Spurs

[Awol]

Poch? Haha, banter club. 

He might persuade Kane to stay though.

[rodders0223]

Feel like shit just want Poch back.

Tinpot outfit.

[Genie]

I wonder how much it will cost for Kane to be “loyal” to Spurs? Another £40k a week maybe.

[Phil Silvers]

5 minutes ago, Genie said:

I wonder how much it will cost for Kane to be “loyal” to Spurs? Another £40k a week maybe.

Honestly think he would take money over honours any day and if they bring in a big name manager I think he will stay, drat.

[rodders0223]

17 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Honestly think he would take money over honours any day and if they bring in a big name manager I think he will stay, drat.

He doesn't strike me as that kind of character at all. If it came to and not that it will I think he would take a pay cut to win trophies.

 

[Phil Silvers]

1 minute ago, rodders0223 said:

He doesn't strike me as that kind of character at all. If it came to and not that it will I think he would take a pay cut to win trophies.

 

Possibly, hope you are correct as I'd rather he left them.

[LondonLax]

On 25/05/2021 at 23:46, Genie said:

People can do this all day long. Oh how embarrassing they conceded 5 at Everton (not particularly embarrassing tbh), but what about the 6 they scored at Old Trafford, how many people do that? or 7 in the Europa League? Does that happen every week?

Most people would look at Spurs and have then in or around 4th place. 

Poch averaged a little above that, great.

Jose, just below.

Neither were radical managers who dramatically improved or ruined Spurs. 

However, finishing 2nd in France with that squad is a major cause for concern.

He’s only been there a few months. If he stays next season and still finishes second I would start to get concerned but for me he’s still the manager that took Spurs from also rans to a team that is bracketed as part of ‘the big six’. 

[The Fun Factory]

I hope Poch takes the Ray Patterson approach to Spurs trying to bring him back.

[Keyblade]

5 hours ago, Nicho said:

I think all the key players were there when he signed.

Which includes:

Lloris

Rose

Walker

Vertonghen

Alderweireld 

Dembele 

Eriksen 

Kane

Dier

Lamela

He did a great job and they were genuinely good to watch.

I have this conversation with a spurs mate all the time, he blames levy but won’t acknowledge him In building the team Poch had.

They had their chance they didn’t quite make it, it happens. Teams shine bright when everything clicks. It’s why sustained success in the league even for United, Chelsea, City, Liverpool in the last 20 years seems to be 3 year cycles for teams. Then you rebuild, Spurs didn’t and now they are where they are. Could Poch have kept it up who knows.

 

Agreed. Really weird they're trying to bring him back now that they need a rebuild again. Really shows Levy actually thought the squad was good and it was just Poch underperforming at the start of 2019/20. Nothing a little Jose Mourinho couldn't fix, or so went the logic. 

Re: key players, he signed Dier and Alderweireld to be fair. Apart from Vertonghen, Walker and Lloris, none of those players resembled anything close to key players before he arrived. Eriksen was decent as was Dembele (although he was looking like an underwhelming replacement for Modric), but the rest were either looking like flops (Lamela), shit (Rose) or didn't get a look in (Kane). He turned that around. Eriksen and Kane became genuinely world class players, Dembele just on the cusp of that, Rose turned into one of the best left backs in Europe for a period.

This is without getting into all the other flop signings that preceded him like Soldado, Chiriches, Paulinho, Chadli, Capoue, Fazio etc. They tried the "Technical Director" route with Franco Baldini and just threw a bunch of shit at the wall and hoped it all stuck. Similar to us in 2015 with Paddy Kenny. Most of the players we signed turned out to be good players elsewhere, and in Spurs' case, a different manager. Baldini parted ways with the club right after Poch arrived.

It's hard to say about Levy. It's very clear he isn't a "football man" in the sense that his footballing decisions are very hit or miss and he's usually really late in making them (the last 2 years are evidence of that, and the main reason why they're up shit creek without a paddle right now). Poch deserves credit for dragging them into the top 4 and keeping them there, a deceptively arduous task. Before him they were having trouble just sneaking into 4th and were a similar team to Leicester right now. Without that 5 year period, there's no way in hell Spurs would have had the gall to consider themselves a "Super League" club. At the same time, Levy has gotten them plenty of great financial deals that allowed them to be an attractive prospect, even when they weren't guaranteed CL regulars, and some of his transfer dealings, particularly the outgoing ones almost seem like witchcraft the way he gets good deals for his players (as we found out a couple of times).

[HKP90]

If I was Poch I would be like……….

 

[Genie]

49 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

If I was Poch I would be like……….

 

It’s funny how he could get the sack due to Spurs interpretation he was under achieving, then has an absolute disaster navigating PSG into second in the French league and still make a triumphant return to Spurs?

How TF does that work?

[KenjiOgiwara]

Surprised Levy is still there

[Keyblade]

9 minutes ago, Genie said:

It’s funny how he could get the sack due to Spurs interpretation he was under achieving, then has an absolute disaster navigating PSG into second in the French league and still make a triumphant return to Spurs?

How TF does that work?

They're at the same crossroads they were at before he joined the first time. He oversaw their last rebuild to great success. Seems kind of lazy from Levy, and he's all but admitting he ****'d up here which is rare for him.

[VillaChris]

Love Poch but that's a serious lack of ambition if he's seriously thinking of leaving club that has genuine chance of winning CL nowadays to go to one who'll be rebuilding for next 2-3 years.

If I was major club that would be a big red flag for future in that he prefers his comfort zone rather than be at cutthroat clubs where the pressure is intense to win every game.

It's an odd one. However if in next 5 years he does at Spurs what he did there between 14-19 then I'd say that would be even more impressive considering how they've played last 18 months and it's a very dysfunctional squad with awful defence, Alli way out of it and Kane probably leaving so arguably even bigger task than first time around.

Hope it dosen't happen as they probably wouldn't drop too much further down the league which could happen if they appointed inexperienced manager.

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

They're at the same crossroads they were at before he joined the first time. He oversaw their last rebuild to great success. Seems kind of lazy from Levy, and he's all but admitting he ****'d up here which is rare for him.

not really a rebuild though, its the same players from last time minus Vertonghen, Eriksen and Dembele. HE wont inspire them as he did before and has disaster written all over it. 

[Keyblade]

Just now, Zatman said:

not really a rebuild though, its the same players from last time minus Vertonghen, Eriksen and Dembele. HE wont inspire them as he did before and has disaster written all over it. 

It's the same players all but 5 years older and shitter. Dier, Alli, Rose, Sissoko, Sanchez, Lamela, even Davies and Alderweireld (might be able to get 1 more season out of him) all need to be moved on. They're deadwood. They were all key players for him when he was there. The squad needs an overhaul. They're in the bottom 5 for oldest squads in the league (we're the youngest!). They were the youngest when he was there.

[VillaChris]

Just now, Zatman said:

not really a rebuild though, its the same players from last time minus Vertonghen, Eriksen and Dembele. HE wont inspire them as he did before and has disaster written all over it. 

They need to sell all of Sanchez, Dier, Alli, Winks (although he was Poch favourite in the end) Aurier I reckon so decent chunk of the first 11.

Toby has declined. Had some o.k performances end of last season but you have to park the defence pretty much in penalty area so not to expose him so totally difference to 2015-17 period when him and Vertonghen were one of best CB combos in world football.

Got to work out what to do with Bale, seems there's a push from upstairs at Spurs to just take over last year of his Madrid contract rather than splash out 30-40m on another hit and miss wide player.

Suppose one challenge from Levy to Pochettino is saying he gave him 70m to sign Ndombele and Lo Celso, get some better form out of them now they've been at the club two seasons. Also start to play likes of Sessegnon and Foyth regularly at fullback to freshen up the 11.

Think they'll be very hit and miss again next season even if he comes back but perhaps in 12 months they'll start to emerge a decent team again. Lots to sort out really whereas for us it's adding those 2-3 now given how solid our defence is.

[VillaChris]

Lloris

Foyth

New CB

Rodon

Sessegnon

Hojiberg

Lo Celso/new CM

Ndombele

New wide player

Kane

Son

Roughly what they'd ask Poch or new manager to work with. Gamble on keeping Kane for one more year basically so him and Son can again hide the weaknesses elsewhere with all their goals. Tough certainly looks so much tougher if you're having to replace Harry Kane the same summer aswell.

[Keyblade]

1 minute ago, VillaChris said:

Lloris

Foyth

New CB

Rodon

Sessegnon

Hojiberg

Lo Celso/new CM

Ndombele

New wide player

Kane

Son

Roughly what they'd ask Poch or new manager to work with. Gamble on keeping Kane for one more year basically so him and Son can again hide the weaknesses elsewhere with all their goals. Tough certainly looks so much tougher if you're having to replace Harry Kane the same summer aswell.

It's going to mirror their 2014/15 season where the squad wasn't good enough to compete but were playing good football. Back then Bentaleb and Mason were getting regular game time in their midfield.

Honestly though, getting some form out of N'Dombele and Lo Celso will be key. Starting them together would be a big step for starters! They're both really good but managers have lost faith in them at different times for different reasons (Mourinho was justified with N'Dombele last season, and he's stepped up this season). 

One thing Poch has going for him is trusting the young players, which they'll need next year. I expect players like Tanganga (who was never trusted at CB by Mourinho) and Skipp to play a big part next year if he returns. Rodon might become their next Dier if trusted with a run of games. Right back is a huge problem area, and Mourinho sold Kyle Walker-Peters who turned out to be great. They could really do with him now as Aurier and Doherty just aren't cutting it, and are about 30 years old each.

[VillaChris]

Yeah forgot to mention Tanganga and Skipp's done really well at Norwich and they want him back on another loan but Spurs refusing so far so looks like he'll be in first team squad and get chances next season in midfield.

Find Ndombele a bit of an enigma. Technically very decent but simply dosen't make enough right decisions in final third, Lo Celso was brilliant at Betis but not sure he quite fits English football as he likes playing in games with slow tempo.

One I forgot to say was Lucas Moura. He was brilliant v us at VP and thought he was their best player in the cup final and yet he was unused sub v us and rarely played in the run in so no idea what's going on. Another coming up to 30 and probably someone Spurs will look to move on.