Is the manager a dead man walking? Is it the players' fault, the chairman, the European transfer window, Brexit, climate change? Are we panicking here? Is it time to pull the plug on Pochettino or does he earn a stay of execution? I think he has to go, the players to me have tuned him out and his team selections and tactics have been mostly poor. The season is still salvageable. My shortlist would be ten Hag, Allegri and Howe.
The latest nonsense from the manager: "We are working so hard to put everyone on the same page. Only we need time. January is going to be a good opportunity too to fix this situation and the next one. That is the problem when something happens that you cannot control. It means we are human and in football to keep the successful period in football you need to be different every season and find different solutions. We need to do something different and we will do that." So when we started poorly, it was because of the European transfer window. Once that window closed, everything was going to be peachy, right? Now it’s the January transfer window! Really? I have news for you Mauricio – the season will be over by January and you will be lucky to still be at the club by then. What a shambles.
I'm mystified by the manager's statement. I'm baffled to see this manager lose the plot with this team of which he was author. Did the team hear his May waffling about staying at Spurs and conclude that he's gone sooner rather than later, so they should save their bodies for the next manager? I'm confused that we should ever be talking about Poch out... but, I have to say that the talk seems merited. The record over the last year is... uninspiring, to be charitable. And, I'm cross-eyed at the club and Eriksen at not coming to some kind of terms after Eriksen was, essentially, rejected by the rest of the world. I wonder if Eriksen is coming to MLS next?
Wayne Veysey is reporting that Pochettino wanted to offload Eriksen, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose and Wanyama this summer. Spurs were willing to offer a new contract to Vertonghen, but Poch vetoed it as his coaches think he is on the downside at 32 years old. They had agreed a deal with Brugges to ship out Wanyama, but Levy (as usual) tried to renegotiate the deal at the last minute and the Belgians balked, despite reports saying that Wanyama pulled out. Losing to Colchester is the least of our worries after reading this report. On the surface, this looks like a classic power struggle between players and manager and we know how these usually end up. But the problems are much deeper. It shows there is the same old problem at Spurs, regardless of the manager - Daniel Levy. He should not have anything to do with the football side of things. As long as he is the chief transfer negotiator, we will never have any success. The last 2 summer windows, Pochettino's vision was to rebuild the squad by offloading those players and bringing in replacements, but Daniel Levy only sees the monetary side of the negotiation and will sacrifice the long term gain of the football team for a few extra million quid squeezed out here and there. As long as he is chairman, we will make boatloads of cash, but never enjoy success on the pitch. Our season is basically over in September. I am officially depressed.
As much as we're all pissed at how the season has started, we have to acknowledge that Poch has 3.5 years left on an £8 mil per year contract. I would have a tighter leash on him than some but even I have trouble seeing Levy eat £28 mil in salary plus whatever the assistants are on.
He wouldn't get that full pay out though, he'd be paid until he got his next job which would at the latest be in the summer with Real Madrid and Manchester United both waiting in line. Sacking Poch will be expensive, but it will cost way more if our current results continue. Don't think compensation will be the final decider.
Don't worry, Levy has iron-clad compensation agreements in place, so this is not an issue. The real issue is, what happens if we don't get a result v Southampton? I don't even want to think about the shitstorm that would follow.
I genuinely don’t know, but I can say for the first time since his tenure began if Madrid were to poach him right now I wouldn’t exactly be happy, but I wouldn’t be spitting invectives towards Levy.
I think he regrets not going after the 2017-18 season when they had the vacancy. I think he realized he had made a mistake when no players were brought in that window and that is really when the cryptic comments about leaving the club and being unhappy began.
what an embarrassing result. I am not entirely sure how Poch remains manager at this point.. i mean, it is still super early in the season and i think if they fail to make it out of the CL group stage, this is the moment we will see him quit or be sacked.
This will be a very difficult night for Daniel Levy. All the investment in the stadium, in the players and in the training ground was all geared for nights like these. Levy has spent a lot of time and effort marketing and cultivating the global image of the club. Getting to the CL Final and playing high profile teams is part of those efforts. Tonight's humiliation is 100 times worse than going out to Colchester in the cup. This game will have been seen around the globe and will be replayed constantly. Right now, top 4 and CL progression are still posible, but we are one or two results away from the season falling apart if it hasn't already. To me, it is clear the players are not responding to the manager. On Saturday we rode our luck despite some horrendous individual errors by Aurier and Lloris, but tonight we were ruthlessly punished. It can't continue. Unacceptable.
Change is needed, but NOT THE MANAGER. This is the end of a natural cycle; Poch's Spurs V1, has been through V1.1, V1.2 etc, but it's time to look towards a V2.0. We don't look good right now, but Poch has earned the right to be the guy responsible for creating it. The problem is with the narrow midfield 3 and a 10 in behind 2 forwards, it simply doesn't work. All the width is provided by over-adventurous full backs; the space in behind necessitates a high line for the CBs to maintain some contact with them, and they don't have the pace to cope. We concede goals to wide players behind Rose & Aurier, we concede goals to forwards behind Jan & Toby. There are 2 options to remedy it. Either a wider front 3 (Son & Moura + Kane), taking some responsibility for width away from the full backs, meaning we can hold a deeper line at the back. Or, 3 at the back; wider centre backs maintaining cover for wing backs, and a further CB with recovery pace acting as insurance. Son - Kane (Moura & Lamela) Eriksen (Dele) Rose ---------- Winks - Ndombele ---------- Aurier (Sessegnon ------ Dier - Sissoko ------------ KWP) Jan ------ Sanchez ------ Toby (Davies, Foyth & Dier) Lloris (Gazza) 3 (5?) of that first 11 probably won't be with us next season (Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Eriksen - possibly Rose and Aurier too), so play it now but think about the changes needed over the season. Davies and Foyth both could conceivably come into the back 3, but look for an alternative out there to buy. Sessegnon will come into play on the left. Scout the crap out of prospective right (specialist) wing backs. Make sure Dele has the keys to the No.10 role by the end of the season, and identify an alternative (Grealish again anyone???). <edit> Forgot about Lo Celso!!! Easy to do, so far. Strike that Grealish comment, get GLC up to speed and that's less money to find next time round </edit> This is the last season of the Lloris - Vertonghen - Alderweireld - Eriksen - Dele - Kane spine which has served us so well over such a long time. Work out what comes next and get everything in place ahead of time.
I don't disagree with that, so long as that's what Poch wants and that he is fully committed to it. I don't pretend to know his mind, but he hasn't really sounded as though that is the case, at least to my thinking. And of course my thinking couldn't matter less; but Levy's does. He needs to determine whether our manager is committed to that project and act accordingly.
These are all valid points, but it should have been done after the season and during the summer. I think this is what Poch wanted, but the chairman's intransigence over transfer dealings has made it impossible to rebuild the squad. As long as Levy is involved in the football side of the club, we will always be a nearly team.
Man.. what is going on with this team? The game was a little early and i was not able to watch. For those who did, what went wrong? Can you read into anything/potential issues based on effort and or/body language? It is certainly getting concerning and becoming more and more likely that Poch is not going to last much longer. The bigger concern? who could possibly replace him that would have a positive effect?
complete lack of energy. Brighton looked like the pressing Tottenham of early Pochettino Spurs teams. Same too the old and sometimes heart stopping playing out from the back was replaced with hoof and hopper which nine times out of ten seemed to end up right at a Brighton player’s foot. It was honestly the most inept performance of Pochettino’s tenure. I’d say Toby, Jan and Christian played like they had one foot out the door, but aside from Moura everyone looked like they were done with the season.
So, what happens from here? It seems like youre under the impression the players have quit. Some of the more senior players and even Levy will have a say and understand the situation. Poch himself may even try to save some pride and step down prior to his firing. This team is way to talented to continue down this path..
I am under no impression - they have quit. Even the Christian Gross Spurs put in a better effort than that disgrace today. Unfortunately, Poch has to go and this is the time to do it now that we are in the international break.
You know the axe is close when this is the headline on the BBC. "Pochettino 'not worried' about the sack after Spurs defeat at Brighton" https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49947667
At this point the players may be tanking so that MP will get fired. Maybe it's time to do something radical. Everyone who wants out - leave them out of the 18. Gazzaniga Walker Peters, Foyth, Sanchez, Davies Sissoko, Winks, NDombele Moura, Kane, Son Whiteman, Dele, Lamela, Tanganga, Dier, Skipp, Parrott, (eventually LoCelso, Sessegnon, Lloris) Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose, Aurier, Eriksen. Wanyama - sell them all in January for whatever you can get. I suppose there was a certain logic in retaining these (mostly) good players - we go to the CL final and we were adding some more pieces, so maybe a chance to finally win something. But it's obvious things aren't working out that way. So rip the band-aid off all at once. Start fresh now. Crazy talk?