S15E19 - Calm Heads, Clean Sheets, And Confidence

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1:15Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18+. It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! Come on, Tottenham! Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Fighting God podcast. Last night, Tottenham beat Doncaster 3-0 in the League Cup as we march on to inevitable glory in another try. T, I've just got a question for you, mate. It's just me and T today. John couldn't at the last minute pull out with work, which is fine.

2:03And I've sent Ricky the link just in case he can jump on. But it might just be me and T, so I hope that's okay with the audience. And anyway, there was a question about how, given Spurs are where we are, how do we prioritise the League Cup compared to the Champions League, which is all important, and the Premier League, which is probably most important. How do you feel about the League Cup?

2:31I think it's one of those where if you're in the last four, which were last year, then you care. Yeah, but if we get knocked out against Newcastle, it wouldn't be the end of the world. You know, for Matisse Teller, I'm sure we'll talk about later on, I think being in the competition is good for him because he's obviously not in the Champions League squad and I think we want to be in as many Cups as possible. And I think the fact that the League Cup is quite a space star, I don't think we played Newcastle for another four weeks. Is that when it is? Yeah, I think it's the last week of October. Was you gutted with that draw, T?

3:07I was a little I was a little we haven't got a very good record up at St. James's Park but when you think of Timothy Atuba and you think of when we wore the blue hang on I think we lost that game when Van Achenko scored oh god yeah that was a good one 4-0 it was 4-0 yeah yeah now we've had some experiences up there that have been good but obviously the most carving one the one carved into our soul and gave us this is what we talk about when we talk about Tottenham PTSD TSD is when obviously we all we had to do was go to Newcastle get draw I think a relegated Newcastle yeah and get a draw with Pochettino when we were kind of I think it was the year before we really gelled might be in 2015 um and we went up there and we lost 5-1 Andres Townsend Townsend scored for Newcastle if I remember rightly I've kind of blocked the game out of my memory I know that he He had a good game and Sissoko did.

4:06But it's definitely a fixture that brings lots of goals. It wasn't ideal. But then I think for the people watching home, they must have known that the atmosphere was very muted. And a lot of people there didn't really want to be there. So I guess maybe being away, only the committed will be making that trip. Or I guess there's probably locals, best friends there as well. So it might be better in some ways, you know. What was it like last night? Because you went to the game. I mean, the stadium was half empty, as you'd expect. Yeah, it was pretty shit. Sorry for any Doncaster fans listening to this who want me to say something nice, but it was pretty shit.

4:44I actually went from work, so I had to carry this little transparent bag, which is also weird. What do you mean? What was that for? Well, in Tottenham Stadium, you're not allowed to carry... Well, I had my laptop. I couldn't carry my raksack, because you need to carry a bag of a certain size. and I think they demand it to be transparent as well. Could have probably bought a tote bag in hindsight, but yeah, I could have probably been in bed by 10, but instead I got home at something to midnight and the atmosphere wasn't great. But to be fair, Doncaster bought numbers. I think you get a bigger allocation for the League Cup, I believe, and they had at least four or five blocks, maybe more, and they were in good voice, but I don't think a lot of the Spurs fans really wanted to be there.

5:31I think people just wanted their loyalty points. That's probably my motivation for going on. I've got no idea. What would you guess if you was in there? Can't have been in more than 50. Can't have been in more than 50. Maybe 40-odd thousand. I mean, maybe they could have priced it better at 10 or 15 quid. I mean, it was 30 quid. A bit pricey. That seems lumpy to me. Yeah. it does it just feels like like there's an opportunity for the club to in this moment and i get the prices are set you know way back but when you see that tickets are not selling i don't know you can't if once it's set and people are buying tickets you can't then suddenly reduce the price because some people are paid more than others but yeah like if you've got a 60 000 seat stadium this is a great opportunity to get local people in and and kids in and 30 quid is is especially in this sort of modern era where we find ourselves and and the cost of living is a massive issue you know 30 quid for a family of four is still significant it's and especially to watch Spurs ease their way past Doncaster so what it could have been is a community driven and maybe this will happen with Venkateshian going forward um because I seem to remember Arsenal doing really affordable prices for League Cup games um that there's an opportunity to to do that like to for people to take their kids and stuff so if it's like 10 or 15 quid a ticket it's almost unheard of in the modern era but isn't a full stadium optically better like if we can get if you could get sort of 60 000 people in that stadium because it's 10 or a ticket that's such that's a much better look outwardly than half empty a stadium last night because the prices are what they are people have to make a decision it costs so much money to come to the stadium more less the price of the ticket.

7:27But to get to the stadium, get away from the stadium, it needs to be priced according to the difficulty that people find themselves when getting there. It's a massive own goal. I mean, I don't know if there's, I think it's a fluidity for the FA Cup, but maybe just switch the tie to their ground. I don't know. Because, yeah, I wasn't really motivated. The only motivation was the lawyer points. And once the game started, it wasn't particularly exciting. We scored early, which was nice. Yeah. It kind of kept us engaged somewhat. But yeah, it was a game that I'll probably forget about in a few years and there'll be a pub quiz answer.

8:06The early part of the game, Spurs started really well, didn't we? Because it was a much-changed side, obviously, as you'd expect. We weren't sure when it came out whether or not it was going to be a... Well, who was playing where? Because we only had one centre-back, notable centre-back on the pitch. Danso obviously was that guy and then we all assumed that Paulini would play in the six and Archie Gray would play in the centre-back role and I was quite pleased actually that Paulini did end up playing the centre-backs we know what he can do as a six we know he can destroy and he did destroy as a centre-back as well but it was more important to see Archie Gray in the role that we think he should be in and I think someone mentioned it in the whatsapp group like so if he doesn't start in the six against Doncaster, then maybe the perceptions of Archie Gray are different from what the fans are.

8:58And then maybe he is going to be a centre-back. And in the, like I say, the modern era, like Jan Foy, for example, reminds me of an Archie Gray style centre-back. Do you remember when we signed Foy? He was similar build and skill set as Archie Gray. But we really wanted to see him in the six. And we did. And I thought overall, he had a good game. Yeah, we did. He did have a good game. and I guess my misgiving to Varche Gray is that he's not very, it's not aggressive enough for me. Yesterday he showed a bit and he showed a bit of confidence out there and that's kind of what you want to see with a younger player.

9:34You know, there are a couple of young players in the line-up, including Tell and I think it's good to see them playing the confidence and yeah, it's difficult to tell Varche Gray what his best position is. I hope that Thomas Frank doesn't move around like answered last season and that he continues to play in that role because if he keeps playing their game after game his confidence will grow and maybe we'll see what all the fuss was about when we signed him. Are you surprised that Paulinho has come out so quickly and said how much he's enjoying life at Spurs and that he wants to stay beyond this lone move and the kind of movements from the club would suggest that we are going to activate the option I know it's early days But option to sign him,£27.8 million, it feels like a no-brainer.

10:28I don't think I've even chatted to you about how you feel about Paulinho, but it's good to hear him wanting to stay at a football club and enjoying his football for sure. But do you feel like we should activate that clause if the opportunity came up? As of right now, absolutely. we've got a very young team as it is and it's good to have someone who's I think he's 30 now so yeah I think it's good to have him there for the experience he's got he's got he's got weaknesses in his game he may not be the best distributing the ball I think he did play against Bournemouth didn't he I'm fairly certain he did and if he did yeah he got bad against Bournemouth yeah he didn't have a good game against Bournemouth but I don't think it's really much value focusing on his weaknesses.

11:19It's not a position that we're particularly weak in, but I think with him there, alongside Saar and Bergvau, who are young players in their career, I think it's good to have him there just as an influence, just as an influence, so to speak. I'm happy with him, and I think right now it's a no-brainer, but there's a long way to go this season, a very, very long way to go. and yeah, I've been impressed even I sent him back yesterday I thought he was pretty good he just seemed to play within himself to see the levels between what division are Donkos doing? I'm so fucking ignorant League 1 7th in League 1 oh okay, okay yeah, he seemed pretty comfortable and no, that's just a belt and braces signing really it wasn't a signing that came with any real fanfare when he arrived it was just like, oh, that's nice and now he's in the team is just putting in consistent performances.

12:13I think, T, when you remember his performance for Fulham, they were so horrible to play against at that time. And there's a reason why Bayern Munich paid that money. And it isn't about Vincent Kompany, it's about Tuchel and what he wanted in that side. And if you had to compare a manager's skill set between Thomas Frank and Vincent Kompany or Tuchel. The comparison matches most neatly with Tuchel, for sure. And so, given the way Frank wants to play, and that's not to say he wants to play defensively, because what we've seen thus far isn't defensive. It's sensible, but with an opportunity to attack.

12:58We're one of the top goal scorers in the league thus far. That's considered also important to note that the fact that we didn't score against Bournemouth at home. we've you know scored two away at the Etihad we've scored two away three away at West Ham we've scored two at Brighton so scoring goals while they're not coming from our front front players isn't in in this short spell and not really an issue but defensive stability was a massive problem last year and I don't think Paulinho would have worked for Ange Bostokoglu But I think Paulina is perfect for Thomas Frank. Absolutely. And I think defensively, it's just like night and day.

13:40And the concern I had was just keeping van der van fit because his first two seasons, which is crazy to think really. And it's just been riddled with injury. And there were concerns of, you know, is he injury prone? I mean, the early days are still September. A lot could happen between now and May. but he does seem pretty comfortable not relying on him making gut-butting sprints 30, 40 yards three or four times a game and it's protecting him, it's protecting our players and yeah, I think it's just good all around I mean Palina and Van de Ven are just two of the beneficiaries of Thomas Frank I'd say Yeah, are you comfortable with Thomas Frank now?

14:20Are you feeling... Yeah How are you feeling? How optimistic are you feeling? Optimistic is probably a strong word But I think he's a right manager for what we needed I think there was a lot of chaos in the last couple of seasons More so the season and a half I think what he's brought with him is just very much a common sense approach really His interviews are always engaging So are Poster Coglius to be fair Very good speaker in fairness to Poster Coglius But I just feel that we're just playing percentage football I don't think our business is finished in the transfer window. Just all gaps in the squad.

15:03Where do you think those are? Well, striker for one and probably a left winger, I'd say. Just to name two. We're going to have to accept the fact that the striker issue is going to be a talking point for this season. Absolutely, absolutely. I'm not at pain. One day it's a massive pain point. I mean, we've got Colin Moani, we've got three strikers. So that's... Four, potentially. Oh, what, tell? I mean, we'll come on to tell whether or not he is a striker or not. Yeah, I can't hear me. On paper, he is. Yeah, I mean, we're not lacking in left wing or in strikers. I think we could do a couple more in those places.

15:46And maybe in January it happens. But no, I'm impressed with Frank. I think the only thing missing from him is proof of building a winning side. He did get Brentford promoted. He made them a very solid Premier League team. But it's not just him. It's the board and the organisation of Brentford that enabled them to get there. Most like a Brighton, really. The way that they run makes it easier for the manager to succeed. Spurs being a basket case, It'll be interesting to see how Thomas Frank manages that because we've had manager after manager who wants a player and for one reason or another don't get them and then they end up failing.

16:32So, yeah, I like Frank. I feel like he can... It's a bit of an unknown because there's no Daniel Levy there. So I don't know who he's got to really cozy up with. How do you feel about that? When it cuts to where Daniel Levy used to sit, You've now got Vivian Lewis, who, and I know this isn't important, but doesn't necessarily look the part of an owner of the football club or probably the power broker of a football club. Does she? When you look at it, you don't think, this woman is going to dominate world football. I mean, she looks like someone's mum. which is and this isn't like that's honestly like if my mum was up there that's what i think that she would look like and that's i'm not taking anything away with her maybe that's misogynistic because she's a woman i just it's because she sort of it feels it looks like she's not commanding in her presence and this is not important because carl karen brady is commanding in her presence when she sits there her backs up straight square shoulders and she's very true about what she says even if you know by the evidence of west dams you've got things drastically wrong over the last 12 or 13 years whereas vivian weston seems to be insular in her body language and body language is important right because because people like me make assumptions about who you are not based on the the credibility of your of your of your person but more how you appear to be which is not fair but if you are if you are the figurehead of our football club and at the moment you would say that's Venkatesian but she anyone who wants to dig it all deep into the structure of Tottenham Vivian Westwood and her brother Vivian it's Vivian Vivian Lewis sorry Vivian Lewis and her brother uh Charles they they are currently the the you know the power brokers they are Daniel Levy and perhaps they will give freedom for the people that they employ to run the football club to do what they need to do in order for us to be successful in a way that if you're being super critical about Daniel Levy he was unable to do because of you know millions of things that we've already said discussed on this podcast in the lab but the point is then I don't know how important it is, but you need to exude something.

18:59There is a bit of a vacuum with Levy gone, you know. There was a single person, a single point of contact, and now you've got a collective of people who are, you know, going to be making decisions, and, you know, it gets a bunch of people to blame instead of just one person you can just call a cunt, so. There's a bit of a mouthful saying Ben Katesh and Lewis, Lewis's whole family, and Carrington out, you know. But yeah, but Thomas Frank is managing something that no one's had to do in the last 25 minutes, which is a completely different board. And it'll be interesting to see how it plays out with him and them.

19:36Do you like his interviews? I like his interviews, like the way he talks and how plain he is. I made a point yesterday, I think when we were talking about Harry Kane, he was talking about Harry Kane and the idea that Harry Kane could come back to Spurs. and let's talk about this buyback clause that exists and Thomas Frank, I think he was bordering on, I don't want to say this, like potentially inappropriate chat, given the fact that Harry Kane is a Bayern Munich player. Most managers will say, I won't talk about other players. But he answered it like I would answer it. Like if it's an option, then yes, 100%.

20:14I don't think it'll happen, but fuck me. Of course we'd want Harry Kane back. And it kind of, it was quite refreshing because if you've gone from Mourinho, who's Machiavellian and says things to create an environment that he's comfortable in. And then you've got Antonio Conte, who I appreciate English is his second language, but you really had to read between the lines to try and figure out what he was trying to say. And even if you reached a conclusion at that point, you wasn't sure a hundred percent if you were right. That was tough. Pasta Coglu was just pure ego, bullish. This is what we're doing, mate.

20:53And whatever it is, is what it will be. Whereas Thomas Frank now is like, it's almost like, oh, fuck, relax a little bit. One of our patrons mentioned... Imagine buying your kid a toy only to find the batteries aren't included, or buying furniture but missing the tools to build it. Frustrating, right? Now imagine the exact same feeling, but you're paying way more. That is what buying business software usually feels like. Fragmented, disconnected, and incredibly expensive. Odoo completely changes that. Odoo is a complete, fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other.

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23:25Fuck, what was I saying before that? Thomas Frank, I think. Thomas Frank's comments. Yeah, talking about Thomas Frank. Like, shit. I think he said, the protocol group was ego-ish and bullish and Thomas Frank is just like straight to the point. Well, Thomas Frank, he talks as if he's all of us. Yeah. Which is really lovely. And he looks really enthusiastic when he talks and he feels like he's really happy to be there and there's nothing else but just football for him. Well, at the moment, we're in the honeymoon phase and we're seeing the best of it. It's like when, you know, early in the relationship, you're showing the other half your best side.

23:58when we get a couple of defusions. What's your best side, Tee? What was your best side early days? Is it two fingers? Yeah, no teeth. No teeth, yeah. Later on, you're like, oh, I can't. Fuck this, I'm getting involved here. But, no, he is showing his best side and I guess we want to see, I think every manager we've had, maybe Nuno less so, every manager we've had we've wanted to succeed on some level when they first joined. And we want to see all the positives that we can possibly see. And Thomas Frank is playing a blinder at the moment. And the Brighton game was a good example of the positives with him, you know, because we've got, I mean, it feels like we're shitting on Posticoglio a lot here, but we'd lose games and we keep playing what made us lose the game.

24:51And I think against Brighton, it did feel like a couple of sucker punches that we received. and he just kept going and it worked. And it was only a slight tweak to the plan A, but it was working and working. And I thought that even after the game, he was like, he could have easily protected Vicario after the game, but he didn't. He said, look, you know, he'd had a mare with a goal. And as you said, it's straight talking, it's refreshing. It's just, you know, as I said, if you're doing a spin and he says that, maybe the nerves would be out on social media for him. But right now I'm loving what I see.

25:21Speaking of Vicario, that little blonde bitching goal made an absolutely well-class save. Yes. How could it be that save? I thought it was in. I thought it was in. We all thought it was in. Sensational. And he had nothing to do for the whole game as well. I mean, this is a controversial thing to say because we all hate him, but he reminded me a bit of Chesney in the sense that he's got this kind of arrogance about him, the way he swaggers around the penalty area. And he's almost the opposite of Vicario in some ways. it just seems to exude his confidence, even if he's not the best keeper we've ever seen.

25:57It doesn't feel like anything phases him. He's so comfortable on the ball, isn't he? Yeah, massively. He's a footballer. And do you feel like when he gets the ball, he can get out of it? I mean, obviously there's going to be risks involved where he may draw the players. I mean, last season, I think there were issues where he would draw the players onto him and end up hitting it off the player into the goal. I think maybe what we're doing now is a little bit more, well, can't find a better word than safer than last season where you know so do you think there's a world where Kinski challenges Vacario for number one like we've got two number ones that's a dream that's what we all want we all want that we all want that to happen because there will definitely be Spurs fans after that save that we're going Kinski needs to start and obviously that's the way of football fans and we just want to change things and that will be the fix yeah I don't see it for now but it's quite young and it could happen and we mentioned prioritising the Cups but I think putting people like Kinski in the window is helpful and that's why we've got to stay in the Cups as long as we can.

27:02I don't imagine he will get much game time in the Champions League unless we manage to win our first, I don't know, how many games is there? Win our first five or six games and the next game's a rubber matches. So he had a game he didn't have much to do and he made a fantastic save and it would be good if he could challenge Vicario because the Liverpool debut was really good that he had last season and we all thought yeah this could be the guy and then hopefully next month he kind of showed that he's got a lot of work to do but I don't believe that any Spurs fans I don't think there's many Spurs fans who have completely written him off because he's still quite young and he will get games and hopefully he can challenge I'll tell you you've written off T go on Pedro Porro yes why do you hate him You know what?

27:49I think you shared the image of him being like number one or top two in all these defensive ones. I've got another one for you, mate. Go on. Petro Porro has created more chances than any other defender in the league. But you know what, though? And the thing is, it's more of what I like in players more than me thinking that he's actually a shit footballer. It's just that I find he's reactive. And watching that in this day, for me, this makes me anxious. and I hate watching that. Someone like Jed Spence will put his foot in, start an attack. Poe kind of does a whole Matador thing where he draws him onto him and tries to nick the ball.

28:28And that's difficult for me to watch. All right, let me chuck a couple of players out for you who are competing with him in terms of defenders who've created chances. And all of these are right backs. Oh, left backs. They're full backs. Okay. so none of these have created as many chances as Pedro Poirot but would you take them? here in Tripp you're at Newcastle no Tyrek Mitchell Tyrek Mitchell Palace well he'd have to be left yeah yeah yeah what? no it's a no no it's a no Rhys James fuck yes yes Rhys James is a good player but I don't think Rhys James would give the attacking output that Poirot would so I will say that but Rhys James is a wonderful footballer but I can't stay fit.

29:17Cucurella. I hate him so no. I fucking hate him. I know he's a good footballer but I fucking hate him. I know why you hate him because he's got floppy hair and he's always involved in everything. He just looks like someone who you just love to deserve. I remember Romero pulled his hair and I wasn't upset with that. No, no, same, same. But I think Cucurella is one of the most consistent players that just always performs at a top level. Considering how he started at Chelsea, he's done amazingly and he is one of the better full-backs in the league. Do you know, people hate this at home. I think if there's a world where we could sign Kukurela, I think that would be something I would explore.

29:59Yeah, but I love our two, well, I don't know if Spencer's a left-back, but I like our left-backs a lot. What's our best back line then, T? Oh God, this is a tough one then because I've said your dog is our best left-back, so I've got to double down on that and have him there. The centre-backs pick themselves and that right-back, God. I'd probably say Spence, but only just, only just. I disagree. Most people don't have Poe first. I understand that. Of course, yeah, yeah. I'm not a miss. So go on. That's all right. Spence, I think, I think Spence defensively has become, you know, the thing, the Spence penitentiary.

30:40I love that. he put a J in there and that's it he plays the Spurs he says sorry little bro you're now in the Spence penitentiary which was I mean I love this I love this so much we were talking about this on Football Between the Lions the podcast I do with Dan which is a general football podcast Dan Cook who is HLTCO on Twitter we do a very sort of broad football podcast that's out twice a week and um um he we were talking about this spence penitentiary thing and whether or not you think it's a good thing because inevitably he's going to be done right someone it might be sacker in the north london derby someone's going to skin him and it's going to be clipped up and it'll be used because he's made such a big deal of locking up wingers bring me your favorite winger is honestly honestly the gulliest thing i've heard from a footballer ever I fucking love it.