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Re-assessing our aims for the season

Armchair Expert

Armchair Expert

Vedran Corluka
What should be our aims then now that we know roughly where we stand?

I don't think many of us are surprised at how we are struggling, the team is woeful.

If, in 2010 ish when we were good, we came up against a team containing Dier at right back, todays Kaboul, Rose, Mason, Capoue, this Lamela, Chadli and disinterested Ade, then looked at the options on the bench, we would have expected to absolutely steam roll them.

Our only consistently good performer with genuinely quality is Lloris.

I think at the start of the season most were hoping for top 6, maybe a cup run, maybe finally doing something in the EL.

What do we want/expect now?

I can't help but feel we have regressed right back to the Summer of Santini/Jol/Arnsean. We are literally starting from scratch again. All semblence of our quality side has completely dissipated.

So realistically, where do we hope to finish? To be honest, if we can et top ten I would take that now. I think we are clearly better than QPR and Burnley, probably Palace and Stoke. Who else?

Yep, I'd take top 10 and a crack at a cup. I can't remember last time we had a method of play and a philosophy, but if Poch could insert either or before the end of the season that would be most welcome.

Honestly, our team this season is no better than Aston Villa sides from the recent past.

I'm hoping for top 10 and a Hull style cup run, but I think we could be looking at anything as low as 12th.

The regression is truly shocking, but has been a sure and steady process.

Predictions?
 
Same as at the start of the season: give Poch the time he needs to change things. The scale of the task is proving clear for all to see, and the list of dead wood he has to forcibly kick the f*ck out is long indeed. But this season was never going to be about direct achievements: it was always going to be far more about weeding the spineless ones out of the club and imposing a philosophy that will hopefully see us play consistently next season.

As for whether this vision is shared by our delightful board and higher ups (Whose idea of backing seems to be Fazio and Stambouli), we will soon see.
 
Gotta stick with it really - no use keep changing things hoping to strike gold with an instant success story. Give him the time to make the team his over a couple/three season and assess it then.

Been having the same results/performances for a couple of seasons now so it's not clear whether it's the managers or the players
 
DubaiSpur said:
Same as at the start of the season: give Poch the time he needs to change things. The scale of the task is proving clear for all to see, and the list of dead wood he has to forcibly kick the f*ck out is long indeed. But this season was never going to be about direct achievements: it was always going to be far more about weeding the spineless ones out of the club and imposing a philosophy that will hopefully see us play consistently next season.

As for whether this vision is shared by our delightful board and higher ups (Whose idea of backing seems to be Fazio and Stambouli), we will soon see.
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I agree totally, hopefully we will at some point have a philosophy again - a philosophy we haven't had since Harry's last season (which was also dubious at best then). However, if pushed for a prediction on where we might end up, where would you plump for? I ean, we still have to win some points in some games - you still have to accumulate points whilst attempting to build otherwise you're in serious trouble. Are we in serious trouble?
 
DubaiSpur said:
Same as at the start of the season: give Poch the time he needs to change things. The scale of the task is proving clear for all to see, and the list of dead wood he has to forcibly kick the f*ck out is long indeed. But this season was never going to be about direct achievements: it was always going to be far more about weeding the spineless ones out of the club and imposing a philosophy that will hopefully see us play consistently next season.

As for whether this vision is shared by our delightful board and higher ups (Whose idea of backing seems to be Fazio and Stambouli), we will soon see.
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Yep I say give the manager time, I am not bothered by him the full aim of my anger is directed towards one man and his obsession with having a director of football. Let the manager decide who we sign, sure give him boundaries to work within but let him decide what players he wants.

I would have been far happier watching a team with caulker and livermore in then if we were cr*p at least we could counsel ourselves with the fact that we were doing it the right way.
 
billyiddo said:
Gotta stick with it really - no use keep changing things hoping to strike gold with an instant success story. Give him the time to make the team his over a couple/three season and assess it then.

Been having the same results/performances for a couple of seasons now so it's not clear whether it's the managers or the players
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Really, 11 points at this stage, when do you start to worry?

Spurs outside the top 8 is not acceptable for any significant period of the season.
 
Armchair Expert said:
I agree totally, hopefully we will at some point have a philosophy again - a philosophy we haven't had since Harry's last season (which was also dubious at best then). However, if pushed for a prediction on where we might end up, where would you plump for? I ean, we still have to win some points in some games - you still have to accumulate points whilst attempting to build otherwise you're in serious trouble. Are we in serious trouble?
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Yep a philosophy I like it that is what we are missing, we seem to under the knee jerk Levy to go from one plan to the other.

I am on record as being a hater of the director of football. But one thing all the fans of it tell me is that a benefit to it is that if you have it and change managers you need not change a load of players because the director of football chooses players that will fit into the coaches system who ever the coach is.

Or why when we have a decent academy did we not bank the Bale money instead of wasting it and use the academy players to sit in the middle of the table.
 
japenesegardenlover said:
Yep I say give the manager time, I am not bothered by him the full aim of my anger is directed towards one man and his obsession with having a director of football. Let the manager decide who we sign, sure give him boundaries to work within but let him decide what players he wants.

I would have been far happier watching a team with caulker and livermore in then if we were cr*p at least we could counsel ourselves with the fact that we were doing it the right way.
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You think being outsmarted by Pardew, persisting with players who are not performing, playing too narrow, playing too slow has something to with a DoF?

No mate, we weren't beaten by a lack of quality today, we were beaten by poor team selection, substitutions and sub par motivation.
 
It's a transitional period, if not season. Let Poch compile a list of players to let go (a dozen or so should do it), then use that money to sign a few new ones and fill the gaps with youth.

The one thing I worry about is Poch's eye for a player. Given his team selections and the signings made at Southampton and with us (they may not have been first choice, but they were players he wanted), I'm FAR from convinced.
 
Raziel said:
You think being outsmarted by Pardew, persisting with players who are not performing, playing too narrow, playing too slow has something to with a DoF?

No mate, we weren't beaten by a lack of quality today, we were beaten by poor team selection, substitutions and sub par motivation.
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This 100%
 
Raziel said:
You think being outsmarted by Pardew, persisting with players who are not performing, playing too narrow, playing too slow has something to with a DoF?

No mate, we weren't beaten by a lack of quality today, we were beaten by poor team selection, substitutions and sub par motivation.
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outsmarted? Pardews team couldnt even get a kick in the first half. Pardew making two subs and our defence not being able to mark players isn't being outsmarted. Who would you replace the non perfoming players with? Other non performing players? We aren't playing narrow, we only look narrow because the full backs aren't providing width, Rose is, Dier isn't because its not his game. We are playing slow because we have no one in midfield who can play, I saw a few times in the firstt half some nice quick intricate play between Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela. But these three and perhaps Soldado are the only four players in a squad of 25 who can play like that. Its a squad that Poch has inherited, hopefully he gets to put his vision on things and gets ones in he needs to really make it work.
 
Raziel said:
You think being outsmarted by Pardew, persisting with players who are not performing, playing too narrow, playing too slow has something to with a DoF?

No mate, we weren't beaten by a lack of quality today, we were beaten by poor team selection, substitutions and sub par motivation.
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To early for me to judge Poch though I see a few similarities with Ramos but never mind because when I posted that it got deleted and I dont want to **** of the mods.

Who do you think gave those players who lack quality to the manager? go on all you want about how great the director of football is but this club works best as all other clubs do when the manager has final say on transfers. You can well reply that I do not know that the manager does not have final say on transfers.

But anyone with even a passing interest with Tottenham would know under Levy he likes to have a director of football, if it means another layer of management to shelf blame before it goes up to Levy I do not know if this is the reason. I just look at the teams how they do not look sides that managers have put out at previous clubs and come to the educated guess that as the manager does not choose the players it must be the beloved director of football.
 
Mumorn said:
outsmarted? Pardews team couldnt even get a kick in the first half. Pardew making two subs and our defence not being able to mark players isn't being outsmarted. Who would you replace the non perfoming players with? Other non performing players? We aren't playing narrow, we only look narrow because the full backs aren't providing width, Rose is, Dier isn't because its not his game. We are playing slow because we have no one in midfield who can play, I saw a few times in the firstt half some nice quick intricate play between Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela. But these three and perhaps Soldado are the only four players in a squad of 25 who can play like that. Its a squad that Poch has inherited, hopefully he gets to put his vision on things and gets ones in he needs to really make it work.
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woo woo woo wooo

Those players maybe the only ones that play that way but we have a director of football so this is the plan this is the plan do not dis the plan or I shall phone my friend danny Levy and we shall banish you to the outer kingdom.
 
japenesegardenlover said:
woo woo woo wooo

Those players maybe the only ones that play that way but we have a director of football so this is the plan this is the plan do not dis the plan or I shall phone my friend danny Levy and we shall banish you to the outer kingdom.
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what? :lol:

lay off the alcohol. get delle ali in mate.
 
At the start of the season I wanted to see us win a trophy, and wasn't too fussed where we finished in the league as long it was top half. (I'd given up on those bitter dreams of top 4) Naturally I hoped for top 6, but the trophy was my key hope.

I still feel the same, except now I'm hoping for top 10. Can't see us getting a trophy TBH, but stranger things have happened.
 
Armchair Expert said:
I agree totally, hopefully we will at some point have a philosophy again - a philosophy we haven't had since Harry's last season (which was also dubious at best then). However, if pushed for a prediction on where we might end up, where would you plump for? I ean, we still have to win some points in some games - you still have to accumulate points whilst attempting to build otherwise you're in serious trouble. Are we in serious trouble?
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I don't think we're in too much trouble. We'll earn somewhere between 56 and 62 points (I'm plumping for sixty) and finish between 7th and 9th place.

japenesegardenlover said:
Yep I say give the manager time, I am not bothered by him the full aim of my anger is directed towards one man and his obsession with having a director of football. Let the manager decide who we sign, sure give him boundaries to work within but let him decide what players he wants.

I would have been far happier watching a team with caulker and livermore in then if we were cr*p at least we could counsel ourselves with the fact that we were doing it the right way.
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You know, I can't find anything to disagree with there. I will point out that we've done deals a lot quicker under Baldini than we did when Levy was running things, though.
 
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