Who to keep, who to sell?
Turning Tottenham around is no easy task, indeed since Pochettino arrived we have taken a step backwards. Now don't get me wrong I'm not calling for Pochettino to go, merely that he has a bigger task on his hands than he at first realised.
Tottenham are poor, there is no getting away from it, within this system this lot look clueless. Far too many are just happy going through the motions, leaving the game to someone else while others try to do it all themselves.
Mousa Dembele had a good game last night, but then he had the space to have one. In the Premier League he has proven how he plays over time and failed to improve. He beats a man and as Les Ferdinand pointed out, he then lets him back into the game with a sideways pass. I've done my bit of skill, shown off what I can do, anything else doesn't matter, my stats will look good.
I wrote an article a good while back now about a guy who had come all the way through one of the top academy system at the time. He said he and others came out the other side not concerned with the result of the game, only their own stats because if their stats looked good they didn't get dropped from the academy. We have a group of players like that now, only concerned with their own stats, until it's too late.
You can liken our players to a group of company employees out there in the real world. People complain that they don't get a promotion, they deserve it because they are good at their job. But that's their job, it's their job to be good at their job, they shouldn't be bad and good as a bonus. People who can do the same job are ten a penny.
The staff member who continually learns, takes on new things, now there is an asset. He can not only do his job well, and is always looking to improve the way he does it, but he can take on new challenges. He will be able to solve more problems than the other guy so he is valuable commodity, he is the asset to his company, he is the one who deserves promotion.
Recent Articles:
Tortoise Tottenham Toppled
Leadership by consent - or by force
Spurs improvement hindered by a resistance to change
A 10 minute subs appearance can tell us a lot
Footballers are no different. Sir Alex Ferguson knew that, he only bought players who he felt could adapt to new systems, he looked for football intelligence as well as football ability. The fan only looks at football ability and it seems the Tottenham recruitment staff only looked at football ability too.
Mauricio Pochettino's role thus far has been to look at the players and decide who are the intelligent ones, who can learn to adapt to a new system and who can't, or more importantly doesn't want to. Put a few who don't want to in a team and the whole team fails but that doesn't mean you get rid of them all, just the bad apples as it were. Spotting them is the key to turning things around, however big a name they are.
I wrote about Christian Eriksen recently, daring to criticise and suggest he is no better than countless other players who could play in his position. I highlighted how he, and indeed all our midfielders, do not run ahead of the ball into the box. Against Besiktas we saw it again from another set of our midfielders and it was mentioned in commentary.
The comments about Soldado were spot on, he must be sick and tired of not knowing when a pass will actually come. Chadli had the chance to whip one across with his left but didn't, he cur back onto his right to try and create a shot for himself but couldn't so turned back onto his left and had to settle for a corner. Opportunity wasted.
Townsend in the second half on the right, a chance for a right footed cross, no, turn back onto the left, turn back onto the right and fall over. Opportunity wasted.
When does Soldado make a run? When the ball should come in so the is then totally out of position for any subsequent cross therefore forcing us to play sideways again? As a striker you make that run, but if you make it again and again and the ball doesn't come in, then you are naturally going to think twice about it in the future.
He has had a season of making runs and the ball not coming so now he sometimes makes the runs, sometimes he doesn't. You think why isn't he there, why hasn't he anticipated that, the answer is because he doesn't trust that the ball will played any more.
He has been ruined by the me me me culture at Tottenham. The players are more concerned with showing their bit of skill than Tottenham winning. They think they are doing what is best, but it isn't, it's harmful, it's not playing for he team.
Tottenham are going to have to sell some good players. So put your prejudice aside and look again at the whole picture. Who is playing for the team but doesn't have the team around them and who is playing for themselves? Then you'll know which ones to weed out in January.
Tottenham are poor, there is no getting away from it, within this system this lot look clueless. Far too many are just happy going through the motions, leaving the game to someone else while others try to do it all themselves.
Mousa Dembele had a good game last night, but then he had the space to have one. In the Premier League he has proven how he plays over time and failed to improve. He beats a man and as Les Ferdinand pointed out, he then lets him back into the game with a sideways pass. I've done my bit of skill, shown off what I can do, anything else doesn't matter, my stats will look good.
I wrote an article a good while back now about a guy who had come all the way through one of the top academy system at the time. He said he and others came out the other side not concerned with the result of the game, only their own stats because if their stats looked good they didn't get dropped from the academy. We have a group of players like that now, only concerned with their own stats, until it's too late.
You can liken our players to a group of company employees out there in the real world. People complain that they don't get a promotion, they deserve it because they are good at their job. But that's their job, it's their job to be good at their job, they shouldn't be bad and good as a bonus. People who can do the same job are ten a penny.
The staff member who continually learns, takes on new things, now there is an asset. He can not only do his job well, and is always looking to improve the way he does it, but he can take on new challenges. He will be able to solve more problems than the other guy so he is valuable commodity, he is the asset to his company, he is the one who deserves promotion.
Recent Articles:
Tortoise Tottenham Toppled
Leadership by consent - or by force
Spurs improvement hindered by a resistance to change
A 10 minute subs appearance can tell us a lot
Footballers are no different. Sir Alex Ferguson knew that, he only bought players who he felt could adapt to new systems, he looked for football intelligence as well as football ability. The fan only looks at football ability and it seems the Tottenham recruitment staff only looked at football ability too.
Mauricio Pochettino's role thus far has been to look at the players and decide who are the intelligent ones, who can learn to adapt to a new system and who can't, or more importantly doesn't want to. Put a few who don't want to in a team and the whole team fails but that doesn't mean you get rid of them all, just the bad apples as it were. Spotting them is the key to turning things around, however big a name they are.
I wrote about Christian Eriksen recently, daring to criticise and suggest he is no better than countless other players who could play in his position. I highlighted how he, and indeed all our midfielders, do not run ahead of the ball into the box. Against Besiktas we saw it again from another set of our midfielders and it was mentioned in commentary.
The comments about Soldado were spot on, he must be sick and tired of not knowing when a pass will actually come. Chadli had the chance to whip one across with his left but didn't, he cur back onto his right to try and create a shot for himself but couldn't so turned back onto his left and had to settle for a corner. Opportunity wasted.
Townsend in the second half on the right, a chance for a right footed cross, no, turn back onto the left, turn back onto the right and fall over. Opportunity wasted.
When does Soldado make a run? When the ball should come in so the is then totally out of position for any subsequent cross therefore forcing us to play sideways again? As a striker you make that run, but if you make it again and again and the ball doesn't come in, then you are naturally going to think twice about it in the future.
He has had a season of making runs and the ball not coming so now he sometimes makes the runs, sometimes he doesn't. You think why isn't he there, why hasn't he anticipated that, the answer is because he doesn't trust that the ball will played any more.
He has been ruined by the me me me culture at Tottenham. The players are more concerned with showing their bit of skill than Tottenham winning. They think they are doing what is best, but it isn't, it's harmful, it's not playing for he team.
Tottenham are going to have to sell some good players. So put your prejudice aside and look again at the whole picture. Who is playing for the team but doesn't have the team around them and who is playing for themselves? Then you'll know which ones to weed out in January.
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