From Dele vs Dier, to Ndombele and Levy’s showdown, the next three episodes of Tottenham’s All or Nothing documentary packs a punch
From a shouting match between teammates, to the truth behind Eric Dier’s infamous venture into the crowd, it’s fair to say Amazon Prime Video’s Spurs documentary continues to pack a punch.
With episodes four to six delving deeper into Spurs’ whirlwind campaign, the arrival of COVID-19 takes things to a whole new level.
Scraps between players is a common theme in later episodes of All or Nothing
Ledley’s secret arrival
In the opening scenes of episode seven, eagle-eyed fans will have noticed a very familiar face.
Despite being appointed as a first team assistant only a month ago, it seems club legend Ledley King has been working with the team for a lot longer than we realised.
We see King involved in the squad as early as March and visible in team meetings after defeats to RB Leipzig and Chelsea.
Jose Mourinho made no secrets about having built a relationship with the Englishman during his short time at the club, but little did we realise just how early on in the Portuguese’s tenure that King arrived.
King was appointed as Mourinho’s first team assistant in August
Dele vs Dier
Perhaps the most surprising part of episode seven comes in the dressing room following the 3-2 home defeat to Wolves in March.
An angry Dele Alli comes back to the dressing room shouting repeatedly: “how did we lost that?”, provoking a response from Eric Dier, who calls out his teammate asking: “Del, why are you saying these comments? Put a name on them.”
Alli is seen bursting into the dressing room following the defeat to Wolves
Dier continues, saying: “You’re sitting there like a spoiled kid,” with Alli replying he can’t name names because it’s the fault of the whole team.
Mourinho finally interrupts the pair, sitting next to Alli whilst trying to defuse the tensions.
It will come as a shock to fans to see it, given the pair have built somewhat of a bromance off the pitch, but likewise it shows the desire and passion the players have for their club.
Dier and Alli have built a strong relationship off the pitch
Eric Dier enters the stands
It may feel like a lifetime ago, but I can assure you that Spurs’ FA Cup defeat to Norwich was indeed not that long ago.
Fans will of course remember the infamous incident after the game where Eric Dier entered the stands, much to the confusion of those watching at home and inside the stadium.
In the documentary, we get to see behind the scenes of those incredible scenes, with Dier revealing to the dressing room the reason for his climb into the stands.
Dier received a four-game ban for entering the stands to confront an abusive supporter
“There was a guy a few rows before my brother saying: ‘f**** off, f*** off’,” Dier says whilst holding up two middle fingers.
The defender goes on to reveal it was a Spurs fan who was at fault, suggesting that better protection must be provided for friends and family in the stands.
Assistant head coach Joao Sacramento is then later shown watching the incident back, mumbling that players simply ‘cannot do that.’
COVID-19 arrives
The arrival of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown certainly ramped things up even more.
What is immediately noticeable in the documentary is just how well the club dealt with the pandemic internally, despite issues away from the training ground with players breaking lockdown rules.
From regular team meetings with the players, to opening up the new stadium to the NHS, as a Spurs fan it made me tremendously proud to see how well the chairman and his board reacted to the virus.
From nutrition to the pitch: inside how Jose Mourinho gets his Spurs squad, including Tanguy Ndombele, in elite condition
The documentary also shed light on the mental impact of the virus, and how players and staff reacted to lockdown.
“The thing that scares me most is my mental side,” Mourinho tells Levy in the club canteen. “If we tell them they have to stay at home, it’s a disaster. They lose everything.”
We get to see the reaction of players to the news that the Premier League season is facing the potential to be scrapped, with Harry Kane telling teammates: “Liverpool fans would be gutted!”
Upon their arrival back to training in May once restrictions loosened, we hear what the players got up to during their time off, with Alli expressing his amazement at just how easy it is to cook baked beans: “Two minutes, didn’t realise how easy it was!”
Jose Mourinho helps deliver food parcels to aid the efforts against Covid-19
The Tanguy Ndombele situation
Now we’re cooking.
After months of uncertainty about the relationship between Mourinho and Ndombele, there is finally some insight into the situation around the Frenchman.
The midfielder clearly has a close relationship with compatriot Moussa Sissoko, who is quick to tell cameras at an off-duty barbecue that it takes time to adapt to a new club.
Ndombele, speaking to Sissoko in French, then tells us his perspective of his opening season.
“I was injured a lot, it’s been a season of adaptation. It’s complicated when you change country. I left my family to come here. It’s not easy when you change the environment, intensity and even the matches. You have to adapt to a new life.”
We later get to see a meeting between chairman Levy and his record signing, with player liaison officer Roberto Balbonti (who speaks several languages), acting as an intermediary.
Daniel Levy calls Ndombele for a meeting
Levy says players from overseas tend to struggle with their first season, citing Sissoko, a friend of Ndombele’s, as going through a similar difficult situation.
Ndombele reveals he is not mentality happy, with Levy then telling a story about his teachers telling him he wouldn’t make it and that he’s a fighter, suggesting to Ndombele he should do the same.
He leaves the meeting looking rather unhappy, hinting that he didn’t get what he came for.
Tanguy Ndombele became the club’s record signing last summer
Player Scraps
Just when we thought Dier vs Dele was the end of it, fans are then shown more scraps between players.
It is clear that in the days following the defeat to Sheffield United in June, the squad is far from happy.
Lucas Moura and Serge Aurier are shown to have a scuffle in training after Dier made a heavy challenge on Heung-Min Son. Moura tells Aurier: “every day you speak a lot,” causing a huge scuffle between all the players.
Internal fights quickly become a theme of the documentary
We are then shown Spurs assistants inside the training centre speculate that Mourinho set up the exchange, suggesting they knew it was coming and was forced by the manager to invoke a fight amongst them, a mentality.
Fans will of course remember the incident between Hugo Lloris and Son in the 1-0 win over Everton June, which was picked up by Sky Sports cameras at the time.
And fans discover the fight didn’t end on the pitch, with tensions boiling over in the dressing room, so much so that Aurier is forced to break the pair up.
Caught your breath yet? No? Me either.
The first six episodes of ‘All Or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur’ are now available on Amazon Prime Video.
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