What happened after November 9th?
It's time for me to hold my hands up and apologise to Spurs' head coach Mauricio Pochettino. During the defeat at home to Stoke on November 9th, I tweeted "Might I be the first to say F*** off Mauricio, I think it's time to go". My match report was highly critical of Pochettino; the players; and the senior management team.
Clearly, I regret that comment, and that regret has not just surfaced, as we have had two marvellous results (and performances) already this year against our two biggest rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal.
I do wonder though, what happened regarding the dynamic of our club after that Stoke game. The team did feature club captain Younes Kaboul, who was graded 3.4 by Spurs Odyssey voters. Kaboul has only featured in three of the 21 games played since that Stoke defeat. One was the Europa League defeat to Besiktas in Istanbul. The other two were Cup matches in January, including the Leicester defeat.
That Stoke game also featured Capoue and Adebayor (his replacement off the bench), both of whom, with Kaboul were allegedly parties to some reported dissent against Pochettino training methods. Fazio was seemingly preferred to Vertonghen against Stoke. Vertonghen had missed 6 of the first 19 games of the season, which included Stoke. Now he has missed just two of the last 21.
It was after the Stoke game that Adebayor criticised Spurs fans, and he too has been a peripheral squad member since that game.
Spurs have lost just two of their last 15 games, during which time Harry Kane has scored 11 of his 22 club goals this season.
The reasons for our improvement therefore are the total and utter commitment of the most often used squad members to the Pochettino cause, coupled with their growing familiarity with the coach's methods and ethos. Fitness and form have progressed in a snychronised fashion, and both Eriksen and Kane have been banging in the goals.
The problem for Spurs is that the current level of form and performance needs to continue, with tough and important games coming one after the other.
Several contributors have asked me if the spursometer for the Arsenal game has the highest marks ever.
I can only tell you that the overall mark (80%) for the team performance is the best since two games under Harry Redknapp's leadership in the 2011-12 season. Those were the 4-0 league defeat of Liverpool in September 2011, and the 5-0 win over Newcastle in the February of that season. Adebayor played and scored in both games.
Gareth Bale's star might be on the wane at this time in Spain, and Harry Kane's on the up and up, but Bale scored over 9 out of 10 three times that season. Harry Kane's 9.2 against Arsenal is his second such mark (the other was against Chelsea), and, of course, he has a potential 20+ games this season in which to beat that, and probaly beat Bale's record that season of 26 club goals.
Pochettino has matched his grade of 8.4 out of 10, which was given for the early season drubbing of QPR. He also scored highly for the chelsea win on New Year's day.
Many people have commented that Saturday's was the most complete performance seen by a Spurs team for a long time.
So, once again, let me say, sincerely, "I'm sorry" to Mauricio. Thanks for what you've done so far.
COME ON YOU SPURS!
Results 07-08.02.15
Spurs 2-1 Arsenal
A. Villa 1-2 Chelsea
Leicester 0-1 C. Palace
Man City 1-1 Hull
QPR 0-1 S'hampton
Swansea 1-1 S'derland
Everton 0-0 Liverpool
Burnley 2-2 West Brom
Newcastle 1-1 Stoke
West Ham 1-1 Man Utd
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Chelsea 24 17 5 2 54-21 33 56
2. Man City 24 14 7 3 47-24 23 49
3. S'hampton 24 14 3 7 38-17 21 45
4. Man Utd 24 12 8 3 40-22 18 44
=========================================
5. Spurs 24 13 4 7 37-31 6 43
=========================================
6. Arsenal 24 12 6 6 45-27 18 42
7. Liverpool 24 11 6 7 33-27 6 39
8. West Ham 24 10 7 7 36-28 8 37
9. Swansea 24 9 7 8 28-31 -3 34
10. Stoke 24 9 6 9 27-29 -2 33
11. Newcastle 24 8 7 9 30-36 -6 31
12. Everton 24 6 9 9 31-34 -3 27
13. C. Palace 24 6 8 10 26-34 -8 26
14. S'derland 24 4 12 8 22-34 -12 24
15. West Brom 24 5 8 11 22-34 -12 23
16. A. Villa 24 5 7 12 12-32 -20 22
17. Burnley 24 4 9 11 23-40 -17 21
=========================================
17. Hull 24 4 8 12 21-34 -13 20
19. QPR 24 5 4 15 24-43 -19 19
20. Leicester 24 4 5 15 21-38 -17 17
