‘Needs a reboot’: Postecoglou ready to offload Spence after having zero impact

[mawspurs]

Tottenham have decided to listen to any offers for Djed Spence after the £15m star was told he has no immediate future under new boss Ange Postecoglou.

The 23-year-old full-backed joined Spurs in a £20m move from Middlesbrough last summer, the player arriving at the insistence of chairman Daniel Levy.

Source: Team Talk

 

[Bilko]

Congratulations Daniel. Showing your footballing knowledge and ability to sniff out the talent yet again.

 

[mmidgers]

Another player who'll potentially difficult to shift. Hopefully he's actually interested in playing ball rather than collecting wages

 

[yid-down-under]

Congratulations Daniel. Showing your footballing knowledge and ability to sniff out the talent yet again.

Think paratici was responsible for scouting Spence

edit: I stand corrected as per comments below

 

[fridgemagnet]

Think paratici was responsible for scouting Spence

IIRC he was nudged towards Levy by 'boro' owner Steve Gibson whose apparently pally with DL, I don't recall how much of that was SG just trying to get a bidding war going between us and whoever it was and then DL went and did his own thing (rather than it being fully led by FP)

I remember Warnock and a'nother manager publicly saying yes Spence could be extremely good but he needed to work on his attitude and aptitude if he ever wanted to make it, so yet again the warning signs were there.
I think that's about 3 different managers between 'boro' and Forest, the Rennes manager, Conte, Mason and now Ange... I may have e chunks of this wrong but it's what I recall at least.

 

[daveduvet]

Think paratici was responsible for scouting Spence

Think Levy took a punt cos Spence was flavour of the month… (sure itk will correct me if wrong )

 

[Trix]

Think Levy took a punt cos Spence was flavour of the month… (sure itk will correct me if wrong )

No need to correct you, you are spot on mate. People putting 2 and 2 together because Paratici went to watch him and coming up with 5.

As I stated the other day if your boss tells you to go and check something out because he's looking to buy it, you do just that.

 

[yid-down-under]

No need to correct you, you are spot on mate. People putting 2 and 2 together because Paratici went to watch him and coming up with 5.

As I stated the other day if your boss tells you to go and check something out because he's looking to buy it, you do just that.

Fair enough I didn’t realise it was this way around. Regardless though I think most fans where looking forward to this signing happening and I personally wanted it to work as it seemed to fit with our previous, successful notion of buying young up and coming hg talent

 

[Jules77]

Fair enough I didn’t realise it was this way around. Regardless though I think most fans where looking forward to this signing happening and I personally wanted it to work as it seemed to fit with our previous, successful notion of buying young up and coming hg talent

Agree. Most fans were calling for him weekly/daily under Conte. Conte ended up being right, Levy wrong, along with plenty of fans.

 

[Chedozie]

Spence and Rodon didn’t work out, it’s taking a punt on young talent, I think it’s worth the risk, if we abandon it, we’d never have got Dele or a good few others.

 

[DJS]

Wow absolutely failed to impress Ange.

Amazing he just seems to fail to learn to improve his attitude and buckle down.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Spence and Rodon didn’t work out, it’s taking a punt on young talent, I think it’s worth the risk, if we abandon it, we’d never have got Dele or a good few others.

sure but we need to do the due diligence better, especially on the player's character

 

[Trix]

sure but we need to do the due diligence better, especially on the player's character

This is the key factor for me. It's also worth noting if a manager is keen they'll be doing their own due diligence by speaking to coaches and ex players etc who know the boy. Sign young prospects, absolutely yes, but it makes a whole lot more sense when everyone is on board with that decision.

 

[Styopa]

We seem to have had major problems with player mentality for the last five or six years. I mean beyond questions regarding their appetite to win. Actual issues with basic professionalism like willingness to keep fit or follow instructions. In some cases, mental health has been a problem, and the players have spoken out publicly about it.

I think it's another symptom of our lack of joined-up thinking. Too many opportunistic buys that haven't worked out. Too many players, which the head coach doesn't want. Too much chopping and changing of managers.

It may have been the case that players like Ndombele and Spence were always doomed to fail here due to their attitude. But they joined under pretty rubbish circumstances. In the case of the former, the coach who brought him here was sacked within a few months, in the case of the latter, the head coach openly declared he didn't really want him.

I think until everyone is working on the same page- from Levy, to the dof, to the head coach, to the squad- we will keep on having these kind of issues.

 

[Styopa]

Spence and Rodon didn’t work out, it’s taking a punt on young talent, I think it’s worth the risk, if we abandon it, we’d never have got Dele or a good few others.

Similarly Rose, Walker, Lennon, Bale, Dawson or even Defoe and Carrick. But you also have to have coaches willing to play younger players. I think we went from being one of the youngest teams in the league to one of the oldest between 2017 and 2022. The more etablished we became under Pochettino the less he seemed willing to integrate younger players into the team.

And Mourinho and Conte were clearly brought in as "win now" coaches. I can't imagine them being pleased to be told the budget wasn't there for a senior CB only for Levy to go out and spend millions on "punts" like Rodon and Spence.

 

[Japhet]

We seem to have had major problems with player mentality for the last five or six years. I mean beyond questions regarding their appetite to win. Actual issues with basic professionalism like willingness to keep fit or follow instructions. In some cases, mental health has been a problem, and the players have spoken out publicly about it.

I think it's another symptom of our lack of joined-up thinking. Too many opportunistic buys that haven't worked out. Too many players, which the head coach doesn't want. Too much chopping and changing of managers.

It may have been the case that players like Ndombele and Spence were always doomed to fail here due to their attitude. But they joined under pretty rubbish circumstances. In the case of the former, the coach who brought him here was sacked within a few months, in the case of the latter, the head coach openly declared he didn't really want him.

I think until everyone is working on the same page- from Levy, to the dof, to the head coach, to the squad- we will keep on having these kind of issues.

Seems to me that we now have the ideal manager in charge. Unlike the previous 2 incumbents, he doesn't demand already established star player, but instead backs himself to spot talent that fits and coach the best out of players. He prioritizes attitude and work ethic above all and is prepared to kick anyone else to the kerb. I don't think losing Kane has phased him in the least since he was quite obviously not 100% committed, and that sends a strong message to anyone else who thinks they can coast. I think he'll demand some hard decisions from Levy in trimming the squad down to a highly focused and motivated unit. It won't happen overnight though so people will just have to be patient.

 

[14/04/91]

Spence and Rodon didn’t work out, it’s taking a punt on young talent, I think it’s worth the risk, if we abandon it, we’d never have got Dele or a good few others.

It absolutely is but only as long as the coach (and DoF if we have one that week) are on side with it. Otherwise you end up, as we have, with a bloated squad full of players we can’t get rid of.

Young players are attractive for obvious reasons but they still have to be signed with an expectation of becoming a first team regular at some point. And that means the people in charge of the first team have to see real potential in them.

 

[Col_M]

Its funny, on several threads you see the post "just get it done". Then you see why Just Get It Done isn't always the right thing to do. Due Diligence.

 

[Styopa]

Its funny, on several threads you see the post "just get it done". Then you see why Just Get It Done isn't always the right thing to do. Due Diligence.

It's also why it's a bad policy to sack your coach every season. Naturally, Pochettino, Mourinho, Conte and Ange all have different ideas of what kind of players they want.

Ndombele and Lo Celso were obviously Pochettino picks. We signed Doherty and Reguilon as full-backs for Mourinho but changed to wing-backs under Conte. Hjobjerg was a Mourinho pick but doesn't work in the Ange system. Emerson was signed when Nuno was coach before we spent big on Porro for a wingback for Conte last Jan. Conte apparently turned down Maddison whereas Ange clearly rates him.

It's no wonder why multiple players become surplus to requirements every time a new coach comes in.

 

[Tarricko]

We seem to have had major problems with player mentality for the last five or six years. I mean beyond questions regarding their appetite to win. Actual issues with basic professionalism like willingness to keep fit or follow instructions. In some cases, mental health has been a problem, and the players have spoken out publicly about it.

I think it's another symptom of our lack of joined-up thinking. Too many opportunistic buys that haven't worked out. Too many players, which the head coach doesn't want. Too much chopping and changing of managers.

It may have been the case that players like Ndombele and Spence were always doomed to fail here due to their attitude. But they joined under pretty rubbish circumstances. In the case of the former, the coach who brought him here was sacked within a few months, in the case of the latter, the head coach openly declared he didn't really want him.

I think until everyone is working on the same page- from Levy, to the dof, to the head coach, to the squad- we will keep on having these kind of issues.

This is bang on.

I've thought this for ages. We just buy based on potential or resale potential., or whoever is flavour of the month.

We never seem to really buy for the eleven. We never seem to consider the mental attributes of players. I remember watching Liverpool a few years ago under Klopp buying players who always had one thing in common - really hungry, aggressive players, with an apparent positive mindset, who above all, work hard. This seems like the pretty obvious way to build a cohesive squad.

I do think the last couple of windows have seen an improvement when it comes to recruitment though. Bentancur, Kulu, Richarlison, Romero etc, all seem like more more positive and mentally strong characters, regardless of current form.