Pochettino wins pre-season guarantees from Daniel Levy

[Bus-Conductor]

Whilst I agree with you on the issue of Bill Nicholson's cherished soundbytes and our general lack of success, @Bus-Conductor, I think you are overreacting here. For all we know, this talk about entertainment could be a marketing ploy, but the bottom line is that we want to be perceived as a team who likes to play on the front foot.

Have some chamomile tea, you curmudgeon.

Maybe I am. It's not lack of success that bothers me per se, and I am aware of our place in the food chain etc, It's this bullshit spurs way millstone that fans (and even Levy it seems) seem to want to hang round a managers neck, which I think is counter productive, and the hijacking of a Nicholson quote to try and justify a lack of tactical acumen, discipline or integrity, values which which I'm pretty sure Nicholson believed in.

 

[Mr Pink]

I think there is a bit of confusion over this entertaining football lark. Of course we all want to see fluid attacking football, but by the same token I want to see that built on a pretty decent base to. Its possible to defend well as a team without the ball and attack well with it, believe it or not. The two go hand in hand anyway, particularly in Pochettino's philosophy.

We want that balance. Lets be honest, the Leicester game didn't instill real confidence did it? Yeah, open game etc but this was against the bottom team in the League FFS, It was verging on embarrassing.

Give me the Arsenal performance any day of the week. Brillant with and without the ball, and even though it was a NLD that was the loudest the Lane has been for some time.

There's a huge middle ground between some of the slow and labored performances we saw under AVB to the real open ended, lottery like, football we've seen of late and indeed saw under Sherwood for some games.

And its comparing those two descriptions above that's resulting in confusion. Its not that black and white.

 

[Dinghy]

Maybe I am. It's not lack of success that bothers me per se, and I am aware of our place in the food chain etc, It's this bullshit spurs way millstone that fans (and even Levy it seems) seem to want to hang round a managers neck, which I think is counter productive, and the hijacking of a Nicholson quote to try and justify a lack of tactical acumen, discipline or integrity, values which which I'm pretty sure Nicholson believed in.

Don't think anyone is hijacking it to 'justify a lack of tactical acumen'. Just to demonstrate that we don't want a win-at-all-costs bore-the-other-team-to-death, the-result-is-ALL-that-matters 'philosophy' to infect the club. We expect and deserve more than that.

 

[crokey]

I'll take 38 1-0 wins please, Daniel

 

[Dinghy]

There's a huge middle ground between some of the slow and labored performances we saw under AVB to the real open ended, lottery like, football we've seen of late and indeed saw under Sherwood for some games.

And its comparing those two descriptions above that's resulting in confusion. Its not that black and white.

I may not be speaking for everybody, but from other fans that I know, if (and that's a big if) it were to be purely a choice between those two, then the so-called lottery football of Sherwood would be preferable.
Glad we no longer have either.
(although I would have given Sherwood a little more time to see if he could have become a little less gung-ho.)

 

[Mr Pink]

I may not be speaking for everybody, but from other fans that I know, if (and that's a big if) it were to be purely a choice between those two, then the so-called lottery football of Sherwood would be preferable.
Glad we no longer have either.
(although I would have given Sherwood a little more time to see if he could have become a little less gung-ho.)

For me though mate, it shouldn't ever have to be a straight choice between just those two.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Don't think anyone is hijacking it to 'justify a lack of tactical acumen'. Just to demonstrate that we don't want a win-at-all-costs bore-the-other-team-to-death, the-result-is-ALL-that-matters 'philosophy' to infect the club. We expect and deserve more than that.

Because you've been getting more than that all these years with your Spurs way philosophy ?

 

[Dinghy]

Because you've been getting more than that all these years with your Spurs way philosophy ?

Not particularly relevant. No point in throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Or are you saying that it's not possible to win playing entertaining football?

 

[Dinghy]

For me though mate, it shouldn't ever have to be a straight choice between just those two.

I agree.

But if it were... Entertaining wins everytime.

 

[Mr Pink]

I agree.

But if it were... Entertaining wins everytime.

Ordinarily I agree, but really the ultimate aim is to see entertaining football that sees you win. That's where the real respect lies. Not being branded the entertainers of the League...a bit of style but fuck all substance. Like Newcastle have been labelled as well at times.

Ferguson's comments that he used to say to his team before playing us...'lads its Spurs'....says it all lol. Certainly no respect there.

The quotes deep from our history are from a time that we produced attacking football that saw us win a hell of a lot. If you apply them to our recent history do they really fit? In terms of context?

I mean if I really wanted to be pedantic on this to make a point, would you rather see a season of entertaining football that fizzles out into nothing, or not quite as entertaining yet we end up winning some silverware?

 

[Lilbaz]

Ordinarily I agree, but really the ultimate aim is to see entertaining football that sees you win. That's where the real respect lies. Not being branded the entertainers of the League...a bit of style but fuck all substance. Like Newcastle have been labelled as well at times.

Ferguson's comments that he used to say his team before playing us...;lads its Spurs'....says it all lol.

I mean if I really wanted to be pedantic on this to make a point, would you rather see a season of entertaining football that fizzles out into nothing, or not quite as entertaining yet we end up winning some silverware?

No-one is arguing that. But we've done the boring and not winning with AVB and it was terrible. If we are not going to win trophies at least make the game exciting. But who is saying that we can't be entertaining and win. Beating Chelsea and Arsenal this season show'd that we can do both. We just have to tighten our defence up a bit. Find some consistency and maybe add a couple of players in the summer.

Where this attacking football is a bad thing comes from I have no idea. Most teams that win trophies are attacking teams. They are also exciting and beautiful to watch. Defensive teams are usually the weakest ones that play that way because they want to survive. I want more than just survival. I want Gloy.

 

[Dinghy]

I mean if I really wanted to be pedantic on this to make a point, would you rather see a season of entertaining football that fizzles out into nothing, or not quite as entertaining yet we end up winning some silverware?

Is playing boring a guarantee for winning something then?

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Ordinarily I agree, but really the ultimate aim is to see entertaining football that sees you win. That's where the real respect lies. Not being branded the entertainers of the League...a bit of style but fuck all substance. Like Newcastle have been labelled as well at times.

Ferguson's comments that he used to say to his team before playing us...'lads its Spurs'....says it all lol. Certainly no respect there.

The quotes deep from our history are from a time that we produced attacking football that saw us win a hell of a lot. If you apply them to our recent history do they really fit? In terms of context?

I mean if I really wanted to be pedantic on this to make a point, would you rather see a season of entertaining football that fizzles out into nothing, or not quite as entertaining yet we end up winning some silverware?

It was super entertaining when we fucked a 3-0 half time into 3-5.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Is playing boring a guarantee for winning something then?

That's not the point, no one has said it is, and no one has said they are anti playing exciting football, but winning is should be the priority, and we shouldn't be burdening a manager with the (bullshit) spurs way expectation, and entertainment is subjective anyway.

The irony is, most of those that prattle on about the Spurs Way are the first to get apoplectic with indignation and start haemorrhaging relegation threads and Levy out petitions as soon as we lose a couple of games.

 

[thinktank]

Maybe I am. It's not lack of success that bothers me per se, and I am aware of our place in the food chain etc, It's this bullshit spurs way millstone that fans (and even Levy it seems) seem to want to hang round a managers neck, which I think is counter productive, and the hijacking of a Nicholson quote to try and justify a lack of tactical acumen, discipline or integrity, values which which I'm pretty sure Nicholson believed in.

But Levy isn't hanging it around Poch's neck; it actually - funnily enough - happens to be what poch does and is all about.

The good thing is that when poch has the tools he requires he will largely carry it out in a methodical way and not balls to the wind.

You're raging in a vacuum.

 

[Mr Pink]

No-one is arguing that. But we've done the boring and not winning with AVB and it was terrible. If we are not going to win trophies at least make the game exciting. But who is saying that we can't be entertaining and win. Beating Chelsea and Arsenal this season show'd that we can do both. We just have to tighten our defence up a bit. Find some consistency and maybe add a couple of players in the summer.

Where this attacking football is a bad thing comes from I have no idea. Most teams that win trophies are attacking teams. They are also exciting and beautiful to watch. Defensive teams are usually the weakest ones that play that way because they want to survive. I want more than just survival. I want Gloy.

I totally agree. Some of the games under AVB bored me to tears. I was just pointing out that it doesn't need to be either or, like two extremes.

We all want fluid attacking football that sees us win more often that not. And in order to do that we need a good balance and one that doesn't encompass a lottery style game that's so open that it requires us to score three of four goals every time we play because that won't happen when we come up against the better sides - like we saw against United the other week. A balanced approach saw us beat Arsenal comprehensively in terms of performance. Why's he deviated from that recently I have no idea but I'm hoping he'll revert back to it.

 

[Mr Pink]

Is playing boring a guarantee for winning something then?

Not at all. I'm just making the point that its not as black and white as being presented in this thread.

 

[Lilbaz]

I totally agree. Some of the games under AVB bored me to tears. I was just pointing out that it doesn't need to be either or, like two extremes.

We all want fluid attacking football that sees us win more often that not. And in order to do that we need a good balance and one that doesn't encompass a lottery style game that's so open that it requires us to score three of four goals every time we play because that won't happen when we come up against the better sides - like we saw against United the other week. A balanced approach saw us beat Arsenal comprehensively in terms of performance. Why's he deviated from that recently I have no idea but I'm hoping he'll revert back to it.

Totally agree. The whole thing came about because Levy said that we will continue to play attacking football and a few posters slammed him for it. I just don't understand why?

 

[Mr Pink]

Totally agree. The whole thing came about because Levy said that we will continue to play attacking football and a few posters slammed him for it. I just don't understand why?

Lost in translation I guess.

I think its off the back of the games against QPR and Leicester. Those games didn't exactly foster confidence, for me at least. The games against SU away, West Brom, Arsenal and Liverpool did. I suspect its just a timing thing, for all we know its just a generic comment that he would of said regardless of the context - ie how we've been performing of late.

And if that's the case there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

[Lilbaz]

Lost in translation I guess.

I think its off the back of the games against QPR and Leicester. Those games didn't exactly foster confidence, for me at least. The games against SU away, West Brom, Arsenal and Liverpool did. I suspect its just a timing thing, for all we know its just a generic comment that he would of said regardless of the context - ie how we've been performing of late.

And if that's the case there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Wanting attacking football doesn't equate to wanting a shit defence or sloppy mistakes. We are all pissed off letting in too many easy goals and making it difficult for ourselves. We need to sort out those problems.