Coach Ali

Yep, but then: exactly. He has these issues and isn't adapting or adjusting at all. He's just carrying on and it's not helping. The whole point of coaching is to work with what you've got, not what you wish you had. The mind boggles.

I know lots of you won't have any criticism of Ange but no one seems to interact with me on this app anyway so I'll just whisper this into the wind: Angeball only works if you have strength in depth and he knows we don't have that, so it's just stubborn from him at this point. Bored of it.

I AM NOT ENTERTAINED

Does Sonny justify his place in the starting 11 in a fully fit Spurs team?

Does he justify it in a mostly injured Spurs team for that matter...

Happy football day to all who celebrate!

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” ~ Amelia Earhart

Thanks for sharing!

'It felt like watching a 100 metre race and cheering on your favourite athlete, willing them to the gold medal.'

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First time writing for BBC Sport this year!

18 articles so far, with more to come in 2025.

I've really enjoyed the challenge of capturing my views on Spurs in 300 words each week, trying to share my opinion in an engaging way, and pose questions or topics to make the reader think.

#COYS

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED

An all time love x

Latest thoughts on Spurs:
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It's rude how little academy and community coaches get paid. Constantly treading the line between football coach and social/youth worker. It's a highly skilled profession that doesn't get the respect or pay it deserves. It's a shame, especially when 'elite' coaches don't care about players enough.

Agreed, but there are so many other ways he could go about it that don't risk exacerbating the tensions that must already exist in that dressing room. I think it was more a reflection of the pressure getting to Ange than anything else.

As bad as Timo was tonight (he's never been great for us), I'm not sure digging out an individual player in front of the world's media is a great look for Ange, or any manager tbh.

But each to their own.

Careful the next time a player feels forced to deactivate their social media though innit...

@antonstanley.bsky.social

Not sure yet but won't feature at all against Rangers tomorrow.

Most importantly, it's fun!

Feel free to DM me if you're interested in ideas for other numbers.

Obviously players are not going to high five each other like this in matches, but this practice teaches them to control the ball while looking around them (scanning), speed up and slow down their dribbling, play in tight spaces and protect their ball from interference.

It's a numbers game that uses rhymes to help players remember and practise different ball mastery techniques. For example, this one in the video is Number 5: High Five!

This is part of a wider ball mastery game I learnt when I was coaching at Spurs years ago.

You can adapt it for any age group but it does work particularly well with younger players - not least because they get lots and lots of touches of the football.

I genuinely think Micky van de Ven needs a different/additional warm-up to the others. He needs to get those hamstrings properly activated. In an ideal world I don't think he would have played the other night, so I do appreciate that, but in general I think he needs something different before games.

I had a lovely time volunteering at the recent Seeing Is Believing event in Southall - coaching girls from South Asian backgrounds and inspiring a love for the game ✨️

Absolutely! There are so many parts to being a coach and, ironically, one of them is about learning to adapt... Ange needs to dig deep right now, just like the players do, and lead them by example. He needs to demonstrate what he wants to see in them and motivate them that way imo.

And, finally, I had to submit this before the comments from Romero were released - otherwise I'd have probably written about those!

COYS 🤍

I aim to write with clarity and in an engaging and sometimes humorous way. I'm learning every week.

I also think it's helpful to read my blogs in full before you comment...

I get 300 words each week to write about something and I try to pick a topic that is relevant but one that hasn't already been covered from every single angle by full time, professional journalists. Some weeks that is easier than others!

I'm not a trained journalist and I didn't apply for this role - I was approached directly by the BBC in the summer and thought it would be a good challenge for me.

This week's blog is actually about mindset but I don't get to choose the headline!

More than happy for people to disagree with me, but please do so respectfully. I don't appreciate messages telling me I'm arrogant, boring and repetitive.

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Somewhat alarming if true