Mails: Are we all forgetting that Tottenham failed again?
Date published: Friday 24th February 2017 4:33
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Are we all forgetting Tottenham’s failure?
I appreciate a lot of focus today is on Ranieri, but is it just me or has Spurs total failure in Europe totally slipped from the spotlight? Considering the viciousness of the backlash against Arsenal and particularly Wenger for their result, seems like Tottenham have got of pretty lightly.
From where I’m sitting not getting out of a not overly challenging group in the Champions League then getting knocked out by Gent is a hell of a lot worse than winning your group and then getting hammered by Bayern, one of the best teams in Europe.
Spurs have been knocked out of Europe twice this season already, whilst Arsenal remain (temporarily perhaps) actively participating!
David, Arsenal obviously, Wenger IN
So that’s us out of Europe….again. It’s been a really poor showing from us this season and we really do deserve a royal shellacking. I don’t think Poch did a great deal wrong, maybe could have juggled the players a little bit differently but on each occasion the team should have been able to apply themselves. Well done to Gent though, a big scalp and one that should be a good reason for more knockout games.
It’s been odd though, the better we played in Europe the worse the actual results have been, wonder if we are just too suited to the fast pace of the prem and when the game gets slowed we struggle to open up the space needed, there is a decent blueprint for how to beat us and we need to figure out some different ways to combat that. We really miss Danny Rose, just balances our play and makes a huge difference to how the entire team attacks.
Leicester sacking Ranieri has definitely taken the focus away from our exit, was a shame he went but thanks for the timing.
Alli, what a player, could easily be one of the best around, but what a knob, he needs to find some kind of balance. Sure, be strong, get the tackles in, be confrontational and at times a bit snide, but he really needs to cut out that kind of nastiness. He does remind me in so many ways of Gerrard including the red mist nastiness. I think he’s always a player who will get red’s, but come on Alli (not that he reads this) that tackle was an absolute shocker and lucky that a player isn’t looking towards a very uncertain future.
My only retort to Brad is that, Ian Wright, Lee Dixon, Paul Merson, Martin Keown, Charlie Nicholas, Henry, Alan Smith, Niall Quinn, are they really not enough for you that you want more? I also think the difference in repoting between Arsenal and Spurs, is that we had a shock result and they happen, Arsenal had an entirely predictable result which for one of the richest clubs in the world really should happen, losings ok, not adequately competing is the criticism.
So, in conclusion, shockingly shit European campaign from us, poor current run of form, but it’s ok, we still love the Poch.
Steve (Cracking turnout at Wembley Hart Lane, despite Doris) THFC.
Dirty Dele
As a Spurs fan, I obviously think Dele Alli is brilliant. I’m not here to defend his red card, but I will say that if he’s “a nasty piece of work who has no ability to handle losing”, then great, because that’s exactly what Spurs need (that and better depth than Sissoko and Janssen obviously).
Some players combine that personality with middling levels of talent (Joey Barton springs to mind), but Brad has just described Roy Keane there. Remember how much his hatred of losing helped drive Man Utd to success, remember when Rooney was young and good, scored 25 or more goals a season and everyone worried that he was one loss of temper away from a red card?
It’s a cliche, but a psychotic will to win is no bad thing in competitive sport. Combine that with the talent of, I dunno, at least three Joey Bartons, and why would we want Dele to change?
Neil, THFC
PS I actually quite like Joey Barton, he’s far more interesting than most players
PPS I still think Poch will leave in the summer, but my future-told-you-so emails on that haven’t been published (yet)
Much as I hate even thinking about football after an embarrassing result, I’d just like to offer some thoughts on the Europa League and Dele Alli’s reckless lunge.
Sanctimonious pundits and fans of teams who don’t qualify for Europe are always pretty keen to slate teams for not taking the Europa seriously.
Now I’ve been a Spurs fan for more than 25 years, during which time we’ve been in the competition more often than not. It has usually negatively affected our league form but, more to the point, we’ve rarely come anywhere close to winning it.
Even when we’ve put out strong sides, we still end up going out to a decent side (not including Ghent), having endured gruelling round trips to far-flung parts of eastern Europe.
And that, in a nutshell, is why the over-privileged fans of teams like Spurs don’t fancy it much. It’s a one-way ticket to disappointment and squad fatigue. Obviously i’d have liked us to progress before the game. But waking up today, I couldn’t really give a stuff that, yet again, we’re out of Europe’s second-tier competition.
As for Dele…Spurs fans have known for a while that he is both messiah and a bit of a naughty boy. Last night’s lunge was obviously unforgivable. However…one thing Spurs have often lacked over the years is a bit of nasty, a bit of needle, players who skirt the line of what’s acceptable and occasionally cross it. Every top side should have at least one.
I’d love Dele to cut out some of the petulance, particularly given that it cost us last year when he was suspended at the end of the season.
But I also recognise that it’s the flip side of his fiercely competitive nature. If he has to get the odd red card, i’ll take that in return for one of the most exciting young players i’ve seen at the Lane.
If fans of other teams hate him, that delights me. I’d rather have a despised Dele Alli than a beloved Scotty Parker, any day of the week and twice on Sundays at 2.05pm.
Rob Davies, THFC
The impossible job
A lot of Leicester fans are criticising Ranieri for losing the dressing room, yet I think it is remarkably unfair on him. It’s not surprising in the least to see such a slump. It’s no secret that motivating champions for the next season is a challenge few managers have succeeded at, at least when they have any serious competition. No team has ever retained the Champions League and few Premier League champions retain their title. It’s psychological. Players will have drawn on all their motivation and spirit to get over the line. Their hunger is satisfied and they are elated. After this comes the depressive stage. Everyone else is hungry to beat the champions but everyone expects the champions to maintain their standards. The pressure combined with the loss of motivation is too much.
Yet Leicester are no ordinary league champions. They are the most overacheiving champions we probably have ever seen. They didn’t just win it. They defied all the odds and became legends. The ultimate high. Is it such a surprise that their next season hangover would be horrendous. There will be nothing left in the tank. It’s not a case of simply returning to normal. Mentally it was always going to be the toughest season they have ever had to face. So when Ranieri talks of a relegation dogfight… How do you get going for that? They know they will never reach the summit of the PL again. Throwaway retorts like how much they are being paid, or how they should just do their job like everyone else mean nothing here.
The fact that Leicester have done so well in the Champions League strengthens my point. That was the next step for them. The one thing that can stir up the feeling of defying the odds again. No one expects them to win that. Perfect.
But getting that group of players to go back to the day job and fight for Premier League survival might have just been the ultimate bad job.
I don’t blame Ranieri for not having the answers, but can you blame the players either? I don’t think they have the answers anymore than the manager did.
Perhaps a new manager will find a solution, but it is not simply a case of bringing in a Big Sam. Tactics and training mean nothing here. They need someone who can get into their heads and give each of them a reason to fight. If it was me, I would be bringing in a sports psychologist and giving them all one to one sessions until they pull it together.
Nic, Lancaster
An envious Arsenal fan
I have to applaud the mails from Leicester fans backing Ranieri’s sacking.
My immediate reaction was how dare they! given everything Claudio gave their club last season.
It does spoil the fairytale but it’s mostly neutrals that have bought into this fairytale for Leicester fans they expect their management to do what’s in the best interests of the club.
It’s the same with Arsenal. Neutrals hate the idea of a club firing their most successful club but with Arsenal you’re only talking about not renewing the manager’s contract.
I’m sure if Arsene goes, we’ll be tarred with the Leicester brush and accused of immense gratitude but as the Leicester fans point out when your team stops being competitive, and admittedly in Arsenal’s case that’s in the Champions League, it’s time to say goodbye.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
What if Anelka had stayed?
Loved your piece on Nicolas Anelka, and I reckon he represents one of football’s greatest ‘sliding doors’ moments in time – what if he’d stayed at Arsenal?
The team that finished the ‘98 double season remains to this day my favourite Arsenal side. By then Anelka had edged out Wrighty – at the time our greatest ever goal scorer – to become our first choice partner for Bergkamp, and no-one queried that decision, that’s how good this lad was
Anelka, and more specifically his idiot agent brothers, ended up getting their heads, and whilst it would have been hard to ignore a big offer from Real Madrid, most people I spoke to at the time – even non-Gooners – were of the opinion that he should have at least given Arsenal a couple more years. The Arsenal fans only turned on him when it became clear that he was agitating for a move away from the club, and manager, that had made him into the player he was. From the fan’s perspective it was dismay at his ingratitude but also we knew full well what we were losing.
So what would have happened had he stayed? It’s easy, he essentially got replaced by Thierry Henry, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to suggest that if Anelka had stayed at Arsenal for another decade then you can basically add Henry’s stats to Anelka’s own Arsenal record and that’s probably what he could have achieved staying put. They were pretty much the same type of player – again, that’s how good Anelka was at his best.
Anelka has subsequently acknowledged many times he made a huge mistake leaving Arsenal, and he was one of the earliest of the long line of Arsenal / Wenger players finding out that the grass wasn’t greener on the other side. In the end Arsenal didn’t really miss out because Wenger repeated the trick of signing a young French striker with potential and Thierry Henry became a legend here.
Thierry Henry owes the Anelka brothers a huge debt of gratitude, but as for Nicolas Anelka himself? If only, if only….
Rob, Bristol Gooner (Stewie’s latest on Ranieri/Wenger? You have to admire his consistency – but laugh at, not with…)
There’s a cup final this weekend…
The EFL Cup. Obviously the most important thing this weekend…
Yet despite being the first real silverware of the season, it hasn’t garnered a single mention this week in the mailbox. Which is probably because as a competition it’s a bit of a joke, that most teams are happy to be out of and if somehow your team wins then it’s all a bit embarrassing.
However, for Saints it’s a HUGE deal with everything effectively coming down to one game to define it being a 10/10 or 3/10 season. Which in a way highlights how poor this season has been.
I can’t remember being more nervous or excited about a game. We’ve been a bit sh*t this season, crashed out of Europe in terrible manner and are heading towards lower mid table mediocracy while doing our best to flirt with relegation. Yet if we somehow win (and I think we have a decent chance due to the very compliancy and lack of importance placed on the EFL Cup). Then we qualify for Europe and win silverware having knocked Liverpool and Arsenal out on route. All while managing to get away with selling our best players again.
In August, that would have been a near dream scenario. Maybe it will mean Van Dijk sticking around if we have a nice new shiny trophy and another go at Europe?
Tom Saints (I hope for 16 conclusions on an epic win come Sunday).
Don’t go for Griezmann, United
I’ve just read the quotes from Giggs about Rashford and his best position being through the middle, which I agree with. It was for this reason I wasn’t happy about Zlatan joining last summer (hold my hands up though as I was wrong on that) but also why I hope united don’t go for Griezman this summer.
He is clearly a hugely talented player and at £85 million is going to walk into this first team. Zlatan is also presumably staying.Where though does that leave Rashford, or for that matter, Martial, Mata, Mkhitaryan. We have enough forward players and this just seems like galactico signing.
If it were my decision, I would take that £85m and see if Verrati or Busquets would be interested in coming. Carrick doesn’t look like he is being offered a contract, same with Bastian and Schniderlin has already left. I know it sounds like when fergie left but we need to strengthen the central midfield otherwise we could be left with Pogba and Herrera and no one else.
Looking at the other clubs who could afford Griezman in England, City have Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Aguero so again, unless one of them moves on I can’t see them signing him. Chelsea though could be a perfect fit. Hazard to one side and Griezman to other of Costa looks very tasty and Conte, based on his time at Juve, feels the need for individual skill if you want the champs league, which that team would have in abundance.
I know there is still loads of football to go but I just fancied a change up from Ranieri’s sacking (right decision IMO).
Bernard MUFC
Japanese football
Nice to hear from our man in Kanazawa this morning, was wondering what he’d been up to. He mentioned Nagoya Grampus playing in J2 this season, and how Arsene Wenger used to manage them. Another former Nagoya manager is Dragan Stojkovic; the highlight of his tenure has to be scoring this volley from the technical area, and then getting sent off.
I’ve mentioned this before but Stojkovic was my first favourite player, when he played for Yugoslavia at the 1990 World Cup. 28 years old I was.
Ed Quoththeraven
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