New manager! Bright new future? or sacked by Xmas. Yet another Spurs season approaches with major changes. A new young manager off the back of a successful season at Southampton has now been given the job of taking Spurs to the Champions League. Impossible task? Good chance? What needs to happen for Poch to succeed? New players? Lamella to come good? Build around Eriksen? Much to discuss as the new season approaches.
I think we're due for a good run. I think highly of the new manager and the squad. Many would be tipping us for success except for the bad run that started with Capello quitting. There's a tendency to see a short run of bad events as a guarantee of everlasting doom, when we recognize perfectly well that a good run will never lead to eternal success. For example, while the Chicago Cubs have not won a title in 106 years, there's no reason to think that means they won't win one before the sun supernovas in ten billion years. I'd like to see little turnover except for the handful of players good enough to start for a good club who don't fit into Poch's plans out and a Modric replacement in. I could see the case for a young striker, though.
Your forward thinking is impressive....................10 billion years! The light at the end of the tunnel is super bright.
I think the two 'rocks' are Chelsea and Man City. The rest is a question of wait & see. Liverpool? you would maybe expect them to push on but it may not be that easy. Gerrard ageing that could well have been his chance at the title. You would think that having gained 2nd it will help them to attract players but none of this is certain. Man United: People will expect them to be back up there with LVG at the helm but again it's not that easy. As I have compared the Busby era with Ferguson era remember it took 20 years to get the club back to the top level after Matt retired. There is every reason for this to happen again. Arsenal: Can Wenger continue with such a close run thing as hanging on to his 4th place by a whisker every season? I think not, they either have to move forward or their luck will run out and the CL place will disappear. Everton: No idea tbh. can they compete in the transfer market to enable the manager to move forward? And then we come to Spurs? This season will be just as unpredictable as the last.
It's Spurs we're talking about here! The only thing you can be sure of is that nobody has any idea of what might happen this season. If Pochettino turns out to be "the real deal" and can get a bunch of up underperforming players playing at their full potential. If he can pick balanced teams, that combine attack and defence well, then we could surprise a few people - just as Liverpool did last year. We have a large squad, there must surely be a balanced combination in there somewhere that can, at least, improve on last season? Desperately need a top striker though. Latest rumours are Lukaku and Bony. Either one would do me....
With City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Utd, Liverpool & Everton all our "rivals" in terms of the top four. City & Chelsea guaranteed to finish in the top four then my realistic view is that we have virtually no chance of reaching the CL. Liverpool may have surprised people last year but they had a manager who was putting into place the attacking football (the year before) people forget the season previous to last Liverpool where scoring goals for fun, they also had the experience of Gerrard and Suarez playing the form of his life. We aren't in anyway set up to try and repeat what they did, it will need to be set out in a different way and next season I believe the best we can hope for is to see the start of Pochettino building a team to progress and catch the top four, but he would need to keep the team together for at least two years so they can develop an understanding and all be tuned into the managers style.
Only 21st June - not quite back to business yet! There will be many changes in the next 8 weeks before a ball is kicked in anger.
Levy has got to come out and tell us fans that he's not expecting Top 4 next season, and that Poch definitely will not be sacked on that indicator, alone. He's got to make it clear that he understands that we are not a team that deserves Top 4 nor that we should, any of us, expect it. He needs to make it clear to us that he is aware that we need to build from the ground up and regain some stability in both the management structure and the squad. That would help to manage the expectations of both fans and the media, and also to give Poch the confidence that he has the time to do what he needs to do, and what has to be done if we are to avoid the humiliation of last season. But, Levy won't come out with any such statement, and if Poch is deemed to have ****ed up, for whatever reason, he'll be gone. So, yes. It will be "business as usual" next season.
What you say makes perfect sense Boss but this is football where perfect sense has a habit of falling on it's face. Poch could, could, just confound everything and push on further than we all expect. He has the benefit of a squad with some experience of the PL and a hunger to do much better. They know they all fell short last season but they also now have some idea of what they are up against. Rather like Redknapp, Poch could be the beneficiary of good timing, joining us the season following a major overhaul of the squad.
Yeah, I'd agree with this. O.k. We don't have a Suarez - yet, but who knows? But the best sides are all about balance. That and teamwork. I know I keep harping on about balance, but in football, just as in life, it's crucial. If Pochettino can find that balance in our squad, and get them playing as a team, who knows?
...and that would be his undoing, because Levy won't see it as "Poch having got lucky" (as Redknapp did), he'll see it as Poch having realised the full potential of the team, so that when, the next season, we bottom out back down to 6th (where, realistically, we belong), Poch will be seen as a failure, and he'll get the sack.
Andros Townsend isn't only out in Brazil to do a bit of commentary, he's also training with Fluminese in a bid to be at peak fitness for the start of the season: please log in to view this image Defoe's done something similar on a couple of occasions and I believe that Lamela's also doing it. Nice to see them pushing themselves, instead of lazing about on a beach.
I think we are justified in being excited at the prospect of a fit Lamella given a chance to shine. Poch might be a real bonus for him.
For some reason, I'm actually optimistic (makes a change from my usual pessimism). Poch looks a great young manager, admittedly he wasn't top of my list to succeed Sherwood but nonetheless, he seems to have the right ingredients to be a good fit here in my opinion, providing he gets the right backing from the board, players and fans alike. If what I've read is correct, he got Espanyol and Soton to their highest league finishes ever and was only sacked at Espanyol (apparently) due to the club selling a number of it's key players in which he wasn't able to replace, so here's hoping he can manage to get us to our finish in the Prem. He's got a 5 year deal so I think that providing it's not a calamitous **** up of a season, the club will back him even if we miss out on our targets again, as long as the team is going in the right direction. His bonds with the Soton players suggest he's a likeable guy around the training pitch, someone who demands a lot but seems to be able to mix his hard regime with good man management. Being an Argie I'm hoping he can manage to get Lamela playing to his capabilities, make no mistake when/ if this kid reaches his potential, he'll be one of the best in Europe, I just hope that's during his time with us. For now, our two key stars are Lloris and Eriksen, with the additions of a fit Sandro and a happy Vertonghen. So in my opinion the team needs to be built around those two, Hugo needs to have a defence he can trust and is happy with, whether we already have those players here or need to add is something the club needs to decide, where as Eriksen needs to be the focal point of our attacks and forward movement, he'll be Poch's Lallana of Spurs, except only better - this isn't a dig at Lallana by the way but Eriksen had an equally productive season, both contributed to 15 goals to their team in the league (Lallana 9 goals 6 assists, Eriksen 8 goals 7 assists) though Lallana featured in all 38 games for Soton, Eriksen 25 for us. In terms of expectations, of course I hold the hope Poch will get us into the top 4 in his first season though I can appreciate that with the strength of other sides now, top 4 is now harder than ever to reach so a good entertaining season where we give top 4 a good push is something I'll be happy with. I'd love a good cup run too, I'd take a trophy over top 4 all day long, whether that be domestic or Europe, or even both. It's about time we win a trophy, we have a strong enough squad to compete well on all fronts and seeing teams like Hull, Wigan, Swansea, Bradford, Cardiff, Birmingham (with the best of respect to them) all reaching/ winning a final in recent years somewhat annoys me as to why we can't do the same. No pressure Poch
I am sure it will be like any other season in recent years. Poch will have some good runs but as usual full short. The club does not have the strength to challenge for top 4. We have missed the boat and we aint got a paddle . Realism over optimism unfortunately dictates my feelings. The club has gone backwards but in footballing terms always been on weak foundations . To genuinely achieve there has to be a new philosophy but we all have all realised that will not happen. I hope for some decent football , not just a better version of the AVB bore fest . Good luck to him , but you feel his hands are tied .
