OK so let's try the fact that these clubs are not looking to buy 50 - 60 million players as we are. That should mean we are buying higher quality players but ironically two of our best recent singings Kulusevski (around 30million) Bentancur (around 25million) whereas two of our worst Ndombele (50 million) Richarlison (60 million). Brighton, Brentford, and Southampton do not I assume pay these kind of figures for their players and yet they still produce players wanted by the top 6. Figures again PS They do not take into account the players still at these clubs that would do well at top 6 clubs so once again my argument has to be based on the performances rather than the figures we are discussing.
I think you’re confusing formation with style and/ or philosophy. City still play the Tiki Taka football Pep is known for regardless of their formation. They’re still a dominant side with possession whether they have 3 or 4 or 5 at the back, he’s probably only tinkered his style a little to suit a more target man type striker like Haaland, whereas previously someone like Aguero was more able to be involved in fluid buildup but the large part of his style and philosophy remains as it did at Barca and Bayern. Similar to Poch, in 14/15 and 15/16 we were married to the 4231 formation but in 16/17 we played a 5221 for about 2/3 of it yet still largely played the same brand of football of high press and possession. As for Richarlison, international football probably suits him far better than it does Jesus due to his size and power. But I also wouldn’t judge players on value and quality based on international football as it’s generally of a lower standard than the Premier League and any of Europe’s top five for that matter. In the Premier League, Richarlison has never been anything but average and players of that ilk shouldn’t be going for anything over £30m, let alone double that.
Daniel's put his head above the parapet again. I'm sure that it's partly because nobody else with a shred of authority or credibility is left, but why now? I can't help but feel the bullshit about Kane winning a trophy with us, having the club goal scoring record and a statue outside the stadium points the way. I wonder who this is aimed at, because it certainly isn't for Kane's consumption...? Levy has no grounds upon which to hold out any truly realistic hope of a trophy, given we're in turmoil. Whether Kane stays or goes, this summer or next, he's likely to hold the record for the rest of his life...and a statue.....BIG WOW!! If that's the best hand that we've got to play...he's leaving. Daniel says very little in any public forums....when he does, you can tell why.
Your original assertion was that we have failed every time we buy from another PL club as we could have identified that player when they bought him. I simply don't think that is true. The reality is that of the players they buy only a small number become really good and no-one knows which they will be a priori. Player development is also linked to being given time on the pitch and we simply can't buy four or five average players every year and put most of them in the team because that won't get us top 4. The likes of Brentford and Brighton have no choice but to do exactly that and if they do it well, then a) they will finish top half and b) some of their players will develop and be coveted by the likes of us.
Daniel Levy can’t create a winning team…a winning ethos at the club…he isn’t capable of doing the hard yards so he does the easy stuff nice shiny stadium…a statue maybe…probably throw in free tickets to every concert foreve for Kane and his family if he stays…probably offered Kanes kids season tickets when they are older too…will make sure the kids get into the Spurs academy when they grow up etc etc…whatever money can buy. He tried that with the team too…get in the most expensive manager…that’ll sort the problem out its the kind of glory and silverware on offer at the Lane he’s absolutely clueless
Brentford in the championship had 3 amazing attackers Watkins Buendia Toney they sold 2…still got promotion some clubs know when to do business others don’t and now Brentford are rubbing shoulders with us
The reality is we have failed because if we had spotted the player before he went to the other PL club we would save money and have the player earlier. Saying that doesn't mean I EXPECT us to do that, it is pointing out that it is possible to find players before they become rich and famous and make them rich and famous. Indeed we have tried to pursue this method for a long time under ENIC. Buying young players as investments you could say that Bryan Gil is in that mould except he cost a lot of money because Lamella was part of the price. I suspect that the reason we have not found any Sons lately is because we are trying to please managers who are used to buying the most expensive players and are not interested in developing talent as Pochettino and Redknapp were. What I am trying to do here PS is understand what policy we have been pursuing for the last 4 years because on the surface our buying has been haphazard to say the least. At the same time clubs like Brighton and Brentford have gone from strength to strength. We have been doing something wrong and they have been doing something right. Yes we were 4th last season and we are surprisingly still close this season, although I suspect not for much longer but this is more to do with the failures of Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal than our success. We have clearly blown millions on unsuitable players our act needs to improve if we are to remain competitive in an increasingly difficult league. I think as DH has said we have a decent squad with potential and the addition of a couple of players and a goalkeeper all marshalled by a knowledgeable manager without a huge ego and next season could be much brighter. Most of all we need a manager who will play our players to their strengths and not try to force them into a rigid system that plays them out of position. Hence the ego comment. Come back Harry Redknapp and forget Sandra's washing for a bit, I'm sure she'll forgive you as she always has. The good news Harry is that Darren Bent has gone.
It can be seen in the nonsense of senior appointments and transfers. We're never ahead of the game. People come in well into the close season...and players well into the season...often unfit and unprepared. Sure, we saved a few bob...but at significant detriment to our sporting ambitions (such as they are.)
I don't think we can dismiss the training ground/academy infrastructure, or at least the new stadium, as the "easy stuff", least of all when it really does deliver a superb fan experience and was built on the foundations of our old stadium. The easy option by a mile would've been to push for occupancy of the London Stadium instead of West Ham. I'm not sure how serious we ever were with our bid, or if Levy would've pursued a move to Stratford had the bid been accepted, but reports at the time did suggest that he saw it as a Plan B and that this underlying doubt came across (along with claret envelopes containing wads of cash for various Tory Assembly members and our floppy-haired Mayor) to the committee who took it into consideration in their final decision. The fact that within 7 years of our legal case being withdrawn, we'd moved into a 60,000 seater state of the art stadium with a bloody retractable pitch, development for the surrounding areas and did so with a debt structure that literally doesn't affect our finances is nothing short of remarkable imo. It was precisely the fact that the stadium was so hard that Levy - who should've delegated to others - took his eye off the pitch in 2018/19 and as a consequence we didn't sign anyone. What frustrates me about him and ENIC is precisely the split in ability between business and sport. In the former, they are almost peerless in this country if not the world. But in the latter, they need help - it's as simple as that. Until now we've tended to stumble across successful periods and when they've fallen into our laps, we don't know what to do with them so they go to waste.
The essential equivalence/difference is that both clubs had a sale bounty. For Spurs, Bale. For the Poool, Coutinho. Spurs did not use their bounty wisely to consolidate upwards (actually declined for two seasons) while the Poool did.
Okay, I think I've cracked it: can we have a manager whose team talks don't look uncannily like this?
A couple of seasons back there were people on this very board saying that a certain club had found the winning formula. A formula we should be copying because we were doing poorly relative to them. Indeed, people had every expectation that the other club would become more successful than us. Clearly circumstances are not exactly the same, but the club being lauded at the time was Leicester.
The same Leicester that’s won the Premier League and FA Cup within the last 6-7 seasons? It’s easy to see why we were envious of them. They couldn’t sustain their position due to finances but their fans have had memories that’ll last a life time.
Leicester's formula was modelled on Dortmund's: sell a star player for a hefty fee every summer and use that fee to buy 3-4 key players, and repeat Where that system failed came down to a combination of failing to make that major sale in the summer of 2021 yet still adding 3-4 key players to their squad so that FFP came knocking the following summer, and the issue that Dortmund can offer CL football most years so can retain a core of their side while Leicester can't and that's why players are letting their contracts run down so they can leave for nothing this summer Now, where is that post I made to one of their lurkers on this board 5-6 years ago suggesting they would be swapping tales of how they won the league once while playing in the Championship...?
I very much doubt the Spurs supporters of certain ages in 1976-77 were saying : Oh well, never mind. If we stay at this level for years at least I saw Spurs win the Double / FA cups / UEFA trophies etc.
Benrahma not Buendia (he was at Norwich) and it was BMW - Benrahma, Watkins and Mbeumo They sold Watkins and replaced him with Toney and then won promotion
