Are there problems behind the scenes or is this just bad form?

[agrdavidsfan]

Has he over trained them?

I have never ever seen a team look so jaded and physically drained in my life every player looks like they are playing with their boots tied together so clumsy and lethargic. Team remind me of myself at about the 80 minute mark on a sat when i'm physically and mentally drained and I can hardly kick a ball.

every single player looks about 2 yards off the pace and its all well and good blaming certain players but....Mauricio has to take the blame does he need someone to come in and help him out? better fitness staff or maybe even some better sports science people or maybe does he need to learn how to rotate or allocate rest days?

or are we simply mentally fatigued and as a result its training the legs too

 

[Hazardousman]

Curious to get opinions on this, I know some will probably consider this kneejerk but I am trying to look at this sensibly.

Numerous factors lead me to believe not all is right at the moment and this goes beyond injuries,.

One of my main concerns is our pressing game has dropped off massively, one of the main reasons we have been so successful under Poch is winning the ball high up the pitch and immediately attacking, other than Man City we have not seen this, my question is, why? Are the players getting lazy? Is the manager trying to limit fatigue until after Christmas so we have a strong finish?

Whatever is happening, it's not working and showing our flaws, this much is evident, the next thing I have to question is our transfers this season, whilst I hold out hope that some of them will work out I really have to question the signing of Sissoko, not trying to single him out but honestly, he isn't good enough for a top 6 team, let alone one that claims they are going for titles, I can see why the Newcastle fans wanted rid of him.

The other thing that makes me believe something isn't right is Poch and his lack of trust in our depth, if this was an issue, why was it not rectified in the summer?

The body language of the players and the manager reminds me of the tail end of AVB's era, like they feel it's going backwards, is it the players getting a little older and developing bigger egos in the dressing room? Maybe the team dynamic isn't as good as it was last season.

Anyway, these are obviously all guesses and I am most likely reading into things too much however I am genuinely interested to find out what you all think, is this just a bad run of form or is there more to it than that?

 

[Dougal]

I'd say bad form. But it's Spurs and we usually self destruct when we look like we're hitting on something good.

 

[DIEHARD]

I'd say it's players signing contracts and making more money.

 

[VertongHen]

I personally feel we've been bad all season.

Against Everton, Palace, Liverpool, Sunderland and even Stoke (which we won 4-0) I felt we played poor it was just overshadowed by the win/ comeback draws.

Now with Harry Kane out and Son not carrying our whole team we have no-one who's scoring and it showing. We've been absolutely terrible last few games and I'm not looking forward to the next 4...

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Bad form. Yet weirdly we're only 3pts off top, but if this continues that gap is only going to go one way. We've no devine right to play well every week or to be the only team in history that doesn;t have a spell like this and I retain full faith in Pochettino to get things back on track, even if we have a poor season. And that's IF.

 

[sunnydelight786]

We've been found out. Our play is very predictable and with no real creativity or pace in our team we have become easy to play against.

 

[Hazardousman]

I'd say bad form. But it's Spurs and we usually self destruct when we look like we're hitting on something good.

That's my worry Dougal, more than anything, we have a history of doing this.

If we can't get up for the Arsenal game then I will be extremely worried, sad fact is though, if we do then I will be questioning why it takes a game like that for us to put a shift in.

 

[HildoSpur]

We have effectively been without our 3 most important players. This plus general poor form.

That's it basically.

 

[sunnydelight786]

Bad form. Yet weirdly we're only 3pts off top, but if this continues that gap is only going to go one way. We've no devine right to play well every week or to be the only team in history that doesn;t have a spell like this and I retain full faith in Pochettino to get things back on track, even if we have a poor season. And that's IF.

They were the type of excuses being used under AVB in late 2013

 

[werty]

Poor recruitment is the main problem. £60-£70 million in five windows spent on attacking midfielders since Poch arrived and not one of them can make a decent pass or show a bit of guile. We've favoured athletic players over ones who can spot a pass, and when you replace technical/clever players with head down players this is the type of football you'll get.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Personally I think it's over training.


The other key factor is

When all is going well and you are winning games it's easy to buy into the philosophy. It's also easy to be close and friendly and when the manager is hammering you in training it's fine as it works

But when it's not working it's not so easy to buy into everything and it all goes a bit tits up

 

[Hazardousman]

Bad form. Yet weirdly we're only 3pts off top, but if this continues that gap is only going to go one way. We've no devine right to play well every week or to be the only team in history that doesn;t have a spell like this and I retain full faith in Pochettino to get things back on track, even if we have a poor season. And that's IF.

I think Poch is at fault for his lack of flexibility at times and his in game management but honestly, I think the issue right now is the players, I don't know if they have become too comfortable or if they are still having a hangover from last season but whatever it is we are levels below what we produced last year.

It could also be that teams have found out how to play against us, I do feel with Harry in the team he drags defenders across more and leaves more space for our midfielders but even with that I don't think Kane will be a magic fix to these issues.

I do agree with your post however, I haven't lost Faith in the manager, I trust him to get us out of this however I do feel in my heart this season may turn out to be a bad one compared to last and I think people will judge him on that.

 

[UpTownSpur]

I feel the issue is that, for a team that likes to press, we ourselves are actually highly vulnerable to being pressed and teams have realised this. We have too many players that are technically deficient and need too many touches, and we're more liable to cough up possession in our own third than we are to win it in the opponent's third.

 

[Xeeleeyid]

We've been found out. Our play is very predictable and with no real creativity or pace in our team we have become easy to play against.

Oh come on, we murdered City when we played well so it's not a case of being found out, because we aren't playing with the way we normally play with the aggressive press and direct passing which we saw last season. When we played like that we killed City, it's us playing badly and the players not working as hard not being found out.

 

[Hazardousman]

I'd say it's players signing contracts and making more money.

Could be playing a part for sure, less motivation maybe?

 

[Dougal]

I personally feel we've been bad all season.

Against Everton, Palace, Liverpool, Sunderland and even Stoke (which we won 4-0) I felt we played poor it was just overshadowed by the win/ comeback draws.

Now with Harry Kane out and Son not carrying our whole team we have no-one who's scoring and it showing. We've been absolutely terrible last few games and I'm not looking forward to the next 4...
View attachment 26642

It's been a stop-start beginning to the season but it's November now. We can kick on from here like we did last season but we need Toby, Kane, Lamela, Rose and Dembele to be running things. Five of our best players missing tonight and recently. And Eriksen missing all season. A lot of away games in the next month again so hopefully we'll hit a run of home games and get our shit together.

 

[ljinko888]

Bad form. Yet weirdly we're only 3pts off top, but if this continues that gap is only going to go one way. We've no devine right to play well every week or to be the only team in history that doesn;t have a spell like this and I retain full faith in Pochettino to get things back on track, even if we have a poor season. And that's IF.

It's quite similar to LvG's United last season. They somehow found themselves top of the league at the end of November despite going most games with no more than 3 shots on target of which they'd stick one or two away. It wasn't a sustainable way of performing and their luck ran out once their players efficiency dipped in front of goal.

We aren't scoring goals and every chance made is a proper struggle.

 

[Hazardousman]

Personally I think it's over training.


The other key factor is

When all is going well and you are winning games it's easy to buy into the philosophy. It's also easy to be close and friendly and when the manager is hammering you in training it's fine as it works

But when it's not working it's not so easy to buy into everything and it all goes a bit tits up

Yup, I agree I also agree about the over training, players look afraid to make any form of mistake sometimes, sometimes they look overwhelmed.

 

[h2005]

Early doors but it looks like we've recruited badly. Hopefully I'm wrong.