What we’ve learned: Jose’s first three games.

It’s been a whirlwind for Spurs fans since the international break ended. We’ve said goodbye to our greatest manager in the Premier League era, welcomed in the serial winner Jose Mourinho, and saw our boys notch three important wins on the bounce.

Say what you will about Poch, but he will go down as the manager that took us from mid table to the Champions league final in just 5 years time. Meanwhile challenging for two league titles in the process. He was magic, but that magic always seemed to run out during the final act.

Now there is a new face in the Spurs dugout. A face that any football fan knows all too well. The special one. Jose.

Daniel Levy pulled a rabbit out of his yet again by enticing the Portuguese manager to Tottenham. Although, if his recent interviews reveal anything, it seemed Jose was just as interested in Spurs as we were in Jose.

In his first official Spurs press conference he said:

“Now I only have one shirt and only one passion and only one thing in my mind, which is my club, and that is Spurs.”

Now that we are three games in with Jose at the wheel, what all have we learned about Tottenham’s future under the new manager?

  1. Eric Dier is going nowhere.

The defensive midfielder was lost under the final years of Poch’s reign. Lack of form, injury problems and behind the scenes mischief all lead to the England international falling out of favor. However, Jose loves a tank-like midfielder in front of his defense and that is exactly what Dier can provide. He still looks miles off his best, but in a few weeks time we may see the return to form that he deserves.

2. Dele is the key.

From day one in charge of Spurs, Jose has made it clear that he rates Dele very highly. That confidence may stem from the many times he saw Dele score against Jose’s Chelsea teams in particular. Either way, after just three games, the 23 year old looks back to his very best after scoring three and assisting another in back-to-back-to-back man of the match performances. Dele’s free role will give him the license to make those patented runs from deep that causes defenses so much trouble.

3. Jose breeds confidence.

This squad looks rejuvenated, simple as that. With every “big game” loss under Poch, the squad seemed to take a step back in their belief that they belong in cup finals against Europe’s best. Although he did get them to Madrid last year, that was a make-it or break-it game for Pochball at Tottenham. Unfortunately for him, it broke. But now, if we do make it back to that big game or cup final this year, the players will have a renewed sense of belief under Jose that may just finally get them that trophy that we have so desperately hoped for.

What have you learned from the first week under Jose Mourinho’s tenure?

Let me know @Spursy_Spurs on twitter!

Where are they now? SPURS EDITION

Our beloved Tottenham’s season is finally in full swing after a painfully long, football-less Summer. The return of Tottenham also means the return of unbridled joy, last second winners, and the lifeblood of all Spurs supporters– the crippling disappointments!

That being said, I’m as excited as anyone for this new season, and after just four short weeks, we have already had a fair amount of drama circling our camp. Amidst the Eriksen saga, the Vertonghen/Poch dispute, and Serge Aurier just being himself, I realized how much I love our current squad at the moment. From Sonny’s radiant smile to the infamous Lamela running ball roll, just thinking about losing any of our players to other teams makes me upset.

However, all Spurs fans know it has not always been like this. (*cough*-Adebayor-*cough*)

This weekly post will be about former “eccentric” Spurs players and where they ended up. So the next time you wake up in a cold sweat thinking about where Vlad Chiriches is now, just know that this resource will be here.

Speaking of our favorite Romanian defender, he will be the subject of this week’s profile:

Oh Vlad…

Vlad, Vlad, Vlad… Where to begin?

Vlad was one of the last players brought in during the Summer of 2013. We just came off of a 5th place finish, one point behind Woolwich who obviously finished 4th.

Gareth Bale was sold and Daniel Levy had oodles of cash burning a hole in his pocket for once. Vlad was one of the seven new acquisitions brought in that window. (Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela are the only two from that group that remain Hotspurs.)

Andre Villas Boas identified our defense as a weakness and brought in the Romanian to provide a different option to the Vertonghen/Dawson/Kaboul partnership.

He made 24 appearances for Tottenham that season, including stellar performances in our 5-1 defeat to Manchester City and our 2-0 defeat to West Ham. To be fair to Vlad, in the West Ham game he was subbed on for Harry Kane in the 28th minute after team captain, Younes Kaboul, picked up his second red card of the season. Man, that was a weird sentence to write.

Unfortunately, most Spurs fans will remember Vlad for his comments about using Tottenham as a stepping stone to get a big money move to Chelsea or United.

Vlad did have some genuinely good performances for Napoli after he moved to the Italian club on a free transfer back in 2015. He partnered alongside the giant defender Koulibaly for a string of games in 2016, but eventually fell out of favor due to reoccurring injuries. He left Napoli last week on transfer deadline day and finally got his dream move after all…

That’s right! Vlad joined Sassuolo on a loan with an option to buy! Good for you Vlad, glad we could help you on your way to your dream move.

In the end, football is about memories. I don’t know about you, but I’ll always remember the 35 yard screamer he scored against Fulham and that’s all that matters to me. What kind of memories does Vlad Chiriches bring back to you?

Let me know @Spursy_Spurs on Twitter.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.