The CSKA match was our chance to redeem ourselves and produce a top performance. A win would secure our Europa League berth and we also wanted to taste victory at Wembley. We repeated many of the positives, creating several chances, but they scored from their first attack. We managed to turn it around through Dele Alli, Harry Kane and an own goal, but we could’ve put the game to bed much earlier. It’s another step forward after our good displays against Chelsea and Swansea. It’s not by chance that it’s coincided with Toby Alderweireld coming back from injury and the fact that – besides Lamela, who’s yet to return – we don’t have any injuries at present.
A statistic has emerged today showing that Tottenham are second only to Juventus when it comes to how many minutes of international football our players have played in 2016, a sign of success, but also a handicap in terms of keeping the team fresh.
*
I was speaking to Simon Felstein in my office back in my first few months in charge and one of the club captains knocked on the door. ‘Do you want me to leave?’ Simon asked.
‘When we’re done,’ I responded. It was important for him to know that he was part of this, and that nobody was more important than anyone else. I needed him to understand the way we work because he looks after the club’s relationship with the media and they provide information to the fans.
When I arrived, Simon asked me if I could speak English in press conferences, which I hadn’t done at Southampton. I said that I could and had already discussed it with Daniel. I was very nervous for my first televised interview. I’d already done one with Revista de la Liga on Sky Sports when I was at Espanyol, but they spoonfed me the words and they practically recorded me sentence by sentence. It was hilarious.
I speak to Simon before facing the press. I need him to identify likely questions and what they’re thinking about, as well as giving me his insight on how I should explain certain matters. He rarely reins me in, but has done so occasionally. He didn’t want us to do the Mannequin Challenge in the press room, for example. When we went in, I opened the door for a journalist and reached out to shake his hand. I looked over to Simon. ‘Should we do it now?’ ‘You’d better not,’ was the message from his panicked face.
Jesús also takes care of plenty of press matters and acts as a filter. He even keeps an eye on seemingly trivial affairs. The other day he had a go at Simon because Harry Kane went to the press conference . . . in flip-flops!
We like to grant time to the journalists who travel with us the most. When we went to Azerbaijan last season, we had a 45-minute-long off-the-record coffee with them, the type that they adore so much. The same thing occurred in Australia in the summer. I invited them to the players’ area while they were away. I explained to them, with the help of a computer and a screen, how we press without the ball. It would allow them to understand our style of play. We spent an hour and a half together chatting.
Sometimes I get tired of the sound of my own voice, but the manager is the club’s spokesperson here. That said, I’m not the type to create havoc in press conferences. What I say hardly ever surprises the players or the journalists, who struggle to find compelling headlines. I suggest things to the players during the week so they prepare good arguments and answers for the media. I do know, however, that everything carries more weight if the manager says it.
I do demand that journalists don’t overstep the mark. They once asked me about Nabil Bentaleb, who was a regular starter during my first season here. Nabil decided that he wasn’t going to stay with us, so he trained with the Under-21s until he found a new club. I explained it by saying, ‘The rules are clear. If you aren’t part of our plans, whatever the reason may be, why should you train with us?’ The following day they wrote that I was ruthless and had no pity, which I feel is actually a positive attribute in Anglo-Saxon culture. But it isn’t strictly accurate with regard to me. I know what I want and I know when decisions need to be made. But I was not ruthless with him.
I spoke to Nabil a lot, particularly in my second campaign, although his performances were on the decline. ‘He’s a young boy who can make mistakes,’ I said. ‘Let’s give him a chance.’ It reached a point where both parties thought it was better for him to move on. When I make a decision is because I am convinced about it and have plenty of reasons.
Our next game is against the very best at controlling the public message: José Mourinho.
*
I’ll always speak well of Mourinho because I admire him as a coach. That’s not just because he opened his door to me when he was at the Bernabéu or because he was kind to me when I was at Espanyol and when I moved to England. None of that influences my opinion that he’s a really good coach, one of the best, just like Guardiola and Simeone.
I had several conversations with José last summer about certain players. Whenever I phoned him or sent him a message, he replied, but we haven’t stayed in contact as much during the season besides the odd call. I’m not one to ask for favours.
I’ve always been loyal and expect it to be mutual.
*
We arrived at Old Trafford six points ahead of United and with the team back on track. The press were reporting that the Manchester club wanted me ahead of Mourinho, which is a story that I could’ve done without. It just serves to fire up the beast that rages inside José. We didn’t have many attacking options on the bench (Lamela and Janssen were injured) and I left Eric Dier out of the starting line-up, a decision that not everyone could fathom.
We didn’t lose because we performed badly or didn’t create chances, but because we lacked that competitive edge, particularly in the first half, which is deeply frustrating. In their first three or four moves, we seemed to be saying to Mkhitaryan, ‘Play between the lines and we won’t do anything to you.’ Half an hour in, we suffered a loss of concentration, we reacted poorly and it led to their goal. It could’ve come earlier or later in the game. We had some clear-cut chances to equalise, but you could see from the opening minutes that we weren’t aggressive enough when it came to winning the ball back. It ended 1–0.
The press asked me why we’d picked up only one point from visits to Arsenal, Chelsea and United. I tried to respond ambiguously but we have analysed the situation internally. This year we’ve been more tactically versatile than ever. We’ve played in three different formations that have involved varying types of movement in opposition territory. The demands set by international fixtures and injuries to key players have restricted our ability to rotate. Most of our signings, with the exception of Wanyama, are still settling in. Managing this period of transition for our younger players, some of whom are being courted by bigger clubs, isn’t proving easy. These are just some of the factors that are holding us back.
The texts that I exchanged with the chairman tonight have been pretty heated, given the combination of frustration and disappointment. We came up short in another big game.
In fact, from this game onwards, I need things to happen.
*
We signed the 20-year-old Eric Dier during our first summer and he was used mostly as a full-back in my inaugural season. He suffered a dip in form, as do all young players, and he ended up losing his place in the line-up, but he’s an intelligent lad and kept working hard. He understood our methodology, which was similar to what he’d experienced in Portugal, and started in the League Cup final against Chelsea. We tried to sign Wanyama that summer, but Southampton wouldn’t sell. I spoke to Jesús and we decided to use Dier as a holding midfielder in a friendly, playing half the game at the back and the other half in midfield. We were pleased.
While on tour of the United States, Daniel was concerned. ‘We need a holding midfielder.’
‘Don’t worry, Daniel,’ I told him. ‘I’m going to turn Dier into just that.’ I think he thought, ‘This guy is either a genius or completely nuts,’ while veering towards the latter. I had to battle with the chairman, the head of recruitment and everyone else because they wanted to bring in a holding midfield
er, while I was convinced that Dier would do the trick.
He has played well in midfield, although it’s not the position for which he is best suited. I’ve told Eric he has what it takes to be the best English centre-back, but he has to be convinced of that himself. We’ve put the conditions in place for him to stand out and to improve. But he broke into the national team thanks to his displays in the holding role and ended up scoring a couple of big goals.
After we signed Wanyama, Eric, who now sees himself as a midfielder, felt that we’d treated him badly because Wanyama’s arrival would halt his development. His performances have started to suffer this season. We’ve spoken a lot in recent months, but I’ve felt that he hasn’t been telling me everything. Two weeks ago, I once again tried to understand why he couldn’t shake off the shackles and I offered to help him with whatever it was. Nothing. Then I found out that Manchester United have made an approach and the player is being destabilised. His people have been putting pressure on him in recent weeks, although United aren’t promising anything.
Mourinho and I had just finished our interviews at Old Trafford and the players were doing their warm-down on the pitch. When José was done with the press, he stood by the entrance to the tunnel and regarded the returning players. He greeted Sissoko and hugged Dier. They passed by me en route to the dressing rooms, laughing and speaking in Portuguese. Maybe it’s a common Mourinho tactic, but he put Eric in a compromising position. You can’t do that after a defeat.
‘Are you friends with Mourinho?’ I asked him.
‘No, but I’ve known him for a long time, from my time in Portugal . . . One of his godsons coached me. He always says hello to me.’
The number of individual meetings with players goes through the roof at this stage of the season. I’ve recently heard myself repeat too many times that I’d like them not to let me down. Me, the team, their teammates, the fans. We’ve kept faith in them when they haven’t done well. I’ve never publicly singled out any mistakes. Now is the time to get more in return. In those conversations, the player has often gone from listening, protecting himself and being afraid to show weakness to opening up and letting out plenty of what he has inside.
I sat down with Eric after lunch on Monday and we chatted for four hours about the whole shebang: his agent, family, confusion.
As for the Mourinho incident, ‘What could I have done?’ Eric asked me.
He told me about United’s interest since last summer and I explained the situation to him clearly.
‘Look, you aren’t leaving because you signed a five-year deal with us in August. You’re among the highest-paid players at Tottenham at the age of 22. You’re important to us and you could become the best centre-back in the Premier League.’
Ever since that conversation, Eric admits that he could’ve waited for Mourinho to be out of sight before heading to the dressing room.
*
I’ve just competed in a darts competition with my sons at home. I won, naturally. I started watching the World Darts Championship when we moved to Southampton. We all love it and think everything about it is interesting, from the setting to the game itself. It takes real talent.
I’ve surprised Karina by organising something all by myself. We’re going to see Rod Stewart at the O2 tomorrow. We haven’t done much together this year. The climate has been our enemy. On the few free Sundays that we’ve had, it’s been cold or raining. Or, in truth, we’ve simply been too lazy to go out. Also I don’t know what other coaches are like, but my mood hinges on results.
*
Today in training ahead of the Hull game, we didn’t watch videos of our opponents or correct mistakes from the United match. Instead, we let the players do their recovery work. In the press conference, a journalist suggested that we could consider new attacking options in order to improve. I thought, ‘We have a point more than last year and we’re in the Europa League as we were last season. This once again confirms that the level of demand has gone up.’
One of Hugo Lloris’s friends, the coach of a Slovenian team, came to visit and we spent the afternoon together. Walter Zenga and Pako Ayestarán have also recently paid us visits. A coach of a Japanese side who played with Ossie Ardiles is coming next week.
Karina regularly asks me when I’m going to take her to Japan. I could see myself living there one day. I’ve visited three times, one of which was for the World Cup when that infamous Michael Owen penalty incident took place.
I stupidly fell into a trap that day. I always say to my players, ‘It wasn’t a penalty, but you can see why it was given because as a defender you can’t be so naïve when facing a player like Owen, who I knew was fast, intelligent and lively. As soon as you gave him a chance, he’d kill you. I shouldn’t have gone in for the tackle, I should’ve held off, I should’ve read his intentions better.’ During my four years in England, the topic has come up several times. Of course the players have seen the video. I’ve shown it to all the centre-backs. ‘Obviously I’ve made mistakes, too,’ I tell them.
We were all dead after that tournament, but none of my teammates or anyone in the coaching staff accused me of anything. These things happen in football. After getting knocked out, the press banged on about it for a week and then it wasn’t discussed again. Until I moved to England, that is.
*
14 December. We headed into the Hull game planning to play three at the back, with Eriksen in midfield and Sissoko given another opportunity. We played a back-three on occasion last year as well as against Arsenal this season. We usually leave three in defence when we go forward: the two centre-backs and the holding midfielder, while the full-backs push up, which they certainly had to do against a deep-lying Hull. We need our full-backs to give us more because we haven’t been getting in behind enough recently.
Our distribution wasn’t great and our wide players were only fleetingly involved in the first half, although we were in control and created plenty of chances. At 1–0, we were denied a penalty for a foul on Eriksen and Hull then spurned their best opportunity. There’s such a fine line between the 3–0 win that we picked up and what could’ve turned into a very tricky contest! Eriksen, who scored twice, rediscovered that attacking flair that had been missing.
It felt rather strange to see Ryan Mason on the Hull bench. It was a mixture of affection and sadness.
After the game I was asked about Eric Dier, who once again played the whole game: ‘I know there are a lot of rumours, but he’s 100 per cent our player. He’s very important for us. He signed a contract after the Euros and showed his commitment to the club. There’s no doubt his future is at White Hart Lane.’ I should have added, ‘And at Wembley, where we’ll play our games next season while our new stadium is completed, and at the new White Hart Lane.’
These seemingly small things that escalate into larger issues are tiring. They make me question whether the job we are doing is really understood. We keep winning, which lessens the pressure, but it takes up so much time with meetings between games and demanding a level of effort from some people who, frankly, shouldn’t need to be pushed.
Is it a good idea to establish deep emotional connections with the players? Is there another way to get the best out of them? The exhaustion is exacerbated when you don’t get what you expect from them or when that emotional interchange is uneven. Is it fair to expect the same emotional response from them?
I have to switch off now. I need sleep.
*
During the difficult start to our tenure at Spurs, my staff and I began a ritual that we continue to this day. When I get out of the shower after training, I always say, ‘Why did we leave Southampton to come to Tottenham?’ Then I hang my towel on the wall and lean my head against it. I did it again today and we laughed. Sometimes I’m joking, but on occasions I’m being serious.
As it happens, though, my relationship with Daniel continues to blossom. He is becoming ever more approachable and forthcoming, and our assessments have grown more aligned. The
doubts that arose in the first few months after our arrival have vanished: Latin Americans and the English can have more in common than might first appear possible. Daniel’s seriousness shouldn’t be mistaken for aloofness. He now comprehends what type of manager I am and why things are being done differently to the past. He knows that you have to let time be the judge of things.
The chairman’s wife, Tracey, and my loyal and efficient PA, Susan, put on a dinner for all the coaching staff’s wives tonight. They’d hired a magician and a great time was had by all. It was Tracey’s way of showing appreciation for the sacrifices they make as our partners. It’s true that we spend all day at the training ground, but however much we complain at times, we enjoy what we do. But when we get home at night, we don’t feel up to much, so it’s our other halves who have it hardest.
*
18 December. We played Burnley today. We decided on the line-up yesterday and devised a detailed defensive and attacking game plan, only for Toby to get injured again. We had a choice to make: simply go for a like-for-like replacement or change our approach too? In the end, we opted to switch the system. The message didn’t change, though: that the players had to be switched-on for the full 90 minutes, that they’d be able to enjoy themselves, but they’d also have to dig deep, since a lot would be demanded of them physically and mentally. Burnley play a standard 4-4-2, they battle all game long, they’re very strong and they’re really dangerous from set-pieces. The brief was to avoid conceding cheap free-kicks or corners, and to defend as far away from Hugo as possible.
We went behind following an unfortunate piece of play, in which we gave away possession two or three times and fell victim to a ricochet. But we stayed patient and were rewarded when we equalised before the break, Dele Alli getting on the end of a Kyle Walker assist from out wide. At half-time, we reminded them that we had to move the opposition from side to side in order to find space, and create overloads so that our full-backs could get forward on the overlap – just like we’d worked on.
Brave New World Page 18
