I agree with the bolded sentence. I can't either. Ange has had to oversee big changes that I'm not sure these other managers have in the same time period. He inherited an absolute mess. These comparisons always leave out key differences. Sarr is young and relatively new to the league as is Bergvall. Bentancur has been in and out for various reasons. Gray has been unavailable for midfield because the defence is threadbare. So even though I agree with your suggestion of formation in regards to the midfield, the squad is too brittle and unbalanced right now to even do what you're suggesting for any sustained period. You list these teams with 'weaker' squads, weaker how? Do they have young relatively PL inexperienced midfielders like us? Do they have injury issues and players being suspended for saying racist things and inhaling substances on social media? Do they have their top CB pair injured, with their youngest freshest signing covering the position with another out of position LB, and goalkeeper injured for extended periods all whilst competing in all competitions? To get through all of that, sitting pretty in the top half of the table in a position worthy of our clubs status, whilst being limited to relatively young signings is expecting a miracle. This idea that our squad is better because we think it, and because we're used to being above them in the league, and because 'money' so smells of entitlement. Two years is ample time if you get rid of unwanted players quickly, sign the right players even more quickly and you are fully backed by the board. Gray was arguably the biggest signing of the window and he's played once in his actual position. A kid from lower league. Where do we get the hubris from to assume that our squad is better than these other teams when the majority of our signings don't have premier league experience and are young players? In comparison, when we acquired Dele, could you imagine playing him at centre back to cover and expecting good results? Would never have happened because our basics were covered far better before he arrived. Hate on the flying fullbacks if you want, but even if the full backs remained in regular 'non Ange' roles, and stayed fit, you'd still have the whopping great issue of the unbalanced squad and injuries making it impossible to do what you suggest in the middle of the park over the last season. This is my point. I believe the middle of the park is where games are won and lost. I also believe that we are relatively spineless. I believe this is why we are poorer than anything you've seen in the last five years. Ange has been trying to get PL experienced CMs and CBs for at least three windows unsuccessfully. Gallagher, Rogers, Guehi, Adarabioyo, Kelly to name a few. Why they don't want to come is another issue. Is it his fault? I don't know. These kind of signings to me are 'basics'. Not a sexy new kid sensation, of flair players just experienced working players who had some strength suitable for the PL. Ready to go. No nonsense. Kids are the icing on the cake. These no nonsense players are the cake. Hence we are unbalanced. As an aside, look at the recent legends match and note how Sandro, even at his age, commands the centre of the park. Was he a DM? Maybe, I dunno, CM perhaps. That is the kind of command that is missing. Bissouma has been too unreliable, can't blame Ange for that, Conte had similar issues with him. Bentancur is good when he has reliable steel next to him. We need at least two midfielders with reliable steel. Bergvall may be one. Gray we have hardly seen there. Both are very young. Where is the steel? Why are we expecting this command from kids? Why are we expecting to win matches without said steel?
So how many of the players of those team’s squads are you taking in Spurs’ XI then? Surely there’s a handful in each you must feel make them better than us so I’d be intrigued to know who. You’re right we have had injuries, I personally lay blame on the system for a lot of them because it’s unsustainable to be expecting so many sprints per game. The warning signs were there last season - and at Celtic - adding in Europa this season has then multiplied the issues. Though Bournemouth have had a similar amount of injuries to us, hasn’t really stopped Iraola from still playing a recognisable brand of football. We’ve not been linked with Morgan Rogers. Thinking Chelsea will do a deal for Gallagher is like hoping to win the lottery. Guehi was a deadline day bid that Levy’s synonymous for with the “we tried” narrative. Journalists even said Guehi’s entourage were caught by surprise of the bid.
Again, call me what you like. You just don’t like the fact I called out your blatant lie. It’s there in black and white, you've just instead chosen to call me names and even try putting words in my mouth because you’re too weak to accept you made a mistake.
Do you also blame the system for Richarleson, our only senior striker cover, being out? Bournemouth have has way less games to play, they were in less competitions. Oops. Ramsey is the Villa player I was thinking of.
Probably not Richarlison, but I blame the system for the amount of hamstring injuries we keep getting. I think we’ve had 6 or 7 so far. Also the rushing back of Romero and van de Ven - something about 5 of us on here commented on at the very time of the lineup announcement - was beyond naive, whether that’s on Ange or the medical department is anyone’s guess but it was an absolute car crash of a decision. Trying to play an extremely intensive system in the most intensive league in the world is just unsustainable. On the rare times we have players fit it can be great to watch but I don’t believe we’ll ever see that consistently because we’ll rarely have a fit enough squad. The manager’s failed to adapt and learn. The injuries hasn’t stopped Bournemouth from still playing a recognisable system. Many of our fans have been watching us for months now and scratching our heads as to what were meant to be doing, the players look as such too.
I'm not calling you names sir. I'm describing your actions. I know what I meant. You interpreted it differently. That's up to you. I can see how you got there, but that's not what I was meaning or saying in that sentence. I have ever believed there was a string of games that Modric and Krancar played in a pivot and that we got battered with that exact pivot regularly. I was describing a time that we got battered regularly, that particular game represented that time to me. The memory stood out so I referenced it in my sentence. You are entitled to your own interpretation that is different to mine. If analysing it, researching and, hanging on to it and make yourself right and me wrong in your head makes you feel good, feel free. This particular sub-argument is pointless and doesn't change the actually point I'm making either way. I haven't tried to put words in your mouth. This is the last I'll say on this Modric - Krancar sentence.
So to summarise all this, was the modric and krancar pivot bad or good? In all seriousness, do we attribute the blame to ange for not playing players in their position/not giving them a go until dire straits and lack of personnel (bergvall and gray barely playing until injuries hit and even then gray not even being played in his actual position) or is this Levys fault for not buying anyone to play the coveted DM position and having enough decent CB cover (which everyone mentioned in the summer). or maybe blame both Not sure how many more midfielders and CBs you want Dragusin, Romero, Van Der Ven, davies and there were a few more up and coming youth players that ange didn't touch with a barge pole (Dorrington, Phillips) Maddison, Bissouma, Sarr, Bentancur, Gray, Bergvall, potentially Kuluservski
Then that’s on you for not typing the sentence more clearly. No one else on here would’ve interpreted - “Redknapp had Modric and Krancar playing in a midfield two and we were getting battered regularly” - any other way to what I did, it’s a literal statement that says we were losing games heavily with a specific pairing. I’d even still challenge your point regardless of who was in the pivot under Redknapp though as I don’t remember any period(s) of being regularly battered under him. We had some bad results, as we’ve had under every manager but unless we have different opinions or views on what being regularly battered means (and/ or how many games you need to lose for it to be considered regular), I struggle to remember any periods where we suffered as such. If you have the data by all means show it.
Also up until both Van Der Ven and Romero were both out and having a full pre season, i don't think the PL form was that hot by Ange which has obviously gotten much worse with both of them out
I think it’s a mess from all involved. The squad planning from the DoF/ manager/ chairman has been naive by thinking we can just largely sign kids. The manager then neglecting so many players for ages only to then heavily rely on them. Him also playing players outside of their strengths doesn’t help either. The thing I’d also say about our DM slot is that I’m not actually sure Ange plays with a recognised one. Many Spurs fans recognise that Wanyama, Sandro and Parker were great DMs/ ball winners for us but I don’t think Ange would actually target those types. Hojbjerg and Skipp were arguably the closest players to those and weren’t favoured by Ange. So it’s a tricky situation to know if he actually wants that proper ball winner or not. We were linked with Gallagher who’s basically the English Hojbjerg so that was also odd considering we could’ve just kept the Dane. Basically I don’t think anyone knows what’s going on; manager, chairman, DoF and certainly us fans!
****! Definitely blame both. With Danso in and Dragusin a long term doubt, give me 1 CB preferably with Premier league experience so we don't go to **** every time we don't have Romero and Van Der Ven and we can stop playing Gray at CB. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. I see Kulu and Maddison as AMs. Davies I see as an LB, part time CB solution that should not be relied upon to play CB at the level we would like to for any extended period. Give me two CMs who have some bite and steel, that aren't kids, that either have some PL experience, or are undisputed in their prowess and tenacity. Maybe even just one with the way Bergvall is shaping up. Two for sure if Bissouma can't find form and is on the way out. Not loads, just enough to balance the squad and give the kids some experience to leverage and learn from. Skipp and Højbjerg were replaced with Gray and Bergvall. Kids. New to the league. Bergvall may well turn out to be an improvement on Skipp, Gray we haven't seen enough yet, because of the imbalance, whether or not he improves upon Højbjerg. Ideally we should be able to compare with the old squad and see improvements.
It's definitely down to Ange's system as the deepest midfielder is there to move the ball forward first and foremost, while we have Sarr (and, last season, Skipp) as high-pressing CMs You could see the same with Ange's Celtic: Reo Hatate may have lined up where DMs play but his role was more about progressing the ball forward, and similarly Callum McGregor served as the high-pressing CM in that system Which does beg the question where Ange sees Archie Gray in his system: at the base of the midfield, or rotating with Sarr
You're right that it's down to interpretation, for me, the early part of Rednkapp's chapter contained many a battering. Enough to call it regular. Maybe not to you. Spurs have had a long reputation of being soft. Especially soft in the middle. It was the case when Redknapp came in, I heard him say that he wanted more toughness to go with the flair. To change the narrative of what being a Spurs team means. Hence Palacios, Sandro and Parker. This video illustrates the rollercoaster ride, the early batterings, and the changes, quite well. Look at the quality that he brought to the club early doors via PL experienced players. Solanke and Maddison are the only two signings with significant PL experience under Ange. The difference is vast. Our expectations are not realistic when you actually look at the quality of signings. We haven't signed one senior CM since Ange arrived. We've gotten rid of Lo Celso, Højbjerg and Skipp. Yet we are expected to be better in that area the pitch?
There's a weird thing where our midfield seems to always wind up being porous, which the next manager has to fix George Graham brought in Steffen Freund and Tim Sherwood so we didn't have to play Colin Calderwood in central midfield anymore Frank Arnesen brought in Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis because the shattered remains of Jamie Redknapp couldn't operate as a DM ...while Santini bristled about Michael Carrick being brought in for this purpose Harry Redknapp brought in Wilson Palacios (and, later, Sandro and Scott Parker) because it turned out Didier Zokora wasn't a suitable replacement for Michael Carrick or Edgar Davids Poch first moved Eric Dier into midfield and later signed Victor Wanyama when Nabil Bentaleb and Etienne Capoue's attitudes talked themselves out the door The Ubermensch brought in Hojbjerg because injuries caught up to Dembele and Wanyama yet there was no replacements for them
Hearing a lot about us prioritising Tyler Dibling for a hell of a lot of money this summer , he looks a good prospect but is he what we want right now , the money could be better spent on instant impact players rather than a jam tomorrow prospect
Agree. Although I would love Dibling and think he could be a star. 100% need a ready to go midfielder too. Need another centre back if Romero is off too.
