Lack of mental strength or ability?

[mil1lion]

If you actually look at some of the winners we've signed in the past they've generally been at the tail end of their career. When we signed the likes of Klinsmann and Davids we didn't win anything. When we signed Ardiles and Villa it wasn't just that they had won the World Cup. It was that they were 2 world class players who won a World Cup in the peak of their careers. Ultimately it was the quality that made all the difference.

The best quality players have the mental strength to go with it so they go hand in hand.

 

[Fredo]

Player quality. If it's about Mentality then Poch isn't doing something right, been here 5 years and is all about having players with the right mentality. So I'm guessing we do have the mentality but its just poor, sunday league errors like those by Trippier that fuck us over in the end. Also, the quality up top isn't good enough in terms of depth. We have no real goal threat aside from Son and Kane - and to make things worse, its seems that when Kane plays Son becomes anonymous.

 

[Cambridge Spur]

I’ll be honest, I struggle with the term ‘Mentality’, especially in team sports. Over the course of a season the team that wins the title will be the ones who have the best squad. When you have the best squad it enables you to manage different games and situations differently. For the last few years we’ve generally been around 3rd so I believe we have the 3rd best squad in the league. We’ve won games where perhaps we shouldn’t and also lost games where we shouldn’t. This is nothing new in any team game because the control isn’t there. You have no control over injuries, fixtures, other teams etc. Take Man City for example, their squad is incredibly strong and very rarely do they get questioned when they leave out their so called better players because they have others of similar ability. When we leave players out there is always the comments of ‘Poch should have picked a stronger team’. Whether we care to admit it, money generally helps you build the best squad. We’ve still got a very good squad but it has been built differently to others and done over time. Can you honestly say that ‘Mentality’ has played any part in the success of Man City and Chelsea, the two clubs who win the most trophies in recent years. If so then where was this mentality prior to Abramovich and the Sheik.

 

[Capocrimini]

Logically player quality. But also just God hates us, we need to pick up our Bibles, Qurans, Torahs, beeds, any other form of worship to win favour.

 

[dontcallme]

I’ll be honest, I struggle with the term ‘Mentality’, especially in team sports. Over the course of a season the team that wins the title will be the ones who have the best squad. When you have the best squad it enables you to manage different games and situations differently. For the last few years we’ve generally been around 3rd so I believe we have the 3rd best squad in the league. We’ve won games where perhaps we shouldn’t and also lost games where we shouldn’t. This is nothing new in any team game because the control isn’t there. You have no control over injuries, fixtures, other teams etc. Take Man City for example, their squad is incredibly strong and very rarely do they get questioned when they leave out their so called better players because they have others of similar ability. When we leave players out there is always the comments of ‘Poch should have picked a stronger team’. Whether we care to admit it, money generally helps you build the best squad. We’ve still got a very good squad but it has been built differently to others and done over time. Can you honestly say that ‘Mentality’ has played any part in the success of Man City and Chelsea, the two clubs who win the most trophies in recent years. If so then where was this mentality prior to Abramovich and the Sheik.

The Liverpool Spice Boys team were talented with a weak mentality.

Pep is great at getting top quality guys playing as a team.

Lots of teams have quality individuals but don’t perform at the expected level as a team.

I fail to see how anyone can write off mentality in sport.

 

[Cambridge Spur]

The Liverpool Spice Boys team were talented with a weak mentality.

Pep is great at getting top quality guys playing as a team.

Lots of teams have quality individuals but don’t perform at the expected level as a team.

I fail to see how anyone can write off mentality in sport.

I’m not writing it off. Certainly for individual sport it is incredibly important. Look at people like Woods, Federer, Schumacher, Faldo. These are born winners who will do whatever it takes to win. Team sport is different though, very difficult to control. Harry Kane’s mentality is as strong as anyone’s but if one or two others focus and determination is lacking then the team suffers. Which takes me back to my point that if you have the best squad you can overcome these issues easier than others. I would question Eriksen’s mentality, certainly not his ability but if I look him in the eye before a game and think he’s not up for this today who do I bring in, but at Man City you could look at David Silva in training and think he’s not quite right this week, let’s put Bernardo Silva in, he’s chomping at the bit!

 

[WorcesterTHFC]

I think you're spot on there. When we buy a player it's pretty obvious we won't go for anyone who might be troublesome, we go for 'good lads' who won't rock the boat, but I think we definitely need a few edgy characters in the team to let the others know when they are slacking. it all seems too cosy and comfortable at Spurs!

Three players cut from the same cloth as Roy Keane wouldn't be a bad idea - a goalie/centre-half, a midfielder and a forward. That way, nobody on the park would escape the wrath of the edgy/nasty leader types when they're slacking.

 

[onthetwo]

ive decided that like any business, football clubs need to turnover (and ideally upgrade) their bottom 10% of employees on a regular basis to stay healthy. We stopped doing that almost 2 years ago.....

 

[Nodutus]

I think you're spot on there. When we buy a player it's pretty obvious we won't go for anyone who might be troublesome, we go for 'good lads' who won't rock the boat, but I think we definitely need a few edgy characters in the team to let the others know when they are slacking, it all seems too cosy and comfortable at Spurs!

Exactly. When Poch arrived it was clear that the troublemakers would be shifted and replaced with players that will follow Poch and be ’good’. The problem now is that we don’t have the Chiellini’s, Bonnuci’s etc that seem to be good lads on the side but professional nasty one’s on the pitch. It’s not in our DNA and will probably take a long long time before it is.

 

[dontcallme]

I think you're spot on there. When we buy a player it's pretty obvious we won't go for anyone who might be troublesome, we go for 'good lads' who won't rock the boat, but I think we definitely need a few edgy characters in the team to let the others know when they are slacking, it all seems too cosy and comfortable at Spurs!

I think you have it the wrong way round.

Poch got rid of the slackers in training. He now has the hard workers he wants.

But whether they have a winning mentality or enough ability is the question.

 

[easley91]

Three players cut from the same cloth as Roy Keane wouldn't be a bad idea - a goalie/centre-half, a midfielder and a forward. That way, nobody on the park would escape the wrath of the edgy/nasty leader types when they're slacking.

It's all well and good identifying the type, but can you actually suggest obtainable names?

 

[Wsussexspur]

ive decided that like any business, football clubs need to turnover (and ideally upgrade) their bottom 10% of employees on a regular basis to stay healthy. We stopped doing that almost 2 years ago.....

100% agree. Squad has gone abit stale. Needs a refresh in certain areas. Fergie was a genius at doing this at Utd.

 

[easley91]

100% agree. Squad has gone abit stale. Needs a refresh in certain areas. Fergie was a genius at doing this at Utd.

Fergie didn't have stadium delays to deal with, but also had owners who would splash the cash if needed.

 

[markiespurs]

I voted for lack of Mental strength.

Poch has done wonders to get rid the soft underbelly Spurs were always renowned for, but we are still a mental step away from turning ourselves from underdog contenders to serial trophy winners.

 

[Cochraam]

A lot of people seem to equate mentality with nasty edge or dark arts, but I think that's wrong. Fight isn't really leadership and mental strength... and too often it comes across to me as a lack of mental strength; when the game starts to slip away from us, you can see some of the players start to kick, push, grapple, wrestle more, but it's all just lashing out because of frustration and a lack of focus and ideas. It doesn't improve our play or chances of winning, just further breaks down the game, even if it is satisfying to watch as an angry fan. Also, our regular "brain farts" in big games seem to quite obviously fall under "mentality" issues; it's concentration and focus.

What we need by way of mentality is on the field leaders who can up the level of concentration and effort in response to on-field situations. If the game needs control and calmness, they can impose it. If it needs energy and drive, they can impose it and instill that in others. That's what I think we're missing, collectively as a team, rather than someone who's going to stick an elbow into David Luiz (as satisfying as that might be). In other words, we need someone more like a Carlos Puyol than a Mark Noble (obvious quality issues between those two aside).

 

[allpaths]

It's mostly quality. We're severely lacking in FB and and cm.

And our GK who has some of the best natural quality a keeper could hope for, turns into a nervous wreck against the big sides and under the cosh doesnt help much either.

 

[shelfmonkey]

I think you have it the wrong way round.

Poch got rid of the slackers in training. He now has the hard workers he wants.

But whether they have a winning mentality or enough ability is the question.

You misunderstood my point, I'm talking about bastards on the pitch who will ensure any player not doing his job knows about it and equally let the opposition know they are in for a scrap.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Needs a "both" rating.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

You misunderstood my point, I'm talking about bastards on the pitch who will ensure any player not doing his job knows about it and equally let the opposition know they are in for a scrap.

I said this in the match thread - we lack the tenacity/spine without Dele and Dier on the pitch.

But, we are also short of consistent quality at a few spots in the XI.

 

[Shadydan]

The lack of draws is annoying. If we could have turned 3 of our losses into draws...

It's funny, people were saying the exact opposite when we drew too many games