Spurs thread 2019/20

[KentBlue]

Spuds were bloody awful last night, really really poor. No flair, creativity, imagination: in short...nothing. Kane(pen) spent most of the time in his signature position, hanging around the opponents' penalty area with his hand on his hips, waiting for someone to pass him the ball.

Maureen has to accept most of the blame for what has happened there, but you are always going to struggle when the rest of the team have to carry their golden boy for about 75% of the game. He's a luxury Spurs can ill-afford right now.

 

[mccity]

As far as I'm concerned they should have replaced Pochettino at the start of the 18/19 season. They'd peaked under him, and needed to bring in someone who could take them up a notch. As far as I'm concerned their CL run was anomalous, and even then it still ended exactly as you knew it would. I think the failure to win at least one trophy, when literally all the the other top 6 teams did has kept them fragile.

Mourinho was a really weird choice too. It could work out but by the time he's got them converted to his way of playing they'll be over the hill as a collective.

 

[Mike Cledford]

Spuds were bloody awful last night, really really poor. No flair, creativity, imagination: in short...nothing. Kane(pen) spent most of the time in his signature position, hanging around the opponents' penalty area with his hand on his hips, waiting for someone to pass him the ball.

Maureen has to accept most of the blame for what has happened there, but you are always going to struggle when the rest of the team have to carry their golden boy for about 75% of the game. He's a luxury Spurs can ill-afford right now.

He was the same in Euro 2016 and things have not changed 4 years later. I dont think l am biased that Kanes constant wanting the ball was detrimental to Raz and the England squad when Raz had used his speed and movement to get into good positions. But of course it was made out to be Sterling's fault

 

[JimB]

As far as I'm concerned they should have replaced Pochettino at the start of the 18/19 season. They'd peaked under him, and needed to bring in someone who could take them up a notch. As far as I'm concerned their CL run was anomalous, and even then it still ended exactly as you knew it would. I think the failure to win at least one trophy, when literally all the the other top 6 teams did has kept them fragile.

Mourinho was a really weird choice too. It could work out but by the time he's got them converted to his way of playing they'll be over the hill as a collective.

Yep, that’s a pretty good reading of the situation.

 

[JimB]

Well there was much chortling when Jesus had his last minute winner ruled out against your lot, so no sympathy from me.

I think we can all agree though that VAR has taken the game we all love backwards, along with the handball and offside Laws which need serious looking at including consultation with fans groups. If they also adopt water breaks and 5 substitutes as a permanent measure that will be yet another nail in Football's coffin.

I would certainly never expect sympathy from City fans! But I do think that one or two City fans are still more upset about that VAR chant than they should be by now, nigh on a year later.

I totally understand why City fans were, and might still be, angry at the decision. And I can well imagine that hearing Spurs fans chant about VAR must have been infuriating at the time. There are few worse feelings in football than leaving your stadium to the sound of the away team fans’ taunts.

But it’s just banter. From the Spurs fans’ point of view, they knew they had just got away with one. They had just seen their team be totally dominated from start to finish, only to lose at the death....and then be reprieved by a harsh interpretation of the ridiculous new handball rule. In the circumstances, I don’t think Spurs fans did anything much different to what most other fans would have done. It’s what English football fans do.

It’s also important to stress that it was the circumstance, not the opposition, that inspired the chant. It wasn’t because it happened against City. It was because it happened at all.

 

[JimB]

He was the same in Euro 2016 and things have not changed 4 years later. I dont think l am biased that Kanes constant wanting the ball was detrimental to Raz and the England squad when Raz had used his speed and movement to get into good positions. But of course it was made out to be Sterling's fault

I’m pretty sure that Kane and Sterling enjoy playing together. They both create chances for each other.

 

[JimB]

Spuds were bloody awful last night, really really poor. No flair, creativity, imagination: in short...nothing. Kane(pen) spent most of the time in his signature position, hanging around the opponents' penalty area with his hand on his hips, waiting for someone to pass him the ball.

Maureen has to accept most of the blame for what has happened there, but you are always going to struggle when the rest of the team have to carry their golden boy for about 75% of the game. He's a luxury Spurs can ill-afford right now.

I know that you have long held a very low opinion of Kane (hence your little name for him) but can you not see that the biggest problems in attack for Spurs are actually the incredibly slow build up and the woefully poor final ball? Kane is far from a luxury in a team which, like yours or Liverpool’s, attacks with purpose, with pace, and in numbers.

As it is, the ball moves so slowly upfield and so few players are running off the ball that the opposition defence is never drawn out of shape and Kane usually has at least two markers and no support. As if that wasn’t enough, the final ball - whether from wide or more central - has been atrocious. Aurier, for instance, has probably had 50 chances from good positions over the past three games to put in a decent cross and find a Spurs player. Not once - not one fucking time - has he delivered! Ben Davies has been little better from the other side.

Kane is certainly not the player he was a few seasons ago. Suffering as many injuries as he has over that time is bound to affect a player both physically and mentally. But he is still a brilliant striker and creator in a team that is ticking.

By the way, the current woeful form isn’t all on Mourinho. Not by a long shot. The team’s form during Poch’s final 10 months - CL campaign aside - was worse.

 

[Cellarite]

I’m pretty sure that Kane and Sterling enjoy playing together. They both create chances for each other.

I'm pretty sure that if he was asked and answered honestly, Sterling would say he prefers playing with Rashford for England. Someone who will sprint to make space for his teammates rather than loiter around waiting for chances to come.

 

[JimB]

I'm pretty sure that if he was asked and answered honestly, Sterling would say he prefers playing with Rashford for England. Someone who will sprint to make space for his teammates rather than loiter around waiting for chances to come.

Football isn’t just about running. And Kane isn’t a goal hanger. If that’s what you think of him, then you really haven’t been watching.

 

[Cellarite]

Football isn’t just about running. And Kane isn’t a goal hanger. If that’s what you think of him, then you really haven’t been watching.

I don't think you need to tell a City fan what football is about these days do you?

I didn't say he was a goal hanger but he's hardly Carlos Tevez when it comes to pressing defenders is he? Alongside Oleg Salenko, he's probably the most disappointing of the World Cup golden boot winners in my lifetime.