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***OMT - Spurs vs FC Barcelona***

Reasons for no new signings
  1. The Stadium and the humungous cost thereof
  2. Could not sell deadwood
  3. Inflated market
  4. The window was shortened
The new stadium didn’t mean we couldn’t spend according to the club, it’s not like we didn’t bid for anyone. The stadium is being finished this season but we aren’t just paying the costs this season, it’s been in progress during other windows too and hasn’t stopped us buying so shouldn’t be overused as an excuse. As for the other reasons, all other clubs have had to contend with this - we like to talk on here as if we are one of the top clubs but there is no top club who don’t improve their squad at all when it needs addressing. I’m over not bringing anyone in, it is what it is but we aren’t going to improve this season. Let’s not make excuses for it, it was a poor window and I’m sure will be rectified in the winter or next summer at the latest....
 
The new stadium didn’t mean we couldn’t spend according to the club, it’s not like we didn’t bid for anyone. The stadium is being finished this season but we aren’t just paying the costs this season, it’s been in progress during other windows too and hasn’t stopped us buying so shouldn’t be overused as an excuse. As for the other reasons, all other clubs have had to contend with this - we like to talk on here as if we are one of the top clubs but there is no top club who don’t improve their squad at all when it needs addressing. I’m over not bringing anyone in, it is what it is but we aren’t going to improve this season. Let’s not make excuses for it, it was a poor window and I’m sure will be rectified in the winter or next summer at the latest....
All other top teams have a higher turnover than us. Teams lower down the table have significantly worse squads meaning that it's easier to find cheaper players that improve them.

Our situation is quite different to most other teams, because we have quite consistently outperformed expectations based on our financial situation.

We aren't paying the cost of the stadium only this season. But we do end up paying something for it, that impacts us financially. It shouldn't be overused as an excuse, but it's a factor.

We did sign Moura in January. I'm very happy he was signed in January instead of this summer. He has been the proverbial "new signing". But somehow the narrative of our transfer window would have been different had we signed him this summer instead, even if he hadn't settled in yet.

It wasn't a great window. But we kept our key players, kept our manager and didn't waste money on a failed signing. That's not a bad window for me. Overall decent.
 
It has been said that Poch likes a small squad to choose from but this only works out if we are free of injuries. We definitely needed to add 2-3 quality players in the summer but, while Poch continues to prefer a small squad, I fear it would have resulted in the same number leaving with Toby, Rose or Dembele amongst them
 
All other top teams have a higher turnover than us. Teams lower down the table have significantly worse squads meaning that it's easier to find cheaper players that improve them.

Our situation is quite different to most other teams, because we have quite consistently outperformed expectations based on our financial situation.

We aren't paying the cost of the stadium only this season. But we do end up paying something for it, that impacts us financially. It shouldn't be overused as an excuse, but it's a factor.

We did sign Moura in January. I'm very happy he was signed in January instead of this summer. He has been the proverbial "new signing". But somehow the narrative of our transfer window would have been different had we signed him this summer instead, even if he hadn't settled in yet.

It wasn't a great window. But we kept our key players, kept our manager and didn't waste money on a failed signing. That's not a bad window for me. Overall decent.
I totally understand where we are in Terms to others, and our constraints/difficulties in terms of adding to the squad. But I don’t buy into the excuses of not signing anyone, and the ‘we kept all our key players’ - so did most other teams who also added to their squad. We have half a team of untouchables, but the other half of our first team we could upgrade on. And we will eventually, it just would have been positive to do so in at least one or two key positions this summer but hey ho...
 
It has been said that Poch likes a small squad to choose from but this only works out if we are free of injuries. We definitely needed to add 2-3 quality players in the summer but, while Poch continues to prefer a small squad, I fear it would have resulted in the same number leaving with Toby, Rose or Dembele amongst them
Last night we were without Aurier, Vertonghen, Dembele, Alli and Eriksen?

We still put out a strong team that mostly lost due to individual errors from recognized regular first team players.

The quality of our backup players, Sissoko and Llorente in particular, is quite clearly a potential area of improvement. But for me the size of our squad is fine.

We probably could have spent significant money on upgrading our backup players successfully. I'm quite happy with the approach being taken, look for good deals in the transfer market with the potential to become first choice players and a focus on player development. Even though those signings are sometimes difficult to find and make happen.
 
Reasons for no new signings
  1. The Stadium and the humungous cost thereof
  2. Could not sell deadwood
  3. Inflated market
  4. The window was shortened

What prices were we asking for Sissoko/Janssen/Nkodou?

They have been abysmal for us, but there would be takers for those three.
 
What prices were we asking for Sissoko/Janssen/Nkodou?
Sissoko may go just for wages.
Nothing. I think we are fast approaching a no transfer fee at all for these types with even a subsidised wage deal thrown in. The market is flooded with mediocre lower league players.
They have been abysmal for us, but there would be takers for those three.

Would you take them?
Then pay them their wages for say three years?
We probably can't even give them away due to wage demands.
 
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Barca can thump any team, if we had spent £150m in the summer barca could have still done to us what they did last night.
Only difference would have been the headlines. Spurs new duds instead of spurs lack depth.
 
I see little reason why this will transpire for a good few seasons.



Exactly. They are hardly likely to new/prospective season ticket punters 'we haven't got a pot to tinkle in' are they? They may be many things, but not stupid.
We clearly bid for Grealish, and Robbie Keane on tv stated we were in for four players, and had no doubt we will go back in January. When we signed Sanchez, Moura we was already paying and saving for the stadium - there’s no reason to think we won’t continue to do so just because the stadium is almost ready to use now....
 
Nothing. I think we are fast approaching a no transfer fee at all for these types with even a subsidised wage deal thrown in. The market is flooded with mediocre lower league players.


Would you take them?
Then pay them their wages for say three years?
We probably can't even give them away with as I say, a subsides wage deal.

Getting Sissoko and his 90 k off the wage bill is a must - for him and Llorente to be on that figure is unreal for spurs when they don’t play.

Would have given Llorente away if someone wanted to pay his wages, we are paying him for doing nothing and Janssen could have done that.

Sissoko someone would pay 10/15 for him
 
We clearly bid for Grealish, and Robbie Keane on tv stated we were in for four players, and had no doubt we will go back in January. When we signed Sanchez, Moura we was already paying and saving for the stadium - there’s no reason to think we won’t continue to do so just because the stadium is almost ready to use now....

Not picking you, but I've seen mentioned a few times now, when did Robbie Keane become privy to our transfer business?
Why would levy be dropping nuggets in his ear?
 
We clearly bid for Grealish, and Robbie Keane on tv stated we were in for four players and had no doubt we will go back in January. When we signed Sanchez, Moura we was already paying and saving for the stadium - there’s no reason to think we won’t continue to do so just because the stadium is almost ready to use now....

Robbie Keane said. :p PR at work IMHO to assuage the season ticket buying masses.

What does "in for" actually mean.
We dingdonged about with Grealish bid after much media fanfare.
Then convenient blamed villa.
 
Barca can thump any team, if we had spent £150m in the summer barca could have still done to us what they did last night.
Only difference would have been the headlines. Spurs new duds instead of spurs lack depth.

We will now never know, will we?
 
What prices were we asking for Sissoko/Janssen/Nkodou?

They have been abysmal for us, but there would be takers for those three.
I think this is one of the challenges, rarely has Levy let a player leave cheaply (think Bentley and Gomes running their contracts down alongside some remarkable receipts like getting 16m back for Bent)

I understand the way accounts value players by amortising their fee over the length of their contract* but sometimes I think the value needs to be a more practical footballing one regarding the size of wages that would be released versus the number of games the manager has chosen them to play when fit. It may be possible that Llorente and Sissoko are exceptional within our wage structure as we are actually paying them more any other club in europe is prepared too!

*This could also be offset against the book profit to be made on Alli, Dier, Eriksen etc.
 
We clearly bid for Grealish, and Robbie Keane on tv stated we were in for four players, and had no doubt we will go back in January. When we signed Sanchez, Moura we was already paying and saving for the stadium - there’s no reason to think we won’t continue to do so just because the stadium is almost ready to use now....
If you remember Poch himself came out before the window closed and said in a presser that the cost of the stadium was a restraint on the transfer budget, or words to that effect.

He was doing Levy's dirty work for him.
 
Well it was that or an equalizer. So poor from Sissoko, and that was always gonna be a goal.

There's no glory in losing, but at least we showed a bit of bravery and spirit in that second half. After being 2-0 down against Barca, with several of our key players out.

It could've been worse.
This. Let's not forget that 5 of our starting 11 were not available. That's almost half our first team! Yet we still put in a decent performance against the top team in Europe and could have nicked a draw. Perspective, people.
 
We will now never know, will we?
No, there's no way of knowing, but unless we went out and spent considerably more than our reported £150m I wouldn't expect us to beat barca.
They are the best team on the planet imv, and by quite a way.
 
Sigh. Fact is, we are not a particularly good side - and we will get shown up against the likes of Liverpool, City, Barca and Inter this season.

Some because we will be outplayed and simply outclassed, and some because our many individual errors will kick in and gift the game to opponents that have the quality to take advantage of them.

We get away with it against smaller sides because they aren't good enough to punish us. But watch our games against them, and it's the same thing - errors being made that just aren't punished on the day, allowing us to win.

On top of that, our mental fragility has never really gone away - we are mentally fragile as a team, and we either find it hard to take advantage of other teams' crises or let small things that other teams wouldn't bother thinking about affect us in a big way.

Given those factors, I think we are good enough to juuuust about scrape 4th if Arsenal and United both struggle enough to miss out. Other than that, I expect nothing, because there's been no improvement whatsoever from 17-18 - indeed, there's been a regression.

Accepting that has made it much easier to take our defeats and self-inflicted errors. And I know management has accepted it as well - from the man who runs our club and oversaw our groundbreaking transfer window of 2018 downwards, we have accepted that there will be no hope of progression this year, just a hope of treading water.

So, I'm not worrying. We win where we can, and lose where our squad limits, errors and occasional simple inferiority dictate we should. We are an entirely predictable team in that sense - there's no X factor that defies those limits, as there was in 16/17. So why worry about it?
 
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