Not on his watch:
Dejan Kulusevski
Emerson Royal
Moussa Sissoko
Georges-Kevin N'Koudou
Bryan Gil
Rodrigo Bentancur
Pape Sarr
Victor Wanyama
Michel Vorm
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Not on his watch:
Dejan Kulusevski
Emerson Royal
Moussa Sissoko
Georges-Kevin N'Koudou
Bryan Gil
Rodrigo Bentancur
Pape Sarr
Victor Wanyama
Michel Vorm
It's both. We didn't play a high pressing game when Redknapp's side was tearing teams apart. Even the first season of AVB where the football wasn't great but we were winning more than losing. As soon as the fear factor goes, opposition teams are more encouraged to have a go.
I don't disagree with anything you say about our decline by the way. I'm just saying there's another dynamic.
I don't think the high press, high intensity game is sustainable for most teams. You need young and fit players to do it. Invariably if it's a success, those young players become household names and fan favourites but they stop being able to handle the system by 26/27 and ideally need to be moved on (not all)
Fans won't tolerate it though and will accuse the club of being unambitious and a selling club. So they keep the players until they're broken and can' handle the system anymore and end up where we are.
This is true but we know that if you're not a yes man to Levy the chances are you won't be there for long.
He was still head of recruitment for most. Therefore on his watch, there may have been some cross over with Mitchell there but their records are even comparable in terms of quality.
Great post.
This feels like a vague criticism. What does it mean to be a yes man? Perhaps Hitchen understood there were constraints to his job (as there are in every job) and worked his best within them.
Giovani Lo Celso is on your list twice,
Not for the ones I removed from your list, he wasn't.
That's not to say that last 4/5 years haven't been inadequate regardless of who's been heading up the scouting/recruitment department. That said it's been made perfectly evident that Poch had a hand in a lot of those considered costly errors though... And of course Levy will have had his say from a financial point of view too.
Lets hope Fab can get this whole departmental revamp right and put this crap behind us. Ditto our youth process that seems to have stalled considerably too.
Some aren't bad players, just not what we need. Could argue getting what we need is actually the important part of scouting.
Can also assume some of those players weren't anything to do with him and was agent favours
Carlito Brigante
Bergwijn, Reggy and Sess are still young, they could still become very good players.
Let's also reserve our judgement on Bryan til he's had a real chance at Spurs, which, fingers crossed, he'll get after a successful loan spell at Valencia.
Hoj is no world beater, but he's still done pretty well. And we didn't really pay an outrageous fee for him.
Foyth was a cheap gamble. Didn't work out at Spurs but it looks like he's gonna forge himself a nice career in Spain. He's still a young lad...
I agree Hitchy & co have got it wrong on plenty occasions, but not as many as you think
Bergwijn, Reggy and Sess are still young, they could still become very good players.
Let's also reserve our judgement on Bryan til he's had a real chance at Spurs, which, fingers crossed, he'll get after a successful loan spell at Valencia.
Hoj is no world beater, but he's still done pretty well. And we didn't really pay an outrageous fee for him.
Foyth was a cheap gamble. Didn't work out at Spurs but it looks like he's gonna forge himself a nice career in Spain. He's still a young lad...
I agree Hitchy & co have got it wrong on plenty occasions, but not as many as you think
And we turned a profit
Hard to know who was his job there, but I guess just a few of them. As you can see some are panic buys, some were agent favours, as you stated, and some were clearly Poch demands. I guess english young "talents" like Sessegnon, Rondon and Clarke were his job. Doherty, Bergwijn, Sanchez and Hojbjerg probably on him too. It's a pretty mediocre job in fact.
It seems some are less damning of the current squad than me. Lets compare to the previous guy who spend 20% of Hitchens total:
Heung-min Son - Brilliant
Toby Alderweireld - Brilliant
Clinton N'Jie - N'nnnnngggg
Ben Davies - Bang Average
Federico Fazio - Faziwhat???
Dele Alli - A steal at what we paid
Kevin Wimmer - Naff
Benjamin Stambouli - shitehawk
Michel Vorm - WAY past his best
Eric Dier - Decent
Kieran Trippier - Great
DeAndre Yedlin - USA, USA, USA!!!
Heung-min Son - Brilliant
Toby Alderweireld - Brilliant
Clinton N'Jie - N'nnnnngggg
Ben Davies - Bang Average
Federico Fazio - Faziwhat???
Dele Alli - A steal at what we paid
Kevin Wimmer - Naff
Benjamin Stambouli - shitehawk
Michel Vorm - WAY past his best
Eric Dier - Decent
Kieran Trippier - Great
DeAndre Yedlin - USA, USA, USA!!!
Poch chose Lo Celso over Bruno, even the player himself said something along those lines
We had agreed a fee of £25 million for Grealish (his brother confirmed he'd even been to the stadium on Villa forums) and the new Villa owners said part of the takeover deal had to be that Grealish wasn't sold
Dybala it seems we were close but then it became aparant about the 3rd party ownership and we rightly back out
James Ward Prowse.... haven't we been 'supposedly' trying to sign him since Hoddle was still here
Bur yeah, you lot keep up with your anti-Levy bias.
He was never a DOF thought, so you can't judge him as one.
He was talked with finding players and recommending them.
After that it was down to the manager and levy, which is where it falls down.
Anti-Levy bias? What? So you are defending Hitchen saying he was getting deals for good players and then the club not paying up because of who? Yes levy. And I’m the anti levy guy? Sorry don’t see it.
That’s fair but it’s worth it from our perspective. 2 years of impact over 5 years of nothing.
It's more the reality at Spurs than a criticism, when you have a chairman that doesn't or wouldn't but out of running the football side then your role because redundant as you will be undermined as he is the one making the key decisions.
Steve Hitchin was a yes man just like every other head of/Dir who worked under Levy as far as running the football because it was either his way or the high way, thankfully he's relinquished a bit of control now and he's giving Fabio more freedom to work.
I thought that would be self evident. If not I suspect the performance of the team for the rest of the season will clarify things for you.
When we still look terrible on the right. Can’t get the ball forward from mf and Kane gets injured you might wonder if it was any one’s job to resolve these problems. You may having done then considered how you think that person has performed.
Just sayin.
That period was doomed. No way we would form a competitive team with Poch shite judgement of players, Hitchen as chief scout and Levy fucking the deals for pennies. That was probably one of the worst combination in the histoy of the football transfers and if it standed for some more years we would probably be relegated.
Again... Not what Arnesen has to say on the subject.
Commoli enjoyed a decent level of clout too....
As did Poch.... So much so, that Hitchins has passed the buck onto him; not Levy.
Look at our outgoings since Fab arrived too..... There's a different slant on things at play now as well.
Flipping the script somewhat; anyone like to guess who was at the helm in the window where we signed Hugo, Jan & Dembele......?
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