We Will Be Good Again Very Soon

It’s been a very strange week for me. Spurs-wise, I really enjoyed watching us against Wolsfberger on Wednesday night. Seeing Dele (who I wrote about here) scoring a glorious goal and getting a couple of assists was beautiful, exciting, invigorating, nostalgic. Gareth Bale was enjoying himself out there too and looked great again. Dane Scarlett came off the bench again, and Marcel Lavinier and Nile John made their debuts. It was such a worry-free, easy watch.

Gareth Bale and a young (or even younger!) Dane Scarlett

My grandad had passed away on Wednesday morning having tested positive for Covid a week or so before. Spurs vs Wolfsberger was a very welcome distraction. I needed them to play well and be fun and they stepped up for me, for the first time in a while. Spurs properly cheered me up. It’s really hard to lose someone close to you at any time, but there are so many added complexities right now. My thoughts go out to anyone who has suffered loss during this horrific year.

Then yesterday, Football Twitter was Football Twitter again. That video of me started doing the rounds again. The one I talk about here. And, as well as that, people started calling me racist because they can’t read, or — if you’re cynical like me — because it helps to distract from an anti-racist message and they’re quite happy with the arrangement of power as it is thank-you-very-much.

A similar phenomenon happened as with the video too — me and my ‘Sidekick and Best Friend’, Bardi were having a bit of bantz and I tweeted this:

It’s true. As you’ll know if you’ve read this, I’m over the José Mourinho tenure. The rumours of him leaving and of interest in Julian Nagelsmann are very exciting to me. I think we have massive potential as a team and as a club, and I’m keen for us to maximise that as soon as possible. That it seems closer to fruition has made me genuinely a bit giddy at times this past week.

What people have taken this to mean is that… I want Spurs to lose. I mean, the reason I want this change in management is because I want Spurs to win. Obviously it would be much easier (and a lot cheaper for Daniel Levy!) if Mourinho were to never lose a game again, to win the cup double and finish top 4 this season, to patch up his relationship with Dele and instil him in the team, to pin Harry Kane down to a new contract, to become the most successful manager in our club’s history.

But the reason I want Mourinho to leave is because I have lost all faith in that happening. Because we’ve just had our worst run in the league for over a decade. Because he’s got a brilliant team in which we have some of the best players in the league… and we’re ninth. Because a couple of favourable cup runs haven’t convinced me that he’s not doing a very bad job overall.

Premier League Form Table from WhoScored.com

I love Tottenham Hotspur. Have a listen to our conversation on the podcast from about 3:40 here to hear what Tottenham means to the three of us. That old Billy Nich quote — “It’s been my life, Tottenham Hotspur and I love the club.” — … that’s me. It has been my life. It is my life. So when things are bad, and I believe they are comparatively bad now, you want them to be better again.

In the nineties, it did occasionally cross your mind that a bad run could end with relegation. The good thing about this Spurs is that Daniel Levy has built us into such a financial powerhouse that I doubt we need to be too concerned for that in the short, medium and even long term. We can have a couple of years out of the Champions League and we still have enough clout to bounce back quickly. We will be good again very soon, of that I have no doubt. So for now, we wait.

Meanwhile, I’m scaling back my use of Twitter because otherwise my blocklist is going to be higher than my follower count and I’m going to end up with RSI. I have found a much better, more productive place to chat about Spurs, and am putting most of my ‘online Tottenham chat’ energy into that. It’s our xSubs Discord channel. It doesn’t need a sales pitch because it’s brilliant, but here it comes.

If you want to join this glorious safe space, you can sign up here. There is 16% off annual memberships until the end of February. If you’re not sure it’s going to be for you, you could try subscribing for a month and giving it a go. It’s the cost of a London pint and for that you’ll also get 30+ videos, 17 episodes of Straight Off The Training Ground (the xSubs-only podcast I do with coach and analyst, Chris Summersell), access to our live Q&As, newsletters and other bits and bobs too.


I am the host of The Extra Inch; a Spurs podcast that delves into the analytical side of Tottenham games. Check us out!

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  1. "Because he’s got a brilliant team in which we have some of the best players in the league… and we’re ninth" Sadly that is a false statement, we have some brilliant players but we also have a very poor defence and a midfield that is only just starting to gel because the players are pretty new and have suffered fitness and injury problems I really don't see anyone having any real success until the centre back and right back positions are strengthened and hopefully Skippy and Sess return ready to challenge for a first team place and hopefully Reggie stays Of course 9th place is not good enough allowing the good players we have but hopefully with Gio coming back and Bale and Dele starting to regain form we can start moving back up the table and continue to have a decent run in the cups Anyway sorry about your grandad Chris may he rest in peace
    1. Who’s job is it to organise the defence? Get the right players? Have the right practices in place at Hotspur way?
      1. Jose, and how is he supposed to get the defenders to cut out stupid individual errors which have led to most of the goals we are conceding? If those defenders can't master the basic then no coach in the world can prevent the crap that we have conceded
  2. Brilliant team? this is some sort of windup right? Docherty, Toby, Davidson. Dier, Aurier. Davies, sissoko, Winks, Dele, Bergwyn and Lucas; NONE are good enough for a top4 club. This squad has been massively neglected; Partly due to our chairman's obssession with the stadium and our absolutely atrocious tranfer structure. Our top 5 biggest ever transfers inc. Sanchez, Sissoko and Bergwyn; If you think this is down to Jose then you are completely blinded; Not even Pep or Klopp can produce a miracle and turn this squqd into winners. You want a loser from Germany albeit he plays pretty football to replace a serial winner in Jose. It's an absolute miracle hes got us to 1 final. If he gets us a Europen Final with this ragtag of a squad, then he will be one of our greatest manager's ever; Be careful what you wish for; As it seems to me you are rinsing and repeating; What will it be now? Manager number 17 under Levy. All you are wishing for is repeating a cycle where we end up back to square 1 every 1.5 years on average under ENIC
    1. Mourinho has Son, Kane, Bale, Ndombele and we are creating about the same number of chances as Crystal Palace. Pathetic. Get rid ASAP
  3. Sorry to hear about your loss. You're absolutely right that the current situation adds an extra (unwanted) layer of complexity to an already tough moment. Hope you have people around you for support and to open up with. I think it's great you mentioned it in your blog, as it highlights how entwined spurs are in our lives. Times like this can make football seem daft and trivial, but it can also provide a bit of fun or distraction. Been in a similar situation of late but I have the luxury of not having people question my every opinion/motive online, that must be tough. For what it's worth I totally agree regarding the team (under)performance, and admire your optimistic outlook. It's possible to support the team and still be looking forward to a different manager. Like the last two trophies we won! COYS
  4. Sorry for your loss Windy. Agree on the team. Where might we have been if he'd played Ndombele, Bale, Alli, Son and Kane most weeks this season and more importantly attacked instead of the no possesion, low block tedium we've had to put up with. It wouldn't be 9th thats for certain. We look uncoached and terrified of every opponent. A real wasted opportunity and we need a change. Should have happened after Chelsea but it will come.
  5. Thank you for an interesting read and I'm sorry to hear you lost your grandad. I retain a sense of optimism about our prospects this year mainly because we have such an abundance of attacking talent that we stand a chance in any one-off game if not over a long sequence of matches. I also think the players are still playing for the shirt which is the most important thing. I don't feel as strongly as you about Mourinho but would not shed a tear if he left tomorrow. What we need now is that bit of luck that never seems to fall our way. It strikes me that Jose has always had that in his career - maybe just maybe it will benefit us this time round.
  6. Sorry about your loss. Never apologise for having an opinion!
  7. Nagelsman is Pochettino without the premier league experience. He's never won anything and even though Bayern are wobbling this time around I'd still make them favourites for the German title (yet again). But that doesn't matter, he's young and fashionable and that is all that counts.
  8. Sincere condolences, Windy. I've always enjoyed listening to and reading your opinions on our beloved Spurs. I hope your loved ones receive the comfort they deserve through this time. I concur with most of what you've said in your article. The people talking about how bad the defense are, and Pep and Klopp couldn't coach this lot to a top-4, have to ask themselves how do Pep and Klopp defend first of all? Not dropping back, rather pressing from the front and in selected areas. Do we do that? No...not since 2018, I reckon. Poch stopped the full press (I believe because of Kane's injuries), and started trying to adopt a counterattacking style - as he had been labelled inexperienced tactically in Europe - then he fell out of love with all that was going on and it reflected in the team's output. A front-foot proactive manager could take this same squad (plus the returning Sess and Skipp) to top-4, in my opinion. The world we live in now, attacking footy is destroying defensive footy, and Spurs are as defensive as they've ever been since I started supporting them. Mourinho isn't a bad manager, he is a bad manager for the squad of players has. Having read that he doesn't do anything more than basic drills with attackers and progressing the ball, I can see it watching every game. And in the absence of intelligent attacking players - like Bale, Son and Kane, the team don't have a scooby. Whereas, Pep and Klopp teach players positions they should occupy in each phase, and practise it (like Poch did 2015-2018). we had the likes of Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll filling in and still trying to do what the first-teamers were, now what do we have? Keep doing what you're doing, Windy. COYS!
  9. I believe Ryan Mason could make Spurs great again with his passion for the club.

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