bigsmithy9, CERTAIN foreigners aren't right for us and in fact few South Americans have been that great and neither have most Spanish and Portuguese in the PL. Before I go on I KNOW there are one or two exceptions but for me Dutch or Germans would be right for us.
I think Taarabt's problem more than anything was his attitude. He thought he was better than what he was and felt he deserved more than what he had. He still has more natural ability than about 85% of players in the world and still has time on his side to be a superb player but he needs to sort out the prima donna characteristics and just get his head down and work hard. If Taarabt had the attitude of say Ryan Mason, someone who's waited patiently and just got his head down, he'd probably be in a Real/ Barca/ Bayern shirt by now in my opinion. Lamela seems to have the right attitude and definitely has the natural ability but he needs to put more work into his decision making. His vision for passes is great but execution of them is poor, they're either under or over hit. Similar to his ability of taking on a player, he'll usually beat the first man with ease but then seems to wonder as to what he needs to do next. A bit more composure and self belief to his game is needed in my opinion.
I remember expressing disbelief that Adkins was sacked after taking Soton from League 1 to PL in two seasons, but their fans said Pochettino was a step up in class. I'm not sure how they could jump to that conclusion about a young manager with no PL experience, who didn't even speak English. He's a season older and wiser, but he's still a novice. Unless you're lucky enough to inherit a successful, experienced group of players (which you could argue Pellegrini has done, although he is generally a more experienced manager himself anyway), it's bound to take time to learn the job. The PL is different. You need to be able to do a number of tasks well. There are the physical demands of many fast, high intensity games week after week, with the additional burden of cup games, yet no winter break. You need to be able to manage a squad of 25-30 players. Players need motivating. There are no easy games where you can win playing at 75% of capacity, unlike La Liga. You need to be able to organise the team and develop tactics for individual games. Stoke pose a very different threat to Man City! You need players to believe in you and your methods and develop the mental strength to keep going through thick and thin - 4 games in 8 days in mid winter, after long journeys abroad in midweek, after bad decisions, carrying injuries etc etc. The PL is an endurance test. Is a young Argentinian with little experience going to crack this overnight with many of his players in the same boat?
No he's not Luke but I argue that we should not be insuch a position with so much inexperience in the club.
Look at your board on here at the time. Thanks Nigel, but we've got someone to take us to the next level now. Not sure what the logic behind it was.
Agreed and to make matters worse, I think Poch has a chairman that deeply believes that he already has the players and resources to be successful (which he doesn't by a million miles) so he's on a hiding to nothing. Ironically, when you look at results this season and compare them to last, AVB's record with this group doesn't look too bad. Levy and co spent big on these misfits and all of our cards have seemingly been played. Levy as far as I'm concerned should step aside whilst he still has some dignity and let someone else from ENIC step in and shake things up. I've said it time and time again (not in an Alan Hansen accent) but real root and branch change is the only way to change the mentality and attitude at our club because we clearly have the wrong people making bad decisions. Anyone who thought that Lamela was worth splashing out £30m for is utterly bonkers. He's years away from being good enough to compete week in, week out in the PL. He's not physically strong enough, mentally too frail and indecisive. Sold-a-dud is past it and is simply not the right fit for our style of play so will spend 90 minutes chasing shadows all day long - £26m wasted right there. Ca-pooh needs to learn how to command the midfield - get stuck in and send a message the opposing players as right now, for a big guy, he's practically a teddy bear. Eriksen needs to learn how to jump and head a ball - never ever seen him do it on a 50/50 - not once! Only Chadli is showing signs of developing. So if our midfield is so lightweight, so easy to overrun, is it any wonder the likes of Newcastle and WBA can beat us at home? If the Engine room is weak, we don't stand any chance of success.
I think many of us have come to the same conclusion a few years ago. As things are, this is what Spurs have become , a club looking back to its Glory days, as the future offers so little . No matter what we do , we will remain the perpetual underachievers under such a regime. Apologist rhetoric is only for the Blank Generation"
I just don't understand the apologist faction of our supporters. How many managers do we have to hire and fire to realise perhaps that's not the root of the issue? The elephant in the room is obvious!
I think we support Levy because in a very aggressive financial climate he has managed our finances very well and maintained Spurs in a strong position from that point of view. Levy is not afraid to spend money on players and administrators he just spends it on the wrong people. I don't believe anybody in football is particulaly good at this. Changing managers has not done us any good and changing chairman could well be the same. Tottenham cries out for stability and down to earth common sense. Pochettino was an immediate success at Southampton but far from it at Spurs, this suggests, like much of this game, that it was down to good fortune with the players he inherited on the South Coast rather than some magic understanding of the game. There are no magic formula's to football management just some experience in the game, intelligence, attention to detail, people skills and time. I am very suspicious of people who think there is a system that will win you things. A good manager should, in my view, be first of all looking at the players available and working out how best to use their talents rather than trying to get the players to fit a system, it's just the wrong way round with these wunderkid young managers. Just find someone like Gordon Strachan and give him 5 years to build the team.
Spurf we spend nothing, the net spend over 5 years is zero. No club can be competive under such restrictions . Add on the incompetence of Levy , with the disinterested Lewis we Up the Kyber .
Sidney we spend plenty and Levy recoups it by selling. This is what he is good at and nothing wrong with that. We have spent enough money on this present team it is just the wrong team. We have spent loads on managers just the wrong managers. In the end we may well shift Levy and then we can have all this and bad finances as well, we've had that before. We have no idea what we would get with a new chairman.
Our only chance is that if we employ enough mangers eventually Levy will get a good one just by the law of averages. Let's sack Pocettino now rather than waste another season and employ another manager hopefully someone with PL experience and give him 6 weeks if no sack him and get another. Let's shorten our misery by not keeping each manger a year, give them 6 weeks to show some nouce if not NEXT! That should shorten the odds of finding a manager who will not **** up the team. I jest not!
Is a "buy to sell policy" what Spurs have become , good enough ? Has anybody ever had sustained success in the premier under such shackles ? If this it , then we are nowhere .
And there you can see, from that series of posts from me, how getting to grips with Spurs problems send you completely round the bend. In fact if you look at the Managers since Jol ( a reasonable and sane person) have been steadily getting madder and madder. Perhaps we should consider Ken Dodd apart from his Liverpool connections he would seem to fit the bill as next in line. No **** it! let's get Russell Brand.
