Jose: Players not motivated for group phase

[mawspurs]

Spurs are through to the last-32 of the Europa League but boss Jose Mourinho questioned their motivation following a 3-3 draw at LASK, and said without Heung-Min Son and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the result may have been different.

Source: Sky Sports

 

[Johnny J]

And whose job is it to motivate them, Jose?

 

[Shadydan]

Good thing the games get harder from now on then isn't it.

 

[Seafordian Spurs]

And whose job is it to motivate them, Jose?

To an extent.

But they're professionals. The motivation should be intrinsic. I'm sure what he meant was that there is a lack of intensity in the Europa group stages in comparison with playing, say, a City or a Chelsea in the EPL. That and a changed team and subconsciously people slacken off.

Not Sonny or Hojbjerg though as Jose pointed out.

 

[King of Otters]

And whose job is it to motivate them, Jose?

I’ve seen a lifetimes worth of shit performances from Spurs in this dreadful competition to know the lack of motivation doesn’t come from the manager.

 

[slartibartfast]

Whats strange is, back in the days before these ****s got 80k a week for turning up to training, players used matches like this to show what you're about and break into that 11 at the weekend. This is your opportunity to prove the coach wrong.
After that performance some of them look like they want a transfer in the summer, even those that have only just arrived. Yeah I'm looking at you Doherty. Disgraceful performance.

 

[Spurs 1961]

Tricky games these for a big name team like Spurs. No question lower level teams get up for these games. Similarly I have watched us destroy Real Madrid in group games and then they go on to win the Champions League!

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

It's fine. If they get the group job done on 85% effort, why give 95% or 100%. It's a crazy period with battle after battle several times per week for weeks.

 

[Shadydan]

These Europa matches are though because the opposition we don't think are up to it always see the English teams as a scalp so the players will play to their maximum. I'm sure the players see the competition as a hindrance just like us fans do hence I think why you'll get players not taking it seriously and having one eye on the league. Having said that it's still a piss poor mentality and attitude for professionals to think and act like that.

 

[Gassin's finest]

And whose job is it to motivate them, Jose?

We need this guy back:

 

[Japhet]

We need this guy back:

Great character. Such a shame his injuries did for him because he was absolute quality.

 

[WhiteHeartLowe]

" I told them my feelings, and I am usually right", classic Jose remark

 

[Serpico]

Better get these poor performances done now before the business side of the competition . We all know group football in Europe is a money spinner and its a case of making the knock out stages.Once there-there is no excuses if your serious to win the thing.

 

[Serpico]

I wouldn't look too much into last night-we were poor but pulled out a draw which was minimum requirement. Win next week which we will-no problems-jobs a good'n. Arsenal next so lets get positive and look forward.

 

[SPURSLIFE]

Tricky games these for a big name team like Spurs. No question lower level teams get up for these games. Similarly I have watched us destroy Real Madrid in group games and then they go on to win the Champions League!

Surely you are only "a big name team " if you are regularly winning trophies and it's been to many years since we have won anything. So I would have thought that that was incentive enough to put in a performance that should have destroyed Lask. There were enough top international players on the pitch to put in a performance last night that befits " a big name team"
They obviously have their eyes on the prize, the PL but regardless of our position at the moment it is going to be a lot harder to win than the Europa title is.

 

[Dave-F]

Three thoughts.

LASK really needed a win last night, so they were always going to be really up for it.

Watching the match I felt we missed a holding centre forward. They pressed high. We struggled to pass through them, so ordinarily play it up to Harry or Vinicius. But last night that option wasn't there. That and in the first half kept doing the direct passes out left to Lucas who was getting done in the air and got a yellow for his efforts. In the second half we played out to the right, which worked better.

Thirdly you see the same thing happen every year in the FA Cup. It's why football is the great game it is. If everything went to script all the time we would not be watching it.

 

[Shadydan]

Three thoughts.

LASK really needed a win last night, so they were always going to be really up for it.

Watching the match I felt we missed a holding centre forward. They pressed high. We struggled to pass through them, so ordinarily play it up to Harry or Vinicius. But last night that option wasn't there. That and in the first half kept doing the direct passes out left to Lucas who was getting done in the air and got a yellow for his efforts. In the second half we played out to the right, which worked better.

Thirdly you see the same thing happen every year in the FA Cup. It's why football is the great game it is. If everything went to script all the time we would not be watching it.

Definitely missed a target man, it was like watching us when we had no Kane last season, due to our direct style the ball will always come back as we don't look to keep possession.

 

[Freddie]

It's odd that we can lack motivation when we're a team that hasn't won anything. We've shown that we can't coast and easily put these teams to the sword every game so I'd have expected them to come out all guns blazing and it was so flat. That said it wasn't all about attitude, there were poor individual performances that go deeper than that. I don't get why anyone thought Joe Hart was a good signing when he's barely had a good game in about 6 years. Filling an English quota isn't enough of a reason. Bale reminds me of latter-day Michael Owen. When he jogs he's able to turn it into a sprint and he's still quick but he's unwilling to suddenly burst into a sprint from a standing position or suddenly change angle. I doubt he'll be starting big first team games until this changes.

 

[TonyK]

I can understand the drop in performance. To be honest, clubs like ourselves shouldn’t really be asked to play against teams like Ludogorets and Lask. The competition should be structured so that these lower tier clubs are completely weeded out in the earlier rounds before the bigger clubs come in to play. I know this happens to an extent, but we have still had to travel to the arsehole of Bulgaria this year. Some of the stadiums I’ve seen us play in this year in the Europa have been absolutely horrible. 1960s crumbling concrete monstrosities. I’m not surprised at all that our players struggle to bring their A game to these sorts of places.