Fabio Paratici - Consultant

[Finney Is Back]

It’s not hurt arsenals ability as your willing to able to pay the fees

Think Arsenal still pay far higher wages than us (am sure their wage bill is still a lot higher than ours). They are also held in higher esteem than us in general due to their (not too distant) past success

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Think Arsenal still pay far higher wages than us (am sure their wage bill is still a lot higher than ours). They are also held in higher esteem than us in general due to their (not too distant) past success

I think their wages may now be on par with ours
They did a lot of work to reduce their wage bill post CL times
But they have paid £50m for white, £75m for Pepe
The one that amazes me was Partey leaving CL and league winners Atketico for them

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Who was the root cause? The manager’s tactics. Slow, safe possession just left us against a packed defence that was very difficult to create chances against.

I don’t think the tactics were for Moura to run into a crowded area and let the ball bounce back to our defence. I may be wrong
It was the same with Kane
The defence did their job (ok we did concede from a set piece which does happen to any side). But the attack, even though it was slow got the basics wrong (ball retention should be easy if we’re playing slow) and our attacking passing from players like Kane who are exceptional at it was very poor too
We can carry one player not playing well I’m attack but not all 4

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think the defence is looking good, but at the expense of the midfield. I feel that the defence is often too deep and too slow to push up to support a quick attack play. Once the opponent has the ball you can see that we are dropping further and further back packing the box. The infrequency of the offside trap - verts and toby used to do it so well - is another sign that we don't attempt push the defence line but accept soaking the pressure. IMO not difficult to play defence in this team always having midfielders around you and squeezing space and just creating a human wall in front of goal.

Romero takes it to another level though, with his charges out and catching the opponents with the ball, basically the job of a CB and DM.. Pair him with a solid, positive CB - like Verts or Toby - and I think we will see the best of him and the midfield.

A center half who is better on the ball than Dier, an upgrade on one of our central midfield players (I would love to see Kalvin Phillips from Leeds but cant see us paying the money or him or him not having higher ambitions than us) a top class right sided attacker (I think the whole PL missed out on Pereira from WBA in the summer and I wonder if he could be tempted back from Saudi Arabia) and a back up striker of even half reasonable calibre and I think we would be well set as a team to be pretty much guaranteed top 6 with the potential to improve over the next two to three seasons. A proper playmaker would be the cherry on the top but I think Ndombele has the tools to play this role a she can receive the ball in tight spaces, is two footed and has good vision. Not sure how much in the way of funds our deadwood like Winks, Davies and Doherty would generate, so I’d also look to sell Lo Celso and Sanchez to generate the transfer funds.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think their wages may now be on par with ours
They did a lot of work to reduce their wage bill post CL times
But they have paid £50m for white, £75m for Pepe
The one that amazes me was Partey leaving CL and league winners Atketico for them

£52m 5 year contract!

 

[Finney Is Back]

I don’t think the tactics were for Moura to run into a crowded area and let the ball bounce back to our defence. I may be wrong
It was the same with Kane
The defence did their job (ok we did concede from a set piece which does happen to any side). But the attack, even though it was slow got the basics wrong (ball retention should be easy if we’re playing slow) and our attacking passing from players like Kane who are exceptional at it was very poor too
We can carry one player not playing well I’m attack but not all 4

No, the tactics were to keep going sideways and backwards, that was clear…. I think Lucas was just trying to create something as it was clear we weren’t going to create anything by continuing to go backwards and sideways again.
The attack generally had no chance as almost every time we got the ball to them they were outnumbered 2 to 1 by West Ham players. Look at the cause mate and not the symptom.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

No, the tactics were to keep going sideways and backwards, that was clear…. I think Lucas was just trying to create something as it was clear we weren’t going to create anything by continuing to go backwards and sideways again.
The attack generally had no chance as almost every time we got the ball to them they were outnumbered 2 to 1 by West Ham players. Look at the cause mate and not the symptom.

We had room in the first half to attack. We did attack and play some quick balls
What changed in the second half was we had players literally playing on top of themselves.that may be tactical but would be rather odd if so.

 

[AdamB]

I think his job is to sign players for the youth groups not the first team group.

I since read that his focus is/was 17-21 year olds, so you might be right. At a worst case though, you'd hope that if he's recommending players with decent potential in that age range then they might only be 12-24 months from the first team squad

 

[Finney Is Back]

I since read that his focus is/was 17-21 year olds, so you might be right. At a worst case though, you'd hope that if he's recommending players with decent potential in that age range then they might only be 12-24 months from the first team squad

Indeed.... I was really pleased with us bringing him in (in many ways I think this kind of formalises a role previously carried out on an ad-hoc basis by David Pleat) as well as us getting a DoF in and I think our club will be all the stronger for having both of them.

 

[Pirate55]

Good to see there are at least a couple of us who can see a little progress.

Me too!

 

[Bishop]

Good to see there are at least a couple of us who can see a little progress.

One step forward (overall defensive performances)

One step backward (goal threat)

So we are where we already were. Hopefully the next step/s are forward.

 

[parklane1]

One step forward (overall defensive performances)

One step backward (goal threat)

So we are where we already were. Hopefully the next step/s are forward.

Can not really disagree with at all, however IF Kane had been putting his usual effort in ( which i think we can all agree he has not been doing) then our go\l threat may have been better.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Can not really disagree with at all, however IF Kane had been putting his usual effort in ( which i think we can all agree he has not been doing) then our go\l threat may have been better.

I agree with you here.... The big problem there is that this is unlikely to change. We have a player at the club who doesn't want to be here and literally nobody other than a far from ready 17 year old to replace him with.

 

[Bishop]

Can not really disagree with at all, however IF Kane had been putting his usual effort in ( which i think we can all agree he has not been doing) then our go\l threat may have been better.

Aye a fully up for it Kane charges everything but I think that is symptomatic of the issue. For too long we've relied on individual players to smooth things over. Previously it was Eriksen as our sole creative source, once he no longer wanted to be here we saw what happened.

So what did we do with Kane? The same bloody thing, he told us pointedly he does not want to be here. Ok I get it City didn't offer an acceptable fee, but to not have a fall back option for if his form unsurprisingly suffered this season was foolhardy.

I don't get why we just refuse to stock the most important positions with options. Striker and playmaker are the almost THE key positions.

I do think Kane will get his firm going but I don't think he's not trying on purpose. He's unhappy and just can't do it at the moment. The same thing happened with Eriksen in his last year with us.

 

[AdamB]

Indeed.... I was really pleased with us bringing him in (in many ways I think this kind of formalises a role previously carried out on an ad-hoc basis by David Pleat) as well as us getting a DoF in and I think our club will be all the stronger for having both of them.

Agreed. There should be the potential for him to add a lot of value in the role. Given he resigned from Everton in July, if he has a 3 month notice period and was put on gardening leave, he should be turning up soon

 

[parklane1]

I agree with you here.... The big problem there is that this is unlikely to change. We have a player at the club who doesn't want to be here and literally nobody other than a far from ready 17 year old to replace him with.

I think we can both agree that Scarlett is not ready for the first team ( having worked in youth football i fear we could be doing more harm then good by playing him like we have) time will tell i guess.

Over the years we have had back ups in Jannsen, Llorente, Vinny ( ihave probably forgot some one) but the general opinion on here was that none of them were good enough, there will always be a down turn from Kane whoever we had. Add the fact that Kane has been a passenger for most of this season has made our posistion a lot worse.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think we can both agree that Scarlett is not ready for the first team ( having worked in youth football i fear we could be doing more harm then good by playing him like we have) time will tell i guess.

Over the years we have had back ups in Jannsen, Llorente, Vinny ( ihave probably forgot some one) but the general opinion on here was that none of them were good enough, there will always be a down turn from Kane whoever we had. Add the fact that Kane has been a passenger for most of this season has made our posistion a lot worse.

I have been saying exactly the same thing to @SpurMeUp in the Vitesse match thread. We could be setting back the career of a really good prospect at the moment.
Backups like any of those you mention would be fine for us right now. We would be more competitive in general and allow a good youth prospect to be nurtured properly.

 

[SpurMeUp]

I have been saying exactly the same thing to @SpurMeUp in the Vitesse match thread. We could be setting back the career of a really good prospect at the moment.
Backups like any of those you mention would be fine for us right now. We would be more competitive in general and allow a good youth prospect to be nurtured properly.

A footballer playing football will damage their career. If you look for every angle to be negative about the management then you will turn this into a stick to beat your drum. In previous times, we'd celebrate youth players being given a chance. We have that over the likes of City who lose their prospects to Germany, where they are played and given chances. Mourinho went on record as saying Scarlett will be one of the best. Shame our fans can't get behind him too. We give youth a chance in the European third-tier competition and we're 'ruining their careers'

As outlined previously, the likes of Vinicius or Janssen probably wouldn't have added anything more than Scarlette. Personally, I'd prefer us saving our millions for an average forward and spending more money on a player who will start games regularly; while also giving our young players a chance. When Spurs try to recruit the best prospects, we don't offer the most money, we offer the best oppotunities. We point to the 5 youth graduates in our squad. If you are good enough you'll get games. And that is something you don't like?

 

[Bishop]

A footballer playing football will damage their career. If you look for every angle to be negative about the management then you will turn this into a stick to beat your drum. In previous times, we'd celebrate youth players being given a chance. We have that over the likes of City who lose their prospects to Germany, where they are played and given chances. Mourinho went on record as saying Scarlett will be one of the best. Shame our fans can't get behind him too. We give youth a chance in the European third-tier competition and we're 'ruining their careers'

As outlined previously, the likes of Vinicius or Janssen probably wouldn't have added anything more than Scarlette. Personally, I'd prefer us saving our millions for an average forward and spending more money on a player who will start games regularly; while also giving our young players a chance. When Spurs try to recruit the best prospects, we don't offer the most money, we offer the best oppotunities. We point to the 5 youth graduates in our squad. If you are good enough you'll get games. And that is something you don't like?

Young players should play because they are ready not because we have no other options. Scarlett is not ready, there is a chance his poor performances may affect his confidence and negatively affect his development.

The ideal scenario is for him to be coming on towards the end of matches we are comfortable in. Not games where he spends 90 minutes running around aimlessly and barely touching the ball. That isn't going to build his confidence at all.

 

[Legohamster]

Young players should play because they are ready not because we have no other options. Scarlett is not ready, there is a chance his poor performances may affect his confidence and negatively affect his development.

The ideal scenario is for him to be coming on towards the end of matches we are comfortable in. Not games where he spends 90 minutes running around aimlessly and barely touching the ball. That isn't going to build his confidence at all.

90 minutes running round with players with bad attitudes in some cases.