So what about that for a season! Good or Bad?

Season 19/20 ladies and gents:

Still... could be worse:

It’s been shit but I reckon we’ll be in the mix for too 4 next season. Mourinho’s second season at UTD was pretty good so I’m clinging onto that. This is all dependent on some good recruitment in the summer but we’ve still got some good players at the club.

Good season for poor team.
Poor season for a good team.
Too many average players
to go very far.

Pleased by Europa qualification
which I'd written off
but bit of a comedown
after CL final.

Not confident of silverware
or that Mourinho
will stay long enough to rebuild.
Not really what he does.
Semi pessimistic overall.

I think it’s fair to say that this season was one for the history books. We actually been good point-wise after the restart but our performance is another thing. I’m praying that we have a new pair in midfield next season...

Not a good season generally speaking for a host of reasons and i had some slightly mixed feelings about qualifying for Europa - on one hand, us actually getting that spot is a small achievement in the context of a poor season and at least it's some European football next year.

On the other hand, so much optimism for me hinges on what we do in this summer window. If we actually strengthen those huge gaps we've had for ages, then maybe i'll feel more positive about what we can do across a few fronts next year. If we don't address those issues, then i have little confidence in us balancing Europa football and any league ambitions.

Some of that lack of optimism ties to Levy and what he'll actually sanction. Whilst i appreciate it's a tough time to do business, we're way overdue some additions and changes in this squad. Additionally some of the pessimism i have is down to Mourinho. With a fit squad he's made us a bit more solid, arguably any manager getting good players back from injury would have done that. The overriding negative is the style of play (or lack of it) that we've shown.

I'm usually a glass half full guy when it comes to Spurs but i'm stuggling to see things like that at the moment. I guess once we sign someone my stupid, loyal excitement will start creeping through and it'll all be looking great again but at the moment i'm definitely a bit in limbo about where we're going.

Season was a write off for a number of reasons.

I just treat it as a massive preseason for Jose going into 20-21. Think there are promising signs and can see what he is trying to achieve.

Willing to give a benefit of the doubt over some of the more dour performances, getting points and Europa and generally tightening up was priority initially and we achieved that.

Looking at the table and considering we only missed out on champions league by 7 points it doesn't seem as horrendous as it actually was. Just winning Newcastle at home (0-1), Watford at home (1-1), Norwich away (2-2) would have done it.
That doesn't include Bournemouth away 0-0, Watford away 0-0, Palace away 1-1, Brighton away 3-0, Southampton away 1-0, Burnley away 1-1.
I haven't even considered results against the better sides when we threw points away Wolves Sheffield Utd, Everton etc.

This has been an absolutely awful season and how we have qualified for Europe is a mystery to me!

Can't wait for the 220mile round trips to the ground to start again if this is the shite we are going to serve up ?

double0 said:

From the CL final, Poch demanded a rebuild. He laid it out clear and simple stated it'll be painful he knew certain players hearts weren't in it any longer ie Eriksen Vertonghen Toby Dier Rose he personally deserved the opportunity to rebuild after all he'd seen us through a stadium rebuild consistently achieving CL qualifications and spent very little up to that point bare in mind Liverpool Klopp was getting backed and pulling away.
Good old Levy our favourite last minute dot com magician did a penny shy red herring trick with the ones that got away Bruno Fernandes and Dybala a record signing two prospects one immediately loaned and a loan. 12 games in and the rest is history...we get Jose covid-19 and Thursday night football next season

Verdict wow.

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we did actually splash a fair bit of money around in poch's last window. Just made shit signings, comparatively.

Poch deserved better but I do genuinely think he had punched himself out and looked out on his feet, so don't think he would have turned it around. I also think the whole I might stay, I might not routine played a part in our/his downfall.

As with many things in life, it's all about perspective. Make no mistake, had it not been for Covid-19 then we would most certainly not have finished 6th. The squad was in tatters thanks to injuries and that was reflected in our form at the time.

Reflecting back on the whole season I am satisfied with what we've ended up with. Not happy particularly but not unhappy either. The form of this team was poor for a long time before Poch left so when he went it came as no real suprise.

I haven't see the final look at it but the table, since Mourinho took over, had us as a top 4 team. It has been far more functional than the free-flowing attacking football we're used to but frankly I think we needed a back to basics approach and that's what JM implemented. I personally love a speedy counter attack and the Leicester game showcased a glimpse of what can be so effective by sitting deeper and breaking out with speed. My concern for next season is what we do when we DO have the ball and teams sit deep on us. Hopefully the additions we make, whatever they may be, will help to resolve that problem.

One thing I have enjoyed is the way that Mourinho has taken a specific tactical approach to certain opponents. Again, the Leicester game saw us sit deeper on purpose to nullify Vardy's threat and it worked perfectly. I always remember in the 16/17 season under Poch, going to Anfield knowing that if we sat deep and hit on the counter we could beat LFC as they'd been outdone by far lesser teams that season with the same approach. Instead we played open and tried to attack from the off and got torn apart, particulary with Mane roasting Davies. We lost that game and it frustrated that me throughout Poch's tenure that he was quite rigid towards playing our way and never adapting to the opponent.

I don't expect Mourinho to be here for any longer than his usual 3 years but I do think there's a very good chance we win something in during his tenure and potentially challenge for top 4 at the same time.

In conclusion, there are reasons to be optimistic and I look forward to next season.

Last six matches is 14 points and 10-3 in goal difference.
Imagine if that's a sign of what's to come. Although knowing spurs that was possible because in reality there was nothing big to play for so pressure was totally off.

Dannyspur said:

Looking at the table and considering we only missed out on champions league by 7 points it doesn't seem as horrendous as it actually was. Just winning Newcastle at home (0-1), Watford at home (1-1), Norwich away (2-2) would have done it.
That doesn't include Bournemouth away 0-0, Watford away 0-0, Palace away 1-1, Brighton away 3-0, Southampton away 1-0, Burnley away 1-1.
I haven't even considered results against the better sides when we threw points away Wolves Sheffield Utd, Everton etc.

This has been an absolutely awful season and how we have qualified for Europe is a mystery to me!

Can't wait for the 220mile round trips to the ground to start again if this is the shite we are going to serve up ?

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It really was a season of fine margins. Son’s goal disallowed against Leicester and him hitting the bar at 1 nil against Liverpool. Blowing a 2 nil lead at arsenal.

But I still can’t get over shipping 7 goals at home the Bayern Munich. That was the most embarrassed I’ve ever been as a spurs fan and my goodness we’ve had some bad times.

spursfan77 said:

It really was a season of fine margins. Son’s goal disallowed against Leicester and him hitting the bar at 1 nil against Liverpool. Blowing a 2 nil lead at arsenal.

But I still can’t get over shipping 7 goals at home the Bayern Munich. That was the most embarrassed I’ve ever been as a spurs fan and my goodness we’ve had some bad times.

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Losing 3-0 to Brighton was worse because it was Brighton and we didn't even try.

Shadydan said:

Losing 3-0 to Brighton was worse because it was Brighton and we didn't even try.

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Not for me. Defeats like that have happened regularly in the 30 odd years I've supported us. Conceding the most goals we ever have to a team at home and in such abject style, was devastatingly embarrassing for us. No team should concede 7 goals at home.

spursfan77 said:

Not for me. Defeats like that have happened regularly in the 30 odd years I've supported us. Conceding the most goals we ever have to a team at home and in such abject style, was devastatingly embarrassing for us. No team should concede 7 goals at home.

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I allowed it because everything Bayern hit that night just went it, I think their goals actually outweighed their expected goals or something, and we actually saw some fight until the last 3 goals went in.

Brighton was the biggest shambles I've seen from a Spurs side since AVB/Sherwood - nothing worse that watching your team not even bother to run and do the basics, horrible watch and I reckon Poch should have gone after that match.

Yeah the Bayern and Brighton games were dreadful, especially as they were back to back. The stupid thing is, we gave it a go against Bayern for 35/40 minutes and looked like we could walk away with something....

Season of fine margins but 7 points is still a long way off, which is a good thing, at least it wasn't 1 result.

Considering what a monumental clusterfuck this season has been I'd say finishing in the European places represents success.

Wretched season, took away almost all enjoyment of watching football. We have been spoilt the last few years under Poch and even Harry where we were very entertaining. Even AVB team had Bale which always made us exciting to watch.
I hope a couple of good signings can transform our play but I think our best hope is that Ndombele suddenly comes good, as I can’t see us spending the kind of money to get someone as talented.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the improvement recently. We do look more solid. And truth be told, were it not for that horror patch of injuries (Kane, Son, Bergwijn, Sissoko and others all out at the same time), we might have actually scrapped 4th which would have been an unbelievable achievement considering Mourinho started with us 12 points behind and only 24 games to make it up in. 6 points rather than 1 against Chelsea, Burnley and Wolves in that spell, and we'd have been able to qualify on final day. Let's hope we take that into next season, secure Top 4, and maybe even have a pop at the title if there's nobody going for 100 points this year. But first, we do need to be active in the market, and hopefully we've learnt from last year that it isn't just about money - making our two biggest transfers ever in a season with a huge net spend didn't exactly go brilliantly. We need to be smart with our targets and flexible if need be in rejuvenating the squad. Fingers crossed!

Horrible season which felt like would never end.

I still think we’re in trouble next year too, and beating an on-the-beach Newcastle and a tanked Leicester has seemed to make a lot of people convinced we’re gonna do something next year, which boggles the mind a bit.

Jose will live or die by the defence next season keeping Kane fit. It’s gonna a war of attrition for sure.

Season of 2 phases.
Pre-Lockdown : Absolute shite with no end to the disappointments
Post-Lockdown : We stopped the rot, got back on track to 2 points game which a CL team should be doing.

Hindsight - 2019/20 was always going to be a disappointment with problems. Got in players who manager didnt fancylManager not happy even before first game. Contract Issues galore - so many contract issues. Eriksen & Toby strung us along with Levy unable to resolve them.

We have addressed the Contract issues - almost everyone have atleast 2 years on contract. Defensive organisation is sorted mostly in post-Lockdown. Now its down to transfers - which we need to really get it right.