This Week’s Manager Watch: Ryan Mason

C0YS · Apr 26, 2023

DiVaio said:
Nonsense, was starting pretty much in every game and was only rested at bench few times following midweek games in CL. He had injury problems so that's why he wasn't playing.

He started 50% of games for villareal he was available for this season. 17 out of 23 the season before assuming transfermarkt incorrectly suggested he was available for a few games. Villareal had no issue loaning him out without a guarantee of a sale and he was set for Everton before. Meanwhile my villareal supporting student reaction to the news was 'meh'.

As I say. He has qualities but he was brought as a stop gap.

mil1lion · Apr 26, 2023

Silver Spur said:
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick here guys but does anyone know why Levy hasn't even spoken to Poch considering the fans were singing for him before Conte left and he's available now. Especially since reports state that they approached him before appointing Jose?

Apparently Hitchen was the one pushing for him before so now he's gone it seems they don't want him

Silver Spur · Apr 26, 2023

mil1lion said:
Apparently Hitchen was the one pushing for him before so now he's gone it seems they don't want him

Ahh, that makes sense then.

DiVaio · Apr 26, 2023

C0YS said:
He started 50% of games for villareal he was available for this season. 17 out of 23 the season before assuming transfermarkt incorrectly suggested he was available for a few games. Villareal had no issue loaning him out without a guarantee of a sale and he was set for Everton before. Meanwhile my villareal supporting student reaction to the news was 'meh'.

As I say. He has qualities but he was brought as a stop gap.

He was injured for two months since Dec 2021 and then since May 2022 until first month of next season. No one denies he was poor in current season for Villarreal or that he didn't suit Setien, but saying he was never regular starter for them is completely wrong.

Buggsy61 · Apr 26, 2023

IfiHadTheWings said:
To think we got rid of Erik for Bryan Gil and 25 mil... this club really doesn't know it's arse from it's elbow.

Now Sevilla have Lamela AND Gil AND £25M. You really couldn't make it up. Levy got Levy'd.
Still think Gil has a good future though, but sadly not looking like it will be with us.

mattstev2000 · Apr 26, 2023

Silver Spur said:
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick here guys but does anyone know why Levy hasn't even spoken to Poch considering the fans were singing for him before Conte left and he's available now. Especially since reports state that they approached him before appointing Jose?

Appointing Poch would make too much sense. We've got a reputation as a basket case club to maintain.

spursfan77 · Apr 26, 2023

Good article on him on the Athletic today. I think he will have to work on getting them up for the game. Can see him going 352.

Some pertinent paragraphs below:

After a month of chaos, Ryan Mason can bring some calm to Tottenham Hotspur

It has been two years since Ryan Mason's last spell as Tottenham's caretaker manager - how much has he learned and changed since then?

theathletic.com

Spurs’ disastrous season so far means Mason takes on the interim job with the team’s confidence on the floor, and after one win in five games facing up to the real possibility of no European football next season. His first two games in charge will be Manchester United at home on Thursday, followed by Liverpoolaway three days later. Winning either will be a massive ask but his target first and foremost will be to try and get the fans believing again and feeling that connection with the players and the club.

As was the case two years ago when Mason oversaw four wins from six league games to salvage a place in the Europa Conference League, he does not need to oversee a revolution. He needs to raise spirits sufficiently to jump-start Tottenham’s season and secure the few wins required to take them over the line.

Can he do it? Mason, a former Spurs player and lifelong supporter is certainly not lacking for advocates in the game (including among the club’s current playing and coaching staff), and there’s a sense that he has learned lessons from two years ago and will be desperate to apply them. It’s also easy to forget because of how young he is that Mason has been coaching for more than five years.

He is a very intelligent, tactically astute and extremely positive person, but Mason doesn’t need to be Spurs’ long-term saviour. Maybe one day he could be that, but right now what the players need is a jolt of confidence and adrenaline to pick them up from the canvas after Sunday’s humiliation at Newcastle.

It was a very similar situation in April 2021, and with Tottenham losing at home to Southampton at half-time in his first game in charge, Mason was struck by how low on confidence everyone was. The mood was so flat that he decided his focus should not be on tactics first of all but on giving off the right energy and trying to be as positive as possible. He told the players to lift their chins up and puff their chests out and then went through a few points on the big screen.

There was no Churchillian speech. There didn’t have to be. It was just about reminding the players that there was still a game to be won, and that rescuing a game when behind was possible. Spurs went on to win 2-1, the first time they had won a game when trailing at half-time in almost 18 months.

Mason knows he can’t change the culture at Spurs overnight. It’s been a bruising period for everyone at the club, and so at this point it’s about small wins. Lifting the players and making them feel positive about coming into training, a bit more at ease. This was something he managed to do two years ago, and there’s a feeling that it’ll be a little easier for him now given there’s a bit more distance in age between him and most of the players. And this time around, there was already an easing of the tension when Conte left, and so now Mason needs to align that with tactics and training sessions that excite the players.

The feedback on Mason’s training sessions was very positive in 2021. He was helped by the low bar set by Mourinho’s unpopular coaching staff, but it was said that Mason’s sessions were some of the best since Mauricio Pochettino.

Since his first period in charge, Mason learned a lot from working with Conte — his attention to detail, his emotional heft when speaking to the players, the ability to spot things in matches. Mason showcased the latter skill himself when he helped devise the shrewd plan to instruct Eric Dier to position himself a few yards further forward and almost man-mark Bernardo Silva in Spurs’ 1-0 win over Manchester City in February. Once in charge against Brighton after Stellini had been sent to the stands, he urged Dier to push on again and sent on Arnaut Danjuma in a switch that helped Spurs nick a 2-1 win. Many observers felt Mason looked more natural as the No 1 than the more reserved Stellini did during his four games in charge.

The players have generally been very impressed by Mason’s coaching, and maintaining this positive relationship with the squad will be one of Mason’s most important jobs. There are many who feel, as Conte did, that it is the players who are to blame for the constant churn of Tottenham managers, including Sunday’s 6-1 defeat at Newcastle that cost Stellini his job.

Mason is well-liked by the Spurs players, who find him relatable and have been impressed by the aforementioned attention to detail. He is said to have the full support of the players committee of Lloris, Harry Kane, Dier and Pierre-Emile Hobjerg that met with Levy on Monday.

“I like him a lot, because you know he was a player there just a couple of years ago,” Dejan Kulusevski said earlier this month. “He knows how it is to be in our shoes. Like today, I spoke to him after training, he was seeing something when I was shooting and trying to correct it, and asked me about what I think when I shoot like that.

“It’s good when you can speak with someone who knows what they’re talking about because he was in your shoes a couple of years ago. He’s a fantastic guy, honestly.”

Tactically, it will be interesting to see what Mason does but his hands are largely tied by injuries which means that, in the immediate term, 3-4-3 feels like the most sensible option (especially given what happened on Saturday).

But even if he sticks with Conte’s system, perhaps one of Mason’s greatest assets in the short term is that for all that he learned from the Italian the two are almost polar opposites. And a change is something fans have been crying out for, especially after Conte was replaced by his assistant Stellini, someone who is inextricably linked to him.

Where Conte always gave the impression he was above Spurs, Mason has gold-plated Tottenham credentials. He is the lifelong fan, the local lad and academy graduate who has said his dream growing up was to score at White Hart Lane. His passion for the club is evident to everyone who speaks to him.

Where Conte is all volatility — a trait that cost him his job — Mason is very measured, known for never getting too high or low. A healthy perspective on life partly down to the traumatic events of six years ago. After a period of combustibility, Spurs need a bit of calm.

And where Conte’s negativity eventually sucked the life out of the club, Mason is renowned for his positivity, a big believer in the importance of giving off the right energy to his players. “If you constantly focus on negative things that will have an effect on you, the people around you, your energy, how you walk into a room,” he said last month on the High Performance Podcast. “As opposed to if I focus on what’s positive or ‘how can we get out of this moment?’ What do we need to do to get to this state of happiness or real positivity?”

Somehow it’s difficult to imagine those words coming out of Conte’s mouth. Similarly, Mason’s statement on Tuesday that: “It’s a privilege to manage this great club. I’m ready for the challenge and know what it means to represent the club.”

This kind of rhetoric alone won’t lift the gloom at Spurs, but, aligned with Mason’s positivity and tactical smarts, it should help. He is also humble enough to take advice about things he’s not certain of, and will lean on his staff, which will include academy coaches Matt Wells (acting assistant head coach) and Nigel Gibbs (acting first team coach), with Perry Suckling (goalkeeping coach) and Gianni Vio (set pieces coach) remaining in their existing roles. Mason is under no illusion about the challenge he faces in the next six matches. He also knows that if he impresses, he can put himself in the frame for the top job at Spurs or elsewhere.

Becoming a head coach is the ultimate aim for Mason, and well-placed sources speak of his “burning desire to succeed”, partly because of the way his playing career was so cruelly ended.

He will need to show all of that desire in the next few weeks if he’s to emulate or improve on his brief period in charge two years ago.

ukdy · Apr 26, 2023

Silver Spur said:
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick here guys but does anyone know why Levy hasn't even spoken to Poch considering the fans were singing for him before Conte left and he's available now. Especially since reports state that they approached him before appointing Jose?

Could be for several reasons. But only the board truly know. Maybe:

There is history with Poch and The Board don’t with to revisit that right now.
Poch isn’t the man to rebuild this team and these players right now. It needs someone who’s never worked with them before. Someone who can be ruthless and not their ‘friend’.
The Board want a “yes man” someone they can control a bit more than Poch would be.
There’s too much inherent risk with Poch even though he’s a known quantity. How long until his head was turned again, or until he starts telling the media we need new furniture again. A different candidate gets scrutinised less and given more time.
We just don’t want him anymore

Just my opinions on why not Poch right now. Maybe.

Westmorlandspur · Apr 26, 2023

Not sure if this has been mentioned but all Ryan’s games were without fans or not many fans. Will be great for him to walk out to a full stadium for a big match .
he has worked under Mourinho and Conte. Not sure if he was in the inner circle but it’s all good experience..
Arteta had worked with Pep. If Ryan does exceptionally well would Daniel even consider him. Probably not, too much of a risk.
nice to see Matt Wells back, our youth team looked good under him. He was following Scott Parker around but Scott has made an arse his last two jobs . Fell out with owners at Fulham and Bournemouth. Matt would be better off sticking with us,

fecka · Apr 26, 2023

Westmorlandspur said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned but all Ryan’s games were without fans or not many fans. Will be great for him to walk out to a full stadium for a big match .
he has worked under Mourinho and Conte. Not sure if he was in the inner circle but it’s all good experience..
Arteta had worked with Pep. If Ryan does exceptionally well would Daniel even consider him. Probably not, too much of a risk.
nice to see Matt Wells back, our youth team looked good under him. He was following Scott Parker around but Scott has made an arse his last two jobs . Fell out with owners at Fulham and Bournemouth. Matt would be better off sticking with us,

I think he'd have to win something like 6 out of 6 and I still doubt he'd be considered. He won 4 out of 6 last time in the league and most of our fans have it as some kind of abysmal failure.

SargeantMeatCurtains · Apr 26, 2023

(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

fecka · Apr 26, 2023

SargeantMeatCurtains said:
(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

Sure, it's not been strictly stated but it hasn't been stated as a perm yet either.
If he does incredibly well and the team plays convincingly for the last few games I'd warm up to the idea but I'm still firmly in the camp of preferring Slot, Nagelsmann (or most of all Gallardo but yeah...).

jpascavitz · Apr 26, 2023

SargeantMeatCurtains said:
(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

To be honest - Mason should back himself for the full time role, or else he shouldn't be in that position. I agree with another comment in this thread that Mason's first time around was viewed as some bad failure, when he won 4/6 (66%) of his league matches, and lost the cup final (maybe Jose would have won, but who the hell really knows).

Let's just back him, as he's stuck with the club through thick and thin and hope he does well. If he does well enough for the full time gig, great. If not, so be it.

In my honest opinion I could see the results being a mixed bag, as our squad is just so unconfident at the moment. I think he'll take the Carrick/Kompany route at some point and drop down a division, but wouldn't shock me to see him linked with bigger jobs sooner or later. Best of luck Ryan!

RuskyM · Apr 26, 2023

Hell, I'm not against it if he has some experienced heads around him. At least we'd know our manager wants to be here.

Saoirse · Apr 26, 2023

Surely we can't go in a month from "Mason's such a bad option we'd rather just keep Stellini on" to "Mason's actually better than Pochettino, Slot or Nagelsman", without him even managing a game?

Guntz · Apr 26, 2023

I mean if we can't get Nagelsmann and have a good end to the season then maybe.

Still think he needs to leave Spurs and make his mark somewhere else before managing full-time with us.

Bluto Blutarsky · Apr 26, 2023

SargeantMeatCurtains said:
(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

Not in the original message - but in announcing his staff, he was clearly labeled as Acting Head Coach.

Following the appointment of Ryan Mason as Acting Head Coach, we can now confirm Ryan's coaching staff.

Ryan will be joined by our former Academy player and coach Matt Wells (Acting Assistant Head Coach) and current Academy coach Nigel Gibbs (Acting First Team Coach), alongside Perry Suckling (First Team Goalkeeping Coach) and Gianni Vio (Set Pieces Coach), who continue their existing roles.

DiVaio · Apr 26, 2023

SargeantMeatCurtains said:
(Yes I’m a conspiracy theorist.)

Levy never strictly mentioned Mason was in interim charge of the club. He’s also given him a coaching team of people who aren’t simply ex spurs players or the like…

What is he supposed to say? That he's not ready?

Noringriis · Apr 26, 2023

I love Ryan Mason and desperately want him to succeed, unfortunately the transition from interim to full time head coach path doesn't ever seem to work out. I'm also going to assume that the current state of the squad means we will need to continue with Conte's patterns of play and restricts Mason from auditioning with his own footballing ideas.

SargeantMeatCurtains · Apr 26, 2023

DiVaio said:
What is he supposed to say? That he's not ready?

I never questioned if he was ready or not?

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