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Management Roberto De Zerbi

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We were fucking gone before RDZ came in. Never forget that

And honestly with 7 to go, not many managers in world football would have kept us in the Prem

I am having a drink for RDZ tonight more than any player. Honourable mentions to JP, Kinsky, Danso and Gray. You guys are fit to wear the shirt
 
I have to admit - I was not much of fan of his appointment. Felt to me at the time like "another semi-successful mid-table EPL manager that has lot of hype on him."

But he proved me wrong. Completely so.

What he achieved was absolutely monumental. Just slightly short of a complete miracle.

Just think of the situation into which he stepped:
- team with absurd amount of injuries
- team that had no structure and cohesion on field at all
- team that had no spirit at all - for months, when something bad happened, everyone heads dropped and we headed down like a rock into pond
- toxic atmosphere all around - empty seats and clearly displeased fans
- freshly out of all cup competitions, just 1 point above relegation zone with West Ham going through run of good results

And with very little time he managed to turn things around. Not just did we start racking up points under him.
Performances started to change. Passing patterns appeared.

We did lose 2 games from the 7.
But we were not once outplayed!! Could have easily get a draw from Sunderland (freak-goal really). Brighton game already was won, and then one bad mistake... We were better against Leeds and without the penalty their xG was roughly nothing. And Chelsea? We came so close to drawing there too.

I'll just leave here the xG figures of his games -
vs Everton - 0,99 vs 0,38
vs Chelsea - 1,72 vs 0,63
vs Leeds - 1,32 vs vs 1,26 (Leeds xG from open play was 0,24 - pretty much all of it penalty)
vs Villa - 1,03 vs 0,31
vs Wolves - 1,05 vs 0,62
vs Brighton - 1,12 vs 0,85
vs Sunderland - 0,91 vs 1,79

Impressive does not start to cover it.

I am pessimist at heart mostly. And Spurs have proven that I have mostly been right.
And everything might still happen and things can take a turn. But I have to honestly say - right now is the first time in 6 years when I don't have any real doubt that our manager is the right guy for the job. Yes - that period does include last year of Poch tenure where cracks were all so visible and under every manager that followed him.

Well done Roberto. Hats off to you for that end to the season!
 
Porro, Romero, Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Gray, Paulinha I expect to be his 'keep' list.
With maybe against Spence, Kinsky, Gallagher.. or similar.

Surely heads on the block are;
Vicario
Dragusin
Danso
Souza
Sarr
Bissouma
Tel
Richarlison
Solanke
Muani
Odobert

Whatever else I forgot.
We need to sell around 10+ players and bring in 12-15..

Reality will be more like, "we need to sell to buy", struggle to sell more than 3 players, then bring in 4-5 mixture of youth prospects and backups.

Really he needs 4-5 senior attackers of a high standard, but that's around £300-£400 million worth of talent so it won't happen, and we can expect another relegation scrap next season.

17th twice in a row is not an anomaly. We are fucking awful and any next season expectations above a relegation scrap are on the assumption that we spend an unprecedented amount of money (without European football), and that anyone half decent would even want to join us.
With our DOF, board, scouts etc as they are, I can see RDZ throwing a tantrum and walking well before we are ready to get rid of him.
 
SameOldSpurs said:
Porro, Romero, Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Gray, Paulinha I expect to be his 'keep' list.
With maybe against Spence, Kinsky, Gallagher.. or similar.

Surely heads on the block are;
Vicario
Dragusin
Danso
Souza
Sarr
Bissouma
Tel
Richarlison
Solanke
Muani
Odobert

Whatever else I forgot.
We need to sell around 10+ players and bring in 12-15..

Reality will be more like, "we need to sell to buy", struggle to sell more than 3 players, then bring in 4-5 mixture of youth prospects and backups.

Really he needs 4-5 senior attackers of a high standard, but that's around £300-£400 million worth of talent so it won't happen, and we can expect another relegation scrap next season.

17th twice in a row is not an anomaly. We are fucking awful and any next season expectations above a relegation scrap are on the assumption that we spend an unprecedented amount of money (without European football), and that anyone half decent would even want to join us.
With our DOF, board, scouts etc as they are, I can see RDZ throwing a tantrum and walking well before we are ready to get rid of him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

17th b2b is mainly because we have had 2 of the worst injury crisis' ever seen in the league, our fully fit squad doesn't finish anywhere near that low down in the league.
 
SameOldSpurs said:
Porro, Romero, Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Gray, Paulinha I expect to be his 'keep' list.
With maybe against Spence, Kinsky, Gallagher.. or similar.

Surely heads on the block are;
Vicario
Dragusin
Danso
Souza
Sarr
Bissouma
Tel
Richarlison
Solanke
Muani
Odobert

Whatever else I forgot.
We need to sell around 10+ players and bring in 12-15..

Reality will be more like, "we need to sell to buy", struggle to sell more than 3 players, then bring in 4-5 mixture of youth prospects and backups.

Really he needs 4-5 senior attackers of a high standard, but that's around £300-£400 million worth of talent so it won't happen, and we can expect another relegation scrap next season.

17th twice in a row is not an anomaly. We are fucking awful and any next season expectations above a relegation scrap are on the assumption that we spend an unprecedented amount of money (without European football), and that anyone half decent would even want to join us.
With our DOF, board, scouts etc as they are, I can see RDZ throwing a tantrum and walking well before we are ready to get rid of him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Swap Danso and Romero places there right here, right now!
Romero and Vicario injuries were 2nd best thing that has happened in last 300 days.
Absolutely zero chance we could have survived with them playing.

Upgrading from Romero do Danso made us defend and fight.

We 100% are not selling Odobert now - just for the injury situation alone.
Mostly same goes for Solanke - I am quite sure he stays as 2nd option for ST position. And you have forgot about Kudus and Xavi.

With others out of the door I tend to agree. Given lack of Europe we might have to consider some loans as well - Gray/Bergvall for example. And maybe one more for Moore?
 
SameOldSpurs said:
Porro, Romero, Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Bergvall, Gray, Paulinha I expect to be his 'keep' list.
With maybe against Spence, Kinsky, Gallagher.. or similar.

Surely heads on the block are;
Vicario
Dragusin
Danso
Souza
Sarr
Bissouma
Tel
Richarlison
Solanke
Muani
Odobert

Whatever else I forgot.
We need to sell around 10+ players and bring in 12-15..

Reality will be more like, "we need to sell to buy", struggle to sell more than 3 players, then bring in 4-5 mixture of youth prospects and backups.

Really he needs 4-5 senior attackers of a high standard, but that's around £300-£400 million worth of talent so it won't happen, and we can expect another relegation scrap next season.

17th twice in a row is not an anomaly. We are fucking awful and any next season expectations above a relegation scrap are on the assumption that we spend an unprecedented amount of money (without European football), and that anyone half decent would even want to join us.
With our DOF, board, scouts etc as they are, I can see RDZ throwing a tantrum and walking well before we are ready to get rid of him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Bollocks. This squad was performing perfectly "adequately" (ie: 5-8th on expected points)under Postecoglou until the never ending injury curse ruined two league seasons in a row.

De Zerbi is a better manager than Postecoglou and already has won the absolute buy in of the squad which Frank/Tudor never even got close to doing.

Quite apart from the fact it's just ludicrous pie in the sky fantasy to pretend it's possible to change 15 senior players in one summer, there is perfectly decent Premier League level core here and some bvery good promising youngsters.

What De Zerbi needs (and can realistically be provided) is 3 genuine elite quality players. An Adam Wharton type (possible); an Kvaratechelia/Olise type (less possible but much needed); and a striker who scores goals. Maybe a keeper too if Kinski isn't deemed Number 1.

That is realistic and if we have no injuries will have us back into Top 6 in no time.

The rest of the upgrades can wait like they'll almost certainly have to. In the real world.
 
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Tomo said:
Said it a million times but only attacking passionate managers work with us, our motto is literally to dare is to do. Why the club hire defensive passive guys like Frank is mad
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I think intensity is the #1 thing. Our club has a tendency to sign players without tons of intrinsic motivation or character, not lazy per se (though many are), but especially with young players, we haven’t got much real backbone in the squad. We aren’t a Liverpool or Madrid whose squad had enough characters to win even with a manager they weren’t sure of. We down tools and turn into wet wipes far too easily… that’s why AVB and Frank and others like them have failed in the end, they couldn’t motivate the players. The best times for our club have always come with a charismatic leader galvanizing everything.

De Zerbi comes in and coaches you hard and really makes the players earn their wages. That sort of lightning rod charisma is a perfect fit here.
 
Shadydan said:
17th b2b is mainly because we have had 2 of the worst injury crisis' ever seen in the league, our fully fit squad doesn't finish anywhere near that low down in the league.
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Click to shrink...

Whilst true, it's also a reflection of our terrible squad planning how hard the injuries hit us.
Surely we need to plan for that by having quality backup players?

But regardless of injury, had everyone been fit this season (Maddison has a career full of injuries so let's not expect 38x 90 minute games from him) we would've still been playing a mixture of Tel, Odobert, Solanke, Muani, Kudus... it's relegation standard forwards.
 
the full love story ( thats how you always get the girl with a little bit of amore)
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TheSpurEst said:
Swap Danso and Romero places there right here, right now!
Romero and Vicario injuries were 2nd best thing that has happened in last 300 days.
Absolutely zero chance we could have survived with them playing.

Upgrading from Romero do Danso made us defend and fight.

We 100% are not selling Odobert now - just for the injury situation alone.
Mostly same goes for Solanke - I am quite sure he stays as 2nd option for ST position. And you have forgot about Kudus and Xavi.

With others out of the door I tend to agree. Given lack of Europe we might have to consider some loans as well - Gray/Bergvall for example. And maybe one more for Moore?
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I would sack off Romero but I don't think RDZ will. Fully expect him to try and get him back on side with the 'project' etc.
And I can't blame him for it either.

Oh yes, Kudus and Xavi. I'm not convinced by either personally but would expect them to be around the squad next season due to their injuries alone. They should be effectively replaced in the summer with them both coming back to fight for minutes when they are fit.
 
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Deckard said:
I am Italian , so let me translate the first part. He is saying: :where is that one, the one that constantly at the training ground and being negative"?
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It was the journo that covers us that has a bit of a nervous twitch.

Think it was Tom Alnutt.

RDZ clearly took umbrage to his negativity, but could fortunately laugh it off in the end.

Alnutt looked what my Gran used to describe as shitten! 😂
 
Comfortably the best of our last four managers. Finally feels like a proper manager that suits our club.

Was worried about his appointment initially but, barring him suggesting we sign mason greenwood, he's totally won me over.
 
Phomesy said:
Bollocks. This squad was performing perfectly "adequately" (ie: 5-8th on expected points)under Postecoglou until the never ending injury curse ruined two league seasons in a row.

De Zerbi is a better manager than Postecoglou and already has won the absolute buy in of the squad which Frank/Tudor never even got close to doing.

Quite apart from the fact it's just ludicrous pie in the sky fantasy to pretend changing 15 senior players in one summer, there is perfectly decent Premier League level core here and some bvery good promising youngsters.

De Zerbi needs (and can realistically be provided) is 3 genuine elite quality players. An Adam Wharton type (possible); an Kvaratechelia/Olise type (less possible but much needed); and a striker who scores goals. Maybe a keeper too if Kinski isn't deemed Number 1.

That is realistic and if we have no injuries will have us back into Top 6 in no time.

The rest of the upgrades can wait like they'll almost certainly have to. In the real world.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It is brilliant point that we surely do not need to bring in very large numbers.

We do need QUALITY. We already have quantity.

We do have long-term-injuries returning - Madders, Deki, Odobert, Kudus.
We do have loanees returning - Moore, Vuskovic

But there need to be some outgoings, that is sure thing- Davies contract will run out, as well as Bissouma.
Kolo Muani will be quickly forgotten as well.
Then we get to players who clearly need to leave - Richie - sorry mate, but we just need better. Fights well and cares, but it is time. We absolutely need to flush Romero - absolute diva and a pussy that will make the whole team rot and sulk. Getting him out is one of the very biggest priorities. One rotten apple makes the whole bunch rot, and he is really spineless rat, so farewell to him. I also do think that Vicario time with us is over - Kinsky has overtaken him. And also another one in "leadership group" that oversaw this season catastrophe. I do not think there is point in keeping Radu here - youngish, still has value. Can ship him and Romero out and use proceeds to bring in an experienced and proven CB + Vuskovic.

And for incomings - clinical ST. A starting LW and a passing-oriented midfielder. All of them 60+ million euros likely.
Plus then RDZ has to make decision about some youngish players - if Souza is good enough for EPL. Does Tel still fit the picture with new LW and others returning from injury. Who of young midfielders should be sold/loaned - Sarr/Gray/Bergvall.

So there will be number of outgoings and incomings. But not 15 or even 10 in either way.
 
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