Sunk cost fallacy. It applies to a wide variety of things and is often ignored. David Bentley's probably our most stark example of it, but we've done it with a number of players, unfortunately. I don't think that foreign v domestic is the issue. Signing players like Lloris or Eriksen has worked well for us. We need to bring in the right players and that's not necessarily about overall quality or Premier League experience. We've got a way of playing and we need to buy people that suit it. It's that simple. Pochettino prefers a specific system, so we have to avoid signings that won't work in it. Mata's a fantastic talent, but he's not a Mourinho player. We have to follow that example.
Yes the right player is always most important (foreign or domestic). Just like backing the manager to sign his players is just as important. These two points have always been views you would apply to each season, as every manager should be allowed to manage his way. The current system restricts that and I've seen a few opinions on here from Pochettino fans that they don't believe he has been backed and that would come back to the expensive mistakes we have, as the board aren't going to sign players while having certain players at the club. If we're flexible and looking at the domestic market while also looking at the foreign market then great, lets find the best possible player yet when I look at this team it needs the leadership and commitment of domestic based british talent to blend with foreign players. Currently we're going down the youth system and we have to wait and see if that is beneficial long term but I'm not convinced that we're open to domestic based players (aside from youngsters) as much as we are to foreign players, mainly because foreign players on paper offer better value for money. Yet thats just my view, in the sense Pochettino may be happy to work within the restrictions and from his side there may be no issue, so if thats the case then he will have no complaints if this setup fails.
I think that we'll go for the foreign market in a lot of our moves this summer, but I don't think that it's entirely down to perceived value. If we're looking to bring in players that'll improve our first XI and push people down the pecking order, then who can we realistically sign? There's a few players here and there that'll do it, but we'll struggle to bring anyone in that would do a better job, unfortunately. Southampton will face another summer of having their best players picked off by the bigger clubs, so we'll probably lose out on any of their players. The likes of Ings and Berahino already appear to be attracting interest too, so they're not looking likely either. Maybe the odd one or two, like Vlaar (free) or Austin could be worthwhile, but I'm not sure how many problem positions we can address.
I think foreign players do often offer better value for money Boss - the so called 'English Premium' does definitely exist in the Transfer Market, especially for young players, and buying any player from within the PL or even the lower English leagues can get expensive. It can be hard to cut through the hype with young players, both English and foreign too. But as you say English/British players are often the best leadership options for English clubs as they are mere likely to feel confident in the English football environment, that said there are plenty of examples of great foreign captains who won plenty at English clubs so we can't generalise too much. I do think we're as open to domestic and Academy talent as we are to the foreigners under Pochettino though, we've spent on Ali from MK Dons for example, and there are couple more of the Academy lads who look likely to be involved in the first team next season too. In the Summer we signed Dier from abroad and a couple more from within the PL. As you say its about the right balance of youth and experience, of players (both English/Academy players and otherwise) who know the league and are prepared to stand up and be leaders when the chips are down, and players who aren't ready to do that yet but one day will be hopefully. I hope we see the mix of the squad get better over the Summer, as some of the deadwood are moved on and their places filled with more suitable players.
Fair points Huddlefro. I may well be a tad harsh and yes foriegn players can of course lead in the premier league. I remember the chavs when they had Terry and Gallas. Gallas was the better defender and he was someone who had the qualities to lead in this country so yes we shouldn't generalise. I know we employed Paul Mitchell? and Ian Broomfield returned to the club so we will see come the summer, who we attempt to buy and which players Pochettino actually wants. You may enjoy the gossip and drama of the transfer window (that reminds me of Roo? where is he)....I never enjoy the transfer windows! And as PNP mentions above, there are limited options domestically so as I mentioned on another thread, the player we want may not be there, but hopefully we're flexible enough to be looking at all markets (and ages).
I completely agree on this but I think you usually need a couple of seasons to know whether you made a mistake and by that time most of the value will be gone anyway. We certainly shouldn't insist on getting back some proportion of what we paid - just what we think the guy is worth now. The trouble is some senior person in the club persuaded Levy that Lamela was worth £28m. If he can now only be sold for £15m is that guy going to admit that he was wrong or is he going to say he will come good? The right attitude is the former because there will be some other signings that will go in the balance the other way but the latter is more human nature. I remember us signing Martin Chivers for a record fee. He wasn't much good for a couple of seasons partly due to injuries and Greaves and Gilzean kept him out of the team. But he ended up being one of our greatest goalscorers ever. Fingers crossed for Soldado!
These are the sort of players you think we need to catch the top four? Only one of them has had any sort of success with one of our rivals and he was moved on pretty quickly. The poor balance is due to us having no player like Modric, Carrick, Berbatov or Bale coming through now from the signings over the past five years because the emphasis was on quick fixes and experience over the future.
That sums up the year to me, along with the emergence of our academy players. We’re playing an appropriate and entertaining style and doing so in the way likeliest to keep us competitive with other top teams. Pochettino’s inflexibility is one of many problems and potential problems. I’m of two minds about it. Sit back and get an unexpected result, as we did away to Arsenal, and it looks brilliant. Sit back and not only lose, but look like you’re afraid to play football, as Arsenal did at WHL, and it’s the worst of all worlds. So to me there were two big pluses this year and no big minuses (barring a late season collapse). We’ll see how next year goes. If there have been no big minuses this year, there have been many small to medium sized ones, any combination of which could make next year a disappointment. Pressure will come from the expectation that a young team should improve.
The reason we can't break into the top four currently is our defence. I know I've rattled on about it for a while, but the figures don't lie. There is only one team - Newcastle - outside of the bottom three who have conceded more goals. The only reason we are where we are is thanks to Kane & Eriksen. Without them, we'd be looking over our shoulders towards those at the bottom!...
For Burnely away I wouldn't be against a slight change in the lineup, maybe seeing Eriksen out left with Mason behind Kane and Bentaleb and Stambouli in the CM spots with Chadli wide right. We might have a little more midfield protection for the back 4 with that lineup, and Mason might be able to put his energy to better use in a position which requires slightly less positional discipline and slightly more in terms of sheer effort further up the pitch, which he is more than capable of delivering.
There's two potential reasons for this, which I mentioned earlier: Walker pulled up with an injury in the COC final but hasn't been rested, and he's got Townsend in front of him who doesn't cover his full back like Lennon or Lamela do. We had problems down our right side against Man Utd, Leicester and Swansea, and all three of those games came after the COC final - and with the Walker/Townsend pairing on that flank.
I decided I wanted one thing this year, which was more entertaining football, and I’m sticking to it. That’s the challenge next year, I think. Get the team to defend as a team, probably with the help of an on-the-field leader. I can’t help wondering if Schneiderlin wasn’t this year’s Moutinho: the player we didn’t get who could have made all the difference.
Having seen the MOTD highlights, our defending for all their goals but especially the 3rd was so so poor (very weak from Verts on the 3rd), the pen was JUST justifiable but one of those I'd be very annoyed to have given against us, Chadli deserves dropping for missing those two sitters and we were more than a little lucky to take 3 pts.
Haha, not a dig at all, infact I consider you very cheery for an adopted Scot How much had any of us seen of Mason though? For most of us it was probably a first glimpse of him in preseason and he looked pretty good. Anyway, as I think Sherwood said recently, you never really know how good a player will get until you give them a shot. Even then you can get players like Fletcher or Henderson that look really poor for awhile but grow into the job. It's hard to say whether the Premier League experience and regular football is a key part of that development because if it was then we should surely all be wondering what might've been with Lallana and Lambert as they didn't play in the Premier League until later in their careers. As for the Hurri-Kane, I never doubted him for a second. I just wish Sherwood credited me for Kane's development as he stole my idea of playing him for the last 5 games of the season
Little respect please YV. Half Scottish! I know you like a bet and aside from Sherwood to be next England manager, take a look 2015 Ballon d’Or winner: 10/11 Lionel Messi; 9/4 Cristiano Ronaldo; 14/1 Neymar; 18/1 Arjen Robben; 18/1 Luis Suarez; 20/1 Manuel Neuer; 20/1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic; 25/1 Alexis Sanchez; 25/1 Eden Hazard; 25/1 James Rodriguez; 25/1 Sergio Aguero; 25/1 Thomas Muller; 33/1 Cesc Fabregas; 33/1 Diego Costa; 40/1 Angel Di Maria; 40/1 Franck Ribery; 40/1 Gareth Bale; 40/1 Mario Gotze; 40/1 Paul Pogba; 40/1 Phillip Lahm; 40/1 Toni Kroos; 40/1 Wayne Rooney; 50/1 Bastian Schweinsteiger; 50/1 Yaya Toure; 66/1 Karim Benzema; 66/1 Thibaut Courtois; 80/1 Robert Lewandowski; 150/1 Harry Kane
Considering the players above him that have no chance it's very good value. I actually remember looking up the odds on Kane to finish top scorer at the start of the season, he wasn't on the list but Lamela and Soldado were at 50/1. Wish I'd called up and got them to give me odds now, reckon it'd have been a couple of hundred to 1 at least.
I'd lump a few quid on him winning in 2017. By then, they might have heard of him in Europe. Alternatively, he could change his name to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
