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New York Times
05-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Are Tottenham just not very good?
Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 loss against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Thursday didn't surprise many, but it added to a miserable season for Ange Postecoglou's side. They sit 14th in the Premier League table, 10 points off the top half and 17 points behind Manchester City in fifth. For much of the season, Tottenham's injury crisis was used to justify their poor league form, but even with many key players back, Postecoglou has still struggled to get a tune out of his side. Advertisement On the latest episode of The View From The Lane, Danny Kelly, Jay Harris and Jack Pitt-Brooke discussed whether Tottenham are simply just a below-par team this season. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on The View from the Lane feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Danny: Jack, let me pull the pin out of the hand grenade and pass it over to you. There are statistics you can produce here, or you can talk about the eye test. Are we just deluding ourselves? Are we just watching a rotten football team? Jack: This is just a bad team that has occasionally had good days. It doesn't hold water anymore to say they're a good but flawed team. Good but flawed teams don't lose 16 out of 30 league games. They're a bad side who are capable of having very good days. A lot of what we saw against Chelsea, we saw away to Fulham, we saw in the first half against Bournemouth, we saw away to AZ, and also in the home game against Man City. They've lost a lot of their intensity without the ball. They didn't make things difficult at all for Chelsea. It was incredible how many times Chelsea could knock the ball forward, then, all of a sudden, Cole Palmer or Nicolas Jackson would have a ridiculous amount of space to run straight through the middle of the pitch. There was no resistance at all from Tottenham. It was so easy for Jadon Sancho to get one-on-one against Djed Spence, who was having to backpedal all the time just to stay afloat. Then, when Spurs got the ball, they had no idea what to do with it. There were no patterns. They didn't use Dominic Solanke properly. They never released Son Heung-min or Wilson Odobert into good positions. Occasionally, Destiny Udogie or Spence would run forward with the ball, but then it would all stop and they would knock the ball out of play. It felt like it took about 40 minutes for James Maddison or Son to touch the ball. Advertisement It was really bad. And bad in a way that was generally familiar with what we've seen this season. This is not a team that's going anywhere. Danny: Jay, I thought your head was going to fall off you were nodding so vigorously there… Jay: There are a couple of things I wanted to highlight. Like Jack said, this is just not a particularly good football team. The injury crisis became a convenient excuse for a team already playing quite badly. But you hoped to be proven wrong and that when players came back, we would see the shoots of progress. Looking at the last month or so, when those players have been back, nothing's really changed. They're still performing just as miserably as they were before. The other element is that the team did lose a bit of their composure and discipline against Chelsea. Sergio Romero getting booked for going up to Levi Colwill is just so silly. All because he and Colwill were tussling with each other at a corner 20 minutes before. You don't need to get involved. All that does is whip up the crowd at Stamford Bridge even more and adds to the intensity. That's when you need Son, Guglielmo Vicario, Maddison and the other leaders to calm the team down, remain composed, and ignore all that nonsense. They just allowed themselves to get wound up. Even Pedro Porro, when he screamed at the linesman, it was so unnecessary. You could really see signs of the tension that these players are feeling. You can listen to full episodes of The View from the Lane free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Are Spurs more likely to win the Europa League without Postecoglou in charge?
Tottenham Hotspur's clash with AZ on Thursday is arguably the most significant match of Ange Postecoglou's tenure. With Spurs languishing in 13th place in the Premier League and already out of both domestic cup competitions, their season now rests on a crucial 90 minutes — or more — at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they are looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their round-of-16 tie. Winning the Europa League would give them their first trophy in 17 years and a backdoor into next season's Champions League. Advertisement On the latest episode of The View From The Lane, Danny Kelly, James Maw and Jack Pitt-Brooke debated whether Spurs would stand a better chance of going all the way in the Europa League this season without Postecoglou in charge. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on The View from the Lane podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. James: People I spoke to at the Bournemouth game were saying, 'This is done, there's no point persisting with this'. The only thing I'd say to that is what I said earlier in the season; unless you've got a better option now, then you may as well persist. But that's not offering much solace and it's not really a ringing endorsement of this manager. Jack: I don't think they would be likelier to win this game with Ryan Mason and Matt Wells in charge, which would be the alternative in the immediate term if they made a change. James: I'm not expecting you to answer this, but I guess the question should be, 'Are Spurs more likely to win the Europa League with someone else in charge?'. That should be the only question the club have. Jack: It's telling that I don't know the answer to that question and I don't have a good answer. Ryan Mason has taken charge of the team twice before and Matt Wells is a very highly rated young coach (36 years old). Hypothetically, if they were to get through, it would only be a quarter-final, semi-final and then the final. I don't know. As people say, Roberto Di Matteo won a Champions League as a stand-in manager in 2012, so it has been done before. James: Avram Grant also got to the League Cup and Champions League finals, didn't he? Jack: Yeah, he did. But Grant and Di Matteo did have an unbelievably stacked Chelsea squad in terms of experience. James: Yeah, sure. I don't think that's a fair comparison, necessarily. Advertisement Danny: A fairer comparison would be what's happening in Rome this season where Claudio Ranieri, a veteran manager, has come out of retirement and got hold of a bunch of players (at Roma) who were on their knees. They're almost at the point where they're seriously challenging for the Champions League and, of course, they're still in Europe. He's also made no bones of the fact that not only is he not staying on beyond the end of the season, but he's also actively part of the team that's searching for his replacement. I'm not saying this because it would be him, but let's call this 'The Harry Redknapp Argument'. Could you bring in somebody who could lift the players from a vibes perspective, even if not technically, where they were getting more out of them? Because there's more in this squad than we're currently getting. Jack: I just can't see Tottenham doing that. Danny: No, nor can I. But the danger is that whatever the result is on Thursday, they will carry on to the end of the season regardless of what happens in the Europa League. Then I suspect — and I've got to say it because no logical analysis of what's happened this season would lead to the manager keeping his job, and I say that knowing that he is a human being who has probably given his absolute best — that Spurs will change. You can listen to full episodes of The View from the Lane free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
New York Times
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The View from the Lane: Our favourite Tottenham managers and memories of covering them
Tottenham host Manchester United on Sunday, a clash View from the Lane host Danny Kelly this week compared to 'two bald men fighting over the hotel hairdryer'. So with the fixture offering little in terms of reward, and because it's Valentine's weekend, Danny, editor James Maw and Spurs beat reporters Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jay Harris took a trip down memory lane on the latest podcast to conjure up an episode titled 'Everything we love about Spurs'. Advertisement In this particular section of the show, Danny, Jack and James identified their favourite managers from the annuls and shared some unique anecdotes from their dealings with the men who have sat in the Spurs dugout. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on The View from the Lane feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Danny: Why don't we start with you, Jack. Who are the Spurs managers that you've loved, because this is the love edition of the show? Jack: I probably won't surprise anyone here to say that my favourite Tottenham manager who I've covered is Mauricio Pochettino. That's because I spent a lot of time thinking, 'What does it take to manage Tottenham? What do you need to be able to do to manage Tottenham successfully?' What it comes down to is that in this job, you've got all these competing impulses. You've got the financial restrictions inherent in the ownership model of the club, but you've also got the history and the expectations of a certain type of football which the fans want you to play. You've got no real recent tradition of success to build upon and you've got to build that identity up for yourself. You also have to compete with teams who are financed differently from Tottenham – teams that have more money – particularly for salaries. It's just difficult to know how to pull these things all together. Pochettino really is the one and only man who's managed to make any sense of it. He's the only man who's managed to ride all those different impulses at the same time. And frankly, he's the only one who was able to bring everyone together for any extended period of time. I know that, if I think back, there were certainly good times under Harry Redknapp, under Martin Jol a bit before my career and then briefly under Conte and Postecoglou. But, really, Pochettino had years of unity and I think that's the hardest thing for any Tottenham manager to create. And he did it. Advertisement Danny: Obviously, Pochettino is the most important one. Keith Burkinshaw had a brilliant team at Spurs when I was a younger man. I liked a lot of what Harry Redknapp did even when he started to bring in loads of ex-Chelsea and ex-Arsenal players, and you're kind of biting your lip. I've got to be honest, I said something about him on national radio and he rang the station to complain about me. The only defence I had was it was true. But I guess, on a personal level, a day I spent at the old training ground in Turkey Street in Enfield with Martin Jol stays in my memory. He'd just started at Spurs and they told me to come up and spend some time with him. He was amazingly affable, incredibly down to earth and funny. I remember the players had all left except for Robbie Keane, who was bashing ball after ball into a net — practice makes perfect and all that. We were in a room looking at him doing this and Martin was clearly very agitated, and eventually he shouted, 'Robbie, that's enough, go home.' So Robbie Keane trooped off and I said, 'What?' He then took out a packet of cigarettes, in the days when you could smoke indoors, and took the deepest inhale of a cigarette I've ever seen. Then he said, 'I can't be smoking in front of the players, but I can't wait for the last one to go so I can get this going.' It was also absolutely well known that one of the reasons Martin was so well-liked by the press and why you could get such great quotes from him, was because after games he would take people privately into a cupboard so he could smoke away from the public. You'd get the full length of the cigarette smoking for your quotes. But he was a really decent man and that's why I felt the way his time at Spurs ended – whatever the footballing arguments were – was a disgrace. An absolute disgrace to the club that a bloke should be treated like that where everybody is talking about it in the stands. 'Oh, he's being sacked', and he's down there on the touchline. So I'd go for Pochettino as the best manager we've had in my time — but no trophies, yes I said it. But I'll go for Martin Jol as being the best laugh. What about you, James? Which of the Spurs managers have changed your life? Who do you love? Advertisement James: Do you know what… I've never met a sitting Tottenham manager. Oh no, that's not true, sorry. I met AVB (Andre Villas-Boas) very briefly. That was a very narrow window while he was in charge. I was very drunk, quite embarrassing actually. The good people at Football Manager invited me to Ledley King's testimonial dinner. And I just got very drunk on Football Manager's dollar and bowled over to Andre Villas-Boas. At the time I was a very big fan of his and a big advocate of AVB. I told him what a great job he was doing, as a professional journalist should. And honestly – this feels a bit topical – I was literally about two yards away from Daniel Levy. I could have said anything to him. Danny: I'm thinking about poor old AVB toying with the last of the salmon en croute and suddenly a drunken James… the thought of you looming drunk over me, unintroduced is pretty frightening. I know you really well and I'm frightened when you come near me so I don't know what he must have thought (laughs). James: I'm sure I said something like, 'You've got a good manager here', to Levy. That was my one shot to talk to Daniel Levy and that's what I said. 'You've got a good manager here', talking about Andre Villas-Boas… Danny: Yeah. Fantastic… James: That's why I'm sat in an office and Jack and Jay are out asking the questions, I guess. You can listen to full episodes of The View from the Lane for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. (Top Photo:)
New York Times
06-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Can Mathys Tel provide a much-needed spark to Tottenham's front line?
Tottenham secured the services of Mathys Tel on loan from Bayern Munich on deadline day ahead of their vital Carabao Cup semi-final clash at Anfield on Thursday night. The France Under-21 international initially turned down the opportunity, but had a change of heart just in time to sign on the dotted line as the clock struck 11pm. Advertisement On the latest episode of The View From The Lane, Danny Kelly was joined by James Maw and Tottenham beat writers Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jay Harris to discuss what the realistic expectations are with Tel. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on The View from the Lane podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. James: I suspect he will get minutes up front possibly in the next few (games) with Solanke missing. When Solanke's back and assuming, and this is a big assumption, that Richarlison doesn't get injured in the meantime, maybe then playing through the middle will be a bit more difficult. But as far as I'm aware, and I appreciate there are people that know a lot more than me, he is more than capable of playing out on the left as well. But that is a position where Spurs are stacked, as I believe the phrase is now. Danny: Stacked is the word, yep. James: With Mikey Moore… the best teenage footballer in north London there. And I forgot about Archie Gray. Jesus, there are loads of them aren't there… Jack: Yeah, it's Gray isn't it… James: Well, all I'm really saying is (Moore and Gray are) better than Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri, right? That's all I really meant. So yeah, I don't know whether Tel will end up having to be stuck out on the right out of position in a role he's not as familiar with, and that may have negative effects for him. But Johnson is back in the next week or so, actually. Their forward options by that Manchester United game — I think Werner will be back in that time frame as well for what it's worth — actually could be reasonably good. I know there's this Ange Postecoglou quote that's become a bit of a meme about the light at the end of the tunnel, and it turns out it's a train. But it does kind of feel like — and I'm always tight when I say this… I will literally touch wood as I say it — the injury situation is slowly improving. At least in terms of the kind of breadth of it, in terms of the number of players that are missing. Advertisement Danny: Spurs obviously had money burning a hole in their pocket. The bid for Guehi — Jack or Jay, whoever wants to answer this — proves that. But equally, they were prepared to pay €60million or £50million for Tel. He's not untried, he has appeared in nearly 90 Bundesliga games, I think, often off the bench. But even so, if you're getting into Bayern Munich's team, you're a pretty good footballer. They obviously rate him hugely and think that he can become something special. I mean, that's my hope anyway. My hope is that if you're offering €60million for a teenager that he's something special. That's not too much to ask for, is it? Jay: Yeah. 60 games by the way, not 90. So close. And 12 goals in that time… Danny: Remember, there's a huge difference between facts and truth Jay, let me tell you that for further down life's line. Jay: I've hardly watched anything of Mathys Tel, but he is someone I remember hearing two or three years ago as someone who was a fantastic footballer. And it's no crime to leave Bayern Munich having failed to make a significant impact over an extended period of time. Just look at the forward options they've got. They've got Muller, Kane, Gnabry, Coman, Sane and Jamal Musiala. It's going to be extremely difficult for any teenager to get into that team. I think the best-case scenario for Spurs is that they've signed a player when there's not much competition and his stock has dropped slightly. And if he plays regularly, and he'll get the opportunity to because Spurs are still in multiple cup competitions, he will quickly show that quality. And Spurs might be saying, OK, we've actually got the deal at a pretty good price here because in the summer, that price could jump up. So, I think getting the loan with the option to buy has helped them out massively. I know at some point yesterday there was a suggestion it was just going to be a straight loan, and I don't think that would have helped Tottenham at all, really. Advertisement Danny: All you're doing is sharpening a player for somebody else then, aren't you? Jay: Yeah, but I think this situation at least is better. But having said that, what this team ideally needs at this point in time is a proven, more experienced player who can take that goalscoring burden away from Solanke and Kulusevski in particular. And having a talented, but raw, 19-year-old… I'm unsure how much it moves the dial. If Richarlison can't play the full 90 (minutes) against Liverpool on Thursday, which I think you can safely assume that's probably the case, are you confident that in the final 20 minutes of that game, Tel might make the difference on his first appearance, and he's coming up against Van Dijk and Konate? Danny: Confident is a huge word in that sentence. I'm hopeful that he can… what's the word I'm looking for… he can influence the game because otherwise, what on Earth is he doing at the club? James: The words you're looking for is 'put Van Dijk on his backside' isn't it, I think. Danny: Well that would be — with all due respect to a fantastic footballer — that would be a great sight, wouldn't it? Jack: Spurs have so obviously missed a bit of spark and energy and ability to beat people one-v-one this season. I know that's what Odobert was meant to bring and Odobert has only started two league games and has not been involved for a long time. They don't really have anyone else in the squad who can do that without Odobert. This has been a big issue I think in Tottenham for a while, and maybe Moore can do it although, of course, he's very young. Tel's got far more top-level experience than Mikey Moore has. They're not really comparable in that sense. And so I think that's going to be the most exciting thing that he might be able to deliver to the team. We'll talk about the Brentford game in more detail, but it's just been very obvious watching Tottenham recently that of the front players, Son is exhausted, Kulusevski is exhausted, Richarlison is coming back from an injury and they just need a bit more of a physical spark and dynamism in that front line. So, I'm really hoping that's what Tel can bring. You can listen to full episodes of The View from the Lane for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. (Top Photo: Christina Pahnke – sampics/Getty Images)
