Mails: Is Pochettino the new Brendan?

Mails: Is Pochettino the new Brendan?

If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

Love for Conte
As a football nerd, I’m fascinated by so many of the games tactical evolutions. I wanted to take a moment to praise Antonio Conte.

Formations are constantly evolving, and this 3-4-3 could well become “a thing”. I would say that Chelsea need to have sustained success with it before it catches on properly. If they win the league with it, I could definitely see more teams adopting the formation next season. However, it will be the smaller clubs that adopt it first. Bigger clubs will still be focussed on existing ideologies.

When the wing-backs push forward, the team are protected from the counter-attack with Kante and Matic protecting the back three, creating a solid five players behind the ball. When the wing-backs push forward it also provides freedom for Pedro and Hazard to come inside; BUT they do it differently. Pedro, uninterested in the build-up play, looks for the through ball in behind the opposing left-back and left-sided CB, whilst Hazard isn’t interested in that, but prefers collecting the ball in deeper central zones and getting creative. Costa meanwhile is cleverly and (of recent times) not so c*ntishly occupying the opposition CBs in order to create spaces for Pedro and Hazard to play in.

The other thing that Conte has done so well is to not immediately come in and switch the system. He allowed the players to continue with a flat back four until it was obviously not working (3-0 at The Emirates), and then changed it. By doing this he maximised the receptiveness of his players to his new ideas. If Conte had just come in from day one and insisted on 3-4-3 it’s possible (not certain) that the players (particularly the defenders) may not have been completely on board with introducing it. Essentially, not only has it been a good tactical change, but also implemented at the right time maximising his efficiency on the people management side of things and maximising the potential for the new system to work.

Also, the improvement in Costa’s recent behaviour is another indicator that Conte has got the people management side of things well on track. And at a club like Chelsea, that is something to be applauded.

And no Europe. Premier League teams with title aspirations should be wary.
Naz, Gooner

Is Pochettino the new Rodgers?
Following Spurs Champions League capitulation last night, the parallels between Poch and Rodgers are quite interesting.

Both highly regarded young coaches with a clear philosophy and who made their names at unfashionable clubs.

Both had potentially career-defining seasons that ultimately failed at the last and which, in hindsight, were aided by factors that the managers weren’t 100% responsible for (for Poch a remarkably fortunate run of little injuries in a season of poor overall quality and for Rodgers, Luis Suarez going supersonic).

Now Poch has followed up last season with a collection of mediocre and overpriced signings, is making bizarre CL tactical decisions (why would you not play your first team??) and has overseen a long and boring goal drought the similarities are uncanny.

The big question is whether Poch will be managing Rangers in two years’ time?
Adam, London (Martial over Winks all day), LFC

…An English team has a great season against the odds, almost wins the title but bottles it at the final hurdle. They manage to qualify for the Champions League.
Despite blowing the big opportunity, their manager is hailed as one for the future.

Next season, they bottle the CL and go to such lengths as to rest key players for an important match in favour of a game at the weekend against Chelsea.

They lose the game, get knocked out of the CL, fail to qualify next year and their manager is eventually sacked.

Sound familiar? Replace Monaco with Real Madrid and you get the idea.
Taha Ahmed (Smart money is on a 2-1 Chelsea win and Spurs to finish outside the top four), LFC

Spurs lack pace and magic
As a non-London based Arsenal fan, I don’t actively despise Spurs. In fact I find a great deal to like about their current squad, and their manager in particular.

Leaving aside their current poor form which ought to improve soon enough, the basic problem with their squad I think, is two-fold.

Firstly – as Harry Redknapp said on TV last night – apart from the full-backs, there is no out-and-out pace in the team. I feel a bit nauseous agreeing with ‘Arry on anything, but for once he’s right. All the elite sides all have pace throughout the team but Spurs, whilst by no means a slow side, really don’t have anyone truly rapid up front or in midfield.

Secondly, they just need a sprinkling of stardust in the side. They have plenty of really high-quality players in the team (Kane, Eriksen, Dembele, the Belgians at the back) but lack ‘magic’ players. Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal & Chelsea all have those ‘magic’ players that can turn a game in an instant, even when it’s not going well. Spurs don’t quite have that as far as I can see.

Basically, put Gareth Bale back in that side and Spurs become serious contenders in any competition. A bit of a glib thing to say, and not going to happen, but still true. Signing up some quick players ought to be easy enough, but finding a magician out there who is available and doesn’t cost a gazillion pounds? Everyone’s after one of those – so best of luck.

Finally, John Blakeway this morning expressed his relief that with Spurs out, at least he won’t hear the Champions League anthem too much longer this year. I’m with John – I’m not a classical music philistine, but I’ve always thought it’s a god-awful piece of screechy choral b*ll*cks and high time it got changed. Unfortunately, as it was specially commissioned for this tournament by UEFA back in 1992 (from an English composer) I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon – shame!
Rob, Bristol Gooner

No need for doom and gloom
Fans of other clubs do seem to get their knickers in a twist about Spurs don’t they: a number of mails in the morning mailbox gloating about our (admittedly awful) efforts in the CL this year and no doubt more contributions to follow this afternoon. “Lads, it’s Tottenham”/”back to their rightful place in the Europa on Spursday nights” etc.

All fair enough and part of the game/being a fan. We make a complete balls-up of the competition this year and as we all know it’s incredibly easy to throw around this sort of top bantz, e.g. Liverpool/Chelsea/ United – none of you are even in the competition this year (and Liverpool and United stank out the competition at least as badly as we have done on your last respective efforts). City-failed to get out of the group on their first two qualifications in the Abu Dhabi era despite spending the wealth of a small nation on a number of world-class players. Arsenal – fair enough, incredibly consistent in getting to the last 16 so many years in a row and maybe this is the year you’ll go one round further, but don’t you think you might have done better over the years given the resources available and seen in the context of the efforts of (for example) Atletico and Dortmund? All of this makes you realise how incredibly impressive the Tottenham CL campaign was in 2010-11 where we not only qualified from a group in which the armchair experts predicted we’d crash and burn but topped it and scored an average of three goals a game in the process. Despite the weirdly chippy attitude of some Leicester fans towards Spurs (together with every other Spurs fan I know I was delighted for their league win, once it was beyond our grasp), I hope that the Foxes put together a similar run to the QFs or beyond.

My point is that there’s no need for doom and gloom in N17. Naturally, the way we’ve performed in the CL has been a huge disappointment. The performances, particularly at Wembley, have been way below par, together with some odd selections that have demonstrated that the squad building is very far from complete. Many sides would have struggled without their two most important players (Kane and Alderweireld) in half of the games but that doesn’t excuse the poor level of performance. Many lessons to be learned by our young squad and manager for the future.

However, if someone had said at the start of 2015-16 that our team would be the closest meaningful challengers to the eventual league champions that season and would attain automatic qualification for the CL then the scornful lolz and bantz would have poured forth from up and down the country on the comments boards. We’re really doing pretty well when it comes down to brass tacks. We have the youngest team in the division, one of the brightest young managers, world-class training facilities and the biggest stadium in London opening in just over 18 months. We’re four points off the top of the league this season (competing with teams whose wage bills mostly dwarf our own) having barely got out of second gear and having suffered many more injuries to key players than our rivals. In this era it’s difficult for any club run on sustainable business principles to consistently compete with the petro-clubs / established commercial giants for title-winning success (but what about FFP…oh, hang on…) but we’ve given ourselves every chance of having a decent go at it over the next few years.
Tuffers (looking forward to Chelsea at the weekend)

Why do Spurs want to be in the Champions League? The dollars…
John’s question was directed at Pochettino but I’ll have a stab at answering.

Why prioritise qualification for the Champions League next year over this year’s performance in the competition? In a word, money.

I reckon there’s a decent reward for qualifying and I imagine the Premier League TV money is significantly better in the top four rather than out of it (no I haven’t checked these figures). You’re paying for a new stadium and have an owner who’s renowned for being a shrewd businessman – surely this possibility has occurred to you?

For the record, I’m not suggesting that this influenced Pochettino’s team selection or tactics, just presenting a valid reason for the strategy. As a fan, your view on whether that’s the right decision is probably different to the owner.
Dave, MUFC, Manchester

Who should Van Dijk join?
I see from today’s gossip that Manchester United have apparently joined Liverpool in the ‘chase’ for Virgil Van Dijk. And that got me thinking about who VVD should sign for if he does decide to leave Soton, and the implications of that.

For years, few English clubs had the status or the money to compete with United for the best talent (think Andy Cole, Rio and van Nistelrooy). Chelsea, and subsequently City, came along with their billionaire owners and changed the dynamic somewhat. However, the fact remained that the draw of Ferguson (and medals and cash) still brought plenty of very talented players to the club (for example, Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov).

Then Fergie left and the trophies dried up, and all that was left was the cash. Still quite a draw, apparently (see Pogba) but perhaps not enough to really engage the player with the club (e.g. di Maria) and allow a team to be built.

Which brings us to now. For the first time in decades, a player faced with a choice of joining United will know that it does not necessarily guarantee winning the league any time soon, or even qualifying for the Champions League. It is not just elite players like Pogba and Ibra who are going to baulk at that – any ambitious young player playing in one of the top European leagues is going to pause for thought. In the particular example of VVD, you can also imagine that if he were to speak to Schneiderlin or Shaw at the moment, he might get a different message from them about the reality of playing under Mourinho than he would get from Liverpool’s ex-Soton contingent about the joys of Klopp. (And, yes, I know VVD did not play with Shaw or Scheiderlin at Soton but I think the point is still valid).

To get to the point, it seems to me that there must now be a genuine question as to whether United’s history and financial clout will continue to enable it to sign players at the level just below Barca and Real (and possible Bayern/PSG) or if they are now at a stage where the best players (in terms of ability and attitude) will opt to go elsewhere. Clearly VVD’s decision on its own will not answer this but it will nevertheless be interesting to see which way he goes. (Presumably to City to replace Kompany).
James Williams

We would love Sturridge at Southampton but…
Sturridge on loan to Southampton in January, would be marvellous and just makes so much sense.

We desperately need to score more goals (as shown by the stats comparison to last season) and will hopefully have European knockout football which Sturridge is eligible for. It would be a perfect platform to get regular playing time, hopefully knocking in 10+ goals and remind Liverpool what they’re missing.

But before I get too excited, unfortunately this all falls down when you realise Sturridge is on 120k a week which is way outside our wage structure. Maybe this isn’t an issue for a loan, but for any longer term move I just can’t see any player taking at least a 20-30% cut while still having years on their existing contract. £25m (give or take), despite being not an awful lot by today’s standards, would also represent another break from our usual model on finding less known players and/or raiding Celtic.

So damn, the only conclusion I can draw is that it’s a classic ‘nice rumour’ that is also total ****.
Tom Saints (There is 0 chance of Van Dijk moving in January, so that’s also rubbish)

Come on Jack….head to Europe
I have always been a huge fan of Jack Wilshere and couldn’t (quite) understand taking him to the Euros but not playing him (enough). The reality of the situation was his fitness and the seven and a half years since he played 90 minutes.

This is what made the move to Bournemouth such a clever one. Understands the league? Check. Team plays good football? Check. Guaranteed first-team football? Check. The move worked for Bournemouth, Jack and Arsenal (who would be assured their player would get a lot of game time and in a system not a million miles from Arsenal’s). Add to this that the move works for England because he is close enough to home to monitor and, amazingly, still in the top half.

What happens at the end of the season is a fascinating question. Presumably the move was to gain fitness and first-team action. Great, then he slots back into Arsenal…or does he? Is there a vacancy? Possibly. But would Jack himself be better served elsewhere. Since leaving Arsenal (on loan) he hasn’t been struck down with constant injuries, he hasn’t been subject to pictures in the papers and he has been away from speculation. Granted, he isn’t also playing in the Champions League or challenging for the title.

So, I would say Europe (probably France or Italy) beckons. He seems absolutely suited to either Serie A or Ligue Un. I would love to see him swap the red and black of Bournemouth for the Red and Black of AC Milan. Lille would be lovely, or Lyon. (Ajax, now you are talking but the money wouldn’t stack up). He could probably cut it in Spain but the physical side might be a bit too much. It has been too long since an English player (Beckham aside) made a success of themselves in Europe. Come on Jack, bring back the glory days of Waddle in Marseille.
Micki Attridge

Everton need an overhaul
Bear with me on the list style mail, but I’ve been almost constantly thinking about this since Saturday, and it’s only now I’ve been able to form my thoughts into a coherent summary.

It’s as simple as this: Everton are nowhere near good enough at the moment. Koeman deserves time to build his squad and adapt the playing style, but at the moment the squad is just depressingly weak. We lack guile and fight, and lack leaders who can grab the game by the scruff of the neck and battle for us.

There’s at least nine senior squad players that shouldn’t wear an Everton shirt again: Joel, Gibson, Kone, Lennon, Cleverley, McCarthy, Valencia, Oviedo and Niasse. I love Oviedo but he’s simply not good enough. Of the remaining, only Coleman, Williams, Gueye, Barkley, Bolasie and Lukaku are first-team quality, and the rest are back-up players or youth players.

If Koeman insists on sticking with 4-2-3-1 (and I hope he doesn’t as teams have found us out using that style), then we need an injection of four or five Premier League ready players in January, plus another striker. That with the youth players would be a huge improvement on what we have now.

Too drastic? Maybe, but when you’re watching Jagielka give clumsy penalties away or Lukaku nod the ball down to no-one, because Barkley is 20 yards away having had to drop back and get the midfield moving a bit, it’s difficult not to become totally frustrated.
Joe, (terrified of derby day), EFC

You cold-hearted b***ards
I’m sure the last thing Spurs fans wanted to see this morning when logging on to this hallowed site to try and digest last night’s result was a massive ‘Portrait of an Icon – Arsene Wenger’ piece.

I can’t work out whether that was a d*ck move or a perfectly executed bit of ‘bantz’.

I’m going with the latter. Applause all round.
Lee (anticipating the retorts about us not being in Europe), LFC

On the not-so-mighty Os
I assumed that the morning mailbox would be full of whimpering Spuds and elated Foxes, so I held off on this for the afternoon session.

I just thought I’d update the rest of the F365 on what’s currently going down in League Two with a very short story about my best pal, Phil.

I’ve been a lifelong Leyton Orient fan as my Father cursed me when I was little. I don’t have kids so I decided to pass the curse on to my mate, Phil. After a few years nagging said Phil to get a season ticket with me, he caved in and purchased one for the 16/17 season in lowly League Two.

Long story short – Orient have now played 10 homes this season, and have lost 9 of them with the one and only win against an equally crap Stevenage in August. Last night Orient suffered their 8th (yes 8th!) straight home loss in a row to then bottom of the table Exeter City (can we do some research as to the last time a team lost eight in a row at home?).

Phil has attended 9 of the 10 home games this season. Who wants to take a guess at which of the 10 games he didn’t make it to?

*cries with laughter and pain*
Joe, MUFC/LOFC