Jol rejects crisis talk

[Geez]

Source: Skysports.com

Martin Jol has dismissed talk of a crisis at Tottenham following back-to-back defeats at the start of the season.

A 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on Saturday was followed by a 3-1 loss at home to Everton on Tuesday, to leave Spurs bottom of the Premier League table.

Tottenham had been expected to challenge for a European place and possibly even UEFA Champions League qualification, and Jol met with chairman Daniel Levy on Wednesday to discuss the week's developments.

However, Jol insists there were no crisis talks and that Levy was merely concerned about the number of players that were injured.

"I can assure you that I saw the chairman last week and the week before, so there was no different situation," Jol told Sky Sports News.

"Of course, like me, he is worried, because of all the players who are out, and he hopes we can do better in the future.

"He assured me he was in the same boat because he is responsible as well.

"The only thing I have to do sometimes is take the pressure off him and tell him that things will be okay, and that is what I did yesterday."

Jol is confident Tottenham can bounce back from their poor start and steadily climb up the table over the next few weeks.
"The players have to show more and they will," he declared.

"It has been a bad spell but the season is about a lot of chapters and we have not even had one chapter.

"We feel rotten about it and we will do something about it as we did over the last couple of seasons."

[crapocrap]

wicked first post :hump:
almost forgot......COME ON YOU SPURS :wink:

[macspurs]

First the worst, second the best. Everyone knows that !

And indeed COYS !!!

[macspurs]

ANd third the ugly princess. Fourth I believe is the one who lost their vest. Playgrounds vary though.

It seems to be our way to start the seasons poorly. Last time it was dropped points early on that was the cause of much rueing.

It would have been nice to blister our way early on, but catch up it is, and so it shall be done.

[oultima]

Any thing new from Old Jol?? do we think a win at home to Derby is something proud of? the next game after we will get a good wallop by man utd, and then he will start saying " things didn't go our way as it was but i am sure the lads will come back stronger because the atmosphere in the dressing room was excellent" blah blah blah.....we should keep our finger crossed that we can even beat the maldives at the moment.

[TopSpurMan]

So what did you want Jol to say, sorry such a bad start, I did bad, I'm off?

Get real and get behind the manager and the team like a real fan.

[PerthDave]

I am bored with all this hyper analysis, we've had a poor start, simple! Everyones expectation is very high and that is Jol's fault for 2 of the best consecutive seasons we've ever had. So lets sack him!!
From a man management point of view your first game is away and in the end not a great performance, your next game is home. Maybe these players have a point to prove after a poor start so you play them because previously they haven't let you down, they finished 5th and had a great run in europe! These are players who were involved as ever presents in your last 2 seasons, I don't think you can just drop them, they have to be given a chance to perform, so they start, they were a winning formula and very strong at home. The new players, especially the younger ones have to earn their place in the team and when they take over a more established players place they know they have to perform week in, week out to keep it. The seniors also know they are not automatic but have been given there chance first as earned and really it's only their fault they are dropped. This creates a competitve dressing room and that winners mentality. If you just play new and unproved players and drop the previous performers you get disharmony in the dressing room and your team ultimately won't perform.

We have to perform and quick so maybe a change or two against Derby will be the arse kicking the seniors might need who haven't performed so far.

Finally check out the injuries, thats our defence gone, our creativity gone and our now ourworld class striker, lets support and back the team, the management and see how we perform from here.

[Westupperspur]

Sensible talk from Jol. I agree that this talk of getting rid of him is ridiculous as he's taken us from a mid table/slight threat of relegation team to the best outside the top 4 for 2 seasons. I also agree with Jol himself that our injury list in defence has contributed to our poor start.

However, Jol also needs to recognise that he has made mistakes with the shape of the side. Playing Robbie Keane on the wing/in midfield may work against weak pre-season opposition but it was crystal clear that the side lacked balance and pace from the midfield on Tuesday (and last Saturday). Jol compounded this by putting more and more men up front in the second half against Everton. Against Sunderland, there was equally a lack of balance/pace with Tainio moving inside all the time and Malbranque doing the same.

It seems to me that when we have Lennon, his pace and trickery mask the shortcomings of the rest of the midfield. Without him, Jol opts for the 'safe option' away from home of another midfielder rather than a winger and at home the 'brave option' of a third striker who plays in midfield. I don't think either works. My own view is that we should stick to the 4-4-2 that has worked well in the past and have players who can swap in like for like. At the moment our squad is unbalanced by too many central midfielders and not enough wide players (or ones that Jol will play anyway). This has been clear for nearly three years. But no one seems to want to address the issue. Whose fault is this? Jol's or Commoli's? I don't know but for me the answer to our poor start is to utilise the wide players in the squad in a 4-4-2. Taarabdt may be able to do the job and Routledge impressed against Everton. So, for me, one wide player in the starting lineup with one on the bench on Saturday should do the job. My team against Derby would be:-

Robinson
Chimbonda
Gardner
Rocha
Bale (if fit)
Routledge
Jenas (giving him a chance!)
Zokora
Malbranque
Keane/Bent
Defoe

Subs - Stalteri, Cerny, Huddlestone, Taarabdt, Bent/Keane

[chasndave]

I've been away for a couple weeks and I come back and it's like the world has ended!! (I even converted a couple of Cubans into YIDS by donating new shirts to them - thanks littlewoods)

I thought we'd lost the 'fickle spurs fans' element. Come on lads we've all been spurs fans for too know that 2 games does not make a season!

Can't beleive that so called fans were booing on Tuesday. Whats wrong with these people? Christ you think that was bad do you not remember the Cristian Gross times!!

Have some faith - IN JOL WE TRUST!! :bowdown: :bowdown:

COYS

[TajSpur]

What crisis? We had a shit start last year and were fine. We lost 6 in a row when BMJ succeeded Santini and we were okay.

BMJ is the man!

[JC-Rule]

Source: Skysports.com
"The only thing I have to do sometimes is take the pressure off him and tell him that things will be okay, and that is what I did yesterday."
"

Now we know who run tings at the lane.

Mr Levy actually works for Martin, bet many of you fans failed to realise this:shrug:

[BringBack_leGin]

How to avert a potential footballing crisis:

Take the bad players who have screwed up in 2 consecutive games

Replace them with players seem to have the potential to perform better

Routledge came on and did well. Put him in for Keane maybe. Keane is not an RW. Routledge is!

Defoe came on and did well. Put him in the team next to Bent because Berbatov is injured.

Taarabt in pre-season taught the rest of our midfield an absolute footballing lesson, let him have a go ahead of one of Jenas or Zokora, because he can do things on the ball, he can pass, they cannot!

Stalteri has been at left back for two games and by my reckoning has been at least partly to blame for 3 of the four goals we have conceded this season. People who say "well last season he made no mistakes"... well last season he barely had an opportunity to make mistakes. If Lee or Bale is even 80% fit, put one of them in ahead of him, or if not, put Gardner at left back.

While I can tolerate him at left back, Gardner should not be let within a mile of our central defence. He is about as imposing as a flea. I hope, as rumoured, that Dawson might be back. I wouldn't put Hudd there, his lack of mobility and aggression would leave him a sitting duck. Dervite, I would happily put him there from what I saw of him, but I know not if he is fit yet. I do know that Mills is fit, and apart from being the size of a truck, he is aggressive, powerful, authoritative and a pretty cool customer to boot. A chance for a debut perhaps?

I know Jol will do little of this. He probably won't do any of it, because he is very stubborn and doesn't like to admit he is wrong, which he would have to do if the likes of Taarabt and Routledge came in ahead of the likes of Keane and Jenas. However, his stubborness might well be both his, and by association our, biggest downfall.

COYS!

[danielneeds]

Honestly, enough is enough. Anyone would think we are in December and mired in the 19th place in the table without a win in 10 games. Beat Derby and we could well be level on points with Man Utd when we face them next week (i can see them drawing with City on Sunday..). Hardly a crisis, then get Bale, Lennon, Berbs and Dawson back and thinks aren't looking too bad all of a sudden are they???

[matty182]

with all respect to derby surely this is the game to give adel more than a few mins in? if he plays well im sure it would boost his confidence to perform against the teams mr jol feels he is not ready for? playing great in preseason and towards the end of last season and then not not even being on the bench might not do his confidence that good?

[jackhealy]

I really want to see Taarabt playing because he's a really gifted player, but I don't know if I would put much faith in Routledge. He's been loaned out and Fulham didn't seem interested in buying him. That must say something.

[UbeAstard]

I even converted a couple of Cubans into YIDS by donating new shirts to them



Its not even hard to convert Cubans as they'll take anything you have to give. Did manage to keep my MP3 player though.

[Lucky22]

Pressure is on, but I have faith in Jol. The papers are doing what they always do, focusing on a manager under pressure and making it out like we are going to give him to boot - I don't think anyone seriously believes that we could sack a manager after just two games, particularly after everything he has done for us.
I hate the fickle fans who cry Jol Out at the first sign of trouble. If you people had your way, we would be on our fourth or fifth manager now since Santini left - please, please, please have some faith.

YID ARMY!!!!

[Chimbo!]

Why doesnt every1 going to the game sing Jols name for the 1st few minutes of the match to show our support. It will go along way into giving the confidence back to the team. Lets just forget our anger and support them. Who's up 4 it?

[shelfside]

Source: Skysports.com

Martin Jol has dismissed talk of a crisis at Tottenham following back-to-back defeats at the start of the season.

A 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on Saturday was followed by a 3-1 loss at home to Everton on Tuesday, to leave Spurs bottom of the Premier League table.

Tottenham had been expected to challenge for a European place and possibly even UEFA Champions League qualification, and Jol met with chairman Daniel Levy on Wednesday to discuss the week's developments.

However, Jol insists there were no crisis talks and that Levy was merely concerned about the number of players that were injured.

"I can assure you that I saw the chairman last week and the week before, so there was no different situation," Jol told Sky Sports News.

"Of course, like me, he is worried, because of all the players who are out, and he hopes we can do better in the future.

"He assured me he was in the same boat because he is responsible as well.

"The only thing I have to do sometimes is take the pressure off him and tell him that things will be okay, and that is what I did yesterday."

Jol is confident Tottenham can bounce back from their poor start and steadily climb up the table over the next few weeks.
"The players have to show more and they will," he declared.

"It has been a bad spell but the season is about a lot of chapters and we have not even had one chapter.

"We feel rotten about it and we will do something about it as we did over the last couple of seasons."

"He is responsible as well" WTF?! Only for funding you to the hilt you moron, you're responsible for the team performance.

[Sanj]

According to the radio - Coral bookmakers have suspended betting on Jol getting sacked.

This will be an absolutely STUPID decision if this is true !

[Kingstheman]

"He is responsible as well" WTF?! Only for funding you to the hilt you moron, you're responsible for the team performance.

Surely the team is responsible for its own performance?

We have the worst injury record in the premiership at the moment.

We are missing a significant portion of our defence and some of our most creative players.

I am sure Jol wants to put in new players like Taarabt and Boateng - but when they are surrounded by our better players.

Jol is currently in an unenviable position. If the squad were fully fit we could really complain and he could drop the players playing poorly and risk playing the new YOUNG players.

As it is we have to muddle through.

I am confident that this should be one of the last times (as in the early months of this season) we have to resort to such desperate measures - from this season on Comolli's new recruits will start to swell within the squad to replace the first team - not players from previous regimes or the square pegs brought in to keep our 'nearly' a great team going.

[Kingstheman]

According to the radio - Coral bookmakers have suspended betting on Jol getting sacked.

This will be an absolutely STUPID decision if this is true !

The idiocy of some punters.

A whole load of smug gooners are going to lose a fiver or a tenner.

I really can not see Spurs sacking Jol unless a really class manager like Hiddink become available and starts to get interested in us.

[stoddle]

getting so f*cked off with the negagtivity of some of the spurs fans at the moment...you dont want your season ticket...well give it back and I'll freaking well buy it as I havent been able to get one for 4 years now and have to make do with membership...

and dont start with I pay my money so Ive got the right to criticise....2 f*cking games....

[Kingstheman]

getting so f*cked off with the negagtivity of some of the spurs fans at the moment...you dont want your season ticket...well give it back and I'll freaking well buy it as I havent been able to get one for 4 years now and have to make do with membership...

and dont start with I pay my money so Ive got the right to criticise....2 f*cking games....

In total agreement - I'd normally give my right arm for the opportunity to watch Spurs.

Right now I'd take the tickets just to stop the moaning from the impatient and unreasonable 'fans' of our club.

[Jolmeister]

Quote from Jol “Every email, even when we were 3-1 down, they supported me. I can understand they are angry because I am very angry sometimes. We have to do better because it is not about results, it’s about playing well, playing better.”
He went on: “Last year we had a bad start and then we had 20 games with two defeats and we had a great spell.



Since when has it been not about results!

[danielneeds]

In total agreement - I'd normally give my right arm for the opportunity to watch Spurs.

Right now I'd take the tickets just to stop the moaning from the impatient and unreasonable 'fans' of our club.

Here here. I'm starting to understand why some of my non-spurs supporting mates have such a bad opinion of our fans. We were nothing more than a joke club when ENIC took over, and Jol has delivered consistently good results for two years now, better than some of us can ever remember in living memory.

Apprently our midfield has no creativity, yet this is this the same midfield that supplied over 100 goals for our strikers last year.

Yes, we haven't signed a left winger, but as Jol points out on this five live interview:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/sol/newsid_6950000/newsid_6950300?redirect=6950332.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1

They aren't interested in signing someone for the aske of it, they want top quality and they haven't been able to get it yet (also he says that Taraabt can play there)

[CityYid]

What the hell is wrong with everyone??? So what, we've lost 2 games. Get over it for f**ks sake!! I'm sometimes embarrassed to call myself a Spurs fans when so many of us are complete idiots with short memories. It wasn't that long ago that we were flirting with relegation thanks to years of crap management and even worse players. This squad, and the management, are the best we've had in 20+ years, but for some people that's not enough.

Yes we have some injury problems. That's not an excuse, it's a fact. Currently we're playing with our 4th and 5th choice central defenders, and no recognised left back. Given those circumstances I think most teams would struggle. Yes I agree that the midfield needs to be a bit more creative and Jenas gives the ball away far too much, but just get behind the team and the manager, especially now. How would you feel if whenever you made a mistake at work you were booed, or people were calling for you to be fired?? These are good times for THFC, and if you don't want to be part of it, then f**k off and support someone else.

Rant over COYS!!

[Stavrogin]

How to avert a potential footballing crisis:

Take the bad players who have screwed up in 2 consecutive games

Replace them with players seem to have the potential to perform better

Routledge came on and did well. Put him in for Keane maybe. Keane is not an RW. Routledge is!

Defoe came on and did well. Put him in the team next to Bent because Berbatov is injured.

Taarabt in pre-season taught the rest of our midfield an absolute footballing lesson, let him have a go ahead of one of Jenas or Zokora, because he can do things on the ball, he can pass, they cannot!


COYS!

I'd put Malbranque in the centre and let Taarabt go wide. When Steed gets shifted to the middle later in games he finds more of the ball in promising positions - got to try him there for a prolonged period.

There were lots of nice things in small amounts against Everton, I agree he should try them a bit more and am also pessimistic that he will.

[dickyid]

I'll start worrying if we lose to Derby. Wouldn't fancy a trip to Old Trafford on 0 points after 3 games, no matter how many points they've dropped.

[StanSpur]

Spurs have 0 points after 2 games, Man Utd have 2 points after 2 games.

Is anyone calling for Fergy to go?? This is all so stupid. So what we've had a bad start, look at the list of injured players; King, Dawson, YPL, Bale, Lennon and now Berbatov and Kaboul! Not being funny but compare that to other teams and the equivalent players i.e 3 first choice CB, 2 first choice LB, the most influential/creative midfielder, and the most prolific striker - its like so:

Man Utd missing
Vidic, Rio, Brown, Evra, Heinze, Ronaldo and Rooney
Arsenal missing
Toure, Gallas, Senderos, Hoyte, Clichy, Rosicky, Van Persie
Chelsea missing
Terry, Carvalho, Ben Haim, Cole, Bridge, Lampard, Drogba
Liverpoll missing
Agger, Hypia, Carragher, Finnan, Riise, Gerrard, Kuyt

and so on. How many of those teams would be able to cope with that kind of loss (with the possible exception of Chelsea)? Not to mention any of the other teams below us last year.

So what Jol met with his boss, i have regular meetings with my boss too - I'm not getting the sack. In fact i would guess that most the journalists out there have to speak to their editors once in a while (if not daily) so why make something out of nothing. Stupid story, stupid luck, STUPID fans who have even thought getting rid of our manager at this stage of the season is a good idea, STUPID fans who boo'd our team of the pitch. Have some faith and don't be such tommy tankers.

[riversmonkey]

I'd take top 6 and a cup win from here

[rem01]

"He assured me he was in the same boat because he is responsible as well.

"He is responsible as well" WTF?! Only for funding you to the hilt you moron, you're responsible for the team performance.

It's absolutely clear that this is Jol reporting what Levy said - Levy said that he was responsible as well and therefore in the same boat - and not Jol asserting that Levy is responsible as well. Calm down and read.

:bang: [reading this site over the last week, I've rarely been more thankful for the presence of this icon]

[GlennHoddle]

well done StanSpur - was thinking about Utd myself.
Haven't had a tough start either and only got 2 points.
They have also spent heavily but no one is calling for Fergie's sacking.
On sat
Put Routledge in from de start on right wing - i was first to critcise him and say he should be sold but when he came on against Everton, he looked lively and got de ball into de box, no messing about like Jenas and de rest trying to walk de ball in.
Thudd has to start in place of Zoko or Jenas for his passing ability.
Bent and Defoe up front. Keano on de bench