‘Not Good Enough To’ – Ex-PL Boss Tells Tottenham How To Survive, Tactical Change Suggested
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Former Premier League manager and survival expert Tony Pulis has told Tottenham Hotspur how to avoid being relegated from the Premier League, suggesting a tactical tweak.
Igor Tudor was brought in on a contract until the end of the season after Thomas Frank’s dismissal, with the sole goal of avoiding relegation.
Spurs have lost all three of their games with Tudor at the helm, with the once unthinkable drop to the Championship, seeming like a very distinct possibility.
Pulis feels that there is a pressure to play exciting football at Tottenham, something he thinks might have contributed to the short-lived spells at Spurs for Frank and Ange Postecoglou.
Stressing that Spurs do not have the squad to play expansive football, Pulis is worried that the issue has not been identified, with Tottenham being open as recently as their last game against Crystal Palace.
The survival expert believes that Spurs need to change the way they play and stressed that in his view that means playing inside and being solid and tight.
Pulis said on The Managers (7:20): “Tottenham again are one of these clubs, a little bit like West Ham down the road, we’ve got to play a certain way, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that, we’ve got to be exciting.
“At the moment I think, and whether Thomas has got rolled into this theme of that our perception of we’ve got to play all this attractive open football. Ange did it and got sacked, won a trophy but then get sacked.
“I think you’ve got to get a team that’s going to be really solid, really tight. Play inside the game. Don’t play outside the game.
“I’ve watched them against Palace. They’re playing outside. They’re still playing outside the game.
“Well, when they haven’t got the ball and when there’s turnovers, they’re very easily counterattacked.
“And in professional sport and especially at the top level, even if you watch rugby union or or team sports, teams will punish you enormously with counterattacking football.
“And that’s the best teams and the teams down the bottom if they’ve got pace. And most teams got pace now.
“So I I feel as though Tottenham have played outside the game. They did it with Thomas which I was very surprised with, where they can’t do that.
“They’re not good enough as a team. They’ve got good individuals, but I’m talking about as a team.
“The team is not good enough to play outside the game.”
Pulis ended on an optimistic note, believing that survival in the Premier League will be an easy ask for the quality players at Spurs, as long as they are set up in a narrow and compact fashion.
“It’s good enough if you get them in, narrow them in, play nice and tight.
“They’ve got enough ability and enough quality in that group to stay up, I think easily as long as it’s done the right way.”
Richard Keys has criticised Tudor heavily for his public censure of his team with a particular focus on their fitness.
Former Premier League goalkeeper Shaka Hislop believes that a lack of unity at Spurs could be the key differentiator as compared to relegation rivals West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, while former West Ham midfielder Don Hutchison backed the Hammers to survive, feeling it will be a coin toss between the Lilywhites and the Tricky Trees.
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