This is a bit premature perhaps but it's clear that following this window we will have a quite different squad. It's a whole new area for discussion. Where will the new guys play, who will suit who. How will this improve service to our stellar front three? Defence, midfield where are we going? Then of course there is all the speculation of how well this new Spurs will do in the new season. It would be very Spursy to have a brilliant start and then comes the World Cup break in the middle of the season and that changes everything. For good? For Bad. Exciting times have returned to Spurs..........................we think?
This went a bit under the radar, Spurf! There's definitely a sense of a "New Tottenham" on the horizon, I'm not expecting miracles next season but I do feel like we'll be in much better shape with a far better outlook. There really is a sense that a world class manager and world class DoF are running things now and so on paper that should be a recipe for some form of success, how we can define that success remains to be seen but at the very least there's a lot more optimism for next season than there has been for the last 3 or 4. I'll probably come back and edit this if certain signings don't happen but assuming those we've been heavily linked arrive, I think Spurs will line up with something like this against Southampton on MD1: Hugo Romero, Dier, Torres Doherty, Bissouma, Bentancur, Perisic Kulu, Kane, Son Forster, Spence, Sanchez, Davies, Sessegnon, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Eriksen, Richarlison That squad is lightyears ahead of what we had last season, either pre or during games, it allows for a change in formation and a change in personnel in multiple positions that doesn't see a huge difference in quality (if at all) as it did previously.
Thanks for saving my thread DH I was just letting it quietly slip away. thinking well I did say it might be premature but I was expecting SOME replies . Hopefully we will get some more responses after your guiding opener.
Already it's looking like something back to the quality we had when Harry was managing. I must admit to being very excited about the coming season, which is always a bad move for a Spurs fan.
If we can get near or beyond the sides that 'Arry and Poch made, we'll be in for a treat that's for sure. All three sides seem quite different too. Harry's - had the higher amount of individual match winners with the likes of Bale, van der Vaart, Modric, Lennon and Adebayor (on loan version) all capable of winning a game on their own with a moment of brilliance. Because it wasn't always a cohesive team though it probably didn't do as well as it should've done, especially if the match winners didn't produce. Poch's - had a top class XI in its prime; strong defence, dominant midfield and potent attack and it worked brilliantly as a team with everyone knowing their role to a tee. Lacked depth though, once one cog from that XI was missing Spurs often looked considerably weaker for it. Conte's (if it comes together) - a squad built to last the distance. Some individual match winners but not as many as Harry's, a solid all around team but not quite as good as prime Poch's but we'll have players who can be rotated in and out that won't disrupt the flow as well as options off the bench to potentially change games (or ensure we don't lose), something neither Harry or Poch's had. Exciting summer if we pull it off. Pressure will certainly be on Conte to deliver too, I think he'll enjoy that though.
People are just biding their time to see who else we sign, Spurf. Couple weeks and this thread with be a 25 pager, lol.
For what it’s worth I still actually like a large majority of the squad, there’s a few exceptions of course but I’m just not enjoying the way we’re playing, I think we have a much higher ceiling than what we’re showing and hopefully in time we prove it. I’ve been down on Conte lately but I still back him for the most part, despite a few “Zidane’s available” quips. I just wish he’d make a few better choices. If I went over the squad, I’d happily keep about 80-85% of it in some capacity, whether it be starter or squad player. Hugo, Romero, Perisic, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Son, Kulu and Kane are good, key first XI players. Davies, Dier, Lenglet, Bissouma, Skipp and Richarlison are good enough to play in the first XI as well as provide good options in the squad, with one or two able to cement themselves as key starters. Forster, Spence, Tanganga and Gil are good squad players, with some having the potential to become starters to the point I’d like to see them given more game time. Emerson, Doherty, Sanchez, Sessegnon and Lucas are who I think we should say bye too in January/ the Summer as they’re the anchors who are considerably holding us back. Lucas has provided some unbelievable moments but it’s been too far and few between and I think it’s best if this is his last season with the club. And don’t worry, Spurf, a 25-pager is still on the cards!
Seriously it would be interesting to see what people think about our squad. The excitement during the window has given way to mixed feelings among our posters. DH has provided the meat of the discussion, do you agree with him. I suspect Sessegnon will be the subject of discussion. I still think he has potential and I think he has put in some decent performances but he does need more confidence to be more assertive, but surely that can be fixed. Bryan Gil has shone in the brief chances he's had and here | agree with DH that his size should not be such an issue. I remember Modric being described by many as too small to succeed in the PL and many were ready to get rid of Bale as a jonah. In my view it takes time for players to 'bed' in and some take longer than others. Bissouma is just at the beginning of the process. Those in the know are saying that Spurs still need time and additions to be real contenders and this won't be this season, but we are 3rd right now and that's pretty good if we can stay there.
I'll explain the reason why I'm "done" with Sessegnon. I think after three seasons with Spurs and a season with Hoffenheim we should've seen some form of development. Physically he certainly has, we see that with a lot of players around the ages from 18/19 to 21/22, they generally reach their physical "man form". Kane did this, Bale did it and many others have. But in terms of footballing ability I just see a distinctly average (and I'd say that's kind) footballer who's also extremely timid in his style of play that hasn't improved one iota since putting on a Spurs shirt, the fact he also started his career as a LW is also even more confusing as to why he's so bad with us, because at the very least he should be great offensively but suspect defensively, yet he's been awful when going forward in about 95% of his appearances. He's 22 now, still young of course but we should at least be seeing signs of a real baller in him at the least and I don't. I look at many other LBs/ LWBs in the league and around Europe and I find it strange how Sessegnon is nowhere near as good as them, when in theory, for what he cost us and the years he's been here now, plus the managers he's had the fortune of working with, he should be. As a person he's a top guy, gets his head down, never complains, even cut short his pre-season to do solo training with a specialist but the brutal reality is that he just isn't good enough on the pitch - and it's on the pitch that matters most. If you compare him to Gil, one of the reasons I'm very much "pro-Gil" is that he has that ability to get anyone out of their seat, he's fearless and it's the fearless players that I think are a joy to watch. He's actually stylistically a lot like Kulu, with that ability to drop the shoulder and a send an opposition player for a hotdog, despite not being an actual pacey player, Mousa Dembele was also a prime example of that too. Gil's also a very good crosser of the ball. He could improve his finishing and Conte obviously wants him to bulk up (something I don't find to be a necessity) but I think he just needs minutes, I think he's a star in the making but right now we're not letting him shine. If he were given the chances and minutes we've given to the likes of Lucas, Bergwijn in the last couple seasons, we'd probably all be having good discussions and debates as to who should be starting games this season between him, Kulu, Son and Richarlison. As for Bissouma, he's proven himself to be one of the best CMs in the Premier League the last couple years, for one reason or another he's not had many chances at Spurs so far and I think Conte's also trying to turn him into something he's not and that's stifling his game. When Bissouma plays he should be our prime ball carrier and the one we look too to control a midfield, yet he's often coming on or starting games playing as the defensive midfielder and it's helping no one. This is one of the reasons I've been critical of Conte of this season. Let Bissouma play like he did at Brighton and we'll see the best of him - and that'll benefit Spurs immensely too.
I think we have one world class player, Kane, obviously, then a collection of very good ones underneath. The likes of Son Lloris Højbjerg Kulusevski Richarlison Romero Dier Bentancur The list is non-exhaustive but these are players who are either world class in spells but have periods of anonymity or blunders where they don’t contribute enough in the right way, like Son and Lloris, or ones like Højbjerg or Dier who are just consistently very good but not elite, because they have the propensity to make mistakes, or because they have deficiencies in their game. This isn’t to say that players can’t improve and become world class, or indeed regress like Lloris has a bit, but that’s where they are right now. There are players like Bissouma who have proven PL quality playing a specific role in a system but haven’t yet shown they can step up to the demands of a CL club and/or adapt to what the coach currently demands. The teams who are definitively better than us in the league - City for example - have far more players who are world class and the vast majority of their others are in the very good category. They buy generally very well which means players tend to adapt more quickly. They also have one of the best coaches in the world. When Conte talks about being better at transfers he obviously means that we should be looking to acquire very good players or better. We largely have this summer - but I think also it’s important that if we’re going to buy young players, they either need to be ones that everyone agrees can immediately step up (which doesn’t seem to be the case with Spence, for example) or there needs to be a pre-defined plan about who we’re going to loan them to immediately, and why. Buying even very good players, like Richarlison, from other PL teams, let alone world class ones, is extremely expensive. We have the financial capability to do this but obviously the risk is high if things don’t work out. Basically we can beat anyone on our day if the right players turn up but otherwise we have not enough truly elite players to compete for the league consistently over the course of a season. Conte also needs to be spot on in his decision making and he hasn’t been so far, sometimes hampered by injuries, sometimes just decisions I don’t understand like persisting with Emerson and not giving Spence a run. Overall I think the squad is good. Definitely top 6 quality and top 4 if we put it together for a good period of time during the season, as we did last season. We don’t have the players who are consistently elite to challenge for the league right now and we lack strength in depth in key positions, namely both WBs, CCB and probably RCB too. This discussion should also encompass the mentality question that has rightly been raised over the years but it’s less tangible so difficult to address. Conte has said himself that you can’t buy or import it, it has to be forged. Let’s see if he’s not the latest manager to fail.
