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*** Tottenham Hotspur v Nottingham Forest ***

Nuno Espirito Santo:
"I am not that kind of person (who likes proving Spurs wrong about sacking me). I was honoured to be managing Tottenham. A huge, big club. I wish them the best."

I may not enjoy his style of football, but I will always hugelty respect the man.
It’s because he has always tried to be respectful
Some mangers have class
Others have arrogance
 
Weird complaining about the style/play of the team in 3rd whilst we languish in 16th

Even weirder when we have been playing appalling football for months, just without the structure Forest have
This is what I was referrring to when I spoke about entitlement. How any fans of a team in 16th can bemoan the playing style of a team in 3rd is foreign to me.

The defended well, broke well, scored 3 goals in 25 mins and then just chilled out. Where is it written they had to continue pilling forward after they had their 4 touches and 2 goals in our box. Their the away team hunting Champion's League. The likelihood is that if we had scored earlier they would have attacked more and scored again. Let's not forget they took off one of thier main attacking threats at half time as well.
 
we know all the issues which have got us here

But do we?

We know the obvious things like the injury crisis, fatigue and perhaps the size and experience of the squad. They are the very "clear and obvious" to quote a very popular football phrase.

Does someone at the club see the more subtle stuff though? Second goal, holding a line in completely the wrong place. Some players like Romero stepping up. Others like VDV and Spence holding the line, but none of them marking. Honestly, what I'm seeing with my own eyes isn't just player errors. That's just another Ange narrative to mask what is really happening. What I'm seeing is a real lack of defensive coaching.

This time last year the big conversation was about specialist coaches. What Munn should be looking at next is whether our analyst team is working well enough or is it the case that they actually are but are coaches aren't capable of implementing effective defensive systems to stop the type of goals we see week in, week out. If not, Ange needs to admit that his defensive system and coaches just aren't up to the Premier League environment. This is why Munn will eventually have an easy decision to make.

Strangely, I'm still very optimistic about our overall direction of travel. The things I talk about aren't rocket science to most management setups but they unfortunately seem to be to Ange and his coaches. It is the one area that, if resolved, would achieve the biggest outcome at our club. We need to lose the obsession with offside and get back to proper defending again.
 
This is what I was referrring to when I spoke about entitlement. How any fans of a team in 16th can bemoan the playing style of a team in 3rd is foreign to me.

The defended well, broke well, scored 3 goals in 25 mins and then just chilled out. Where is it written they had to continue pilling forward after they had their 4 touches and 2 goals in our box. Their the away team hunting Champion's League. The likelihood is that if we had scored earlier they would have attacked more and scored again. Let's not forget they took off one of thier main attacking threats at half time as well.

Playing against Spurs is like playing against an erratic fast bowler at cricket. You know most of the game will be tough but every over that bad ball will come and you can smash it for four. You just need to defend well yourself and you'll get your ton and win the game.
 
But do we?

We know the obvious things like the injury crisis, fatigue and perhaps the size and experience of the squad. They are the very "clear and obvious" to quote a very popular football phrase.

Does someone at the club see the more subtle stuff though? Second goal, holding a line in completely the wrong place. Some players like Romero stepping up. Others like VDV and Spence holding the line, but none of them marking. Honestly, what I'm seeing with my own eyes isn't just player errors. That's just another Ange narrative to mask what is really happening. What I'm seeing is a real lack of defensive coaching.

This time last year the big conversation was about specialist coaches. What Munn should be looking at next is whether our analyst team is working well enough or is it the case that they actually are but are coaches aren't capable of implementing effective defensive systems to stop the type of goals we see week in, week out. If not, Ange needs to admit that his defensive system and coaches just aren't up to the Premier League environment. This is why Munn will eventually have an easy decision to make.

Strangely, I'm still very optimistic about our overall direction of travel. The things I talk about aren't rocket science to most management setups but they unfortunately seem to be to Ange and his coaches. It is the one area that, if resolved, would achieve the biggest outcome at our club. We need to lose the obsession with offside and get back to proper defending again.
Fingers crossed Paratici will be back in place soon and, if so, I expect he will relieve Munn of his duties. Munn can then go and get a job in whatever football backwater suits his level.

Even if Paratici doesn't return I expect Vinai Venkatesham will jettison Munn and replace him with somebody better.
 
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Nuno Espirito Santo:
"I am not that kind of person (who likes proving Spurs wrong about sacking me). I was honoured to be managing Tottenham. A huge, big club. I wish them the best."

I may not enjoy his style of football, but I will always hugelty respect the man.

I agree with your thoughts, we must remember to most he was a mug out of his depth and never good enough for Tottenham.
 
I agree with your thoughts, we must remember to most he was a mug out of his depth and never good enough for Tottenham.
He is doing well at Forest. That does not mean we was wrong to get rid of him.

For me he was a panic hire. he played ultra defensive setups and well as long as it was working I suppose we was ok with it. But After Mourinhio we got NES and the results took a turn. We was all happy to get Conte at the time.

I still dont think he was the right hire for the club. Forest seem happy enough with playing that system and they are on a roll. I dont think they can sustain it into next season at all. But I wish NES and them the best. Always had a soft spot for Forest for some reason. I think its bacause I always liked going to the City ground.
 
All this "we won the stats" is fool's gold. OK, Forest had 4 touches in the box. X2 of those touches were to put the ball in our net. How many of our 20 odd shots were comparative chances? One of those shots was Davies attempting an Erik Edman and another was Spence shanking one onto the corner flag.

Forest got their goals and were then happy to conserve energy for the rest of the match. Something we could have done with doing when we went 2-0 up at Brighton. We complain about the number of games there is to play in the modern game. Some managers deal with that reality in an effective way. Some think the answer is to make their players run around like headless chickens for 90+ minutes every game. The results (both in terms of actual results and injuries) are there for all to see.

Reminds me of Brenton Rodgers back in his Liverpool days complaining about how unfair it was when they didn’t win after dominating possession plus having more shots, guess that’s all you need to do in order to win the treble with Celtic though.

 
If you have two boxers in a ring. One is rushing forward. Flailing wildly. The other dodges and weaves, blocks the punches thrown. Then counters knocking out the other fighter.

There is no argument who is the better fighter.

We've been flailing all season. The other teams just knock us out.
 
Fingers crossed Paratici will be back in place soon and, if so, I expect he will relieve Munn of his duties

Do they do the same job? I see Paratici as a super scout with Board level connections. Munn is essentially a very senior manager with several departments to manage, including scouting, Game Analysis, Medical, hiring and "managing" the chief coach for both men's and women's teams etc etc
 
Fingers crossed Paratici will be back in place soon and, if so, I expect he will relieve Munn of his duties

Do they do the same job? I see Paratici as a super scout with Board level connections. Munn is essentially a very senior manager with several departments to manage, including scouting, Game Analysis, Medical, hiring and "managing" the chief coach for both men's and women's teams etc etc

Campos, marotta or monchi for me. Or the liverpool one who left.
 
You can't have a setup where you have Ange football in possession and a defensive manager's out of it because Ange's ace up his sleeve is putting all his players bar 2 in the opposing half to give an attacking numerical advantage, which is completely at odds with how a a manager like Nuno sets teams up - good managers with well thought out setups work advantages in possession through the shape, movement and passing of their players - not by chucking everyone forward like lunchtime football on the playground.

The problem is Ange's system is incomplete

- Creating overloads and position fluidity is not a new/unknown tactic and some very good managers use it

The question becomes

- What other tactic do you have offensively, e.g. overloads often create congestion in certain parts of the pitch, does that then give you space somewhere else? how do you switch the play to use that?
- Players being out of positions creates space for your opposition, or problems for you, how do you cover/counter that? e.g. a DM that steps back, only one FB going forward at a time, midfielder stepping to left or right to cover behind the FB?

Right now it feels like entire team bum rush opposition, and have the fastest CB in the world to run backward to cover the simple one pass counters the system creates, not what I'd consider a tactic.
 
He is doing well at Forest. That does not mean we was wrong to get rid of him.

For me he was a panic hire. he played ultra defensive setups and well as long as it was working I suppose we was ok with it. But After Mourinhio we got NES and the results took a turn. We was all happy to get Conte at the time.

I still dont think he was the right hire for the club. Forest seem happy enough with playing that system and they are on a roll. I dont think they can sustain it into next season at all. But I wish NES and them the best. Always had a soft spot for Forest for some reason. I think its bacause I always liked going to the City ground.

It depends on what the plan was. We were in a very toxic period at the club, the squad still was in the pending refresh stage and we probably needed a couple of years to reset before being able to challenge again. It that scenario

- Bringing a manager that was first and foremost a decent human being, could represent the club well, not be a clam.
- Brining a manager that showed he could take Wolves to European challenging spots two years in a row (all we need was Spurs to be 1 or 2 spots better)
- Brining in a manager that tactically wasn't a 100% direction change from prior.

The logic of the hire was clear, problem is, media, fans, potentially some players decided he was a failure before he started. All the judging criteria of him proved to be correct FWIW.
 
Fingers crossed Paratici will be back in place soon and, if so, I expect he will relieve Munn of his duties. Munn can then go and get a job in whatever football backwater suits his level.

Even if Paratici doesn't return I expect Vinai Venkatesham will jettison Munn and replace him with somebody better.

What you say could be true, but it can surely only be you working on instinct. Unlike Ange where the proof is demonstrable across almost 100 games of football on live TV and twice as many interviews, we don't really know whether Munn is great or not. Based on the point I picked on above, I have a feeling the club analysts are more than competent and Munn is managing them well under his leadership. Problem is, Ange is not listening to his analysts and is doing things is own way. That high offside line is taking players way out of their comfort zone and is totally fallible. I've been watching it so closely for so long now. It is either marginally offside or we are in absolute trouble as they are onside and we're not marking. Those analysts probably know it and don't believe in the system.

Personally, I quite like offside but you have to pick and choose when you do and when you don't use it. I see our players relying on it when they should be picking up players and using their natural instincts. They use it in the 18 yard box and even try to step out when a cross is coming in. It is high risk stuff that needs removing from our setup. They need to get back to basics and mark players and get goal side. That's what every other PL team does.

Where I trust Paratici is that he would see this with his own eyes. He is a football man through and through and would be helping Ange to recalibrate his defensive structure. Ditto with Lange who I'm sure is having his own internal frustrations with the tactics. To me, that doesn't mean Munn isn't the right man for the CFO role. That is a more senior role and he needs guys around him. Ange is undoing all their good work in my opinion by not holding his end up. No point blaming the others.
 
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