This league is fed by two divisions. The Women's Premier League is regional, and within that are divisions. There's a first division and a second division. Reserve teams from both divisions feed into the same league. Essentially, Tottenham belong to a team that is probably the best team outside the WSL. Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers may have something to say about that, but Spurs are consistently there or thereabouts. A few of the reserve teams we faced were actually better than our own first team. Such mismatches created very one-sided scorelines. In our first encounter with them, away at their place towards the start of the season in 2015, we lost 4-0. In the return fixture at our place, a side packed with first teamers, they destroyed us 14-0. There was nothing we could do. They were footballing machines, while we were ghastily amateurish.
The above video shows the four goals we conceded in that first game. I still cringe when I see that dreadful offside line, and how the player playing them onside, who had a significant head start, was still easily beaten to the through ball.
The next video shows all the times we lost possession in that game. The video is fifteen minutes long. Consider that the ball is usually in play for about one hour out of the ninety minutes. There are parts of this video that are truly shocking.
Anyway. A year had passed by. I had now had time with the team. I'd brought in some better players, and we'd worked on our Plan A and Plan B. The idea was for a 5-3-2 low block, hitting them on the counter-attack, relinquishing space in wide areas, while compacting the middle. What other chance did we have? This was a side that was immensely better than us. Actually, not even in our league. We had to hope they had an off day and that we had all of our players playing their best game ever.
The damage was done during the Tuesday night training session. Our new players, young and cocky, thought it was hilarious we'd previously lost 14-0 to Spurs. They didn't believe a team could be that good, and that it was simply because we were hilariously bad. They weren't paying attention, nor were they working hard during the session. Half the team knew the size of the mountain that was up ahead, and wanted to make sure we didn't die the same painful death we died last year. As you could expect, this created a bit of tension between the two groups. I stopped halfway through, pulled everyone in, and tried to reiterate Tottenham's strength. Once again, they didn't buy it. "Hands up if you've played Spurs before?" I said. Half of the hands went up. "Hands up if you've been thrashed by Spurs before?". The same hands remained in the air. "Then unless you wish to suffer the same fate, perhaps you should listen to those of us who know first hand just how strong they are." There were some sheepish looks upon some faces, but the effect last for only a few moments.
Thursday's session was worse. It was like looking after a group of unruly children that had no real interest in football. We were not prepared for Sunday's game at all. The half that had played Spurs before were so frustrated as it was certain we were going to face the same fate once again. The other half didn't care. Clearly we were idiots. Nothing of relevance to Sunday's game was covered, and we were no more prepared for battle against the league's strongest side than if we were to spend all week drinking bleach.
Then game day came. I distributed these diagrams and put them up in the changing rooms before the match.
It's not to any exceptional depth. These are not intelligent and adaptable players, and I'm not a superstar manager with a vast tactical knowledge. What it does present is a clear and relatively simple and easy plan to implement. This is where we learn a lesson in motivation. If you want to be better at your job, you devote your spare time to your preparation and development. If you're not so bothered about your job, you turn up, do a bit, then go home. Some players read it. Those players wanted to win. Other players didn't even glance at it. These players want to win more than they want to lose, but they don't want to win more than they want to avoid hard work.
Refer back to my previous articles about winning, and in particular, intrinsic motivation among young female soccer players.
To their credit, most of the team performed their jobs pretty well out on the pitch. We lost 6-0. The plan was executed pretty well. Sadly, Spurs were just too good. It doesn't really matter what we did. Tactics are only a small part of the game. They can make a team more or less effective, but they can't make players massively better. Spurs are of a different class. We did not have the players to deal with them. We wanted to restrict them to shots from distance, which mostly worked well. Sadly, our keeper than was recovering from a horrible ACL injury, let one creep in that she probably should have saved, quite early on in the game. That demotivates players a little. Our game plan was to stay in the game for as long as possible, and hopefully, if we were resolute enough in defence, we might be able to get lucky on the counter. With a clean sheet, we're guaranteed a point. That went out the window.
It became clear to our new players, as they were chasing shadows and picking the ball out of the net, that perhaps we were correct in our assessment of their talent. And that maybe if they hadn't underestimated them, and taken training a little more seriously, we may have done better in that game.
We persisted with our efforts, but couldn't even come close to them. At the end of the game, we had a sit down. The message was to the new players to trust me and their new teammates, as we all want to win, and we're not doing and saying what we do to sabotage, but to enhance those chances. We want to succeed, and we want everyone to be a part of that. They were going to listen to us in future. Now they knew the quality of the opposition and the quality of the league. They weren't going to make such mistakes again in their future application of effort and determination.
Of course, we now know that to be a lie. Long story short, I'd had enough begging and pleading the team to work hard, take their football seriously, quit their childishness. You know, the boring stuff that teenagers hate doing. Too many talks, heart-to-hearts, and late nights after training sessions that would be destroyed by two or three players deciding they didn't want to work hard. I quit the week following a 6-0 win over MK Dons. That was peak performance. The best we'd played under my tenure. They were excellent that day. That was a potential that would very rarely be utilised, and I was sick and tired of banging my head against a brick wall. I put my heart and soul into that team and those players, and too many of them weren't motivated to the same levels of dedication and perseverance that the rest of us were. All our hard work could quickly be undone by just one or two players. And that was that. I quit. I quit during training. I did it so calmly. It was yet another terrible session, in the build-up to our next Spurs game. They had slaughtered us before, and after thinking the new players had learnt their lesson, it was clear that they hadn't. Yet again, we were going into a game with our preparation being sabotaged by our own team.
Sometimes a big change like that can galvanise a team. I had such belief and confidence in these players. Perhaps it was misguided. Perhaps the talent was true, but not matched by the motivation. Nevertheless, in that game against Spurs, away, three days after I quit, the team lost only 1-0. They fought for each other, and never gave up. Apparently they played a 4-5-1. Packing the midfield and taking another forward back to compact the middle. Fair play. I wanted them to do well to prove to themselves that they are actually quite good.
Sadly, since my last game, they've not picked up a point. There's been some horrific results, including a 5-0 loss to my new team. A little while after leaving Saints, I was offered a role at our local rivals Portsmouth. I went for the job as it was the same hours, the same distance from my house, and a team in the same league. The added attraction was that I would have far less responsibility (certainly wouldn't be expected to make cups of tea) and be working with far better players at a much better club. I was to be the coach, working with a new manager. Very soon, I became the manager and started to do everything myself. Kind of thrown under the bus a little. Oh well.
It wasn't long before I'd be playing Spurs with my new Pompey team. This is a game that I got horribly wrong. It became apparent early on. With Saints, it wouldn't have mattered which team I put out, unless Spurs had a dreadful game, we would not be able to match them. At Portsmouth, we had the players capable of competing with them. Had I realised that sooner, it could have been a different result.
We went 4-2-3-1 low block and were 3-0 down at half time. I'd put the wrong players in the wrong positions, and asked them to do the wrong things. We made it right at the break and were fantastic in the second half. We had so much of the ball, and many chances, without getting that goal to start the comeback. Then, out of nowhere, Spurs who had been limited for chances, just hit a wild shot from distance, that flew into the top corner. How annoying. But there was enough evidence there. Don't analyse by goals, but more by chances created. Obvious, clear chances. On those terms, we won the second half. On goals, we lost it.
This was only my third game with the team, and we didn't really know I was the manager until that game. My knowledge of the players was poor. At the end of the match, we had a team chat. We were halfway through the season, they'd been messed around with coaches, and I'd been thrown in at the deep end. The only way out was to work together, and to help each other as best we could. I drew on their collective knowledge and appealed to their hunger for success. They knew each other far better than I could, and far better than I would until much time had passed. I also had no coach with me to run ideas by and to get opinions from. This had to come from the senior players. I asked them to speak up, and to help me help them. It was also that day I announced to that small group of senior players that I would only be around temporarily. Turns out that now I will be able to see out all of the games, providing that the weather doesn't disrupt our matches.
Before playing Spurs with Pompey, I had little idea about our group. Numbers at the three training sessions I'd had were low. The two games I'd seen were a hard fought 0-0 with Charlton, and a hard fought 1-0 win against Lewes. Both good results, but what did I learn? The thing about a beating is that it really exposes your flaws. It shines a light on areas that are not often seen. It's obvious that at Portsmouth we can compete with these teams. We should be with them at the top of the league. I feel sorry for the team for how they've been messed around and let down. In the two seasons I've been in this league, Pompey have also failed to beat Spurs. Both years they've been eliminated from the cup by Spurs, and not had a win in the league either. They're evidently hard to beat. Maybe if I was around next season, but as that's not going to happen, one can only speculate.
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