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Our signings since the Champions League final

Not that hard, you need a squad not just an XI - we competed on multiple fronts most of those seasons which meant come the business end we were at a disadvantage when facing up against the big clubs who invested not only in a first XI but a deep squad filled with quality.

We should have won something in that time though. Our last major trophies before then all came as underdogs, LC x 2 (we were bookies underdogs v Leic) and FA Cup v Arsenal then Forrest. How we never even fell over the line at least once is a shocker even by law of averages. We never really showed any semblance of the form we had shown any other week in the finals and semis, thats where my disappointment sits with it
 
We should have won something in that time though. Our last major trophies before then all came as underdogs, LC x 2 (we were bookies underdogs v Leic) and FA Cup v Arsenal then Forrest. How we never even fell over the line at least once is a shocker even by law of averages. We never really showed any semblance of the form we had shown any other week in the finals and semis, thats where my disappointment sits with it


My disappointment with that era is that it came at the time we were building the stadium and so could not/did not invest at a level that would have taken that great XI and supplemented it with a strong squad - no doubt in my mind that we would have been up there with Liverpool & City had we done so.
 
No real logic to this as there is context to every signing. For the most part the issue is not the individual players it’s the overall strategy. Example Bergvall, Gray, Odobert are all signings we should be making but you cannot exclusively be making those signings.

For reference in my view a 9/10 signing would be players like Lloris, Vertonghen, Son etc. 10/10 would need to be held for players that win a league title or a UCL. So Dave Mackay 🤣

8/10
Mikey van de Ven £35M
Luka Vuskovic £10M

7/10
Cristian Romero £50M
Pedro Porro £45M
James Maddison £45M
Dejan Kulusevski £35M
Lucas Bergvall £18M

6/10
Xavi Simons £60M
Dominic Solanke £60M
Mohammed Kudus £55M
Archie Gray £40M
Connor Gallagher £35M
Kevin Danso £20M
Rodrigo Bentancur £17M
Destiny Udogie £16M
Pape Matar Sarr £15M
Djed Spence £14M
Pierre Emile Hojbjerg £12M

5/10
Richarlison £53M
Brennan Johnson £50M
Guilermo Vicario £15M
Joao Palhinha LOAN £5M
Gareth Bale LOAN
Ivan Perisic Free

4/10
Mathys Tel £40M
Stephen Bergwijn £27M
Wilson Odobert £27M
Yves Bissouma £25M
Antonin Kinsky £15M
Souza £12M
Kota Takei £4M
Yang min Hyeok £3M
Ashley Phillips £2M

3/10
Giovanni Lo Celso £40M
Sergio Regulion £27M
Ryan Sessegnon £25M
Radu Dragusin £20M
Matt Doherty £13M
Joe Rodon £10M
Carlos Vinicius LOAN £2.5M
Randall Kolo Muani LOAN
Pierluigi Gollini LOAN
Joe Hart Free
Manor Solomon Free

2/10
Tanguy Ndombele £55M
Emerson Royal £20M
Alejo Veliz £12M
Jack Clarke £10M
Timo Werner LOAN

1/10
Bryan Gil £20M + Lamela
Gedson Fernandes Loan £4M
 
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My disappointment with that era is that it came at the time we were building the stadium and so could not/did not invest at a level that would have taken that great XI and supplemented it with a strong squad - no doubt in my mind that we would have been up there with Liverpool & City had we done so.

Yeh, I agree massively and its the main issue of where we are now which has been a continuation of that decline.

We still should have won something IMO, horrific record in the business end, speaks to the clubs long term mentality
 
Let’s be honest we arguably haven’t really ever replaced any of Pochs side with the same level of quality. We have a couple who COULD getting there, but our recruitment since has never really replaced the level of player lost in those positions.
It's the lack of adventure and planning to even try. Look at Brentford and Bouremouth, the two Brazilians who have replaced inevitable losses. Taken the time, planning and made their moves. That method scales up to bigger clubs and better players, we just seem disinterested in replacing talent unless its with kids or a panic
 
It's the lack of adventure and planning to even try. Look at Brentford and Bouremouth, the two Brazilians who have replaced inevitable losses. Taken the time, planning and made their moves. That method scales up to bigger clubs and better players, we just seem disinterested in replacing talent unless its with kids or a panic

Our transfer strategy if the past few seasons of signing some of the best young talent is what we should have been doing under Pochettino. We had a settled group of 15/16 1st XI quality players. Had that squad been backed up by the equivalents of Kinsky, Vuskovic, Gray, Bergvall, Odobert, Tel it would had been ideal. Instead we kept signing players like Sissoko, Moura, Aurier, Llorente to give some squad depth.
 
Our transfer strategy if the past few seasons of signing some of the best young talent is what we should have been doing under Pochettino. We had a settled group of 15/16 1st XI quality players. Had that squad been backed up by the equivalents of Kinsky, Vuskovic, Gray, Bergvall, Odobert, Tel it would had been ideal. Instead we kept signing players like Sissoko, Moura, Aurier, Llorente to give some squad depth.

We needed a success plan also, we had zero planning
 
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