Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion

[Mainoldo]

The 3 seasons before Pochettino - Spurs ended 4th, 5th and 6th with 70, 72 and 69 points. It's a myth that Spurs were a mid-table side before Pochettino arrived - and they were consistently getting around 70 points all seasons. Even Spurs-fans admit this.

And they had Eriksen, Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen, Walker, Rose and a 21 year old Harry Kane - it wasn't a bad side.

Erm what’s your point. They got progressively worse. You said 4th 5th and 6th not the otherway round. He turned them from a team that gets their players pinched from a big club to a team that attracts big club players.

The players you talk of aren’t they players they are now without him. Harry Kane didn’t burst through like a 17 year old Rashford; Danny Rose was a journeyman winger; Vertonghen was hardly the Ajax De Ligt and Walker was just a liability.

 

[tomaldinho1]

One thing that is very damning about this start to the season is that has arguably been a pretty favourable run of games. Unless I'm mistaken, of the 'big 6' we've only played Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. Sure you can argue that Leicester have played their way into that group, but then Arsenal, who we didn't beat, have arguably played their way out. We've lost to Palace, Newcastle, West Ham, and Bournemouth and drawn Southampton, Wolves and Sheffield United. That is unbelievably miserable start to the season.

Correct - and you see posters talking about how we've turned a corner and are looking better etc. We're playing promoted teams and guys like Bournemouth and yet points are dropping consistently. What pains me most is how reliant on our opposition we are, they let us into the game by changing structure and then you have fans and players (see Rashford's post match) saying we fought our way back into it 2nd half - we were second best everywhere until they took off Mousset and changed structure and whilst everyone is impressed with them punching above their weight so far this season, it's not like we shouldn't be able to impose ourselves on Sheffield United with the squad we have.

Change is needed but the board need Ole to be taking all this flak - he's under-qualified and clearly out of his depth but he's blindly loyal (I think his love for United hinders his judgement on some of our issues) and too composed and respectful in front of the media to cause headlines for Ed and Co.

 

[Paxi]

Of course he deserved both credit and criticism. But the fact still remains - on a day when our players looked like shit, we managed to turn 0-2 to 3-2 (before messing it up in injury-team) - and he still gets called incompetent, an asshole and a few other words.

Matches like this doesn't worry me long-term, because it shows that the players have the will to fight and the quality to play good football - but of course we need to find out why it took them 65 or so minutes to turn it on.

But the fact remains - if we don't score - OGS is incompetent
If we one match concede 3 goals- his signings are rubbish
If we concede a late goal - OGS is rubbish for making the wrong sub (while ignoring the right ones)

So unless we win every game 2 or 3-0 - he is useless.

I have said it before - and I can say it again - we are 2-3 players away from having a REALLY good side. Get Pogba, McT back and get at least 2 good signings in - and we can match practically anyone.

That's completely untrue. If the team was winning by hook or by crook you'd struggle to find anyone complaining. You have to remember despite our excellent results last season our performances were suspect. You had a couple complaining but were largely shot down.

 

[Eyepopper]

Heard someone somewhere saying Gary Neville had a better record in his 28 games at Valencia than Ole does in his last 28 games.

That can't be true, right? Right...?

 

[Paxi]

Correct - and you see posters talking about how we've turned a corner and are looking better etc. We're playing promoted teams and guys like Bournemouth and yet points are dropping consistently. What pains me most is how reliant on our opposition we are, they let us into the game by changing structure and then you have fans and players (see Rashford's post match) saying we fought our way back into it 2nd half - we were second best everywhere until they took off Mousset and changed structure and whilst everyone is impressed with them punching above their weight so far this season, it's not like we shouldn't be able to impose ourselves on Sheffield United with the squad we have.

Change is needed but the board need Ole to be taking all this flak - he's under-qualified and clearly out of his depth but he's blindly loyal (I think his love for United hinders his judgement on some of our issues) and too composed and respectful in front of the media to cause headlines for Ed and Co.

Agree with this. Had he been critical of us not resigning Herrera or replacing him, replacing Lukaku, Woodward would be more inclined to pull the trigger now.

 

[SAFMUTD]

The mediocrity is to undermine the players publicly when we need them to perform.
Whatever happens in the lockers rooms is what matters. I am glad this s*** is not happening outside, that's all.

Its clearly not just about the players, in many games including today’s the tactical approach has been a total failure. He could start by there, I get you point but judging by how Ole acts on the outside I very much doubt its any different on the inside.

 

[lysglimt]

Erm what’s your point. They got progressively worse. You said 4th 5th and 6th not the otherway round. He turned them from a team that gets their players pinched from a big club to a team that attracts big club players.

The players you talk of aren’t they players they are now without him. Harry Kane didn’t burst through like a 17 year old Rashford; Danny Rose was a journeyman winger; Vertonghen was hardly the Ajax De Ligt and Walker was just a liability.

You asked for improvments leading up to Pochettinos arrival - and I gave it to you. They didn't get progressively worse - for the first time in P.L history - Spurs had established themselves as a team fighting for C.L-spots. And true they had one season where they dropped down to 6th, but their point-tally was just marginally worse. They big difference was that Arsenal improved a lot that season, not that Spurs were worse.

And how much did Spurs improve in Pochettinos first season in charge ? 64 points. The season after they ended 3rd - but their point tally still was no higher than it was under Redknapp, the difference being that every other team did really poorly (Arsenal ended 2nd with 71 points).

So in reality - Spurs didn't improve at all for 24 months with Pochettino. It was only the season 16/17 everything fell into place.

And after that it was a 2 year decline.

 

[momo83]

This myth that 81 points is usually good enough to win the league needs to die. It has very rarely done the job to secure the Premier League title in recent times.

Since the PL format was changed to a 20 team league in 1995 it's only happened six times, out of 24 seasons, where a team has won the league with 81 points or less. That's not a lot. And half of those came before 2000, so in the last 20 years, 81 points would have been enough only three times. That's not a lot either.

But back on topic, regarding Solskjær, the situation that we're in is not all on him, there are a lot of reasons for it. Lack of a clear vision from the board, then going on hiring the wrong managers who ask for the wrong players to be bought. It's all a big mess and we're are in the need of complete rebuild... again.

That being said, we've been really bad for the most part since PSG away, and when I see the likes of Rodgers and Lampard coming in an putting their stamp on their respective teams almost immediately and without spending much money, I have to ask, what is Solskjær's plan with us? What kind of football does he want us to play? Almost every game its the same thing, the players look like they're playing football for the first time in their lives.

We don't have a great squad, but seriously, it's not that bad. Yes, we've got some really shit and/or old players like Young, Matic, Pereira, Mata and Lingard who need to be shipped out ASAP but we've also got some very good and talented players, some of whom are regulars for their international sides. Yet there are so many games where the opponent is obviously better coached than we are. Where the opponent has a clear style and plan. Like we saw today with Sheffield United who outplayed us for 70 minutes despite mostly using players who have been playing in the Championship and League 1 in recent years.

So for me, the reason why we've looked so bad for the past few months is not simply due to poor quality players or injury troubles (although that plays a part) but mainly down to poor coaching. I really wanted it to work out with Solskjær, but unfortunately I think the job is just to big for him and he needs to leave.

Agreed 100%

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Tough away game. Brilliant reaction. No pogba and Scott. At least it wasn't a cowardly performance

 

[dove]

Tough away game. Brilliant reaction. No pogba and Scott. At least it wasn't a cowardly performance

You didn't watch the game then.

 

[Majima]

The 3 seasons before Pochettino - Spurs ended 4th, 5th and 6th with 70, 72 and 69 points. It's a myth that Spurs were a mid-table side before Pochettino arrived - and they were consistently getting around 70 points all seasons. Even Spurs-fans admit this.

And they had Eriksen, Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen, Walker, Rose and a 21 year old Harry Kane - it wasn't a bad side.

Exactly, they had their worst finish in recent years finishing 6th, with record investment into the team too. So they were on the downward slope. Who said Spurs were a mid-table side before Pochettino?

That's hindsight thinking though. They had Adebayor stinking the place out on big wages, big money signings in Soldado, Lamela & Paulinho who were massive flops. A 21 year old Kane was unproven at the time, he came in out of necessity as they had no resources left to buy anyone else.

Eriksen was promising. But Lloris, Vertonghen, Walker & Rose were all part of the side that had shipped 51 goals in the league the previous season. They had a mediocre defence at the time.

So Poch arrives, no money to spend for first 2 years and turns them into what we saw for the past 5 years. You would have to be a psychic to have seen it coming beforehand.

I can't see how you can ignore all this and not give credit to the job Pochettino done at Spurs.

 

[Giggsyking]

Does he has coaching badges? we must check his papers!

 

[Dec9003]

I had a worrying debate with a poster last week that said that Poch shouldn’t even be compared with Ole, only other candidates. Thing is, our main issue, along with Woodward is Ole and his bang average coaching staff. Our fan base is full of people that think we should continue with Ole because there’s nobody worthy available, when our current manager wouldn’t even be hired by a relegation threatened side. Incredible delusion.

I still stand by that, sacking Ole is fine, but if we do we need to make sure Poch is the right man or else we'll end up in a similar situation.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Agree with this. Had he been critical of us not resigning Herrera or replacing him, replacing Lukaku, Woodward would be more inclined to pull the trigger now.

And that's the reason Ole will be given a free pass by the board. The Glazers and Ed must be rubbing their hands together with Ole. He's come in, done all their dirty work by getting rid of the highest earners and not bringing in replacements and the blame lays directly at Oles door. Manipulation at its finest.

It wouldn't surprise me if we finish midtable and Ole keeps his job, with the excuse of this long term plan being used. It was actually a master plan from Ed. Bring in a club legend so when things are tits up he won't come under heavy fire like any "outsider" rightfully would and if by some miracle Ole ends up surprising most of us and actually gets us playing like we should be then Ed takes all the credit for his appointment in the first place. The fella is a genius.

 

[SteveJ]

And that's the reason Ole will be given a free pass by the board. The Glazers and Ed must be rubbing their hands together with Ole. He's come in, done all their dirty work by getting rid of the highest earners and not bringing in replacements and the blame lays directly at Oles door. Manipulation at its finest.

It wouldn't surprise me if we finish midtable and Ole keeps his job, with the excuse of this long term plan being used. It was actually a master plan from Ed. Bring in a club legend so when things are tits up he won't come under heavy fire like any "outsider" rightfully would and if by some miracle Ole ends up surprising most of us and actually gets us playing like we should be then Ed takes all the credit for his appointment in the first place. The fella is a genius.

It's the equivalent of sending Axel on.

 

[Giggsyking]

Reading through some of these deluded posters on the last 15 or so pages has really spelled out to me how much some of our fanbase deserve mediocrity, as it seems they will believe any rubbish spouted from the club and convince themselves anything.

this

 

[Paxi]

And that's the reason Ole will be given a free pass by the board. The Glazers and Ed must be rubbing their hands together with Ole. He's come in, done all their dirty work by getting rid of the highest earners and not bringing in replacements and the blame lays directly at Oles door. Manipulation at its finest.

It wouldn't surprise me if we finish midtable and Ole keeps his job, with the excuse of this long term plan being used. It was actually a master plan from Ed. Bring in a club legend so when things are tits up he won't come under heavy fire like any "outsider" rightfully would and if by some miracle Ole ends up surprising most of us and actually gets us playing like we should be then Ed takes all the credit for his appointment in the first place. The fella is a genius.

Agreed mate.

 

[Mainoldo]

You asked for improvments leading up to Pochettinos arrival - and I gave it to you. They didn't get progressively worse - for the first time in P.L history - Spurs had established themselves as a team fighting for C.L-spots. And true they had one season where they dropped down to 6th, but their point-tally was just marginally worse. They big difference was that Arsenal improved a lot that season, not that Spurs were worse.

And how much did Spurs improve in Pochettinos first season in charge ? 64 points. The season after they ended 3rd - but their point tally still was no higher than it was under Redknapp, the difference being that every other team did really poorly (Arsenal ended 2nd with 71 points).

So in reality - Spurs didn't improve at all for 24 months with Pochettino. It was only the season 16/17 everything fell into place.

And after that it was a 2 year decline.

I remember them being really close with Carrick I remember them always being there and there abouts. However they have never been this good. So I don’t get your argument. Newcastle have also been there abouts for a while aswell. But if he did the same for Newcastle that would be Newcastle’s best side since Keegan’s one season.

 

[Still ill]

Of course he deserved both credit and criticism. But the fact still remains - on a day when our players looked like shit, we managed to turn 0-2 to 3-2 (before messing it up in injury-team) - and he still gets called incompetent, an asshole and a few other words.

Matches like this doesn't worry me long-term, because it shows that the players have the will to fight and the quality to play good football - but of course we need to find out why it took them 65 or so minutes to turn it on.

But the fact remains - if we don't score - OGS is incompetent
If we one match concede 3 goals- his signings are rubbish
If we concede a late goal - OGS is rubbish for making the wrong sub (while ignoring the right ones)

So unless we win every game 2 or 3-0 - he is useless.

I have said it before - and I can say it again - we are 2-3 players away from having a REALLY good side. Get Pogba, McT back and get at least 2 good signings in - and we can match practically anyone.

Totally agree. Ole's reached the point of no return with many here. Every scenario can be fitted in to a negative agenda. We were dogshit for an hour and he didn't shy away from that. But that was a brilliant comeback. I mean thrilling. And the Tuanzebe sub made perfect sense. Anyone choosing to look at positives at the moment is an asshole. So be it.

 

[Mainoldo]

Totally agree. Ole's reached the point of no return with many here. Every scenario can be fitted in to a negative agenda. We were dogshit for an hour and he didn't shy away from that. But that was a brilliant comeback. I mean thrilling. And the Tuanzebe sub made perfect sense. Anyone choosing to look at positives at the moment is an asshole. So be it.

What exactly are you giving Ole credit for? We can back from a wonder strike. Yet again no game plan. The only time he used his game plan he made us worst. First starting Jones then changing the formation back to make us concede again. To a similar defensive set up that seen us concede to Liverpool.

 

[bdecuc]

Solskjaer's been making good long-term decisions. Trimmed some of the fat out of the squad. Relying on young more hungry players and playing them in their correct positions. Trying to play quick tempo energetic football. Trusting his players and giving chances to youngsters. The 3 he bought have improved us. He's been unlucky with injuries and that's been compounded by underinvestment in the squad by the club.

Compared to
- Moyes who looked a wrong fit from the start and seemed to struggle with the step up to managing a bigger club.
- LVG who just seemed his best days were behind him and he was implementing a system that had been left behind, and
- Mourinho who also has been left behind and who was a toxic influence,
Solskjaer is an improvement so far.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

You didn't watch the game then.

The team fought back. I someone told me that we would score 3 goals after conceding 2 this season then i would have laughed it off. Its not like we can go anywhere and play on the front foot all the time considering the injuries.

 

[shahzy]

Can we hurry up and get Pochettino already. Who are we trying to fool. Solskjaer will be fired at one point as he is just not good enough but apparently keeping him longer and making it look like we 'tried' for longer is good for optics? Rubbish

 

[Wolfmother]

What exactly are you giving Ole credit for? We can back from a wonder strike. Yet again no game plan. The only time he used his game plan he made us worst. First starting Jones then changing the formation back to make us concede again. To a similar defensive set up that seen us concede to Liverpool.

But he said post match interview the players didnt follow the gameplan. Surely that would indicate there was one? And im pretty shure he said Axel wasnt ready to play a full game in his pre match interview, hench Jones? Not like there was many options. He didnt change the formation back, he changed it from five attackers to one more holding midfielder. Seems a sensible choice. Imagine the mayhem if he didnt and they still scored

 

[Giggsyking]

I feel sorry for the boys playing under the management of a coach who is novice and incompetent. He changes the formation for 10 minutes and we score 3 goalsthen he shift back to the first shitty formation. He is the worst manager in the league by a a mile. A club of the size and the prestige of Manchester united has a manager who is best English managerial experience is relegating teams. It is a sad period in the clubs history, but he as a club legend should walk away and respect himself, tomorrow go to Ed and tell I want to leave, give me my salary for one year and I leave on mutual consent. But I know he will never do that, he will bring this club to the ground and will never think of leaving.

 

[Mainoldo]

But he said post match interview the players didnt follow the gameplan. Surely that would indicate there was one? And im pretty shure he said Axel wasnt ready to play a full game in his pre match interview, hench Jones? Not like there was many options. He didnt change the formation back, he changed it from five attackers to one more holding midfielder. Seems a sensible choice. Imagine the mayhem if he didnt and they still scored

Well I can’t remember a manager taking an L and the team listening to the game plan. No he stuck Axel at the back having no clue what his job was. 3 people marking one man like the first 45 minutes.

 

[mu4c_20le]

What exactly are you giving Ole credit for? We can back from a wonder strike. Yet again no game plan. The only time he used his game plan he made us worst. First starting Jones then changing the formation back to make us concede again. To a similar defensive set up that seen us concede to Liverpool.

What's a game plan to you? 16 touches before a goal?

 

[Mainoldo]

What's a game plan to you? 16 touches before a goal?

Yeah tikka taka just like how I set up on Fifa.

I also require a director of football and a proper good board with world class scouts to do the 16 touch thing though. So maybe that’s where my thinking is going wrong.

 

[Majima]

Since Ole was made permanent, he is averaging 1.19 points/game on average (25 points from 21 league games so far), that's enough for 45 points in the league. Have a look at previous years and see what 45 points will get you. It puts into context our position this season.

The last 5 years, 45 points is 13th 3/5 times.

So we have been near the bottom of the table, mid-table if we have a win a two. I would say he is simply achieving to his level as a manager.

 

[ColvaleGoa]

Not ideal result. We came back from a hopeless situation. Looked like we had nicked it only for the last minute sucker punch. Let's not underestimate Sheffield United, they have given lots of team hard times at the lane.

I think although the 70 minutes were abject depression inducing stuff we need to take them on the chin. Ole is going to learn from this kind of results. We showed fight which we have seldom showed for a long time.

My only bugbear is how did we ever end up with one fit midfielder? That's Fred. For the stature of our club and turnover that is shocking. Absolutely fuming that we are in mid November with one fit midfielder. And this is where I blame Ole. Kids coming through and all is okay but we can't go into season letting go of 2 midfielders and replacing them with none. And today we paid the price for that. So I hope Ole gets the time to sort this unholy mess but to be honest at the moment with Poch being available ,Ole will need League winning form to keep the hounds at bay.

 

[Chipper]

Heard someone somewhere saying Gary Neville had a better record in his 28 games at Valencia than Ole does in his last 28 games.

That can't be true, right? Right...?

Thankfully that's not true, we'd be in even more of a mess if it was.

Neville W10 D7 L11
Ole W11 D9 L8 (counting Rochdale as a draw)

League matches (16):
Neville W3 D5 L8
Ole W4 D7 L5

4 points in our last 2 games helps Ole there, form picked up a little. If taking 16 games from Everton last season until Bournemouth at the start of the month it was W3 D6 L7

 

[Eyepopper]

Thankfully that's not true, we'd be in even more of a mess if it was.

Neville W10 D7 L11
Ole W11 D9 L8 (counting Rochdale as a draw)

League matches (16):
Neville W3 D5 L8
Ole W4 D7 L5

4 points in our last 2 games helps Ole there, form picked up a little. If taking 16 games from Everton last season until Bournemouth at the start of the month it was W3 D6 L7

Phew.... Oles at the wheel so...

 

[Halftrack]

I'll like to see whoever predicted Spurs to be finishing 2nd and 3rd and reaching CL final while developing the best striker in the world and at one point the best English midfielder when Poch got the job at 2014.

All I'm seeing is people wanting to ridiculously underrate what Poch did that in favor of keeping an out of his depth manager. Ironically enough, back in Mourinho days the notion was completely the opposite here on Caf, Poch was the Caf darling that was example of playing without having a big budget, now with Ole's at the wheel people want to force the idea he did nothing special there, the players were improving on their own as he came and it was leading to where they went to.

Anyway unless Bayern steps up I'm 100% sure Poch will be our manager next season and will be fun looking back at all these arguments.

I like how you apparently read a bunch of stuff I didn't write and got super defensive. I said that you constantly try to downplay the progress Tottenham made before his arrival to make his accomplishments seem greater. We've also had people on here claiming he had to deal with losing Modric and Bale, and crediting him with promoting Kane (he did help Kane develop into a cracking player, but Kane broke through under Sherwood.) You see straight-up lies, like "Spurs were a mid-table side when he took over" constantly. I saw someone say they had only managed two top 4 finishes in 14 years before Poch, when it was two in five years. I don't know if people just make assumptions, or if they just straight up ignore anything suggesting Spurs were actually decent, but it's incredibly tiresome. It's like arguing with people from an alternate reality.

And if we sack Ole and hire Poch, I'll be disappointed that it didn't work out for Ole, but I'll be more than happy with Poch.

Wow what a statement.

They had really been improving before Poch, appointing manager after manager, blowing all the Bale money on duds, leaving them with a broken team with no money left to buy anyone else.

Please go on, i would love for you to explain just what improvements were made leading up to Pochettino's arrival?

You're right. I'm amazed Spurs had even stayed up, their squad was so bad. It's amazing how Poch turned this Championship-level side into the juggernauts of club football. To think they had jokers like Eriksen, Vertonghen, Dembele and Walker knocking about. The feck was he supposed to do with dross like that? And that one talented kid? Kane was it? Who had broken through a the tail-end of the season before, I think? Boy was he shit.

 

[Chipper]

Phew.... Oles at the wheel so...

so we're still shit even if he's better than Neville.

 

[el3mel]

I like how you apparently read a bunch of stuff I didn't write and got super defensive. I said that you constantly try to downplay the progress Tottenham made before his arrival to make his accomplishments seem greater. We've also had people on here claiming he had to deal with losing Modric and Bale, and crediting him with promoting Kane (he did help Kane develop into a cracking player, but Kane broke through under Sherwood.) You see straight-up lies, like "Spurs were a mid-table side when he took over" constantly.

They were finishing regularly 5th or 6th at best. Finished top 4 twice in the last 15 years before he got the job. Under him they finished there 3 times in 4 years. Their best 3 seasons ever in PL with its new format were under him, when they finished 2nd and 3rd twice. The last time they finished 3rd before that was in 1990, back in the old format. They reached their first ever CL final under him. Whatever way people interpret it, these are all facts and numbers. Claiming that Spurs were making progress good enough when he just came so that they were going to to do all these anyway is just straight and pure hindsight, unlike these facts above. Again, I will like to see who predicted Spurs to finish 2nd and 3rd regularly while reaching CL final when he first got appointed, back in 2014.

 

[Eyepopper]

so we're still shit even if he's better than Neville.

Neville probably needed more time and transfer funds mate!

 

[Madzik_92]

I've just seen Rio tweet, and he was praising Wilder. But, why won't he just admit that Ole is out of his depth? Because they're teammates before?

 

[Halftrack]

Finished top 4 twice in the last 15 years before he got the job.

It was top 4 twice in the last five years, the last just two small years before he was appointed.

And you seem to be trying to convince me that they improved under him and that he did a very good job with them. You don't have to do that, I already know he did. See, I'm capable of thinking that, while also acknowledging that he didn't take over some mid-table team.

 

[Darlington Padgett]

Once again he showed us he's not ready for this level. We should've kept attacking, we were controlling the game. He just doesn't know what to do when we're winning, and its even worse when we're losing.

 

[Majima]

You're right. I'm amazed Spurs had even stayed up, their squad was so bad. It's amazing how Poch turned this Championship-level side into the juggernauts of club football. To think they had jokers like Eriksen, Vertonghen, Dembele and Walker knocking about. The feck was he supposed to do with dross like that? And that one talented kid? Kane was it? Who had broken through a the tail-end of the season before, I think? Boy was he shit.

What's with all the hyperbole? When someone debates something you can't easily brush aside, just exaggerate their point completely?

If you're not willing to be intellectually honest, then what's the point? You want to win some points over the internet?

That's hindsight thinking though. Before Pochettino, Spurs had gone through 9 managers in 11 years and just finished 6th. They had Adebayor stinking the place out on big wages, big money signings in Soldado, Lamela & Paulinho who were massive flops. A 21 year old Kane was unproven at the time, he came in out of necessity as they had no resources left to buy anyone else.

Eriksen was promising. But Lloris, Vertonghen, Walker & Rose were all part of the side that had shipped 51 goals in the league the previous season. Hardly a top 4 defence, more mid-table actually.

So, at the time, they had a mediocre defence, okay midfield & mediocre attack. With no money available to buy anyone. Pochettino's first 2 years, they spent less than what they received both years.

The one upside was, Poch inherited a young team with potential to improve, but he still had a lot of hard work to coach them and guide them to their potential over the years, nothing was handed to him to begin with. The same way Rashford, James, Martial, McT have potential but it's certainly not guaranteed they will reach it without quality coaching and guidance.

At the time back then, you could see beforehand that Spurs would achieve what they did in his time there could you?