- Jul 6, 2012
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It's odd one really. We have achieved a placing I didn't really think we could. But we didn't really play much of the football I thought we would.
I thought our philosophy was going to be higher press, higher tempo football. With the exception of a couple of games it never really materialised.
In AVB's fifth place we scored 8 more and conceded 7 less. Both teams benefitted from a high scoring forward. In AVB's first season I don't think a single game was as good as the two we played against Arsenal and Liverpool under Pochettino, but none were as bad as several we played under Pochettino.
Both managers were blinkered in terms of their tactical inflexibility in formation and both made counter-intuitive selections within that framework. For all the hammerings we received last season under both AVB and Sherwood, we conceded 2 more goals this season. And despite spending half a season under the supposed risk aversion of AVB and the ineptitude of Sherwood's tactical lottery, we still only scored three more goals this season with Kane's contribution.
The one thing I would say is, this league gets harder every season IMO. Money is now rife, scouting, analytics, coaching and tactical awareness is at an all time high - generally speaking - in the EPL now. IMO. So to finish fifth is no mean feat.
Where Liverpool had the perfect shitstorm of circumstances last season they suffered almost the reverse this. Having lost about 30 goals and a tireless, tenacious pit bull of a player in Suarez, they then lost another 25 in Sturridge. They now had CL football every week, a rebellious teenager (trouble as any dad knows) and a load of signings to bed in including one predictably terrible one in Balotelli. This definitely helped us finish 5th, but to be fair, Pochettino managed the Europa (of a fashion), the youngest squad in the league, a league Cup final and still hit fifth. So kudos.
This season only four teams conceded more than us, and only four scored more than us. When it comes to creating chances we have the sixth highest shots in the league, but the 11th highest in the box and 16th in the six yard box. Pochettino has clearly not solved our deficiencies when it comes to creating quality chances.
These attacking and defending deficiencies are partly due to personnel, we surely know this now, but the disappointing thing is that Pochettino hasn't really improved either aspect with coaching or tactics. So far.
We did plenty of good things, we have plenty of the ball, third highest in the league, we make the second highest tackles in the league. We have the youngest team in the league.
You guys all know my feelings about the sacking/mutual consent bullshit of AVB, I think it was the first one I think was plain stupid Levy. I think he was doing a very decent job under difficult parameters and it would have been nice if he'd been given the kind of backing with personnel problems that we've seen Pochettino get this year. I think people not on board or with strong personal agendas (be they players like Adebayor or back room like Sherwood and Freund) should have been cleared out sooner, I think youth integration should have been prioritised over 4th place and allowances made clear for this and I think we'd be two years further down the line. I think we'd have a coach who knows how to win things, who also had a good philosophy and clear ideas and was a better organiser, if slightly more risk averse.
From the get go I have had reservations of Pochettino's ability to marry the defensive discipline required to go with high octane football. I don't think his Southampton team did it well either, conceding 16 goals more than Koeman's. But our defensive foibles this year haven't exactly come as a cost of high tempo football.
Personally I think we made the (slightly) wrong choice of manager for the right reasons. We should have given FDB the keys to the castle, if we really wanted true top to bottom integration and a coach that would oversee a singular youth to first team philosophy.
But If we are going to hire managers with clear philosophies we have to give these guys real time to impart them. We have to try and create an atmosphere, a culture at the club and we have to be understanding as fans.
Pochettino seems to have created a good strong mentality, because despite the criticisms I have we have achieved a damn good fifth place finish. The youthful age of the team excites me, my biggest disappointment is that he didn't get even more kids involved. I think they would have done a better job than the selections he made in their stead.
It's pointless scouring Europe for players to fit a unique type system when you have the raw material to bend and shape in your back yard. Our academy groups play a better brand of high press, high tempo than our first team does, Pochettino should have no hesitation to use them, give them his trust and they will almost certainly reward that trust, at the very, very worst they won't let him down any more than the likes of Paulinho, Davies, Chiriches, Stambouli, Fazio, Soldado etc el.
Bonus points for Pochettoino for sticking with Mason, Bentaleb and Kane and the improvement he's got out of Rose and Vertonghen has looked like his proper self again post Sherwood.
I really want to see more intensity to our play next season, and better organisation, cohesion, going forward and defensively. And if first team players can't get with the program then I want Pochettino to have the bollocks to trust the kids we've spent years training to fulfil that remit.
That is a truly fantastic post which pretty much sums up my own feelings, overall.
I too would rather we'd gone all out for De Boer but we'll never know now whether that would have worked out any better than Pochettino's first season at the helm.
Our defensive deficiencies have been nothing short of alarming, and this should surely be our main priority for attention by whatever means available, to get sorted out over the summer.
So many good and salient points in the above post, brilliantly and eloquently expressed. I guess at the end of the day, we all have to give Pochettno time to build a squad more of his own design, and now that Paul Mitchell, the former supremo at Southampton, has arrived as Head of Recruitment, we have to sit back and observe what transpires next.
On balance, many good points and too many bad ones. Like many Spurs fans, my jury is still out on Pochettino but hey, finishing 5th and getting to a cup final 'aint too shabby for a first attempt.