Seems to me that their aim was to ensure peak fitness/form for WC 2022, and WTF cares what happens to the Spurs season once that was done.
Will be a cold day in hell before managers at the top end of the PL come out post-match and say: I got it wrong. Starting XI selection/formation. Not adapting quickly/adequately enough after "first contact with the enemy" .
Like me you probably fell in love with the game before money mattered so much and there was a smaller difference between the top clubs and the rest. Unfortunately that state of affairs will never come back. We've only got three ways to go....a war of attrition to cement ourselves in the top four, throwing everything at one of the cups and risking a slow decline or being taken over by a foreign government entity. The first is the best of three bad options imho.
I wouldn’t agree with that and I may not rate Richarlison one iota but I don’t think he has that mindset of taking his foot off the gas. Perisic doesn’t either, he even returned early after the World Cup and is seen training on days off, there’s a reason he’s had a very impressive career at the top. They’ve just not been great signings so far, one possibly has lost his legs to play too intensively in the Prem and one just isn’t good enough, never has been.
Agreed re his position. When we signed him I'd assumed it was as cover for Son, nothing else. Ultimately though if you are looking to a 33/34 year old to take you to the next level, chances are you're looking in the wrong place. Even Messi hasn't been able to take PSG up a step since signing for them at a similar age.
I think you’re saying that with hindsight, CK. When we signed him you were of a similar opinion to me as we were both disappointed Reguilon was the one to make way for his arrival and not Sessegnon, so acknowledged Perisic would be our first choice LWB with Sessegnon as understudy. There was never really any talk of Perisic being competition for Son when he joined, even if it is a position he’s likely most suited to nowadays.
Champions league has been a hindrance of clubs like spurs who can’t compete with the state owned clubs like city or the commerciability of United. What good does getting the Champions league do? I can’t think of any players we’ve signed who wouldn’t have come if we weren’t in it and surely with the riches of the prem and the money we generate through the stadium the money offered by getting through the groups in the champions league is small in comparison. The promotion and obsession of the champs league has resulted in clubs thinking it’s where they need to be when in fact no matter how many times we qualify, chances are it will still be one of around 4 or 5 clubs that win it unless things do fall our way once in a blue moon like in 2019.
1. It brings in millions in revenues to the club. 2. It acts as a "shop window" for those players who may wish to end up at an "apex" Euro club. Therefore : - #1 brings the money to pay the transfer/wage costs to bring in the players that enable on-pitch competition with aforementioned clubs. - #2 gets you the likes of Modric, Bale etc. Do you not want Spurs to have any of the above (taking entertaining football as the minimum regardless of league/cup success) ??
Modric and bale both joined when we were in the europa league and up and coming players. Would we ever get a player of the standard that they became now if we keep getting champions league? I would say no. We were in the champions league and still couldn’t keep them. We’ve been in it pretty regularly now for the last 6/7 years and we’re still nowhere near the likes of city so has it actually helped that much. I agree we should be aiming to compete in it as obviously you want to finish as high in the league as you can but not at the detriment of actually going all out to win a cup. How has the champions league become the be all and end all?
Because the CL money is such a massive factor. You’re right that we got the likes of Modric and Bale without CL football but the game has changed massively since then. Football, and the PL, now is unrecognisable compared to 10, 15 years ago.
It’s actually quite interesting thinking of this. I don’t think we’ve signed a single player in our years in the CL that’s improved the team. Going over roughly the last decade: Lloris, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Dembele, Eriksen, Son, Romero, Bentancur and Kulusevski are all players we’ve signed whilst not being in the Champions League the season they joined. We’ve then spent around £230m on the likes of Sanchez, Sessegnon, Ndombele, Lo Celso and Richarlison whilst being in the CL. And not a single one of those players at the time were a genuine CL quality player, most were signed as promising players with world class potential, with Richarlison being the head scratcher as he’s neither young nor world class/ has potential. Really does highlight how awful we are at spending large amounts of money, along with not targeting the types of players we should be when in Europe’s elite competition.
Agreed. It’s just how does a club like us manage to juggle competing for a champions league place, progressing in the champions league when we get there while still trying to win a domestic cup along the way?
...or being invested in/taken over by someone who sees sporting excellence as a higher priority than ENIC. Both Liverpool and Arsenal have been taken over by American owners who have invested their own money in seeking success on the pitch. When Daniel Levy said that there was an exciting development that would be revealed within the next 18 months, did anyone believe that it was going to be directed towards the winning of silverware? Of the £150m that ENIC finally invested in the summer, only £97m was drawn down. We still have a defence that's unfit for purpose and will ensure that we win nothing again this season and face an uphill task of qualifying for the CL. Where's that remaining £53m going? My bet's on the hotel build...we won't be seeing it on the pitch.
Yes and apparently he is on 100K a week, the mind boggles. https://www.spotrac.com/epl/tottenham-hotspur-fc/payroll/
I'm not sure your maths works out £60m for Richarlison £42.5m to make Romero's loan permanent £25m for Bissouma £15m for Udogie £12.5m for Spence That works out at £155m, albeit with £32m coming back in for Bergwijn & CCV (which does beg the question if that sum has been ringfenced to make Deki's loan permanent)
No, Spurs were not. Modric left in 2012 (one season after the 2010-11 CL foray, and before what have been a 2nd consecutive season in the EL) . Bale : ^2012 ^2013 and ^one ^two and ^2nd ^3rd.
