The problem is in every interview all season player after player keeps going on about pushing on and winning trophies.
This from a few days ago for instance
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/kane-sees-points-prove-and-trophies-win-tottenham
And then they turn out and play with no motivation and you have Dembele saying that Gent wanted it more than us.
If Poch or the players came out and said we're concentrating on the league, most of us would accept that.
It is not a problem for the players to keep on going on about improving and winning trophies. The problem is if they don't back it up. For the most part of the last two seasons, I think they have proven that they have the desire and motivation to win trophies. Picking a couple of games in isolation and showing that as any sort of proof that they lack desire is not fair. Form is temporary.
And on the last point, if Poch or the players came out and said they were concentrating on the league, I certainly don't think most of us would accept that. I certainly wouldn't and I expect at least half of the board wouldn't, given the previous discussions about taking the cups seriously. Form cannot be turned on or off in an instant, and focusing only on the league is just not (imho) a viable or desirable strategy.
I thought our performance on Thursday was shocking as well as the Liverpool performance. But do I think that these players lack motivation? No. They're going through a bad bit of form where nothing seems to be going for them. I don't think the stats are showing that they are running any less, it's just that things are not working out. This is temporary and we will go back to some of our more impressive performances this season.
In my mind we are not good enough to win the league if at least one of the bigger teams is at the races. They have the proven winners in their team and those players that can make something out of nothing. We have a couple of them. To then say that we should focus on the league just seems stupid. If it's an outside chance of winning it, why put everything into winning it. Why not take the lottery of a cup draw.
I really do think that we as fans need to get a grip and have a sense of realism. In any season there will be a few shocking performances. If your first reaction is to complain, whinge or moan, then quite frankly all I can say is "how can you expect this team, with its age, with the amount of money that has been spent on it to be perfect or better than another that has had more money spent on it and an experienced manager who has won league titles before. Our way is (un)fortunately about patience. I don't think anyone expected that we would win the league this season, so why expect that now?