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    Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
    I think Spurs are not treating the the Europa Conference League seriously sending what was essentially a Spurs B team. That's disappointing because I really believe that winning it, particularly in its inaugural year, would have some kudos attached.

    We're in danger of not even being runners up and going out before the real play offs. Even as a runner up we'd have to deal with an additional play off against Europa League third placed teams and some of those could be big names. Currently those include: Fenerbahce, Leicester, PSV, Rangers and Celtic.

    Chances of progressing further are currently not looking too good.
    If I had to bet I still think we'll win the group, as two of the remaining games are at home and I think we'll put out strong sides for those as there's no travel involved. The only remaining away match is NS Mura which is the "easiest" of the away matches.

    We have left ourselves no margin for error though, which is a shame. Like you I think it'd be great to win something in its inaugural year, even if it is a 'lesser' trophy, I'd still celebrate like a nutcase if we lifted it!

    Comment


      Hope you're right.


      EDIT
      Another sloppy fail losing to a single goal against WH and nothing really positive about the Spurs performance by the sound of it.
      Last edited by fallenangle; 24-10-2021, 15:45.

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        Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
        Hope you're right.
        Me? Being right? Bugger, no hope for us then!

        Disappointing day again today. A draw would have been a fair result but all that counts is who puts the ball in the net. Not much great football on show from either side really.

        Considering the fact that we rested the entire first 11 last week, our play was far too slow and lacking in energy.

        When we did do well, the final ball was lacking: I remember three times (when still 0-0) we got into positions where we just had to play a decent ball across the box for a player to have a tap in at the far post and all three times the ball was poor.

        Annoying too as West Ham weren’t great today, aside from the opening ten minutes, and if we’d played a gear or two higher I think we had a decent chance of winning the match. Worrying that the players couldn’t sense that, or that the manager couldn’t galvanise them from the touch line. Zero shots in the second half (for the third time this season).

        Looks like we’re in for an inconsistent season, based on the evidence of the opening couple of months. The quality of the football doesn’t help matters, it’s easier to cope with a team being inconsistent if you’re at least seeing exciting and entertaining football.

        Edit: still, could be worse, we could have had a day like Man Utd, bloody hell! Should be fun when we play each other next week.
        Last edited by EJG1980; 24-10-2021, 18:18.

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          Yep, MU got a real drubbing but at least not as bad as Norwich on Saturday. MU were just outplayed and as they said on MotD, a bit of a mess tactically. Ian Wright also suggested that if any other side plays the same sort of game as Liverpool did they'd get a similar result.

          Hope NES was watching.

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            Into the next round of the Carabao Cup! Not the greatest match anyone will ever see but we deserved the win. Build up play is still too slow and ponderous, we need to have a bit more bravery to risk a difficult forward pass rather than always going for the safe option to keep possession.

            Good goal though, nice cross from Emerson Royal and a good header from Moura. Lo Celso should have had a goal too after a lovely move which set him through on the keeper but his shot was a bit too close to the keeper.

            Burnley gave us virtually no problems at the back for most of the match. I can't remember Gollini making a save, but Burnley apparently had one shot on target so I suppose he made at least one They did put us under a bit of pressure in the last ten minutes but aside from Sanchez needing to make one very good clearance, we didn't look like we'd let in an equaliser.

            I was hoping to see who we'd get in the next round tonight, but for some reason the draw isn't until Saturday.

            We could go into the top four with the right results at the weekend, but we could also drop down to something like tenth or eleventh; hopefully tonight can be the start of a winning run.

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              I won't say fingers crossed on both counts ie. that we get a doable next round opponent and that we leap up the table like gazelles, because whenever I do say that Spurs always seem to disappoint.

              Saw the highlights on Quest yesterday - made heavy weather against a not particularly good side. You'd hope we'd win that by a couple of goals but I'll take a win however its done.

              Comment


                Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
                I won't say fingers crossed on both counts ie. that we get a doable next round opponent and that we leap up the table like gazelles, because whenever I do say that Spurs always seem to disappoint.
                It's always hard to judge which way things will fall in the long term.

                There's the "We're playing badly but still getting wins, don't people say that's what good teams do? We're in decent league position, when we click and actually play well we'll win even more, we're just one win from top four!" perspective.

                But then there's the "We're playing badly and the wins are really tight, it's not sustainable, the wins will dry up and we'll drop down the table, we're just one defeat from being in the bottom half!" perspective.

                Oh, and I suppose there's the "We'll just go along exactly as we are now for the whole season, and end up exactly where we are now, about 6th or 7th." option too

                Our wins are usually tight with single goal wins over 11th, 13th, 14th and 19th placed teams, and a single goal win in the cup against Burnley who are 18th. Our defeats, aside from the tight match against West Ham, have been really poor losses, 3-0, 3-0 and 3-1 against Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal.

                So the general trend seems to be we struggle to win tight matches against poor / average opponents, and often get beaten very comfortably when we lose. I'm usually quite optimistic (probably over-optimistic more often than not!) but at the moment it is a bit of a struggle to think that first perspective is more likely than the second one.

                Again, the quality of the football really doesn't help, doubly so after Levy's statement in the summer that he wanted us to go back to the free-flowing, attacking, "Spurs DNA". It's not Nuno's fault at all, but he's not a manager that fits the statement Levy made. It can feel like a chore to watch Spurs at the moment; if we were getting the same results but were seeing exciting football, things would feel much more rosey.

                On that subject, Karen Carney wrote a piece in The Guardian that I couldn't really disagree with: https://www.theguardian.com/football...hem-no-favours

                Comment


                  West Ham in the league cup quarter-final. That'll be fun At least we've been drawn at home.

                  The rest of the draw:

                  Arsenal v Sunderland

                  Brentford v Chelsea

                  Liverpool v Leicester City

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                    So assuming we can deal with WH: likely Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool (sorry Leicester fans only being realistic) in the semi-finals.

                    Very tough from now on then.

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                      Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
                      So assuming we can deal with WH: likely Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool (sorry Leicester fans only being realistic) in the semi-finals.

                      Very tough from now on then.
                      The last time we won the league cup, we had a tough semi-final (Arsenal). The three finals we've reached since then we've had 'easy' semi-finals against lower league opposition. So maybe to win it again we need it tough!

                      Doesn't mean anything of course, but, it's football, so we’ve gotta look for stuff like that anyway

                      Also tough is the current match against Man Utd, 0-1 down at half time. Fingers crossed for a turnaround. While we've missed a couple of decent chances (the Davies header and Romero's offside goal) it's been nowhere near enough attacking wise, at home, against an opposition coming off a morale sapping defeat last week. As Neville said on commentary, you can see why Spurs have scored only 9 goals in 9 matches before today.

                      Post-match edit:
                      Last edited by EJG1980; 30-10-2021, 18:46.

                      Comment


                        Second half sounded and looked mediocre on MotD. Another 0-3 defeat.

                        NES clearly had not been watching the MU. v. Liverpool match last week because Spurs were set up and played with nothing like Liverpool's intensity. You have to agree with the crowd too 'disagreeing' with his odd decision to sub Lucas Moura, arguably our most consistently good midfield/attacking player. Just wish he'd score more goals.

                        HK was a passenger, again, too. If he doesn't go in January I'll be surprised. Holding on to him I think has likely cost Spurs £50m. They could have asked £150m and got that in the summer but with his current form they'll be lucky to get £100m.
                        Last edited by fallenangle; 01-11-2021, 12:07. Reason: typo

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                          Well... Nuno is Nunomore. For one reason or another, it's always a rollercoaster supporting Spurs!

                          The Club can today announce that Nuno Espírito Santo and his coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias have been relieved of their duties.


                          I feel a bit sorry for him really, as there are circumstances beyond his control that has made the job harder than it should be, namely Levy's "DNA" statement at the end of last season and the fact that we were linked heavily with a number of big names (Poch, Antonio Conte) and even some middling names before he was finally appointed. Then he had the Kane situation to deal with too.

                          It was always going to be difficult for him after that, with fans already fed up after the previous couple of seasons, annoyed by the protracted manager search, annoyed that the DNA statement had seemingly been ripped up after a couple of months. Everything needed to go perfectly for him to keep the fans onside.

                          But... that doesn't excuse the extremely dull football his side played (even Jose was more exciting to watch), nor the really poor displays and bad defeats in many matches. Attacking AND defending stats are all among the worst in the league, less goals scored than the likes of Newcastle, Burnley and Watford, and after the opening three wins in the league we've had a poor record since.

                          It does seem crazy to be sacking a manager so soon after being appointed though, but I guess that's modern football. And if the club truly think that it's not going to get better then it makes no sense to carry on with him just for appearances sake. I do think though, if he'd been appointed in more normal circumstances, he wouldn't have been sacked at this point.

                          So now we wait to see who the next guy is! Really important to get this one right after the past couple of seasons and the Nuno saga at the start of this season. I almost feel that it has to be a "big name" because if it's someone who's seen as an underwhelming appointment, they're gonna have the same problem as Nuno in winning over the fans.

                          So it either needs to be a big name who fans will think have a chance of turning us around fairly quickly and maybe even winning stuff, or if it's a lesser name, it has to be someone with a real reputation for good football where the fans will accept success taking longer because at least they're being really entertained. A combo of both would be ideal, but I don't know if that manager is out there, or wants to come to Spurs if they are!

                          Comment


                            Apparently Spurs are said to be in "advanced talks" with Antonio Conte (The Guardian). Could be all newspaper hokum but the sudden sacking of NES suggests they may have someone already lined up and it is not just a knee jerk reaction to the MU result.

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
                              Apparently Spurs are said to be in "advanced talks" with Antonio Conte (The Guardian). Could be all newspaper hokum but the sudden sacking of NES suggests they may have someone already lined up and it is not just a knee jerk reaction to the MU result.
                              Agreed. The wording of the statement on the web site too, with no mention of someone like Ryan Mason coming in as an interim coach for the next couple of games, and saying that "a further coaching update will follow in due course," definitely suggests that they have someone lined up who must have virtually already said yes.

                              Not just The Guardian going with the Conte story either, all morning a ton of Italian journalists have been pushing it and it's now being picked up by the English press too. The latest is he's in London already, or will be in London today, to sign a deal until 2023.

                              I think Conte would be an excellent coach to take over, very much the "Big name who wins stuff" option. Some people have said that we've already tried that with Jose, but, Jose was definitely on a downward trajectory when he took over at Spurs; the implosion of his second spell at Chelsea, the turmoil at Man Utd, etc., and managing Spurs was seen as him trying to prove people wrong who said he was no longer the same manager.

                              Conte, on the other hand, is very much in his pomp right now with nothing to prove. Won the title at Juve, won the title at Chelsea, won the title with Inter last season. Getting Conte now is like getting Mourinho ten years ago.

                              He's certainly not an all out attack manager, but he's not a Jose or Nuno all out defence manager either, pragmatic rather than defensive. Inter played some great football last season, nearly always playing two up top with Lukaku and Martinez, which could work very well with Kane and Son. Usually plays three at the back too, which would suit Christian Romero down the the ground, as he played in the middle of a back three for Atalanta.

                              He will absolutely take no s**t from any sulky or underperforming players either. Shape up or ship out will be the message, and I think there are a few in the squad who need that approach. I think there are some players who will be quaking in their boots before the first training session

                              Of course, back at the start of June, there were similar reports of Conte being virtually a done deal to Spurs and then overnight it suddenly fell apart (with many reporting that Levy changed his mind on agreeing to Conte's transfer demands at the last second). So it's never done until it's done!

                              It's also shows the foolishness of that decision, as we could have had Conte in the summer with a full pre-season assessing the squad, transfers tailored to exactly what he wanted, etc., instead of him coming in mid-season with things in a bit of a mess. Hopefully Levy learns from it, and sees that paying for quality up front can sometimes be cheaper in the long run. IF we get him.

                              Comment


                                There we go!

                                We are delighted to announce the appointment of Antonio Conte as our Head Coach on a contract until the summer of 2023, with an option to extend.


                                Really is a massive signing for Spurs, as Conte is someone you'd expect to end up at somewhere like Man Utd, Real Madrid, Bayern, etc.. In terms of past success, where he is in his career, he must be the biggest managerial signing we've ever made.

                                As said yesterday, Jose had the past massive success but was on a downward slope when he joined us. In my lifetime I think the only one who sort of comes close would be Terry Venables, as he joined us straight from Barcelona after winning the Spanish league and reaching the European Cup final with them, but still not a Conte level manager.

                                Really excited, such a big statement of intent, I really hope we plan to "go for it" now we have Conte in charge (and, really, I don't think he would have agreed to come if he didn't have assurances that we would). We've got the world class training facilities, the world class stadium, now it's time to get the team on the pitch to match that. You can never guarantee success but I'll be happy as long as we're trying.

                                Ahh, good old football, the difference a couple of days can make to your mood and outlook

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