Spurs have started to climb the stairs

Spurs Have Started To Climb The Stairs

Spurs have started to climb the stairs

The head coach and the club captain sing from the same hymn sheet, that paid a big part in Hugo Lloris staying at the club when most other websites were trying to insist he was about to leave.

Their philosophy on football is the same and Lloris could see what was being built at Tottenham, he was happy to be a part of that. This season has shown what he and we could see the seeds of last season. Second place is within our grasp and Champions League has been obtained, basically by improving what we had and getting rid of players who didn't have the required winning mentality.

Journalists call the transformation in Tottenham remarkable, but as Leicester City have shown too, all it takes is a change of mentality. There are hundreds of talented players playing the game, that simply isn;t enough. Those with the mentality of Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo, in other words, players who will do whatever it takes to become the best they can be, stand above mere talented players.

By not just doing as you are told, but by taking responsibility for yourself and motivating yourself to improve, you become a better player. Back on 20 April 2014 I wrote Part 9 of a 12 part series on mentality and in that series I cited the England World Cup winning rugby team. They won the World Cup because they analysed every little detail, from washing the kit, transport, logistics, food, accommodation, quite apart from the coaching and actual playing.

They used the Kaizen where every little improvement adds up to big improvement. Unfortunately after winning the World Cup Clive Woodward left and England failed to continue the policy and failed to plan for the future. We have never recovered.

I detailed a 43-point checklist that if you employed for each player would make 1,075 (43 x 25) improvements over a 25-man squad. That would make a significant difference, quite apart from the off-field improvements. I think we can now see from our performances the results. Making improvements isn't hard, making them in a haphazard fashion is never going to have the same results as making them in an organised fashion, nor will you make as many.

Part 9 - The 43 Point Player Checklist

Interviews with Southampton players reveal that Pochettino teaches them not just where to stand to cut off passing lanes, but at what angle, he was moving players just a pace into a better position. this is just the type of approach Manchester United used until Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant their players have also subsequently revealed.

Hugo Lloris confirmed this is now our approach in a recent interview with talkSPORT.

"The credit is for the manager. We can feel from inside and you can feel it from outside that the club is improving, step by step.  
"We have a young and talented team and it's difficult today to know where our limits are. We try to build potential every day and we need to work hard every day. We feel now we're ready to compete and we're all excited to think about next season because we felt we improved a lot this season. It was a good experience to play for first place and we need to carry on all together."

What we must do now and what Pochettino I am sure has planned for, as has Daniel Levy, is not to rest on our laurels, not to think we have made it just because we have qualified for the Champions league. The improvement in Spurs has only just started. Unlike the England rugby team we now have to analyse everything we have done, what went right, what could be improved upon.

Just as every player must look at his own game with the coaches so the coaches and club staff must look at their own performance and ask themselves, did I give the best I could? Every department must keep looking to see where they can make improvements to what they do. Are we using the best food provider or medical supplier may seem trivial to you but it is all about striving for perfection and giving the players every possible assistance to perform on the field. It's the reason we built a stat- of-the-art training facility.

Other Articles From the 12 Part Series
Part 2 - The Mental Shift We Must Make - discusses the culture shift the club and players have to take to take us to improve
Part 3 - The Players Should Learn From Harry Kane - 2 years on he is vice-captain and a star of not just Spurs, but England
Part 4 - Spurs Must Assess Players Better - an article suggesting we have to mentally assess players with greater professionalism to become world leaders at player recruitment

Three points are needed to guarantee second place, it is important to finish the season above Arsenal, it's important to break every anomaly the press love to call hoodoos.

The future is exciting. We have climbed to the top table, now the work of staying there and challenging for the top honours begins. More tough work lies ahead. Improving is a step-by-step process, evaluate, discard, rebuild and improve, improve and rebuild further, achieve.