Post by a more piratey game on Oct 27, 2014 17:00:34 GMT
Daniel Levy will not wake up on Monday morning and blame himself. After all, he did not decide to drop midweek hat-trick hero Harry Kane to the substitutes’ bench or switch off at the start of the second half to allow Newcastle United to equalise.
However, with every managerial change, every false dawn and every step backwards, it is becoming increasingly clear that the root of Tottenham Hotspur ’s problems lie at the door of chairman Levy.
Spurs fans no longer look at the dug-out when they boo a result. Most turned around to aim their frustration at the directors’ box after Newcastle secured their first Premier League victory on the road since March 1. A growing number of supporters do not think anything will truly change until Levy has gone and they are right.
He may like to play up to the image of being the Premier League’s toughest negotiator, the man other chairmen and chief executives hate to deal with. But, at this rate, Levy’s legacy will be as the man who messed it up, the man who negotiated his way into a corner, the man who simply tried to be too clever.
On and off the pitch, Levy is failing. Tottenham are yet to reach agreement on the remaining land to build a new stadium, have not secured the money to finance it and do not know where they will play when it is finally being built.
Across London, West Ham United are looking forward to moving into the Olympic Stadium and sit fourth in the Premier League table after the co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold stuck by their manager, Sam Allardyce.
Tottenham have got progressively worse with each of Levy’s last three sackings. Harry Redknapp secured fourth place, Andre Villas-Boas could guide Spurs to only fifth in the following season and the club slipped to sixth with Tim Sherwood in charge.
Under Mauricio Pochettino and after the defeat at home against Newcastle, Tottenham are in 11th place after nine games. Of course managers, head coaches and players are responsible for results, but Levy is to blame for the continuing decline.
Pochettino insisted that he did not regret leaving the second-placed Southampton to work for Levy and claimed that he must change the weak mentality of his players.
Those are the players on whom Levy spent the Gareth Bale money, the likes of the record signing Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli, Étienne Capoue and Christian Eriksen.
Tottenham dominated the first half against Newcastle, taking the lead through Emmanuel Adebayor’s header and seeing Chadli squander a great chance moments before the break.
Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, sent on Rémy Cabella and Sammy Ameobi at half-time to stunning effect, and Spurs simply wilted. Ameobi levelled the scores just six seconds after the restart by latching on to a long ball from Jack Colback that caught the Spurs players snoozing and beating Hugo Lloris.
Then on 58 minutes, Cabella crossed from the left and the 21-year-old striker Ayoze Pérez marked his first Newcastle start with a goal by heading into the corner of the net.
“It is impossible to go to the pitch not ready to start to play,” Pochettino said. “I think there was a lack of concentration from us. We need to work hard on our mentality because it is not tactical, physical – it is concentration and mentality and this is our challenge to improve.
“It is not something where you can analyse the action, sort the tactical situation and move the players. With mentality, we need to work hard. It is not easy. We need to be more strong, like a team. This is our challenge.
“We need to speak, we need to create a different situation on the training ground and work. We know how, but always you need to spend time to work in this area. It is not the same as in physical or tactical situations. It is a different area.”
Pardew revealed that he changed his team’s mentality with a half-time blast that helped secure a second successive victory and ease the pressure on his position.
“There were a few strong words,” he said. “It’s not nice as a manager to go in and bark out orders, but sometimes it’s necessary just to shake people up because we needed shaking up.
"I was pleased they took on board what we talked about because the easy thing in football is talking. You need to show. I have not hidden from the criticism.
"We still have a lot to do in this Premier League season. But today I am going to smile and I am going to enjoy this victory because it’s a big, big win for us.”
Levy will no doubt be looking for somebody to blame. It is time for him to look in the mirror.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/11188554/Tottenham-Hotspur-1-Newcastle-United-2-match-report-Alan-Pardew-guides-side-to-first-away-win-since-March.html
