Even without fans in place to show their displeasure, and the League Cup final on the horizon, would Levy really be able to justify keeping Mourinho on if we lost three games in a row again and any lingering hopes for top 4 (already very slim) were extinguished for good?
It will require our first win over a top 10 team since December to ease some of the pressure, and after the last two performances I hold out little hope of that.
The most worrying aspects for me about Thursday's game was a) that I wasn't too surprised we threw it away and b) I didn't really care that much if we went through or not. I was still desperate for us to score at the end, and was jumping up and down with those late few chances, but I didn't find myself hugely depressed afterwards or even that embarrassed.
I think, at least in part, that's because a bit of me is happy to see Jose pushed closer to the exit door. I never want Tottenham to lose, but at the same time defeats at the moment don't hurt that much (not even the NLD, for Pete's sake), because I am far less invested right now.
The Brighton game was the final straw for me with Jose. Following on from the equally dismal Chelsea performance, it smacked of a manager who had lost it and a team who weren't playing for him.
I was encouraged by the 5 game winning run, but without wanting to sound arrogant and entitled, they were all games we should have been winning. Even then, with that momentum built up, we went and defended against Arsenal for 70 minutes until we went down to 10 men and then finally started to attack. On Thursday, the same thing happened - we only started to show some intensity when 3-0 down and going out.
The players should take a share of the blame, as Lloris alluded to - some of them have been atrocious in the last two games, or just aren't good enough despite trying their best - but I think they are on the whole a good and talented bunch being badly managed by a past-it manager who hasn't moved with the times.
The end to his second spell at Chelsea and his largely tortured time at United should have been the warning signs. The mind games, the pettiness, the calling out players in public (doesn't work for Bruce, doesn't work for Mourinho), the alienating of certain players, the excuses, the coded language, the subtle shifting of blame - all make him hard to like, even if he came off better in the Amazon doc than expected and isn't the devil incarnate some believe him to be.
But, like Arry and Sherwood, I find his football personality immensely off-putting and don't even bother listening to his post-match interviews half the time. Add that to a natural pragmatism in big games, which now doesn't work more than it works, and a seeming lack of identity and ideas, and we have a big problem.
He will be very expensive to sack, and Levy will be reluctant to do so with the LC final tantalisingly close, but another defeat or poor performance could be the final straw.
Hopefully we get the reaction we expected in the Dinamo game, but I am not looking forward to it. Jose needs to find some of that old brilliance, some of that spark, or things are only going to get worse. He'd be the first manager in over a decade to have us finishing outside the top 6, and if we don't win the cup final it will have been a highly disappointing season.
So much is riding on that one game, but is Jose worth persisting with for that alone? And does he really have it in him to turn Spurs back into challengers? The jury suggests not at the moment. How long are we then willing to suffer his negative tactics against anyone half-decent?
COYS.
Would Mourinho survive a Villa defeat?
posted on 20/3/21
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN (U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
Where was the call for all the same mentally weak players under prior management ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did call out players like Winks, Dier, Sissoko, Davies under the previous manager as well. And I also on many occasions over the past few years have called the team mentally weak.
posted on 20/3/21
comment by sandy, bullies must never be allowed to win (U20567)
posted 12 seconds ago
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN(U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
Where was the call for all the same mentally weak players under prior management ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did call out players like Winks, Dier, Sissoko, Davies under the previous manager as well. And I also on many occasions over the past few years have called the team mentally weak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry that was unfair on you cause that was more of a comment to the general fan base who have more started to call out players now more than before.
posted on 20/3/21
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN (U20037)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by sandy, bullies must never be allowed to win (U20567)
posted 12 seconds ago
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN(U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
Where was the call for all the same mentally weak players under prior management ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did call out players like Winks, Dier, Sissoko, Davies under the previous manager as well. And I also on many occasions over the past few years have called the team mentally weak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry that was unfair on you cause that was more of a comment to the general fan base who have more started to call out players now more than before.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No problem.
posted on 20/3/21
comment by sandy, bullies must never be allowed to win (U20567)
posted 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN(U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
Where was the call for all the same mentally weak players under prior management ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did call out players like Winks, Dier, Sissoko, Davies under the previous manager as well. And I also on many occasions over the past few years have called the team mentally weak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Doherty needs to go as well.
But I would keep Sissoko...... I believe he is being misused by Mourinho as a fifth defender, which he is not.
Deschamps (himself a midfielder) has just recalled him to the French National side, so some knowledgeable managers think he is useful.
Sandy.... unfortunately we have to admit the team's problems lie largely with Mourinho.
When Harry Kane plays the way he did in Zagreb, disinterestedly, it is clear the manager has lost the dressing room.
Time for Nagelsmann!
posted on 21/3/21
But can Levy afford to sack him? I read he’s on a fortune and that would mean a massive pay off.
You ain’t going down (obviously). You ain’t getting in the top four. You might yet win a cup.
I think he will be with you a while yet.
posted on 21/3/21
comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
But can Levy afford to sack him? I read he’s on a fortune and that would mean a massive pay off.
You ain’t going down (obviously). You ain’t getting in the top four. You might yet win a cup.
I think he will be with you a while yet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
25 Million GBP!
But compare that with what it may cost the club to keep him another two years?
posted on 21/3/21
comment by JustCallMeTed (U21528)
posted 51 minutes ago
comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
But can Levy afford to sack him? I read he’s on a fortune and that would mean a massive pay off.
You ain’t going down (obviously). You ain’t getting in the top four. You might yet win a cup.
I think he will be with you a while yet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
25 Million GBP!
But compare that with what it may cost the club to keep him another two years?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I may be wrong...... read this.....
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/03/20/duncan-castles-says-tottenham-do-have-a-break-clause-in-jose-mourinhos-contract/
posted on 21/3/21
comment by JustCallMeTed (U21528)
posted 9 hours, 18 minutes ago
comment by sandy, bullies must never be allowed to win (U20567)
posted 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
comment by #PhenagelsmannIN(U20037)
posted 29 minutes ago
Where was the call for all the same mentally weak players under prior management ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did call out players like Winks, Dier, Sissoko, Davies under the previous manager as well. And I also on many occasions over the past few years have called the team mentally weak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Doherty needs to go as well.
But I would keep Sissoko...... I believe he is being misused by Mourinho as a fifth defender, which he is not.
Deschamps (himself a midfielder) has just recalled him to the French National side, so some knowledgeable managers think he is useful.
Sandy.... unfortunately we have to admit the team's problems lie largely with Mourinho.
When Harry Kane plays the way he did in Zagreb, disinterestedly, it is clear the manager has lost the dressing room.
Time for Nagelsmann!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And Dybala.
posted on 21/3/21
If there's a break clause in his contract, and considering this is Levy I'll be stunned if there isn't, he'll be gone once top 4 is mathematically impossible.
If not, enjoy season three where things really start getting fun
posted on 21/3/21
i can't see any up side of mouriho starting another season. it would only delay the inevitable.
one of levy's biggest errors.