Pochettino | Agrees to be US National Team Coach

He even had the audacity to say last night's performance was good. :lol:

In Poch's defense the squad is lacking experience and our injury record has been absolutely ridiculous. I don't think I'm wrong when I say we've had roughly 10 players unavailable for just about every game of the season so far and it doesn't look to be getting any better either with players continuing to drop like flies at the same rate as other players coming back from their injuries. But even so, many of his decisions throughout the season have been absolutely shocking, such as continuing to play Colwill at LB as pointed out by @TheMagicFoolBus.

But despite me never really rating Poch as a manager and recognizing he's made tons of mistakes this season I doubt we'd be any better off if we sacked him now. No point hiring a new manager now who'd just face the same issues with the inconsistent young players and a ridiculously injury prone squad. Personally I'll give him a couple of months to start showing a better style of football and more consistent performances. For me it's not even about the league position, I just want to see some improvement and a spark to give me hope things will eventually get better. Whether we actually qualify for European football (UEL/UECL) or not is irrelevant to me but as long as the trajectory is pointing upwards I could be willing to give him the season and have him start off with a clean slate next summer. But if the performances keep zig-zagging from decent to absolutely terrible and Poch himself continues to make baffling decisions every game he's not going to be in the job for much longer and rightly so.

The hand he's been dealt definitely hasn't made his job easy but if he still insists on shooting himself in the foot instead of making the most of what he's got then ultimately he only has himself to blame.
 
They don't seem to have any of the playing characteristics that previous Poch PL sides had.
 
I tend to always be on the give the manager time side of the argument, and I still believe half a season is nowhere near enough time to judge a manager, but if we fail to get past Boro in two weeks, I'm sorry, he's a dead man walking to me. I can't back a man with those results.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
The fact that Poch has stubbornly stuck to this 4-2-3-1 despite very obviously not having the personnel is alarmingly stupid. He's potentially destroying the development of Colwill by insisting he play as a LB - it's extremely fecking obvious that with both LBs out we should be going 3 at the back with Maatsen and Gusto as wingbacks. Instead we have Colwill shoehorned in there and Maatsen being sent out on loan when he's not being used as a right winger.

Beyond stupid management. It was the same with Potter - obviously the players are letting him down but Poch is doing a terrible job of putting them into positions to succeed.
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We’ve been crying out for 3atb many times this season and I hope its not a case of having to leave big players out that’s preventing the switch. Because in order to play it one of Gallagher/Enzo/Caicedo misses out. Or if he opted to play all 3 we’d have multiple big money attacking players benched. Not that any of them have been any good but there would be pressure to play them all the same.


FrankDrebin said:
They don't seem to have any of the playing characteristics that previous Poch PL sides had.
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A hallmark of his Spurs team was using attacking fullbacks and getting the best out of them. Now he’s playing a center half there.
 
They also don't seem to worry about injury records when signing players or handing out contracts - it's startling how many of their players are below average in terms of availability.
 
Noot said:
They also don't seem to worry about injury records when signing players or handing out contracts - it's startling how many of their players are below average in terms of availability.
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What was Lavia's injury record before we signed him? Because he was out injured for 4 months after we signed him, came back for 45 mins and now he's out injured again. Paid over £50m for him but 6 months down the line we've only gotten 45 minutes of action from him.
 
Media is very quiet for how badly he is doing, yet ETH is constantly being criticised and scrutined.

Suppose that is what happens when you are are a proper big club.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
Media is very quiet for how badly he is doing, yet ETH is constantly being criticised and scrutined.

Suppose that is what happens when you are are a proper big club.
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To be fair, Poch is kind of a media darling. Most of the criticism from pundits and journalists is being directed at the owners.
 
FootballHQ said:
Bit random but I know a guy who supports Chelsea and he played for Luton as youth player up to 2017 (now left football completely and works in PR in London). Anyway Luton sent him out on loan to Hendon Town just before he was released and he actually played against Adebayo as he was at Bognor Regis at that time on loan. :lol: :lol:

Texted him today and it was certainly a surreal feeling watching him actually score v Chelsea for Luton although of course he was glad it wasn't the winner.

Anyway the big weakness Chelsea have is on crosses. Newcastle exploited it, McTominay certainly did and Luton probably realised too late the aerial bombardment is the way to expose Chelsea.

You've got West Ham soon haven't you so that will be a big test defending Ward Prowse set pieces.
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This is confusing. You said he’s been released and now you’re saying he scored against Chelsea today?
 
Noot said:
They also don't seem to worry about injury records when signing players or handing out contracts - it's startling how many of their players are below average in terms of availability.
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Other than maybe Fofana I don't see how your claim holds any water. Nkunku had an injury last season that kept him out of action for a couple of months but prior to that he had a very good fitness record, and by the time he had that injury in the first place the deal to sign him was already agreed anyway. The only other player whose injury record looked in any way worrying at the time of signing was Madueke but he's had hardly any issues with us.

Enzo, Caicedo, Palmer, Lavia, Disasi, Cucurella, Sterling, Jackson, Mudryk, Gusto, Chukwuemeka etc. had no history of injury problems whatsoever when they were signed. A few of them had had some minor issues here or there in the past but nothing that could be considered a deal breaker because if the criteria to sign a player is that they've never been injured the available player pool would be very limited.

Players like Chilwell, Lavia, Nkunku, Chukwuemeka etc. only really turned into crocks when they were already at the club. As for James his injury history was known to be an issue by the time he signed his latest contract with us but being just about the only real world class player in the squad and an academy-raised lad no less it was still very much the correct decision to tie him up on a new deal.

But yeah it's definitely a huge worry how often our players get injured. Rather than blame it on the players being injury prone (which could be argued to be the case for a select few of them) I think there's some mismanaging of the players fitness going on at the club. Whether it's a problem with the training methods, physical recovery or the medical department I've no clue but this definitely doesnt' seem normal anymore and the club could use a thorough investigation as to why this is happening. Having players the club have paid hundreds of millions of pounds to sign being constantly out injured for any given match is not sustainable.
 
This guy is on the way back down to his proper level. An aggrieved Southampton fan base who felt the previous manager shouldn't have gone.
 
elmo said:
This is confusing. You said he’s been released and now you’re saying he scored against Chelsea today?
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Nah the guy I know now works in PR in London, he left football in 2017 when Luton released him. While he was at Kenilworth Road they sent him to play for Hendon Town and he played against Adebayo in non league football. So was one of those parallel universe moments to see guy he played against all those years ago now score for Luton against Chelsea!
 
Chelsea's recruitment is fecking shocking but Poch is doing a shite job. Another new manager next season
 
Please just play full backs at full back. That's all I'm asking for at this point.
 
Shocking performance today. You'd expect a Liverpool win at Anfield but the lack of even minimal fight from Chelsea is telling.
 
Badiashile, Disasi, Gusto were never worth the price. They will need another defense rebuild in 2 years.
 
RedSky said:
They'll do better with Nkunku and Chuk back. Badly need those two to stay fit.
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Lavia seems to have disappeared completely off the face of the earth.

I guess the plan is to eventually sell Gallagher but Lavia and Chukuwuemeka can never get fit to challenge for the attacking midfield role.

They go back into the bottom half if Wolves win tomorrow (or beat them again at the weekend) and that's after a reasonable run of wins in the prem so their league season isn't going to amount to anything.
 
So if ETH is under pressure what's this guy up to? He team isn't showing anything his old Spurs did
 
"No complaints" about decisions from Poch. Just another Potter in disguise. Off you feck mate.
 
autopilot said:
Please just play full backs at full back. That's all I'm asking for at this point.
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He cant, and one of those fullbacks is Chilwell who has never played well for us a LB only at LWB.
James is always injured, Gusto wasn't ready to play 90.
This rubbish manager sold Lewis Hall and Maatsen though.
 
I don't think he survives a mid-table finish, but I hope that he does, because Chelsea aren't going anywhere with him.

However, I can also see Chelsea making another wrong decision in the summer by going for someone like Nagelsmann, and spend at least another season in the trenches.

So, it's all good for now.
 
Robbie Boy said:
I assumed you were referencing us and Chelsea having poor teams which is why we are both doing shite? Apologies if this wasn't the case.
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Yes, that is exactly what i am saying. Despite both teams being elite in the world of football, our teams are pretty shite due to bad recruitment over the last few years. So it is making managers look poor. It's not all on the players, some of the subs and recruitment is on ETH, for example, but you can't just go around blaming the managers as if they were telling the players to be shit.
 
P-Ro said:
"No complaints" about decisions from Poch. Just another Potter in disguise. Off you feck mate.
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This is exactly why vociferous belligerent knobheads like Klopp and Arteta can get away with their referee intimidating behaviour. Because the rest of the managers are meek and submissive and don’t kick up a storm like they do.

There’s a clear reason why they’re both flying high and they rarely get decisions against them - and even if they do a media tirade follows leading to an apology and then subsequent favourable decisions.
 
jakko said:
He cant, and one of those fullbacks is Chilwell who has never played well for us a LB only at LWB.
James is always injured, Gusto wasn't ready to play 90.
This rubbish manager sold Lewis Hall and Maatsen though.
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Was Lewis Hall on him? Don't think he's playing much at Newcastle currently
 
I’m this close to starting a full on Simeone to Chelsea agenda campaign.
 
P-Ro said:
"No complaints" about decisions from Poch. Just another Potter in disguise. Off you feck mate.
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Typical Anfield refereeing. Though while you didn't get some calls, it wasn't the reason you couldn't muster a single chance in the first half.
 
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