I've gone down the middle. I think Pochettino has gone to Levy wanting certain things at the start of his tenure - upgrades and competition in defence and at GK first and foremost - which in Davies, Vorm and Dier (even if he wasn't a Poch signing, which was hinted at after the West Ham game) he has. I think his big three players were Mussachio, Schneiderlin and Rodriguez and that some of the reserve choices were Fazio, Stambouli and Welbeck for those players. Clearly we couldn't/wouldn't spend that much money on the big 3 - it could have been over £60 million - without significant outgoings. I think we will see moves for a striker in January, funds allowing, because I think Pochettino has a very clear idea of the type of player he wants to buy and that kind of player can cost a lot. And I'm very surprised that Benny is still at the club (presumably we couldn't find a buyer, how long left on his contract?) and quite surprised that we didn't offload a senior CB. I'm happy because IMO there are clear aims in the transfer policy, and the manager has gotten some of his players, maybe not his first choices but players he seems to have wanted. I'm annoyed that our financial situation, whether it is a can't or won't situation re. spending, has meant that we perhaps lack a goalscorer from the ideal mould that Pochettino wants, and that we still have a couple of players on our books who I will be surprised to see get much, if any game time now. But given our financial limitations, whether self-imposed or not, I fail to see what more Pochettino could have done, apart from panic buy, which is no solution to the problem.
I think Poch still wants Jay Rod and M.S. and knows he could not get them this transfer window,so maybe he is happy to wait until Jan,or next summer?
I reckon Jay Rod is a real possibility, MS I'm not so sure, I think it depends on the impact of Stambouli and also how Dembele/ Paulinho fair when given opportunities.
You have to sign one striker from the following list, who would you sign? Steven Fletcher Charlie Austin Jay Rod Connor Wickham
Interestingly i think Fletcher is clear 4th place of that lot. The others all have their pros. Austin is a natural goalscorer. Wickham is young and has potential. JayRod knows the manager and system and had a decent season last time out.
Can't write off players that haven't kicked a ball for us. Stambouli and Fazio could turn our to be exactly what we need. Time will tell.
Jay Rod Young, improving and can play out wide as well up front. Though I'd honestly take anyone of them, I know the Bossman (plus others) isn't Fletcher's biggest fan but I feel having the option of a Fletcher/ Wickham/ Austin/ Jay Rod is better than not having the option at all, even if the likelihood of some of those barely playing a minute for us, it's better knowing there's someone there if needed.
Levy is sending a third successive manager out to meet his doom. Too many average players our books clogging up the wages bill, no creative engine in midfield, and not a single decent striker. Yet Levy will insist on Top 4 and trophies or the manager will bite the bullet. Sorry, but what's to feel happy about?
We did ok, buying a whole new defensive unit and strengthening some positions that definitely needed it, but overall I'm not happy. Sandro and Holtby out, failed to sell Assou-Ekotto and I've never heard of Stambouli, though I'm not writing him off, by any means. The squad's pretty balanced, but also fairly unspectacular. I think we've got another season of doing ok, but nothing special. Hopefully we'll play better football than the last one and do something in at least one of the cups.
"Sorry, but what's to feel happy about?" That the club has a chairman who sets the bar high for his managers ??
"Shame our dof doesn't know who's up for moves etc" Eh ?? I can assure you our DOF knows exactly what he is doing.
We did go in for him but talks broke down at a very early stage. In fact I think his agent has since made this public.
With what us mere fans/plebs have to go on its not so certain. We see players coming in, we see players not performing.
Don't know if anyone reads the blog 'The Boy Hotspur', I don't really but it gets retweeted onto my Twitter newsfeed occasionally so I gave it a read today. This was posted in the comment section by someone called 'Charlie' (who is definitely not me) and I thought it was really good: "This transfer window was always going to be a tricky one to negotiate. A bloated squad was filled with many players of a similar standard and a lot of fan favourites, who for one reason or another weren’t always performing quite to the level we wished they were. We were faced with the prospect of balancing a squad that needed work but we needed players to leave as well as join. With no way of forcing other teams to bid for our men early, this was always going to be a tricky job. Really the management were faced with the following options as the new season approached: 1) Based on what Poch has seen from videos of last season and prior knowledge, transfer list many of the squad on his arrival and hope for offers. This would probably lead to us selling players under-value and with big pay-offs. Then with the selling clubs knowing that we had money in our pockets and holes to fill, we would hope to bring in replacements. This would have been a recipe for disaster and disappointment as well as financially imprudent. 2) Sign lots of players early in the window, end up with an even further bloated squad and then try to sell off players we don’t want. Signing players early in the window is obviously an advantage but in this case we could end up with a disastrously big squad, with other teams holding us to ransom with low offers for our players and us potentially ending up with players we can’t even fit into our squad on big wages. 3) Conduct a careful policy based on the door policy of Ledley’s favourite, Faces: one in, one out. Look for swap deals, listen to offers for lots of players and decide which offers are good and whether or not we can balance the squad if we accept the offers. This policy needs patience, makes many early signings unlikely, but mitigates much of the risk of the earlier policies, whilst allowing the manager more time to assess the squad in person and who they take to his methods. We pursued option 3. I can’t help but feel it was a really sensible decision that Pochettino has clearly backed. Although many people argue that with ENIC it is all about profit, and balancing the books is part of this option, it also was sensitive to squad morale and has left us with a more balanced set of option. We also have to face the fact that other teams want to assess the market and we have to be patient if we’re looking to sell. As an example, the swap deal of Sig for Davies was a nice move: strengthening an area that needed work whilst trimming a player who would struggle to start. I love Siggy, but the move was also good for him as evidenced by his early season form. Defence: Our massive weakness last season was our defence and we have pretty much signed an entire new backline. Whilst we all adored Dawson the man, most wanted him out the first team. Yet now I see people bemoaning his departure. Fazio has been referred to as one of the best centrebacks in La Liga last season yet people are already writing him off. Lovren was supposedly a very average player in France but under Poch became a £20million plus stopper. Dier has promise. Davies is a signing many of us backed entirely. Yedlin may or may not be a move designed primarily for marketing reasons and time will tell, but he looked exciting at the world cup. Vorm is a top number two goalie. Midfield: The deeper band of centre midfield was the most difficult area to deal with this window. Most seem happy to keep Bentaleb, who at 19 has huge potential but much to learn. If his progress wasn’t to be stymied, then we needed to sell one or more of Dembele, Sandro, Capoue, Paulinho. (Livermore’s sale seems a no-brainer). I suspect we were open to offers for all of them, with Capoue perhaps the one Poch was happiest to hold on to. It doesn’t sound like offers came in for any of them but Sandro. I love the Beast and I’m gutted he’s off especially at what seems a very low fee (and to QPR is especially galling). But do the management know something about his injuries we don’t? Did he need a new challenge? He seemed to court Napoli in January. He also seem unsuited to Poch’s quick transitions. Plus he would not have wanted to spend a season on the bench. Stambouli, meanwhile, will be more patient, has bag-fulls of potential and I’m excited to see him play. We clearly wanted Scheiderlin and bid for him, but he didn’t cause the fuss necessary to force his own sale (which we should respect), Southampton wanted to keep him and not signing him at well over the odds is not necessarily Levy failing to back the manger but is probably a decision Poch is behind himself. Paulinho would not be missed by most fans, but if no offers came in, we can’t sell him and right now his value would be at its lowest. In the attacking band of midfield, we all wanted to see Eriksen and Lamela play a key role and they are. The jury is out on Chadli but he may do well in Poch’s system, adding some height and strength to the fluid line. I think many of us would let Lennon go, but no firm offers materialised. Townsend divides people, but without obvious options to replace him we turned down Southampton – hopefully we’ll see how Jay Rodriguez is doing in January and bid for him to strengthen this area and we can potentially use Townsend as a make weight. Holtby was a lovely man but I think we all wish he was a better player than he ever was for us. He’s not tactically good enough to play in the deeper band and gives the ball away too much for the upper band. A new signing (Greizmann, Depay) would have been nice, but were these transfer ever actually on? Attack Clearly no great offers came in for Ade or Soldado. There’s no need to sell either under-value. Many feel that Soldado needs a chance in a new look attack that will suit his style better and there are hints that he and Lamella have an excellent understanding. Ade is highly frustrating but performed well last season. A good offer for either might well have been accepted and a bid put in for Bony or perhaps Remy. Bony especially would have excited us all, I think. But to sign a new striker without a sale would have seen Kane marginalised and either the new striker or Ade benched – which wouldn’t have worked out well. Poch clearly rates Kane and Kane is playing very well under him. We talk about the board backing the manger, but in this case I feel they are. We really don’t need four strikers for one spot and bringing through youth players is very important for current young players to see and also in attracting new young talent in the future. This is what we all say: Give youth a chance! Back the manager! Stability! Yes, it feels like we haven’t managed to get the manager’s first choice signings in Musacchio and Schneiderlin, but conspiracy theories about ENIC seem less likely than these deals simply being impossible to pull off. We have backed Poch’s sales decisions and done our best to sign exciting players in Fazio and Stambouli, who we shouldn’t write off just because they’re not Musacchio and Schneiderlin. We have backed his calls to trim the squad. What’s more, we now won’t have to wait until we’ve sold players to make one or two new signings in January or next summer – we can back Poch decisively and early. We’ve all been sad to see Dawson, Sandro, Holtby and Siggy go – but none were in the first eleven. I’ll miss Sandro the most and think Siggy could actually have stayed, but in the cold light of day, these were reasonable sales. We’d have all liked a big transfer deadline day splurge, but instead of rushing, Poch can now really get to know the team and spend that money sensibly in the future. A loan for Welbeck would have been nice, but wasn’t on and a permanent signing would have used up our cash that we can now spend on Jay Rodriguez or someone else in the coming windows once Poch knows the squad better. It’s been a emotional and slightly unglamorous transfer window, but I’d argue a sensible one. And let’s not forget – we haven’t sold anyone we didn’t want to. No Bale/Berbatov/Keane situations this summer – which in itself means we should be happier than normal." Again, not my work at all, but I find myself nodding along in agreement to much of it and because its such a well written comment I thought I'd share it on here. (full link to the blog here http://theboyhotspur.com/were-being-taken-for-a-ride/ For the record I don't write the blog and I have never written in the comments, I'm not plugging my own work!)
I was and am a bit 'mer' about our manager... his lack of a plan B when I saw his Southampton team throw away a 2 nil lead to us at the lane really stood out and the Liverpool match on sunday shows he may not still have one. On the plus side he did a tactically good job when naughton was sent off v west ham so maybe its a case of him learning and making mistakes now and again. The main reason though is cos Levy chose him and choosing managers is something he is **** at, jol and redknapp aside. I always support our manager so want him to do well but imo he needs to be backed when we have a bad run...hoddle wasnt, jol wasnt, ramos wasnt, redknap wasnt and avb wasnt ... imo we have chosen a manager and need to give him time to built a good winning team.
