Form and Fatigue

[Chinaspur]

On the 15th of March Spurs played Man U. A pivotal game for both teams. Man U blew us away playing a high tempo game having been forced to finally pick a team which didn't look like a blindfold and set of darts had been instrumental in selection.

Since then their season has gone from strength to strength, whilst ours has withered quickly.

However, that game was Man U's 35th of the season. It was our 48th.
Since that game Man U have gone on and won some critical games:

Game 35: 3-0 w Spurs
Game 36: 2-1 w Liverpool
Game 37: 3-1 w Villa
Game 38: 4-2 w Man City

Wouldn't it have been great if we could have shown that kind of form..? well we kinda actually did...

Our Game 35: 2-1 w Sunderland
The following three league matches:

3-0 w West Brom
2-1 w Arsenal
2-3 l Liverpool (A game at Anfield that we played pretty well in)

We have already played 7 more games than Man U will play for their whole season and will finish up the season having played 20 hours more football than they have. Add in to that the flights all over Europe (they only managed to get to Wales... and lost there) and difficult rhythm of regular Sunday football and the form of the two teams over the last few weeks should not come as a surprise.

It may be argued that Poch should have rotated more, and placated the more difficult elements of the squad so there was more choice but those issues don't undermine his whole philosophy and the clear improvements we all saw.

This young squad will come back fitter and better drilled after a summer with Poch and we've a lot to look forward to.

 

[cwhite02]

If you want to be a big team, you have to be prepared to play lots of games. I don't think it's down to the squad needing to come back fitter and better drilled, it's a case of we have not been good enough. We need better players, simple.

 

[Blockbuster]

We've performed like we won the League Cup and had our end of season party,
thing is we lost it and played badly since, unacceptable.

We've played in Europe many times before and continued to make the same mistakes year after year, no matter who the manager is.

 

[nav007_2000]

Poch has come out and said that the Europa and the number of games played is the reason to the recent bad form. He has said that the players are tired. Every season is the same old excuses. Not rotating enough, too many games, players are tired. These continental managers seem to think its possible to compete in Europa, the domestic cups and the Premier League. Im afraid its not. Look at United this year. Look at Liverpool the year before. Both made top 4. Harry Redknapp had the right mentality in terms of prioritizing the clubs goals for the season. He played youth in the cups and the strongest players for the Premier League and we finished top 4 two out of 3 seasons. AVB and Poch didn't and look where we ended up. Even when United and City got knocked out at the group stages of the Champions League and ended up in the Europa, what did they do? get out of the Europa as quickly as possible.
Time to start prioritizing our goals.

 

[EastLondonYid]

Wrong formation....wrong team selections ..... wrong new signings...nothing to do with Europe......lame excuse.

 

[Mullers]

With double training sessions we should be able to handle a lot of games if we can't then I don't see the point of doing it.

 

[Danners9]

The week of Fiorentina x2 and Chelsea in the Cup final was the moment we ran out of steam. Games since then have been drab. Sure we've won some but the players are running on fumes and the tactics have changed - the high intensity pressing seems to have stopped, the passing has become sloppy.

I don't think it's the total number of games, more the number in a short space of time - and the outcomes. If we'd won, form may have remained good but I think the team has let it get to them.

That's what successful teams have to deal with, though. Shows we're not ready.

 

[brasil_spur]

There are two main issues here IMO:

1. We play a high intesnity pressing game which means fatigue will settle in, especially with players who aren't suited naturally to this style of play (maybr 30-50% of our squad).

2. The amount of fixtures has been crazy, but yet the available squad players we have (leaving out crappy players and ones with crappy attitudes) means we were worefully short of rotational options. Obviously when rotating you need to keep the same playing style and philosopies in place.

The answer to all this really is to get rid of all players who cannot adapt to the style of play we use (high intensity pressing) as regardless of how good they are they limit our ability to successfully rotate our team. We then need to bring in players that match this style of play, they don't need to be worldies, and some of them can be promising younger players. Really we need a core of 10-14 very good players that are in this style and another 10-12 players who are promising or just good rotation options. For example Fazio is not a very good player but he is a good rotation option.

 

[Gbspurs]

The other issue is that out of our squad there are a few players who aren't in contention such as Kaboul, Ade, Capoue etc meaning the strain on the youngsters is worse.

I think it's a valid excuse as long as we address it in the summer by adding some experience to the squad.

 

[degoose]

There are two main issues here IMO:

1. We play a high intesnity pressing game which means fatigue will settle in, especially with players who aren't suited naturally to this style of play (maybr 30-50% of our squad).

2. The amount of fixtures has been crazy, but yet the available squad players we have (leaving out crappy players and ones with crappy attitudes) means we were worefully short of rotational options. Obviously when rotating you need to keep the same playing style and philosopies in place.

The answer to all this really is to get rid of all players who cannot adapt to the style of play we use (high intensity pressing) as regardless of how good they are they limit our ability to successfully rotate our team. We then need to bring in players that match this style of play, they don't need to be worldies, and some of them can be promising younger players. Really we need a core of 10-14 very good players that are in this style and another 10-12 players who are promising or just good rotation options. For example Fazio is not a very good player but he is a good rotation option.

Well agreed and a good explanation and thought out response which cover my views as well. Eastlondonyid on the other hand just did the usual complaining and supposedly everything is wrong response.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Something I haven't seen mentioned:
“It was a very long season. When you do a whole season playing Thurs-Sunday and you are a young squad and you make the biggest effort during the season, maybe you arrive at the end at very difficult level,” he was quoted by the Mirror as saying.

“Not physically, but mentally, in a very difficult moment at the end of the season.”

IMO it certainly merits consideration.

 

[eddiebailey]

Something I haven't seen mentioned:
“It was a very long season. When you do a whole season playing Thurs-Sunday and you are a young squad and you make the biggest effort during the season, maybe you arrive at the end at very difficult level,” he was quoted by the Mirror as saying.

“Not physically, but mentally, in a very difficult moment at the end of the season.”

IMO it certainly merits consideration.

Not entirely unforeseeable outcome though is it? Is it not part of his job to husband his resources in order to avoid burn out?

 

[Spurger King]

With double training sessions we should be able to handle a lot of games if we can't then I don't see the point of doing it.

Personally I think the double training sessions are part of the reason why our players can't handle so many games.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Personally I think the double training sessions are part of the reason why our players can't handle so many games.

I read recently that the players had their first double training session for months. So I can't see that being the issue. Also, I don't think the fans can properly conclude their impact, as we do not know how regular they are.

I would guess that they were many at the start of the season, which helped us through the middle period, but now are actually causing problems.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Not entirely unforeseeable outcome though is it? Is it not part of his job to husband his resources in order to avoid burn out?

For a portion of the season he was picking Kaboul, Capoue etc etc, so perhaps, just perhaps there's a bit of slack to be cut.

Just a bit. Just maybe….

And then, somewhere in the middle, in between his so called lack of Plan B (an accusation that's been levelled at pretty much every manager Levy has appointed), his lack of tactical nous, his supposed inflexibility, perhaps there's a little bit of truth in something positive too.

Because this unforgiving 'absolutely no mitigation' stuff is getting really tiresome now.

 

[kungfugrip]

Yes we've had a lot of games......but I just think our players aren't quite good enough. It's been great to play the younger players like Kane, Bentaleb, Dier, Mason, Townsend but they are only ever going to get you to a certain level, which is where we are now. If we had four or five star players also in the team at the same time (think King, Modric, Bale, VDV etc) then merging those younger players into the team would've been mouth watering. But we don't.

 

[Monkey boy]

People saying that we play a high press game must be watching different streams to me as the only 2 games that I can recall where we actively pressed was Everton and arsenal. The rest have been meh'.

Anyway, has Poch banned the ketchup yet?

 

[EastLondonYid]

Well agreed and a good explanation and thought out response which cover my views as well. Eastlondonyid on the other hand just did the usual complaining and supposedly everything is wrong response.

Appreciating thought out responses??...shame YOU didn't do the same before posting, because anyone who thinks that Fazio,Capoue,Stambouli and Davies are the right buys, or that Poch is playing the right players in the right formation needs to think more before posting .

I don't do the usual complaining mate...i do it when its staring at you in the face.

 

[Chinaspur]

Not entirely unforeseeable outcome though is it? Is it not part of his job to husband his resources in order to avoid burn out?

Games this season:

Chelsea: 47
Arsenal: 47
Man U: 44
Man City: 45
Liverpool: 51
Southampton: 39
Spurs: 51
Swansea: 38
West Ham: 37
Stoke: 37
Crystal Palace: 37
Everton: 45

Liverpool and Spurs have played a minimum of four more games than any other team. Both have seen their form ebb away over the last month. And look what the Europa league has done to Everton!

It's not a level playing field - the burden of Europa is absolutely clear. United are bloody lucky that they were so crap last year that they missed it.

Every manager has the job of 'husbanding their resources', but the job is clearly a hell of a lot more difficult for some than others. Rodgers has had far more time at Liverpool to build his team and work out how to rotate and they are suffering nearly as much as we are.

 

[Pat Rice Spurs fan]

As I wrote in the "Why's Dembele being frozen out?" thread, I think it was Danny Murphy on MOTD who said that Pochettino's teams traditionally flag towards the end of the season.
Now, I'm no expert but I don't think Southampton finished last season as well as they'd been around the turn of the year, at least.
Southampton were a comparatively small club with a limited squad but now he's at a bigger club with more resources, he should be taking advantage of the squad and not just picking the same team, week in, week out - especially when we're on a poor run of form.
Mason came in with fire in his belly - surely we must have someone else who's desperate to prove themselves. Just one player could change the whole attitude and desire of the whole team.

Alternatively, Poch has realised the Europa Cup is like a millstone and is trying all he can to avoid it next year.