They're playing a dangerous game..
Spurs 2018/19
- Thread starter Adisa
- Start date
No, the "bedwetters" will only turn out to be right if their dire predictions for the season come true.
But Vertonghen, a year older than Matic, won't decline at all. And Dembele won't continue his decline. And Wanyama's knees will surely get better.
Decline doesn't just happen to United players.
Of course. I was merely pointing out some of the many complex factors involved, in contrast to simplistic pessimism.
1:15 onwards
, Expressions not happyYour proclamations often turn out to be wrong though.
Like when you proclaimed Spurs would spend big this Summer and you ended up spending nothing at all.
Levy must dream of a Spurs fanbase filled with Glastons. You're so easy to please, even when they do nothing you're happy.
The "bedwetters" or the true Spurs fans which is the rightful term aren't happy with just top4 with no chance of any trophies and want their club to reach new heights and hence they're disappointed.
Not everyone is a stooge of Levy or brags about the clubs accounting report.
Mourinho has a meltdown in February.
Spurs struggling for top 4 at the same time.
Poch to Utd?
Spurs struggling for top 4 at the same time.
Poch to Utd?
If I was Poch I'd hand in my resignation tonight. Yes they have a new stadium to contend with but Spurs have the same set of players who aren't good enough to win trophies, they needed freshening up and they are one bad injury to Kane to be finishing outside the top four.
I'm not sure he signed a new contract for this either. I'm sure he's absolutely livid right now despite what he says with the media
I'm not sure he signed a new contract for this either. I'm sure he's absolutely livid right now despite what he says with the media
Good point, but those days of even finishing 3rd/2nd are long gone for Spurs imo. Just had a browse at one of their forums... it's like 100 Glastons on there, with most of them defending Levy. Only a few seem to be noticing how big a disaster this window is for them.
And miss out on 20m?
He's not crazy.
I do like that glaston has decided that our whole team is unhappy, when it's only one player that's been reliable reported to be unhappy.
Actually, my predictions turn out to be correct more often than not. Nor is it true to say we've spent nothing this summer - we've committed a lot of money on new contracts.
I'm a little surprised that we've signed no-one, but not really bothered about it because we have a very good squad already and a best XI that's hard to improve on in the current, crazy market conditions.
Or to put it another way, via an illustrative example, I'm content that Chelsea have spent £72m on GK, whilst Spurs have a GK who captained the WC winners and cost us £11.3m.
Well the window was always going to have crazy transfer fees. I’m sure Spurs would’ve happily signed Ronaldo if he’d been available for £5m but that was never going to be the case. Fact remains your proclamations had no basis in reality because Spurs were never going to be in the financial position to splash loads of money in the current market. Which is what you scoffed at.
You keep mentioning this Kepa signing Chelsea have made, but what did you expect them to do? Go and pay £40 million for an average Butland or pay a bit extra for a keeper who will be one of the best soon enough. If what happened to Chelsea with Courtois happened to you guys with Lloris, it would be Vorm going into the new season between the sticks rather than showing any sort of ambition. That's why clubs like Chelsea even when shite can still win trophies.
Oh fully agree with that - Courtois claims many crosses that might be headers otherwise. I've heard many say, however, that Courtois is an elite shot-stopper and that doesn't pan out in my opinion.
I don't expect Kepa to play at Courtois' overall level but I do think he's a better fit for Sarri's system; this may allow him to bed in quicker than DDG (who was often exposed to crosses; undeniably the weakest part of his game when he moved to Man United).
At least this conclusively illustrates the financial struggles that naturally occur as a result of commiting £1b to building a stadium.
I've been saying for months and months that the debt related to the stadium restricts net transfer spend to the low 8 figures (£30-40m) but was called out for not having a clue and told that a 9 figure summer would certainly be the case due to them spending nothing over the last 5 years.
Even with the inability to spend any money though it's still been a monumental screw up by the ideologically driven Levy.
He doesn't want to sell to his rivals, wants 25% above market value for his players and wants to pay 25% less than market value for other team's players... Whilst his rivals are the only clubs willing and able to pay above market value.
It ends up as an obvious conclusion. He's laughed at when he bids £12m for a player worth 2.5 - 3x this value and also gets laughed at when he wants £60m for an aging centre back who's available for £35m less on 12 months later.
The obvious solution would be to offer around £25m and Alderweireld for Martial which would have gotten the deal over the line. Let Rose and Dembele go for a combined £60m and use this money to buy (for example) Ndombele and possibly a player like Dendoncker (allowing Dier to play CB).
They get rid of three wantaway players and bring in three younger ones who you'd back Pochettino to get the best out of.
Obviously though that would require deviating from his ideological beliefs that are patently detrimental to both the clubs and he manager.
I've been saying for months and months that the debt related to the stadium restricts net transfer spend to the low 8 figures (£30-40m) but was called out for not having a clue and told that a 9 figure summer would certainly be the case due to them spending nothing over the last 5 years.
Even with the inability to spend any money though it's still been a monumental screw up by the ideologically driven Levy.
He doesn't want to sell to his rivals, wants 25% above market value for his players and wants to pay 25% less than market value for other team's players... Whilst his rivals are the only clubs willing and able to pay above market value.
It ends up as an obvious conclusion. He's laughed at when he bids £12m for a player worth 2.5 - 3x this value and also gets laughed at when he wants £60m for an aging centre back who's available for £35m less on 12 months later.
The obvious solution would be to offer around £25m and Alderweireld for Martial which would have gotten the deal over the line. Let Rose and Dembele go for a combined £60m and use this money to buy (for example) Ndombele and possibly a player like Dendoncker (allowing Dier to play CB).
They get rid of three wantaway players and bring in three younger ones who you'd back Pochettino to get the best out of.
Obviously though that would require deviating from his ideological beliefs that are patently detrimental to both the clubs and he manager.
Yep, there's no point trying to use reason with him though.
He'll be dining out on Chelsea making a £40m loss on their keeper situation even if this Kepa is incredible and helps Chelsea win the league.
And not everyone is a ridiculous pessimist, who loudly proclaims "no chance" of any trophies before the season has begun and when said trophies - league aside - hinge a fair amount on the luck of the draw.
The fact is we have a good squad, a very good best XI, an excellent manager, have not lost any of our best players, have a fantastic new stadium about to open and CL football again to enjoy.
So forgive me if I don't collapse in a bout of anguished hand-wringing concerning the future, nor climb onto a Levy-bashing bandwagon when his stewardship has played no small-part in being where we are compared to where we were before he took the reins.
If that makes me a "Levy stooge", then too bad: you can hug the concept to yourself, along with all the wishful thinking concerning the decline of Spurs.
Super
Couldn't they sign even 1 player? Just 1?
I really thought we would bring 2-3 players in and spend close to £100m. Looks like I'm wrong and I'm very disappointed. Of course the football on the pitch is the most important and we still got some quality players, but it feels like a missed opportunity.
At least Rose cant complaing about using a google to check players joining Tottenham
A lot of Spurs fans are trying to bury heads in the sand that Poch isn't too bothered by this etc... did they want him tellling him the media that Levy is a tight, manipulative liar? It's a huge missed opportunity, feel bad for you guys.
If, if, if … you can go on endlessly with 'ifs'.
What would United do if de Gea got a season-ending injury in Game 1? That's right, they'd revert to a GK who is no better than Vorm, who in any case is sufficient quality for a back-up.
As for this alleged lack of ambition when it comes to signing players, it's amazing then how Spurs have managed to assemble one of the most valuable squads in Europe. Must be just lucky I guess ….. either that or a complete disinterest in improving the team.
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It's a shit show and right now I'm bitterly disappointed and extremely concerned for the upcoming season but more importantly worried about how Poch must be feeling. I'll get over it by Saturday though and will get back to looking forward to the first match of the season. For now though I'm gutted.
Of course, you somehow "just know" what Poch thinks. And all his words are to be disregarded … his actions too, I guess, because, after having had a close relationship with Levy for several years, he couldn't really have meant to sign that new contract. It must have been a slip of the pen.
I had the word of a few good Spurs posters that they would be splashing the cash...I'm quite chuffed with this being wrong because it'll make it a lot easier to stay in the top 4 for United.
Unless we're saying Poch isn't getting the best out of his squad then I cant see how their performances can improve?Couldn't they sign even 1 player? Just 1?
Signing a quality player at least raises that possibility but these quality signings that Spurs do so well are becoming few and far between.
They splashed out on Sanchez but how far do you have to go back? Alli maybe?
Romero is totally superior to Vorm
would be great if it unsettled pochettino and we would get him from the next season
We all thought we would to be fair. How wrong we were.
Wrong. We could finish 3rd and the "bedwetters" could still well be right. This window was about showing ambition, backing the manager and improving squad depth. We did none of those things. What kind of message are we sending to the manager and the supporters with this absolute disaster of a window? Pretty much that we are happy being a top 4 club and nothing more. The squad as it stands currently, while still very good and certainly good enough for top 4, is probably not capable of competing at the highest levels, which is exactly what the past couple seasons have shown. The complete lack of desire shown this window to improve the squad clearly reveals what Levy's priorities are, and they're certainly not backing the manager and improving quality in depth.
Lol … not wanting to sell to rivals is supposed to be a criticism? And what does 25% above market value even mean in the context of a market that's gone crazy with upward prices?
As for the Martial deal, there is no solution when one club - United - won't sell to a rival but still expected the other club to sell to them. So the Toby + cash notion is a total non-starter.
Nor, as I've already said, does this window prove anything about alleged "financial struggles". There are several other alternative possibilities, including that Levy - who already said last year that he thinks the current transfer bubble will collapse - simply concluded that only badly-run Premiership clubs, or those funded by sugar-daddies, take part in buying players to any significant degree in current market conditions.
If you think he's wrong to believe in a coming market collapse, then fair enough. But that doesn't mean he will be wrong.
By not improving at all we're actually taking a huge risk. Liverpool and City are very likely to finish ahead of us, so that only leaves 2 spots. United already finished ahead last season and were clearly the better side, and despite their fans being critical have added a highly rated midfielder to their squad, and a talented young right back. I see no reason we should be finishing ahead of them other than blind hope, so that leaves one spot, which is between us and Chelsea, in my opinion.
They may have 'downgraded' their keeper for a season, but bringing in Kovacic & Jorginho makes their midfield a force to be reckoned with, far better on paper than our own. Sarri had Napoli purring and we all know Chelsea's record with new managers, they'll probably implode next season but the fact is they generally do well when one is appointed. We've basically got to hope they flop, otherwise we're in for a huge battle for fourth, and with our squad depth could easily fall behind. They had a season where the players were rebelling against Conte yet won the FA cup and weren't far off fourth, and have since then strengthened and got rid of said manager.
Basically, we've got two teams we know were stronger than us last year who have improved slightly, one team who were 2 points off us who have added several very good players, and finally a team who were behind us and have transformed their midfield and will likely benefit from a 'new manager' effect. It's a very dangerous situation to be in, and the club is playing with fire to be pissing around refusing to buy players based on stupid principles because it could lead to us losing champions league football, which would be awful for our future development AND our finances.
Forget not wanting to take a step further, we could easily be risking taking a massive step back. The knock on effect of losing CL football would be catastrophic, Pochettino would almost certainly leave and likely a couple like Eriksen and Vertonghen would go with him, and we'd still be unable to actually reinforce the squad because in theory Levy would still be sticking to his stupid 'no value in the market' principles. How can anybody see this isn't a horribly risky strategy? Of course, it may not end up this way and Sarri may be a total flop, or United or Liverpool may have their worst season in years, but it's not likely is it? Again, you're basically just hoping for others to fail rather than actually making sure you're in a solid position.
Basically, this could all backfire in Levy's stupid, smug face. If it does he'll have nobody to blame but himself and his stubborn refusal to accept that the market has changed and won't be going back to the way it was. If he continues to refuse to accept that fact, then we need a new chairman who is prepared to accept the realities of football in 2018.
They may have 'downgraded' their keeper for a season, but bringing in Kovacic & Jorginho makes their midfield a force to be reckoned with, far better on paper than our own. Sarri had Napoli purring and we all know Chelsea's record with new managers, they'll probably implode next season but the fact is they generally do well when one is appointed. We've basically got to hope they flop, otherwise we're in for a huge battle for fourth, and with our squad depth could easily fall behind. They had a season where the players were rebelling against Conte yet won the FA cup and weren't far off fourth, and have since then strengthened and got rid of said manager.
Basically, we've got two teams we know were stronger than us last year who have improved slightly, one team who were 2 points off us who have added several very good players, and finally a team who were behind us and have transformed their midfield and will likely benefit from a 'new manager' effect. It's a very dangerous situation to be in, and the club is playing with fire to be pissing around refusing to buy players based on stupid principles because it could lead to us losing champions league football, which would be awful for our future development AND our finances.
Forget not wanting to take a step further, we could easily be risking taking a massive step back. The knock on effect of losing CL football would be catastrophic, Pochettino would almost certainly leave and likely a couple like Eriksen and Vertonghen would go with him, and we'd still be unable to actually reinforce the squad because in theory Levy would still be sticking to his stupid 'no value in the market' principles. How can anybody see this isn't a horribly risky strategy? Of course, it may not end up this way and Sarri may be a total flop, or United or Liverpool may have their worst season in years, but it's not likely is it? Again, you're basically just hoping for others to fail rather than actually making sure you're in a solid position.
Basically, this could all backfire in Levy's stupid, smug face. If it does he'll have nobody to blame but himself and his stubborn refusal to accept that the market has changed and won't be going back to the way it was. If he continues to refuse to accept that fact, then we need a new chairman who is prepared to accept the realities of football in 2018.
Spot on. The idea that this team is impossible to improve is utter nonsense, we've got several deficiencies in the squad (Midfield?? Sissoko still get games?? We're still pretty reliant on Lamela??) which really wouldn't take much to fix other than spending a bit of money, but we have outright refused to do so and instead have taken to moaning about how unfair the market is, as if it isn't the same for every club in the league.
I see. So you think that, if only we'd spent lots of money on new players this summer, we could be winning the league title ahead of City this season? If so, I think that's cloud-cuckoo land.
As long as sugar-daddy clubs like City remain in the Prem, we have little chance in the short-term of competing with them for league titles. But in the longer-run, sugar-daddies might lose interest and leave. And in that longer-run we'll have the considerable extra income from our new stadium complex. And in my view, this shows what Levy's priorities are: the longer-run and not a few fireworks exploded in any one summer's transfer window, only to fade and die as the bills for those fireworks roll in and City still romp to the title.
Nor do I share your assessment of this window as an "absolute disaster". I'd have shared you view if Kane and Pochettino had both left for Real Madrid, followed by a mass exodus of the likes of Eriksen and Alli.
I'm so glad our chairman is basing his transfer strategy on speculative predictions that seemingly no other chairman in the league shares, rather than doing his job and trying to do his best to help Pochettino. What about if he's wrong, Glaston? Do you agree he should immediately step down for total incompetence which led to us smugly sitting in the corner telling everyone 'it'll go wrong soon!' for a few seasons?