Sure there's a element of bad luck & bad timing with our current situation but all teams lose players at crucial times (TAA a week after selling Clynne). I simply don't think we should be surprised & secretly i bet the club aren't either
The reality is Spurs only have themselves to blame. Everyone knows (including levy) just how hard Poch pushes the players in training (stories of double sessions) have been reflected in the stats re running distances and the massive effort the guys put into pressing during games .
Going into this summer, having worked the same core of players hard for the previous 2 years we had the following........
Kane, Dele, Trips, Dier, Jan, Toby, Dembele, Hugo, Eriksen, & Rose All involved at the knockout stages of the world Cup. We all knew they were gonna have short rest & a lack of preseason. In addition Sonny kept playing through the Asia games, Lamela had been coming back from a beyond long term injury and the same can basically be said of Wanyama who's still MIA.
Granted we had a good start despite the losses (offset by no draws) but most of us accept the actual performances weren't great. Its worth noting Moura (who got a full rest over the summer got off to a fast start)
Point being the club knew exactly what was coming this summer and chose to do NOTHING about it... Blame the stadium, Sure. Blame Joe Lewis but the fact is the players are not robots, this stuff happens when you push them too far (Poch has no choice) but the injuries are no coincidence..... We are supposed to be a professional club, that scouts & plans ahead (other than a stadium) and one that lauds the international achievements of our players.... Surely nobody at the club in the cold light of day EVER believed that improvement wasn't possible/ needed and or required given the state of our squad. I understand these are unique times for the club re a changing transfer window, the stadium costs and the new found of wealth of clubs from who'm we used to target for some of their best players BUT.....
If we miss out on top 4/ and or a trophy and the new stadium starts with Europa League Games then Levy will have nobody to blame but himself. Build the stadium, cement your legacy ! But now is the time to justify that big old salary and start backing the football side of things, as they deserve more than they are getting.... Either that or step aside/upstairs & get someone that supports Poch rather than takes the pi55
The players & Poch could not be doing any more !
Fingers crossed the rest of the way
COYS
No Point Complaining About Injuries
posted on 16/1/19
Levy has done well for us overall, but he has had a really poor couple of years.
By all accounts he has been at the heart of the stadium project, expecting things to be rushed through and it has come back to bite him. Whether it was over ambitious, poorly led or whatever the situation has been a mess and he is the one who is most accountable.
Then you have the lack of summer signings after the incredible job Poch did last season. We were crying out for reinforcements.
He has even lost his way with contract renewals. Such a false economy losing Toby purely because he won't pay market rate.
I hope he gets himself together after the stadium because if we lose Toby, Eriksen and God forbid Poch in the summer we will have a huge rebuilding job to do.
posted on 16/1/19
Good article Diamond. Whilst we can't complain about injuries as such, the timing IS extremely bad luck - ie HK crocked on the day Son facks off to the Asian Cup and Sissoko on the day Dembele goes for a medical in China. You couldn't have planned for worse than that. Sissoko's did definitely look like it was fatigue related, but who knows.
The biggest issue is lack of contingency and that has been the case for a couple of years, so it is a Spurs management error. It needs fixing and my only hope for a silver lining is that this problem forces our hand to get another striker in now, not just temporary either. I'd like a young, hungry British striker if poss., to learn off Harry in the longer term
posted on 16/1/19
Good post OP it's true every club gets them and Spurs lost this season is certainly not unprecedented as some suggest.
posted on 16/1/19
comment by kneerash-23 Cara Gold (U6876)
posted 7 minutes ago
Good post OP it's true every club gets them and Spurs lost this season is certainly not unprecedented as some suggest.
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Cheers..... Im not saying what has happened to Spurs is unprecedented but i think its symbolic of a club that lauds itself far too much for what its actually achieved, overvalues the wrong players, under pays the right ones and who's whole strategy has become quickly outdated in a league which is almost unrecognizable to what it was a couple of years ago. I feel like levy is asleep at the wheel (Dealing with the stadium) at its Poch and the players who are stopping us from crashing. You simply cannot stand still in football, the moment you do you will be overtaken. Liverpool did it last summer, United now rid of Jose might & Chelsea could too if they sign someone who could find the net... As for City they are on a "state funded" other planet
posted on 16/1/19
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 34 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 21 minutes ago
Agree, it isn't bad luck, it's bad planning.
If this goes badly, and Levy doesn't give Potch a big budget in the summer do you guys think Mo Po will be happy? He complained last season in the media.
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Shouldn`t you be more worried about why United are like seven points behind a supposedly very weak Tottenham? I would tend to focus on why your team is still 6th are six wins in a row mate.
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In his defense mate, trying to win while your manager is trying to get himself sacked & falling out with all your best players makes life a tad tricky,.... Kid yourself all u like. They have too many good players not to make the Top 4 race very tight
posted on 16/1/19
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 48 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 23 minutes ago
Agree, it isn't bad luck, it's bad planning.
If this goes badly, and Levy doesn't give Potch a big budget in the summer do you guys think Mo Po will be happy? He complained last season in the media.
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Take Matic Herera Fred Rashford Lingard Martial out of your squad through injury, see how you cope and then see if you blame bad luck or bad planning!
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To be fair the bad planning doesn't come from having so many players injured, the bad planning relates to things like:
- knowing Son would miss two months of the season
- knowing Dembele and Wanyama are injury prone
- having 13(?) players at the world cup which increases fatigue and chances of iniury
And knowing all of that whilst simultaneously not bringing in any new signings to help mitigate it.
posted on 16/1/19
comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 48 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 23 minutes ago
Agree, it isn't bad luck, it's bad planning.
If this goes badly, and Levy doesn't give Potch a big budget in the summer do you guys think Mo Po will be happy? He complained last season in the media.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Take Matic Herera Fred Rashford Lingard Martial out of your squad through injury, see how you cope and then see if you blame bad luck or bad planning!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To be fair the bad planning doesn't come from having so many players injured, the bad planning relates to things like:
- knowing Son would miss two months of the season
- knowing Dembele and Wanyama are injury prone
- having 13(?) players at the world cup which increases fatigue and chances of iniury
And knowing all of that whilst simultaneously not bringing in any new signings to help mitigate it.
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posted on 16/1/19
Poch has to take some blame I'm afraid... we were winning games so comfortably during the busy December schedule, and we made subs so so late in those games.
Sissoko and winks were run into the ground when the reality is there were at least 3 games in December where we could have brought one of them off on 65 mins. instead, we wait until 80+ mins for subs.
its ridiculous. the squad management could have been much, much better in my opinion.
Skipp should have had loads more minutes in those games when we were 3 or 4 goals up, and maybe with that experience the idea of putting him in for some games now wouldn't be such a scary proposition.
feels ridiculous to have a go when we were smashing teams, but the lack of planning was silly and eventually has cost us, and will almost certainly completely derail our season.
posted on 16/1/19
the time poch makes to make subs is ridiculous. in most cases. games where we have already won the match yes, also games like Wolves where we tired 2nd half and could see the game slipping a mile away. and poch doesnt make a change until we`ve already seen the game slip
posted on 16/1/19
comment by Phenom (U20037)
posted 23 minutes ago
the time poch makes to make subs is ridiculous. in most cases. games where we have already won the match yes, also games like Wolves where we tired 2nd half and could see the game slipping a mile away. and poch doesnt make a change until we`ve already seen the game slip
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Poch is loyal to a fault at times.. Esp with the likes of Trips, Davies, Dier, Dele (sometimes he need to be dropped to get him focused). He doesn't protect Kane from himself & he defo dithers on subs when chasing a game