What on Earth are Tottenham Hotspur doing? They fired the best manager in their history over a bad start six months after reaching the Champions League Final. Absolutely insane. Is quite a bit of this article going to be me deflecting all the problems Arsenal have just to pile on the fact that Spurs are even more of a mess? Yes. Is it rather pathetic that this is the happiest I have been in months? Also yes. Both North London Clubs have been piss-poor this season, and honestly, Emery probably deserved this sack more than Poch, but boy oh boy am I going to take it.
The past few years have seen Tottenham attempt to assert itself as the best team in North London. Last June it certainly appeared that they had achieved that goal, losing in the Champions League Final, while rivals Arsenal were absolutely humiliated in the Europa League final days earlier (for non-soccer fans, this is the second tier European Cup). This season has been nothing short of a disaster, with key players refusing to sign new contracts and other Spurs just falling off a cliff in terms of form. While I can’t say that this is unexpected due to the continuous rumors surrounding the team and their poor performance, the timing is rather questionable coming at the end of a Premier League break. It would have made more sense for a new coach to come in last week in order to work with the players not called up, as well as familiarizing himself with tactics and planning. Instead a new coach has a London Derby (admittedly against West Ham) this to prepare for.
While Poch has no doubt struggled this season, particularly with personnel choices, this decision seems like it happened because it is much easier to fire a coach than an entire team. Poch should be blamed for some of the tactical struggles that the team has had this season. The team was flat, devoid of ideas and the defending was not great. However, the vast majority of the issues that Tottenham has had have been either the fault of the players or the fault of the people making the transfer decisions. Poch was a coach known for turning relatively unknown players into functional ones, and helping others to reach their full potential. Take boy wonder Harry Kane. Before Poch became the manager, Kane had scored a grand total of three Premier League goals and bounced around the lower leagues on loan spells. Since Pochettino was hired, Kane has 128 goals in six-plus seasons. Or look at Eric Dier, who really isn’t very good, yet Poch molded him into a very useful player who started for England in a European Championship. Dele Alli became a young star after joining from a third division side, and Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-Min have transformed from promising youngsters to absolute world beaters worth over 100 million each. Spurs have consistently been one of the better teams defensively in the world over the past six years, and have used that as a foundation to break into the top four of the Premier League during Poch’s last five seasons. For comparison, Arsenal have only been in the top four three times in his six years.
The Tottenham transfer strategy over much of Poch’s career has been dreadful. They have spent loads of money on players who simply aren’t good. Some of the highlights include Roberto Soldado (26 million pounds), Serge Aurier (24 million), Paulinho and Vincent Janssen (17 million each), Clinton N’jie and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, just to name a few. They also went a year and a half without buying a single new player. Poch can’t really be blamed for this because he didn’t have much of a say in transfers for most of his time in London. There obviously have been quite a few hits in the market over that same time frame – Son, Alderwiereld, Alli, Dier and Eriksen come to mind – but the transfer strategy at Tottenham in the past decade has been rather directionless to say the least. Players like Moussa Sissoko and Paulinho were brought in following a good performance at an international tournament, and have not justified their large price tags. Serge Aurier was bad at PSG, where winning the league was basically automatic. Not sure how no one at Tottenham realized how bad he would stink when facing actual competition. They have been unable to find a suitable left back for half a decade now, and Harry Kane has to play every single game, because finding a back up striker has been a journey not unlike the quest for the Holy Grail. Spurs have also failed to adequately replace Bale, Modric, Walker and Trippier, who have gone on to excel at larger clubs. In short, Poch has done an exceptional job getting the absolute most out of a thin squad on a minimal budget.
However, the biggest factor in this dreadful season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been the players themselves. Outside of Son, I really don’t know of a single player that has played up to their ability yet this season. Alli has been dreadful, Lloris was bad on goal, then broke his arm, Danny Rose hasn’t been competent since approximately 2016. Sanchez and Aurier seem more like expensive liabilities than defenders, and Kane seems to have lost a step in terms of pace after yet another ankle injury. Harry Winks has been meh, and new signings Ndombele and Lo Celso have been inconsistent, and nonexistent respectively. The biggest issue is that their two most important players -in my opinion- Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderwiereld, along with fellow starter Jan Vertonghen are not even in the lineup much due to their contract situation. All three seem set to leave as free agents at the end of the season, causing quite a bit of locker room turmoil. The contract issues, plus the stagnation of much of the squad has given Spurs a stale feeling this season. They should have given Poch time to figure everything out, but after spending quite a bit of money this summer, chairman Daniel Levy might have felt pressured to make a change to ensure that the team will receive the Champions League revenue next season by finishing towards the top of the table.
In terms of his replacement, Tottenham certainly went for a big name. Jose Mourinho will certainly provide fireworks and all time quotes while with Spurs. The question is though, after his disastrous final season in Manchester, will it be Tottenham profiting from Mourinho, or will the rest of the league be better off? Mourinho will implement his rigid deep-lying style, and that may not suit the Ajax bred defenders (Alderwiereld, Vertonghen and Sanchez) who are used to playing with a much higher defensive line. Eriksen and Alli will probably compete directly for the number 10 role, with Mourinho maybe less likely to play them together. Another player who may not find a role is Harry Winks. Mourinho really hasn’t used a deep lying playmaker like him before, with Makelele, Motta and Xabi Alonso much better than the young England man in terms of tackling. Any prolonged spells on the bench could potentially a big problem for his Euro 2020 hopes with the England squad. Mourinho’s arrival will also probably not change the fact that Eriksen, Vertonghen and Alderweireld will be leaving in July, if not earlier, and I can’t see him inspiring this team if Poch couldn’t.
This will end up being a massive mistake for Levy and Tottenham, and I for one cannot wait. Mourinho is/was a great coach (can’t tell if he’s washed up or United are really that much of a mess), but he is also one big traveling circus. He will pick fights with the media, players, fans, even the team doctor. There is just no way this Spurs squad has the mental toughness to deal with Jose. This is yet another example of Spurs almost making it to the big time, before shooting themselves in the foot. Reminder, this is a team that failed to qualify for the UCL a few years back because the entire team got food poisoning from lasagna before their last game. Hit the dance Jack!
P.S. Poch, if you don’t wanna move, I know of a club that could certainly use you in London.
