We only did 6 points better than last season. Horrible start and end sandwiching a pretty good middle led to the myth of this being a great season. The other top teams were well below average. Next year will be a struggle to finish top 4 again i think.
someone need to hire a mental coach that can instill discipline into the team ... It needs a metric ton or five
edit: you'll have to do better than that. in fact, today, you'll have to do very much better than that. I wouldn't expect much to stick here right now. -pook
It's only one game and no, you shouldn't make decisions based on one game. That being said, what this game showed is what we've all know for a long time and that is that we have too many losers and not enough winners on this team. Poch has to take a hard look at the guys who performed the worst today and decide if they should go: - Son - great first week, tailed off after that - Mason - not sure he can reach that next level you need to win in Europe - Dier - had a solid year overall but is a moody player. terrible down the stretch, gets stuck in a lot, hot temper - Walker - has tons of pace but can't cross. would be ok with Trippier starting - Chadli - harsh based on limited minutes today but should be the next of the Bale 7 to go
Only we could f*ck up like this. Unbelievably pathetic. Unfortunately, Pochettino has signed a long term contract. De Boer is available, but we get stuck with this. How he and the team could not be motivated for this final game is beyond me. I'm done. What is the point really...year after year.
I am fucking gutted right now. at some point i'm guessing the pendulum will swing back the other way, and i'll be able to look at this season with more perspective. but i'm honestly not sure. Spurs have not disappointed me this much very often - and that is saying something, believe you me. to say this outstanding season has been tarnished is beyond understatement. it's my own fault, though, eh? take that, pook, you fucking moron. thanks again, fellas. fucking Spurs.
A few comments about this match and this season. 1 - The start of the season was all about how well Harry Kane would do (one season wonder?). He made it clear that he is was not just a one season wonder, but that he is England's future striker. Top scorer for the league. 2 - Dier was bought as a right back. Got some criticism for skipping a U23 (u21? U19?) call up to work on being a central defender. Now he is THE defensive midfielder for England, and possibly in the EPL (stiff competition for the latter). 3 - The emergence of Alli, and how important he became. 4 - For the criticism of the mental aspect of today's match, Spurs mentality has changed. Several times Walker was in situation where in years past he would have been redded. Lamela was similar. And apart from the horrible red card last, Alli also showed improvement with anger control. All showed anger control. 5 - Spurs confidence grew as the season did. Rose became a tough defender. Dembele showed that nobody could get the ball off his feet. Kane just believed (as he did last season). And the team as a whole thought positive, except for these last 5 matches. 6 - Spurs are missing that monster personality. I think I've said it for two seasons, but that would have gotten Spurs to 2nd, and maybe the title. For years, I watched the great teams have that player. Roy Keane. Steven Gerrard. John Terry. Rafa Van der Vart was that type of player for Spurs, as was Bale. Bring a big personality in (talent also quality) and he will match with Kane. 7 - This post, which I made back in December: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads...er-teams-thread.1947578/page-75#post-33379381 The indications are not about points, but about goal difference and goals against primarily, and goals for in addition. Even with the loss today, Spurs will be 1st in GD, either 1st or 2nd with fewest goals allowed, and 2nd in goals for. The season is made up of 38 matches, and those three are the primary indicators, in order, of where a team will finish (or at least in what part of the table). The number of points, to me, is only valuable when comparing to the could haves, should haves, would haves, and ifs. 8 - Vert seemed to become complacent when returning from injury. It seemed that either he was never 100% mentally, or that he didn't need to fight off Wimmer. I think Poch made a mistake by not starting Wimmer in a match. 9 - I still think the larger issue is that Poch has very little experience with high expectation football. He is quite good a preparation, but as Spurs continue to be at the top of the league (and yes, they will be there), Poch will get better. Today was an example of how Poch had not prepared the team - I have never seen Poch play with 3 at the back - and it seemed to confuse the team. OTOH, Poch saw a change that was needed at halftime and made it. It seemed to work, or improve the team. 10 - As frustrating as Bentaleb and Mason have been this season, I don't think we can give up on them yet. Dembele was iffy last season, as was Lamela. But this season they have turned themselves around quite well. I think Mason and Bentaleb deserve another season to see if they can return. 11 - I heard Chadli came on as a sub today. Can anybody confirm? 12 - This was a positive learning season from Spurs. Think about this, Spurs beat Man City, Monaco, Fiorentia (home and on aggregate), and a difficult away match to Qarabag. But Spurs started rough, both in league and in Europe, and did well. But as in Europe, Spurs also finished with a whimper. The consistency, though, was present.
Don't be so sure that De Boer would have done any better preparing these players. After a promising first season and a half, De Boer has gotten progressively worse tactically over the last three seasons, and has culminated in him losing the title (not just 2nd place) on the last match day by drawing the very last placed team. Maybe De Boer just needs a change of scenery, but I wouldn't expect to get anything different with him than what happened today
I appreciate your post, 'nutter, and your attitude toward Spurs, which i'm sure for everyone here is a nice counterbalance to the shit I bring around all the time. but with all due respect, this ... ... isn't resonating with me. our last month has been all about mental weakness. and how one can claim after watching the Chelsea match that anger control has become a strength is a little bewildering. to say that Alli's and Dembele's petulance cost us (and how that doesn't apply to Dier as well is only down to poor refereeing) is a massive understatement. even today, I thought Lamela's yellow - perhaps our only player to put a shif in - was an utterly pointless display of indiscipline. honestly, if the Manchester clubs hadn't been so staggeringly shite down the stretch, this would've been so much like 2012 that it's painful to even think about. is it different now, under Pochettino? some things feel very different. some things, though - things i'm feeling very impactfully on this day - do not. _____________________ I really don't mean to be nitpicky, mate. that's a cracking post, and I hope you're right about our mental capacities. I'm just a reyt grumpy bastard today. don't mind me.
I don't disagree with you at moments, but as for the season as a whole I think there was a change. I make no excuse for Dembele (there will almost always be that piece of stupidity - see Zindane in the WC Final), and Alli showed that he still has to learn, but Alli's change from September 1 to March 1 was quite dynamic. That is what I'm talking about. If Spurs had... If Alli had not... If Man City had... If Man United had... If Clattenburg had... Down the stretch, Spurs were shit. But Spurs were so good up to that point that the only change in place was with London Red, and that was on the last day of the season. But before Spurs were shit, Man U were shit. Man City were shit. Chelsea were Shit. Liverpool were shit. London Red were not as good as normal. Only Leicester were no shit at any point during the season, and look who is the champion. Spurs were just less shit than anybody else. (I would even argue London Red, though Spurs got nipped in the bud). Agreed. The difference is that Poch will use this as a learning point, and I doubt it will ever happen again...unless Spurs are 10 points clear of 2nd on the final day of the season. No worries. I give you a bit of stick because you are good and analytical in the long term (and have a sense of humor). (Most are analytical around these parts, which makes this forum enjoyable to visit for me.) Days like today are understandable (though I can't imagine having my balls be beaten on an anvil by a sledgehammer no matter how bad it gets). And next season will be a worry. But...you know.
If there is one positive out of today, and I am really struggling to find one, it is that management will now have to be aggressive in improving the team for 2016-2017. No way to justify standing still after last couple of games. Another defender to add ability to rest / competition in the central defense positions, at least two quality midfielders, and a good striker seem bare minimum needed. Without Alli and Dembele team is closer to a 14th place side than one who competes for a championship.
Disgusting, pathetic, spineless performance. What pisses me off the worst is us fans are the ones that suffer. The players can throw up their arms and say next season and go back to their mansions but we are the ones that suffer. One of the worst days to be a Spurs fan and I have absolutely no pride in that team today. Sure we did magnificent most of the season but in the end it's how you finish and the last month has been a sh*t show.
with the greatest respect to Double's modus operandi, I try not to discourage 'guests', but only to encourage a higher degree of effort. to be honest, i'll leave up fairly blatant trolling if it makes me laugh. ... I just don't find much funny today.
We finished 3rd, the best Spurs finish in the PL. Because we played poorly after the Chelsea match, the season doesn't matter? Ridiculous.
Why does everyone think all of the Big Four will be back? How long has Liverpool been basically irrelevant? Will Klopp return them to "glory"? Perhaps, and perhaps not. I'm not seeing how Man U all of sudden contend for the title. On paper, City should win the PL every year, but they don't. Does Guardiola completely solve that? Maybe, maybe not. Chelsea has a lot of old/poor parts in some pretty significant spots and no CL to offer to new signings. I guess my point is that LC winning and us finishing 3rd isn't a one-off, especially not with all the TV money enriching all clubs. As for today, I'm bummed for sure, but I like to keep the bigger picture in mind. We're going the right way, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Unfortunately, that Chelsea match took a lot out of us, both mentally and physically. And, sorry to say, I have to think most players aren't as worried about finishing above Arsenal as the supporters. You can get pissed about that, but it's reality. When we lost the title, we lost the will. In some respects, I think it's a positive in that these guys were completely focused on winning the title. Then again, mentally caving thereafter is something that needs to be addressed. All in all, though, I don't feel gutted. Maybe that means I'm not a true Spurs fan...don't know. But I thought I saw positive signs about management before this season, something I've never seen before, and that manifested itself on the field with a superb year. As someone who wasn't expecting a title run, this has been a fantastic year. I thought last year Poch was getting to know the players, and this year was a building year. Poch's Spurs are well ahead of my expectations, I'm convinced they'll continue to make shrewd signings and I expect them to contend for the title again next year.
I actually thought I knew what that meant after the Chelsea-bayern game a few years ago...but oh no; this is what it is.