Premier League 2020/2021 Thread

[Stuart Skinner]

I'm not even annoyed about today's result against West Ham, there's only so many times you can watch the same mistakes being made and get angry about it. You could make a comedy DVD about Tottenham's defending this season, I have never seen less communication, desire and awareness in a back four. And no surprises why that is - he never plays the same back four! We might as well have them all injured, Harry Kane is our best defender, and I'm not even joking :lol: Jose isn't the problem, he just needs to get shot of all of them and start again, except maybe Reguillon who at least can cross the ball.

In fairness mate probably the best performance of the season for West Ham :wink: :mrgreen:

 

[edd_jedi]

In fairness mate probably the best performance of the season for West Ham :wink: :mrgreen:

Ha you're not going to let that one go are you Stu, from the horses mouth, not mine. Yesterday was the Hammers best result this season for sure, much like Everton's against Pool hey no I think the stats make it pretty clear we were the better team and just unlucky yesterday, had far more possession and attempts, it was more calamitous defending and goalkeeping that let us down. Oh and thanks to VAR for overturning a disallowed goal too, that was about as bullshit as City's recent one, either you're offside or you're not surely.

All this talk of Jose out, surely Klopp's head should be on the chopping board if he's only got one more point than us? I don't really think that, just pointing out the stupidity of such comments. This morning's headline is "Spurs have problems I cannot resolve myself", and I think he's absolutely right, I'd like to see Klopp or Moyes organise this defence.

 

[edd_jedi]

Also, a little perspestive is important:

There are only two bad results in there - Brighton and West Ham. And West Ham are having their best season for 20 years, so even that wasn't a "should win" game this season. The rest are matches you would not expect to win. I don't think Spurs will make top four now, but as they have already played most of the big games it's entirely in their hands, whereas most of the other teams chasing top four still have to play at least two or three of the other big sides (West Ham have City, United, Arsenal and Leicester in the next month, let's see where they are after that lot.)

 

[weasel]

All this talk of Jose out, surely Klopp's head should be on the chopping board if he's only got one more point than us? I don't really think that, just pointing out the stupidity of such comments. This morning's headline is "Spurs have problems I cannot resolve myself", and I think he's absolutely right, I'd like to see Klopp or Moyes organise this defence.

I think the difference is Klopp has shown he can make progress with his club. Look at where Pool where when he took over and in that time they have won the CL, and lost another final, won the PL and got the highest pts total never to win it (high enough to win it in all but that season and one other), they have also lost a EL final (thanks Moreno, you ****ing toss pot).
While Jose has been at Spurs they have, at best stagnated. Klopp had Pool making visible progress every season.
Granted Pool are now a shambles, but they do have an excuse in the injury crisis. Spurs have had injuries but not on the same level as Pool.

You also have to consider that Klopp seems to be a nice bloke, club loyalty aside, I suspect he would be a legend on a night out. Would you want to spend a night out with Jose? Ok, that has FA
to do with their ability to manage but Jose's sour demeanour and general ability to suck the joy out of life and be a prickly bastard, means people cut him less slack. He also has a record of not staying at any club for more than three years and falling out with everyone when he leaves. None of which helps him.

I take your point that Jose isn't doing THAT badly relative to Klopp, but it's never a black and white issue.

 

[weasel]

As for Utd fans gloating. YES, I had noticed. EVERY TIME Pool lose, my phone goes daft with Utd fans gloating. And it is ONLY Utd fans. Not a single fan of another club has gloated, but I must have had a dozen different Utd fans rubbing it in.
If it was Utd who had been **** for nearly 30 yrs while Pool won everything, I could understand it. But it was Utd who won everything in sight, while Pool floated around in 4th-6th. So their hatred for Pool, or sheer delight in Pool's demise is a bit strange.

Ha try being a Spurs fan, everyone 'hates' us - I'd love to know why, we never win anything, don't have rich owners, fill half the England squad most competitions, and until Jose took over had one of the most likeable managers in football. I've never understood it either, OK Arsenal's local rivalry with us makes sense, but God knows why the Hammers and Chelsea also choose to hate us instead of that other rich team that have won lots of stuff in London!

As I've said before, I quite like Spurs. Well, I did until you appointed Jose, and I probably will again after he goes. But in general, there are only two PL clubs I actively dislike. Utd (fairly obvious that) and Chelsea.

 

[theforceuk]

It's a results business at the end of the day and Jose actually coming out and saying their are problems at Spurs he can't sort out is basically asking to be sacked. When the manager comes out and admits that it just screams out I've lost the dressing room. Spurs sacked their last manager with a similar record to Jose's. If José had won the Champions League and Premier League in the last two seasons then I don't think is job would be on the line, but the bloke has done nothing in the last 5 years to suggest he is going to get close to winning either of those trophies ever again. The games moved on but he's still playing mid 00's football.

 

[edd_jedi]

Well, that's exactly what Poch did too. He said he wasn't in charge of transfers, should be called coach instead of manager, etc. Jose is just echoing his comments, although I agree he has a track record of it at other clubs too. I wouldn't say Spurs have made no progress under Jose, Poch never got them top of the league in or after December. This has been a strange couple of seasons due to Covid, let's not forget City were mid table a few months ago. I think the lack of fans is having a massive impact, the home advantage has gone.

 

[theforceuk]

I agree with the no fans affecting the game, I certainly don't think Liverpool would have lost 4 games in a row at Anfield with fans in the ground or Man Utd go unbeaten away in the league for over a year!

 

[edd_jedi]

The 'mid 2000s football' comment is also an interesting one, I know you're not the only one who thinks it and even the TV adverts before Spurs games have 'park the bus' jokes, but the fact is in 50 games, Jose has scored just 5 fewer goals than Poch (80) and conceded one more (57) resulting in only four fewer points (81.) Conceded more, scored almost as many, 70% possession and 20 attempts against West Ham yesterday... Where is the evidence for this 'negative football' I keep hearing about? If we had suffered a load of 1-0 defeats that argument might have some legs, but there have been 20 goals in Tottenham's last four games! I'm no expert but that screams to me we have no problem upfront, just a pathetic excuse for a defence. Liverpool may have injuries, but at least they have competent defenders on their payroll.

 

[theforceuk]

I'm not saying he parks the bus (all the time) more that his style of play is outdated, tactically what does he do that's different to that Chelsea team in the mid 00's? Your right Spurs defence is poor but that shows his ineptitude. His succesfull teams were always built on a solid defence which he doesn't have, his tactic now seems to be to rely on individuals to win the game and that's it.

I like Spurs and I don't have a problem with Jose he's a character and there's not enough of them in the modern game, but can you seriously tell me that he's the right man to take Spurs to the next level. I'm a Man Utd fan and I think we have the same problem, is OGS the right man to take Man Utd to the next level, never IMO. Neither are backed fully by the board/owners but if they were would they work miracles?

 

[edd_jedi]

In my opinion there is no lone manager who can take a club to the next level, it has to be a team effort. I don't think Klopp was single handedly responsible for Liverpool's success last season, Van Dijk's absence and their current league standing has proven that. United would probably still be mid table if not for Fernandes this season. I think City are the only real example of a solid team right now, they have quality from top to bottom including the manager. Jose can win things with a team of in-form superstars, he has proven that at several clubs. Can he, or any manager, compete for the PL title with Eric Dier as CB? Not a chance in hell!

 

[weasel]

Pish result for Leicester that. Against a very very mediocre side too.

Apparently Brendan is more concerned about the PL and a decent FAC run. Ok, I get the PL the money alone makes it a no brainer, but ehh why throw away the EL, where Leicester had a decent shout of winning it, bar Utd there isn't much in it this year, in favour of a less prestigious domestic cup where you will have to beat City (which aint gonna happen)?! To make it worse, a EL win gets you in to next season's CL, the FAC gets you back into the EL, which you have just binned!?

But then this is the guy who played a team of reserves away to Real Madrid when he was at Pool, cos he wanted to concentrate on the league. Or in otherwords he sacrificed being in the CL in order to try and improve his chances of qualifying for......ehhhh the CL :roll:

 

[edd_jedi]

Speaking of completely irrational hatred of Spurs, I've never seen this on the BBC Sport predictions before. I'm surprised th BBC have allowed this blatant hate-fuelled nonsense to be published, so much for being impartial. And again, why as a Chelsea fan, the club that unashamedly bought trophies for 15 years, would you hate little old Tottenham that have won nothing? What about that red team who are closer geographically and just beat you in the last FA Cup final!?

I've never heard of Dot Major, but I hope the massive c*nt has to eat his hat shortly...

 

[lejackal]

Pish result for Leicester that. Against a very very mediocre side too.

Apparently Brendan is more concerned about the PL and a decent FAC run. Ok, I get the PL the money alone makes it a no brainer, but ehh why throw away the EL, where Leicester had a decent shout of winning it, bar Utd there isn't much in it this year, in favour of a less prestigious domestic cup where you will have to beat City (which aint gonna happen)?! To make it worse, a EL win gets you in to next season's CL, the FAC gets you back into the EL, which you have just binned!?

But then this is the guy who played a team of reserves away to Real Madrid when he was at Pool, cos he wanted to concentrate on the league. Or in otherwords he sacrificed being in the CL in order to try and improve his chances of qualifying for......ehhhh the CL :roll:

The FA cup doesn't even get you in the EL this year, it puts you in the new Europa conference or whatever it's called

 

[lejackal]

EL draw and prediction

Ajax v Young Boys - Ajax
Dynamo Kiev v Villarreal - Villarreal
Roma v Shaktar Donestsk - Roma
Olympiakos v Arsenal - I mean we can't get knocked out by them again.....
Dinamo Zagreb v Tottenham - Tottenham
Manchester United v AC Milan - Zlatan
Slavia Prague v Rangers - Rangers
Granada v Molde - Molde

 

[weasel]

Speaking of completely irrational hatred of Spurs, I've never seen this on the BBC Sport predictions before.

They do that every week edd_jedi they have Lawro and a guest predict the scores for all the games. It's not unusual for a guest to predict/hope their rival gets humped 10-0.

The FA cup doesn't even get you in the EL this year, it puts you in the new Europa conference or whatever it's called

Ahh, I had missed that that was coming in. I knew they were talking about it. Effectively the Cup Winner's Cup is coming back. Cos UEFA realised the CL has become a closed shop and the EL is an utter farce of a competition, so they re-create this to give the non big 4 something to play in.

EL draw and prediction

Ajax v Young Boys - Ajax
Dynamo Kiev v Villarreal - Villarreal
Roma v Shaktar Donestsk - Roma
Olympiakos v Arsenal - I mean we can't get knocked out by them again.....
Dinamo Zagreb v Tottenham - Tottenham
Manchester United v AC Milan - Zlatan
Slavia Prague v Rangers - Rangers
Granada v Molde - Molde

Agree on all of them, I would probably fancy Granada to have Molde, though I know FA about both. Utd will hump AC, they (AC) are a shadow of their former selves.

 

[lejackal]

AC are second in Serie A, I thought they were doing okay this season?

 

[weasel]

Seria A is a poor league. Not a patch on what it was. Watch AC walk the EL now! Lol

 

[theforceuk]

I have to agree Seria A is a poor league same as La Liga, I pretty much fancy all the English sides against any of the Spanish or Italian sides in both European competitions. Look at Atletico Madrid, top of La Liga and Chelsea played them off the park.

 

[weasel]

Atleti are a horrible side. They are what a half decent club would look like if they let Fat Sam manage them.

Football goes in cycles though, Seria A was the best in the 90's, the PL was the best in mid to late 2000's then La Liga took over. Seria A has never really recovered though. The money is in England, the PL is also probably the most watched/entertaining league. Seria A suffers from the stigma of the boring defensive football. Add to that the fact that most South American players want to play for Barca or Real because of the language issue and Seria A is fooked.

I guess Bayern manage to compete, but they are a one team country and they attract all the best german players. Germany are and have been much better than Italy, in general, over the last 15 years.

No doubt the tide will turn eventually though.

My prediction for Pool this weekend. SU will sit deep and deny Pool space in front of goal, forcing them to cross, where SU's 3 CB's will have a field day out jumping Salah for headers all day. Pool will have 75% possession, create zero decent chances and get caught on the break with their make shift back 5, and lose 2-0. The second goal coming right at the end when they are chasing the game.
It's depressing and so so predictable.