I don't understand some of us fans. Prem experience?!? Most of the managers in the top teams have been put in the prem at the deep end. Fresh from elsewhere. So that argument doesn't wash! You don't however need premiership experience to put out a balanced team. As Koeman ironically demonstrates. The Everton match was great. Let's not forget so quick folks. Lennon is our best premiership right winger. Someone needs to tell Poch NEVER to start Eriksen and Lamela together in the prem. Lennon Soldado Kane Eriksen as a front four worked well. DO IT AGAIN IN THE PREM, and we'll be alright. Save Lamela for the Eurpopa league until he gets a bit more solid. (Feed him some porridge and stick him on Modric's old bulk-up regime, along with Eriksen.) Even Chadli (Or dare I say Townsend!!) on the left would work with Lennon on the right and Eriksen behind a striker. Don't know why we don't see this more often. Surely even Levy must understand these things by now. This inverted winger stuff has been crap since Ramos tried it. It can work as a temporary in game measure to switch up the play, but it seems too predictable when we start like that and don't switch. No width. Wasn't there complaints about the pitch being too narrow? We make it narrower by paying like that. Makes no sense. Also, more shooting from outside the box from out strikers is necessary. Over or around the parked buses. Again ironically, how Everton scored against us last week. All is not lost. We are becoming harder to beat. Poch will find the right balance increasingly more often. Give him a couple of windows too, and we'll be back to challenging ways.
Levy would look like a complete prick if he didn't stick with Poch now. Who would actually come here after that?!? Pulis?
AVB did get a £100m spending spree. Whether Levy/ Baldini were behind some/ most of the signings I do believe AVB would've acknowledged and agreed on the deals. Poch has only made 3 signings, two of which are back ups and one who's now getting a run (as expected). I think maybe he, like many of us at the time, believed the squad was good enough and didn't need much adding too, now it's clear to see (for me anyway) that many players just aren't pulling their weight and the time is pretty much up for some. I personally think that we'll have probably the busiest January out of any Prem side. It wouldn't surprise me if: Paulinho, Dembele, Adebayor, Chiriches all left with maybe one or two of Townsend, Naughton and Soldado also going. I think we'll see a number of players come in, in recent days we've been linked with Jay Rodriguez, Schneiderlin, Raul Albiol, Hector Moreno, Virgil Van Dijk (I think a CB is a priority ). If I could choose, I'd love to see Ashley Williams, Schneiderlin, Moussa Sissoko (think he and Schneiderlin would be a great pairing) and Benteke come in (yes he's had injuries but I think they're in the past now and he'd probably be a fraction of the price from when we were initially sniffing around last year). Won't happen but for me that'd be a great bunch of signings who'd massively strengthen us in key areas and suit Poch's system.
Do you think Benteke would suit the high up the pitch pressing style? I'm not so sure, but then i haven't watched Villa/Benteke a massive amount tbh.
Benteke strikes me as the type of striker who can fit any system due to the fact he has great all round ability. Hard to say a definite yes or no though but I reckon he'd do well here.
As I keep having to point out, most clubs of our standing would be grateful to have a chairman who made so many mistakes that we moved from being mid-table to top 4/5 despite having only the sixth largest income. The problem is that we have to take too many risks because there are five bigger clubs than us but top 4 is essentially all that matters. If you want to see chairmen making mistakes I suggest supporting Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland and Aston Villa who used to be mid-table clubs like us and are now still mid-table or much worse.
I'm generally grateful for any positive thoughts, particularly after a depressing result. Others feel our players are poor and that Levy is awful. I think our players are good and Levy has a lot of ups and downs. I am extremely frustrated with Pochettino at this point, and with Levy insofar as he has promoted inverted winger/high pressing coaches. Everyone makes mistakes. The problem is that all Spurs fans (just about) were disappointed Lennon didn't start against Crystal Palace, and, more generally, with a coach who sticks with an approach that's been remarkably unsuccessful at home against teams we are favored against. The problem seems easy to diagnose. We're far too predictable trying to pass it through the middle, which makes it easy for our opponents to stop us. We clearly do better when we get it wide and cross, and better yet when we get it wide, get into the box, then cut it back. We also pile forward so rashly that it's easy to hit us on the break. Tbf: Pochettino has made some adjustments. Two strikers has helped. We weren't in fact that easy to stop against CP, nor were we quite as narrow as we've been, I thought. it was at least as much a matter of bad finishing. But I remain exasperated by a coach who establishes that an outside footed winger named Lennon is the best option on the right, then only brings him on in the 83rd minute, and equally by one who gets a good result at Arsenal by sitting back, then goes right back to attacking and losing by three goals against City and Chelsea. It looks like an inability to learn, and that's not a good quality in a coach. Mind you, I'm not saying sack him, but I am saying somehow he's got to be guided more by results than by his philosophy from here on in.
That argument just doesn't hold water. The windfall from the sale of Bale has been largely wasted. We had an opportunity to build a stronger, more balanced squad, and it's been wasted. What really Pisses me off, is nobody seems to be accountable for any of this failure.
I can't remember Bill Nick complaining about the pitch size.He always picked two wingers except for some European games and they generally flew down the pitch,centered the ball to our fellow attackers and believe it or not,we scored goals. If Bill could see our one pass forward,three sideways and and two backwards he would have had himself committed!
Net spend is irrelevant though, £100m was still spent on talent that was expected to improve the squad.
Exactly. If a club gives a manager funds to spend and he blows it on crap, then it doesn't matter one little bit what his net spend is.
Net spend is important when looking at the bigger financial picture, but that doesn't change the fact that the Bale money has been spent very badly at this point in time for the most part. From a recruitment perspective that transfer window was largely shambolic - at this point in time you'd have to say that only Eriksen and maybe Chadli and Capoue could be considered successes (and the latter two are perhaps even dubious calls in that regard), and at best you'd call Lamela promising, at worst a prancing show pony, and the rest really just a bit 'meh' or worse. I'd say that in hindsight we should have bought 'big ticket' players rather than a quantity of middle of the range players, but the three most expensive signings have been arguably the most disappointing, whereas Eriksen has been the best by anyone's measure. We'll probably never see true accountability for the whole situation though.
I think Spurs problems are lack of leadership on and off the pitch. Pochettino always looks downbeat, clearly doesn't know his best team/formation/tactics and does not seem to trust a lot of the senior players he has, who ideally, you would think, might be able to help him. So he is relying on good players bailing him out like Kane did at Villa or Eriksen has done on a few occasions. Does he inspire anyone with his hang-dog expression and broken English? Vertonghen was a great defender for Spurs two years ago, but now seems error prone and lacks the confidence (arrogance?) he once had. There are no leaders on the pitch. There is nobody to gee the other players up or take the lead and inspire them when things are not going well. At times, there has been a lack of direction and motivation that comes across as a lack of effort - nobody organising and directing the team, nobody taking responsibility, nobody going the hard work of closing down and competing for the ball. Spurs have good players, who have played well in flashes, but look a bit rudderless. Ditto Liverpool.
30 league goals in 65 games is a bit better than a one season wonder mate. He's been plagued by injuries over that past 10 or so months which is the only concern we/ any club would have if interested.
