Beating the Arse. A Poisoned Chalice? | Vital Football

Beating the Arse. A Poisoned Chalice?

Spursex

Spursex

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Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino trying not to think about ‘crazy’ month that lies ahead

Mauricio Pochettino is trying not to think about the 'crazy' month which lies ahead for his Tottenham team.

A League Cup win over north London rivals Arsenal means Spurs will now face Chelsea in a semi-final over two legs early in January, as well as beginning their FA Cup campaign with a Friday night trip to Tranmere.



Tottenham could, should they beat Tranmere after a replay in the FA Cup, be forced to play as many as nine games in January. After a season in which Pochettino has been battling against injuries and the distraction caused by the new stadium delays, all off the back of not signing a player in the summer, a fixture pile up of this magnitude will be another stern test on his already worn squad.



The Argentine has always taken criticism for not taking either the League Cup or FA Cups seriously, but stressed that you cannot succeed in British football without using the entire squad.

"They are not machines, the players. It is going to be crazy January. We are now in a crazy period, but January... I don't know, I don't want to think too much," Pochettino said.

"When the people talk about why the manager rotates, 'Why that decision, why rest, maybe they don't care about the cups, maybe they don't care about winning games or winning titles'.





"We are the first to have the interest to win and deliver to our fans, sometimes we need to receive some help.

"It is more to judge after the game if we win or we lose, we play well or not play well, we won with another name on the pitch, but the most important in that competitive country is to use all the squad.



"If not, you are going to struggle to compete or you are so, so, so good and you have 24 players who are all at the same level and you keep the same level and it is not a problem. But I think it is so unfair because it is so easy to talk about win, but it is not easy to win, look at the League Cup for us how we are suffering because all of the games we against Premier League teams."


Pochettino named a strong side for the clash at the Emirates, with the only big name omissions from the starting line-up being Harry Kane, introduced before the hour, and Hugo Lloris, who has not featured in a League Cup game since being recalled to the side for the final in 2015, his only appearance in the competition under Pochettino.

After an arduous Champions League group stage and what feels like a relentless run of games in recent weeks, Pochettino marvelled at the fitness of his side.

He told Sky Sports: "Arsenal could rest players in the Europa League because they had qualified but we couldn't in the Champions League. The level of our fitness was fantastic."

Having overcome the latest hurdle, Pochettino will be calling on his players to go even further after Christmas
 
It's going to be tough but given that we have been unable to buy the quality we need maybe more Academy players need to be blooded even just for 20 minute spells.

Eriksen looked knackered on the highlights towards the end of the game letting his runner go but he is probably the key player we have and resting him is difficult, but has to be done.
 
Harry-Kari said:
Just what we needed..what a pain in the butt International football is..the guys at FIFA are so out of touch with real fans in my opinion.
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What's even worse here, is my understanding is that this isn't even an official FIFA sanctioned competition!
 
Spursex said:
Why Son won't be available:

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...-chelsea-after-asian-cup-callup-a4022246.html
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Genuinely terrible news. It's taken him a while to get going but he's in great form now. Much more consistent than Lucas and our only proven quality alternative to starting Kane. Plus with Lamela injury prone...

9 games in Jan. Hopefully got a target identified who can at least be a rotation option we're looking to bring in Jan 1st. I know Poch likes to bed players in over time but I'm not sure we can afford that luxury.
 
What a nice problem to have though. We go into January in all 4 competitions. We didn't drop into the last 32 of the EL and instead made the last 16 of the CL. We would have been one of the favourites for the EL and expected to play most of those 9 fixtures. We're less fancied in the CL will play between 2 and 7 games.

Poch also has options. He still has one spare space for an overseas player in his Prem squad. That could mean that Janssen bolsters numbers or we buy a new player. He also has Onomah at Sheff Weds being made the scapegoat for their manager's incompetence. He'd be another one who could slot straight in with Amos out long term. Then there's CCV, in and out of the Swansea side. Another free-pick. Finally, not forgetting N'Koudou who is named in the Prem squad but kicking his heels at the club.

Personally, I'm not one for whinging about our squad being lean. It's as big or bigger than it's ever been under Poch and we have options to increase it. Yes, it's tired with a few niggling injuries but still very capable.
 
I once had high hopes for Onomah, and whilst I thought playing time would address some of the weaknesses in his game and he'd kick on - by all accounts he's gone backwards.

CCV just looks too slow and cumbersome to me and another that hasn't seemingly progressed and N'koudou is isolated and wants to get back to France. Janssen's chance looks long gone.

I can't see how they'd help - but you may well be right.
 
I'm with you Ex... Onomah could maybe do a job in a pinch but he's not kicked on by all accounts. Might as well say we could play Edwards if we're just plucking random academy names who once showed promise.

N'Koudou will hopefully be sold/loaned.

My impression was we couldn't add another overseas player unless we had another homegrown? So before we could sign an overseas player or register Janssen we'd need to bring someone else in.
 
I
Spursex said:
I once had high hopes for Onomah, and whilst I thought playing time would address some of the weaknesses in his game and he'd kick on - by all accounts he's gone backwards.

CCV just looks too slow and cumbersome to me and another that hasn't seemingly progressed and N'koudou is isolated and wants to get back to France. Janssen's chance looks long gone.

I can't see how they'd help - but you may well be right.
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still think if Llorente leaves in Jan then Janssen is worth a spot in squad till the summer
 
If we can't sign anyone and we won't use some of the squad players we have maybe a few loan deals could help?

Would be foolish to sit still when we have a chance of winning a trophy.

For the record I would give Jansen, N'Kou and Onomah a chance but it won't happen.
 
I personally don't think Onomah will make it with us, besides we have options in preferred position. Skipp has had more minutes this season than Onomah did over one season sitting on the bench.

Sheffield Wednesday manager:

"He was not good enough. He brought nothing on the ball.

"He lost three, four, five balls right at the beginning [of the game]. That is the reason why he came off and we changed it.

"Honestly, he had no influence on the game."


Reminds me of the player we sent up to the Scottish PL, doing rainbow flicks but never heard of him again. Just because you come from Spurs seems to go to their heads.
 
Not that I have glowing opinions about Josh but some SWed fans tweeted after the game that he was poor at the start but grew into the game. SW were 0-0 at half time but lost 2-1.

Just to give it some balance, some thought it was harsh he got the hook.

Having said this he has never impressed me much as Twain would say.
 
Critical_Spur said:
I personally don't think Onomah will make it with us, besides we have options in preferred position. Skipp has had more minutes this season than Onomah did over one season sitting on the bench.

Sheffield Wednesday manager:

"He was not good enough. He brought nothing on the ball.

"He lost three, four, five balls right at the beginning [of the game]. That is the reason why he came off and we changed it.

"Honestly, he had no influence on the game."


Reminds me of the player we sent up to the Scottish PL, doing rainbow flicks but never heard of him again. Just because you come from Spurs seems to go to their heads.
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Onomah is becoming an enigma, but probably a victim of getting involved in the 1st team setup too early. He also won the U20 World Cup and was excellent and set expectations.

It's come hard for him since. At Villa, he was genuinely putting in a shift for them and trying to play football. The ball just never came back to him and they would have been better off with a water carrier. I'm not so sure what's going on at Wednesday, but I do get the feeling the manager is dead man walking. What you quote above had as many positive tweets for Onomah and negative for the manager as it did the other way round. The manager is using him as a scapegoat and we should get him out of there ASAP. He'd be better off getting the tough love from Poch privately as at least our manager knows how to deal with players.

I think we have to be careful with loans. You wouldn't have predicted Kane becoming the best striker in the world after his 3 or 4 loans away from the club.
 
Nick Real Deal said:
Not that I have glowing opinions about Josh but some SWed fans tweeted after the game that he was poor at the start but grew into the game. SW were 0-0 at half time but lost 2-1.

Just to give it some balance, some thought it was harsh he got the hook.

Having said this he has never impressed me much as Twain would say.
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lol - beat me to it !!!
 
It's a recurring issue with a lot of youngsters when they get sent on loan. Impress from the off then feet under the table and foot off the throttle. Josh was praised very highly by Bruce at the beginning, saying something along the lines, he'd break bank to sign him, but unlikely Villa could afford him. Few weeks later the fans were on his back for mediocre showings.

For balance, Walker did well there and returned a better player. I thought Pritchard showed a lot of promise and got moved on.

But what must also hurt the academy players is seeing the likes of Jannsen and N'Koudou ahead of them in the queue.
 
freundorfoe said:
I'm with you Ex... Onomah could maybe do a job in a pinch but he's not kicked on by all accounts. Might as well say we could play Edwards if we're just plucking random academy names who once showed promise.

N'Koudou will hopefully be sold/loaned.

My impression was we couldn't add another overseas player unless we had another homegrown? So before we could sign an overseas player or register Janssen we'd need to bring someone else in.
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Gonna have to write this down

Non-Homegrown.....max 17
Lloris, Vorm, Gazza
Aurier, Toby, Jan, Sanchez
Dier, Wanyama, Dembele, Sissoko
Eriksen, Lamela, Son, Moura, N'Koudou
Llorente

Homegrown
Trips, Davies, Rose, Winks, Dele, Kane

Free-picks (U21's)
Foyth, KWP?, Skipp

I think you're right about Janssen. He would need to displace someone like N'Koudou to be named in the Prem squad as we've named 17. Obviously CL rules are even more stringent and Davies counts as non-HG.

I stand corrected !!
 
Nick Real Deal said:
Being honest when I saw Josh interviewed he didn't come across as the sharpest knife in the block. That could be unfair and not a true representation of him , maybe he was nervous or shy.
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Not many players are particularly bright. It's not a hindrance to ability
 
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