The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[daryl hannah]

I prefer to believe the ITK we had that Levy wouldn't drop his prices on the deadwood - ergo we couldn't shift any of them. Couldn't bring anyone in because no squad places. That's on Levy. Shift the deadwood, Levy - man up and take a loss.

That line about wanting INS at 2015 prices and OUTs at 2018 prices. Classic Levy.

Zero Net Spend rules.

Assurances? Brave? "Yes, I think Daniel will listen to me..."

Poch has earned the right to tinker with his tactics and squad. 4231 wasn't the be all and end all - you could argue we had great success with 3 at the back. Poch needs to evolve and learn new ways to play and see out games. How do you keep players motivated? Play the same system for 10 years straight?

Give the guy a break.

 

[Gassin's finest]

You lot need to give the man space to work with the squad to get it right. For sure the management and ghe players will sit and review what is not functioning and address the problem. He needs to assess his substitutions decisions as well. But please stop the nonesense of'Poch out' mentality!! For f*** sake!!!

Who's saying Poch out?

And this squad has been together for the best part of 3 seasons now. Indeed, he got it absolutely bob on in the season before last. Nothing has changed in the personnel, so I see no reason why he has to muck about with it now. But there is more to this than just formations and tactics imo.

 

[spursfan77]

After that I’d take a nil nil against Brighton.

We need a clean sheet badly.

 

[spursfan77]

I prefer to believe the ITK we had that Levy wouldn't drop his prices on the deadwood - ergo we couldn't shift any of them. Couldn't bring anyone in because no squad places. That's on Levy. Shift the deadwood, Levy - man up and take a loss.

That line about wanting INS at 2015 prices and OUTs at 2018 prices. Classic Levy.

Zero Net Spend rules.

Assurances? Brave? "Yes, I think Daniel will listen to me..."

Poch has earned the right to tinker with his tactics and squad. 4231 wasn't the be all and end all - you could argue we had great success with 3 at the back. Poch needs to evolve and learn new ways to play and see out games. How do you keep players motivated? Play the same system for 10 years straight?

Give the guy a break.

Well if he doesn’t shift any deadwood in January then I’m warning everyone that next summer will be the same as this years.

 

[daryl hannah]

I have very publicly stated the window was a failure and that Levy was in a large part to blame for that. That is why in the post of mine you quoted, I said "those fully blaming Levy for the window". The lack of alternatives on the list, and being happy to stick with what we had instead of looking at others is on Poch. Don't get me wrong I back Poch on that front, but to not be prepared for that to happen, and seemingly not knowing now the best way to utilise a group he's had for pretty much his entire tenure is rrmarkable. Imo of course.

Thanks Trix.

At the same time, you can't really blame Poch for not wanting secondary targets who we can't shift a year or two later. He's been burned too often. You're saying Poch should've identified them, yet we can see how traditionally he most likely does not have full control over who we bring in.

 

[Trix]

Thanks Trix.

At the same time, you can't really blame Poch for not wanting secondary targets who we can't shift a year or two later. He's been burned too often. You're saying Poch should've identified them, yet we can see how traditionally he most likely does not have full control over who we bring in.

Oh o agree. Just pointing out to those saying this is ALL Levy's fault that it isn't. If you are turning away players or refusing to identify others then it's because you think what you have is better than what you can bring in, but it ATM doesn't look like he knows what to do with what we have.
It's almost as if he's using these games like pre season friendlies that he can experiment with.

 

[mill]

Thanks Trix.

At the same time, you can't really blame Poch for not wanting secondary targets who we can't shift a year or two later. He's been burned too often. You're saying Poch should've identified them, yet we can see how traditionally he most likely does not have full control over who we bring in.

Wanted martial got njie, wanted batshuayi got Janssen, wanted Zaha got sissoko, wanted balde got Llorente you can understand the reluctance to sign alternatives, some aren’t even similar players

 

[daryl hannah]

Oh o agree. Just pointing out to those saying this is ALL Levy's fault that it isn't. If you are turning away players or refusing to identify others then it's because you think what you have is better than what you can bring in, but it ATM doesn't look like he knows what to do with what we have.
It's almost as if he's using these games like pre season friendlies that he can experiment with.

Happy to give him the time to work it out tbh. He's worried we've become predictable. And that inability to adjust to Juventus' formation change last year saw us exit the competition.

As has been characteristic of the last season or two, we have squad problems beyond not bringing anyone in. Players not performing to their best ability (Rose/Davies/Dier/Winks/Kane, for example). Players coming back from injury (Winks/Wanyama). Lloris out. Vorm lacking credible game time.

Liverpool pressed the hell out of us for 90 minutes. Fair play to them for being able to do that.

Our problems have basically been set pieces.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Wanted martial got njie, wanted batshuayi got Janssen, wanted Zaha got sissoko, wanted balde got Llorente you can understand the reluctance to sign alternatives, some aren’t even similar players

Or indeed players at all, in some cases...

 

[spursfan77]

I have very publicly stated the window was a failure and that Levy was in a large part to blame for that. That is why in the post of mine you quoted, I said "those fully blaming Levy for the window". The lack of alternatives on the list, and being happy to stick with what we had instead of looking at others is on Poch. Don't get me wrong I back Poch on that front, but to not be prepared for that to happen, and seemingly not knowing now the best way to utilise a group he's had for pretty much his entire tenure is rrmarkable. Imo of course.

I 100% agree with you. I think that’s how it definitely went down in the summer.

I’m not convinced Poch can be trusted in the transfer market either. He’s yet to prove himself there for me.

They have to start putting it right in January with some sales though. Personally I don’t think levy will change him MO in terms of getting rid of players.

 

[NEVILLEB]

1. We had the most players at the final stages of the world cup. Those players didn’t have a proper rest.
2. The club showed no ambition by not signing anyone this summer.
3. That undermined the Manager who had publically called for backing that summer.
4. The new stadium was delayed forcing the team to keep playing at Wembley.
5. Dembele and Wanyama aren’t fit enough to control the midfield.
6. Lloris isn’t playing.

For a team which has to play a high intensity pressing game is it surprising to anyone that the players have had a dip?

Instantly pointing at a Manager who has done wonders without any real financial backing is silly.

He has flaws like any Manager but it was clear before the season started we’d struggle. It’s unlikely we’ll finish in the top 4 this season and that’s down to the board not Poch.

Without the amazing team spirit Poch engineered we’d have been outside the top 4 every year anyway.

If I was him I would have left after the summer window. His authority has been stripped from him.

 

[thebenjamin]

There's just simply no way he was happy about us not making a single signing this summer. He's been badly let down.

“Sometimes I have crazy ideas in this type of situation. We need to take risks. We need to be brave.”

”We need to challenge big sides who invest. If we want to win the big trophies we need to review things. What we achieved is fantastic so far but we need to create different ideas.
I don’t know if the club will agree with me.”

“We need to feel that we are a special club. We need to create that - but we need to be on the same page. I know what we need to do but it is whether the chairman agrees with me.
It is so important to show we are ambitious, and our fans need to know what we are trying to do.”

“The Premier League will be tougher next year. The ambition is always about winning but it us not easy to find a way to win.

To try to improve is up to Daniel Levy.”

 

[Trix]

We can keep on making excuses as to why we are struggling (fatigued, Hugo, stadium etc etc) but that for me is more reason to keep it simple and play a system the players know and understand.

Fact is we have players sat on contract offers and the longer this slump continues the lass likely they are to renew. This could cost us a whole lot more than just a few points if we aren't careful.

Without question we have to make signings in January, or risk losing a lot more than just champions League qualification.

 

[thebenjamin]

Fact is we have players sat on contract offers and the longer this slump continues the lass likely they are to renew. This could cost us a whole lot more than just a few points if we aren't careful.

Another very good reason why we should've displayed proper ambition in the summer. No reason for any of our big players to stay when they're playing for a property development company that happens to have a football team.

 

[Gassin's finest]

https://www.football365.com/news/poch-must-jump-start-spurs-from-their-comfort-zone

Poch must jump-start Spurs from their comfort zone...

 

[SpursDave88]

We can keep on making excuses as to why we are struggling (fatigued, Hugo, stadium etc etc) but that for me is more reason to keep it simple and play a system the players know and understand.

Fact is we have players sat on contract offers and the longer this slump continues the lass likely they are to renew. This could cost us a whole lot more than just a few points if we aren't careful.

Without question we have to make signings in January, or risk losing a lot more than just champions League qualification.

Confirms what I feared. The problem is that sport is mostly about belief. Players won't sign because they don't believe they can win anything here. If they don't believe they can win...they won't!

Pretty simple really

 

[rossdapep]

Through experimenting I do believe Poch will come out stronger as a manager and coach, I just hope he doesn't experiment for too long and it ends up costing him his job and us a good chunk of players.

 

[Trees]

I reckon we might be seeing a bit of Amos / Skipp before long. No other options.

 

[JonnySpurs]

https://www.football365.com/news/poch-must-jump-start-spurs-from-their-comfort-zone

Very good. Seb Stafford-Bloor is a smart man that talks a great deal of sense.

The point about Townsend vs Lloris was very interesting. There's no doubt that we often hold Poch up as this great man, me included, but there's some clear weaknesses that should not be ignored as they may now be coming back to bite him a little bit.

My worry is that Poch doesn't seem the same this season as he was previously. I think he's coming off as irritable and defensive in a way he hasn't before. In a way it's good to see him being a bit more fiery but it also shows a lack of self-control, at the moment anyway, which I find a little unsettling.

I'm concered that he's simply not happy and whether that's temporary or because of a bigger reason I guess will become apparent if this whole poor run isn't turned around quickly.

As far as the summer goes, whilst most of Spurs twitter was gathering together a lynch mob for Levy, I was of the understanding that Poch had a major role to play in the lack of incomings but to my mind it's not good enough on all counts. There are literally thousands of footballers across the world that we could have picked from. To only have a small list of targets is both poor management, poor scouting and just poor preparation.

I don't see us being able to do anything significant in January but we should certainly be trying to. We don't need a lot, 1 or 2 players in key areas, e.g. central midfield, could make a massive impact.

 

[Trix]

Another very good reason why we should've displayed proper ambition in the summer. No reason for any of our big players to stay when they're playing for a property development company that happens to have a football team.

What do you mean by proper ambition?

The club were looking at a number of players in the Summer, but Porch only interested in fraction of them. By showing proper ambition I assume you mean get the players in Porch wanted. Not sure how you can force Yanited to sell us Martial and Ajax said DeJong wasn't going either. Grealish was the only one we really fucked up on, and would that really be classed as showing proper ambition?
Like I said the list of players Porch wanted was short but it wasn't like they were all readily available. Personally I think DeJong could have been done if we over paid, but I doubt Martial was the same.