboy68]

It's strange as I though our lack of options going forward was our biggest problem and I guess we have somewhat addressed some things with the acquisition of Ndombele who is the only signing to actually really feature for us and Lamela being fit and playing well gives another decent option too but it's our defence or actually more so our general openness that is a really big problem right now.

We desperately need to start tightening up and being more solid in the midfield, plugging the holes and not letting one ball split right through us so often. If we can achieve that I think we have more than enough elsewhere to be absolutely fine. Easier said than done of course.

I'm not sure yet what ndombele best position is although because of his passing ability he should play further forward but then we offer no protection behind him, I think dembele could drop a little deeper because his passing wasn't as effective always passing sideways or backwards.
It's pochs job to get this sorted and I can't understand why he hasn't we are too exposed and gift sides goals and chances, if he can find the solution there is no reason why we can't get back amongst it.

 

[rez9000]

I think we need something to crystallise what is a very nebulous and hard-to-read situation.

After the Newcastle debacle, it seemed that the air might have cleared. The Palace game seemed to support that.

The Leicester game though, for many, called that into question again. I think the crystallising moments will be Southampton at the weekend (because they’re likely to park the bus) and Brighton (because it’s an away game against nominally weaker opposition).

How we perform at those two games, I think, will answer some questions around squad motivation and tactical decision-making, which in turn may cast more light on what’s happening behind the scenes. Until then, all we’re doing is speculating and we’ll end up tying ourselves (and each other) in knots.

Until then I’m personally not going to commit to a viewpoint, even though I find myself nodding to points made from a variety of viewpoints in this thread.

I think we should wait and see and revisit when we (may) have more info...

 

[SpartanSpur]

I think we need something to crystallise what is a very nebulous and hard-to-read situation.

After the Newcastle debacle, it seemed that the air might have cleared. The Palace game seemed to support that.

The Leicester game though, for many, called that into question again. I think the crystallising moments will be Southampton at the weekend (because they’re likely to park the bus) and Brighton (because it’s an away game against nominally weaker opposition).

How we perform at those two games, I think, will answer some questions around squad motivation and tactical decision-making, which in turn may cast more light on what’s happening behind the scenes. Until then, all we’re doing is speculating and we’ll end up tying ourselves (and each other) in knots.

Until then I’m personally not going to commit to a viewpoint, even though I find myself nodding to points made from a variety of viewpoints in this thread.

I think we should wait and see and revisit when we (may) have more info...

I think this is a good point, and is why last weekend was so frustrating. Had we won that game 2-0 everything would be seen as 'back on track' and the poor form from the end of last season will have been written off, instead it's now front and centre. Small margins. I personally thought we played well in a tricky away game and felt like we were going to win the game until the VAR decision. That and some weak finishing cost us from sitting pretty in third.

I am worried about harmony in the camp and Poch's mentality as much as others but a nice run of results could get everyone back on track. Hopefully this can happen over the next few games.

 

[rez9000]

I think this is a good point, and is why last weekend was so frustrating. Had we won that game 2-0 everything would be seen as 'back on track' and the poor form from the end of last season will have been written off, instead it's now front and centre. Small margins. I personally thought we played well in a tricky away game and felt like we were going to win the game until the VAR decision. That and some weak finishing cost us from sitting pretty in third.

I am worried about harmony in the camp and Poch's mentality as much as others but a nice run of results could get everyone back on track. Hopefully this can happen over the next few games.

Exactly. It’s problematic right now because even though we’ve had such a terrible run of away results (and results generally) since the turn of the year, we also have the possibility that this has been addressed and that perhaps what happened at Leicester was actually an outlier, rather than indication of a continuation of that terrible form. Each possibility suggests different situations. Until we have more info, we’re very much still in the dark.

 

[McFlash]

That gif is brilliant!