Highs and Lows

Tottenham's goalkeeper Hugo Lloris wants more "ummph" out of the Spurs team where results have not at all been up-to par and matching the critical praise that Tottenham have received.  For sure the high in the time I was not able to write on beBee was the 3-1 victory against Real Madrid and finishing above Real Madrid in the Champions League group, but dropping points against the likes of West Brom and Leicester and starting this depressing run with a lack-luster performance against Arsenal (the old enemy) is coming back down to earth. 

As much as manager Mauricio Pochettino has revolutionized the team and to be fair chairman Daniel Levy (criticized for being too hardball in his negotiations) has worked well with him, ensuring the current team is brimming with potential.  Yet brimming with potential is something one can say for a lot of the disappointing teams of Tottenham past - which also included really great players.  David Ginola and Jurgen Klinsmann are the kind of quality players that Spurs purchased but never managed to build great teams or long-lasting success around.

One cannot forget however that Pochettino has taken Spurs to a 3rd place and a 2nd place finish and playing at Wembley Stadium until the new Spurs ground is finished, does not do Spurs any favours (except show the scale of their support does match Real Madrid), yet Levy wants a 61,000 seater stadium and price in that demand.  Maybe it is that mentality which stops Spurs from developing team belief and confidence and that all important winners mindset. 

Clearly Alex Ferguson , who fostered a winners mindset in Manchester United for over two decades recognizes that there is something special in Mauricio Pochettino that he would welcome to see at Manchester United.  The likelihood is that if Pochettino leaves for another team, it will not be with another club in England or even Spain, but another club who is owned by a country, the now cash rich Paris St. Germaine.  PSG have already demonstrated how cash rich they are by prying away Neymar from Barcelona.  If PSG want Pochettino down the road, they are probably eventually going to get him.

Tottenham in comparison is literally an investment company, owned by financial experts who operate a tight budget and hard nosed business.  The wage scale of Tottenham ranks it 6th in the Premier League, so the position Tottenham now occupy matches their pay-scale.  This means that Tottenham have been punching above their weight, in what compared to PSG and Manchester City is now a very unlevel and unfair playing field.  As the highly criticized Chairman of Newcastle United pointed out "we cannot compete as a club with clubs owned by countries".

I don't want Spurs to be owned by a country, but being owned by the Facebook group with interest from Mark Zuckerberg is something to be welcomed, but Daniel Levy will always drive a hard bargain for the billionaire owner of Spurs and his own ownership interest in Tottenham.  That said Daniel Levy should no longer be criticized for not prizing trophies and championships the way that the Chelsea chairman does.  A state of the art stadium in the works, a great training facility and getting the right manager at last are all bits of kudos.  The final transformation is the winning mentality that grinds out results and Spurs are still not there.

In a week where Spurs dropped 8 pts out of a possible 9pts and have seen Arsenal leapfrog them by 4pts in the Premier League, and where every other top team is showing that winning mentality, is it enough to cite a one off win against what was not a good day out for Real Madrid, or get real and hope that the current highs and lows, become a pathway to a whole lot of highs, and that means Spurs this year MUST win something and then build on that mindset.

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