DeanoAustin
Christian Ziege
Agree.
You do also have to factor into the equation that two clubs have been doped financially in that time and won bucketloads of trophies between them too.
Levy has been brilliant for this club.
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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked
- Thread starter DubaiSpur
- Start date
Agree.
You do also have to factor into the equation that two clubs have been doped financially in that time and won bucketloads of trophies between them too.
Levy has been brilliant for this club.
Grays_1890
Colin Calderwood
Levy has been great for the club 100% as has Poch....the problems don't just sit with one though and that's my point.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
What are you on? Give 2 players whose legs have gone new contracts.!!!
That’s exactly how I see it. However, it won’t be as easy as ‘send him out, sell him’ etc. Some won’t do deals for whatever reason. (If Toby wants to go, he has to). But they are the ones who can be left out. Also, it’s notoriously hard to attract talent in Jan. Teams just don’t want to sell.
Next few games will be telling. Can we recover? Well let's see how much pride these players have. The world is ridiculing them right now. We can turn up the pressure by rallying around the boss. This club needs unity. This team, these players and this manager have provided us with some of the best memories of my Spurs supporting life. Often we have had players not deemed worthy of our support. Not this group.
At some stage or other, they have given us some indescribable joy, and now yes, it's tough to see. They are not blameless. But now we rally. Let's prove we are not Arsenal ffs. We recognise the team need us more now than ever before. Now more than ever TTID!
COYS
At some stage or other, they have given us some indescribable joy, and now yes, it's tough to see. They are not blameless. But now we rally. Let's prove we are not Arsenal ffs. We recognise the team need us more now than ever before. Now more than ever TTID!
COYS
You said the lack of trophies was not a manager/Poch issue, seemingly absolving him of any blame at all on that particular issue? which is what prompted my response - for the reasons already outlined i don't see how that it can be anything other than an issue of his - he has had a top 4 squad (top 2/3 in 3 of those years iirc) he should have won something with them as the talent and experience is there.
Im behind Poch fwiw and agree that the problems we have are the result of many different circumstances going against us, with blame shared around
ricky2tricky4city
Tom Huddlestone
Redknapp was missing a couple of vital pieces, a top class goalie and a reliable striker. Pochettino has had the most complete squad I've ever seen us have, and it showed on the pitch albeit not in the trophy room. Redknapp's teams were lacking movement up front and needed bombing counter runs, great individual performances and luck. Much like Poch needs now. Three seasons ago I lauded our willingness to move in attack and create space, now they are as static as Pav, Crouch or Adebayor ever was. It's not even ballwatching, it's standing dead still waiting for the defense to fall asleep, a break from the wing or a miracle to happen. The brilliant "pass into an area and a teammate would be there" is long gone. Infuriating, and is the main thing I will judge Poch on the next few games. I don't expect miracles, but I expect SOMETHING.
We have become as dependant on Son to do what Bale did (which he doesn't) while Kane actually thinks he's Bale (not a striker, not a winger, not even something in between), and Winks to do what Modric did now that Eriksen has checked out. I know Lamela is a fan favourite and have done some good, but pragmatically speaking he is just a slight upgrade on the exciting but ineffective Giovani Dos Santos. He is not much better now than he was when he wasn't the core of the great version of Poch's Spurs, no more than Sissoko or Winks was (you could even argue that Son wasn't either but a bit part). No matter how much we "love" them, we cannot expect players who didn't have the necessary qualities back then to magically have them now - if we set the same bar. For all his goodness, I though Ndombele was a DM which I haven't seen much evidence of so far, and if Dier has stopped being Dier we still need a midfielder able to protect and recycle.
I personally will be happy to concede top 4 this season, as long as we stop filling large holes with chewing gum, go wholeheartedly in for the FA cup, and set us up in a serious position to reclaim CL next year.
Its difficult to tell their form at the moment - they've had Winks on his own in CM in front of him recently, whereas they used to have Dier and Dembele!
Vertonghen and Toby are our best two CBs - we'll need them on top form for this season and likely next as well...we're not going to sign two senior CBs next summer and neither Sanchez or Foyth look ready to be a first choice CB in the PL
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
It's harder to make that argument, because they put in the hard miles five times in a row and won nothing. A manager saying 'this year could have been our year if you worked hard' sounds a bit pathetic, given that they've tried five times and come up short every time.
It's just the way it goes, unfortunately.
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
Form or not watch them running against players 5 years younger then them. They are to slow.
I agree with signings in Jan, which is why I said just one player - a right-back.
In the meantime, I think Poch just needs to work out who are motivated fighters (Sissoko, Kane, Lamela, maybe Moura, maybe Davies, perhaps Dier if he gets back to the DIer of old etc) and who might fight for him (Lo Celso and Foyth perhaps?), and then build the team around them. Jettison those who won't roll up their sleeves, like Aurier, and go with that til Jan
I dont see we have any better - lets see what they look like with two CMs in front of them. Sanchez was rubbish last season so I wouldnt want to rely on him, and I think we need Foyth at RB
Robspur12
John Lacy
At critical times Enic have not been as effective in the transfer window as was needed. In the first two years Poch was making do mostly with the squad that he inherited. He improved the players that were already here. So when he wanted Schneiderlin he got Stambouli. He ended up shoehorning Dier into midfield. They also failed to bring in a striker cover for Kane. This season it would have helped to get rid of the wantaways in the summer. Levy tends to leave critical signings to late in the transfer window which doesn’t help with conditioning and preparing the squad.
Now there are probably good reasons for all these things. I love Levy and think he has done a fine job, but he has played a part in the lack of trophy wins as much as the managers. But we should also factor in that we do not have the financial might of our rivals so really is it the fault of Poch and Levy?
Given the financial disadvantage if we were to be in the best position to win trophies we needed to have all the parts that create a successful, trophy winning team to come together - Sign the players the manager identifies, bring them in early, integrate the players quickly, rotate effectively etc. Unfortunately this is very difficult to achieve. But nonetheless I believe it has been, in the main, a very successful partnership.
With our year on year Champions League qualification and high league finishes as well as the off field turnover increases we are gradually increasing our financial might. If Poch can see us through this current down turn and make us qualify for the Champions League again then I really believe trophies will soon follow.
The two parts in bold are rarely compatible.
I definitely agree with the sentiment of the first paragraph and believe that there will be many more examples of instances where our managers having missed out on primary targets and had to make do with lesser players and im in no way suggesting Levy/Enic have backed their managers 100% all the way through - i doubt even Guadiola would believe he has been 100% backed at City. It's a balancing act running a football club and i think overall we get it more right than wrong - we have had a strong squad now for several years and before that some very good teams who were certainly capable of winning something - teams can always be improved with one or two more players or are having to make do with square pegs in round holes for a time - shouldn't be used as an excuse imo
Robspur12
John Lacy
I think we have had a very strong first team but not squad. That has cost us when we have had key injuries and when we have needed to rotate.
Bullet
Luka Modric
A decade ago, we either had players that weren't good enough and got rid of them, or players that were coveted and were poached.
We dreamed of a time when we could keep hold of our top talent.
We all said "wow, if we can get X and Y and Z signed up, that is us sorted for the next 5 years, it will be amazing to have that consistency".
Now things are going wrong so this new problem arises... lack of change. Whereas before it was too much change.
People (not you Trev) just find some sort of narrative to fit any issue. There is always an angle to spin, something to say e.g. Poch is too distant (like Fergie or Ancelotti) or too close (too friendly, too involved) or both at the same time... always some spin.
glasgowspur
Dimitar Berbatov
I do understand that.
But this should have been our year, new stadium so no distractions there, squad investment, the squad are all at peak age, limited summer internationals, so close in the CL should have galvanized us.
You even hope that Toby, eriksen and rose would think that they've had some good times here and it would be great to leave with a trophy.
Instead we are in some kind of purgatory where a good few have said enough is enough.
So there's the bitter taste of nothing for a lot of effort, when a little more effort might have brought glory.
And tbh if a chump like me can see that and the players can't then I would question if they are worth having.