I was in the North Upper today and there was a lot of hostility, though more towards the players than the manager it seemed to me, mainly about attitude and decision making.

Fazio and Kaboul were especially getting loads of stick, not just for their defending but when they were on the ball. Too much slow and sideways though to be fair they were rarely given many options ahead of them.

The main question mark against Poch from those around me today was what the hell has Vertonghen done to not be starting in the league?

On a more positive note I thought Ryan Mason impressed against. Not everything came off for him but at least he was keen to get on the ball and try and take the attack to the opposition.

The hostility towards the players, Poch, Levy and the Club in general has been in meltdown mode on Twitter! Seems some will only be happy if the whole Club is dismantled and rebuilt from the ground upwards with new owners, players, manager and tea lady.

For those of us who have supported the Club for more than 5 minutes the scenario is, unfortunately, only too reminiscent of past times and pre-ENIC. Good teams dismantled, average players signed, downward spiral, new managers and eventually new owners.

The constant is us the fans, but I'm sensing that many of today's younger fans ie under 30 no longer have the patience to follow the team through thick and thin. They demand success and they want it now, not in one year's time, not in two, not when the new stadium is built (if it ever is) and if they don't get it they will leave. Good riddance many will say and I can't say I don't share that view but the Club needs to and should be concerned as we need today's fans to pass on their love or support for the Club to their next generations. Especially so, with a possible 60k seat stadium to fill.

If Levy and Lewis can't see that success on the pitch is what builds football clubs then they should never have got involved in the game in the first place. One bad decision after another is simply compounding their lack of football acumen and slowly but surely sucking the life out of our Club. Do they care? Probably not, they have isolated themselves from the depth of feeling presently existing. Fans are not allowed to protest within the stadium, Stewards have been instructed to confiscate any anti Levy, anti ENIC banners and to cap it all they have now started playing loud music at the end of the game to drown out the inevitable boos.

It's no wonder that many fans are starting to feel that the Club sees it's followers only as cash cows to be exploited at every opportunity with nothing being given in return. Levy's refusal to speak directly with the fans is a serious character flaw on his part as is the seemingly paranoid control of the Club's PR. Fans want answers, Levy stays silent, the Coach and players speak in pre-approved clichés and the anger and discontent grows.

Not a great time to be following the Club and perhaps our only salvation is that we don't seem to be the only group of supporters suffering this malaise.

It is all doom and gloom at mo but it was at Newcastle only a few weeks ago. Things can turn. Liverpool are not in a great position either and it's still early days.

That said, I don't really understand how well Poch can communicate what he wants. What are his half time talks like? I can't imagine there being much passion in them. We love attractive football, how are this bunch going to bring that?

I suppose it doesn't help that we've got two weeks to stew on this performance before the next league game. Wouldn't have been so bad if we had had a midweek game to get it out of the system.

This blog is worth a read if anyone has the time - the writer nails Townsend pretty well


http://www.thetottenhamway.com/2014/...lking-points/?

Still, we've only got another 3 weeks to go before we get utterly reamed by Chelsea I suppose

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...art-lane-stoke

Ade claims the fans booing at home is causing problems for the players!

I can understand that, and don't like my own team booed, but this is because of two and a bit seasons of deterioration, and a perceived lack of desire, and basic quality from this squad.

No one can see any promise with this group of players, and it is impossible to make wholesale changes to get the balance, and quality we need. You just wonder how long we're going to have to endure this, because for Levy, the easy way is to sack the manager, and hope he can get one in that makes a difference, but for me, it is the squad that is the problem.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/footb...Damien-Comolli

And Comelli says our scouting system is a joke, because we haven't got any. By the look of things, he may be right.

So do we interpret this as meaning that the players are not understanding how Poch wants them to play or they are just not able to execute?

That's an interesting quote from Ade. As I've already said, communication can't be easy when your English is not up to scratch. How fast can Poch give direction at training and at half time? We all know that communication is nearly always the answer to problem solving and so if you can't communicate clearly, how does it work?

I know he didn't give interviews in English at all last year. Is it just a coincidence that Southampton are doing better this year without him or was communication holding that team back last year, arguably before they sold their top players, too?

I think it's probably closer to the latter and they're not able to execute. I guess if you've got a manager who wants to play inverted wingers, for example, and you've got players who don't have the technical ability to actually do that then there are obviously going to be problems.

This is why I think Gordon Strachan's words from a few weeks ago do ring true in that you find the system that works for the players you have and then change things. Even Van Gaal is doing it at United by trying different formations to find what works.

I think there needs to be a consistency in selection as well. I appreciate we've got a big fixture list to contend with but I don't see why we can't play the best first eleven we have and just rotate players out if they lose form or need to be rested here and there.

As an aside, I wouldn't be surprised if Ade moves on at the end of the season. Blaming the fans for booing while having underperformed himself for weeks on end isn't exactly going to endear him to anyone anytime soon. And if this story about him not exactly being popular with the squad is also true then I can certainly see him having words with his agent.


I think it's largely a coincidence because Poch's english is actually fairly reasonable - it was largely known that he spoke english behind the scenes at Southampton.

Koeman signed a good few players in the summer and were most likely the players he actually asked for and not cheaper alternatives. I don't really know enough about how they're playing to know what sort of system he's getting them to play but if he's playing a system suited to the players he's got then it's most likely going to bring results, as it has been.

It's come to something if people are analysising what Hatstand has to say ....

Indeed

You'd think he'd just mirror his on-field performances and just stand there looking bemused while everything passed him by ..

... until about a year before his contract ends when he'll suddenly become Oscar Wilde for a few games

From today's Telegraph; Martin Cloake a board member of the Tottenham Supporter's Trust said:

“What was also interesting about Adebayor’s comments is that he was talking about how difficult it is to play at home but at Villa the support was absolutely brilliant and he was still rubbish and in fact it was a really terrible performance by the entire team".

Certainly a fair point indeed. Perhaps he isn't speaking for the team, as he claims ?. Perhaps he's just trying to cover his own arse ?

#edit

The club have just tweeted an official statement from him actually ..


Hhhmmmm ...

Wait how long? These are meant to be internationals who have enough ability and skill that fundamental change should one not be necessary, but two, be easier to accommodate. But this lot are a load of prima donnas who aren't so malleable as those at Soton.

Here's a good read on the current situation:

http://www.dearmrlevy.com/dml/2014/11/10/fight

I think it sums up many fans current opinions quite nicely.

As you can imagine a few stories flying around not least supporters hitting back at Ade pointing out the huge salary he is on versus the actual contribution he makes.

Another is that Baldini is finally for the chop as the scapegoat for the current crisis, as the board can't lose face by sacking yet another manager and of course Levy is blameless. An article in the evening press listed all our £139 million worth of recent signings and pointed out that the majority have just not been good enough. Even Comollli is getting on the act and condemning our current scouting network (or lack of it).

Lastly the other story is that players are just not adapting to the double training regime. Pochettino's philosophy is that hard training makes games feel easier and aids recovery as the players become super fit. It worked at Southampton but our players are turning up for games already half knackered. He apparently couldn't start two players in the last game because they were too tired.

As a post script I was just thinking that AVB's and even Sherwood's Spurs' team would be preferable to the one that has turned up in the last few Premiership games.

If this actually turns out to be true then I think it's a fairly big endorsement of Poch as the manager and could certainly have a big effect on the club as a whole.


http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-paul-mitchell

The fact that he won't be answerable to Baldini as well could certainly also suggest more behind the scenes changes are afoot.

A bunch of interesting reports all over the place.

Looks like the penny has finally dropped for Levy that it can't keep being the fault of the manager. Again, sherwood said all this last year about the structure of the club but people just wrote him off as a whinger.

It's as clear as day that the entire culture has to change if we want to get different results so I look forward to seeing what happens.

Re the training, why is our training so hard for some? Is it really so much tougher than other teams? One of the pundits the other week was saying that some managers go easier on training so players have more energy for the match. I don't get why highly paid footballers get tired. They should train and eat like athletes. I remember Ryan Giggs talking about his regime when he was considering retiring - it seemed exactly what you'd expect from a sportsman. How would this lot cope with a Tour de France or any of the gruelling cycling season.

Poch's double training regime will obviously take time for players to adapt. From what I read, he expected the players to be there by November and their fitness start to show through on the pitch. But as it transpires, our squad is still far off from adapting!

Of course that is not the only excuse. As we have seen some of the players are just not good enough for a team that wants to be challenging for a Champions League/Europa place every season.

I think he knows people are now willing to hold him accountable - after George Graham, every manager sacked as not good enough was appointed by him.

How he got away with it for so long I don't know ...

Whilst things seem pretty doom and gloom, I find it interesting that there is way more focus on us than there is the likes of Liverpool or Everton. We're on level points with both of them, yet you wouldn't think it. We're also only two points behind United, only three behind Arsenal and only four off top four. The table is so congested - there's the same points difference between 1st and 4th, as there is between 4th and bottom! Two or three wins, and you move right up the table. My point is, if things can start to click for us and come together, things won't seem as doom and gloom. So let's hope things click.

Hello stranger! You are right in that our position is not irretrievable at the moment and 3 points will send us back up the table. The Stoke game though is the worse that I've see us play for a while. My only fear is that this performance becomes a trend and not just a blip.

Hi

Oh I completely agree. It was awful. But we have, on the whole, a very good bunch of players who are playing well below the level they are capable of. If we had a squad of terrible players, I'd be more worried than I am. Like you say, we just don't want to get stuck in a rut, like we did under Ramos for example. We showed fight against Villa, we need to show that consistently when the going gets tough.

Happy 80th Birthday Dave MacKay.
A legend at Heart of Midlothian, Tottenham Hotspur and Derby County.

He truly does deserve the term legend, and is a serious contender for the title of Spurs greatest ever player.

I know he was quite ill a couple of years back, so I hope he is okay now, and able to enjoy his birthday.

I'm glad I was able to see him play in the flesh.