WTF is going wrong

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As the title suggests

  • Under-invested mess of a squad

    Votes: 100 49.8%

  • Over-the-hill mess of a manager

    Votes: 12 6.0%

  • Both of the above

    Votes: 60 29.9%

  • I prefer to stick my head in the sand and pretend everythings sweet

    Votes: 11 5.5%

  • We have the right board and the right manager, but teams lose games sometimes

    Votes: 11 5.5%

  • Liver metatastis frequency

    Votes: 7 3.5%
  • Total voters
    201
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sammyspurs said:
No chairman on the planet can rebuild this in a summer window and nor should they.
It’s a three year rebuild, with integrating a few at a time, and filtering out the deadwood over time.

You can’t buy 14 players in a window.
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I've been saying repeatedly it would take around 5 years to put right the 18 month neglection of the squad you so vehemently defended.

At least you're coming around to the error of your views.

I agree with Sammy. It's gonna take a good few years to put this mess in order.
Although I don't think Daniel Levy is the right man to oversee it.

When my builder spent 2 years completely fucking up my extension, It never crossed my mind to use him again for my next project
 
John Thomas said:
I've been saying repeatedly it would take around 5 years to put right the 18 month neglection of the squad you so vehemently defended.

At least you're coming around to the error of your views.

I agree with Sammy. It's gonna take a good few years to put this mess in order.
Although I don't think Daniel Levy is the right man to oversee it.

When my builder spent 2 years completely fucking up my extension, It never crossed my mind to use him again for my next project
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Difference is John this isn’t because of the window.
Otherwise you shouldn’t really have anything bad to say about Jose.....

I have outlined what my views are for the problem earlier in the thread and it’s a broad mixture of issues which mainly falls on the last regime and the players.

I don’t believe for one second if we had signed Ndombele, Sessegnon and lo Celso a year earlier, Poch would have won the CL, finished higher than 4th, developed the diamond into an unstoppable force, dropped Kane when he needed a rest and I don’t believe Dele and Eriksen would have reverted to the form of 2016.

Poch stopped using a DM in its proper roll when we stopped pressing.
That’s why he was happy to not once target one while phasing out Dier, selling Dembele and relying on an aging central defence.

No one was talking about Tanganga in the first team before Jose, and Poch had Sanchez at RB on occasions.

Too much wrong to blame a window.

I think you know that signing Zaha, Martial, De Ligt and Grealish would not see us fairing any better last season, seeing how two of our signings have already panned out, and that he had Moura on the bench for a couple years.

In the summer of 2018, not many were clamoring for a new RB BEFORE Trippiers poor season. He was just named England’s player of the tournament in a World Cup and there was a lot of hope for KWP and Aurier was seen as solid enough cover.

People wanted a couple of additions, really to push the first team and stop them getting comfortable. A CM was top of the list.

So the fact that most people would happily replace about 14 players within 18 months of that window would suggest Poch played a major roll in this demise wouldn’t it.
 
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John Thomas said:
I've been saying repeatedly it would take around 5 years to put right the 18 month neglection of the squad you so vehemently defended.

At least you're coming around to the error of your views.

I agree with Sammy. It's gonna take a good few years to put this mess in order.
Although I don't think Daniel Levy is the right man to oversee it.

When my builder spent 2 years completely fucking up my extension, It never crossed my mind to use him again for my next project
Click to expand...
It doesn’t matter whether you or I think Levy is the right man. It’s his business (at least partly), not ours.

The romantic view is that a club belongs to its fans. That’s not the case.
 
GDG said:
I really want to know who the driver is behind our transfer activity. I’m not talking about how much we spend, I’ll let the Levy haters / apologists discuss that. Who is the driving force within our committee in identifying and committing to the signing of players. There are a lot of complaints about our “stale” squad but our activity has lacked a proper plan.

- Sanchez was bought to be the lynchpin of our defence by this point for sure. That hasn’t happened. The progress of Foyth has been even more stunted. Why did we sign a CB for 40m who can’t pass and then attempt to play out from the back? There’s no synergy between our transfer activity and tactics.

- We bought Aurier in somewhat of a panic following the Walker sale. Did we scout him? If so, surely his defensive inadequacies were evident?

- What was the strategy when signing Sessegnon? Was he bought as a long term replacement for Rose or to be used as a wide MF? It’s not clear to me why we bought him yet. We must have had a plan?

- Why did we spend so much money on 2 number 8’s when we were crying out for a DCM? Wanyama is done and Dier has regressed significantly. I understand Poch wanted to play the diamond but one of Ndombele / GLC plus a DCM was the right path and I think most people agreed on that at the time.

- Why didn’t we retain Llorente on a free? He’s not great at all, but seemed like a good egg in the dressing room and never let us down. In the absence of a second striker we should have picked him back up.

- What was the plan when we signed Sissoko? What was he bought for? He was initially deployed as a wide MF but that was the same summer Mane went for the same price. Why weren’t we after him instead? Did we just see he was available towards the end of the window and think “that’ll do”?

I guess the point is we have no clear strategy at all when it comes to transfer activity. For all Levy’s faults, he’s always struck me as someone who plans things meticulously, except he hasn’t in this regard.

We are the 6th biggest club in England, but I believe we can scale higher than that by buying savvy and being more astute in the market. Dortmund are, why can’t we?

We need direction and a plan. That starts with the appointment of a Director of Football for me.
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Great post.

Why Pochettino has spent £30m on Sissoko

“We need a player who is more direct, more aggressive offensively,” Pochettino revealed. “Because we have players like Eriksen, [Heung-Min] Son or Lamela who like the ball played into their feet. So we need someone who has characteristics like we saw from Liverpool, like Sadio Mané, the type of player that can break the defensive line. I'm not talking about kicking or punching someone, only running and having the right mentality.”

It was a fair assessment of a type of player that Spurs have been lacking. They are a team built on energy and dynamism, but they do not have much real pace. Harry Kane is a great athlete but is not the quickest, Christian Eriksen is more about speed of thought, and Erik Lamela is more of a scurrier than a sprinter.

Dele Alli is the only man in the front four with real acceleration but even then Pochettino wanted more in his front line. Everton and Liverpool have smothered Spurs effectively already this season, in two 1-1 draws that Spurs wanted more from. Pace scares teams, and Pochettino knows that Spurs need more of it.

This is why Spurs bid £12million for Wilfried Zaha on Monday, because Pochettino knew that to give his team an extra edge they needed a player who could run in behind. Crystal Palace did not want to sell Zaha, though, but Spurs found on Wednesday evening that they could sign Sissoko, just for much more money. Georges-Kevin N'Koudou is a talented young winger from Marseille, but Sissoko is established and ready to go.

Sissoko may not be an obvious Pochettino player, given the worries about his application and consistency. But he proved at Euro 2016 that he can rise to the occasion, and it may well be that in a better environment, with a better coach and team-mates, that he would deliver more often. It takes some time to learn exactly what Pochettino demands, with and without the ball, and no-one can expect Sissoko to settle in at White Hart Lane instantly. Even for that money.

But when Sissoko does adjust to the unique requirements of Pochettino football, he will give Spurs pace and power down the right that they have lacked. Opponents will be less willing to squeeze up, knowing that Sissoko can break through their defence. This, in turn, will make more space for Eriksen and Lamela to create in. Spurs play the game fast, but they still needed one more fast player. They have spent a record fee on Sissoko, and Pochettino hopes that their jigsaw is now complete.
 
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Coops40 said:
It doesn’t matter whether you or I think Levy is the right man. It’s his business (at least partly), not ours.

The romantic view is that a club belongs to its fans. That’s not the case.
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I agree with you there but we are not completely powerless. We don’t have the authority, however if every Spurs fans are unified against his Corp, we can set a mood for them to sell. I don’t see how that’s going to happen though. Not to mention, no one knows if any other owners will do the job any better. It’s only natural for fans to find something to blame and it is rightfully Levy’s fault for lack of heavy investment in players after building a new stadium.
 
Five said:
Great post.

Why Pochettino has spent £30m on Sissoko

“We need a player who is more direct, more aggressive offensively,” Pochettino revealed. “Because we have players like Eriksen, [Heung-Min] Son or Lamela who like the ball played into their feet. So we need someone who has characteristics like we saw from Liverpool, like Sadio Mané, the type of player that can break the defensive line. I'm not talking about kicking or punching someone, only running and having the right mentality.”

It was a fair assessment of a type of player that Spurs have been lacking. They are a team built on energy and dynamism, but they do not have much real pace. Harry Kane is a great athlete but is not the quickest, Christian Eriksen is more about speed of thought, and Erik Lamela is more of a scurrier than a sprinter.

Dele Alli is the only man in the front four with real acceleration but even then Pochettino wanted more in his front line. Everton and Liverpool have smothered Spurs effectively already this season, in two 1-1 draws that Spurs wanted more from. Pace scares teams, and Pochettino knows that Spurs need more of it.

This is why Spurs bid £12million for Wilfried Zaha on Monday, because Pochettino knew that to give his team an extra edge they needed a player who could run in behind. Crystal Palace did not want to sell Zaha, though, but Spurs found on Wednesday evening that they could sign Sissoko, just for much more money. Georges-Kevin N'Koudou is a talented young winger from Marseille, but Sissoko is established and ready to go.

Sissoko may not be an obvious Pochettino player, given the worries about his application and consistency. But he proved at Euro 2016 that he can rise to the occasion, and it may well be that in a better environment, with a better coach and team-mates, that he would deliver more often. It takes some time to learn exactly what Pochettino demands, with and without the ball, and no-one can expect Sissoko to settle in at White Hart Lane instantly. Even for that money.

But when Sissoko does adjust to the unique requirements of Pochettino football, he will give Spurs pace and power down the right that they have lacked. Opponents will be less willing to squeeze up, knowing that Sissoko can break through their defence. This, in turn, will make more space for Eriksen and Lamela to create in. Spurs play the game fast, but they still needed one more fast player. They have spent a record fee on Sissoko, and Pochettino hopes that their jigsaw is now complete.
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Why would you bid 12 mill for Zaha, see it rejected, and then throw 30 mill at Sissoko. Palace would have sold for 30-40 mill. Poch wanted Zaha, everyone knew he liked Zaha, Levy and his transfer committee obviously not keen so put in a derisory bid, Palace say fuck off if you're not serious, Levy's committee offer the Sissoko option as he is a player the club have tracked since his Toulouse days, Poch is backed into a corner as there are no other options and so has to agree. In a nutshell !! :pochcry:
 
Redcoast said:
I agree with you there but we are not completely powerless. We don’t have the authority, however if every Spurs fans are unified against his Corp, we can set a mood for them to sell. I don’t see how that’s going to happen though. Not to mention, no one knows if any other owners will do the job any better. It’s only natural for fans to find something to blame and it is rightfully Levy’s fault for lack of heavy investment in players after building a new stadium.
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Sell to whom? Be careful what you wish for.
 
Five said:
Great post.

Why Pochettino has spent £30m on Sissoko

“We need a player who is more direct, more aggressive offensively,” Pochettino revealed. “Because we have players like Eriksen, [Heung-Min] Son or Lamela who like the ball played into their feet. So we need someone who has characteristics like we saw from Liverpool, like Sadio Mané, the type of player that can break the defensive line. I'm not talking about kicking or punching someone, only running and having the right mentality.”

It was a fair assessment of a type of player that Spurs have been lacking. They are a team built on energy and dynamism, but they do not have much real pace. Harry Kane is a great athlete but is not the quickest, Christian Eriksen is more about speed of thought, and Erik Lamela is more of a scurrier than a sprinter.

Dele Alli is the only man in the front four with real acceleration but even then Pochettino wanted more in his front line. Everton and Liverpool have smothered Spurs effectively already this season, in two 1-1 draws that Spurs wanted more from. Pace scares teams, and Pochettino knows that Spurs need more of it.

This is why Spurs bid £12million for Wilfried Zaha on Monday, because Pochettino knew that to give his team an extra edge they needed a player who could run in behind. Crystal Palace did not want to sell Zaha, though, but Spurs found on Wednesday evening that they could sign Sissoko, just for much more money. Georges-Kevin N'Koudou is a talented young winger from Marseille, but Sissoko is established and ready to go.

Sissoko may not be an obvious Pochettino player, given the worries about his application and consistency. But he proved at Euro 2016 that he can rise to the occasion, and it may well be that in a better environment, with a better coach and team-mates, that he would deliver more often. It takes some time to learn exactly what Pochettino demands, with and without the ball, and no-one can expect Sissoko to settle in at White Hart Lane instantly. Even for that money.

But when Sissoko does adjust to the unique requirements of Pochettino football, he will give Spurs pace and power down the right that they have lacked. Opponents will be less willing to squeeze up, knowing that Sissoko can break through their defence. This, in turn, will make more space for Eriksen and Lamela to create in. Spurs play the game fast, but they still needed one more fast player. They have spent a record fee on Sissoko, and Pochettino hopes that their jigsaw is now complete.
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Thanks. I guess the biggest take away from that is that Sissoko was purchased as a wide MF, not a CM. That makes sense bearing in mind where he way deployed initially within our team.

It also makes it a poor singing. If we needed direct running and pace and we were prepared to spend 30m, Sissoko is about the worst option I can think of for that position. The fact that Mane went that summer for the same amount and we were bidding 12m for Zaha just compounds the error.
 
ElTel said:
Why would you bid 12 mill for Zaha, see it rejected, and then throw 30 mill at Sissoko. Palace would have sold for 30-40 mill. Poch wanted Zaha, everyone knew he liked Zaha, Levy and his transfer committee obviously not keen so put in a derisory bid, Palace say fuck off if you're not serious, Levy's committee offer the Sissoko option as he is a player the club have tracked since his Toulouse days, Poch is backed into a corner as there are no other options and so has to agree. In a nutshell !! :pochcry:
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agree, but there was a lot made of the sissoko fee structure - was it not 6mill a season? I expect palace were less flexible.
 
GDG said:
Thanks. I guess the biggest take away from that is that Sissoko was purchased as a wide MF, not a CM. That makes sense bearing in mind where he way deployed initially within our team.

It also makes it a poor singing. If we needed direct running and pace and we were prepared to spend 30m, Sissoko is about the worst option I can think of for that position. The fact that Mane went that summer for the same amount and we were bidding 12m for Zaha just compounds the error.
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I agree that it was an awful signing. We were interested in Mane, but couldn't offer him the kind of wages Liverpool did.
 
WTF has gone wrong?

Well, over the past twelve months you've started loads of threads basically all saying "levy f*** off"

To be honest John, I wish you'd f*** off mate lol!
 
hrytn said:
It deserves a disagree but I won't do that to you because you are a nice guy, good poster and this is just a blip.
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He is very wrong. A good manager can with coaching organisation a system and cunning win tournaments with very ordinary players. Give him two good players in with the dross he can win titles. Two examples off my head, Otto Rehagel(Greece 2004) Claudio ranieri Leicester City 2015
 
Spurs_Bob said:
WTF has gone wrong?

Well, over the past twelve months you've started loads of threads basically all saying "levy f*** off"

To be honest John, I wish you'd f*** off mate lol!
Click to expand...

The one thing Levy and John Thomas have in common is that no matter how many people here are against them, it will not influence either of them to fuck off.
 
Poch was a miracle worker. End of.

He'd probably run out of miracles when we sacked him, but for four seasons he made a financial welterweight into an actual, no-mirage juggernaut, and that's the entirety of the story. A story that has reached its conclusion.
 
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