Carabao Cup - Third Round ** Spoilers ** [24/25 September 2019]
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
Don
Oh dear Spurs.
Man of Honour
Spurs knocked out by Colchester on pens 
Don
Has he suddenly become good or is the Arsenal defence that bad?
Soldato
5-0.
Man of Honour
Martinelli again! 5-0 
Stoke knocked out by Crawley on pens too, you love to see it
Stoke knocked out by Crawley on pens too, you love to see it
Caporegime
Tierney was outstanding on his debut.
A left back who can actually cross.
A left back who can actually cross.
Associate
Didn't fulham play him in mid during his loan?
All season and he was their player of the year with about 50% of the fans' vote; although that is like being the tallest dwarf in the room. He's a decent player though and should have a role at Arsenal as a squad player. He's been more deserving of opportunities than some other players who have worn the shirt over the past couple of seasons.
Good night; 5-0 to the Arsenal and Spurs binned by a League 2 side whilst having a number of experienced players on the pitch.
Caporegime
I think Poch is done at spurs, I really do. I cannot see it getting better at this point. It’s like he’s lost interest.
Soldato
just came back from emirates !!!
I think they have hit a plateau where they have lost the opportunity to take a major domestic title thanks to City and Liverpool's (re)emergence and have underperformed in Cup competitions which has limited their ability to really progress in terms of mentality, and the associated benefits success brings. They are currently little better than the other three also-rans (Arsenal, Utd, Chelsea) but still have a somewhat undeserved aura of a 'Pochettino team' in pundit-land. Clearly there has been a disconnect between Levy and Pochettino but the squad situation is creating a perfect storm where there are too many important players performing well below capability, and Pochettino is at least temporarily unable to get the best out of others (i.e. Alli). In many ways, they have hit the same plateau other emerging sides come up against: Wenger's Arsenal, Klopp's Dortmund etc - although without being able to back up their rise with absolute success before coming to a point where some of the stars look to want out.
One of the oddest concepts in football has been the 'power shift' in north London. Spurs have been at a several-decade zenith under Pochettino, whereas we have - let's face it - been **** for a while. Yet in that timespan Arsenal have put as many FA Cups in the cabinet as Spurs have won in over 50 years and reached another two Cup finals. What would you take? That's not even a critique of Spurs, but just another example of football's propensity to over-celebrate and likely now over-criticise.
The upcoming months will be interesting. Spurs don't have the resources to compete at the very top-table, their form is horrendous, the Prem is already a distant dream, and they are now reliant on a Cup run to try and galvanise the club. Pochettino needs to find a way to re-energise the squad and somehow begin to replace the likely outgoings with quality. But does he have the energy for it himself? He must acutely realise his window of opportunity to land a top job is narrowing.
One of the oddest concepts in football has been the 'power shift' in north London. Spurs have been at a several-decade zenith under Pochettino, whereas we have - let's face it - been **** for a while. Yet in that timespan Arsenal have put as many FA Cups in the cabinet as Spurs have won in over 50 years and reached another two Cup finals. What would you take? That's not even a critique of Spurs, but just another example of football's propensity to over-celebrate and likely now over-criticise.
The upcoming months will be interesting. Spurs don't have the resources to compete at the very top-table, their form is horrendous, the Prem is already a distant dream, and they are now reliant on a Cup run to try and galvanise the club. Pochettino needs to find a way to re-energise the squad and somehow begin to replace the likely outgoings with quality. But does he have the energy for it himself? He must acutely realise his window of opportunity to land a top job is narrowing.
Caporegime
You must have loved that. Seemed a real feel good factor tonight.
Soldato
The thing is, in general pundits love spurs and hate arsenal.
Even though we have won more cups and been to more finals, the pundits still think spurs are far beyond us.
Also arsenal and wenger won titles mate, how is that hitting a plateau?
Soldato
YEA IT WAS !!! LOVED IT!!!!
As in, we couldn't immediately repeat the successes (FA Cup aside) or push out to the European stage and Wenger had to constantly rebuild as the elite came in for our top players. Whether that was Anelka's move to Madrid, Petit and Overmars to Barca in the earlier days - or any number of stars departing further down the line. We were also incredibly fortunate that we were able to retain Henry and Vieira far beyond a reasonably expected point (see Spurs, Kane). Arsenal's plateau is that we also didn't have either the resources nor elite prestige to keep in a position to push forwards, and it is chiefly thanks to one man that we were successful over such a length of time.
Spur's plateau is different in that they haven't had that initial success, but similar premises hold true (lack of resources, squad issues, stadium move etc). And an extra caveat that their manager is a different kind of ambitious to Wenger.
Caporegime
Bets on Spurs sacking Poch and United sacking Ole at just the wrong time to sign him up?
Associate
I think Poch lost interest last year to be honest, then the doors for real and man u closed and he was kinda stuck.