Quick Fixes

Hey guys, we're all pretty peeved at the displays and capitulations we've seen lately, especially at home. Some argue it's Poch's arrogance and insistence on playing a style that doesn't suit our current squad. Others argue the squad we presently have to choose from (taking into account injuries) is just too weak and lacks leadership. Whatever the case may be, it's a long term issue to get fixed and won't be resolved overnight. But saying that, we have to turn our fortunes around and fast to make anything of this season.

So the question is... if you were to make a few changes whether they be team selection, formation, style, captaincies... whatever; what would you do going into the next few fixtures to get us playing better?

 

Here's my two cents...

1) Drop Lamela and give him time in the reserves, Europa and Cup games, he needs to learn about English football the hard way and presently, he's too much of a liability to be risked in league games
2) Switch to a wider formation, whether is means playing a traditional 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1, 4-5-1 or whatever... just give us some bloody width and options!
3) Give Soldado a run in the team - yes you read that right. In a team with width, just tell him to get into the box, stay there and wait for the crosses and service and start taking pops at goal. Sooner or later, he will get a goal and he might just go on from there. If not Kane deserves a run.
4) Give Lennon a run in the team. He puts in a shift week in, week out so will protect the likes of Dier.
5) Tell Capoue to grow a pair and start getting stuck into players in midfield. Send a message to opponents that he means business. If not Stambouli can have a go or even Sherwood's favourite Bentaleb
6) Make Lloris captain (sorry Younes, you're lousy at it) - he's our best player and we need to give him a mantle to persuade him to stay at Spurs.

On this basis, my team against Villa would be:

Lloris (c)
Dier - Vertonghen - Kaboul - Rose
Lennon - Mason - Capoue - Chadli
Eriksen
Soldado

 

I don't believe there are any quick fixes. Therefore, we need to take a longer term view. The only criterion should be that we don't get relegated. Other than that, our position in the league shouldn't even come into the equation for two, possibly three, seasons. In that time, there needs to be a complete overhaul of the squad. The manager (whoever it ends up being after Poch) must agree with Levy a set of criteria that he intends to achieve (other than league table placement), and this should include the type of football that the manager is given the green-light to play; and, then, the club should invest in helping the manager build that team. Any existing players not up to following the new regime should be got rid of as quickly and as efficiently as possible. This ought to include any players that lack the mentality to endure within a club with any degree of ambition.

Of course, Levy will have to agree with the manager what his ultimate aims are. I doubt they will include "winning the league" (which would be utterly delusional on his part), and if they include "getting regular top 4," he is going to have to be prepared to spend what it takes to achieve that. Given that Levy didn't spend when we achieved top 4 in our one and only time in the Prem, I must conclude that either (a) Levy has no real ambition or belief that we can achieve top 4 on a regular basis, or (b) the man is a tit. Also, any ambition of top 4 should be matched with a manager who has proven ability at achieving regular CL footy, and not managers who over-achieve with clubs where expectations were low to begin with.

The problems we have, at present, as I see it, are as follows:-

(a) Levy appears to be demanding that managers achieve top 4 footy on a regular basis, without any apparent appreciation that we simply do not have the squad to do it;
(b) we have the three worst "strikers" in any league in any division, any where in the world;
(c) every single one of our players appears to be spineless;
(d) we have a manager who is clearly out of his depth;
(e) we have a DOF and/or chairman who appears to have absolutely no idea how to scout for decent players;
(f) we appear to lack any kind of coherent footballing philosophy, so that the players have little idea of what is expected of them; and
(g) (most worryingly of all, perhaps) the manager appears already to have fallen out with the players, given the open criticism that he has voiced in his last two post-match interviews.

Sorry, but until we've fixed all of the above, I cannot see any real or lasting improvement any time soon.

 

HIAG: I was going to say that the less hopeful among us will find yesterday's game more evidence that there is no hope. I keep hoping there really is hope, but less hopefully.

a. (Most importantly) Two strikers against teams that will set up to stop us. I just watched three AMs who I believe are quite talented beat their heads in trying to go through the middle against a defense set up to stop exactly that. Whenever we've used two strikers one seems to get wide and create more chances, as Kane did yesterday.
b. Vary the attack more. More width, more crosses, more dribbling down the sides of the box, and less through the middle.
c. More runners going at the keeper. When we finally did get a really dangerous ball in, no one was there to knock it in. We should get more runners if we get more crosses and passes and shots from the sides. Also, two strikers should mean more runners.
d. Sit back as we did against Arsenal against top four teams. Clearly that seemed to work better than playing an open style as we did against Man City.
e. Address the problem that all 3 of our AMs we've been starting score most from the left side of the box. Send Lamela down the left side of the box more instead of keeping him on the right, where he's ineffective. Both Eriksen and Chadli may be effective on the right. (May!) All Lamela's goals this year (in preseason and against Germany and Asteras) came from lashing the ball with his left foot from the left side of the box (except, you know, when he used his left foot from the right center).
f. Consider Lennon at right back. He's the only player we have who has what it takes to play there.

Lloris
Lennon Vertonghen Kaboul Rose
Lamela Mason Eriksen Chadli (with Chadli and Lamela switching sides)
Kane Adebayor

There's something to be said for dropping Lamela, but I'd rather see how he does on the left.

 

Only a few things for me:

Start Kane in the league, he's the only striker who's both playing well and actually scoring consistently. It should be a no-brainer but for some reason Poch is persistent with a very inconsistent Ade and Loooldado.

Make changes quicker in games. It took him ten minutes after Newcastle went ahead to make his first sub, with the other two coming on with roughly 10 and 5 minutes left. Before they got their 2nd it was obvious their subs had made a difference and our initial game-plan was no longer going to work as we was working on containing them, he should've counteracted their subs with some of ours to try and turn the balance back in our favour.

I think that's pretty much it until January. In Jan, I'd get shot of Soldado and replace him with another striker. Try and recoup some money on Paulinho, if the guy's not going to get into the league side then there really is no point keeping a £17m purchase in the stands. I'd also sell Chiriches, despite a promising start, the performances of late have been shocking and he doesn't seem to have that fighting mentality to regain a place in my opinion, I think we're covered at CB anyway, Younes, Jan, Fazio and Dier are all good options, maybe bring in an experienced head to add to the numbers as an emergency option but otherwise I think we're good there. If there's one available, maybe go for a deep lying playmaker, someone in the Pirlo mould, funnily enough Hudd would be ideal at the moment, typical of the "you don't know what you had 'til it's gone" scenario.

 

That has got to be one of the most lightweight flat midfield 4's ever. Most teams would run riot over us if we played them. Lennon at left back? Asking for trouble - square pegs in round holes!

 

Lennon at RB isn't as terrible as it sounds. Aerially he'd get trampled but we've seen time and time again over seasons the amount of defensive work he puts in to help his full back and his pace will allow him to operate similar to Walker and Rose, if neither of those had their pace they wouldn't be Premier League footballers, they'd arguably not be footballers at all in fact.

Though that said, I'll stick with Walker/ Naughton for the time being at least (with Dier as emergency).

 

I agree with much of what you are saying HIAG. There is no instant fix right now to all our problems. Regarding your list:

a) This is an issue. Managers seem to be willing to make blind promises of 'success' (again, define that one!) perhaps before they even fully appreciate the problems we have here at Spurs. And my impression is that Levy wouldn't employ a manager who came in and said that the squad here aren't capable of top 4, or at most were a very outside bet. Maybe he would have accepted it from someone like LVG, but coming from Pochettino as a relative rookie, Levy wouldn't have tolerated it IMO. We can't shift players because selling at a serious loss, which may be required, seems to be a serious no-no despite the fact that we never have a net spend, so the squad remains imbalanced in certain areas. Pochettino may well believe that Lamela can become a serious star for us, but if Levy has made a big thing about it then dropping the player when the manager needs to can become an issue.

b) I disagree with that to an extent.
- Ade reamins a conundrum, a couple of years ago he looked a world beater but the question mark over him has always been that he only produces when he wants to. He isn't a fighter enough of the time. I desperately want his time here to be finished, as his off days since Harry left have far, far outnumbered his good days (which aren't even as good anymore) and I believe him to be the kind of player who disrupts a dressing room, especially as he is one of the top earners.
- Soldado is a massive risk to give a run in the team. We all want him to do well but there is absolutely no guarantee that sticking him in the team for a run of 10 matches will produce goals. He certainly looks more of a risk than...
- Kane, probably the only one of the three I'd back to score in a game and the hardest working of the lot whenever we see him on the pitch. Nowhere near the finished article though and only slightly less of a risk than Soldado in terms of his goal production in the league
The striker situation is worrying and hasn't been sorted (apart from Ade's one good season on loan under Harry) for years now. Its also potentially the most expensive problem to fix, and carries a lot of risk as we have seen with Soldado.

c) There does appear to be a problem in this regard with a lot of the squad. On the Newcastle thread I listed some players I would back to stand up and be counted - this included some of the local lads like Kane and Mason, players like Kaboul and Lennon who have been associated with the club for a long time. Lamela seems to work very hard and OS said he had a good attitude, but unfortunately too often he makes mistakes. But there aren't too many more I would bet on putting in a shift for 90 minutes, even when up against the wall like during the Newcastle second half.

d) I think while he has not started as brightly as we all hoped it is too early to call Pochettino out of his depth. He is displaying an annoying level of tactical inflexibility (persisting with a system that requires fullbacks for width for example, when we only have fit fullbacks for the LB position) but he is still a relatively young coach and we have to hope that he develops in that regard and becomes more flexible. I think he will get more leeway from fans in that regard than Sherwood funnily enough.

e) There appears to be a major disconnect at times between manager and DOF/Chairman. Key targets over the last few years have been rubbished in favour of cheaper alternatives or none at all and while this is understandable to an extent due to the financial position of the club, it is now telling. In addition to this, players have been bought in without the manager's say so, certainly in the case of AVB post-Bale and seemingly this summer too - we know that Dier was not a Pochettino buy which begs the question: are there more cases like that? Will the club hierarchy ever be able to resist a cheap bargain with some sell-on potential (think Dier, Holtby) and then fall short on big, statement buys because of that?

f) This has been a problem for years too. No overarching direction has meant that each new manager has generally had an uneasy time. A DOF was supposed to help provide a philosophy, recommending players and managers who would fit the style the club wants to use, but since Baldini has come in we have gone from AVB to Sherwood to Pochettino - 3 very different directions. Pochettino is the one of the three with the most clearly defined philosophy and worryingly we have only seen it even attempted on a couple of occasions, which begs the question why? Are the players not fit enough/not good enough at following directions? Does he just not have the right players (see point e)? Can he communicate effectively? I happen to think he can actually, but it is clear that for whatever reason there is still no defined way of playing on the pitch. Its not like we're going out there and pressing too slowly every game, and getting played around like we did against Liverpool IMO. Most of the time we're just not even trying to do it, but we're still set up to play like that and its causing problems. If we were doing it, just not well enough, then at least we could judge progression, and see what the players and staff were trying to achieve. But we're seeing nothing.

g) Falling out with the players is a dangerous game, depending on who you fall out with. Sherwood appeared to fall out with a few players who were clearly reckoned to be more important to the club than Sherwood himself, so that probably contributed to his downfall. The trouble is that the players Pochetitno really needs to lay into aren't the ones he can replace. If he bollocks Vertonghen and they fall out then we have 4 other CBs. He can't do that to Lamela, or Chadli, or probably even Eriksen, as there just isn't any backup for the first 2, and while we have players who can play as no. 10s Eriksen is the only dedicated one we have. Lennon and Townsend are wingers and Pochettino doesn't want that style of player in his 4-2-3-1. Dembele or maybe even Mason or Bentaleb could play at 10 but I don't see anyone else, apart from maybe Paulinho. Having a massive go at Ade could be a problem for him because he seems an influential player in the dressing room, and playing either Soldado or Kane is just as much of a risk as hoping that Ade can be bothered to turn up on the day. If Pochettino falling out with players causes the bad eggs to drop out of contention for the squad, and pushes some of the others up a gear in terms of effort then I don't see a problem with it, as long as Pochettino doesn't make his position untenable.

There is no quick fix for all of this. We have significant squad problems, with overload in a few areas - we have one too many CBs, and probably 2 or even 3 too many deep-lying midfielders but we need more options at 10 and in the wide attacking midfielder positions if Pochettino is to continue using this style of play. We desperately need to find a striker who can make a difference, whether Kane continues to make significant progress or Soldado magically comes good, or we risk buying again. The scale of the rebalance and rebuilding needed is extensive still BUT it will never be successful unless we have stability at managerial level, if not at board/ownership level too.

 

A quick fix won't come from changing personnel. It will come from organising and motivating the players, starting with the defence. Kaboul or Vertonghen need to stand up as a leader. When Pulis came into Palace last season, he got results by organising the players, motivating them to give x% more in effort and by being tactically aware of his own team's strengths and weaknesses and those of the opposition. He didn't have so many talented players at his disposal. It's Mourinho's way too; be organised and hard to beat. Don't concede and don't give the ball away unnecessarily. Then work on being more expansive. He does have better players though.

 

I meant Lennon at right back until Naughton, Walker or Yedlin comes back. I would only try a team with no DM against the teams that will sit back. Even so, I'm a little unsure whether it would be better to sit Lamela or Capoue. I think in the long run it's better Lamela keeps playing, but more on the left. In any case, there's something to be said for dropping him and starting either Capoue or Stambouli, no doubt.

I'd prefer Walker, Naughton or Yedlin, but none of them are available.

 

The players aren't good enough pure and simple.

You can have all the tactics, formations, systems, styles, captaincies in the world but if the players you have aren't good enough then you will never be successful.

Looking back at the Redknapp era, we had Bale, Modric, King, VDV, now will have Lloris and 24 average players.

 

Yeah. I'd pretty much agree with KH. We have sold all of our decent players, it's now apparent that we are left with just the distinctly average. Yes, they could be better balanced, but otherwise the old "silk purse - sow's ear" adage springs to mind.

 

spot on

 

My twopence for what its worth...
1) play lennon on the left as he provides great cover for the left back...this was a real strength under harry when BAE was the left back. The added avantage is that lennon will play the high tempo pressing game that pochetinno likes.
2) choose a centre back pairing and stick with them ... we are chopping and changing too much and it is leading to problems in defence.
3) play ben davies at left back...he is stronger and imo more reliable than rose (based on last seasons performances in prem matches for swansea).
4) pray naughton doesn't get injured until walker is fit or yedelin (excuse spelling) can be recalled from his loan.
5) play dembele in front of back 4 behind eriksen and bentaleb
6) keep a settled midfield...lennon on left, eriksen and bentaleb mason on right side
7) kane up front

Mason has played up front and is right footed so could work on right midfield and will be able to get forward to support kane.
Kane attempts to shoot (something no one other than eriksen does) and works hard closing down.

So my team for the next few league matches...
Lloris
Davies kaboul vertongen naughton
Dembele
Lennon eriksen benraleb mason
Kane

Subs
Vorm
Rose
Another defender
Lamela
Chadli
Capoue

Hopefully that will keep bubbling along in prem so we have a shout at strengthening in jan to come 5th or 6th and will keep us in the cups
Ade

 

Bang on

 

We are doing quite well away from home, we even looked decent away at £ity and could have picked up a result but for the horrendous Jonathan Moss. Poch`s system is working well enough in away games but at WHL it is just not producing results.

Changes are needed in home games in my opinion, teams are finding it far too easy to play against us, question is whether Poch is willing to adapt his formation and or players. Something as simple as playing Chadli and Lamela on the opposite sides for a change may force them onto the outside instead of always cutting inside and may change our forward play for the better perhaps.

 

The simplest change would be to actually play a winger on the right, which limits us to playing Aaron Lennon, basically.
Our balance is totally off, nobody's covering the fullbacks and we're far too narrow going forward.

The next easy change is to punish people for showing anything less than a totally professional approach to playing.
We don't go into games with the right attitude often enough and it sounds like the same mentality is applied to training.
We've got plenty of players. Those that don't want to apply themselves can easily be left out.

 

It's all very easy for us to criticize the coach, team,DoF and chairman etc but we have to ask ourselves what's better for the team as a whole. Do we want instant success now, immediately, instanter only to see it all fade away a little later on? Do we want a good start to the season only to see it fall apart in the latter stages or do we want a measured increase towards success? I'm as guilty as anyone in criticizing Poch but is he the sort of coach who'll bring us success gradually? I'd much rather get the bad football and results out of the way early and play our best football at the end of the season.

Likewise I'd like us to do the same over time and not win something this season only for it to be a flash in the pan. Levy is guilty of not giving coaches time and guilty of letting go our best coaches and players ie Redknapp and Graham and bollocks to what you think because he's ex Arsenal, he was a good coach. It's up to Levy to get the right coach and for him to instill the right attitude into the players and for them to respond properly.

We can get out of this slump, I'm certain of it but we just might have to be patient.

 

The simplest fix is the most sensible: use the squad better. For example, after playing 90 minutes in the Europa League on Thursday night, don't play damn near the exact same team on Sunday - several of the team looked knackered on Sunday, especially Dier, while on the other hand there's players like Lennon, Stambouli and Soldado who need more games (and would likely add a much-needed extra dimension to the team)

 

I agree that's a reasonable alternative to playing two strikers. I'm not sure Chadli is effective on the right, so I might lean towards Lamela on the left, Eriksen in the center and Lennon or perhaps Mason on the right.

The major issue IMO is that if you're going to play on the front foot, as Pochettino (and the rest of us, for the most part) wants to do, you have to give defenders dilemmas. Just doing something quickly helps and tbf we've had a real improvement in quickening our buildup. But it's not enough if you always, or almost always, do the same thing--not against teams and managers who are reasonably astute and skilled, as they are in the PL. How many times did we try a shot, dribble or pass through the middle that got nowhere against Newcastle? Players coming into the box from the side and back turn defenders and make them make decisions, some of which will be mistakes. We keep letting them keep our attack in view just by looking straight ahead. Rose, tbf, did a certain amount on the left to make defenders turn, but not enough. His crosses and passes weren't good enough, or frequent enough. On the right there was nothing. Lamela on the left and Lennon or Mason on the right--maybe even Dembele, despite him being left footed--would have spread the ball wider and deeper and worried defenders more.

TMT, fair point about a quick fix quite possibly not being what we really need. The media and sports chat boards overreact to every development. It's what we do. The key moment for Ferguson at Man U was when they showed patience for a manager who seemed to be going nowhere. Nothing is often a fantastic thing to do. People do it too little.

As to the players not being good enough, we'll see. I think they will prove to be good enough that people will be surprised how much we struggled at the start of this season.

HBIC, fair enough also about poor use of the squad. What did Soldado do wrong to deserve not playing at all this week? I thought he was decent against Man City. And our players did look out of energy by the end of the Newcastle game, especially Dier, who's been playing twice a week, every week. Why not try Lennon at RB? How much worse could it be?