The title of this blog I guess say everything you need to know about where my head is in regards to our current situation and our current manager. If it were up to me, following the West Ham loss I would have ended his reign as Tottenham manager. We have lost five of our last six league games with the only win coming against the poorest team in the league, who, if they had a striker, would have been level with us or even beat us on the day.
The standard of our football has been poor for some time and the manager, one of the best in the world looks unable to change anything to improve us. Following the 2-1 defeat he doubled down in his self belief when asked if he was questioning himself he replied; “Mine and my coaching staff’s methods are second to none.” He then went on to say; “….we have problems in the team that I cannot resolve myself as a coach…..”
When we appointed him my fear was the toxicity that we saw during his second spell at Chelsea and his time at Manchester United; however with his CV I found myself daring to believe that maybe he would have that ability as a coach to take us from nearly to actually winning. It was the hope of Daniel Levy, Harry Kane and his fellow players and of course the hope of all the fans. I know some will point to the fact they didnt want him from day one and that is fine however for me it serves no one to not back the manager when appointed, you have to give everyone a chance and I feel I personally have given that chance and now I am of a mind it has not worked.
Last season in a lot of ways was an odd free hit. He came him and we had a global pandemic, a squad that was stale and in the summer we recruited well, I know not all have been amazing but the recruitment was good. Form etc is not something you can account for. It finally freshened the squad up and opening day Everton performance aside we opened the season well and moved top of the league on merit. Yes, that was this season we were top of the league and flying. Remember beating Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford? They remember, not looking forward to the return fixture I can tell you.
It is quite possible the biggest nose dive I have ever seen from a Tottenham team in my circa 30 years supporting the club. Yes I have seen some awful teams, worse than this, but they started the season poor and stayed that way whereas this team on paper are a very good team with an impressive supporting cast of squad members and yet just are not clicking, not playing or have stopped.
There was a decent piece done recently on Tottenham under Jose by Monday Night Football on Sky where Carragher and Neville said that they as a team are about results. Not pretty or exciting football, its a results machine under Jose where you play a style to stop the other team and your individuals like Kane, Son get you the goals to win the games. The issue is, as they put it, when everything you do is about results what is there when the results stop.
I thought about this and as much as I know many hate doing a comparison when Pochettino took charge in his first season results were not always that good, very inconsistent but I think most fans could see a pattern of play emerging that was quite exciting and that summer board backed him with a player clear out (recruitment not great) and then we proceeded to have two of our best ever seasons in the league in my memory. It was not about individuals really although you can point to the emergence of Kane for sure but it was about a team, clear game plan, clear style and going out every game to try and beat the opposition. The quite amusing (to me) thing that was thrown at Poch during this time, should we lose or draw is that we had no plan B. Pochettino however was always quick to point out his goal was to make it so plan A was good and the team so good that the opposition needed to worry about us and not us about them in changing the way we play.
Now we have appointed in many peoples eyes one of the best tactical coaches in world football and yet does it look like we have a plan B from his style of play? Any variation at all now its clearly been found out and not working? If anything the more people question him on it the more he digs in and doubles down that this is the right way to play and if results are not happening that is on the players and not him.
I think we should all take a moment to think about that for a minute as I will be honest with you, I bought into it earlier in the season. Jose has a CV of trophies and is a proven winner. We have a squad full of “also ran” players who have not been able to get over the line in any competition for a long time; the whole club needs a mentally change. I accepted that and due to me accepting it I have also bought into the narrative for a long time that “oh he must be right…”
You see it was only after the West Ham game and seeing him once again talk about how great he is and how therefore there are other factors and seeing our fans on social media destroy our defenders and say “If Jose got new centre backs we would win” etc that this sort of cloud lifted. You see he does have a great CV… but that is in the past. Him saying he is great and look at my trophies that prove it is like me at 38 rocking up onto a rugby field and claiming “I am great, look at my career stats at this level….” It does not work. It literally is a fallacy that your past achievements impact the here and now. For me in my lifetime the greatest manager is and was Sir Alex Ferguson. I watched him build a time not once, twice, even three times but constantly. He never sat still, he was always evolving, always looking at new ways to play and changing his team to suit a changing world of football. When his drive for that went he retired.
Jose is convinced that his style works still in 2021. I am less talking about tactics on the pitch now as I am his man management. You see I had this debate with a fellow admin on Spurs News and we could not agree at all but for me the way Jose calls out players, throws them under the bus and excludes people etc is toxic. It is a problem. Football and the men that play the game have changed. Youngsters like Dele like to play video games and do events for it and do not respond to being told they are lazy. Players like Serge Aurier do not respond well to being told in front of the whole squad and the world thanks to Amazon Prime that the manager has no faith in him.
Some see these things and go “well he is only telling the truth” or “if they cannot handle it they should leave” or whatever and that is fine, that is your opinion but for me management is about getting the best out of your players, not making them all so afraid to try anything that they look scared of the ball on the pitch and surely I am not alone in seeing that? The only player against West Ham who looked like he wanted the ball was Bale, who came on in the second half. He was determined to make an impact on that game and was not afraid to try things, possible as he does not care what Jose thinks or his future in terms of relationship with him. Jose has already isolated him and not played him, what more can he do?! Whereas other players all look nervous.
The squad was a close knit group of friends and in some instances that needed to change a little but that bond has shown up with Dele. You think his friends didnt see how he was destroyed in the press by Jose after one mistake in a game? How he has been rejected and ignored for a season because he doesn’t do exactly what Jose demands every game? Now the players look afraid to try. There is no dare in Tottenham anymore, let alone do. Jose has killed it and if you cannot see it yet you will. It has taken me some time but my eyes are open.
Jose has had his time. Maybe with a trillionaire and signing players like its a computer game he can win things again but at Tottenham it feels like he has to go for all parties sake. We have a League Cup final but it is weeks away, time for a new coach, even a temporary one to come in and get us playing so we have some form going into it. If Levy is waiting for that final to see what happens… I fear for where we will be by then.
-Admin SJ
