We had a chance to start that in January but rejected a £20m offer for Emerson from the Saudis… I wouldn’t pay a bag of chips for the guy, couldn’t believe it when the journos said we rejected the bid.
I think Emerson's had a decent season. He even played alright today, despite being doubled up on. He's not well suited to Postecoglou's system, but he's just got on with it when selected.
He offered nothing today as he always does. Done one of his “fall overs” when in possession because he lacks the technical ability or brain to make something but the ref didn’t buy it and Chelsea played on.
He defended fairly well despite being out of position and outnumbered. We might have had two players that actually played better than him and they were next to him. That's more a criticism of the rest of the team than a glowing review, but still.
I'm glad to see one of our managers accepting responsibility, but that's not looking good, is it? Nice that he's not publicly throwing anyone under the bus, though. The ultimate blame lies with the man doing that job and they should have the grace to accept that.
Ange becomes the first Spurs manager to lose 3 consecutive league games twice in the same season since Juande Ramos in 2010 Ouch
Not shifting much of our dead wood quickly enough is starting to feel like we could be in a bit of a perpetual cycle of “too much to do” in each transfer window for the next couple of years, unless we are ruthless. Whilst the list of players we need to shift has been obvious for a while, IMO there’s more players who perhaps we haven’t yet mentioned that could soon be compounding that list further in the not too distant future, only adding to the workload.
...and there it is!!!! Eventually, we grasp at this straw. I found myself thinking it last night. I gave myself a telling off and got on with something else.
It has been haunting us for years, and the price you pay for changing managers more frequently than the Tories change party leader is that every other year a different group of players risk being added to the 'not in my plans' list, despite not necessarily being all that bad objectively. Cans we've kicked down lots of roads: Ndombele Lo Celso Sess Rodon* Reguilon* Tanganga* Gil Spence That's already 8 senior players who clearly and obviously have no future at the club, many of whom have known this for years. I wouldn't be at all surprised if any or all of the following made their way into Ange's 'goodbye' list this summer: Royal Richarlison Skipp Hojbjerg Bissouma Over a dozen players in the outbox. I think the three indicated seem to have done enough to secure moves away, from what we're hearing, but there is no guarantee about any of the others.
Those players cost a combined £330m give or take. Worryingly bad recruitment - albeit I have always maintained I think Reguilon is a decent LB, not a world beater but considerably better than a lot of players in the squad, which I suppose in itself is an issue. Hojbjerg is the only player on that list (minus the academy guys) who we’ll be able to sell for a profit. Kulusevski is also another name that could be on that list though, far too patchy with form. Albeit it’s highly unlikely he does leave, whilst Davies’ future is also in doubt in my opinion.
I don't think Kulusevski will be listed but the sad truth is I think we have to accept the fact that we signed a more expensive, ginger version of Nacer Chadli. Capable of the occasional moment of brilliance but otherwise bang average.
“We were so far off it and that’s on me today”. Wolves, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea and more....rinse and repeat! There's only so many times he can come out with this. We've got to hope that he actually has some idea why this is happening game in, game out. His lack of (really) top level coaching and management experience may be starting to show. I really like the guy and accept transitioning to the PL was never going to be straightforward. Next season will define whether he is as good a coach as he is lauded to be or whether he reached his limit in the SPL.....
I feel very similar, I really do like the guy which makes it tough to criticise but the **** he’s been churning out since basically November/ December is awful. And I think the fact that a lot of people liking him as a person is a large factor as to why he’s not gotten as much heat as the likes of Conte and Jose got because this football’s as bad as any of their’s was. The harsh reality so far is that he’s lived off of an excellent first three months which are looking more and more like a honeymoon/ new manager bounce period more so than a sign of things to come. It feels like his style of play has already been found out and his refusal to accept weaknesses in play and total neglect of our youth is making it hard to sympathise with him too. Big improvements are needed next season as otherwise like I said last night, he won’t see Christmas as Spurs manager, something will need to change and as great as it’d be to sack about 18 players that’s not possible.
The hope I have is that while it is true that the system was sussed out very easily by most opposition at this level (something he has never experienced before in his career), equally the solutions to make it work and work well are pretty simple. At least in theory, in practice the solutions are expensive and tricky to get right. 1) A top quality midfielder to shield the defense against counter attacks. Rodri would be ideal but that ain't happening so I think we should be looking at Pauliniha. 2) A proper striker who isn't necessarily a goal machine but does have the intelligence and nous to drag parked buses out of position and create pockets of space for the likes of Son, Maddison, Johnson and Bentancur. Someone like Bobby Firmino would be ideal imo if a younger version of him exists our there. Richarlison's problem isn't just that he doesn't score enough, his overall game is very one dimensional. 3) Better squad depth and better promotion of young talent. 4) New set piece coach.
