part 8.
Spurs took their disaster of a season into a third competition as they exited the League Cup to fourth division Colchester United on penalties after an awful goalless draw.
Pochettino has been making pointed remarks, before and after the game. His team selection looked to be one as well. Look Daniel, this is it, all I’ve got. How else can you explain a back three with a holding midfielder for a game against a mid-table fourth division side.
Do you really need six defenders against Colchester United? Do you really need to wait until after an hour is up to change this, when you end up with 75% of possession throughout the game and have periods where the hosts barely touched the ball? Can you not see sooner than the 66th minute that something needs to change?
People are saying we shouldn’t question Poch but if you can’t question that then it turns into a bit of a cult.
Yes, you also question the players who didn’t show up last night. A mixture of old timers and kids that just didn’t work in any shape of form. The oldsters looked, well, beyond rusty. Dier at least got forward and didn’t stay back as the right sided centre-back, one glorious curled ball into the box but he looked very, very slow when Colchester countered. Sanchez and Tanganga didn’t do much going forward but covered their bases at the back.
Out wide, well Davies looked slow and rusty. Walker-Peters looked like a deer in the headlights again. From looking like a promising understudy he was gifted the chance to claim the starting right-back spot, with the sale of Trippier and Poch’s seeming reluctance to use Aurier, it was laid on a plate for him and he froze. One duffed up cross that hit the post.
Wanyama well he wasn’t gonna create much. Moura worked, ran about, had one decent dribble but was running into a packed defence and yet again that didn’t work this season. Dele. What has happened to Dele. The rust has seized. I wonder if he’s done what Kane did when injured and bulked up in the gym, all muscle weighing him down.
The kids, Tanganga as said before – he looked the part in pre-season and he looks decent enough. Skipp in the middle ran about like an overexcited puppy, you know the type that chase the ball but don’t quite have the coordination to pick it up and over run it and then get lost.
Parrott found out what it’s like to be Harry Kane. Barely getting any delivery. When he did we found out he’s no Harry Kane. Panicked snatches at shots.
That the substitutes came so late was expected and that they were head-scracthers should have been expected as well. Yes, bring off one of the centre-backs but why remove Parrott when you’re finally bringing on people that can create chances?
Spurs they say had four shots on target, it was more like one really as that was all their keeper had to bother with. I felt like Harry Doyle That’s all we got, one goddamn hit?
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The introduction of Eriksen and Son didn’t make things any better. Which led to penalties. And another piss weak bottle job from Eriksen from twelve yards. after his pre-season abortions you wouldn’t think Poch would line him up as first taker. But he did and Spurs were on the back foot. It took an awful Panenka and Gazzaniga’s nice punch away to get it back level then Moura smacked his shot off the woodwork.
Spurs work here was done. Colchester got the winner and Pochettinos tarted talking about different agendas in the squad
. Another phrase that may have been lost in translation but which doesn’t feel you with any hope that this will improve any, especially when you lump it in with everything else he’s said recently. I mean some are acting like it’s just this season but it’s been going on for the whole year now, bar the wallpaper over the cracks of the Champions League games. This season though it’s been 8 games now, for which they’ve probably performed for one whole game if you add it all up. First half against palace and the bits from some of the rest.
There’s players there Poch thought would be gone. Players Poch wanted gone. There isn’t the number of new faces he wanted. He wanted an overhaul, he figured the CL final was the pinnacle of that squad and they needed refreshed and they did. So he showed Levy what he’s got with this “second” string, while other clubs were blooding kid and using their established player to get through to the next round against sides higher than 10th in the fourth division.
A manager has a limited lifespan and it depends on player turnover, the less turnover the shorter the span. Players get bored of the manager’s same old, same old and so turn off, don’t go with the game plan as Poch said after the Panathinaikos draw, you need new blood to buy into it or you get the stale performances that have littered this season. Poch is talking about the January transfer window as a chance to fix the problems. The thing is previously he hasn’t actually used players he’s got in January until the following season.
And it’s not something to hang your hat on is it? The hope that something decent might come along in four months time… that’s if Poch is still there to be disappointed by Levy in January…