I simply don't believe this. I think it is yet another example of seeing patterns which don't exist based on very small data samples. If you look at the rate of success of transfers there is little evidence that clubs can differentiate well between good players and bad players so how can they possibly see small differences between good players. Arteta sees both these players for many hours a week in training in exactly the same conditions and should be able to decide which works better in the team. In the case of Zinchenko he probably also saw him play while he was a coach at City. But he would have to watch them both play a hundred matches to determine which to sign as an incoming transfer. He can't possibly have time to do that.
Yup, used to sit right in front me at White Hart Lane. Good laugh and great person. Her friend (sister actually I think) was absolutely bat **** mental, she’d take Emma’s seat if she were managing. No to our manager though.
I think that’s the point. Part of it isn’t ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it’s more about having attributes that suit a system. And while a manager perhaps wouldn’t be expected to watch 100s of hours of footage of a player themselves, that’s what a scouting team is for. They should process that information, feed it back to chief scouts and the DoF, and then make a final decision based on a conversation with the manager. Obviously there’s other due diligence to do as well around personality, injury records etc. but I imagine it should be data (to narrow down the field) -> watching hours of tape -> in-person scouting where possible -> decisions. Bissouma and Bentancur are two good players at Spurs for example who both have different qualities and do slightly different things, even though they’re both, at a basic level, CMs. Which one a manager prefers, or what roles they are asked to play if they’re on the pitch together, will depend on what the manager wants from players in that area of the pitch and in different phases of play, and it’s not so much about who is ‘better’, it’s who is more suited to specific tasks.
So as a scout, how would you explain the difference between Bissouma and Bentancur to the manager based only on what you saw at Juventus and Brighton? And how would you know that the difference wasn't mainly due to the different opponents? I don't think you are going to provide any real information that will help the manager decide. I also think style of play is more of a response to what the coach wants than a built in feature of a player and the differences between players are much more subtle than we think. In terms of our likely summer recruitment I would much rather we signed two or three really good players rather than aim to get small upgrades on five or six. In the former case I can't see the incoming manager minding exactly who they are (which will be mostly driven by who will join us anyway).
I’m not a scout, obviously. But you’d look at how they progress the ball, their resistance in the press, their effectiveness in recovering the ball (and whether they do that with tackles, interceptions, do they do it when pressing or when breaking up play in a rest defence, or when sobering a counterattack), how they strike the ball, their out of possession positioning, any number of factors. Obviously the difference in opponents is factored into a recruitment decision. Style of play isn’t built into a player but certain players will respond better to what a coach wants from them than others. That’s what you’re looking for. Hojbjerg the season before we signed him led the league in ball recoveries per 90, for example. Now looking at that you’d be tempted to think he’s a disruptive 6 with incredible positional awareness and strong tackling technique. But anyone who watched him at Southampton would know that he got those numbers because he played in the pivot in a high-press team, something he’s very good at. Another specific example is defensive midfielders. Skipp is a DM, so was Eric Dier for some time under Poch. Now you can look at their stats and make a judgement there but you also need to consider that Dier was asked to drop into the middle of the CB line when we were in possession to allow the fullbacks to push up and overload the final 3rd. Skipp can’t do that as effectively as he doesn’t have the physical stature or experience to play as a DM or a CB, something that at the time, Dier was very capable of. So scouting and working with the player told Poch that he could ask a specific player to do a specific job that was key to the system. Other players wouldn’t be able to do that to the same standard and trying to get them to do it would be a detriment to the team. I think managers are, where they can be, far more specific about the kind of players they want and the instructions they give them than you think. Of course they have to work round what they have too but in an ideal world the specifics are important. Palhinha at Fulham and Casemiro at United are two very good defensive midfielders but also quite different players.
I do recall Paulinha kicking our players with impunity without much consequence, including one absurd moment when he chopped down Kane as he broke away yet somehow Bentancur got booked.
He picked up two of his 14 PL yellows against us this season and probably should've got two reds. Casemiro only got 1 of his 7 PL yellows against us, which was at their place. He definitely should've been sent off in the 2-2 and wasn't even booked. There seems to be some sort of hack for Brazilian midfielders who commit endless, obvious fouls. Casemiro, Fabinho, Fred, Douglas Luiz, Fernandinho, Guimaraes, Thiago... there's loads. Allowed a bunch of free hacks before the cards come out.
All interesting observations but I still think they are more consistent with the manager identifying strengths and weaknesses in players already in the squad and utilising them accordingly than the club being able to deliver players with specific attributes to the manager. Any new manager we appoint will almost certainly have seen our squad play much less than any Spurs fan and will know about 1% of what Ryan Mason knows about them so I can't see him having a big say in squad construction in his first window.
That’s why it’s not just the manager though. There’s a whole team of analysts and scouts who help make decisions. Then there are some easy ones to predict - Ndombele is never going to work in a pressing team for example, he has enough of a body of work throughout his career for a manager to know that - and you can move from there. A manager would need to see the edge cases more in training and pre-season games.
TO, having grown up my adult life here in Australia and having watched his early coaching years, I can echo what you have said. He's a typical Aussie coach ,winning is obviously important but giving the paying fan something to enjoy is also in his DNA. The naysayers can say what they like he would definitely add something to Spurs, he plays to entertain and win.
A lot of my respect for Pochettino disappeared when that book was published ,kiss and tells are never a good idea while you are in post at any time
Athletic saying Ange is in pole position and could be appointed next week. Sami Mokbel also says Ange would be open to a formal approach from us. Romano also says new round of talks schedules next week. Enrique was discussed internally again too. Once he’s (potentially) announced I’m buying a crate of Fosters and chucking some shrimps on the barbie, gotta get fully immersed in the Aussie culture. He’s Greek born too so I’ll make some gyros with tsatsiki to go with it.
Indeed. You could be objective on a manager, for every season they are in charge. The data is out there for to assess the on-pitch performance. You could also data from transfermarkt etc on transfer fees to attempt to collectively value their squad, and compare it the other clubs in that league for that season. You could do similar on squad utilisation (in terms of competitions involved in, fixture sequences etc) . Therefore there is a lot you can know about a potential manager, well before you have to consider their "man management" prowess.
These three seconds already confirm that Bissouma and Bentancur are our starting CM pairing if Ange takes over, lol.
Poor old WInks, I'm sure that was trained into him. When he first emerged I am sure he was more progressive.
