We had Son still playing well and we had more creativity in the side. I’m not sure the squad now is better than it was then. We certainly had no European football to worry about. And we had a big drop off in the second half of that season which then largely carried into the next.
That was part of their argument; at what point does a club accept that its league position is actually a representation of the quality (or lack of) on the pitch? Two years into poor league form, does that not begin to send a pretty clear message?
Anyway, it’s worth a listen if you get time.
I suppose no one knew then that we’d still be without our three main creative outlets at Christmas. I do remember plenty saying that Maddison being injured in pre-season could have a big impact, both on here and in the media.
Ok, I’ve listened to it. I think JPB and DKP do their best to come across as balanced and thoughtful at all times. I just don’t agree with them on this.
I think when JPB started his point, around whether we should be happy that we ‘had the better of the chances’ or ‘showed a bit of fight’ at the end vs Liverpool. That I agree with. Because I think people are judging the Liverpool performance by the low standards this team has set, rather than the potential I think this team can reach. I didn’t think it was that good. I thought Brentford was a complete performance. Liverpool was kind of fine but still a slog.
But I don’t agree that we are actually just now an average team. It doesn’t mean I think we will just waltz back into 4th either. Because I think Villa are changing the game, Saudi Sportswashing Machine probably do too, and the overall quality of the league is higher and anyone can beat anyone. But I think at a bare minimum, we should be top 8. And I think our squad is capable of achieving that while playing football most of our fans would consider good.
I just think this idea that suddenly Palace are a better side than us, or have better players, is just completely ridiculous. They may be at a different point in their coaching cycle, so look better in some respects, but quality of players? No, not having it. I think it’s a point of view of people that are analysing the immediate term, rather than the long term.
The fact is, our players have almost to a man really excellent pedigree. Richarlison starts for Brazil, but I hear people talk about him as a joke figure. I think we have world class centre backs that could walk into any team. Romero has a bad game and you have people arguing that this World Cup winner that Messi rates as the best defender in the world wouldn’t make it into another top 6 side. Completely ridiculous. Porro plays for Spain. Udogie could play anywhere. I could go on. Even Tel - very much potential that needs developing with us, but in terms of pedigree he is someone that with the right coaching and opportunities is going to be a seriously good player. Barcelona wanted Bergval, Gray is very likely going to be a top midfielder and they are the two most inexperienced players in the squad. Palinha was wanted by a dominant Bayern Munich.
My point is, I think our players are really quite good. We have gaps. And I don’t think it’s a title challenging squad. But I think they have top pedigree, better than at least 12 other clubs, and being at the start of a coaching cycle or a bad run of form doesn’t change that. I look at it in the same way I think about the squad Poch inherited. Rose, Walker, Dembele, Eriksen, Vertonghen all had excellent pedigree.
That’s the good thing about being Spurs. That we can sign players with excellent pedigree and if we get the coaching right, they will reach their potential. I think our squad is easily capable of playing ‘attractive’ football and what we are seeing is what Frank wants. Equally I think that Frank is trying to get something working that hasn’t quite clicked yet, but I think there are green shoots. This whole rotation, and saving intensity for certain phases of the matches, I think we’re starting to see it work. Eg against Chelsea it very much did not. We did not raise our game at any point. But I think we can point to Man United second half, Liverpool, Saudi Sportswashing Machine second half, as well as winning our winnable CL games or like against Brentford as that it is starting to come together. We’ll still get individual mistakes that impact the game state. We’ll still have to deal with refereeing nonsense. And it’s a real shame we didn’t hold on against United because that would have been vindication. But I think there’s green shoots - raising our game in specific moments in matches when we need to is a good sign.
And overall I think people would do well to just consider all of the context and more longer term time horizons before making definitive statements. It does not jive with reality for me that our players are suddenly lower mid table quality - they are full internationals with top pedigree almost to a man. But they are at the start of a coaching style, they are being asked to do very different things compared to the previous coach, and that’s going to make it all harder. If we’re way off it in March I’m going to come more firmly down the side of something needs to change, but right now I have the sense that the players are trying and we’re close to it feeling better for everyone.
