We've got a long way to go....

[ginola99]

That's the reality of it sadly. Deep down inside we all know it, there's simply no denying it either, this is going take a while. I don't just mean Poch but mainly having a starting XI that know each other inside and out, their strengths, weaknesses etc.

There was only one debutant in the starting XI today yet the other ten looked like strangers at times. Even getting a few triangles completed looked like a daunting task.

Even on the individual front Lamela still looks as if he doesn't have a clue as to what he's doing although that was some what expected. We may have to wait quite sometime until we see the best of him but if he does reach those levels it'll be very much worth our while IMHO.

I see no point in putting a time frame on this. I'm just going to sit and watch, see how it goes, bite my tongue, try not to get angry or shout unnecessarily when one of them makes a mistake. Above all else I'm going to support the team because I think it's fair to say that they're gonna need our support this year, whether it is demise (personally doubt it) or transition we, as fans and as a club, have a very difficult task ahead of us from now on. We don't want to face up to it but we have to, we realised last season that this isn't something you can solve by throwing money at it.

This requires huge effort, commitment and above all else time, and that applies to everyone associated with this great club, not just Levy.

 

[bat-chain]

I feel similar.

The way I am looking at it is as if the first 10-15 league games of this season are essentially an extended preseason where everyone is getting to know each other. No doubt Pochettino learned more today about our players than he ever could in preseason, the journey in for real started today.

 

[Lawrence]

Yes it will take time. The fluidity in attack is not there. Was watching crystal palace vs goons on TV. Even crystal palace attack was more fluid than ours. We are more dependant on a few individual 's brilliance than movement. The defending at set pieces is scary.

But yes we support the team and wait for pochentino to do his work.

 

[Tottenham_God]

Cool bro

 

[Sweech]

Nah, I'm pretty sure everyone thinks we can win the league right now.

No patience required.

 

[tototoner]

Agree with OP but wishful thinking, time waits for no one in the modern game and although I haven't fully read it I am sure there were a few critical voices about the new regime in yesterday's match thread before the goal.

We have fallen so much as a squad since we reached the QF of the Champions League yet that is now the benchmark for Levy and the supporters.

 

[class of 62]

we won ! ... seems.the pessimistic hangover from last year hasn't gone yet with many !.... poch didn't play any outfield players that went
to the world cup & we had 7 players under 24 playing..

long season & i'd have grabbed your hand off for a first day win before kick off yesterday.

think many are going to expect far to much in what will be a transitional season again.

be happy with your team for once ffs & get behind them

 

[Metalhead]

we won ! ... seems.the pessimistic hangover from last year hasn't gone yet with many !.... poch didn't play any outfield players that went
to the world cup & we had 7 players under 24 playing..

long season & i'd have grabbed your hand off for a first day win before kick off yesterday.

think many are going to expect far to much in what will be a transitional season again.

be happy with your team for once ffs & get behind them

Totally agree although I think the sentiment of the original post was also for people to show patience.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

The first avb season where we were so reliant on Bale was probably the worst thing that could have happened to us. The team totally forgot how to attack consistently as a group and we still see the remains of that now. Unless we can insert another world class player in the team who can win games on his own it's going to take time to relearn how to attack fluidly.

Results are important especially in Derby matches where you are down to 10 men but I do think that it's important that in the next 10-15 games we start to see some small improvements or signs that Poch's game plan is getting through to the players.

I'm not expecting us to achieve much this season but by May I would hope that the Poch plan is clear for all to see.

In Liverpools first season under Rodgers they dropped lots of points in games they should have won particularly at home but if you watched any of their games you could clearly see they were the better team in most of them and were actually playing some very good stuff which was the Base of their near title winning season last year.

 

[dontcallme]

It was a strange game yesterday. West Ham are truly long ball merchants and the midfield was bypassed a lot.

Lamela pressed well as he was the furthest forward but Eriksen, Bentaleb and Capoue (before the red card) didn't as they were playing deeper.

I'm not a fan of the whole transitional thing. I think it's largely a cliche used every time a team changes the manager. I do think that the time it'll take is more to do with how poor we were as a team last season and that isn't going to be rectified overnight.

Poch got Southampton playing better football very quickly, he needs to learn our squad quickly to do the same.

For now I'm just happy we got 3 points in trying circumstances.

 

[Gbspurs]

Arsenal struggled to beat managerless palace at home, Everton couldn't beat Leicester and Utd lost to Swansea.....

I wouldn't panic just yet.

 

[Twizzle]

Its round 1, of course we have a long way to go and the team we fielded last night was far from full strength.

Small steps.

 

[Monkey boy]

I think if you changed the title of this thread then you'd get a much better response as the points you've made are very much valid.

I don't expect us to finish anywhere near the top 4 this season and am quite happy to use the league games as preparation for the cup runs. We do have a long way to go, of that there can be no doubt but I believe in Poch we finally have a man who can take us there. Everyone needs to get onboard though and stop jumping on individual players back, frankly the match thread yesterday was an embarrassment (but then again it usually is). We will lose a few, we will draw a few but I suspect we will win more than a few. Sit back and enjoy the ride and who knows we may actually win a trophy this season

 

[MikeLondon]

Maybe I'm being blinkered, but it was west hams cup final, all our prep went out the window when Naughton went off, and we still
Showed grit and resolve...
I'm not saying we're there yet, but I think we should wait for a few 'normal' games where we have 10 on the pitch before we get too downhearted.

 

[Damian99]

Yes it will take time. The fluidity in attack is not there. Was watching crystal palace vs goons on TV. Even crystal palace attack was more fluid than ours. We are more dependant on a few individual 's brilliance than movement. The defending at set pieces is scary.

But yes we support the team and wait for pochentino to do his work.

They even pressed better than we did.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

We had a sending off after 29 minutes, which means that our performance was in no way indicative of anything. Give it 10 games and see how we go.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

We carry too many passengers. This was evident last year and again yesterday, Adebayor's and Eriksons performances were pitiful. We were lucky yesterday, but play in that manner against the top 4, then we'll see a repeat of last year.

 

[spursram]

we won ! ... seems.the pessimistic hangover from last year hasn't gone yet with many !.... poch didn't play any outfield players that went
to the world cup & we had 7 players under 24 playing..

long season & i'd have grabbed your hand off for a first day win before kick off yesterday.

think many are going to expect far to much in what will be a transitional season again.

be happy with your team for once ffs & get behind them

Just to re-enforce that point the winning goal in numbers (age) was 22 to 19 to 21 to 20 = goal!

Can't be bad for the future IMO.

 

[cwhite02]

So we were not vintage on the opening game of the season? I would rather take 3 points and look to improve than lose and play well. Let's see how we setup and get on next Sunday.

COYS

 

[Dharmabum]

It was Poch's first competitive game in charge (and yes, forget the pre-season games as they basically count for little or nothing, apart from bonding sessions; and if they were for "real" then ManU should be crusing to the EPL title).
Spurs were missing 2 defenders (Walker and Jan) and in MF Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho plus Chadli up-front (not saying the all would have played yesterday for of course).
And, as usual with Spurs, any player a manager wants takes forever to bring in (generally at the dead-line day), so Poch haven't even gotten in those he want to be key members and still have to play players who know they maye be sold. Not the best for team-spirit really.
Look at Everton, Arsenal, ManU: neither impressed either. There are no walk-overs or easy games in the EPL anymore.
Have patience