In Capoue's case the reason we got rid was because on the occasions he wasn't injured he wasn't giving his all
To be serious though and as King and I have said, it's the actual quality players I miss and that we need. Lamela and Sissoko worked their arses off and whatever you or I may think of them as players, you could rarely fault their commitment to Spurs but we desperately lack quality in this team and that's something they couldn't provide too regularly (couple rabonas aside). We were pretty lucky over roughly a decade and a bit to have seen some unreal players in the middle for us. Modric for four years (best I've seen in a Spurs shirt), Dembele for six and a half, van der Vaart for a couple and Eriksen six and a half. You look at our options now and it's crazy just how far below our current bunch are, none of Ndombele, Lo Celso, Winks or Dele are fit to lace their boots and even Hojbjerg who at present is our best midfielder doesn't come close. Even when Eriksen's head was elsewhere and Dembele was broken they still offered more and that's damning.
Yes of course we need quality skillful players, Spurs have always targeted these kind of players. The problem now is that these are also the players that City, Bayern, Madrid, Barca, PSG, Liverpool and Chelsea want and where do we come in that pecking order of 8 clubs? Correct 8th. We can be 8th because of our Stadium and because of Conte otherwise we might struggle to be 8th and I have missed out the Italian giants who could easily feature above us and right now certainly do, so 8th is being optimistic. So we end up with Ndombele and LolCelso. Trying to find another Eriksen or Modric or Dembele will be more about luck than judgement. In the absence of the 'best' players because we are often talking about the 8th best we need another factor to replace that lack of very top level skill and that's strength and commitment. That's what Watford showed last night against Chelsea, and they almost succeeded if their chance had fallen to someone other than Sissoko they just might have equalised. Despite Sissoko's usual finishing prowess you have to say he was a force in that game and that's what prompted me to say that we miss him, because right now Spurs do not have the skills in midfield so we have to make up for that with commitment. Unfair to Skipp and Hojbejerg but they need help. Spurs should have capitalised on reaching the CL Final by signing some top players while they might have been tempted to join us. That was a huge error of judgement by the board, that was the time to make hay not hunker down. Instead it was all about losing the final and completely losing sight of the massive achievement of actually getting there. It became a liability instead of the boost up the hierarchy it should have been as Liverpool proved. Now the hope is that Conte can use his pulling power to attract some top players, Spurs cannot afford to miss the boat for the second time in a few years, they need to back the manager now.
Lamela yes. Get why we sold him to get Gil deal done but we miss his attitude imo. Capoue ? Not for me. Sissoko...only from the 17-19 seasons so also a no.
I don't think we should go backwards in that way but we do need the sort of energy they provided. Hopefully we will see more of that as Conte works with the squad. I can't imagine him leading a team that lacks energy so I think this is one of the first areas he will improve.
There has been pretty much non-stop ManU on TalkShite and similar since Olly's departure. IMHO the balance of opinion is that Rangnick is so influential as he invented the game that the German managers play etc, so he's clearly a good appointment. But then again pundits do tend to have similar opinions don't they? Yet in all this discussion, you would think someone might have said (of course I could have missed it) something to the effect that if he's so good, why was he working at Lokomotiv Moscow? If he's that good, why didn't a top club pick him up? Now he may well be successful, but look at the players he's got to work with.
Rangnick's job has generally been transforming smaller clubs into bigger clubs using plenty of money. Turned Hoffenheim into a top-flight side from the 3rd tier with Dietmar Hopp's cash. Then he was part of Red Bull's franchising, first as DoF at Salzburg then as manager of Leipzig. I assume that the Glazers have seen the value of the Red Bull clubs skyrocket and want some of that. I'm not convinced that Utd have the available space to expand into.
I think we should take a leaf out of West Ham's book and look for hungry players who'll "die" for you and can play.Maybe a couple from the Baltic regions.Must be someone out there we can use.I don't know how our scouting system works (we do have one,do we?) but they need to start looking!
I think he certainly knows what he’s doing at a football club. The United setup smacks to me of jobs for the boys and a rank lack of professionalism in terms of recruitment and just in general. Obviously they have some players who can try and set the tone in the squad but the rest of its a mess. I’m not sure he’ll be allowed to make the changes he wants to though. United exists as a commercial entity more than a club and while the management understand that success on the field is important to that, it’s also media and social media clout that’s important. Remember that a lot of younger fans follow players, not clubs now. I have non-English friends who were buying Juve shirts every year because of Ronaldo and now they’re doing that with United. Ultimately I’d worry that Rangnick would want to spend money on upgrading scouting and training facilities and the stadium but the management would be more concerned with keeping and attracting stars like Pogba and Ronaldo who are great for profile but have a negative impact on the pitch.
