Do you still have faith in Poch ?

Could be looking at an exit no later than the CL last 16.

I expect Spurs to make the KO stages, but where we will be in
the PL then is anyones' guess. The likelihood that we draw a
nasty opponent in the CL last 16 is very high.

 

More or less anyone in the CL last 16 is nasty.

 

After yesterday, I have lost faith.
Poch maybe working magic for some people and, the best manager we have had in years but this is the best squad we have had in years and someone else needs to get more out of them.

It is unforgivable to leave Ndombele on the bench and play winks. Harry Winks get far to much love he belongs in the championship, whilst we have a midfield of winks and Sissoko you can kiss good buy to any victories.
Most of the back four don't want to be there yet they are starting week in week out, what happened to the manager to promote youth, he is gone because he wants to prove a point and get more players, well tough if we sign new players its needs to be with a new manager.
A manager who doesn't interview mixed messages.

 

The more I think about it the more I am convinced that Poch slit his own throat when he started talking **** about leaving.

As a player I would be thinking that he does not think he can achieve anything more with us plus I would think that he is a bit of a cheeky **** for saying that whilst telling us all to buy into projects and visions.

 

Definitely, as soon as a manager starts thinking about leaving then it’s time to go. Poch didn’t just think it but he even publicly mentioned it.

 

Fraudiola's been blabbing about what he'll do at the end of his contract for at least eighteen months, but let's just ignore that...

 

Everyone knows Pep joins a club then brings them great success then wants to usually move on...his contract is probably up in a season or 2. Most clubs would be happy with that arrangement knowing all about Pep

Everyone knows Poch is a romantic like most Spurs fans and just talks about building legacies and Empires blah blah blah yet at the same time lacking the balls to drop a player that has zero interest in playing for us. You can't build Empires when you fear that you have useless soldiers in your ranks.

Pep plays Midfielders in defence whilst having defenders warming the bench so I'm not prepared to buy into the whole..no one can play that Eriksen role. Eriksen isn't playing that role...he's just wearing the shirt.

I wouldn't compare Pep and Poch ATM and I wouldn't feel aggrieved as a Spurs fan that people don't say anything about Pep...that's not going to change the facts about how Poch has played it.

 

But he's talking about leaving, which surely means it;s time for him to go?

Poch did drop players who don't want to play for us, with Eriksen and vertonghen starting the match on the bench and in the stands respectively. But what happened? Spurs fans whined and complained about Poch not playing them

Poch's played Sissoko as a right back and Dier as a centre back this season

Anything else I can easily debunk, or are you finished?

 

Jan hasn't signalled he wants to leave, he's actually said he wants to stay. The problem though is that he started Toby and Rose, so at the time dropping Eriksen didn't make much sense if he was dropping one but not the others, what also made Poch's decision look worse is that Eriksen also changed the game when he came on, one of his rare good performances this season.

 

Vertonghen was talking about possibly returning to Ajax six months ago

Changing the formation from the sodding diamond to a 4231 is what changed the game against Villa, not bringing on Eriksen

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That was to finish his career, he's said multiple times he'd sign a new deal here if offered.

Eriksen was definitely a factor, as was the formation change, he's been **** this season but he came on and instantly improved the style of play that game.

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I don’t have the quotes to hand but my impression of his comments was that he’d like to go back at some point and finish his career there, whereas Toby, Eriksen and Rose gave the impression of a more immediate exit being wanted.

When you also factor in that Jan hasn’t looked nearly as disinterested as the other wantaways I think that’s why he gets a pass. Sure, he’s not at the level he was a few years back but that appears to be more to do with the passage of time and disruption around him than the others, who just look like they can’t be bothered.

 

Considering how much he's spent since originally qualifying for the CL he's performed miracles. Unlike players managers aren't allowed a crap season, I'd swap him for Pelegrini.

 

I seem to recall another time one of our centre backs said he'd sign a new contract if it was offered. He rejected it and joined Arsenal on a free.

The formation change occurred before Eriksen came on, and we were already controlling the game before he was on the pitch but our finishing was letting us down - something which happens both when he is and isn't on the pitch

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So Vertonghen is like Campbell now? Ok

BBC: "Tottenham were sluggish for long periods and were heading for defeat before turning the game on its head after substitute Christian Eriksen injected some much-needed creativity to the team."
Sky: "Spurs upped their level after the break - especially after Christian Eriksen was introduced - as they pinned Villa back inside their own half."

I'm now fully on board with the Eriksen criticism but to suggest he never changed the game when he came on against Villa just isn't accurate.

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Look, nobody on here is ever going to say anything nice about Judas but you can’t equate the two situations hbic. If Jan extended for another year or two he’d be leaving in his mid-30s at a stage where he is likely to have little more to offer us on the pitch. It almost couldn’t be more different.

 

So you're saying there isn't a track record of players saying they'll sign a new contract only not to sign one offered to them? Because guess what, Eriksen and Toby aren't alone in that regard

Maybe you should re-read the Sky quote again, as that clearly says we upped our game after the formation change - which happened to be twenty minutes before Eriksen was introduced

Also, a cursory look at the match stats kills the Narrative dead

Possession: 71%
Shots: 31
Shots on target: 7
Corners: 14

The fact is that we created plenty of opportunities before Eriksen came on, but we either wasted them (i.e. Kane heading over twice, Lucas' header that was too close to the keeper, Sissoko firing wide) or Villa had players in place to block at the last second due to them trying to preserve a lead. None of that had anything to do with Eriksen at all, because he wasn't on the pitch

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No, I'm saying Jan seemingly wants to stay and that he's nothing like Sol Campbell.

Re-read it as much as you like, it says "especially after Christian Eriksen was introduced".

Let's see what the guys on here were saying after the game, shall we?

Rocky - Seriously we need to pay Eriksen a decent wage to make him stay
Roo - Imagine if we sell Eriksen.
Rocky - Can we just give Eriksen 250 grand a week ffs
Spurly - Sign dat ting Eriksen FFS...we looked sweet when he came on
Spud - How can we convince Eriksen the weather and sangria in North London is just as good as Spain?
Left on the Shelf - What a difference Eriksen made! Great to see NDombele get a stunner. Was giving him a free pass for today, but he really shone in the last quarter. And words fail to do Harry K justice.
TCM - Eriksen was MOTM so much better once he was on - if he is going to play like that we really need him to stay
Left on the Shelf - Eriksen changed everything - free rein to dictate play. Villa weren't able to track him, which created the holes.
Spurf (this part was extracted from a longer post in which we were debating his importance and big game performances) - I have never said Eriksen isn't a very fine footballer, what we saw when he came on yesterday was how the type of play he is capable of, spreading the play with creative passing, is exactly what we need and yes it made all the difference.
Hudd - We only really turned it on when Eriksen came on, I think I may have been too cavalier over the Summer in my confidence in our potential without him around!
Brian - Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that he made selection errors and he's right. The starting 11 lacked invention and goals. Whilst Ndombele is bedding in and we've no Lo Celso or Son, Eriksen HAS to play.
Luke - 2. Eriksen makes a hell of difference to Spurs' creativity in the final third.

Now I'll admit that his form since then has been nothing short of dogshit (barring the NLD where I thought he looked OK) but he was definitely instrumental in changing the game against Villa.

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BBC and Sky have only just woken up to the fact that Eriksen’s free kicks and corners are not as good as they thought they were

 

If Vertonghen wants to stay, can you explain the following two things
i.) He was reportedly offered a contract in June last year, with the Torygraph and Times both reporting this, yet he did not sign it
ii.) The following comments were made by Verts in September last year, aka three months before the club activate the one-year option in his contract: "In any case, I'm at a stage where I look less long term. It must be a stage in my life. I think more about the coming months than the coming years. After each competition, I see where I am regarding what comes next."

Kane, Son, Alli and Lamela were all offered significant contract upgrades between the end of the 2017-18 season and the end of 2018 and signed, yet Verts was also offered one but hasn't signed it - which does put him in the same boat as Toby and Eriksen

But yes, how about we look at what people were saying during and immediately after the Villa game...

No Kane No Gain: Pochettino seems to have acknowledged his mistakes in the first half and I hope that means we're ditiching the diamond for good.
remembercolinlee: Really disappointed with the system in the first hour, no where near enough movement from Moura Kane or Lamela.
remembercolinlee: The system needed changing but I was wanting Lamela off cos energy apart he was woeful. Think Pochettino was proved right as we won.
The Hudddlefro: Second half Lamela then GKN pulled wide left and first Sissoko then Moura stretched the game on the right. We saw more from Tanguy in midfield instead of just seeing him set up shop in the final 3rd and not do anything
The Huddlefro: Poch acknowledged it to post-match too, the team just wasn’t set up right. We probably don’t need Sissoko and Winks in a 3 man midfield at home to Villa, particularly when the first half gameplan seemed to be to not let Sissoko and Tanguy play their natural games.
PleaseNotPoll: The 4-4-2 diamond simply doesn't work, especially when facing a team that was largely parking the bus. It congests the middle, leaves us light out wide and restricts a number of our best players.
The Huddlefro: DH’s gripe with Poch certainly stands for yesterday's first half though, because by the Gaffer’s own admission, he got the setup wrong. That was more to do with the formation and tactics than Winks + Sissoko alongside Tanguy IMO, but no doubt both played a part in a frustrating first 45.
No Kane No Gain: The reason we improved is that we ditched the diamond in the second half
littleDinosaurLuke: 4-2-3-1 works better than 4-3-3. With two full backs who get forward, a disciplined holding midfielder needs to play in that position. Dier or one of Ndombele and Sissoko.

...and while looking through the thread, I couldn't help but come to the conclusion that the real reason you think Eriksen single-handedly changed the game was because you spent the entire match thread saying that Harry Winks was responsible for literally everything that was going badly for us on the pitch, and by complete coincidence Eriksen replaced Winks, and I'm not alone in noticing that...

No Kane No Gain: If I'm confused it's because you keep changing your story and blaming Winks for stuff that has nothing to do with him. Defenders can't deal with a long ball? Winks' fault. Villa tried to defend a 1-0 lead? They'd have been charging at us if Winks hadn't been subbed off. Kane and Moura miss chances? Winks, mate, what are you doing. Scoring late winners? Could never happen with Winks on the pitch.

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