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Taking stock for 5pm...

BrainOfLevy said:
I think because really, most of us remember what it was like to be a lower mid table laughing stock and actually trust the leadership team we have in place given the progress since they’ve been making the decisions. You’re not going to have me defending the leadership if we consistently fall back to that state, but we have the best Spurs performing team for almost...30 ish years? There are reasons for that.

And the question about signings is asked because we are at a level where anyone that could obviously improve us will be known. I just think if fans are upset about a lack of signings it must surely be because they’ve assessed certain players in particular aren’t up to standard and certain other players should replace them. Otherwise why be upset? We aren’t going to sign someone that doesn’t play in a top League in Europe, or that won’t be well known to us all in England, and we can see who other clubs are signing. So who should we sign, and who should they replace?

Some people may have thought Salah would flop, and of course there was no predicting just how good he was going to be. But he filled an obvious gap in the Liverpool first 11, and given his form for Roma there was always the chance he had matured since Chelsea. I don’t think it’s the best example. You’re also talking about Kante and Mahrez when they were unknowns. So shall we just sign some unknowns to replace...who? Why not just as easily trust Onomah to shock everyone this season? Or Foyth? Why would an unknown be more likely than KWP to be a better squad player. Or maybe we should sign an unknown to replace Dele?

So yeah, I’d still like to know. I think it’s a reasonable question. And given City signed one player, if we signed one player, does that mean the Trust would have not penned their letter? United signed Fred, a young right back, and a goalkeeper from Stoke, obviously there is no need for a letter from the Trust there because they made signings - therefore a brilliant transfer window. Arsenal moves early but had a new manager and still didn’t sign one player I would have wanted for us. But they made signings, so no letter from the Trust needed there. If we signed Grealish, would it have been a way better window? If we sold Toby and signed De Ligt, are we stronger this season for it?
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I think almost all of us remember what it was like to be in mid table. Some of us also remember when we used to win trophies on a semi regular basis as well so our history isn't all doom and gloom. The number of people who constantly bash the leadership is miniscule. The number of people who think they've done a great job overall, are hugely grateful but think they make mistakes and can be upset with some of their decisions are much greater.

Nope, it doesn't mean that everyone who could improve us will be known. It certainly doesn't mean that most fans, casual or not, are sitting there on a consistent basis watching German, Spanish, Italian, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, Argentinian, Brazilian, Scottish, Belgian, Swiss etc etc etc league games and have come upon a specific player that they think would improve us. Those people have jobs and they're called scouts. Not doctors, electricians, plumbers, It consultants, small business owners who have an interest in football. For example (and he may well flop), how many people would have said yep need to think about a cm signing. Fred from Shahktar is a great choice. Clearly, Mourinho (still one of the best managers in the world despite what some on here would have you believe) clearly thought so. The club clearly agreed enough to back him with a large fee. Yet how many Spurs fans would have known enough about him to confidently say I'd love him at Spurs? Or even say no he's brick but with a good basis of knowledge for that?

It is a simple question. Did you think we'd missed out on Salah last summer? If we were having this conversation last summer, would you have said tell me one player who has moved that I'd be super about, including Salah in that? I mean, his scoring feats were no different to a certain Lamela before we bought him and I've seen quite a few disparaging comments about players coming from Serie A on here?

The same way we signed Walker, Rose, Dier etc when they were relative unknowns? Alli would have been an unknown in any other country, he was coming from the 3rd tier. It is a model that has worked for us very well. I never said to buy a centre back or RB (in fact, I have been quite vocal that KWP should have gotten more opportunities last season) so what does that have to do with anything? People aren't saying they want signings willy nilly in all locations are they? Let's buy 7 players, a gk, a starting striker, an equally good replacement for Eriksen, a RB. Who is saying that? If Onomah can step up, great. I've not seen much evidence that he will but let's hope he and Poch can work some magic.

I don't actually know what letter the trust penned so again, that is irrelevent to me. I am talking about my opinion and yours that anyone who is unhappy with a pretty unique window needs to lay down a list of transfers to you, right now. And the hyperbole and straw men don't help the argument really. Nobody said Man Utd had a brilliant window.

As for your last question, it utterly depends on how Alderweireld reacts to not going I guess. If he goes back to being one of the best cbs in the league, great. If not, then we have an angry player who isn't contributing much to the squad. I think it will be the former but we will have to see.
 
Hootnow said:
Because of course, the members of this board are not paid large salaries to scout players or run football clubs. When people say 'well tell me who we should have bought then', this doesn't make any sense. If someone had told you Salah last summer, you'd most likely have said flopped in the English league, average scoring record at Roma, unproven at the highest level. If I'd told you Mahrez and Kante when Leicester first bought them, you'd likely have said who?

So what exactly is the point of that question? Especially because, and I mean this in the most respectable way possible, your relentless optimism means you struggle to see fault at times with our own staff ;).



I'm disappointed with the window. We have a great squad, still, with some incredible players. We still have a very good chance of top 4. But I think some people are just being blinded by a desire to see nothing negative written about the club and being overly optimistic. It isn't some master stroke to sign nobody, we aren't a unique club. Players' developments are not linear and the only possibility is not that our players will just improve on a linear basis. I worry about our central midfield as well.

To be frank, the thing I'm most concerned about now is Eriksen's contract. And probably Vertonghen's after that. I hope, regardless of everything else, we get those tied up soon.
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There are people paid lots of money to scout players. We also have John McDermott developing players. Who is to say that when all the "potential squad additions" were put to Pochettino he didn't say he'd rather stick with the core of youth players he seems to have great faith in. Giorgiou has been around the first team set-up for a season so is somewhat acclimatized, CCV and Onomah have club experience and load experience, Amos is considered a bright prospect and Skipp looks to have the ability ad potential to fast-track to squad player this season. I'd rather see the likes of Skipp and Amos given time than Gomes! I will freely admit I wish we'd got the Grealish deal done as he is one hell of a talent who can play several different positions. We didn't, so we move on. Again you have to consider the players we could not shift out. And I keep hearing those deals -along with Alli- will be announced any day. We shall see.
 
Walker, Rose, Alli, Dier etc

Doesn’t that show that we do sign these players when they are available?

We’ve tried with Sessegnon and Grealish this window too, the club hasn’t changed tactics this summer.
 
thfcsteff said:
There are people paid lots of money to scout players. We also have John McDermott developing players. Who is to say that when all the "potential squad additions" were put to Pochettino he didn't say he'd rather stick with the core of youth players he seems to have great faith in. Giorgiou has been around the first team set-up for a season so is somewhat acclimatized, CCV and Onomah have club experience and load experience, Amos is considered a bright prospect and Skipp looks to have the ability ad potential to fast-track to squad player this season. I'd rather see the likes of Skipp and Amos given time than Gomes! I will freely admit I wish we'd got the Grealish deal done as he is one hell of a talent who can play several different positions. We didn't, so we move on. Again you have to consider the players we could not shift out. And I keep hearing those deals -along with Alli- will be announced any day. We shall see.
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He may well have done mate and we will see.

I also hope we will have an absolute tidal wave of young talent riding through the club and we end the season with CCV, Onomah, Skipp et all as key members of the squad. I think we potentially have to be realistic though and acknowledge that the likelihood of a whole generation of players coming through from the academy simaltaneuosly and are good enough for a prolonged spell in the squad is slim. They're more likely to be a Carroll or Mason (both of whom I love and contributed a good amount when here) than they are to be a Kane, a Busquets, a Scholes etc.

I have huuge hopes for Skipp but he is 17 playing in one of the most difficult positions on the pitch. I can't think of too many 17 year olds playing as a cm in the top leagues tbh and I think it would be dangerous to put too much pressure on such players.

I hope you're right about the deals as well.
 
Hootnow said:
He may well have done mate and we will see.

I also hope we will have an absolute tidal wave of young talent riding through the club and we end the season with CCV, Onomah, Skipp et all as key members of the squad. I think we potentially have to be realistic though and acknowledge that the likelihood of a whole generation of players coming through from the academy simaltaneuosly and are good enough for a prolonged spell in the squad is slim. They're more likely to be a Carroll or Mason (both of whom I love and contributed a good amount when here) than they are to be a Kane, a Busquets, a Scholes etc.

I have huuge hopes for Skipp but he is 17 playing in one of the most difficult positions on the pitch. I can't think of too many 17 year olds playing as a cm in the top leagues tbh and I think it would be dangerous to put too much pressure on such players.

I hope you're right about the deals as well.
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Indeed. I think Skipp will have this season developing (ditto Amos) and I fully accept your appraisal of potential Mason more than Scholes; those are generational players versus good solid pros.

But it is worth remembering that when fit, we currently have

Eriksen, Dier, Wanyama, Winks, Lamela, Dembele for midfield spots. Even if two are constantly crocked next season, that is four strong choices (given that Son and Moura count as forwards with Kane of course)...

We shall see mate, we all hope for the best of course. COYS
 
We seem to have quite a high turn over of scouts.
thfcsteff said:
There are people paid lots of money to scout players. We also have John McDermott developing players. Who is to say that when all the "potential squad additions" were put to Pochettino he didn't say he'd rather stick with the core of youth players he seems to have great faith in. Giorgiou has been around the first team set-up for a season so is somewhat acclimatized, CCV and Onomah have club experience and load experience, Amos is considered a bright prospect and Skipp looks to have the ability ad potential to fast-track to squad player this season. I'd rather see the likes of Skipp and Amos given time than Gomes! I will freely admit I wish we'd got the Grealish deal done as he is one hell of a talent who can play several different positions. We didn't, so we move on. Again you have to consider the players we could not shift out. And I keep hearing those deals -along with Alli- will be announced any day. We shall see.
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I cant say I know about other clubs scouting, but we do seem to have a high turn over of scouts?

it seems we are appointing a new head of recruitment (or some equally fancy title) every other year?

I know Mitchell was reported to have left because of Levy's stance on players?
 
Legohamster said:
I know Mitchell was reported to have left because of Levy's stance on players?
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I dont know the detail - am speaking in general, but - he would, wouldnt he?

Just as Levy will say they didnt share the same philosophy, or similar.

Not sure it makes one right and one wrong, rather they were incompatible when it came down to it.

Poch is manager now, not head coach. Levy has ceeded to pretty much anything he wants - maybe he has more say in these areas than we think as well?
 
Legohamster said:
We seem to have quite a high turn over of scouts.


I cant say I know about other clubs scouting, but we do seem to have a high turn over of scouts?

it seems we are appointing a new head of recruitment (or some equally fancy title) every other year?

I know Mitchell was reported to have left because of Levy's stance on players?
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I think Mitchell left because he and his team signed an awful lot of really crap players, and Poch lost faith in them. Poch helped recruit his replacement Steve Hitchen anyway (he mentions the interviews in his book)
 
LemonadeMoney said:
People were crying out for us to pay higher wages to keep our stars. It looks like that has come at a cost of lack of signings.
I'd rather keep our stars, than risk losing them for the sake of a punt on any player(s) that were available this window.
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I think if the right player was available we would have got them, we've had confirmation that we went for Sessengon and Grealish (sorry, I know I'm repeating myself), the Guardian claim we approached United about Martial too, these players are very specific for various reasons, we have niche requirements.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
This is the feeling Ive had all along too - we have a small array of players to chose from to suit our needs.

I also think we might have speculated on some talent/potential if we had room in the squad, but being unable to shift unwanted/extra players killed that off.
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exactly, we are after youth, pace, potential and future resale value, thats the model, thats what has taken us this far

we've carried the burden of the ring across to middle earth to the fires of Mordor whilst resisting the temptation, now is not the time to give in
 
The window in the end was a complete shambles if we're honest. We were clearly running on fumes by the end if last season and needed one or two especially in cm (our most vulnerable area imo) to recharge. There is only so much juice Pochettino can squeeze from this team and he earned the right for some backing!

The fact he got none (in terms of new players) spells problems behind the scenes to me:

A) the pot is literally dry and the stadium build (and ENIC/Levy's management of it) has led to a lot more financial problems since April/May
B) Levy has given Pochettino a new contract but has taken big umbrage on how public Pochettino's outbursts were after the semifinal loss (think about what he said after months of playing down winning a cup...think about it: if Jose had done that, what would some on here have said about it?). How many coaches have gone against Levy in the media and "won"??
C) ENIC/Levy have made a very recent decision to sell and won't add any additional costs to the current staff to give a more consistent and favourable balance sheet...
 
glorygloryeze said:
The window in the end was a complete shambles if we're honest. We were clearly running on fumes by the end if last season and needed one or two especially in cm (our most vulnerable area imo) to recharge. There is only so much juice Pochettino can squeeze from this team and he earned the right for some backing!

The fact he got none (in terms of new players) spells problems behind the scenes to me:

A) the pot is literally dry and the stadium build (and ENIC/Levy's management of it) has led to a lot more financial problems since April/May
B) Levy has given Pochettino a new contract but has taken big umbrage on how public Pochettino's outbursts were after the semifinal loss (think about what he said after months of playing down winning a cup...think about it: if Jose had done that, what would some on here have said about it?). How many coaches have gone against Levy in the media and "won"??
C) ENIC/Levy have made a very recent decision to sell and won't add any additional costs to the current staff to give a more consistent and favourable balance sheet...
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What on earth are you going on about?
 
glorygloryeze said:
The window in the end was a complete shambles if we're honest. We were clearly running on fumes by the end if last season and needed one or two especially in cm (our most vulnerable area imo) to recharge. There is only so much juice Pochettino can squeeze from this team and he earned the right for some backing!

The fact he got none (in terms of new players) spells problems behind the scenes to me:

A) the pot is literally dry and the stadium build (and ENIC/Levy's management of it) has led to a lot more financial problems since April/May
B) Levy has given Pochettino a new contract but has taken big umbrage on how public Pochettino's outbursts were after the semifinal loss (think about what he said after months of playing down winning a cup...think about it: if Jose had done that, what would some on here have said about it?). How many coaches have gone against Levy in the media and "won"??
C) ENIC/Levy have made a very recent decision to sell and won't add any additional costs to the current staff to give a more consistent and favourable balance sheet...
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The meltdown thread is in the Spurs news and views section of the forum
 
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