Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

This is the main problem. There are a number of players who don't care enough. The list includes Rose, Eriksen and Aurier and possibly Jan Vertonghen at this point, as well.

These players shouldn't be on the pitch whilst Foyth, Lo Celso, Sanchez, Skipp, Tanganga, Pamela, etc. are fit. They do play like it matters to them and that should be the first concern of any manager.

In the summer of 2015, Poch cleared house because we had a load of players like Rose. Whether we can sell any of those who don't care or not, Mourinho needs to stop picking them.... NOW!

Our improved performances in recent years came out of getting the mood and basics right. Either you committed to the club or you were gone and we played the kids, who were totally committed. We've strayed too far from that and it's time to rectify it. Now.

Until the mood's right, nothing positive is going to happen on the pitch.

 

It's what I've said a few times, the loudest fans were more committed to Rose, Eriksen and Vertonghen in the summer than they were to the club, and we've had half a season's worth of evidence that shows how misplaced that faith was...but of course it must be Levy's fault, as that's what the loudest fans are yelling now

 

Pass map time

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A few things really jump out for me

1.) Son and Lucas never passing to one another is utterly insane
2.) The fact that Dele was performing playmaking duties so much better than Eriksen is hard to ignore
3.) Aurier passing back to Tanganga as much as Tanganga passed to him is head-meltingly baffling
4.) Toby never passing to Winks looks weird

 

At the end of the game after Robertson had crocked Tanganga, why didn't Mourinho replace him with Sessegnon?
The youngster had done well and it might have taken some of the shine off the occasion for him, but he's not a left-back.
We were 1-0 down and could've done with the extra option out wide.

 

Again, it's hard to understand what's going on in Mourinho's head over these things. We were still in with a chance of a result, had a substitution left to us and Sessegnon on the bench...and we didn't use him.

Don't get me started on why Parrott's not been in his thinking, especially with Kane out injured...

Baffling.

 

Obviously you guys know your players far better than myself, but Parrott is only 17, isn't he? Is it really fair to ask a kid to deputise for Kane? The pressure on him could be enormous because it's a huge ask. If there's a way of signing a more experienced striker, even on loan this January, surely that has to be the priority?

 

All true, but Parrott looks a real talent and should be getting bench time as an option, as we don't have anyone else.
There's a reason that he's already a full international and it's not just that all the other Irish strikers are ****e.

 

Minutes from the bench, I get that. But there isn't an expectation for him to start games from now until Kane's back, is there? It'd be negligence of the highest order if you don't try to bring another forward in this month. Putting all that pressure on a teenager wouldn't be fair.

 

He shouldn't be starting regularly and we should be looking to bring in at least one striker in the window.
A proper option and a loan would probably be ideal, so we'll do neither.

 

He played in the pre-season games against top level foreign opposition and didn't look out of place at all. As PNP says, he's already starting to play for the Irish national team and looks fully capable of being an option off the bench when we need some fresh legs, especially given that our current alternatives up front are.....well.........**** all.

Some players are ready earlier than others - Rooney, Milner, Owen, Fabregas, etc were playing regularly at 17 or so. He has that look about him.

 

Yeah, north London as a whole seems to be a bit of a mess right. Don't think either of us are particularly happy with the state of our squads!

 

Parrott should definitely be in the squad whilst Kane is out but as others have said, starting him may be a bit too much of an ask at the moment.

Poch really messed up by not choosing to keep Nando on and it’s costing us now. It’s also a culmination of failing to utilise our second choice striker over the years too, Kane has taken a battering by more or less playing 90 minutes in every game bar an occasional domestic cup, in English football it’s just too intense to not change things up once in a while or utilise the squad better in-game.

 

Having watched Kane play whenever I have, it does seem like he has been playing with an injury. Understandable given the amount of playing time he's had and the over-reliance on him for both club and country. Which makes his goalscoring record even more impressive to be honest.

 

Yeah, being made England captain actually became a nightmare for Spurs because it more or less guaranteed he’ll start every England game and play a minimum of 85 mins - even when 50% fit.

A part of me does fear we’ve sadly seen the best of Kane already and it’s not really through any fault of his own. He failed to hit 20 league goals last season for the first time due to injuries forcing him to miss games and it’s looking likely again this year.

 

As you’ve alluded to, he’s being overplayed. And that makes him susceptible to injury as he gets older.

If we’d be sensible and buy a decent backup to take some pressure off him, I think there’s a chance he’d regain his old form

 

Yeah we’ll need too otherwise Kane is very much likely on his way to being the next Mousa Dembele. Most annoying thing is we had decent backup in the last two seasons but rarely utilised the guy - until Kane got injured

Hopefully Jose realises Kane isn’t superhuman though and should a new striker arrive this January, they’ll be given a solid amount of minutes even when Kane returns.

 

Very little has made sense to me since Jose took over. I hope there is some strategy somewhere but I fear there isn’t.

 

I think he's just trying to work out who he can depend on and who he can't.
I also suspect that he's making a lot of choices based on how people are doing in training.
None of us would've picked Tanganga, but he came in and did well.
Something made Mourinho pick him over a bunch of more experienced options.

 

The most unforgivable element of his career has been the speed at which he is rushed back straight into action the moment he recovers from an injury. That is partly down to never having proper cover, but is also because of how hungry he is to play and score. That infamous 'it grazed my shoulder' goal he stole off Eriksen a few years ago was rightly mocked by rival fans, but it demonstrated more clearly than anything how desperate he is to succeed. Whether or not Poch ever had the balls to stand up to him and simply say "enough" is debatable and something we'll probably never know. What is frustrating is that last season the team was actually playing relatively well without him - we won 4 on the trot, then hammered Dortmund in a game that really did give the impression that the team had found a way to win and win convincingly even without Kane....but then he was rushed back against Burnley and our performance was turgid, slow and uninspired. Poch lost it with that ****er Mike Dean, and we lost our last chance to haul ourselves back into the title race.

 

I'm not getting this at all...and given how bad we've been defensively, some of us have been calling for Tanganga and Skipp to get game time for the last few weeks.

If he's looking for people he will be able to depend on, picking Eriksen, Rose and Aurier is just mad.

One's leaving. The second can certainly be relied upon if you want someone to bring pizza. The third can only be relied upon to create work for others.

There's no point in playing these three, unless you're adverse to playing the younger alternatives in Lo Celso, Skipp, Sesegnon and Foyth. Their stories are written and their futures shouldn't see them anywhere near our first team. They're not even playing to any respectable standard.

Whereas, we've got a real decesion to make about making Lo Celso's deal permanent, whether Foyth can be a PL right back, if Sessegnon can be a wing back next season....and whether to let Skippy go out on loan or to play him next season.....and there's what to do with Parrott

At this point, I've no confidence in whatever it is he's doing and don't even trust that he'll give Tanganga another start. Foyth played well in Munich and he dropped him back to the bench. Lo Celso's been looking better than Eriksen, when he gets off the bench and every match, Eriksen is selected ahead of him.