Merry Christmas everyone! Spurs will kick off the Boxing Day bonanza with a home fixture against the Seagulls, who thrashed us 3-0 earlier this season at the Amex, which turned out to be a harbinger of Mauricio Pochettino getting the sack. It hasn't taken long for the shine to have faded from the new manager as Jose Mourinho looked completely out of his depth tactically in defeats to Man U and Chelsea. Like Pochettino before him, the Portuguese continues to insist on playing some combination of Eric Dier-Moussa Sissoko-Harry Winks in central midfield, while better players in Eriksen, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Sessegnon sit on the bench. It got Poch the sack and it will not endear Mourinho to an already skeptical Tottenham support. Hopefully, the fixture congestion of the holiday program will force him to adjust, especially with Son suspended for 3 matches, but I'm not holding my breath.
Attack our right flank (Aurier, Sissoko), let Dier, Sanchez and Sissoko have the ball, they will either give it away or go back to the keeper. Lampard and Ole Gunnar set their teams up against us this way. Our new manager is getting paid a lot of money to figure it out, but so far it has been a damp squib.
New manager bounce is well and truly over. Mourinho’s 2020 Spurs look as bereft of ideas and intensity as Pochettino’s 2020 Spurs.
Did not look that great. Take the 3 points and move on. Winks and Sissoko both suspended for next game. Lo Celso has potential. The way he's not afraid to get in on a tackle reminds me a bit of Lamela. Dele seems back to his old self.
So, maybe it wasn't the manager that was the problem at Spurs. Maybe the spotlight can finally move to Levy. Without sufficient parts, the machine simply can't function well, no matter who is at the controls.
I had to be into work at 8:15 this morning, so on the way out the door I checked my (flip) phone and saw that Spurs were up 1-0 (Kane). Excellent. Then, after I'd got to work, I popped back on ol' flipper to see how things were going, only to find out that we were 1-nil down! Apparently Harry's goal wasn't a goal, after all. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I hate VAR.
With all the sensors they have these days I’d like to see the offside rule be totally sensor dependent and avoid the millimeter, attacker’s left pinky was offside. I get having a rule that need to be interpreted needs a threshold, but it’s rather silly as it stands and it still fails so often when a 40 yard pass has to be adjudged by such minute infractions. So just make it a sensor, one on the ball, one on the players and if an attacker’s sensor is ahead of a defenders then it’s offside. Yes, there will be gamesmanship with defenders trying to move their body in a way to gain an advantage. So be it.
I'd be fine with that. Or with linesmen, who sometimes make bad calls - which the game had survived for a century-and-a-half, with ever increasing popularity. Anything that allows near instantaneous knowledge as to whether or not a goal's been scored. The fact that one must wait - after literally every goal - to find out whether or not some unseen transgression has happened in the buildup to said goal in order to determine whether or not he/she can celebrate/lament that goal is ruinous of the greatest thrill of the game. I'd take occasional bad calls over 100% accuracy (and we know damn well that VAR will never come close to that) in a heartbeat if it meant not having that aspect of watching football ripped from the experience. I hate it so, so much.
Another poor selection from the manager. Like Poch before him, Mourinho insists on playing Winks and Sissoko in midfield. Winks had another shocker, made the mad foul that cost us the first goal and was lucky not to be sent off in the second half. At least they are both suspended for the next game so he can't pick them. When Lo Celso and Eriksen came on, we were much better. Why on earth Ndombele, Lo Celso and Eriksen are starting games on the bench is beyond me.
I think the parts are there, it's just the manager insists on using the worst parts when better parts are sitting on the bench. It is agonizing to watch.