Mauricio Pochettino

[Jayc1]

FA cup and league cup are not a piority for Poch or the board unfortunately. All Levy wants is champions league.

I feel this is the closing season of "the project". Five players are out of contract next year, others like Eriksen (Contract - 2020) will decide to leave, possibly the manager and a significant portion of our starting 11 is reaching 30+. I think it was Poch himself who said this year or next will be "phase two". Things will be different next year, whether for better or worse. I worry that if we don't win something this year it could be a long time before we have such a good squad to try again, because I have big doubts that Levy will rejuvenate the squad, especially with the debt the club now carries.

In some ways this is great - there needs to be major changes and the squad needs to be broken up. Some of the squad aren't even picked on merit anymore, such as Dier. As good as the squad is we've had more or less the same players for the past 3-4 years and won nothing. We haven't even come that close to winning anything, our last FA final in 1990 and a LC 2-0 defeat in 2015.

Our progress, style of play, finances - everything seems to have just stalled. The players are comfortable. Levy is comfortable. Poch is comfortable. I think the only people uncomfortable is the fans, and even then many are happy to just get top 4.

We've had our best start in god knows how many years, but the joy of that has been heavily tainted by the fact we're more or less out of the CL and everyone else has had a brilliant start - even Watford and Bournemouth. Despite the start I don't really feel positive - our football has been poor, the manager says he's miserable, our best player looks jaded and a shadow, we have no stadium and no date and our borrowed stadium is a shit hole. The league is out of the question and you need to play well to win cups in the latter rounds. Besides our start the only other real positive is contract extensions, but if we're honest they don't mean anything other than a higher transfer fee. A player can decide to leave at any point.

Next year will either be the making or the breaking of the squad. Players will flock away or Levy will invest big. I really hope we win a cup this season...

 

[Airfixx]

True. The only chairman to not spend a penny in a transfer window is very unlikely to pay anything close to 75m for a defender.

...Yeh, foolish us got Toby, Jan & Dav for less than the Dippers paid for VVD.

 

[iz futbal]

...Yeh, foolish us got Toby, Jan & Dav for less than the Dippers paid for VVD.

All that has nothing to do with what I said. Point is Levy would never ever spend 75m on a player, let alone a defender.

 

[Airfixx]

All that has nothing to do with what I said. Point is Levy would never ever spend 75m on a player, let alone a defender.

It has everything to do with it. Whatever our budget, there is always a bottom to it so VFM will always matter.

Evidently, we have been smart enough to build a defense without blowing 75m on a CB....

Reminder; no-one else has spent 75m on a defender either btw.

 

[thuder]

It has everything to do with it. Whatever our budget, there is always a bottom to it so VFM will always matter.

Evidently, we have been smart enough to build a defense without blowing 75m on a CB....

Reminder; no-one else has spent 75m on a defender either btw.

On the other hand you could say they got Gomez, Robertson and Trent for like £10M total, which is 3/4 of their current defence. Sometimes you have to spend big on that special player like Van Dijk even if you develop other players, look how much of an impact it had, from the worst defence to arguably one of the best in Europe. I don't think hardly any other defender in the world could have made that difference to their defence, no matter how good they are, they identified Van Dijk as their No.1, didn't settle for 2nd best and spent big on him and so far he has been VFM as you say.

It might be fickle but I feel the big fee also helped Van Dijk big time because it created a sort of fear factor and presence around him where automatically people/players assume he's a beast because of his price tag (tbf he is a beast anyway)

 

[Notabadsquad]

All that has nothing to do with what I said. Point is Levy would never ever spend 75m on a player, let alone a defender.

And rightly so.

That is not to say we could not get decent quality even for £7.5 million.

I think the problem some posters have is that they see every call for players as those calling for additions wanting to see the club spend mega millions. That is plain wrong in most cases.

If our scouting is good enough, if we are bold and if we make quicker decisions (on occasions) then relative bargains can be found who can enhance the team.

 

[BernardMatthews]

And rightly so.

That is not to say we could not get decent quality even for £7.5 million.

I think the problem some posters have is that they see every call for players as those calling for additions wanting to see the club spend mega millions. That is plain wrong in most cases.

If our scouting is good enough, if we are bold and if we make quicker decisions (on occasions) then relative bargains can be found who can enhance the team.

Yep. Good point. We have spent millions on some pretty average players.
Someone at the club has to take responsibility for those decisions.

And Van Dijk himself was once a £3m player. Even when he went to Southampton he was only £13m. Those are the types of deals we still need to be making.

Although then the fans would probably complain about not spending enough.

 

[Notabadsquad]

Yep. Good point. We have spent millions on some pretty average players.
Someone at the club has to take responsibility for those decisions.

And Van Dijk himself was once a £3m player. Even when he went to Southampton he was only £13m. Those are the types of deals we still need to be making.

Although then the fans would probably complain about not spending enough.

Alli cost 5 million. Bale all those years ago was a relative bargain.

Those players exist, albeit more rarely than before.

And yes Van Dijk. Liverpool via Celtic or even more so via Southampton.

 

[iz futbal]

It has everything to do with it. Whatever our budget, there is always a bottom to it so VFM will always matter.

Evidently, we have been smart enough to build a defense without blowing 75m on a CB....

Reminder; no-one else has spent 75m on a defender either btw.

Someone mentioned Levy would spend 75m , I said he wouldnt because didnt even want to spend a single penny on transfers. The rest is irrelevant.

Not that I disagree with not spending 75m on a defender. Liverpool probably felt their squad can achieve something.. so added in that 75m defender to give it that push and it did work wonders. VVD's presense turned their defense from shit to one that reached the CL final.

We should have done something similar with the CM situation instead of deciding to not spend a penny on transfers.

 

[Airfixx]

Someone mentioned Levy would spend 75m , I said he wouldnt because didnt even want to spend a single penny on transfers. The rest is irrelevant.

Not that I disagree with not spending 75m on a defender. Liverpool probably felt their squad can achieve something.. so added in that 75m defender to give it that push and it did work wonders. VVD's presense turned their defense from shit to one that reached the CL final.

We should have done something similar with the CM situation instead of deciding to not spend a penny on transfers.

Personally, i think for the right player we will break our trf record again very soon.

As i have said many times before I don't believe our policy was to "spend nothing"... It was simply the un-planned outcome of a difficult window.

However, lets say we are skint due to Stadium complications... What good will blowing a shed-load of cash that we havent got do?

 

[Juicy Sushi]

Someone mentioned Levy would spend 75m , I said he wouldnt because didnt even want to spend a single penny on transfers. The rest is irrelevant.

Not that I disagree with not spending 75m on a defender. Liverpool probably felt their squad can achieve something.. so added in that 75m defender to give it that push and it did work wonders. VVD's presense turned their defense from shit to one that reached the CL final.

We should have done something similar with the CM situation instead of deciding to not spend a penny on transfers.

Rumour was that we did, twice during the summer. And both players decided not to change clubs last summer.

Now, the truth of that is anyone’s guess, but given that we dropped a club record fee on a centreback the year before, and that Pochettino signed a new deal talking about bold moves, I doubt signing no one was in the plans.

Unless you are inclined to believe Levy outright lied to and then betrayed his manager and the squad, and has engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy about the club’s financials.

If you do feel that way, I don’t really know what to say beyond: seek professional help. The Calmzone can help.

 

[iz futbal]

Rumour was that we did, twice during the summer. And both players decided not to change clubs last summer.

Now, the truth of that is anyone’s guess, but given that we dropped a club record fee on a centreback the year before, and that Pochettino signed a new deal talking about bold moves, I doubt signing no one was in the plans.

Unless you are inclined to believe Levy outright lied to and then betrayed his manager and the squad, and has engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy about the club’s financials.

If you do feel that way, I don’t really know what to say beyond: seek professional help. The Calmzone can help.

No I dont think levy outright lied to and betrayed Poch. He probably tried his usual last minute haggling and failed. It only works when the other side is desperate for cash and can be ripped off.

And why would anyone needs professional help over opinions on a football team. You shoudl get some help anyway for even thinking such nonsense. Dont have children anytime soon.

 

[hiatus]

Alli: Pochettino was key to new Spurs contract

 

[Juicy Sushi]

No I dont think levy outright lied to and betrayed Poch. He probably tried his usual last minute haggling and failed. It only works when the other side is desperate for cash and can be ripped off.

And why would anyone needs professional help over opinions on a football team. You shoudl get some help anyway for even thinking such nonsense. Dont have children anytime soon.

A cursory examination of this board reveals a fair few using Spurs and other stuff as a form of self-medication. And the delusions are strong for them.

 

[Jurgen's Binnman]

I feel this is the closing season of "the project". Five players are out of contract next year, others like Eriksen (Contract - 2020) will decide to leave, possibly the manager and a significant portion of our starting 11 is reaching 30+. I think it was Poch himself who said this year or next will be "phase two". Things will be different next year, whether for better or worse. I worry that if we don't win something this year it could be a long time before we have such a good squad to try again, because I have big doubts that Levy will rejuvenate the squad, especially with the debt the club now carries.

In some ways this is great - there needs to be major changes and the squad needs to be broken up. Some of the squad aren't even picked on merit anymore, such as Dier. As good as the squad is we've had more or less the same players for the past 3-4 years and won nothing. We haven't even come that close to winning anything, our last FA final in 1990 and a LC 2-0 defeat in 2015.

Our progress, style of play, finances - everything seems to have just stalled. The players are comfortable. Levy is comfortable. Poch is comfortable. I think the only people uncomfortable is the fans, and even then many are happy to just get top 4.

We've had our best start in god knows how many years, but the joy of that has been heavily tainted by the fact we're more or less out of the CL and everyone else has had a brilliant start - even Watford and Bournemouth. Despite the start I don't really feel positive - our football has been poor, the manager says he's miserable, our best player looks jaded and a shadow, we have no stadium and no date and our borrowed stadium is a shit hole. The league is out of the question and you need to play well to win cups in the latter rounds. Besides our start the only other real positive is contract extensions, but if we're honest they don't mean anything other than a higher transfer fee. A player can decide to leave at any point.

Next year will either be the making or the breaking of the squad. Players will flock away or Levy will invest big. I really hope we win a cup this season...

Cheerful sod aren’t you.

 

[ArcspacE]

A cursory examination of this board reveals a fair few using Spurs and other stuff as a form of self-medication. And the delusions are strong for them.

Stop talking it the mirror

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Someone mentioned Levy would spend 75m , I said he wouldnt because didnt even want to spend a single penny on transfers. The rest is irrelevant.

Not that I disagree with not spending 75m on a defender. Liverpool probably felt their squad can achieve something.. so added in that 75m defender to give it that push and it did work wonders. VVD's presense turned their defense from shit to one that reached the CL final.

We should have done something similar with the CM situation instead of deciding to not spend a penny on transfers.

Liverpool's defence wasn't the issue prior to buying VVD, it's a media narrative that took hold and didn't stop. They ended 17/18 with the 3rd best defensive record (chances conceded against) and in terms of goals scored against, they've had 5th best (16/17) and 4th best (17/18) prior to him joining.

Where Liverpool was garbage was with their goalkeepers, the few shots the oppo had on their goal resulted in an unprecedented number of goals scored as a percentage, they had not one shit 'keeper but two. The new narrative that is bollocks is that VVD is the Messiah, sorry not true. Not saying he's shite or any such nonsense like that, he's a good CB, probably better than Lovren. But make no mistake VVD is not the reason. They have also changed their shape this season, they no longer press teams high up the pitch, well that's not entirely true they do, but they have dropped off 10yrds or so and have chosen a more compact midfield and press from deeper mainly against the 2nd ball, all this contributes far more to their defence that VVD.

Sorry to butt in but hate the false narratives that exist in football, the more they get said they more they become a truth. With my tinfoil hat wedged firmly on my head, I'm convinced this narrative is also driven by Liverpool themselves as it justifies and firms up the £75m World record fee for the player.

 

[iz futbal]

A cursory examination of this board reveals a fair few using Spurs and other stuff as a form of self-medication. And the delusions are strong for them.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

 

[spursmalc]

I think you should delete this link as Spurs supporters should not encourage them by watching.