Man City & Chelsea is the level to judge against
Well there are plenty of Spurs fans burying their heads in the sand and making excuses. The fact is Manchester City were ripping us apart the whole game and had countless chances. They were in a different league to us.
Yes we created chances, yes we had opportunities but we were always second best
Fortunately I watched the game with no commentary and with neutrals so there was no watching the game with rose tinted specs, but honesty. I watched it taking notes and constantly looking around at player positions, movement, rather than just the ball all the time.
You pick up a far greater awareness of what is happening and what was happening was that Spurs were hanging on for most of the game, despite looking as though we were in it. I suppose it helps being a coach as I can watch a game through different eyes and I can assure you a coach watches a game in a totally different way to the way a fan does.
We were in the game because Man City wasted their chances, nobody at the time complained about Lampard being off side, only after it was analysed so complaining at the ref for that is petty. The goal was down to Lamela losing the ball in an area he shouldn't have done and far too easily. He doesn't look like he is going to make it at this level yet to be brutally frank, that may change and we all hope it does but in a game with space to work he should be offering more.
City should have scored again after 16 minutes, a free header from a corner in the centre of the goal 8 yards out. Fortunately the City player fluffed his lines and headed wide. A simple push on Kaboul and we had no defence. That weakness has cropped up again and again this season, Caulker should have scored for QPR for instance. At the moment we can't defend corners and are simply getting away with it.
Kaboul does not look to be the long-term answer at centre-back, fine against perceived lesser teams, even though he will make his mistake a game like the old Kaboul, but against quality sides he is constantly a level below what we need. He has had 2 good games and Pochettino is improving him, the question is how much improvement does he have. I don't know but as a centre-back if you were grading him as a player you would class him as satisfactory for now, upgrade required.
We started off well and Mason should have scored but wasn't good enough in front of goal, harsh but that's the bottom line. Against the likes of City you have to take a one-on-one chance against the keeper from 8 yards with the whole goal to aim at. Movement brilliant, the play to get there excellent, Soldado's ball superb, we did do some good things but too many of our players are not up to the level we require, which is top 4 standard. Anything else simply isn't good enough and all performances should be measured against that.
That doesn't mean we have to suddenly be top 4 standard but you have to watch every player and say can he be top 4 standard. What can he do better and you have to do that constantly. As a coach you always want more, boost the player but then do what Pochettino has done with Rose, set a target. Work with me and I'll improve you, I'll get you in the England squad, you can play for England.
Some will respond more than others, some players reach a level and can't go to another level, at the end of the day that's down to their mental make-up. Some will improve with a different approach, some won't. Morten Olsen the Danish coach of 14 years knows Eriksen better than we do and he can see he has plateaued. His closing down is improving, his defensive work is improving but his attacking play isn't, even though he had a good game in the wide open spaces City gave us.
We won't be laying on such a large pitch each week and won't have that same amount of space to work in. I have long felt we need a larger pitch to improve our attacking, it'll be back to crushed defences now and they are the games we have to open teams, thus you look at a performance like this and look at what can be replicated in a smaller area. Two moments raised concerns.
Aguero cut inside from the left and buried the ball. Eriksen's cut inside from the left and didn't shoot, he passed the ball to someone in a worse position and the chance was gone but for long range efforts. At that level that is the difference, it is in those crucial moments you have to make the right decisions and we don't make enough of them. Sometimes you can try and play too many passes.
The second incident was after the Fazio sending off penalty, he moved to Mason's role. The ball was played to him in the centre-circle, he had time to look for a forward pass, he turned and lazily knocked in backwards to a centre-half, that shouted I've given up. I'm not saying he did give up, I'm saying his body language and action were shouting I've given up. It's something a coach looks for in players and the body language wasn't great, Chadli started walking around, heads in general were looking at the floor, a sure sign the head is in the wrong place.
Eriksen didn't put in a bad performance, in fact he put in a good one but with a player like him you have to continually ask for more and push him for more. The arm round the shoulder works for some, the kick up the backside works for others, but for some nothing works, they are in their comfort zone and mentally happy where they are.
It is early days, but Marseilles playing the same system we play picked it up in 2 games with a new coach and have won the next 7, scoring 23 goals. At Tottenham we continue to make excuses, well fans do, which is the method you employ if you don't want to get better, it's not the method of a winner. It won't be the method Pochettino is using out of our sight.
Going forward Mason was good, although his touch is far too heavy at times, but defensively he and Capoue were poor. Neither could handle the midfield runners and they couldn't read what City were going to do. Our defenders were simply fire fighting, they weren't in control, they weren't controlling City but hanging on. Kaboul's tackle for the penalty summed it up, second best and therefore having to make a desperate lunge.
Chelsea and Man City are the sides we must measure ourselves against because that's where we want to be, we then have to decide how to get there. That will have already have been done and there will, be plenty of pain along the way. Both Liverpool and City have pulled us apart now, the question is why? Answer that and you can do something about it, pretend it doesn't exist and you can't.
You can have all the skill in the world but if you don't have the belief you won't be the player you should be and too many of ours don't look as though they have what it takes between the ears to get to the next level. It takes more than one window to reshape the squad of course, to get rid of those that don't follow instructions on the pitch or don't have the mental attitude to be a winner so we were never going to have a finished article now.
As a coach when making your private assessments of a player you have to be brutally frank. You don't communicate your assessment to the player but you have to look at his game, assess his standard, assess whether he can improve, not hope, hope has little place in assessment.
You have to look for what a player can do, Soldado for instance is the most creative player we have outside the box. He can see the passes others don't and play them, his pass for Mason is not one Adebayor would have played. Today, despite not scoring and missing a penalty he had one of his better days in the Premier League.
Yes we created chances, yes we had opportunities but we were always second best
Fortunately I watched the game with no commentary and with neutrals so there was no watching the game with rose tinted specs, but honesty. I watched it taking notes and constantly looking around at player positions, movement, rather than just the ball all the time.
You pick up a far greater awareness of what is happening and what was happening was that Spurs were hanging on for most of the game, despite looking as though we were in it. I suppose it helps being a coach as I can watch a game through different eyes and I can assure you a coach watches a game in a totally different way to the way a fan does.
We were in the game because Man City wasted their chances, nobody at the time complained about Lampard being off side, only after it was analysed so complaining at the ref for that is petty. The goal was down to Lamela losing the ball in an area he shouldn't have done and far too easily. He doesn't look like he is going to make it at this level yet to be brutally frank, that may change and we all hope it does but in a game with space to work he should be offering more.
City should have scored again after 16 minutes, a free header from a corner in the centre of the goal 8 yards out. Fortunately the City player fluffed his lines and headed wide. A simple push on Kaboul and we had no defence. That weakness has cropped up again and again this season, Caulker should have scored for QPR for instance. At the moment we can't defend corners and are simply getting away with it.
Kaboul does not look to be the long-term answer at centre-back, fine against perceived lesser teams, even though he will make his mistake a game like the old Kaboul, but against quality sides he is constantly a level below what we need. He has had 2 good games and Pochettino is improving him, the question is how much improvement does he have. I don't know but as a centre-back if you were grading him as a player you would class him as satisfactory for now, upgrade required.
We started off well and Mason should have scored but wasn't good enough in front of goal, harsh but that's the bottom line. Against the likes of City you have to take a one-on-one chance against the keeper from 8 yards with the whole goal to aim at. Movement brilliant, the play to get there excellent, Soldado's ball superb, we did do some good things but too many of our players are not up to the level we require, which is top 4 standard. Anything else simply isn't good enough and all performances should be measured against that.
That doesn't mean we have to suddenly be top 4 standard but you have to watch every player and say can he be top 4 standard. What can he do better and you have to do that constantly. As a coach you always want more, boost the player but then do what Pochettino has done with Rose, set a target. Work with me and I'll improve you, I'll get you in the England squad, you can play for England.
Some will respond more than others, some players reach a level and can't go to another level, at the end of the day that's down to their mental make-up. Some will improve with a different approach, some won't. Morten Olsen the Danish coach of 14 years knows Eriksen better than we do and he can see he has plateaued. His closing down is improving, his defensive work is improving but his attacking play isn't, even though he had a good game in the wide open spaces City gave us.
We won't be laying on such a large pitch each week and won't have that same amount of space to work in. I have long felt we need a larger pitch to improve our attacking, it'll be back to crushed defences now and they are the games we have to open teams, thus you look at a performance like this and look at what can be replicated in a smaller area. Two moments raised concerns.
Aguero cut inside from the left and buried the ball. Eriksen's cut inside from the left and didn't shoot, he passed the ball to someone in a worse position and the chance was gone but for long range efforts. At that level that is the difference, it is in those crucial moments you have to make the right decisions and we don't make enough of them. Sometimes you can try and play too many passes.
The second incident was after the Fazio sending off penalty, he moved to Mason's role. The ball was played to him in the centre-circle, he had time to look for a forward pass, he turned and lazily knocked in backwards to a centre-half, that shouted I've given up. I'm not saying he did give up, I'm saying his body language and action were shouting I've given up. It's something a coach looks for in players and the body language wasn't great, Chadli started walking around, heads in general were looking at the floor, a sure sign the head is in the wrong place.
Eriksen didn't put in a bad performance, in fact he put in a good one but with a player like him you have to continually ask for more and push him for more. The arm round the shoulder works for some, the kick up the backside works for others, but for some nothing works, they are in their comfort zone and mentally happy where they are.
It is early days, but Marseilles playing the same system we play picked it up in 2 games with a new coach and have won the next 7, scoring 23 goals. At Tottenham we continue to make excuses, well fans do, which is the method you employ if you don't want to get better, it's not the method of a winner. It won't be the method Pochettino is using out of our sight.
Going forward Mason was good, although his touch is far too heavy at times, but defensively he and Capoue were poor. Neither could handle the midfield runners and they couldn't read what City were going to do. Our defenders were simply fire fighting, they weren't in control, they weren't controlling City but hanging on. Kaboul's tackle for the penalty summed it up, second best and therefore having to make a desperate lunge.
Chelsea and Man City are the sides we must measure ourselves against because that's where we want to be, we then have to decide how to get there. That will have already have been done and there will, be plenty of pain along the way. Both Liverpool and City have pulled us apart now, the question is why? Answer that and you can do something about it, pretend it doesn't exist and you can't.
You can have all the skill in the world but if you don't have the belief you won't be the player you should be and too many of ours don't look as though they have what it takes between the ears to get to the next level. It takes more than one window to reshape the squad of course, to get rid of those that don't follow instructions on the pitch or don't have the mental attitude to be a winner so we were never going to have a finished article now.
As a coach when making your private assessments of a player you have to be brutally frank. You don't communicate your assessment to the player but you have to look at his game, assess his standard, assess whether he can improve, not hope, hope has little place in assessment.
You have to look for what a player can do, Soldado for instance is the most creative player we have outside the box. He can see the passes others don't and play them, his pass for Mason is not one Adebayor would have played. Today, despite not scoring and missing a penalty he had one of his better days in the Premier League.
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