Spurs must adopt the keys to Sir Alex Ferguson's success
A very good Thursday morning after an enjoyable day yesterday with a new frog sighting.
Weeding the pond plant, removing algae I saw movement and then this little frog in the water.
Further movement and he darted for another plant.
This was definitely another frog, a darker shade and smaller than the 2" (5cm) I saw about a week or two ago.
So that's two adults and at least 3 children of various sizes. a 1" (2.5cm) frog, a 2" (5cm) frog, an older frog not yet an adult and two adults.
In Tottenham Tittle Tattle today we will look at two keys Sir Alex Ferguson used to achieve success amongst other things, so let's crack on today.
Before all that transfer news.
Homegrown is a real issue for us and we have had to adjust our transfer jigsaw.
Out has gone Timothy Castagne, who will now start negotiations next week to sign a new contract at Atalanta with Champions League football secured and our attention has moved to a homegrown right-back.
As you know that means Matt Doherty at Wolves with Max Aarons not fancied.
New Barcelona head coach has told Philippe Coutinho he will get another chance at Barcelona and the Spanish side are keeping him.
When it does the club need to be in a condition to withstand it.
At the very beginning of this pandemic in March I wrote that this would not be cleared up by August, that there was a less than 10% chance and that we may well have a second wave, a second lockdown in November and December when the colder weather returns.
Many are now suggesting that will happen.
A responsible club chairman takes that into account.
Some clubs haven't, they have banked on fans returning to the stadium, like Manchester United did when they were trying to buy Jadon Sancho before realising that wouldn't happen and could they please have a price reduction.
No, was the firm answer, result, that transfer has gone nowhere.
In Europe, by and large, things are far more sensible, clubs can buy one major player but everyone is struggling to sell anyone for any money.
If that happens, then it would be very irresponsible to be raising the wages bill during this transfer window so our pragmatic approach is a sensible one.
That should tell you that we won't be bringing in high earners.
Serge Aurier and Tanguy Ndombélé will leave eventually.
AC Milan still can't shift a right-back to make space for Aurier, yes other clubs have to sell before they buy!
Offers are coming in for the unhappy midfielder who showed against Wolves his attitude in training, can't be bothered, do the minimum I can.
Signing Ndombélé was a big mistake and demonstrates that we don't take mentality seriously enough given the fact that there are suggestions Hugo Lloris advised us his countryman had attitude problems.
Had the club taken my approach we wouldn't be in this mess with him,struggling to get our money back.
Players have to buy into the team ethic ABOVE their own self interest and Ndombélé has never done that since he realised he wasn't guaranteed a starting spot.
In Pochettino#s book, as many keep mentioning, he says Spurs can't afford to spend £60m on a player and get it wrong, but that is exactly what we have done through a lack of preparation into his character.
We run into this roadblock time and time again.
It is so frustrating when it is so easy and so cheap to fix.
It is one of the areas the club needs to improve on.
You do your mentality homework on a player before you buy him, not buy him and then learn what mental problems you have bought.
Look at the difference in attitude of Ndombélé and Højbjerg, they are worlds apart.
Højbjerg has the attitude that can bring success, Hart has the attitude that can bring success, Ndombélé doesn't.
When a manager comes into a new underperforming team like Tottenham, then the first thing he has to do to change the performance is to change the attitude.
Unless you reshape the way the team thinks they will still produce the same level of football or there will be initial enthusiasm that then wears off.
For lasting change the attitude has to be for the central goal.
If you don't know where you want to go you will never get there.
If you don't know where you want to go you can't plan to get there.
Set the aim, have the players individually buy into it, but into their roles within it and you'll get improved performances.
A fully unified cohesive team has more power than one that isn't, hence you remove the offending parts before they cause any lasting damage., much like taking your car to the garage
Leicester won the Premier League because they dreamt they could,they had a vision which they all brought into and that gave them added enthusiasm and added energy.
remember the Dave Allen post and the dinosaurs?
The body produces the chemicals when stimulated.
What will be our aims this coming season?
Win the Europa League
Finish in the Top 4
Win a Domestic Trophy
That would be our aim I'm guessing.
It is perfectly possible, with belief.
Decide on the aim.
Decide on the journey, how to get there (break it into pieces).
Decide on the individual roles of everyone, playing and non-playing to get there.
That has to be sold, bought into (and I mean unshakeable total belief bought into), agreed and implemented with each individual, so your 25 man squad plus youngsters.
It needs to be re-energised at point throughout the season to keep the focus, the desire, to keep everyone and everything on track.
You achieve it by achieving piece by piece and each successful piece achieved drive players to achieve the next piece, it keeps the motivation going and it is at these points you can justifiably remind and get re-commitment towards the final goal.
Every training session should have a goal, not simply a reason to run around to keep fit.
The players should know what that aim is, not be oblivious to it, unless you are challenging them to gauge a reaction.
Players need a sense of purpose and direction.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the best manager in the last 40 years had 2 key goals for his very successful Manchester UNited teams.
a) Never lose 2 games in a row
b) Always get the second goal
Why never lose two games in a row?
Because this was a way of building some mental toughness into his sides, some resilience, determination, a fighting attitude, a goal to achieve, a goal to maintain the longer the run goes.
It's mental training.
Why always score the second goal?
Because you are either getting yourself back into the game or,preferably, you are taking the game out of reach of the opposition.
The big issue I have with our negative fans is they look backwards, not forwards.
They draw on the past to condemn the future.
As a coach the past has gone, you can't change it, but you can change the future.
Well,shouldn't you be focussing on that then?
Next season,our players won't be last season's players, they will be next season's with a different attitude, different goals.
Like everyone else we will start on zero points,not minus 20 so why the negativity, why the failure mentality?
A new season is an opportunity to achieve something new.
I have attended many events where the process is the same as that which takes place inside a football club.
You get split into groups,you brainstorm, you agree goals, a spokesperson reports them back to the room.
I'm sure many of you will have attended something similar.
Well, this happens in a football club too.
Goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, attackers, coaching staff.
Split into groups, agree a set number of goals for your group, tell them to the squad.
They then perform the same exercise for team objectives.
Why?
Because then the players will buy into the gols they have set,these are their ideas, not an idea a coach has set and said you will do this.
A coaches role is to tell them what needs to happen to achieve those goals and they MUST, absolutely MUST be written down, not stored in a computer (unless you pull it up to display it on a wall every day).
These then need to be placed where the players will see them every day and be reminded of their commitment.
Well, that's enough to build our success today.
I trust Mr Mourinho is taking notes.
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