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This is the START

agreed. add someone like depay, a schneiderlin and add depth with players who will slot into a system and the future is large.

two dream summer signings. Unfortunately both would also strengthen teams with bigger financial resources than ours.
 
Think that's what Levy sees as well, he's looking for that advantage. Wenger got Arsenal punching well above their pre-Emirates weight with his scientific techniques that were ahead of their time back in the 90s and early 2000s.

I think the reason we went for Pochettino and Mitchell was that Levy saw Southampton as a club that were punching ridiculously above their weight and looking into the reason, there was Mitchell in charge of player analysis and a young coach that could encourage a team pressing ethic that could overwhelm and out perform teams that could often have bigger name players in the starting XI.

You look at Southampton's summer that they had as well with Mitchell, sold off a load of players for massive money and reinvested that money very intelligently in players that have performed equally well if not better than those they replaced.

You look at replacing Lambert with Pelle, Lallana with Tadic, bringing in Elia and Mane. They've done very well and I'm really looking forward to the first proper summer window with Mitchell, Poch and Baldini working together.


I think this summer is set to be an extremely interesting one. We won't be blindly chasing well-known established players like Moutinho or David Villa etc. anymore. It's all about who they think fits the system and work ethic the best. If they can replace Kaboul, Capoue, Paulinho, Townsend, Ade etc. with just another 3 or 4 that they really want then we could be in business.

One thing I'm sure that we won't be doing anymore is putting all our summer transfer window eggs in one basket again.. I think this is where Mitchell can provide multiple targets for each position.

Although what do I know, we could just as easily end up haggling over a 20m transfer for Danny Ings until Deadline Day haha ;)
 
Where does this Chadli attitude come from (not you specifically, but I've seen a few posts of similar nature)? He's been one of our best players this season. He's far better than Konoplyanka and I don't think Ings is at his level at this point in time either.

Lamela and Townsend are raw, but in 2 years' time I predict they will be being far more successful than Kono and probably Ings.

I know everyone has differing opinions on the potential of these two. I'm in the Lamela could still improve but Townsend just doesn't have a decent enough brain for me to make it for us. Out of interest GB do you think Townsend could still improve to a level where he could stay at Spurs long-term? if so what could he do better? I really wonder what Poch sees in him from day to day training to keep including him, is it the threat of counter attacking that effects how the opposition set up against him? I just don't know. Puzzles me.
 
players similar would do. thats what Mitchell is for.

i think we should move away from the idea that what we need is 'player X' - what we need is a type of player not a specific player.

everyone thought Southampton had severely weakened in the summer with their transfer business - look how that turned out, none of the players signed were really well known or expected to do anything other than fight against relegation - but the person/people in charge bought the right players with the right attributes to fit in to and improve their team. hopefully we can do the same, and hopefully our supporters won't spit their dummies out if we don't sign the highest profile players linked to us in the window
 
i think we should move away from the idea that what we need is 'player X' - what we need is a type of player not a specific player.

everyone thought Southampton had severely weakened in the summer with their transfer business - look how that turned out, none of the players signed were really well known or expected to do anything other than fight against relegation - but the person/people in charge bought the right players with the right attributes to fit in to and improve their team. hopefully we can do the same, and hopefully our supporters won't spit their dummies out if we don't sign the highest profile players linked to us in the window

Personally I see this summer as

- Clear out of "squad" -> Kaboul, Capoue, Ade, Soldado, Townsend, Holtby, Lennon, Paulinho = lots of wages off the books, hopefully a little money in
- Purchase of a few key players -> Striker, RW, Creative Midfielder
- Evaluation/promotion of a few Academy players to squad/cup team -> Pritchard, Carroll, Delle, Veljkovic all options

Song = Ade/Kaboul/Capoue, obvious ability, but too much baggage to deal with .. move on
 
i think we should move away from the idea that what we need is 'player X' - what we need is a type of player not a specific player.

Everyone thought Southampton had severely weakened in the summer with their transfer business - look how that turned out, none of the players signed were really well known or expected to do anything other than fight against relegation - but the person/people in charge bought the right players with the right attributes to fit in to and improve their team. hopefully we can do the same, and hopefully our supporters won't spit their dummies out if we don't sign the highest profile players linked to us in the window

Yep, and they brought these new players in...with the attributes to fit in with...a new manager who had just arrived (wonder how much say he had and whether they were his 1st choices?)...who has presumably got a lot out of them right from the outset. So, hoping it should be a little easier for us to do this time around since it will be Poch' 2nd season and 2nd summer window. Be that as it may, and to address your other point, I hope we do get at least one or two high profile players in otherwise yes, you will hear that Poch wasn't backed enough (again) and he is having to make do with 2nd and 3rd choices (again).
 
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A bit of a tangent, but as there's no 'between windows transfers thread' yet, my Tunisian friend told me at the weekend that it's true Abdennour has signed for us for the summer.

Apparently his style is a bit like Komany, but his weakness is that he's still a little bit ill-disciplined (on the pitch, not off it).
 
Can say it's a start all we want it'll mean nothing if we sell any of bentaleb eriksen vertonghen or lloris this summer and don't compliment the academy players with a couple of proven quality signings
 
Next season could be huge for us. CL qualification is a definite possibility if POCH can get a couple players in her really wants, that will work well with his system and the way he wants the team, as well as hold onto the likes of Lloris, Eriksen etc. I think we have come on superbly overall, young players coming through and taking a firm place in the team as well as a great cup run and still in the hunt for top four. This season has been strong and i honestly expect big things next time!
 
Where does this Chadli attitude come from (not you specifically, but I've seen a few posts of similar nature)? He's been one of our best players this season. He's far better than Konoplyanka and I don't think Ings is at his level at this point in time either.

Lamela and Townsend are raw, but in 2 years' time I predict they will be being far more successful than Kono and probably Ings.

Chadli has been far better this season than I gave him credit for. But I still don't consider him to be good enough to be starting games for us. At least not regularly. Yes, he's big, strong, hard working and gets into good positions. But, he's not the answer. Same reason Dempsey wasn't. We have no fast, tricky wingers that can rip teams apart - skinning defenders, whipping in dangerous crosses and forcing teams to double up on them. Townsend and Lamela want to be that kind of player but neither have been very good at it - Townsend's final ball is shocking and Lamela gets tackled every time he tries to get past someone. Said it before, will say it again, compare our wingers to our rivals. That's any of the teams in the top seven. I don't see a single starting spot that any of our wingers could take in any of their teams. And that says it all.

Kono may well be the next Arshavin, but the others have let us down for two years. And I'd quite happily take Arshavin on top form over our current lot, especially on the cheap. I say get him and Depay both in, then if one of Chadli, Townsend or Lamela can step up and keep their place in the side then great, otherwise we've got replacements. Ings is raw too, but available on a free (or at least a tribunal) in the summer and would make a good backup to Kane.

I've lost count of how many players we've made excuses for over the years about being "raw" and needing a year or two more to come good. I don't see what our current lot have done to justify not being replaced in the starting XI next year.
 
the blips i was referring to were negative ones, season 2007-2008 (even though we won the carling cup it was a poor league campaign) and season 2008-2009.

Hopefully we have a good summer where we offload the no-hopers and bring in 3 or 4 that Poch really wants

Agreed about the summer. 3-4 good signings could be massive for us. Perhaps a youngster or two will step up in addition to that.
 
Today wasn't the culmination of anything, it was the start of something.

We are a new young team on the rise. Our peak will be 3-4 years in the future. Chelsea are an established streetwise team, but we are the coming force.

Remember today we played with 5 academy players, 6 English players, and with an average age of 4-5 years younger than Chelsea.

Lets make sure we get top 6 this season, and it will be in the next 2-4 years that the silverware will flow.

I had been thinking about just this point for most of the day after the game. They key is that Poch is given time to build something and that this squad grows together. To cheer myself up yesterday I picked up The Boys From White Hart Lane (yet again!) and was reading Stevie Perryman's chapter. He talked about how for him being a leader didn't click until he was 27 and that the role he played - as a leader on and off the pitch was key. Provided Poch gets the time and the better players stay, I think your estimate is spot on.

The future IS bright, the future IS Lillywhite!
 
Today wasn't the culmination of anything, it was the start of something.

We are a new young team on the rise. Our peak will be 3-4 years in the future. Chelsea are an established streetwise team, but we are the coming force.

Remember today we played with 5 academy players, 6 English players, and with an average age of 4-5 years younger than Chelsea.

Lets make sure we get top 6 this season, and it will be in the next 2-4 years that the silverware will flow.

You get some stick here from time to time GB, but this post is quality and reflects what I consider to be a stone-cold truth. Well said Sir!
 
Personally I see this summer as

- Clear out of "squad" -> Kaboul, Capoue, Ade, Soldado, Townsend, Holtby, Lennon, Paulinho = lots of wages off the books, hopefully a little money in
- Purchase of a few key players -> Striker, RW, Creative Midfielder
- Evaluation/promotion of a few Academy players to squad/cup team -> Pritchard, Carroll, Delle, Veljkovic all options

Song = Ade/Kaboul/Capoue, obvious ability, but too much baggage to deal with .. move on
Why do so many people want to get rid of Holtby?
 
3-4 good signings could be massive for us. Perhaps a youngster or two will step up in addition to that.

I was watching a League One highlights show a few days ago... one of the teams played a nice one-touch passing move, they sliced through the opposition at ease.

The chap took a couple of touches and rifled it into the corner and I thought, nice, why can't Spurs do that?

And the commentator said "A great goal from the Aussie legend, Massimo Luongo...."

 
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