Toro Rosso Leipzig vs Tottenham Hotspur (10/3/20) (20:00 ko)

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...Begging the question; is there a shelf in the transfer market marked "mentally strong"?

We've been hearing the same thing since long before Poch. We've since accumulated internationals, former captains, league & world cupp winners and are now managed by one of the most decorated managers in history and we're still coming up empty.

We haven't accumulated any world class players over the past four seasons.

Our recruitment has been abysmal.
 
Read my post again.

Despite all our recruitment, the issue isn't mentality, it's that none of the guys we've added since 2016 are actually difference makers at the highest level.

For all their previous accolades, reality is that on a football pitch they're not very good.

If we want to change our mentality, we need to find better players.
 
Despite all our recruitment, the issue isn't mentality, it's that none of the guys we've added since 2016 are actually difference makers at the highest level.

For all their previous accolades, reality is that on a football pitch they're not very good.

If we want to change our mentality, we need to find better players.

Funny thing about "world class players"; there's only so many in the world to go round. :harrysmile:
 
Funny thing about "world class players"; there's only so many in the world to go round. :harrysmile:

Definitely.

Our issue though is that our rivals have capitalized off the Prem being the richest league in the world. They identify top players and go buy them.

Our recruitment strategy has been entirely different. We go searching for lottery tickets and hope they'll work out, however over the past four years we haven't hit the jackpot on anyone.

Instead of getting guys who are true difference makers, we're spending large sums of money on guys who we think can become difference makers, only to watch them turn into incredibly average squad players.

For example, Spurs will probably go into this summer and try to fix 2-3 spots. I believe they'd be better off going out and signing one player who is truly world class and blowing their whole budget their vs adding more bodies to the squad who don't really improve anything.

For his last 18 months Poch said this was all he was looking for. He maintained that whole time that he didn't want us to sign people just for the sake of it, and that he only wanted players who would truly upgrade his starting XI.

We went on to not sign anyone at all, which was a recipe for disaster, but I still think what Poch was advocating for was the correct approach.

For example, I have no idea what our transfer budget will be this summer, but if it's 75 mil, I'd go blow almost the whole thing on Wilfred Ndidi. Pair him and the work he does defending in midfield with Gio Lo Celso and I think we'd have one of the best midfield pairings in the League.

Reality is that we'll split it up, and sign a midfielder from Ligue 1, a reserve striker, maybe a young fullback and possibly a centre back, and none of them will be any better than what we already have at those positions.
 
Definitely.

Our issue though is that our rivals have capitalized off the Prem being the richest league in the world. They identify top players and go buy them.

Sadly, despite a slight jump recently; we're not one of the richest, nor most esteemed or successful teams in our league; let alone the continent.

Pecking order so often prevails.

Our recruitment strategy has been entirely different. We go searching for lottery tickets and hope they'll work out, however over the past four years we haven't hit the jackpot on anyone.

We wouldn't have climbed the ladder in the way we have if we'd just succumbed to the financial pecking order of the EPL.

Instead of getting guys who are true difference makers, we're spending large sums of money on guys who we think can become difference makers,

See previous points.

only to watch them turn into incredibly average squad players.

Then we should be scouting & assessing our specific needs better (see rejection/dismantling of our previous scouting system).

For example, Spurs will probably go into this summer and try to fix 2-3 spots. I believe they'd be better off going out and signing one player who is truly world class and blowing their whole budget their vs adding more bodies to the squad who don't really improve anything.

For his last 18 months Poch said this was all he was looking for. He maintained that whole time that he didn't want us to sign people just for the sake of it, and that he only wanted players who would truly upgrade his starting XI.

Poch got all his main targets this summer. He has his own issues in terms of integration and the aforementioned scouting factor.

We went on to not sign anyone at all, which was a recipe for disaster, but I still think what Poch was advocating for was the correct approach.

For example, I have no idea what our transfer budget will be this summer, but if it's 75 mil, I'd go blow almost the whole thing on Wilfred Ndidi. Pair him and the work he does defending in midfield with Gio Lo Celso and I think we'd have one of the best midfield pairings in the League.

Reality is that we'll split it up, and sign a midfielder from Ligue 1, a reserve striker, maybe a young fullback and possibly a centre back, and none of them will be any better than what we already have at those positions.

Thing is 1 player a year means it'd take 11 years to overhaul a first XI (part-sarcasm)....

I share your desire for a boss DM; but that doesn't mean we don't have other needs too.
 
When we sacked Poch we should have gave the manager to the end of the season, basically a caretaker role to see how they got on. Good performance =contract, bad performnce = cheerio.

We gave Jurassic Jose 3.5 years at £15million per year

We got fucked over by our board
So what's new?
 
When we appointed JM we knew that he would be here for the duration.
Whoever came in would face the same problems.
It will take anyone 2/3 windows and games may be called off before the summer so scouting becomes more difficult, especially through closed doors !
I hope that JM knows who he wants and buys early.
Face facts. Jose will want to buy early but we will lose all his 1st choice players because Levy will be dicking around. Things won't change under this ownership. We will end up with the bargain basement dregs as we usually do. I will always support the club as I have done for 50 yrs but I'm not expecting to see any improvement soon. I'll just sit back, relax and watch the transfer window and expect next season to be average mid table. No real expectations whatsoever. It means less heartache and stress.
 
Yeah, but his 'best' is no longer good enough. The problem is the dinosaur only sees toby's long balls and the angles are setup better than from central. And if his drop-off is as precipitous as Jan's then we are in for some awesomeness over the next 3 years.
Do you mean he's been peeking at Toby in the bath?
 
Funny thing about "world class players"; there's only so many in the world to go round. :harrysmile:
What's surprising is that our pipeline of youth players appeared to have dried up.

We're not a club to go out and buy "world class players" (and even if we try, we're not very good at it) but what about our Academy?

Look at the pipeline that the Scousers, Chavs and yes, even Woolwich are starting to call on? Add in Foden, Sancho, Cantwell, James and a whole list of prospects that we've never heard about.

Ours? KWP, Winks, Skipp, Onomah, Carter-Vickers, Tanganga and Parrot, plus others that have been erased from my memory. Only Kane is the exception.

Where are our kids? Where's our equivalent of Mount or Tomori or Cantwell or Martinelli?
 
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