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- [00:02]
Sponsor Voice
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- [01:00]
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- [01:31]
Sponsor Voice
The Athletic FC Podcast Network.
- [01:36]
Ayo Akimwalere
Welcome to the Athletic FC Podcast with me, Ayo Akimwalere. Four days on from defeat in the North London Derby and Spurs fans were once again left with that sinking feeling on Sunday, Tarkovsky's header flicked on.
- [01:49]
John McKenzie
Oh goal. What a first half for the toes and a terrible one for Spurs.
- [01:55]
Ayo Akimwalere
Tottenham have now lost seven of their last nine Premier League matches. So what is going wrong? And is postecoglou going to be given enough time to get it right? Here with us today we have the athletics John McKenzie and our Tottenham writer Jack Pitt Brooke, who was at Goodison park yesterday when spurs were beaten. Once again, Jack, the headline stat as I mentioned at the top seven defeats in nine Premier League games for Tottenham Hotspur. That's symptomatic of the drift you've written about on the Athletic. Now is it just about spurs having injuries or is it more about these lackluster performances?
- [02:34]
John McKenzie
So certainly the injury crisis is very real and very bad. I think they have 11 first team players out at the moment, which I think every team would struggle with at the same time. Regardless of that, as A mitigation. They are playing extremely badly, like they've been I think the last few months. Ever since they beat Manchester City 4 nil a few months ago, I think they've had 15 games. They've only won three of them in 90 minutes and only one of them was in the league and that was against Southampton. Like they are consistently playing badly. They are conceding lots of goals. And I thought yesterday, particularly in that first half, it had a real end of an era, end of a cycle feel, you know, I've seen enough Tottenham managers get sacked in my time to know what it looks like when it's coming to the end. And that first half where they tried out a new formation. Everton. Everton. A team who, who have been without confidence in front of goal for years. Everton looked like scoring every single time they got the ball and it felt really bad. And I think that there are some very, very serious problems that need to be fixed quickly. Problems even bigger than the manager if Tottenham had to save their season.
- [03:43]
Ayo Akimwalere
Yeah, we're going to go into some of that a little later on, John. You know, I guess Postecoglou has always been held as this sort of dogmatic manager, you know, doesn't want to change his ways. But actually, you know, we did see A against Everton. Can you just tell us what those changes look like and whether or not they actually made the team better or worse?
- [04:04]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah, I think it's worth, when we're talking about managers and their principles and being unwilling to change, to differentiate between higher principles and lower principles, we know that a manager like Pep Guardiola, he's never going to budge from his higher principles. Like he wants his teams to play in a certain way. But we see actually the lower principles are really, really flexible. He can change those all the time in order to allow those higher principles to come out. And I think what we've not seen so much of from Postecoglou has been changing those lower principles and seeing those game to game tweaks. But as you say, in this game we did see the emergence of a back three which we certainly haven't seen from him in his time at spurs this season at least. I think this was probably prompted by injuries because the issue for them was how are we going to have any width in our formation? And the way that he was going to answer that was through the wing back. So they had Pedro Paro on one side and Jed Spence on the other. And as a result of that, I think because the width was being provided by those wing backs, he Wanted to just have a little bit of added protection in the back line just in case they got caught out in the counter. And so what we saw was Archie Gray dropping into the back line out of possession. But in possession I think the idea was still to play the same kind of shape. So there was still the same sort of in possession ideas there. But I think the issue was that they weren't able to actually sort their organisation out in the out of possession phases. I think Postecoglou actually came out after the game and said our organisation wasn't good enough in those phases. And essentially what happened is that you're basically taking a player from further up the field and dropping them into your back line, which means that you're emptying out your midfield a little bit. So you may remember from the second goal, Everton were able to build up on one side, switch the ball quickly to the other and then they generated a huge amount of space. Archie Gray had to step up. There was about 20 meters between Dragusin and Poro that then NJ was able to just run towards cause the problems against Dragusyn. So yeah, I think it was maybe a necessary experiment, but one that actually proved to be a bit of a disaster in that first half and that's why they. They then came out in their more usual setup in the second half.
- [06:02]
Ayo Akimwalere
Well, Jack, Sunday's result leaves spurs, what, eight points off the relegation zone and 14 behind Manchester City and Newcastle who are in fourth and fifth respectively. Now the bigger question is from a supporter's standpoint, are supporters starting to lose faith in this project? I mean you spoke earlier about how perhaps this seems like it's got the earmarkings of the end of. I mean these constant defeats can't be great for the fan base.
- [06:29]
John McKenzie
Yeah. So in the away end yesterday at Goodison park there was a lot of anti Daniel Levy stuff which is frankly that has happened all seasons. There was nothing new about that. But there was also, I think, a degree of kind of dark humor from the spurs fans which I hadn't really heard so much of before. They were singing, you know, you're nothing special. We lose every week. Early in the second half, when spurs had a brief spell of possession, they were singing we've got the ball. We've got the ball. And they were even sarcast passes from one Tottenham player to another. That happens when a fan base has given up. That's what you do as a fan when you've given up on being competitive, you've given up on trying to win a game and so for Tottenham fans to be doing that, I just thought that really tells you something about how the fans perceptions and feelings have changed over the course of this run. And I think that is a very. Once that has happened, it's a very difficult thing to fix.
- [07:30]
Ayo Akimwalere
I guess, John, you know, progress with the injuries as a caveat, isn't always linear in that respect. Right. But I guess from a tactical, analytical point of view, are there any improvements with this spurs team compared to the likes of Mourinho Conte, for instance? Because you know, if you take the sample size of matches, Postecoglou is not doing as well as they did.
- [07:54]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah, I think progress is not always linear, but the trajectory overall has to be positive at some point or you raise questions about where the project is eventually going to end up. And I think maybe for me the bigger picture question here is always about the injuries. What is the provenance of that injury crisis they had? Because it seems very similar to what happened last season. And I'm of the opinion that when you bring in a coach, you don't bring a coach into coach your 11 best players, you bring a coach in to get the most out of a squad. And if you can raise questions, and I think, you know, it's up for debate at least that his methods have actually induced some of these, of these injuries through the intensity of their play. The question is whether or not that project is going to be functional enough to work in the long term as well. So it's a very difficult one because you want to get the balance right between long termism, but also that short termism that. I mean, the stuff that Jack's talking about in terms of if you lose the, the supporters, if you lose the players, if you lose the board, then it doesn't matter how good your long term outlook is, you're not going to be able to enact it. Right. So you have to get that balance right between the short term and the long term. And right now it doesn't quite seem like Postecoglo's been able to manage that balance at all during his time at Spurs.
- [09:08]
Ayo Akimwalere
Very quickly, Jack, you know, John's talking about, you know, the fans not being happy with the board and you know, you're looking at Postecogu coming in and the whole idea was that he was supposed to unite the board and the fans. Now spurs are in a situation where they've got issues with the board, they've got issues with the coach, they've also got issues with the style of football. I mean, where do they generally go from here?
- [09:28]
John McKenzie
Well, this is the problem, isn't it? Is that there's no, there is no simple fix to the position that spurs are in. Like, they could sack the manager, but even if they sacked him, then the next morning they would still only have 11 fit players. And, and there are no, it's worth remembering here, there are no, not really many very good managers on the market who they could just appoint to who they could point mid season. You know, it's not easy to appoint mid season. Obviously they sacked Nuno mid season, but only because they had Antonio Conte waiting in the wings to come straight in. So I almost think that the problems that Tottenham have got at the moment are so big and so complicated that simply sacking him would just leave Tottenham waking up tomorrow with no manager and also, frankly, with no strategy, really, with no plan and in a very poor position in the Premier League table and having to find a new way to get through the rest of the season. So it's bigger. We can criticise Postecoglou all we want, and there's certainly lots of stuff that you could pick him up on. But the problem they're in now, I think is ultimately bigger than just the one man.
- [10:30]
Ayo Akimwalere
Okay. For sure. Well, next we will go deeper on Postecoglou's position and the pressure he is coming under.
- [10:39]
Jack Pitt Brooke
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with IO Akinwaleere.
- [10:43]
Alexa Wybell
Hi, it's Alexa Wybell from New York Times Cooking. We've got tons of easy weeknight recipes and I'm gonna make two of my favorites for you today. For my five ingredient creamy miso pasta. You just take your starchy pasta water, whisk it together with a little bit of miso and butter until it's creamy, add your noodles and a little bit of cheese. Mm. It's like a grown up box of Mac and cheese. An easy weeknight recipe that feels like a restaurant quality dish. Next up, I'm making my vegetarian mushroom shawarma pitas. This recipe is just built for efficiency. You toss your mushrooms and red onion in your spices, throw them in the oven. By the time they're done, your sauce is ready, you've chopped your cabbage, and you're ready to assemble. It feels crazy that something that tastes this complex and looks this colorful and beautiful is actually really easy to make and takes just 20 minutes of active time. It's just delicious. New York Times Cooking has you covered with easy dishes for busy weeknights. Find these recipes and more@nyt cooking.com smells so good.
- [11:46]
Jack Pitt Brooke
An familiar story. What are your assessment of that performance, please?
- [11:51]
Ayo Akimwalere
Familiar story.
- [11:52]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Well, in terms of defeat.
- [11:55]
Ayo Akimwalere
Okay, great way to start an interview. Well, that was Anj Postecoglou there taking exception to being asked about Sunday's defeat at Goodison park when speaking with the BBC. I mean, Jack, it is understandable. I mean, it feels like every week he's getting the same questions. He didn't like the suggestion of defeat being a familiar story. Sunday's loss makes it 24 defeat in Tottenham's last 50 Premier League games since the 41 defeat at home to Chelsea in November 2020. How worrying is the long term pattern that we are now seeing develop under Postecoglou?
- [12:32]
John McKenzie
Look, we've got more than a big enough data set, I think to say that Tottenham, Tottenham's results have been in the main bad for a long time. You know, this season they've lost 12 of their league games already. They've lost more than half of their league games. I don't think Tottenham have lost more than half their league games in a completed league season since the late 1970s, so almost 50 years. It's clearly a very bad record. There's also some fantastic performances in there as well. It's not, it's not a uniformly bad record, but in terms of overall performance and results, it's, it's pretty poor.
- [13:10]
Ayo Akimwalere
19 wins, 7 draws scored, 97 conceded, 84 in that time. John, you know we talk about injuries, you know, Romero's injured, Van De Ven's injured. So they're, they're their natural center back pairing. Not then you've got recent injuries to Brendan Johnson, Dominic Solanke as well. I mean, we spoke about the job of a manager is really to work with the team he's got. But can we give him some grace in the fact that, yes, these are big, big injuries to big, big players that can make a difference to this team?
- [13:39]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah, I think especially with Christian Romero and Micky Van De Ven, those two centre backs who are so important to the play style. Because I think if you look in the recent fixtures where those two players haven't been available, we can actually see notable changes that actually happening at that lower level of tactical principles we were talking about before. Because usually what spurs like to do is get their fullbacks high, super high in build up, even pushing into the third line beyond the second line, getting very central. And in recent fixtures they've just not been able to do that because a couple of reasons. One is that playing so aggressively with your fullbacks Means that your centre backs are exposed, so you need to have really mobile centre backs who can defend in those transition moments really well. But also, if you're only relying on having two centre backs almost as a starting point of your buildup, they have to be super on it in terms of their progressive play as well. And because those two players aren't there, spurs have effectively changed the way that they're trying to build up as well as defend. So that's what we were talking about before, right, Is as soon as you lose your starting level players, you're then putting other players into those positions who can't actually fulfill the roles that they're being expected to do and that becomes a problem. It is a familiar story. Like it happened last season, the same thing happened. The two centre backs were missing for long portions of the, of the season and that correlated with, with downturn in form as well. So. Absolutely. Injuries have really, really hurt them this time around. And yeah, the question that is raised is, well, if these injuries are going to be increasingly frequent, how do you actually go through the long term with that sort of prospect?
- [15:17]
Ayo Akimwalere
Yeah, and also I'm thinking, Jon, you know, I'm just trying to see a light at the end of the tunnel here. Is this just part of the process? Perhaps he needs another transfer cycle to bring more reinforcements in. Perhaps the board need to really think about how we stretch this out. Because the reality is I can't see them bringing in six players in January right now to help buffer, you know, their injury crisis.
- [15:39]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah, absolutely. If they could find those backup players to be able to interchange them and it worked out, then absolutely. Right now that isn't the case. Which I suppose then raises the question, well, how do you come out of this period? Because as we've seen, what has resulted has been postecoglou actually doing what everyone has been calling for him to do all along, make those tweaks and changes and it actually hasn't made them any better. Right. So, yeah, certainly I think that a lot of these problems would go away with better personnel in the second level to back up their first 11. The question is whether or not you want to take the risk as a, as an owner to pump that kind of money in. If you think if you actually do that and then find out it's not possible.
- [16:20]
Ayo Akimwalere
Yeah, Jack, I just wonder whether, you know, spurs fans are looking at what's going on at Bournemouth, for instance, another team with an injury crisis, or very a lot of first team players who are injured but seem to have, I guess, Tactically, Irioli seems to be able to mold that team to a point in which, where no one wants to play Bournemouth at this moment in time, they've become quite a bogey team for a lot of top Premier League teams.
- [16:43]
John McKenzie
Yeah, you know, Bournemouth have done really, really well this season. I think everybody's been very impressed with Iriola and the football that he's played and the way that they've overcome their injury crisis. I mean, I would say in Tottenham's defence that it's just easier if you're not in Europe. You know, Tottenham had an easier time of it last season because they only had 41 games. You know, they weren't in Europe. They went out the domestic cups earlier. That means you've got more time to, you know, you've got more free weeks where you can work the players harder in training, you can get by with fewer players. I think one of the big problems for Tottenham this season is that lots of people, probably myself included, assumed that Tottenham could just replicate last season's league form while also competing, you know, in the, the new Europa League league phase, plus domestic cup campaigns. And I think it's been that extra burden of football without having the extra players to help carry the load that has really sunk Tottenham this season because as John said, they've just been completely unable to cope with that, with, with the workload they've had to, they've had to deal with.
- [17:43]
Ayo Akimwalere
Earlier you spoke about you seeing sort of the signs that this could be the end of the line for Poster, Gluck, Lujak, but you've also written that, you know, you've written in defense of him, you know, when we compare him to the likes of Mourinho or Conte, you know, you've said that, you know, those were sort of short term managers in many respects and well, this is a long term project. So if results still keep going the same way and they get rid of him, aren't spurs them back to where they started again? Having to find another manager who's on the market to get them out of trouble again? I mean, you know, is there a valid conversation to say, let's stick with him? Hopefully we get the resources, he gets the resources he needs and then we can really see the full strength of these projects a bit further on down the line. How much patience do people have?
- [18:29]
John McKenzie
Yeah, it's a really valid point and my own view is that one of the risks of sacking him now is, is that it would just make Tottenham look like 18 months FC, you know, they were unable to build anything long term. You know, Mourinho only had 18 months or just under. Conte only had 18 months or just under. Postecoglou's now had more Premier League games than either Mourinho or Conte. But I think it would suggest that Tottenham don't really have the stomach or the patience for a rebuild and for the kind of turbulence they're going through at the moment. That conclusion means that we're now in this situation where effectively they're not getting judged on their league form. Their league form is so much worse than, you know, any Tottenham team, really, in recent or living memory. And yet it's all been kind of written off a little bit because everybody wants to be patient. So. And I think a lot of spurs fans might think, well, when is there is there not going to be any accountability for how bad the team have been this season? Are we going to write it off entirely as down to this injury crisis? So I kind of understand both sides of the argument, although it does remain my view that there is no. There is no real upside to getting rid of him during the season, because I think if you do that, you would just be left with. You still have an injury crisis and yet, and you wouldn't have a manager to help deal with it.
- [19:49]
Jack Pitt Brooke
I think on top of everything that Jack said, the other issue is, is that as soon as you start getting into these sacking managers in the middle of season cycles, you're just always playing catch up. I think that there's no smart team out there who is replacing their manager midway through. It's just much easier to bring in a new manager when the summer comes around. So I think that's what you absolutely need to try and avoid. If you're a team who are trying to be smart, you've got to think, okay, maybe the summer is the time when we are going to bring in a new coach. Let's plan for that and hope that our current manager can keep us going long enough that there's no overly detrimental effect. But we've seen Manchester United this season have been in the same situation. They had the opportunity to bring in a new manager in the summer. They ended up holding onto him, brought in the new coach eventually midway through, and it's not gone well. So I think this is. This is the problem that you end up with. As soon as you start pulling triggers midway through seasons, you end up falling into these bad cycles where you're constantly playing catch up with yourself.
- [20:47]
Ayo Akimwalere
Yeah, for sure. All right, next, we'll discuss what spurs can do in the final 11 days of the transfer market to ease their struggles.
- [21:01]
Jack Pitt Brooke
This is the Athletic FC podcast with IO Accamalero.
- [21:07]
Ayo Akimwalere
Right John over on the Athletic FC YouTube channel, not the Athletic FC podcast. You run your sensible transfers series. Now, if you were looking at spurs and you're looking at this squad from the outside, what stands out to you in terms of the areas for attention in the transfer market?
- [21:26]
Jack Pitt Brooke
I think it's pretty clear from what we've been saying that you could argue that every area is up for grabs. For me, I think the big one that stands out is particularly the wide forward area. It feels as though spurs have never really got the player who can. I think if they could bring in a sort of supremely creative two way winger, which is obviously easier said than done. Maybe on the right. Oh sorry. On the left hand side to sort of compliment Brendan Johnson on the other side. I think that would make their life a lot easier. It would take the burden off them having to create through the system and it would just give them. And to be fair, the system is designed to get their wide players into these 1v1 situations with fullbacks and if you've got a player who can just create from those kind of moments, then you have everything that you need to actually be way more creative in those areas. But yeah, I think other areas, obviously a backup centre back or two wouldn't go amiss given what we've been talking about in terms of the drop off between the first and second options in those two slots. And then beyond that, I think maybe number six has been talked about a fair amount. It's sort of hard to know what the number six's role is in the postecoglou team. But yeah, I'd be interested in how you could potentially strengthen in that area as well.
- [22:37]
Ayo Akimwalere
Jaak Kinski's obviously come in. Where else do you think spurs could do with strengthening? Because I mean I look at Archie Gray, great prospect for the future by 18 years old to be told to hold the line in defense. It's a lot of pressure.
- [22:50]
John McKenzie
Yeah, I mean I think Grace done amazingly well. I mean he was. He struggled yesterday. Not the only one to do so, but I think in, in the main he's done great. It's kind of also incredible that he's in this position where you know, he. This is an 18 year old who wants to be a midfielder who spent last season for Leeds United playing at right back and now this season, I mean he's barely played. I don't Think he's started at all in midfield for Tottenham. You know, he had a few games at fullback and now he's played for the last few months almost every single minute at centre back. So yeah, I mean, I think they, they clearly need another center back. It'd be lovely to have another left back too. But I don't think. Let's not get our hopes up too much. But yeah, and up front I think they absolutely need a. They need a wide player, as John says. You know, I think we've all. We've kind of forgotten a bit. They signed Odebear from Burnley in the summer who was exactly that kind of one v one guy who they do not have. And he's. I think he started two games to start the season, has been out since with hamstring injuries. Maybe they could do. I think they could probably do with another nine as well. You know, post Colguys talked a lot about Solanke and how much work he's had to do and you know, he's barely had a rest because the problem with say Solanke and Kulasevsky is that Tottenham are not good enough to rest them every time those guys are on the bench. Usually like a Cup game or like a Europa League game, they have to come on in the second half because Tottenham aren't winning. So they need to get some extra help so that they can kind of share the burden a bit more. Ideally I'd say a center forward, a winger and a center back, but you know, I also live in the real world and it's the 20th of January so I wouldn't be, let's try and say realistic.
- [24:26]
Ayo Akimwalere
Yeah. Do you know, I know you were in the press conference post match with Postecoglou and he sort of. He was a bit more calm speaking in that than straight off the back of the game, Jack. But you know, he was asked about transfers and you could almost see it in his eyes where he went. I mean, I've asked them but I don't know, you know, isn't that part of his frustration as well? Because you look at spurs from a business standpoint, just got a shiny new stadium and I remember when Arsenal got the Emirates. It takes time before you're able to really get all that money in your pocket to be able to really invest in the squad. They're kind of stuck in this kind of strange place where there's a lot of ambition, but I don't know how much money actually is there to invest in a new squad.
- [25:05]
John McKenzie
Well, they have. I mean, since I think in the last few years they have started to spend more money in general. They have, I think, you know, they've made sightings in the last few years like, you know, like Solanke or like Richarlison, which are even like Poirot, which are not necessarily, you know, signings they would have made in the past. So I don't think, I don't feel like they are financially restricted in the way they used to be. That said, clearly they need more players for right now. You know, you're right that Postecoglou. Postecoglou keeps saying that, look, you know, we need to get some more players in. I'm actually, I'm really struck frankly by how Postecoglou has not put extra pressure on the board to deliver players. You know, previous Tottenham managers, you know, particularly Conte Mourinho, did not need a second invitation to remind the board what they needed in the transfer market until now.
- [25:54]
Ayo Akimwalere
I tried to hide the situation, but now, no, because I repeat, I don't want to see what I have seen today because these are unacceptable.
- [26:05]
John McKenzie
Because you haven't heard that from Postecoglou at all. But clearly he needs help, like he needs extra players. And frankly, I think that, I think that getting in more players now is more important to Tottenham than who the manager is the last few months, the season. Because they can sat, you know, whether they sat Postecoglou or not, they still don't have enough players for whoever the manager is. So, yeah, in my mind this should be the priority over between now and the end of the window.
- [26:30]
Ayo Akimwalere
John, are Spurs a sexy destination for a top player right now? I mean, I can see it, great new stadium, but with the prospects of not playing European football next season and not even know who that manager might be next season, I mean, who's signing that check? It's still the Premier League, I guess.
- [26:49]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah, The Premier League is now very deep in terms of the talent pools because clubs at the bottom of the table can compete with high level clubs in leagues elsewhere. So, you know, you're born mercy Fulhams are able to take players that are being courted by the likes of Milan. You know, when that kind of happens, you know, the question is, isn't will you be able to get players? It's whether or not you can get players that are going to work for you and be good enough. And obviously, like on top of everything we're saying, this is London. It's as easier sell as you'll have of a city, I guess as anywhere. So Yeah, I think that that's the, the big question, I suppose. And you know, we've talked, we, we have talked about Iriola. It's already in this episode. But I think the, there's proof that you can get from maybe other markets as well, who can improve your squad without necessarily having to go to the marquee signings as well. So there's plenty of scope for spurs recruitment department to do some good work as well.
- [27:50]
Ayo Akimwalere
Okay. Jack Angeposa Cogli was asked at the end of the match against Everton what the motivation now is for the squad. And he did mention that they're still in the cop competitions. You know, Carabao Cup, FA Cup. I mean, that's pretty important still because there's still an opportunity to get some sort of glory at the end of the season here.
- [28:12]
John McKenzie
Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? Like, I've spent, I've spent a lot of this season. I think a lot of people have thinking, yeah, they're not doing great in the league, but they're still in these cup competitions. And you know that obviously they've got a one nil lead in the Carabao semi final. They've got Aston Villa in the FA cup fourth round. They're in a pretty good possession position in the Europa League league phase. You know, two games left before they can, you know, we'll see which knock they go into. And that's really been, I think, one of the narratives of this season. I know the players are really, really motivated about the idea of finally winning a trophy and, you know, ending that trophy drought at Tottenham. I have to say, watching the game yesterday, I thought this is just complete magical thinking. If you think that Tottenham can play like they did yesterday at Anfield in the second leg of the League cup semi final, they will lose by a bad margin. If they go to Anfield and play like that. If they go to Villa park three days later and play like that, they will lose again. You know, if they, if they struggle in the Europa League in their last two Europa League games and if they have to go, go into the punishment round in February, if they play like that, they will get knocked out. So of course, everyone's really motivated for Tottenham to win a trophy this season, but I don't think that's realistic talk given the position they're in at the moment. You know, then they're playing badly, they're losing games, they don't have enough available players. Maybe if things change in Fe March, they sign some players, they stabilize players come back from injury, the league form picks up, then maybe if they get through to that Europa League last 16 in March, they might be able to make some progress there. Maybe if they can just hang on in the FA cup or the League cup, maybe things will pick up. But right now it just feels ridiculous.
- [29:52]
Ayo Akimwalere
John, is it wishful thinking? Because there is a theory there, as Jax just said, that if those players come back at the right time and they could just hang on for this period of time, it might be okay. But then you watch the the Tamworth game and how much spurs struggled away at Tamworth. I know the pitch was a bit different and all that kind of stuff, but you take that into a European competition, you take that into the FA cup, it's going to be tough going.
- [30:16]
Jack Pitt Brooke
Yeah. I mean football is a probabilities game, right? I think that's the thing, Right? Is it possible for spurs to win a trophy this season? Absolutely, yes. As you say, they're still in full competitions, but on the balance of probability. Is Jack saying the way that they're playing right now makes you not very confident they're going to get through those rounds? And that's what the job of the manager is, right? To make the balance of probability as favorable as possible for a team. Which is why I guess we're having this conversation in the first place. So yeah, it's possible, but right now spurs just don't look like a team where they've got the balance of probability anywhere near where they want it to be.
- [30:51]
Ayo Akimwalere
Okay, gent, I was looking for some light here, but we haven't seemed to find any so far. But I pray it changes for spurs as the season goes on. But gents, thank you so much for your time. Jack, John, and also thank you all for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.
- [31:07]
Jack Pitt Brooke
You've been listening to the Athletic FC Podcast. The producers were Guy Clark, Mike Stavroot and Jay Beale.
- [31:12]
Ian McIntosh
The executive producer was Aidy Moorhead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts.
- [31:16]
Jack Pitt Brooke
For free Search for the Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. The Athletic FC Podcast is an Athletic Media Company production.
- [31:28]
Sponsor Voice
The Athletic FC Podcast Network.
- [31:35]
Ayo Akimwalere
Hello, I'm.
- [31:36]
Ian McIntosh
Ian McIntosh and I'm the host of the Daily Football Briefing. What is the Daily Football Briefing? It's a special 10 minute daily show designed to bring you up to speed with the most important stories from across the football world. Except on Monday mornings when it's 15 minutes and we try to cram it the results, standings and stories from the top 10 leagues on the planet or at least the top 10 leagues that I run on a football manager save. Follow this show today and you'll never miss another big story again. Whether it's news that the Athletic has just broken David Ornstein.
- [32:05]
Ayo Akimwalere
What happened?
- [32:06]
Ian McIntosh
News from outside the Premier League that other podcasts might ignore.
- [32:10]
John McKenzie
That is a difficult one to explain. So let's go bit by bit.
- [32:12]
Ian McIntosh
Or it's Champions League week and you just need someone to put it all into context.
- [32:16]
Ayo Akimwalere
It's made for a very useful away point in a difficult game in a difficult week.
- [32:21]
Ian McIntosh
Listen to the Daily football briefing in 2025. It's out every weekday wherever you get your podcasts.