Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs : Purple patch or The Real Deal
We hardly see narratives from a Spurs perspective over here ( for obvious reasons..they don't have fans on this Blog!. )
I feel obliged to do one after what I saw yesterday ( Spurs 2 -Arsenal 1 )
Arsène Wenger has seen many Spurs sides come and go, but few have outplayed Arsenal so thoroughly as Mauricio Pochettino’s did yesterday.
Arsenal were pinned down and pushed around. Spurs haven't done that to Arsenal very often in recent times. But it was lovely to see ( at least as a Chelsea fan :-) )
Spurs -Kyle Walker ( played like Cafu, he left Ozil and the Arsenal left wing for dead in many occasions with pace) Danny Rose complemented him on the right. Ryan Mason ( probably ran Kane close for MoTM. Thanks F.O. For making me more aware of him before the game) he was all-action-hero in defensive midfield and with the equally impressive Nabil Bentaleb, they totally bossed Arsenal in the middle of the park.
Moussa Dembele seems to have regained his self belief and ability to impact matches. It's a shame he can't score though (Poche might be waving his magic wand on that aspect of his game too) He has totally changed from holding midfielder and deep passer to ‘destroyer’ No. 10. He led the high press, which is a feature of the new Spurs, pretty well. This switch suits his strengths much better and credit to Pochettino for recognizing that.
Lamela is improving too
I thought Eriksen, who has frequently been their match winner this season, had a strangely subdued game
Nacer Chadli, who had a great game against Chelsea, is also a good player even though he only had some minutes yesterday.
All that is left is to get Soldado scoring again
Big Daddy Kane...nah, scratch that..:-) ....Harry Kane - I can't speak highly enough of this dude. 22 goals in all competitions, 12 already in the league, and he wasn't the main striker at the beginning of this season!.....He looks like the Real Deal
The icing on the cake is that he looks like someone who just seems to be enjoying everything.
Check out his one man single lap of honour after the game yesterday: He left the rest of the team and went off to the South Stand (where some of the most hardcore Spurs supporters sit) and the cameras followed him around the ground on that glory lap from there. There was no commentary and the feeling was intense, it was beautiful
Pochettino is building a beast at Tottenham, but he's making great use of the resources developed within Spurs academy ranks ( their latest acquisition is Dele Alli, who looks like another class act in the middle )
I don't think this is just a purple patch, I think it is something to really be worried about by the traditional top 4 ( judging by his antecedents at Southampton )
Time will tell though. I'm going to be watching their next game against 'Pool with keen interest now. I have to.
Hear Wenger: "We were not very good and the referee was at our level. On Kane, he said: “He was good, as always. He grows and he has a good determination. He doesn’t stop, keeps going. The regret I have is that we gave him a cheap goal."
Ahh, I see what you are saying Arsene, you didn't play very well, the referee was poor and you lost because you made a charitable mistake at the back ( I hope the sarcasm is not lost on y'all)
Incisive analysis of the game as ever! ( there were a lot of gooners who feel just the same yesterday on the match thread)
Now imagine if that comment had been made by Mourinho after a Chelsea loss - where his team was clearly second best... Sites would have been inundated with those hypocritical "Mou is unrealistic, Mou is uncharitable, Mou isn't magnanimous to the opposition in defeat" posts
Spurs were better, and even when they were a goal down, any realistic person watching that game would see that they were not fazed. They were still playing like a side who felt they were going to win that match.. ...and there was nothing cheap about those Kane goals. He took them well. Fortune favours the brave
Suddenly, Chelsea's defeat on New Year's Day doesn't look like a fluke anymore and Wembley glory on March 1 doesn't look like a foregone conclusion.
But we have Mou. He'll find a way. He.Always.Does
Bonus fact- Pochettino was the Argentine defender who fouled Michael Owen and gave away a penalty in the England vs Argentina Group F game ( World Cup 2002)
David Beckham converted the spot kick and England won 1-0 -A crucial victory for the English then
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21084894
NB
You probably missed the verbal sparring between Arsenal fan, Piers Morgan ( who has an uncanny talent of sticking his foot into his mouth ) and former Spurs boss, Alan Sugar on Twitter:
RepRe
.@piersmorgan - ( before the match) "Kane can't get on Arsenal's bench"
@Lord_Sugar -
@piersmorgan-glad you got up at 4 am, now you have the rest of the day to get aggravated. Classic "Kane could not get on Arsenal bench" :D
@piersmorgan-
@Lord_Sugar-
Wenger 700th game in charge of Arsenal and has played against 11 Spurs managers.
You hired 7 of those losers! :-)
@aDonohue- Spurs fan:
To be fair, the Arsenal bench is reserved as a smoking section :D
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