Of all the players to bring on, Wanyama was probably the worst choice, with the possible exception of Dier.
I don't think we have the luxury of waiting that long, right now the season is still salvageable, but a month from now will be a different story.
The VAR decision on Son was the most ridiculous thing I have seen in football. All I saw was a yellow line and a bunch of blue dots and red dots and what looked like a protractor cropping the image. And then a brainless twat sitting in a studio decided it was offside and cost us the game. Welcome to football in 2019. Clear and obvious? Bollocks,
There seems to have been an undercurrent for the past couple of seasons in that Poch doesn't have the CL/title winning experience. He's done well where he has been, but has never actually won anything as a manager. Another thing to consider in all this is institutionalization. Poch has been at Spurs for over 5 years, and his mark is clearly present. But what happens when he moves on? We've seen the negative effect of that institutionalization at Man U and Arsenal. At Man U, it was okay as they won trophy after trophy. Arsenal less so, but there were still plenty of trophies. But what the follow up to those managers? Both teams have struggled, and it appears that it is due in some regard to legacy. In the long term they will be fine, but it will take time to excise that legacy. The worry I have with Spurs is similar. How much has Poch's style been institutionalized on Spurs as a whole? At this point, Spurs are on the up with a talented team (probably the best in many years) and a team with apparent depth along with a grand new stadium. This is the season which Poch should be able to capitalize if he is that manager. Otherwise, for the sake of Spurs as a whole club, he will need to move on.
I think Poch has lost faith in Levy and it shows in how he's prepping the team. He hoped to make his name and move on with a win in Champions League, and he may have done well enough. That's why the team seemed decently prepped for Champions League's critical matches.
Ironically enough I think one of Spurs current problems is having lost the Pochettino style. When Spurs were at their best in terms of style of play they pressed and fought for every lost ball and defended with tenacity. For the first 2-3 seasons Tottenham had the best defensive record in the league, now it’s borderline Arsenal-esque. There’s more belief in the side now, but it seems to have come at the expense of putting in a shift and borders on over confidence. The team are still capable of doing the hard work like we saw with the Crystal Palace game, but it’s no longer the default effort.
I think the difference with Arsenal and Man U was the teams that were left over had many flaws (and still do), whilst our squad is still very talented. It looks to me like the players have tuned the manager out and this now for a long time. You have to ask the question, why have 3 of our key players (Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Eriksen) not committed themselves to the club, and another, Danny Rose, was basically told to stay home in the summer to look for a new club. Our last 25 PL games have seen us win 10, draw 4 and lose 11, with 3 of the 10 wins against 3 teams that are no longer in the PL. This is shocking form for a squad with our talent. This is no blip, this is a trend that goes back several months.
More on Wanyama from Alisdair Gold (I couldn't have summed it up better): "Victor Wanyama came on, within moments he lost the ball allowing Leicester to break and score their equaliser. Then, he was caught in possession with five mins to go and was too slow to get back and try to block the winning goal. He looked like he did for most of last season, very rusty, very off the pace, passing was sloppy, tackles were late and he wasn’t good enough. “Poch wouldn’t have been expecting… it was a horror show. He was to blame for both goals and you can’t legislate for him being so shocking. I don’t think Poch will trust him again, I think he’s blown it. I think he’ll go back to being one of the fringe guys. I’d be stunned if we see that much of him again".