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Match Threads Spurs v Everton - Match Thread - Day 1

Match Prediction

  • Our First Win of the Season

    Votes: 166 55.7%
  • Our First Loss of the Season

    Votes: 71 23.8%
  • Our First Score Draw of the Season

    Votes: 51 17.1%
  • Our First Goalless Draw of the Season

    Votes: 10 3.4%

  • Total voters
    298

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,776
99,338
I agree, but we cant base this on an injury ridden COVID ended season and 1 game. If after 6-8 games we don't see an improvement trust me I will be out with daggers, I just don't see it yet.

Mourinho deserves time, of course. Just think that's worrying today and the subs were bizarre.

And yes its only one game, but that second half was so poor in terms of a lack of effort it was actually quite chilling.

There was no reaction really after going a goal down.

But yes, we have to hope that Mourinho will rip into them and we see a reaction.
 

Donki

Has a "Massive Member" Member
May 14, 2007
14,451
18,966
What I find weird is that people keep saying that under Mourinho we had the 4th best points return in the league last season. But we were very lucky in quite a few games and played really poorly more times than not. Our game plan is the sit deep and nick a goal. It doesn’t matter if it’s Liverpool, Man City or Norwich. If we don’t nick the first goal then we have no game plan. We have no method to play through teams. Today Son pressed aggressively several times, for the rest of the front 3 or 4 to not bother. Really poorly trained team.

That is basically football on a lot of occasions, look at our journey to the CL final last year.
 

Donki

Has a "Massive Member" Member
May 14, 2007
14,451
18,966
Mourinho deserves time, of course. Just think that's worrying today and the subs were bizarre.

And yes its only one game, but that second half was so poor in terms of a lack of effort it was actually quite chilling.

There was no reaction really after going a goal down.

But yes, we have to hope that Mourinho will rip into them and we see a reaction.

Cant disagree with any of that, I just feel that when Poch made bizarre subs it was to give 2 fingers to Levy but when Jose does it its cause hes a dinosaur. Alli was subbed cause he was shit and I feel it was to directly tell him he was shit.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
Fan bases have no patience is basically it, we were never gonna compete long term at the old White Hart Lane, the club long term is more than a generational thing. the problem we have is in society as a whole we want everything NOW, NOW, NOW. Could we get a billionaire owner who splashes the cash of course buts its not guaranteed.

I totally understand the need to think long term, but you can’t just let the short/medium term slide while you are doing it.

We have a once in a generation player in Kane brought through the ranks and we’re in danger of completely wasting it.
 

Donki

Has a "Massive Member" Member
May 14, 2007
14,451
18,966
I totally understand the need to think long term, but you can’t just let the short/medium term slide while you are doing it.

We have a once in a generation player in Kane brought through the ranks and we’re in danger of completely wasting it.

I cant say i don't disagree.
 

SPURSLIFE

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2011
1,578
2,132
What did that give us? I loved Harry's days but we didn't gain any more rewards than when we were shit. The difference is, expectation.
I agree we didn't win anything then either but it was great football to watch and we felt it was about to happen. We're still not winning but it's pretty dire to watch these days with not a lot of hope.
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
Mourinho:
"We were lazy in our pressing. That is a consequence of bad fitness, bad pre-season. Some players had a wrong state of mind...."

There is no excuse for 'bad fitness'. During the covid break, players were doing club-prescribed fitness at home. Since then there was a short 'pre-restart' and nine or so games. There was then a short (two week?) break. Everybody should be fit. If they're not then it's the fault of the training staff for not getting them fit. If they're not fit, don't play them.

What is 'the wrong state of mind'? Are you not the man who is supposed to be able to get the best out of his players? You have had them for most of nine months; more than enough time to 'correct' any wrong mindset and identify the players in the squad who can, and will, do what you want them to do. If there are one or two with 'the wrong state of mind' then don't play them. If there are many, it's your fucking fault.

Your excuses point the finger firmly back at you and your staff. Fucking sort it out.
 

ILS

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2008
3,803
6,913
[QU]
Mourinho:
"We were lazy in our pressing. That is a consequence of bad fitness, bad pre-season. Some players had a wrong state of mind...."

There is no excuse for 'bad fitness'. During the covid break, players were doing club-prescribed fitness at home. Since then there was a short 'pre-restart' and nine or so games. There was then a short (two week?) break. Everybody should be fit. If they're not then it's the fault of the training staff for not getting them fit. If they're not fit, don't play them.

What is 'the wrong state of mind'? Are you not the man who is supposed to be able to get the best out of his players? You have had them for most of nine months; more than enough time to 'correct' any wrong mindset and identify the players in the squad who can, and will, do what you want them to do. If there are one or two with 'the wrong state of mind' then don't play them. If there are many, it's your fucking fault.

Your excuses point the finger firmly back at you and your staff. Fucking sort it out.
My question is if you know your team aren't fit enough..then why make them press?? Why not come up with another game plan that involves your team gaining control of the ball?

They are just shit excuses for a crap performance. Let's hope things change next week.
 

Styopa

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2014
5,136
14,177
The lacklustre nature of the performance was the most worrying thing today. In that respect it was a continuation of the worst aspects of last season. I didn’t get any strong sense of the players working hard for each other or the good of the team. I don’t think it can be dismissed as a fitness issue either, Everton did look fitter than us but they also looked hungrier. Wrong state of mind seems much closer to the mark. But why would the team enter the first match of a new season in the wrong state of mind? It hardly bodes well if the players were in the wrong state of mind before the first ball of the new season was kicked . I don’t think it’s time to panic just yet but it’s entirely reasonable to be seriously concerned.
 

andy00900

Probably Joking
Aug 18, 2017
518
1,113
Yep, we thought we'd finally begin to see the upside after years of frugality but Covid has put the brakes on that. The squad has been stagnating for a while and I can't see much investment coming any time soon to fix it.

The decline was way before covid, whole of 18/19 onwards was a decline bar the champions league run. Failure to sign quality players for the first team rather than stop gaps and opportunity buys can only keep performances at a level for so long.
 

ClintEastwould

Well-Known Member
Jul 3, 2012
4,748
9,845
Whereas we certainly lack quality in certain areas (where our spine looks really weak in CB and CM), what worries me even more is that I have no idea what our tactical plan was. Especially since Jose now has had plenty of time to work with the players.

I know it is just one game, but attacking wise we looked really void of ideas. We hit them once on the counter, where Sonny should have passed it to Kane instead of Dele. Defensively, our pressing game did not look cohesive at all, and the back four overall looked pretty disorganized and ball watching (highlighted by the cross where our four defenders were all caught ball watching and missing Rodriguez). Dier and Toby also looks incredibly slow, which becomes even more dangerous when our midfield does not press properly.

See this is where I begin to find myself confused. Our game plan is so blatantly obvious that I’m really unsure why people expect it to be any different as it’s not only how we’ve consistently played under Jose, it’s how he was always played throughout his career. Sitting back, conceding possession, bypassing the midfield, raining balls in over the top and hope that our WC forwards create something out of magic.
 

1882andallthat

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2009
2,821
4,157
There's no doubt at all that it was a lazy second half performance and the team as a whole need to take some responsibility for that sh*tshow but JM also deserves to take some blame for that half time substitution, because it sent out the loudest possible message to Everton that we had given up any initiative with the game in the balance at half time, and we directly handed it to them, because only one team had attacking intent from there on in.

Yes Dele was poor in the first half but so was Winks. By taking off Dele and putting on Sissoko, alongside Winks who was offering nothing, and by playing Winks with Sissoko and Hojbjerg JM effectively divorced any connection between transition and supply to our attacking players. If he wanted to make a statement and change things by increasing the attacking threat Winks should have been taken off at half time rather than Dele.
 
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