Kick off is at 7am (eastern), and whether or not I'll bring myself to be up, out, and in front of a television for it has yet to be determined. Hell, who am I kidding? I'm able to go out tonight for the first time in weeks, will invariably have at least three pints, and when the alarm goes off in the morning, the lure of watching Jose Mourinho's atrocious brand of football will have nowhere near the requisite allure to pull me from my warm flannel sheets. Good luck to 'em. It doesn't help that West Ham are genuinely decent these days. Moyes has them well-drilled and it's not at all difficult to see them giving us problems tomorrow. We've put in some poor performances vs. these over the last 5+ years, and it's always distasteful to drop points to them. Take Upton Park out of the equation, and there is nothing redeeming about a trip to West Ham - unless, of course, it's three points. Still, it's Spurs, so it matters, and therefore I will set the alarm with genuine intent. Michail Antonio has been out the last few weeks, but is looking likely to be available for this one. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him coming off the bench and giving us trouble late on. Not sure why this is my irrational fear going in, as there's so much more reasonable - i.e., us being shite, in general - to be concerned about; but that's my prediction. Hopefully it's a late equalizer to finish 1-1 ... but a late winner to beat us 1-0 sounds more likely. I'll say: Lloris Tanganga Toby Rodon Davies (Reguilon if fit) Hojbjerg Ndombele Lucas Lamela Son Kane Wouldn't mind at all seeing Bale instead of Lucas, or Dele instead of Lamela, but I can't see Jose starting either. No matter. It's not like I know what I'm talking about. He'll pick who he picks. COYS!!
This is the lineup we are seeing today but it is currently halftime and we are looking pathetic again. Eric Dier cannot defend to save his marbles. Antonio ran off his shoulder in 5 minutes. He cannot concentrate and does not have the mentality to be a top tier defender or midfielder. Just because he failed in midfield does not make this blockhead a good defender, he just is not smart enough. Our attack is looking pointless. Hojbjerg holds the ball and passes it 2 feet to whoever while 4 attackers stand there and don't move, they kind of stare like possessed sheep. I I fail to understand how this once fiery man from portugal (and quite good looking) can not motivate the players to do better. If something does not change soon I fear we will lose Son and Kane this off season. Also Lloris is weak wrist soggy baguette and it is time for him to go. He is not a good club captain and should never have been named as such. Gazzaniga is better and we let him walk for this old stale bag of bones that broke his OWN wrist last year.
Harsh. And from the Hauler school of 'allow me to introduce myself', it's Harray_Kane. Welcome to the boards. It's usually a bit more active around here, but things have dropped off a bit recently. Dunno why that is ...
Glad I didn’t get up at 4 for this. I’ve said this most seasons, but it’s hard to see how Kane doesn’t look to join a team capable of winning something. Can’t blame him either. Maybe we can use the transfer fee to buy out Mourinho and spend the leftover on a bargain from Swansea.
3 wins in 13 in the PL, more than enough to get Poch the sack. I put this on our hapless chairman, who got it wrong once again by not backing our best manager in a generation and replacing him with an inept footballing dinosaur. And Dier and Sanchez are pure shite in defense.
More words from a dinosaur: The defeat means Mourinho has taken 81 points from his first 50 games in charge of Spurs, his lowest total at any stage of his managerial career. But while he admitted it will be hard for his side to finish in the top four, he insisted he is not past his best after being asked if he is questioning his methods. “Not at all,” he said. “Zero. Sometimes the result are a consequence of multi situations in football. Mine and my coaching staff’s methods are second to nobody in the world.” Insert hysterical laughter here.
**taps nose** That's why I went with Toby and Rodon. Clearly, Mourinho doesn't listen to me enough. And obviously Levy doesn't listen to you enough. It's a wonder this ship stays afloat.
Speaking of which, what happened to Rodon? He was getting a run of games and now he's disappeared. Yesterday was reminiscent of how the team played in the Pochettino death spiral. Come out sleep walking, give up a goal within 5 minutes. Repeat after halftime. Show some signs of life after going down 2-0. Fail.
It is just like when he was at Man U - he kept playing Jones and Smalling despite the fact they were getting shredded every week, and trashed Luke Shaw - now Shaw is one of their best players. Tanganga, Rodon, Alderweireld and Reguilón should be our first-choice back 4.
ESPN is reporting that Levy will not make a decision on our resident dinosaur until the end of the season. Mainly because if he sacks him now, he would have to pay out 30 million pounds and there is no break clause in his contract which runs to 2023. The decision to hire Mourinho has been a colossal failure in judgment from the chairman, and not for the first time in his tenure. Of course, Levy apologists always point to his financial stewardship of the club, but he had to pay out 12.5 million quid to sack Poch and he is paying a walking, talking corpse 15 million a season to mastermind wins against powerhouses like Marine FC and Wycombe Wanderers. Whether it's now, at the end of the season, or sometime next season (God help us), he will have to shell out a massive stipend to part ways with the current aberration of a coach. That money would have been better spent on a more competent, lower profile manager and on shrewd investment in the playing squad, something yesterday's opponents have done.
Bang on about Levy's chairmanship all you like ... but comparing him to West Ham's seedy pornographer's is not gonna be your strongest hand.
They've got their side where we should be on a fraction of our budget and they didn't saddle themselves with an exorbitantly paid relic of a manager who will cost a decent midfielder and a center back to dispense with.
I'd rather be in a League 2 relegation scrap than be West Ham. 4th place in February once in a lifetime while we're struggling does not begin to summon even a sliver of envy in me. The dildo brothers' stadium is to football grounds what their magazines are to periodicals. I can't think of a better defense of Daniel Levy than to compare him to Gold and Sullivan.
Matt Law in the Telegraph is reporting that if/when Jose gets the boot, Levy's top target would be Julian Nagelsmann. Levy is reluctant to dismiss the hapless Portuguese before the end of the season because: 1) It will cost him the GDP of a small nation and 2) He will look like a ponce for having hired him in the first place and thrown away a huge pile of sterling that would have been better spent elsewhere. Law is reporting that if Mourinho fails to win the next 3 league games vs Burnley, away to Fulham and home to Palace, Mourinho could be gone before the North London Derby in mid March. Considering we only won one of the reverse fixtures of that set, it is a distinct possibility. Since our win against Leeds on January 2nd, we have beaten no one ranked higher than West Brom, who are second bottom in the PL. Nagelsmann is the best available coach out there, he plays the kind of modern attacking, pressing football that pretty well everyone in football is playing expect for the dinosaur in our dugout.
Nagelsmann would be a good choice. But I'd think we'd be in for Hasenhuttl, if for no other reason than that we'd be sticking it to Soton yet again.
Of course, there's the technical difference that Hoddle, Poch, and (hopefully, to my mind) Hasenhuttl were (or would be) literally taken from Southampton, whereas AVB and Mourinho (and, I suppose, Hoddle, as well) had all left Chelsea before we brought them in. I don't know if you're old enough to remember, but when we brought in Hoddle (who was doing a job down there), there were loads of tears and recriminations from down south. There was still bitterness about it when we took Bale from them years later. Maybe some of that went away with (chairman and chief whinger) Rupert Lowe some years back ... but I'd like to think not.
They were particularly pissed when we scooped Toby and Wanyama from them for bargain fees. Crikey, imagine the team they would have if their players had stayed. I have to admit, I was secretly admiring Hasenhuttl until their recent slide. I am afraid I put the kibosh on him when I told a French friend of mine who likes the PL to watch Saints, they are a really exciting team with an excellent manager. They then proceeded to lose 6 in a row and my friend thinks I am un imbécile royal. And they got tonked by Leeds 3-0 today.
Yes, Levys failure to back Poch in 3 transfer windows ensured the squad and Poch were frustrated enough where something had to give. Then they allow Mourinho expensive vanity buys like Bale instantly when he is hired.... while they let Poch go 3 seasons with no backup striker. Happy Poch is at a big club and will be successful but wish he was still here.
I don't think Bale was a Mourinho buy, Levy had been working very hard behind the scenes to get Bale back to WHL. Once again it shows the naiveté of our chairman - we are simply not in a position to afford "vanity" transfers, the kind that make nice headlines for the chairman in the English press, but don't address the weaknesses in the squad.
I know you have a man-crush for Daniel so here is something for you: https://www.football.london/tottenh...ttenham-transfer-profits-daniel-levy-19901018
You're not paying attention. I'm rather ambiguous about Levy, and more than happy to criticize him when deemed appropriate. I do thing someone in this dialogue is committed to his feelings about Daniel Levy, but I'm pretty sure it's not me.