S15E61 - Panic Stations FC

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1:23If he plays regular minutes this season of Manchester City, he will re-emerge as one of the best players that we've got. All on Europe's biggest sport podcast network. Find your next favourite sport podcast. Search Sport Social Podcast Network and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Sport Social Podcast Network. Verified comparison at content.sport-social.co.uk forward slash comparison. It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! Hello, boys. Hello. Hi. I woke up at half past three this morning. Why is that? Why? I don't know why. and immediately started thinking about Spurs.

2:20The Fighting Cock:Oh, fuck it. And I couldn't stop. And I don't think I got a wink of sleep. I'm worried, really worried. I mean, it affects you more than most, so I can understand that. No, I'm not even playing that one. I'm worried for us existentially for the first time in my life, I think. How do you feel? I've kind of reached a point of acceptance where this is what's going to happen. Oh, really? Yeah, I feel like the players have checked out. So I've kind of just got used to that. I'm going to have a grand more next season to use for myself instead of spending it on Spurs. Oh, you're not renewing? No, if you get relegated, I won't renew.

3:04Sorry, I'm a bit too old to be a die-hard Spurs fan. Just fucking grow up, mate. It's just a game. In a way, the owners deserve a half-empty stadium. Yeah, and, you know, I mean, I'll always love Spurs, but it's getting to a point where, you know, you're spending a lot of money each season, and then you hear, oh, well, we didn't push a bout out for Semenyo because his salary demands are too high or something, or we didn't push a bout out for this player because his demands are too high. And we've been hearing this for decades, and now it's kind of come to a point where you might get relegated because you're buying these B-Tech players.

3:41and I just think, is it really worth me spending? It's probably not going to reduce in price if we get relegated anyway. So is it worth me spending a grand to watch more substandard players? I don't know. I'm feeling like I won't renew. Mark, how are you?

4:01The Fighting Cock:Well, I'm very close. I'm with T. I'm very close to not renewing. I mean, slightly also because I'm finding at heart justified with me being up here and all that sort of stuff. I thought I'd be able to get down more, but I'm just not. But I mean, if we hadn't been in this mess, then I wouldn't have been having these conversations. It's just because it's just so depressing going now. I get to a few away games now, right? I've got to more away games, obviously, up north than I do down south. And it's still, you'd think it would be a bit better, but it's still pretty, it's still pretty bad. So yeah.

4:42The Fighting Cock:But also in general, I'm just, I didn't, I didn't see it coming. I'm not as, as, as intelligent as T, but it is bad. It is bad. And to be honest, we should have, we probably should have seen some of it coming. And, and because of, you know, how we've been, where we've been going to, but I think, I think the, the, the, the ineptitude of, of the, the, the kind of, well, the Lewis family, essentially, right even though they've been in club ownership for what 25 years you wouldn't think they were this bad at it but they clearly are they clearly are they're clearly not just maybe good at other businesses I mean he's a billionaire right but like they're just not very good at running a football club and they should be better and I think that's the sad truth is like T said these guys could be taking us down the unfortunate price is that the fans were paying it right like these guys are probably still not going to sell so when we're still stuck with them and we'll be relegated potentially but it's it's it's looking pretty depressing right now so a little bit worrying or not more than a little bit worrying like i i i've kind of been thinking about like the better better the devil you know and you could argue even though daniel levy was definitely not a fan in the traditional sense of Tottenham Hotspur, he knew how to run a football club.

6:07And just removing him in the way they did without a significant plan, maybe then concession was the plan, but he wasn't clued into it, if you believe what he says, it's probably a little bit too gung-ho. And now you've got, I think it's Nick Boucher, who is the son-in-law of Vivian Lewis, if reports are believed, that he's making decisions based on what possible qualification. like you're not you're not running Peterborough United you're running a massive football club that could be in the short term obliterated that Premier League status could be obliterated like what if this is true what made them think they could do a better job than Daniel Levy if they could and I'm not saying we should get Daniel Levy we're all banging that drum by the end but I think what we mean by Daniel Levy is Enoch as well because that's where the narrative have shifted.

6:58Down and the league's gone, yes, but Enoch remain. And you're actually less a football man or less someone who understands the game. You're still with Enoch. I don't feel like the relegation is just something that's come this season. I think it's just been years and years of bad decisions and it's kind of come to a head. And obviously this season was holding on to Thomas Frank too long is probably what's put us in our current situation now. but it just feels like years and years of bad decision making bad buys maybe not being it's been awful hasn't it it really has if you try and do a top 10 best buy since 2020 you're all scraping the bell by the time you get to the bottom half of that top 10 and that's what kind of brought us to where we are today Daniel Levy was good this reminded me a bit of towards the end of the Arsene Wenger era in that he was finishing fourth and he was laughed at for that.

7:58But after he left, they were finishing like eighth, obviously not 17th. And it feels like Levy, they had us top five, top six, and that was okay. But this is like next fucking level, you know, but I don't think where we are now has just happened since Levy left. It's been, that's kind of been coming and I think the appointment of Frank just accelerated all of that.

8:21The Fighting Cock:I think that's fair holding on to Frank I mean if he'd been sacked at Christmas that would have been an extra that would have been two months less but I don't think that would have arrested that much I think you're right T I think it is a path that's been kind of plotted over a long time I mean like I said the loser's been in charge for what two decades now So, and it's kind of been, it's been 20 years of this, like, almost, this, like, relentless cycle of bad decisions, you know, like, going back to, you know, they locked out with Poch, but before that it was quite, it was quite sort of consistent, right?

9:01The Fighting Cock:Then they locked out with Poch and then they just, you know, and this has been said many times, we've said it many times on here, but after that it's as if they sort of panicked and we just sort of launched into this kind of win now manager kind of approach, but with zero kind of plan and zero connective tissue between all these appointments. So yeah, I agree with you guys that it's the recruitment, but I think it goes deeper than just players because players come and go. I think managers is the kind of the worst track record they've had. They've tried to hire these win now managers. We know that didn't go, but it's also the fact that they've pivoted almost every time from a completely different manager to a new guy with a completely new approach and then buying players for these completely different managers.

9:49The Fighting Cock:We're left with this like Frankenstein's monster of a squad bought for three, four different footballing philosophies expected. And we as fans, we expect them to just perform as one. And that's not me making excuses for the players. I think the players certainly, we have the moment, regardless of the insane injuries, I think are like disgraceful in terms of their performances. But I do think that to tease and your point, it goes a lot deeper than that and recruitment of both managers, but also even fucking chief execs, right? So it has to come from the very top because they're getting it wrong from the very top, right down to players.

10:29Mate, the manager stuff is, you're 100 % spot on. And the biggest criticism, I think, and it's been Langer, but it's also been Perattici for a bit. um he was involved in at in buying players it's been daniel levy's been involved in decision making and langer said i brought i bring this up all the time but it just shows you the bullshit that's coming out of people's mouths in that football club he said so daniel daniel kirkpatrick in the one or very one interview that he's done with press not the puff pieces you see in on the youtube channel but the bits that he's done with press are the very few bits one with daniel and he said when postocoglu was in charge that we've got a philosophy at the football club and the manager and that won't change and the postocoglu is a part of that but he isn't the be all and end all like so it's a postocoglu's philosophy was also the club's philosophy and that's why the hire happened and then you're like all right well that's a plan right we're going to play a certain way we need a certain type of player to play in that system things will shift but by and large everyone is thinking about football at Tottenham Hotspur in the right away and you get rid of postacoglu and you bring in um frank bring in uh frank who's who was polar opposite to him so where is that plan before that i know langer wasn't involved in anything he may have been you had conte who was the again the opposite of postacoglu you know the only kind of consistency you might have had was nuno conte and marino but that wasn't based on their style of play that was based on the fact that they won except when they were at Spurs and now we've pivoted to Igor Tudor who I don't really know what he is but he's a different personality completely to Thomas Frank so you're right when there's no direction there's no one making the correct decisions Daniel Levy was the one who was responsible for everything and while I think Daniel Levy and and and Enoch should of sold in the pursuit of the betterment of the football club, I would rather have Daniel Levy making the decisions than whoever is right now, if it isn't Venkatesham.

12:39Because if Venkatesham kept, wanted to keep Frank and was directed or strongly recommended by Enoch that they should remove Frank, that's a scary situation. They might be right, but they don't know football not like venkatesham not like langer so they have to trust them if they're superseding them and making football decisions if it is true we don't know right we've just got reported that is that's worrying um and at least daniel levy would have done it in the in with with the idea that he thinks fortunes will change but you look back at his track record and hiring managers and it's been pretty wank as well like what did he get right harry read that Martin Yell and Potch and Potch

13:26The Fighting Cock:yeah it is a bit it is a bit fucked up I think with Thomas Frank I want to I just want to be clear I do think he's a good manager just the wrong manager for Spurs and he should have probably gone after the North London derby because at that point it was clear that his approach just wasn't going to work I'm all for giving managers a chance giving them time there were some green shoots the Man City 2-2 draw might have indicated that there's some fight in the squad. I feel like that was like the last hurrah because since that fixture, there's been no sort of fight in the squad whatsoever because yesterday felt like the Stellini-Mason era, but we weren't in the relegation, so that was fine, losing 6-1 to Newcastle.

14:10That's okay because we're not going to get relegated, so it doesn't matter. But these results really, really fucking matter. and we were saved by West Ham, Forest, Leeds losing and Burnley losing. There was six teams around us, didn't there? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I mean, look, if we beat Palace on Thursday and we get the 10-day break, we play Liverpool and we somehow get a point at Liverpool, then this is a completely different podcast. And I'm like, well, I'm going to renew after. I'm going to bankrupt myself another year. But right now, I just feel pretty grim. We have to beat Palace. That is without question.

14:46Like if we lose to Palace, I don't know. I'm worried now. I'll be fucking terrified then. And the problem is the players as well, because it feels like, it looks like they might have checked out. And that's not acceptable because fans haven't checked out. The away end was full, right? The stadium by and large is full. So they have to do a job. But it's one thing just saying it and another thing that happening. like how did you feel when they lined up with that 4-4-2 and with Gallagher on the right

15:19The Fighting Cock:yeah yeah I mean well he's moaning and jumping up and down and you're like you that that formation and the players it just you knew it weren't going to work yeah what could Gallagher possibly offer on the right hand side what could he possibly what did he think he was going to offer I don't know no I know and this is it and you um I like that you referenced it on the uh on the five statements what I said in the group but honestly we've got ten games left and for those of you who didn't miss the five statements I said I should get the same but do you like you said it 30 minutes into the first half yeah do you know what I like to upset you guys when everyone's already upset but like oh come on I've just endured eight months of Thomas Frank and getting called a fucking cunt on every single social media Did you take that as a fellow countryman?

16:12Did you take that as an affront?

16:16The Fighting Cock:No, no. I took the personal abuse I took for literally being Danish, the crime of being Danish as a personal affront. I couldn't give a fuck about Thomas Frank. I used to get messages going, what's that Danish prick thing about that? Yeah, I know. Just fuck, mate. I couldn't even open. Like, mate, every single football game, minimum three or four, like discords, like WhatsApps, Instagrams, minimum every single game are you fucking bacon munching lego shagging nonce what the fuck what is this get this mate just yeah i know i should have it like but it isn't your fault mark but someone needs to pay someone needs to take it and i get it and that's why i've not made a big deal about it anyway the formation was horrific and and again like when are we we haven't played a 4-4-2 for forever.

17:07The Fighting Cock:I'm only half joking when I say Iguotudo needs to lose his job because I think you've had two games, you've played two formations that I do with players in positions that they do not belong in. I know it's a fucked up squad and there's going to be one or two or three that are sort of slightly, you know, our fullback situation is a problem. But we had two fit centre-backs for the first game. so let's anyway I don't think he's done a great like job so far I don't think he was the right appointment I think he probably did a good job in these other clubs and so on and and we obviously trusted for strategy on this one and went with him but I don't I think he's the right wrong appointment and I think he's got one or two games left to prove that he can turn this around because otherwise we're down into single digit games of games we've got to save our season and they they they just need to do something.

18:00The Fighting Cock:I don't think it's a huge issue to get a third manager this, this, this season. Cause we're already like, this is literal panic stations. Like we, we cannot afford to get relegated. It would be an absolute catastrophe. So anyway, I'm mostly joking. It was mostly for a bit of a lull, but there is, there is some truth and there is some seriousness in there. Cause yeah, you can't play, you can't play Gallagher right mid. you can't place Chavez Simmons at left mid like great at left left back left wing back whatever it was I mean look more at like a three fourth one two at times as well with like Poro tucking in and being like a right centre back yeah I thought it looked still like a three at the back but with a Poro like right centre back most of the time actually if I'm honest which yeah I just and again what are we doing as fans we're sitting here scratching our heads and going imagine them as players we've already seen there's zero leadership in the squad at the moment let's not even talk about Romero I think that's been debated enough my feelings on that are pretty clear he's the fucking liability and not a leader in my point of view fine and just like you need one of these guys you don't need them as your fucking captain though you don't need the captain injuring players in fucking training and the players being petrified of being on the opposing team that's stupid Anyway, there's no other leaders.

19:27The Fighting Cock:There just isn't. Most of them are injured. I get that. But, you know, where is the leadership? And I can sort of sympathize because where's the leadership? Anywhere, right? Like Vinay and Langer are just not there. Horatichi was here for three months and then fucked off. The previous manager was a wet blanket. The current one is just some very aggro Croatian dude who, I get there's some merit in that right now, but is that what this squad needs? So again, I go back to, I just don't think the appointment for, from a footballing point of view, but also from a kind of DNA fit and what we need right now was just, just the wrong appointment.

20:04The Fighting Cock:Anyway, sorry, you opened up the formation. When you want your spring break to feel like. And your kid's pool day to feel like. And your hotel bed to feel like. Oh, and room service to feel like. because at Hilton, hospitality feels like Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Introducing Virtuo Up, the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso. It's innovation you can touch, sense, and taste in every single cup. With a three-second start, easy open lever, and dedicated brew-over-ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way.

20:58Sip for yourself. Shop Virtuo up exclusively at Nespresso.com. It's a Season 2 playoff race with TGL. Presented by SoFi. Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern, Jupiter Lynx vs. Boston Common Golf. Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, Los Angeles Golf Club vs. New York Golf Club. Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, the Bay Golf Club vs. Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's golf. watch on ESPN, ESPN2 and the ESPN app I just think I often it annoys me right when you got like fans like giving their opinion about what managers should do with a lineup because you're like at least I think Igor Trudov is involved in Juventus' Champions League winning team to some degree, I might be wrong there he got them fourth

21:42The Fighting Cock:no no he got them fourth no I mean where's the player he has pedigree in the game right so he knows sure but but i was looking at it after about 20 minutes it wasn't working not it wasn't just wasn't working it was like awful and i was like looking at it and i was thinking i think i might have a solution here with you know a pint in my hand and sitting on my sofa and it wasn't much more than what he'd done already was it's like simmons simmons is lost on on the left-hand side. Bring him in centrally, go free at the back, put Poro forward. Gray, it's always worrying when you're forcing players to play out of position.

22:24We didn't have a left-back. We had Souza, and maybe we should have played him. I think he was one of the couple of, the few bright sparks we had on there. I think Souza did, you know, decent, like six, seven out of ten, you know, new to the league, got across. And I thought Gray in his bits did okay, but you're playing players out of position, you're always going to be disadvantaged. Like, great. You've seen teams play centre-backs at full-backs. You've seen Guardiola do it. You've seen Arteta do it. And you've seen, they mentioned it in the commentary, but it reminded me of the kind of side that Simeone would put out of having a central midfielder on that right-hand side just to shore up and make it difficult to beat.

23:11They didn't find it difficult to get through at all. they found it easy over and over again so when that wasn't happening and what needs to happen against against Palace is we need to start on the front foot we need to get some confidence into these players a goal will change it and and you do that by playing the players in their fucking places go for balance don't go for I don't know man I just I couldn't see the logic of Colin Morane starting again and to be clear he's clearly a very good football he's been good in a number of leagues. Maybe he's not good enough for the Premier League. He definitely isn't what we need in a renegation fight.

23:48I did not see the logic of him starting that game at all. And for all the effort he was doing, it was clear that he wasn't going to get any successes today. To be fair, I turned it off at 2-0. So I didn't see what Richarlison did as he came on. I was just pissed off at that point. But I just... You must have watched Shars for a game and thought, you know what? OK, someone like Kulimawani will have two chances, he'll score two. That's fine. but we need a bit more than that because we are in a relegation fight. We need someone like Vishal who's going to shithouse a little bit. So that was a decision that had most of an issue.

24:20And Pissouma's like, it's like a cat with nine lives. What has he seen to make him start a game? He's just, he's another talented player but it's clear that it's just, he hasn't got the mentality to be a footballer for a top 16, where we are, well, we're not, 15th, 16th. He just not, doesn't have the mentality for a top 16. And I think you'd hope that Basuma and Colin Morani don't start the next game and that maybe Suze Ortel or even Sarr gets we need younger players and what's it called? Byfield and Williams Barnett are injured which is a shame because I think we're almost at the academy as well because the kids are going to make an effort it's also clear that Van de Ven is half checked out and I think the fans are going to start turning on him I think Ben did a video this morning and said that he had to be kind of cajoled into clapping the away fend and even did that half-heartedly.

25:15That's not

25:15The Fighting Cock:a good look if you've got the armband. Just suck it up, mate. We're going about how much footballers are paid but even if it's just for show, just clap the fend and just get a dress for them. Call them cunts there but just don't do that because that doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help you. It doesn't help people. I mean, to be fair away games are 30 quid. You're not paying a fortune but still you've just got to try and give us something. you know it's it's it's yeah it's not it's not the price though t it's it's the effort of no no exactly in traveling and all that sort of stuff and and and and but just and to your point it would be so much easier and i understand when when you know we've all been demotivated at work and all that sort of stuff you are absolutely not putting in the extra mile are you like if you're you know if your co-workers are slacking and your boss is a twat or just not there you know or even even better actually they've sacked your boss um who you didn't really like anyway but but now there's now there's no one or there's a some authoritarian who's been drafted in from another department just to shout at you guys a little bit because management think that that's what the problem is you're not really going to put in the extra effort but like this isn't a real job right like it's not a real job so well real job it's not a normal job so and the least you cannot you can do and especially as well like he was captain on that day like he's supposed to be the leader and he's just not he's just not doing it and again i go back to there's just a real lack of leadership in this in the whole organization at the moment and and it really it's bad when it's this obvious and this clear um to fans that that it that it's kind of yeah is this bad and and like I get it that the players are like you know they're probably deaf to the noise now right they've had they've seen it all they're not I'm sure they're on socials and so on and they'll see what we say to them and so on so there's not much that's going to come as a surprise now but we do need them to lift us out of this like we'll do our bit as fans and the away end will be full at every you know every game the away the home stadium will probably be full as well but there isn't much else we can do as fans it really is down to them do you did you see my favourite thing I think from the game was Vicario's free kick

27:40did you see the Premier the Premier League own account clip up the footage from Vicario hitting it long and out of touch like Jesus it's remarkable I think he just shits himself every time he has to go near the ball i think that's what it is and passes himself offers like one of the leadership group giving it screaming at other players when you can't kick a ball in a straight line um he booted it out anyway and they the the premier league clipped it up and they went an interesting free kick from vicario with a laughing emoji like i'm like maybe paddy power right or some sort of arsenal banter account not the premier league why do they in what world is it okay to as one of your members and one of the shareholders and stakeholders in the league for you to to have that approach it's ridiculous i i don't understand how that's allowed to happen like they don't the premier league on brand doesn't need to do this it's the biggest footballing brand in the world bar barring probably fifa maybe uefa but it might even be bigger than that so they don't have to scrape the barrel like that it's like literally something that something like i don't know kante sees with tweet a banter a banter page basically yeah it's ridiculous like why they feel the need to do that is is is beyond me it really is and it kind of leads into this idea that there is some sort of agenda against tottenham now i'm gonna get your boys foot on it.

29:14My opinion is, just off the bat, is that there is no agenda, there is no conspiracy from the referees to stop Tottenham or get Tottenham relegated or favour the big six clubs in the way that they, the way that people seem to think that they do. I didn't see that we benefited from it when we were in the Champions League. I don't see it where we're benefiting in any significant way when we are where we are. However, that's how I feel. I just think it's like bad decision making inconsistency that happens with human beings that's how I choose to look at it there are lots and lots and lots of Spurs fans out there that disagree with that and say that there is some sort of bias and that we are getting judged unfairly so the case in point obviously I'm talking about Jimenez's push on Dragoson which meant that he couldn't head of the ball out and it meant off the back of that they scored.

30:13The push was probably more significant than, what's his face, the Muanis on Gabriel and definitely less significant than the one that Romero received from Van Dijk. So in those, and they're all really similar challenges, everyone listening to this will know this. So in those moments, you couldn't argue anything other than there must be some sort of clandestine skullduggery from the PGMOL to punish Spurs. I don't believe it, but I can understand why people are furious. How do you feel about it? I don't think it's a conspiracy at all. But I just think the consistency is the issue. I mean, either it's a foul or it's not.

30:59You can't just not give it one, we can give it the other week. I mean, the Gabyo one, and the Morane one on Gabio was at my end. It was right in front of me and I just thought, okay, that's not a goal. He pushed him. I didn't think anything of it. I didn't make a connection with the Liverpool one because that was way at the other end in the stadium and I just didn't really notice it. So it's only when I got home and I saw the arc, I thought, oh, maybe they should have given it. But I don't think the fans in the stadium were up in arms that it wasn't given. It felt like play had stopped when Gabio was on the floor anyway and he just kind of tapped it in just to kind of complete the movement.

31:37But no, I don't think there's a conspiracy. I think we're shit enough to just do it ourselves anyway. Yeah, that was kind of my feeling. It's like lots of people going after the decision-making, but we were crap. We didn't deserve anything. Yeah, I think Dragosin spent longer on the floor than he should have because he was expecting the whistle. And the bloke who scored is like the one right in front of him, which is Wilson.

32:00The Fighting Cock:I saw you caught a few strays. strays I don't even know if they're strays you sort of do ask for them yeah well they're direct but also strays would suggest that I think you sometimes invite them on yourself as well but anyway I do agree with you and I'd like and I agree with your sentiment as well after that was it the Arsenal game I think you caught the most it certainly started because there wasn't enough in our performance so why are we why are we even fucking talking about it let's talk about the things we can control right like because we can't control what the referee does and I don't think there's an agenda but I do think we've had some real stinkers and we've been really unlucky with a lot of the calls that have been against us um I think if I really want to put my tinfoil hat on I think maybe Romero gets targeted a bit I think the I think the refs we know the refs do talk um and I think the refs will definitely keep an eye on him but again like he's got a reputation and he is a he's a aggressive he's a physical player so the the refs are gonna you know part of their job as well is to try and control and if they feel like they go in maybe a little bit hard and a little bit early on Romero the hope is I'm not defending refs here but what they're hoping is obviously they'll try and curtail him doing something worse later on um I don't know if that's the best way to really manage Romero but that's a whole different conversation um but I think that's maybe the extent of it I did they definitely there isn't some like fucking whatsapp group with Peter Banks and the rest of them sitting there going oh let's do this team next weekend or whatever I don't think that they're biased towards red shirts like some people love to say either.