Article by Marc AshedListen to the latest episode of the e-Spurs Podcast!
Continuing with the profiling of candidates to be the next Spurs manager, I will examine the case for Luciano Spalletti, the man that AVB replaced at Zenit St. Petersburg. As I am writing this article, I am chatting with Tor-Kristian Karlsen (@karlsentk) regarding Luciano Spalletti. Karlsen was quoted in CNN saying “Spalletti's one of the greatest coaches in world football. One who is able to improve individual players and teach his teams to play according to sophisticated attacking patterns. One day he will take charge of a big club, I have no doubt.”
That is high praise from a respected football man. Spalletti won (2) Coppa Italia titles, 1 Supercoppa Italiana and (2) domestic titles in Russia and (2) Russian Premier League titles. Simply put, he has been successful at multiple clubs in multiple countries. For the people that want a manager who has a proven record of trophies, Spalletti will be on your list.
By all accounts, Zenit St. Petersburg has a President, Alexander Dyukov who is cut from the Daniel Levy mold. Spalletti lasted 4 years which is also longer than any of our last 9 managers aside from Harry Redknapp. He has the thick skin required to deal with Mr. Levy. So far, so good, right? It gets better.
According to Karlsen, not only does Spalletti deliver results but he improves his players. Imagine Lamela with an Italian speaking manager helping him settle and getting the best out of him. His 4-2-3-1, quasi 4-3-3 formation would suit Lamela well and further the development of my personal favourite, Christian Eriksen.
Spalletti's Italian passport may help form a strong bond (if he doesn't already have one) with Franco Baldini. Baldini will be less involved in the scouting next year with the re-hiring of Ian Broomfield but he is a fantastic negotiator. The Baldini-Broomfield team can achieve great things in the market if they are both here in summer. A good relationship between the manager and Director of Football is crucial and a full Italian job may help get everybody at our club on the same page and heading in the same direction.
The negatives? Well, he does speak English but similar to Pochettino, it's not a full mastery of the language. He has proven himself in Italy and Russia, not England or Spain. His lack of Premier League experience can be an issue for some.
For me, hearing some quality football minds like Karlsen's singing Spalletti's praises helps win me over. My friend Adie is a big fan of Spalletti's because of his winning track record and I can be won over. We were linked with him in March and there are whispers that we have been in touch with his advisers in the past few days. How would you feel about Luciano Spalletti becoming the next manager of Tottenham?
Look forward to the comments to @e_spurs or @GhostOfVDV
© e-Spurs 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Spurs
Luciano Spalletti is the best choice we can have. Great man, great person, great manager. The right man to start a new THFC like we were under Harry. Of course he is so much better than Allegri, and i retain more appropriate to our club than LVG.
ReplyDeleteAn italian spurs fan
Wanted Tim to make a fist of it , but dose not seem to have the players, maybe Spalletti is the way to go but but but give him time Mr Levy
ReplyDeleteIrish spurs fan