So
Tottenham recently
conceded their second devastating last minute goal of the season, and who would bet that it will be their last? Contrary to beliefs held in some
quarters, replacing Robbie Keane with Defoe was not the root cause - Defoe has enough ability to be dangerous and a straight swap should have caused no real problems. A
flukey goal gave
Fulham hope, but at that point can anyone really say that they were thinking "Oh Martin, what we need now is Dawson on for
Malbranque". No, I didn't think so.
In a move that technically resulted in us having 6 defenders on the pitch, Spurs sat trying to hold on for 10 minutes and of course the inevitable happened. Jol is a strange fish in that he point blank refuses to learn his lessons. Any Spurs fan who has watched their team for more than a couple of years must know that we are incapable of shutting up shop. Any football fan knows that when a home side come back from 3-1 down to 3-2 that they and the crowd are going to be pumped and so playing at the edge of your own 18 yard box is asking for trouble. Jol and the board would have us believe we are in a position to challenge the top four, but who of them would have cacked their pants against the likes of Fulham and gone defensive.
In fact, why change things at all when the team out there was in complete control. Jol has to learn that substitutions should be saved for when we are losing, or in danger of losing. In my opinion the correct sub to make at 3-2 up would have been Taarabt for Malbranque. That way the defenders and midfielders have an outlet that would relieve the pressure much more effectively that a hoof up field. Simply slide the ball out to the wing wizard and let him run up field with it - we keep the ball for more that 30 seconds and Fulham lose their impetus.
Tottenham have proven that they can play some very good football under Jol, but there are three things he needs to reflect upon regarding his own ability:
1. He needs to think harder about his substitutions. Is Chris Houghton just a "yes man" because surely they must consult about these things? So many times they make changes that even the fans can see are ludicrous that it defies belief.
2. He must stop trying to please all of the strikers all of the time. I suspect that Jermaine Defoe would rather get 90 minutes once every 3 or 4 games than 15 minutes every week. When we are playing well it disrupts the flow, and if the two chosen front men are having a good game then there is no reason to change them.
3. Why Oh Why Oh Why do we pass the ball straight back to Robbo from the kick-off. All it ever results in is a hoof up field and the loss of possession within seconds. This MUST stop NOW. (Boy that one annoys me)
He could also do with coaching players to pass to the man in space rather than trying to thread the ball through the eye of a needle, or pumping an ambitious one over the top. Admittedly this isn't as bad as it used to be so it doesn't make my top 3. The main culprit these days is Jenas - and that is mainly because he's too damn slow when he gets the ball.
Although I may have edged into the Jol Out Zone on Saturday afternoon and Sunday I have since calmed down and without anyone top class available to replace him have realised that he is here to stay. To coin a phrase often applied to young upcoming players, has anyone stopped to consider that Jol is not quite "the finished article" when it comes to management?
Let's face it, he hardly has the 20 years experience of some top managers, or the glowing track record of Europe's elite - but he does have potential. However, if he (and Spurs) are to progress and develop, Martin Jol has to start to appraise and evaluate his own strengths and weaknesses and he himself has to do something about them.
For the sake of Tottenham Hotspur he has to start right now.
So Tottenham recently conceded their second devastating last minute goal of the season, and who would bet that it will be their last? Contrary to beliefs held in some quarters, replacing Robbie Keane with Defoe was not the root cause - Defoe has enough ability to be dangerous and a straight swap should have caused no real problems. A flukey goal gave Fulham hope, but at that point can anyone really say that they were thinking "Oh Martin, what we need now is Dawson on for Malbranque". No, I didn't think so.
13 comments:
Totally agree....why is it so hard for the coaching staff to evaluate their tactics and decisions ??
In my opinion Hughton has to go, he's been through countless managers....if he had any really talent he would have stepped up to manage his own team by now
Jol needs to play Championship Manager and also learn a bit about statistics.
I guess you have answered your own question...Jol doesn't learn/refuses to learn because he thinks he is right and it is the players who let him down. This is not a recipe for growth and therefore by definition if Jol is not going to grow we will just stand still and then go backwards as a club.
Have you ever played the game? have you ever coached the game?
What you fail to mention in that for 70 minutes, Fulham played one way in which we in full control, then the last 20 minutes, theu played will 4 forwards and started pumping long balls. This pushes your back 4 to the edge of the box as you can't afford to leave space behind the defense.
Then in turn, the midfielders have to drop deep to pick up any second balls. To play 4 defenders v 4 attackers is suicidal so Dawson HAD to come on.
Lets face it, Fulham didn't really create anything with 4 forwards. Both goals were, a lucky deflection and an overhead lick in which 99% of the time goes high and wide. Losing two late goals had nothing to do with Jol's tastics!! If you are to balme anyone on Saturday, blame the missed chances by us and the first two goals were down to Malbranque who lost possession cheaply!
Completely agree with nearly everything you said especially regarding slipping into the Jol out zone over the weekend but having calmed downed realised that there is probably no one else out better than him. The whole area around Jol having potential worries me any team who have aspirations to be in the top 4 should not be relying on a manager with only potential.
On the flip side who could the board appoint who does not have potential other than Lippi Capello or maybe Ramos which still remains to be seen. Managers like Koeman or even Klinsmann have shown nothing to say they are going to reach the top of the management tree and like Jol could claim to have potential
Potential has never one anything in football!!!!
10:02 you must be stupid why don’t Fulham play with 4 forwards the whole game and every game. Surely all teams would be forced to play 5 defenders to even cope and they would go on a win the league even if it’s not pretty.
The simple answer is football does not work like that if Tottenham had attacked Fulham when they had so many forward’s on with the far more superior attacking options Jol had Fulham would not have been able to cope and crumbled. No team need to sit back just look at Villa on Sunday against Chelsea they where under pressure and went forward to score a further goal. Even while the commentators were saying they should have taken the ball into the corner.
Attack is the best form of defence - It’s a simple game.
I agree. While a team might only score the goals which Fulham scored once a season (or 2) and we were despeartely unlucky to concede 2 of those in a single game, the simple fact of the matter is that we should have been 5 goals to the good at half time. Fulham could then hav eplayed with TEN forwards and the game would still have been over.
The sad truth is that every time we are in the lead and in cotrol with 20 minutes to go, Jol shuts up shop. Which of the other teams passes the ball back to their keeper as often as we do - even we when attacking in our opponent's half?
I lile Jol but he is not good enough. He will NEVER win us a trophy becuase he does not properly understand the game. Wenger or Ferguson would never have allowed Fulham to come back - even with two freak goals!!
10.02 you are a numpty.
If as you say Fulham were playing 4 up front then that's even more reason to have brought on Taarabt as he would have easily got behind them, therefore forcing their assiting front 2 to drop back into positions that they were less dangerous from.
We wcould have had our 4 defenders with Jenas and Hudd helping out, but with Taarabt and Bale as pacey outlets.
Played the game? Coached the game? It's clear that you haven't.
It's easy putting all the blame on Jol when the players have just as much blame if not more. They need to be ruthless and kill off teams when they are dominating the game. It's no use blaming the coach when the players had the game in their hands and let it slip. Sure Jol has take some blame being manager but the players also need to stand up and be counted.
Anonymous 10.02 said...
" Have you ever played the game? have you ever coached the game?"
F**k off mate....go play golf you have no fucking idea...what F88king game were you watching?
Its all robbo's n jol's fault. robbo for his stupid long punts & jol for lettin him do dat. even with 5 defenders, we can still dictate the play, maintain posession n let fulham do the chasing. i really hate it when robbo does dat. he becomes very predictable. defenders will be ready before he even gets the ball.
I think that the tactical changes were part of the problem but I also think that the problem with Spurs is that we are missing world class midfield players. We need to be able to hold the ball better in the middle of the park and build up attacks slower sometimes. Chelsea are good at that. Thoughts???
It hink we should get Barry Fry
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