Quite frankly, the players must take a large slice of the blame for our performances.
The ones Jose inherited:
• Dier – we all know he’s not good enough; so does Jose which is why he tried to protect the back four so much with Hojbjerg and Sissoko in the holding midfield positions. Many fans (and pundits) constantly questioned why we had to have two holding midfielders in games against teams outside the “big 6". Now we know why.
• Davies - He does reasonably well in the left side of 3 at the back, but as a full back he’s not of the required standard.
• Sanchez – he’s very poor and again not of the required standard (see holding midfielders comment above).
• Aurier – for him, he’s had a better season, but he’s still liability and cannot be trusted.
• Sissoko – he’s so poor on the ball it’s a joke. You can see him almost panicking when he’s in possession and looks to get rid of it (sideways) as soon as possible on most occasions.
• Ndombele – an absolute sensation and he will go on to become one of the best players in Europe in my opinion (at Spurs or elsewhere)
• Winks – not of the required standard I’m afraid. I had great hopes for Winks a couple of seasons ago, but his game has regressed (both under Poch and Jose).
• Moura – what a complete let down. When he first signed he showed potential, but he’s just become a headless chicken with very little end product.
• Lamela – massive disappointment both in terms of his performances and injury record.
• Lo Ceslo – the jury’s still out, but after a promising start he’s been a bit of a let down. A bit too lightweight.
Now the players Jose signed:
• Reguilon – excellent signing and he has been missed since being injured.
• Hojbjerg – excellent signing. Don’t need to say anymore.
• Bergwijn – the jury’s still out. He desperately needs to start scoring goals.
• Doherty – has been very average. To be fair he has not been played to his strengths (as a wing back) and has lost confidence as a result. I still think he can and will come good.
• Rodon – he’s obviously a rookie and has made some bad mistakes, but he shows potential. I think we signed him only because the club was not prepared to spend the money on defenders that Jose had really targeted.
• Vinicius – a good backup striker signing. I think he has all the attributes to be a successful number 9. Jose really needs to show more faith in him and give him a run in the team now that Kane’s out.
• Bale – massive disappointment so far, but could still come good. Was he really a Jose signing?
I think that Jose inherited so many mediocre players that it was always going to be a difficult job to turn things around (and would take a few transfer windows). Looking at the players he’s signed, there is real promise with most of them and I think we can all agree that most of them have been good signings so far?
So yes, “Jose out" is the popular theme right now, but I am really not sure how much better another manager could do with the squad that we currently have. Some of the players are having too many brain fart moments (and weak mentalities) and that’s not down to the manager. Or maybe it is?
Where I do fiercely criticise Jose is in his recent team selections and substitutions (particularly concerning Vinicius). He really needs to sort that out otherwise, yes….he should be sacked mid season!
Can we now focus on the players?
posted on 2/2/21
comment by PawlBawron (U1055)
posted 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
I realise that Jose is deeply unpopular on here but I doubt very much that he told a bunch of highly paid Internationals to make sure they were completely outfought by Brighton and not work their keeper until the last few minutes.
The players should not be exonerated for Sundays shocking performance, it shouldn't matter if Christopher Biggins is the manager there is no excuse for not putting a shift in.
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That performance was the players throwing Jose under the bus that he has been asking them to park.
Fall out with too many players at once and thats what happens.
posted on 2/2/21
comment by PawlBawron (U1055)
posted 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
I realise that Jose is deeply unpopular on here but I doubt very much that he told a bunch of highly paid Internationals to make sure they were completely outfought by Brighton and not work their keeper until the last few minutes.
The players should not be exonerated for Sundays shocking performance, it shouldn't matter if Christopher Biggins is the manager there is no excuse for not putting a shift in.
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That performance was the players throwing Jose under the bus that he has been asking them to park.
Fall out with too many players at once and thats what happens.
posted on 2/2/21
The telling thing for me is that under Poch you could say that the manager was getting more out of that group of players than you would expect.
Under Jose, we do not seem to be able to do this.
Yes, some of these players are not good enough and the balance (esp. with GLC missing so much) is lacking, particularly in the central midfield, but we should be doing better than we are.
There have been some good results but there have been more poor ones. A poor perfromce can be tolerated from time to time esp. when you get a result, but ours are becoming too frequent.
Confidence is clearly at a low point right now and this can be fatal. It was a spiral that Poch went down and could not recover. You sense players lost faith in him.
With Jose, he has an almighty record so you'd expect players to keep faith, but his more recent history will also be in their minds. And players are not stupid, they will see far more progressive styles being applied across the league and may question Jose's methods.
Too early to sack him. Its been a topsy-turvy league where form has come and gone. This is a critical part of the season where the cups and europe kick in and you can fall too far behind in the top 4. We're still in touch with 2nd. A change now will not resolve anything, esp. where you question who is out there.
posted on 2/2/21
we lose to Chelsea, then lose to WBA and then lose to Everton in the FA cup.
is it too early?
posted on 2/2/21
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 2/2/21
posted on 2/2/21
Doherty – has been very average.
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very kind.
he has been a decent signing in that he has given aurier a kick up the arris… but he himself has been abysmal
posted on 2/2/21
Doherty hasn't become a bad player overnight though, he was good for Wolves as a direct, physical wing back underlapping the winger (Adama). Every reason to suspect he'd be able to reproduce that form in a similar system at Spurs, just like Winks might become a decent player again in a more possession-based setup.
Turns out he's not a Premiership-quality full back in a back four, though. I might suggest the scouts could've considered that as a possibility, given that he never played in that system for Wolves since they got promoted.
posted on 2/2/21
Mourinho is not stupid, he will know most of his defenders can not trusted and are error prone, hence why he always comes up with formations to protect them. The problem with that is, it takes away too much attacking possession and limits us to playing on the counter and relying on our forwards to be clinical.
We would probably be better off trying to outscore the opposition, we have too many average players at the back and in midfield to set up like we do.
posted on 2/2/21
Gezza.....I agree with your analysis of our existing players. I would have used stronger wording on Doherty, Winks, Sanchez, Dier...... "just not good enough".
However, you did not pay any attention to the players or positions Levy / Mourinho should be looking to strengthen right now, AND the players they should be trying to attract.
You say Vinicius (jury out). Well how about Dybala?
Center backs not good enough? Well how about Upamecano (now available at a price that would make Levy shiet his pants).
And I could go on.....