Poch needs to take a long hard look at himself.

[lillywhites61]

Things aren't going great atm . There has been indications that things behind the scenes may be a bit awry .

Mitchell left .Our frantic press left too . Then Poch started saying different things to last year ,I think partially to try and explain to himself the new situation . Last year he denied there were any downsides to midweek matches . This year he talks about fatigue a lot . In the close season he was saying he didn't need new players . Now he says he needs new players .

I've speculated before that he's been spooked by the intensity falloff of the press which he can't seem to reinstate . We no longer make goal chances for ourselves with our frantic press . It really was a formidable offensive weapon . As Toby said in close season 'Without our effort we are (just) a normal team ' . This is precisely what we have become . This has put the spotlight
on our comparatively unspectacular forward line technically and they are found wanting in scoring when not backed up by the intense press.

It looks like a mental issue because vs City , the press was momentarily back . Its the old problem...Motivating Millionaires in my opinion and Poch has lost his midas touch in getting players to make that extra effort. Can he get that back ? I fucking hope so.

This is the main issue imo...but also last year we surprised teams with our press . This year we aren't a surprise and counter tactics e.g. pressing US have been effective and shown up our shortcoming in getting attacks started from defence .

Motivating millionaires is very apt and so is the fact they all have pretty much been given shiney new contracts, Some are still driven but others form have seriously dipped now this year.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Poch does need to take a look at himself, but so does the team involved in our player recruitment. Our summer window was an absolute disaster.

How did we let Moussa Dembele sign for Celtic for £500k and then we signed Janssen, Sissoko, for £47m. And then spent all summer trying to sign GKN who is nowhere near the starting 11. WTF went on there? Seriously how are we supposed to compete with the top teams if that's how we go about improving our squad. I'd take Dembele over all 3 of those attacking players that we signed.

Janssen is a battler but he isn't that tall and has no pace to threaten defences at the top level. GKN seems to have a bit of pace but quality on the ball seems average, add to that Poch clearly doesn't trust him. And Sissoko just lol.

Gary Hooper was a goal machine at Celtic. Did you ever see him in the prem?

 

[Johnny J]

I will get hammered for saying this, but I think last season we weren't great going forward, but two things mitigated that: (1) our pressing game, forcing mistakes that led to chances, and (2) Kane's phenomenal break out season, largely due to his ability to create his own chances.

This season, the press has been completely absent (except against City, where it was amazing), and Kane has been mostly injured.

I honestly think that the underlying problems were there last season, and due to circumstances have become much more obvious this year.

IMO our defensive solidity and rigidity comes at the cost of freedom to attack and get into good positions. We seem to prioritise possession over everything else.

I also think that an awful lot of teams have worked us out this year. Instead of coming at us, leaving space for us to break into when we press and force a mistake, they're happy to let us have possession - because we do fuck all with it - and then hit US on the break.

I think Poch has been a good manager for us so far, and I hope he turns it around.

 

[Lufti]

Lol, Klopp's Dortmund went out at the group stage the season after winning the Bundesliga. You know what happened the next season? They got to the final. Some of you lot need to chill out

 

[stevensthfc]

I think Poch is saving the press for the second half of the season.
I hope it's that anyway

 

[Johnny J]

Some of this overreaction is beyond belief. Are we 13 year old girls that didn't get enough likes for our selfie on Facebook or rational people prepared to have a bit of patience with a club that's building something.

It's a Spurs discussion forum. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to give their take on things, provided it's done sensibly. Nothing wrong with constructive criticism.

 

[midoNdefoe]

This season has largely been a complete shower of shit. Slow, turgid, passionless football. Levy backed Poch with players he asked for spending close to £60m for the trio and only one has even been halfway decent, the cheapest one. People here are so quick to absolve Poch for absolutely no reason.

Also, constantly rotating the team in the crown jewel of club football competition and not once playing your strongest XI is, for me, a sackable offense.

Please fuck off with that bollocks - walk away from your computer and don't chat shit anymore...

 

[diamond lights]

It's a Spurs discussion forum. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to give their take on things, provided it's done sensibly. Nothing wrong with constructive criticism.

That's my point.....a lot of it is not done sensibly and is not constructive.

 

[DiscoD1882]

We are four points off the top of the league. Playing Chelsea on Saturday and just about to go into the busiest period of the year. Maybe. just maybe, Poch has looked at the big picture and thought. You know what? I don't think we are going to win the champions league this year. I will give some players the experience and we will come back next year wiser and better for it. And you know what. we have a good chance to sustain a title challenge. so I will make the decision to rest players so we don't lose them over Christmas where the title can potentially be won or lost. Maybe just maybe he has a grand plan and doesn't just look at football on a game by game basis.

i'm disappointed, as we did so well the last time we were in the CL. but as soon as that group got drawn I feared we wouldn't progress. there was no team there to get excited about. most the teams were very similar in calibre and it was always going to be the teams that were on form going through. And we just haven't been on form yet.

If we are up there at the end of the season we can go in again knowing more about the competition and the teams and Wembley than we did this year. and it will benefit us.

 

[Dr Know]

I didn't get to see the match and didn't even know the result until this morning (thanks to the Metro) so I logged on to see what my fellow spurs supporters had to say. Flippin heck! they've all been abducted and replaced by the bin dippers fans!!

I respect opinions but some of the stuff in here is truly cringe worthy!! We need to stick together through thick and thin.....not too long ago most in here were on suicide watch when the Poch to Madrid link surfaced...............pick yourselves up guys, we're better than this!

 

[Lemon]

Intensity is finite.

 

[The Lilywhites]

Re our squad, we sold or loaned several decent squad players and have we been improved with the ones we have brought in? No leader in the team.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Remove a few key players from injury and one or two out of form and we look painfully average unfortunately

I'm happy with the clubs progress

Lol, Klopp's Dortmund went out at the group stage the season after winning the Bundesliga. You know what happened the next season? They got to the final. Some of you lot need to chill out

Agree really.

Embarrassing cl campaign and crusty start to the season but a young team and young inexperienced coach was always gonna be a bit inconsistent, especially with non stop injuries

I'm sure they'll be worse moments in the next couple years but I think we'll eventually be very strong under poch

 

[WalkerboyUK]

Poch complains that there's a lack of quality in the squad, yet he's the one that pushed to get Sissoko...

 

[taricco]

he's a young manager still learning his trade. not just that, one of the most exciting young managers in world football.

however, the key word is 'learning'. the issue with avb was that he never learnt - he was stubborn as hell so made the same mistakes over and over again. poch seems more willing to learn (although there are a few concerning signs) and part of having a promising young manager is that we need to bear with him during these learning periods.

 

[mightyspur]

Poch complains that there's a lack of quality in the squad, yet he's the one that pushed to get Sissoko...

It was Sissoko or nothing wasn't it? Considering the excellent Euros he had just had, I can see why Poch wanted to take the gamble.

 

[WalkerboyUK]

It was Sissoko or nothing wasn't it? Considering the excellent Euros he had just had, I can see why Poch wanted to take the gamble.

Hard to tell the difference when he's on the pitch.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Went to the game last night with a French mate of mine who is very clued up on football he played for many years for Guingaun & coaches now

After 10 mins he said to me there's something wrong with this team. Is there a problem in the dressing room between the players? Normally if He see's players playing like this it means they 'hate someone in the team'

Found it interesting that he in 10 mins (& it bore out for the whole game) clocked that this was a team not playing as it should. He's convinced there's locker room trouble & that's the problem

FWIW

Mitchell left. Wimmers black eye & being 'injured' but turning out for Austria. Dele & Dier no longer appear joined at the hip ... dunno. Total speculation but it may be so

 

[Geyzer Soze]

It was Sissoko or nothing wasn't it? Considering the excellent Euros he had just had, I can see why Poch wanted to take the gamble.

Next to Pogba - he plays well with Pogba

 

[ardiles]

Hasn't Poch, on several previous occasions, mentioned that "the most important game is the next game"?
If that is/was the case, I'm still wondering why he hadn't started Verts and Walker against Monaco, especially so with the
absence of Toby. I know that he had started Walker on the bench for a couple of the earlier CL games but this was
a 'do or die' mission. There's no guarantee that by resting them, we would get anything out of the Chelsea game.
He should know that losing to Chelsea would not have killed our top four hopes but losing to Monaco would
confirm our departure from this season's CL.

I'm still a very big fan of Poch but for this loss, I think that he should bear a huge chunk of the blame together with
the under-performing players.