I'll put my hand up there, had no idea how much you lot offloaded, to be honest was a bit disillusioned by the transfer window, not really been following it as I should have been. And, the way economists have done in the past few years, goonernomics isn't that far off the real thing
Good points, as I said, I had no idea regarding your outgoings, but you didn't address my statement regarding you lot having to succeed regardless of net spend
Trouble is that whenever Levy's got what he wants for management/structure it's failed and he's then been forced to make good appointments like Jol/Redknapp. So far Levy's made his best appointments when his hand has been forced and what he wanted to happen has not worked.
Technically, he did appoint Jol as manager - then lost his nerve because of demands for a "big name" from the fans so hired Santini, retaining Jol in some made-up coaching position.
I can't answer that last question but if i could i'd be rich. I would argue that points are not the currency we are looking to make though, which is why it falls down. We made a record number of points last season but our return on investment was exactly the same. This year we might get 65pts and get 4th and therefore our ROI would be up but our points down. Thats why i think this analogy doesn't really work, as our ROI very much depends on the other teams. Yeah, i know in business your ROI might be affected by your competitors, but in football it is massively so
What a ludicrous comment. The budget excuse? Bayern out-earn everyone else in the Bundesliga, but Dortmund earn the next most. It's hardly a shock to see them in 2nd. They only finished 25 points behind, too. Then they lost their best player. To Bayern. The points gap between Dortmund and Bayern was larger last season than the points gap between Spurs and Man Utd.
"I would argue that points are not the currency we are looking to make though, which is why it falls down. We made a record number of points last season but our return on investment was exactly the same. This year we might get 65pts and get 4th and therefore our ROI would be up but our points down." Or get 75 pts and still finish 5th. No surprises there, as the CL slot depends on final PL table placing (and other things we don't mention) , and not the PL points total (though there is a high correlation between PL points total and getting a CL slot) . But if the squad is improving on the pitch, then there must be measurable improvement in total points, GD, goals conceded etc.
I'm not so sure. Short of getting the 2 versions of the teams from different seasons to play each other i don't think there is a concrete way to work out which team is better.
"Short of getting the 2 versions of the teams from different seasons to play each other i don't think there is a concrete way to work out which team is better." The squad that has the better measurable properties has performed better on pitch. You can then try and "normalise" the data (same total number of games in a season, average injuries over a season etc) to see if it accounts for the differences.
I don't know what to expect this year. All i know is it's going to be extremely interesting. We've got the potential to finish as high as 2nd or 3rd IMO, but we could also finish 5th or 6th. There's just so many factors to consider. If we gel, players adapt to the prem quickly, we could be excellent with the squad depth we have. However, if they don't, it could be a frustrating season. United could retain the title, but could also go downhill. Arsenal, despite playing excellent football and capable of beating anyone on their day, lack depth. City need time to gel. will pelligrini improve them? Liverpool could be a surprise this year too. The only ones I can see definitely doing very well are Chelsea. A manager who knows the premier league and knows the club he's at. everything else is up for grabs, IMO. There could be a few surprises this season I think. With the business we've seen around us, it's just as hard this season to expect 4th. United were the winners, so they should expect it. City have bought 4 expensive quality players and should expect it again. Chelsea under mourinho should expect it Arsenal have qualified 16 years in a row, so should expect it. why should we expect it? just because we've spent fortunes? we've also sold our best player. None of the other above have. you just can't call it.
The season ahead will I think be a similar season to last where we will go on fairly long unbeaten runs but this time make top four. For me Lamela must be chosen ahead of Townsend and the results will come. I don't think Arsenal and Pool will maintain this sort of form and City will also do what they did last season like lose at Saints for instance. Chelsea I think have made a mistake getting Jose back and so are unpredictable. I totally forgot about Utd because they are not the force of old and will not be this season. Soldado to be amongst the top scorers and because we started so well in the EL I say we'll make the final.
I feel patient, but honestly I'm not that positive. If we truly felt that fourth was a must, we should have kept Bale another year, come what may. Expecting us to be able to whip into shape and edge Arsenal for fourth seems unlikely. Our best chance is hoping that one of the usual suspects throws a shoe, as happened the year before last. And yet...we have a squad absolutely packed with unknowables. In a best case scenario, not wildly unlikely, we could be pushing for second or third. And that's the thing: I see there being less space between Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and possibly Liverpool than there's been recently. The chances of everything being decided on the last day remain excellent. One thing we certainly have is depth. A CL spot is unlikely. Our chances of winning a cup seem about as good as they've been in a long time. I'd be happy with a cup and fifth this year.
I think we can bully any team in midfield and dominate possession so it's more a case of how quickly we start creating chances. Time will tell but we have been pretty solid so if we can keep clean sheets that's half the battle won and not something we have been good at in the past!
The season ahead is full of promise, just the sort of promise that AVB was employed for. We have signed some top quality players who have already shown, for me at least, that they WILL take us on to another level. We are not looking at a team yet but the induvidual skill sets displayed by Paulinho, Soldado & Capoue auger very well for the team. That's without the talents of Eriksen & Lamela who we are lead to believe are top drawer. Too much is being drawn from the Arsenal result IMO. We lost yes, always a possiblity in football, but I witnesed an Arsenal side stuggling to contain a Spurs side that hardly knew each other. Their chance was taken well as you would expect from a top side, but we were at the Emirates. The norm would be us on the defensive and scoring on the break, the fact that it was the other way around is significant IMO. An exciting season ahead, looking forward to it.
Completely agree with all of that Spurf, way too much is being read into the Arsenal result. It was an impressive performance in many ways due to all the new players. Yes we struggled to break them down but 5 out of our front six weren't playing for us last season so it will take time. For us to have more possession and chances away at Arsenal is unheard of in my 20 years of supporting Spurs. I will be disappointed if we don't finish top 4. We have so much depth that we can play almost 2 different teams in the Europa and the premiership and still be competitive in both. Once we get to the business end of the Europa then it will become more tricky as I would want us to go for it with our best team. I would only be happy to finish outside of the top 4 if we won the Europa or the FA cup. I would love us to win a proper cup it's been so long. Bloody hell if Wigan and Portsmouth can in recent years we should have a good chance!
We're certainly well set up to control the midfield. What I don't know is how far that can take us, or what sort of goal-scoring threat we'll pose. I'm not so much worried about the Arsenal result as whether we can create a fluid attack fast enough to edge one of the top four clubs. Above all, and as talented a group of players we now have, we're an unknown quantity. But that will make it more exciting.
Spurf I too agree with what you posted there and see the result as a temporary setback. But we must gain wins against the top clubs this season.
My opinion is that AVB has it all to do this season. He has to win something and deliver a top four finish. He will not do this by marginalizing top professional players in the premiership (on or off the field). In addition, some of the tactics employed by Villas-Boas over the past 12 months or so remain questionable. I suppose, the 105 million dollar question is... 'can Villas-Boas get this squad of players to perform, at their best (as a team) for him ?'... I'm not convinced that he can.. based on his known form at this level.
