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Mousa Dembele is not Paul Gascoigne.
Nacer Chadli is not David Ginola.
Ryan Mason is not Luka Modric.
The talent on this team is not top 4 talent and we are in the midst of a rebuilding process. It's been mentioned that there may be 10 players sold this summer while only bringing in 3 or 4 at key positions. So why are we shocked that we cannot create with Nacer Chadli, Andros Townsend, Ryan Mason or call out for Mousa Dembele as if he is the cure to all of our ills?
We are a severely flawed team with very little talent on the wings and the one talented player seems to be decreasing in his playing time (Erik Lamela). Most teams may be able to compensate for lack of talent on the wings by cycling play through the middle of the pitch but we are extremely thin and under talented there as well. Nabil Bentaleb is a good player and one for the future but unable to match midfields like Manchester United, this past weekend Aston Villa and others on a consistent basis. Ryan Mason is a serviceable, tough nosed player but again, over-run in the midfield. The options really don't go further than that. Paulinho is on his way out and has been a huge flop since moving to North London. Dembele hasn't been able to replicate his form that he displayed next to Sandro in his first season here and only looks productive playing in the number 10 spot. It ends there.
Along the backline, Danny Rose has been a great performer and our most reliable defender. Jan seems to have regained his form but still can be counted on for the occasional lapse in concentration. Eric Dier has a huge future ahead of him but needs a steady center back to partner with and to continue to be coached up. Fazio is too slow for the Premier League and while I once hoped he could be our physically dominant center back that covers his lack of pace; it's just not happening. Kyle Walker hasn't been himself this year and the arrival of Deandre Yedlin will hopefully spur competition and push both of them to improve.
Harry Kane is isolated up top and there isnt a real partner in case we ever defied the odds and played 2 strikers. Christian Eriksen is being moved around and wasted out of position. His performances lately have dropped as the level of the players around him have. Pochettino is not absent from blame but I cannot justifiably lay much of it at his feet. Yes, he plays Eriksen out of position but it's out of lack of options, it has to be, right?! The 4-2-3-1 formation just doesn't work and we've had 2 of our last 3 managers try to play in that shape to little creativity and chances created.
We've had some great results this year, Arsenal at home, Chelsea at home, getting to the finals of the Capital One Cup and we should be proud of that. This club is in the middle of a tear down and redesign. We need patience and to wake up, open our eyes and take an honest look at the talent on the clubs roster and what we expect of them. We are a 6th or 7th place team but let's hope that changes with a summer of overhauling the personnel. We need at least 1 winger, 1 box to box midfielder, a center back and another striker; then let's evaluate our performances with a new perspective.
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Marc A. Ashed
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great read, mason, chadli, andros.. and so on are good players but wont take us to the next level. need a top class passer next to bentaleb. a young cb to cover/rotate with dier next to vertonghen. a young striker to do likewise with kane. need new wingers, out and out wingers, go round there man and get crosses in, both left and right, eriksen needs some competition to. his performances over the last 10-15 games havent been acceptable.
ReplyDeleteyoung team that can improve, get the next two three transfer windows right and we can seriously improve. COYS
Eriksen has played more minutes of football this season than any other player in our squad. I doubt his drop off in performance is due to where he plays. Since we always play the same way its relatively easy for the opposition to set up to outnumber Bentaleb and Mason in midfield. You seem to have misunderstood the problem with wingers. Pochettino only ever plays wingers inverted, cutting in rather than overlapping. Townsend plays both sides of the pitch for Hodgson but hasn't played on the left the entire season for Spurs, not hard to see whose getting the most out of him. So it really doesn't matter who we have on the wings, we are ony going to see them heading back towards the congested centre.
ReplyDeletedont you have any ambition?? the point is we HAD a great team under Harry with some great players. BUT as always our great chairman likes to run the club as a business and NOT a footbal club. If you keep selling your best players you will get nowhere and that sexcatly what happens at Spurs. Some of you lot need to WAKE UP and stop putting up with this shit, year after year. You just mentioned, Arsenal and Chelsea at home... the rest of the games we have been dire.... and been quite fortunate in most. We are no better with Poch but not blaming him, I am blaming our glorious leader Levy as year fater year he makes mistake after mistake and taking use 5 yrs back.... but dont worry, you seem to be happy with 6th / 7th every year while the top 4 get even stronger.... what are we a West Ham? Im glad most fans are not like you.... show some ambition man. Arent you sick and tired of going in transition every year and wondering whose fault it is.... 1 man LEVY.... Get him out and we might just might progress.... but with Levy at the helm we will do NOTHING......
ReplyDeleteWow... That is a slightly naive and shortsighted view in my personal opinion.
DeleteIt is the bigger picture that needs to be looked at.
1. All of Levy's "running the club as a business" is leading to use having a brand new high capacity stadium. Which aswell as looking good brings bigger revenues which allows us to PAY BIGGER SALARIES TO ATTRACT BETTER PLAYERS!
Do you think we can attract the Edison Cavani's of this world for example on salaries for the most part which top out at £60k - £80k per week. Most of our squad is on a lot lower and of course you can have exceptions but we cannot pay the £100k+ a week salaries, which means we have to try to recruit talent that needs working rather than buying proven stars.
Even with champions league to attract players, do you think they will play for spurs when another club is willing to offer them more money? To get these stars, you need to pay the big bucks! And that means a sustainable business model, rather than doing a Leeds Utd, over reaching and crippling your club for years/decades to come.
2. Another thing being funded by investment from Levy "running the club as a business" is our academy... Complete with new players lodge and improved facilities at Enfield which is starting to turn out a very talented crop of home grown players. This could be especially important, with Dyke bringing in potential new rules requiring more home grown players per squad.
3. Selling our talented players. When a player wants to go, they are going to go... Or be banished to the bench for the remainder of their contract. A talent star who doesn't want to play or be there is only detrimental to morale and can be more harmful to the team. Levy is very good at getting the best price for even the most wantaway star... But will refuse when it could be too detrimental to the club; Look at how he turned down Chelskis offer for modric. When a player doesn't want to play, and you get a good offer... Then take it!
Until we are settled, have a solid manager for a few years, and better revenues coming in, we are going to be over achieving but still in the 7th to 4th place bracket. When you compare the salary costs of the squads in the top four to spurs salaries, then you can see the gulf between them. Chelsea, City, United, Liverpool and now are the latest to start opening the wallet.
Clubs like Everton and Southampton will have good seasons but really the team right behind that top 5 is Spurs. And that's kind of where we have been battling for the last few years and it's where we should expect to be until our situation changes.
Levy's good work is changing our situation for the better. But you have to look long term.
I agree that mistakes have been made. Baldini picking player rather than the managers, was a bit like someone playing football manager! And I too get frustrated that Levy has to answer to ENIC.
But Levy is a Spurs fan and a shrewd business man. And things that he does are to grow the club. It also grows the profits, but you cannot say that some of that profit is not being re-invested.
Look at Northumberland Park, and Tottenham in 5 years time, and where the club are, then tell me that Levy is useless, good for nothing, and needs to be ousted.
In my term "LEVY OUT" is for petty, small minded, impatient people who cannot see the bigger picture for spurs, and how strong they can become in the future...
Just be patient! I believe in Spurs!
COYS!
You do know that Levy owns a large part of ENIC don't you? - so answering to ENIC isn't a big chore fir Levy.
DeleteEverything we see is driven by Lewis and Levy to grow Spurs into a business they can sell at a huge profit when it suits them.
Will they build the stadium or sell first? We don't know, but they are not football men and neither of them have a clue on the football side. Their inability to pick and then stick with the right man to manage is legendary, and if they got it right it would not have cost as much as it has, yet we would be top 4.
Potchettino will NEVER. do better than 6-7th, as he is out of his depth - a philosophy that doesn't work and an inability to know how to change it.
The problem is that when he gets sacked, if ENIC are still in charge, the replacement will once again be wrong.
Sad days, with do much promise being squandered.
Brainwashed by Levy who is mugging you off! He will sell the club once the new stadium is built, by that time we would be about 13th in the league like the 90's with a new stadium half empty. Who will want to come to us then??? Any other business, he would have been sacked a long time ago.... All you Levy lovers need to open your and dont moan when we continue the decline...... Poch will be another manager who will fail and you guis will blame the manager and like you say not look at the BIGGER picture... ie Levy.... WAKE UP!!!
ReplyDeleteBefore Levy came along we were finishing 8th, 9th, 10th, and we even flirted with relegation. Since he too over we have been 4th, 5th & 6th in the main, and I would class that as progress. We have some of the best training facilities in Europe and we will have one of the best stadiums too.
ReplyDeleteWho exactly will want to buy a club languishing in 13th in the league? Levy won't be able to sell Spurs unless we are on the cusp of something good, in which case who cares!!
Let someone come along at the right time and invest that extra bit of money required to take us over the line to that next level.
I would much rather Spurs be a sustainable club, which is run properly. Some Spurs fans make me laugh though:
- get Redknapp out
- get Sherwood out
- get Levy out
We played our best football and made the latter stages of the Champions League under Redknapp. Sherwood is the kinda guy some people love to hate I suppose, but his win percentage batters every other Spurs manager over the part 20 years. At least he had a bit of personality, a bit of character and showed spirit and determination on the touchline.
This season is over, and we have to avoid Europey League at all costs, which means finishing in 8th place. Poch should try out some new formations and throw in some of the youngsters who may be able to make the 1st team squad next season.
Well said.
DeleteDue to financial commitments to the Northumberland park regeneration that are being met with government money ENIC and Levy cannot "not build the stadium" even if they did sell before which I highly doubt they ever would, we would still be better off due to over a decade of planning and hard work in order to give us one of the cutting edge stadiums in the country, maybe even Europe (Note I said one of, so not quite bernabau or Nou Camp... But still pretty damn good!) it doesn't matter whether you think that improvement is to make spurs a better business prospect or a better club, it benefits the club, players and fans regardless of motives, so can only be a good thing.
Surely if you think they are building to sell, if you want them out that badly then the hard work being done is surely a good thing. And who knows, that additional investment from a new buyer (although potentially hindered by FFP) could help bridge that gap. Although I would prefer to be a self made club, rather than a Chelski or City who benefitted before FFP came into force.
I also agree that missing out on Europe would not be a disaster this season. I don't know what the rules are about not fielding your strongest team and making too many changes... But play the kids, let's see Winks, Yedlin and the youngsters get a run out... See what they can do. And play next season without the Thursday Sunday crap next year.
If mourinho tanked his last few games of an all but finished season in order to give himself a better chance the following year, he would be labelled intelligent and savvy. But I have a feeling Pochetino would be seen to have lost out to Southampton etc. don't wish to be rid of Levy so readily. He is learning to let his manager manage rather than interfering too much, and if you get rid you could end up with a real penny pincher like Mike Ashley, or Some one half barmy like Vincent Tan or Assem Allam!!
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and the fact that you dislike levy and want him out I can appreciate.
But categorically saying that spurs will be left worse off than before his arrived is just clearly untrue!
I love the 'brain washed by Levy'. No one is brain washed they just know what modern football is like. Of course, ENIC will sell. That's what they do, but to realise a huge profit they must be successful on the field because that dictates the profitability. If they build a massive stadium and end up 13th, the stadium will be half empty; the club will make a loss; it won't be worth buying. There really are loads of fans who think that changing the chairman will somehow turn us into world beaters. The only thing that will do that is to get a billionaire. A new stadium with all the income it will bring is our only chance of catching Man U, City and Chelsea and put us on a par with Arsenal. This new chairman who replaces Levy does what exactly? Buys loads of world class players? With what? Monopoly money? Tottenham are the only club with a tiny ground challenging near the top every year. Getting to the next level is bringing in loads of extra income and/or getting a billionaire.
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