OMT - Tottenham Hotspur v South Coast's Biggest Club

[milo]

100 percent correct

If we can’t get our options this window we should be looking to do what Liverpool did - do the deal now for the summer.

I think that where we really should be following Liverpool's lead is identifying the weakest couple of positions in the team and going all out to get the best attainable players to fill them. We need to take this approach over the next two or three windows.

 

[Spur of the moment]

I didn't say anything about who we were playing. We have a week between games for most of January. Hopefully, the coaching staff can do more than prepare for the next game. Mourinho has been talking about this since he arrived, let's hope that it's not just an excuse.

Last time we had a week's break we lost at home, remember? Totally outsmarted, all of ten days ago.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I work out we need 7 new players which will take 2 seasons even if we have the money.

Exactly a long term overhaul.....with a manager that doesn't do long term

 

[billyiddo]

Yep. Anyone who said we made a mistake not signing anyone got shouted down. A club that hasn’t won anything for a decade making no signings and people thought that was some bold masterstroke? Well it’s contributed to our downfall and hopefully we won’t have to endure such nonsense ever again.

As is usually the case it was actually just people arguing both sides

 

[Baleforce]

As it were a discussion on how the manager was fairing you myst have been basing it on the current level of player availabile to him, let's not try and wriggle our way out of it

I’m not wriggling out of it, at the top of their game, a team with Lloris, Verts, Ndombele, Dier, Alli, Eriksen, Lamela, Son and Kane in it is as good as any in the game.

If they are not playing at that level it’s because they and/or the coaching staff are not preparing correctly.

The only player in our squad with the excuse of age is Toby, the rest should still be improving.

 

[DeanoAustin]

I like the optimism, but we all know how difficult January can be to sign players so getting any 2 of a RB, CB or DM in is likely to be very difficult. Agree though that a commanding CB and a RB (say) would help things look better. I'm not holding my breath though!

This is spot on. It's very very difficult to sign in January so the chances of getting 2 players we want in those positions isn't high.

The thing I give Liverpool credit for is that Klopp was getting a fair bit of stick for playing Karius, Moreno and Lovren when they clearly needed players in those positions. He didn't panic and just buy better than what he had. He bought the players he wanted and look at the difference they made. The problem we have is that we've allowed the squad to decay so much that taking that sort of medium-long term view might see and Alli or Kane decide they can't wait around.

 

[Legohamster]

Rose and Wanyama were close to leaving in the summer, so the fees we're looking for can't be too far off.

Issue with Wanyama is he wants a British passport.

I believe that’s this year?

Hopefully that can seal the deal.

I think that where we really should be following Liverpool's lead is identifying the weakest couple of positions in the team and going all out to get the best attainable players to fill them. We need to take this approach over the next two or three windows.

Again - agree

Without sounding brexity - we need PL players - even if it means paying over the odds.

 

[billyiddo]

I’m not wriggling out of it, at the top of their game, a team with Lloris, Verts, Ndombele, Dier, Alli, Eriksen, Lamela, Son and Kane in it is as good as any in the game.

If they are not playing at that level it’s because they and/or the coaching staff are not preparing correctly.

The only player in our squad with the excuse of age is Toby, the rest should still be improving.

Or they've gotten older/stale and their abilities have diminished

 

[Baleforce]

Or they've gotten older/stale and their abilities have diminished

stale or diminished ability comes under not being prepared correctly

 

[Bishop]

Funny that those spurs fans that agreed with him said our transfer window activities were not anywhere near up to scratch etc got called impatient and entitled among other things.

“Remember the 90s”

Well we don’t have to now.

There are a LOT of fans who only want to see things from as positive angle as possible. I get the positivity, it's not a bad trait in itself but these same fans too often twist reality to fit their narrative and then bury their heads under the sand to any issues that don't suit their rosy perspective.

The side has been left to stagnate, we finally tried to address some of the problems this summer but it was too little to late.

Now we are stuck in a half arsed transition with a new manager with different ideas and objectives. I'm sorry to the pro Levy guys but I can't help but see his fingerprints all over these problems.



Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Fapatalk

 

[milo]

Without sounding brexity - we need PL players - even if it means paying over the odds.

I'm not bothered where they are from, as long as they are better than we have and ready to play.

 

[billyiddo]

I think that where we really should be following Liverpool's lead is identifying the weakest couple of positions in the team and going all out to get the best attainable players to fill them. We need to take this approach over the next two or three windows.

We kinda started doing that recently, we didn't buy for the sake of buying the summer we signed no one, then we went out and bought Ndombele Lo Celso and Sessegnon who you could argue are the level of player we should be targetting.

 

[billyiddo]

stale or diminished ability comes under not being prepared correctly

So you still believe we have the 2nd/3rd best squad in the league then?

 

[milo]

We kinda started doing that recently, we didn't buy for the sake of buying the summer we signed no one, then we went out and bought Ndombele Lo Celso and Sessegnon who you could argue are the levelog player we should be targetting.

I think that we probably need to sign a couple of players in their mid-twenties who can hit the ground running and lift the other players. We could really do with signing a couple of hungry bastards (not in the Huddlestone/Iversen sense).

 

[Baleforce]

So you still believe we have the 2nd/3rd best squad in the league then?

If everyone gets back to their peak level yes.

 

[DeanoAustin]

There are a LOT of fans who only want to see things from as positive angle as possible. I get the positivity, it's not a bad trait in itself but these same fans too often twist reality to fit their narrative and then bury their heads under the sand to any issues that don't suit their rosy perspective.

The side has been left to stagnate, we finally tried to address some of the problems this summer but it was too little to late.

Now we are stuck in a half arsed transition with a new manager with different ideas and objectives. I'm sorry to the pro Levy guys but I can't help but see his fingerprints all over these problems.



Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Fapatalk

"If we can't sign better than what we have in our starting XI, what's the point"

"The stadium means we can't sign anyone"

"The players are just tired from the WC. We'll be grand second half of the season"

"Who are all these players we should be signing. There is no-one available who can improve our team."

"Most fans are dumb. They just want a shiny new toy."

"Poch spoke of being brave. Not signing anyone is brave. He didn't mean we had to sign players."


It was this sort of stuff which was getting spouted. I've no problem with that. They were alternative viewpoints and this is a message board. However, those arguments have been proven incorrect and it resulted in Poch's tenure turning sour to the point that leaving was inevitable and us looking like a mid table side.

From a short term perspective, summer 2018 was absolutely destructive and set this club back big time. However, I still have faith that Levy's long term plan will come to fruition. Like with Ramos, like with AVB/Tactics Tim, we're just in a bit of a slump at the moment but we will come back.

 

[billyiddo]

If everyone gets back to their peak level yes.

And if they don't get back to that level then it's the fault of Mourinho?

 

[Hootnow]

we did sign players, it’s on them and the coaching staff that they have not performed to the required level

it’s on the long term players that their form has dropped too

been a lot of laziness in the organisation over the last year

We've signed players and they've not been good enough.

I'll give Sess, N'Dombele and GLC a pass as let's say they're still acclimatising.

Our transfers in the last 3 seasons have been:

Nil-
Sanchez- I still hold hope but not making the strides I'd want or expect and I wouldn't trust him as the lead defender in a big game without one of the 2 Belgians alongside him.
Moura- Probably has one of the highest ceilings of any of our players and I guess contributes goals but his allround play is shocking. Will always be remembered for the CL run.
Aurier- Less said about this, the better.
Llorente- Actually think he pretty much did exactly what he was meant to do. Didn't fit in quite as well as I'd have liked but in terms of ticking off objectives, I'd say he pretty much achieved it. Perhaps you could say he wasn't reliable enough to allow us to reliably rest Kane.
Foyth- Some nice passing and at times nice defending but starting with him in centre back essentially seems to mean we're a goal/penalty down before we've even started play. Still young though.
Gazza- Meh. He's a second choice keeper who plays as one. Can't criticise him too much.
Sissoko- Despite the relative upturn in form, just a huge meh for me. I'd really rather not see him in the starting line up so often and at £30 million, a shocking transfer.
Janssen-Less said, the better.
Wanyama- Beast for one season, broken for the subsequent two. Not much we could have done about this.
GKN- Punt, which didn't come off at all. Can we bring in Leicester's punt man or whoever did our punts in the past?
Pau Lopez- Weird one, did very little.

Other than Sissoko and Aurier, who both often induce eyeball scratching play, none of those are in the first 11 on a consistent basis really. Moura has come in under Mourinho and probably showing why Poch saw him as an impact sub.

We've been incredibly incredibly wasteful. You can blame that on the players themselves, Levy for often leaving it late/ not going for the top option/ not having the appropriate scouting networks or Poch for being too picky or not adept enough at finding players. I don't really care. As a club, our transfers in the last 3-4 years have been so poor.

 

[Baleforce]

And if they don't get back to that level then it's the fault of Mourinho?

partly

smart coaching and hard work is all we need

 

[Baleforce]

We've signed players and they've not been good enough.

I'll give Sess, N'Dombele and GLC a pass as let's say they're still acclimatising.

Our transfers in the last 3 seasons have been:

Nil-
Sanchez- I still hold hope but not making the strides I'd want or expect and I wouldn't trust him as the lead defender in a big game without one of the 2 Belgians alongside him.
Moura- Probably has one of the highest ceilings of any of our players and I guess contributes goals but his allround play is shocking. Will always be remembered for the CL run.
Aurier- Less said about this, the better.
Llorente- Actually think he pretty much did exactly what he was meant to do. Didn't fit in quite as well as I'd have liked but in terms of ticking off objectives, I'd say he pretty much achieved it. Perhaps you could say he wasn't reliable enough to allow us to reliably rest Kane.
Foyth- Some nice passing and at times nice defending but starting with him in centre back essentially seems to mean we're a goal/penalty down before we've even started play. Still young though.
Gazza- Meh. He's a second choice keeper who plays as one. Can't criticise him too much.
Sissoko- Despite the relative upturn in form, just a huge meh for me. I'd really rather not see him in the starting line up so often and at £30 million, a shocking transfer.
Janssen-Less said, the better.
Wanyama- Beast for one season, broken for the subsequent two. Not much we could have done about this.
GKN- Punt, which didn't come off at all. Can we bring in Leicester's punt man or whoever did our punts in the past?
Pau Lopez- Weird one, did very little.

Other than Sissoko and Aurier, who both often induce eyeball scratching play, none of those are in the first 11 on a consistent basis really. Moura has come in under Mourinho and probably showing why Poch saw him as an impact sub.

We've been incredibly incredibly wasteful. You can blame that on the players themselves, Levy for often leaving it late/ not going for the top option/ not having the appropriate scouting networks or Poch for being too picky or not adept enough at finding players. I don't really care. As a club, our transfers in the last 3-4 years have been so poor.

agree on the new guys

Sanchez, Moura and Aurier have no excuse, they have the ability and the athleticism, they just need to work harder

we need to coach them better too so they stop making mistakes and actually do their jobs

 

[milo]

"If we can't sign better than what we have in our starting XI, what's the point"

"The stadium means we can't sign anyone"

"The players are just tired from the WC. We'll be grand second half of the season"

"Who are all these players we should be signing. There is no-one available who can improve our team."

"Most fans are dumb. They just want a shiny new toy."

"Poch spoke of being brave. Not signing anyone is brave. He didn't mean we had to sign players."


It was this sort of stuff which was getting spouted. I've no problem with that. They were alternative viewpoints and this is a message board. However, those arguments have been proven incorrect and it resulted in Poch's tenure turning sour to the point that leaving was inevitable and us looking like a mid table side.

From a short term perspective, summer 2018 was absolutely destructive and set this club back big time. However, I still have faith that Levy's long term plan will come to fruition. Like with Ramos, like with AVB/Tactics Tim, we're just in a bit of a slump at the moment but we will come back.

I don't think that those statements have been proven to be false. The players can be tired after the world cup and the stadium could be a drain on funds and resources, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have signed anyone.

I think that it is valid to ask how much difference Grealish would have made and whether signing anyone is better than singing no one.

We've lacked direction in the transfer market for a while. It is one of the reasons why I think that we've really missed not having a DoF.

 

[billyiddo]

We've signed no one of the right level since the summer we signed Son and Alderweireld- with all the right management in the world you can't polish a turd.

*summer just gone not included