When will Spurs make their move?

[Sweetsman]

There is a longstanding convention, a forum factoid, that we sign "nearly all of our players in the last few days of August". It's not true. We sign half of them before August starts. That was my point.

I wasn't "stating my opinion". As I have written here often, opinions are overrated. I was setting out some accurate information that contradicts commonly held opinions.

My opinion on the prevalence of early signings for players who turned out to be great successes is that they are the ones on whom we pounced before the rest of the market had properly noticed. Not one of the players I listed (Berbatov, Modric, Bale, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier & Wanyama) was a an established star before arriving at Tottenham. Modric and Bale were widely expected to become international stars. The others were all a bit under-the-radar.

I'm not concerned about our lack of signings at all. I think the other longstanding convention and forum factoid that "the other clubs are all improving and we will be left behind" is incorrect. The other clubs are not "improving", they're "signing players". As we found the hard way in 2013, signing a lot of expensive players does not guarantee improvement.

We could improve a few areas of the team with some judicious arrivals, but it's not essential, unless there are more of those Alderweireld/Wanyama bargains in the market.

I'm enjoying your posts, because of the logically argued points and the use of facts that are placed in context (unlike the use by some of win ratios). Another bonus is that it flushes some people out of the undergrowth, where they lurk waiting for any negative thing to happen to the club that removed their heroes.

 

[2bearis2do]

My only real concern is that Poch is happy with the way we operate. I have my doubts.

The way I see it, to date - is that he has built his team with full knowledge of how we deal in the transfer market. He likes to build TEAMS and develop players - we've not gone for a marque signing for a long long while (VDV maybe?).
We've sold Walker - because he sees Trippier as a better option - no complaints from me. We told Manure to Eff off over Dier. So I feel MP still has enough control with how he develops his team. The biggest issue we have is how do we "improve" this team? Who can we buy to better someone in our best starting X1? And who can we buy who will be willing to sit on the bench? Who should we "honestly replace?

So let's review?

Lloris...No way
Walker? We have Trippier whom I'm guessing most on SC prefer as he is better footballer and defender than Walker. 50mill? TYVM.
Rose? No Way
Toby? No Way
Verts? No Way
Victor W? No Way
Dier? (IMO is disposable but MoPo says no)
Dembele? No Way
Eriksson? No Way
Dele? No Way
Kane? No Way
Son? After last season..No Way
Lamela? Will be like a new signing and was just becoming brilliant.
Winks? No Way

It doesn't leave much room for newcomers!

NKoudou? Well MoPo must have some hope with him as he sold Clinton.

Sissoko...I'd like to sell him but a fair enough squad player unless we find better (Sigs)
Wimmer...ditto, we're not selling him unless we find better.

For the first time in my memory...There are very few disposable players in our team and very few players that would improve us instantly especially as the team is improving every season.

We don't need a massive change or players like Barkley (mercenary and thick to boot TBH) as I think MoPo has a hungry team with a fantastic spirit. Why upset that with a marque. signing on ridiculous wages? That's why we've tied down our best players with long contracts...they all believe and so should we.

The reason why Manure, Man Shitty, The Pool, The Ar$e are spending like fools is because we've bettered them for 2 seasons running. I think you'll find that 80% of their massive foreign buys don't instantly work out in the EPL.

The squad could do with one or two additions for depth and back up - but those additions will need to be hungry and be happy to sit on the bench and wait for their chance. Example...Janssen.....will come good.

Though - I do like the idea of an Iheanacho or a Saha.

Keep the faith in MoPo and in Levy. The RIGHT buy will come.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I'm enjoying your posts, because of the logically argued points and the use of facts that are placed in context (unlike the use by some of win ratios). Another bonus is that it flushes some people out of the undergrowth, where they lurk waiting for any negative thing to happen to the club that removed their heroes.

Yes, I'm already getting retaliatory ratings from one such character - I posted a "disagree" and have since had several "spam" ratings applied to posts that one may or may not disagree with, but contain piles of facts relevant to the thread and are this nothing like "spam".

It's very reminiscent of the Trump-supporters in America who, when confronted by facts set out in something like syllogistic order, retort with "you suck, libtard" and "Snopes is just a liberal conspiracy invented by Crooked Hillary" and "we won so you can just suck it up, so there". It's the quality of the arguments that is so moving. That's "moving" in the "bowel" sense...

 

[Sweetsman]

Yes, I'm already getting retaliatory ratings from one such character - I posted a "disagree" and have since had several "spam" ratings applied to posts that one may or may not disagree with, but contain piles of facts relevant to the thread and are this nothing like "spam".

It's very reminiscent of the Trump-supporters in America who, when confronted by facts set out in something like syllogistic order, retort with "you suck, libtard" and "Snopes is just a liberal conspiracy invented by Crooked Hillary" and "we won so you can just suck it up, so there". It's the quality of the arguments that is so moving. That's "moving" in the "bowel" sense...

I'd love to see them process syllogistic order: you'd be accused of being a Commie.

 

[Sweetsman]

The way I see it, to date - is that he has built his team with full knowledge of how we deal in the transfer market. He likes to build TEAMS and develop players - we've not gone for a marque signing for a long long while (VDV maybe?).
We've sold Walker - because he sees Trippier as a better option - no complaints from me. We told Manure to Eff off over Dier. So I feel MP still has enough control with how he develops his team. The biggest issue we have is how do we "improve" this team? Who can we buy to better someone in our best starting X1? And who can we buy who will be willing to sit on the bench? Who should we "honestly replace?

So let's review?

Lloris...No way
Walker? We have Trippier whom I'm guessing most on SC prefer as he is better footballer and defender than Walker. 50mill? TYVM.
Rose? No Way
Toby? No Way
Verts? No Way
Victor W? No Way
Dier? (IMO is disposable but MoPo says no)
Dembele? No Way
Eriksson? No Way
Dele? No Way
Kane? No Way
Son? After last season..No Way
Lamela? Will be like a new signing and was just becoming brilliant.
Winks? No Way

It doesn't leave much room for newcomers!

NKoudou? Well MoPo must have some hope with him as he sold Clinton.

Sissoko...I'd like to sell him but a fair enough squad player unless we find better (Sigs)
Wimmer...ditto, we're not selling him unless we find better.

For the first time in my memory...There are very few disposable players in our team and very few players that would improve us instantly especially as the team is improving every season.

We don't need a massive change or players like Barkley (mercenary and thick to boot TBH) as I think MoPo has a hungry team with a fantastic spirit. Why upset that with a marque. signing on ridiculous wages? That's why we've tied down our best players with long contracts...they all believe and so should we.

The reason why Manure, Man Shitty, The Pool, The Ar$e are spending like fools is because we've bettered them for 2 seasons running. I think you'll find that 80% of their massive foreign buys don't instantly work out in the EPL.

The squad could do with one or two additions for depth and back up - but those additions will need to be hungry and be happy to sit on the bench and wait for their chance. Example...Janssen.....will come good.

Though - I do like the idea of an Iheanacho or a Saha.

Keep the faith in MoPo and in Levy. The RIGHT buy will come.

Oh no, you mentioned something positive about Lamela. I'd better alert local A and Es that deranged individuals attending, frothing at the mouth, do not have rabies.

 

[Japhet]

The way I see it, to date - is that he has built his team with full knowledge of how we deal in the transfer market. He likes to build TEAMS and develop players - we've not gone for a marque signing for a long long while (VDV maybe?).
We've sold Walker - because he sees Trippier as a better option - no complaints from me. We told Manure to Eff off over Dier. So I feel MP still has enough control with how he develops his team. The biggest issue we have is how do we "improve" this team? Who can we buy to better someone in our best starting X1? And who can we buy who will be willing to sit on the bench? Who should we "honestly replace?

So let's review?

Lloris...No way
Walker? We have Trippier whom I'm guessing most on SC prefer as he is better footballer and defender than Walker. 50mill? TYVM.
Rose? No Way
Toby? No Way
Verts? No Way
Victor W? No Way
Dier? (IMO is disposable but MoPo says no)
Dembele? No Way
Eriksson? No Way
Dele? No Way
Kane? No Way
Son? After last season..No Way
Lamela? Will be like a new signing and was just becoming brilliant.
Winks? No Way

It doesn't leave much room for newcomers!

NKoudou? Well MoPo must have some hope with him as he sold Clinton.

Sissoko...I'd like to sell him but a fair enough squad player unless we find better (Sigs)
Wimmer...ditto, we're not selling him unless we find better.

For the first time in my memory...There are very few disposable players in our team and very few players that would improve us instantly especially as the team is improving every season.

We don't need a massive change or players like Barkley (mercenary and thick to boot TBH) as I think MoPo has a hungry team with a fantastic spirit. Why upset that with a marque. signing on ridiculous wages? That's why we've tied down our best players with long contracts...they all believe and so should we.

The reason why Manure, Man Shitty, The Pool, The Ar$e are spending like fools is because we've bettered them for 2 seasons running. I think you'll find that 80% of their massive foreign buys don't instantly work out in the EPL.

The squad could do with one or two additions for depth and back up - but those additions will need to be hungry and be happy to sit on the bench and wait for their chance. Example...Janssen.....will come good.

Though - I do like the idea of an Iheanacho or a Saha.

Keep the faith in MoPo and in Levy. The RIGHT buy will come.

Agree 100%. However, it's the squad depth that is the issue and the fact that back up players get very few opportunities unless we have injuries. Finding players good enough to do the job who fit our wage structure and won't kick off if they sit on the bench is nigh on impossible IMO. We bombed in the CL last year because our squad depth was way under what we need. I'd like to see more rotation and a few quality players coming in but then plenty of people will say that will derail our season.

 

[2bearis2do]

Agree 100%. However, it's the squad depth that is the issue and the fact that back up players get very few opportunities unless we have injuries. Finding players good enough to do the job who fit our wage structure and won't kick off if they sit on the bench is nigh on impossible IMO. We bombed in the CL last year because our squad depth was way under what we need. I'd like to see more rotation and a few quality players coming in but then plenty of people will say that will derail our season.

It's a tough one isn't it - but also note how the RM's and Barca of this world don't rotate so much. For me...I think Wembley stumped us and may again this season - though it's pitch size will be the same as the new WHL - so our players need to get used to it, they're young and hungry ate learn and I love that. Note: going out of the Europa League was the best thing that happened to us last season. Our First X1 are just going to get better and better...what MoPo needs to do is decide which trophies he thinks we can do well in and focus with our best X1 on those and develop the rotation sensibly in the others...league Cup, Fa Cup until later stages. Easier said than done..I know and no easy solution.

 

[Japhet]

It's a tough one isn't it - but also note how the RM's and Barca of this world don't rotate so much. For me...I think Wembley stumped us and may again this season - though it's pitch size will be the same as the new WHL - so our players need to get used to it, they're young and hungry ate learn and I love that. Note: going out of the Europa League was the best thing that happened to us last season. Our First X1 are just going to get better and better...what MoPo needs to do is decide which trophies he thinks we can do well in and focus with our best X1 on those and develop the rotation sensibly in the others...league Cup, Fa Cup until later stages. Easier said than done..I know and no easy solution.

The problem (IMO) is that when players do come in they are cold and it takes them a while to warm up. That warm up period can be very costly. Winks was used well and got plenty of time off the bench and Davies got there after a while and did very well. However, it's no surprise to me that Wimmer, who was excellent when he got a run of games, isn't happy (allegedly) and wants more game time. If we bring in any quality back ups, which is what we need, they need to get time on the pitch or they'll go the same way as Wimmer.

 

[guiltyparty]

Weird tacked on paragraph from Neville

Got a lot of time for Everton but bar one season we've been well ahead of them for nearly a decade. Four years?!

 

[Lilbaz]

The way I see it, to date - is that he has built his team with full knowledge of how we deal in the transfer market. He likes to build TEAMS and develop players - we've not gone for a marque signing for a long long while (VDV maybe?).
We've sold Walker - because he sees Trippier as a better option - no complaints from me. We told Manure to Eff off over Dier. So I feel MP still has enough control with how he develops his team. The biggest issue we have is how do we "improve" this team? Who can we buy to better someone in our best starting X1? And who can we buy who will be willing to sit on the bench? Who should we "honestly replace?

So let's review?

Lloris...No way
Walker? We have Trippier whom I'm guessing most on SC prefer as he is better footballer and defender than Walker. 50mill? TYVM.
Rose? No Way
Toby? No Way
Verts? No Way
Victor W? No Way
Dier? (IMO is disposable but MoPo says no)
Dembele? No Way
Eriksson? No Way
Dele? No Way
Kane? No Way
Son? After last season..No Way
Lamela? Will be like a new signing and was just becoming brilliant.
Winks? No Way

It doesn't leave much room for newcomers!

NKoudou? Well MoPo must have some hope with him as he sold Clinton.

Sissoko...I'd like to sell him but a fair enough squad player unless we find better (Sigs)
Wimmer...ditto, we're not selling him unless we find better.

For the first time in my memory...There are very few disposable players in our team and very few players that would improve us instantly especially as the team is improving every season.

We don't need a massive change or players like Barkley (mercenary and thick to boot TBH) as I think MoPo has a hungry team with a fantastic spirit. Why upset that with a marque. signing on ridiculous wages? That's why we've tied down our best players with long contracts...they all believe and so should we.

The reason why Manure, Man Shitty, The Pool, The Ar$e are spending like fools is because we've bettered them for 2 seasons running. I think you'll find that 80% of their massive foreign buys don't instantly work out in the EPL.

The squad could do with one or two additions for depth and back up - but those additions will need to be hungry and be happy to sit on the bench and wait for their chance. Example...Janssen.....will come good.

Though - I do like the idea of an Iheanacho or a Saha.

Keep the faith in MoPo and in Levy. The RIGHT buy will come.

Wouldn't mind us getting kovacic. If he does well we could sell dembelle (get a good price before his value starts to fall).

 

[davidmatzdorf]

We bombed in the CL last year because our squad depth was way under what we need.

That's something of an oversimplification. We "bombed" in the CL for a number of reasons.

• We had minimal experience in managing high-powered competitions. Man City found the same thing when they started to play regularly in the CL.
• We hubristically assumed that the wider pitch at Wembley would suit our style of play, which turned out to be entirely incorrect: our attacking play did not benefit and our smothering defence suffered.
• The main reason: we conceded three or four very sloppy goals in matches where we otherwise played decent football. Why? See the two reasons above.
• We were missing Kane for one or two of those matches.
• It took us most of the season to work out how to play against teams who played us at our own game: pressing high up the pitch and closing down fiercely. Domestically, Liverpool exploited that twice and West Ham once. Those CL matches that we lost were largely early in the season and were characterised by our inability to deal with the press, combined with serious pace on the flanks.

 

[Lilbaz]

Wouldn't mind us getting kovacic. If he does well we could sell dembelle (get a good price before his value starts to fall).

Not sure why the wtf @davidmatzdorf ? Dembelle is 30 has a niggling injury. He will have to be replaced sooner or later.
I like him, but think we could upgrade. Dunno if kovacic is the person but he looks good and for a reasonable price.

 

[Japhet]

Wouldn't mind us getting kovacic. If he does well we could sell dembelle (get a good price before his value starts to fall).

IMO, Dembele is the first player we need to try to find a replacement for. Love the bloke and think he has been amazing for us, but he's seemingly always carrying some sort of injury and can't play all of our games. Kovacic would be fantastic (IMO) but we never get any of our targets from RM unfortunately.

 

[Lilbaz]

IMO, Dembele is the first player we need to try to find a replacement for. Love the bloke and think he has been amazing for us, but he's seemingly always carrying some sort of injury and can't play all of our games. Kovacic would be fantastic (IMO) but we never get any of our targets from RM unfortunately.

Pity. Wages and price seem ok. Will probably sign a new deal with madrid ala isco last season.

 

[Danners9]

Not sure why the wtf

because 'opinions are overrated' remember..

 

[Lilbaz]

because 'opinions are overrated' remember..

I thought it was cause i spelt dembele with two "l's". I know it's wrong, just can't help myself.

 

[SPURSLIFE]

I would image that global recognition is a lot easier now due to social media, internet etc, certainly it can happen much quicker than when the Prem began. We've already made great advances globally, especially since we've had such high profile players/transfers. (Bale, Kane, Alli etc etc). We're already much more recognized in the US.

And i do not think we need (I don't want) a 'sugar daddy', we will be on a par with Arsenal, Liverpool once the stadium is up and running. I certainly don't want to turn into City/Chelsea and be like their souless clubs.

We're doing alright as we are thank you very much. Let the others look on with envy at how we're going about building our club.

Don't you mean let the other clubs win everything and we finish without a trophy. I certainly don't think the likes of City,Utd, Chelsea, Arse are looking at us with envy with us potless and them cleaning up.Get real mate.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Not sure why the wtf @davidmatzdorf ? Dembelle is 30 has a niggling injury. He will have to be replaced sooner or later.
I like him, but think we could upgrade. Dunno if kovacic is the person but he looks good and for a reasonable price.

Because it's yet another fan "opinion" that floats in mid-air, devoid of relevance to reality.

Who on earth would seriously think that Pochettino would agree to sell Dembélé, after he repeatedly described him as a "genius" and said he was a central character in everything we do, in his whole "philosophy"? As long as the club can keep him fit enough to play effectively and he has a good relationship with the manager, they'll keep him in the squad, even if he has to be patched up several times a season.

It's analogous to the people who keep demanding that the club change its wage policy. It's not going to happen, so why do people keep whinging about it?

I avoid posting "opinions" about what I think the club "should do", especially when there is zero chance that they're going to do it, because I reckon it's a waste of words and energy. There's plenty of interesting stuff to post about what the club (and the rest of the football industry) actually does, without me telling football professionals what they "should do" all the time.

 

[Lilbaz]

Because it's yet another fan "opinion" that floats in mid-air, devoid of relevance to reality.

Who on earth would seriously think that Pochettino would agree to sell Dembélé, after he repeatedly described him as a "genius" and said he was a central character in everything we do, in his whole "philosophy"? As long as the club can keep him fit enough to play effectively and he has a good relationship with the manager, they'll keep him in the squad, even if he has to be patched up several times a season.

It's analogous to the people who keep demanding that the club change its wage policy. It's not going to happen, do why do people keep whinging about it?

I avoid posting "opinions" about what I think the club "should do", especially when there is zero chance that they're going to do it, because I reckon it's a waste of words and energy. There's plenty of interesting stuff to post about what the club (and the rest of the football industry) actually does, without me telling football professionals what they "should do" all the time.

Which is your opinion.

Reportedly we had a €22m bid for kovacic turned down by madrid. Dembele being 30 and having a niggling injury is not opinion but fact as is the fact that sooner or later he will need to be replaced. Bidding for kovacic means that it is possibly him and winks that will replace him.

I was hoping to get a feel of what other people who have seen more of kovacic than me think of him because i am interested in their views and is part of the reason i come on here.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

it's not an "opinion" about what the club should be doing. It's an observation of what the club is likely to do, based on what they have said and the available evidence.

I know nothing about Kovacic. I've never seen him play and hadn't even heard of him until a few days ago. It wouldn't matter if we got Messi on a free transfer - based on what he has said, Pochettino is not going to be selling Dembélé as long as he can play at his current level.