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Manager Mauricio Pochettino

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Juicy Sushi said:
I just said it elsewhere, but I am going to repeat and expand on it here.

We've been getting frustrated that Adebayor has been starting rather than Kane in the League. But why? Over the last half decade, finishing top 4 has been the be-all for the club, and so for us as well. But if this year the club had actually made the choice to focus on the Cups, then Pochettino's been playing his best striker in the competitions which mattered the most.

The priorities for this season would have been discussed and laid out in the summer. At that point, with Liverpool still packing Suarez, and no one expecting United to still be crap, it was a very logical perspective to say, "Ok lads, this year, we'll not worry about a run at the top 4, let's focus on Cup runs since the returns would be better, especially if we won the Europa League."

And if the club's been planning and playing matches on that basis, then we're panicking over the wrong stuff. If the club doesn't care where we finish in the top 10, and instead want to win a few pots, then playing Kane in the League is a waste. I think we may be barking up the wrong tree, based on a wrong assumption, and Pochettino's crotchety response to fan and press whining about what games Kane's playing in is entirely understandable.

It would be smart of the team to actually say this to the fans, so we got off Harry and Mauricio's backs about this, but sadly, communication is probably the thing THFC does worst.
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After much debate over past months with fellow Spurs I think you could be right, not sure how as a club we would effectively devalue the league for ourselves but if it makes business sense you can guarantee Its at least crossed Levys mind. Tie that in with the fact it gives the manager a little more time I reckon it could be the only plausible reason for playing the teams he does (excluding Kaboul).

Good point, well presented sir.
 
Aussie Ardiles said:
I'm not entirely buying that we are playing our first team in the cups. Chiriches has played in the cups!
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I don't think it's entirely been the first team, but I think we've played our strongest offense at times in them. I think Pochettino is trying to manage playing minutes very carefully before the December mayhem hits the squad, so that we can have the fewest injuries possible going into the new year. But in terms of strikers, I think that we're definitely showing that the League is not the overwhelming priority, as Adebayor's performance would have led to a benching a lot sooner if we were focused on a typical "top-4 or bust" campaign.

This year just feels different to me. It seems that all of the pressure is coming from outside the team, but within THFC itself, things seem very calm for a team in 10th place with a mis-firing offence. And that led me to wonder why...
 
Juicy Sushi said:
I don't think it's entirely been the first team, but I think we've played our strongest offense at times in them. I think Pochettino is trying to manage playing minutes very carefully before the December mayhem hits the squad, so that we can have the fewest injuries possible going into the new year. But in terms of strikers, I think that we're definitely showing that the League is not the overwhelming priority, as Adebayor's performance would have led to a benching a lot sooner if we were focused on a typical "top-4 or bust" campaign.

This year just feels different to me. It seems that all of the pressure is coming from outside the team, but within THFC itself, things seem very calm for a team in 10th place with a mis-firing offence. And that led me to wonder why...
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I think he looks to recent history and sees that one of the main reasons AVB got the sack was falling out with Adebayor.........Kane is a lot easier to leave out, perversely his work rate and good attitude work against him in team politics versus Adebayor.
 
Joe Clash said:
No, sorry - I was going on Levy's reluctance to back him in the market, and (unconfirmed) rumours of players questioning his methods. I overstated the point.
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To be honest we have had players questioning avb's methods, Sherwood's methods, god's methods to me it seem whoever is left out of our bloated team causes trouble. All the more reason to trim the squad it's to big I can only imagine the politics inside our dressing room.

As for levy fuck that cunt, maybe for once he can back a manager he picks for us.
 
Joe Clash said:
No, sorry - I was going on Levy's reluctance to back him in the market, and (unconfirmed) rumours of players questioning his methods. I overstated the point.
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What reluctance? We went for the players that Pochettino asked for, and we got a couple of them. Southampton wasn't letting go of Schneiderlin, Rodriguez wouldn't have passed a physical in the summer, Musacchio fell apart because of third party complications, etc. We added Stambouli in midfield, a young left-back and two central defenders to shore up our defense, and a few players headed out to make way for the new additions. There was no lack of transfer activity in the summer. I sincerely hope that you haven't joined the Church of Net-Spend.

There's the strangest and most immature feeling being held by a lot of Spurs fans these days that Levy isn't properly backing the team because we don't pick up 100% of our transfer targets.
 
VirginiaSpur said:
What reluctance? We went for the players that Pochettino asked for, and we got a couple of them. Southampton wasn't letting go of Schneiderlin, Rodriguez wouldn't have passed a physical in the summer, Musacchio fell apart because of third party complications, etc. We added Stambouli in midfield, a young left-back and two central defenders to shore up our defense, and a few players headed out to make way for the new additions. There was no lack of transfer activity in the summer. I sincerely hope that you haven't joined the Church of Net-Spend.

There's the strangest and most immature feeling being held by a lot of Spurs fans these days that Levy isn't properly backing the team because we don't pick up 100% of our transfer targets.
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I don't think Levy backs his managers - you do. It's a matter of opinion - and ours differ. The fact that none of the players you mention start in the league indicates to me that they were not players that Poch wanted. Obviously I don't know, it's just the impression I get.
 
Joe Clash said:
I don't think Levy backs his managers - you do. It's a matter of opinion - and ours differ. The fact that none of the players you mention start in the league indicates to me that they were not players that Poch wanted. Obviously I don't know, it's just the impression I get.
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Yeh this forum would have nothing to say it it wasn't for assumptions, we all assume or at best make educated guesses unless the facts are clear to see.

No one really knows what goes on with levy and the back room but with so many managers going and those managers being furious with levy you cannot help but make conclusions. So many people inside and outside the club who have dealt with him say he is ruthless. The policy of transfers also never really quite matches the manager expectations although baldini might also be partly at fault for that one.

I just really hope levy can allow poch to get on with the football without an axe hanging over his head and also allow him to drive the transfer policy so he can actually build a team. This club is forever rebuilding, forever lacking continuity and that needs to change.
 
See the thing is very rarely do the managers come out and say "Levy didnt give me anything" apart from maybe a bit of miscommunication in the Baldini AVB summer with the difference in players signed
What I think is, as I said when Poch joined, is that Levy deals with this issue up front when bringing in a new manager, he gave AVB a second chance and said you want this high profile job, you get X to spend" same with Poch, "If I give it to you and not De Boer, you get X to spend" as I thought probably De Boer would be the more expensive option

Now by doing this he IS backing the manager, to the pre approved levels thus covering his back, thats what a businessman as good as Levy would do.
 
Mensa said:
See the thing is very rarely do the managers come out and say "Levy didnt give me anything" apart from maybe a bit of miscommunication in the Baldini AVB summer with the difference in players signed
What I think is, as I said when Poch joined, is that Levy deals with this issue up front when bringing in a new manager, he gave AVB a second chance and said you want this high profile job, you get X to spend" same with Poch, "If I give it to you and not De Boer, you get X to spend" as I thought probably De Boer would be the more expensive option

Now by doing this he IS backing the manager, to the pre approved levels thus covering his back, thats what a businessman as good as Levy would do.
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Thing is Poch himself has already said the sqaud is too big, in this respect he already has the money for new players, we could easily sell 6-7 players and get easily get around £50 million (Paulinho, Chirches, Dembele, Lennon, Townsend, Ade, Soldado for example) and just buy 1-2 quality players.

Every manager accepts money limitation but they should be able to authorise who is sold to generate the cash and who it is spent on and I really hope Poch is fully in charge off this or at least has a veto otherwise he is implementing his system with one had tied behind his back.
 
TOMO said:
Thing is Poch himself has already said the sqaud is too big, in this respect he already has the money for new players, we could easily sell 6-7 players and get easily get around £50 million (Paulinho, Chirches, Dembele, Lennon, Townsend, Ade, Soldado for example) and just buy 1-2 quality players.
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Yes, because what we desperately need at the moment is fewer strikers.
 
TOMO said:
What we need are better strikers, keep Kane, go for Barihino and Benteke, if Soldado and Ade want to stay they need to be doing a lot more.
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Berahino and Benteke would be great acquisitions but unfortunatly I dont think we will get either. I think that we could get hold of Bony for cheaper than Benteke and he would do the same job, maybe he would be an option?

I think Berahino should be our main target as he plays with Kane for the U21's already and they seem to link up well there. He also seems a lot like Defoe IMO
 
Poch's management of our defence is frustrating and contributing to the following cycle...

1. Because we rarely play the same back four, players get caught out of position and make mistakes.

2. Because they're getting caught out of position, they're getting yellow and red cards.

3. Because of red/yellow cards, we get suspensions, we have to replace players and reshuffle the defence. Then we're back to 1.
 
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