The Spurs thread | 2016-2017 season | Serious thread - wummers/derailers will be threadbanned

Will Spurs finish in top 4 in the upcoming season?

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ReDDHDevilS said:
... It's a season where ourselves, Chelsea, City all under performed. Spurs on the other hand, had several players clearly punching above their weight. ...
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These throw-away excuses always makes me laugh. "It's alright lads ... you just 'under-performed'" ... maybe that's what LvG told the United squad when he took over from Moyes.

The possibility doesn't seem to occur to you that perhaps Spurs players were punching at exactly their due weight, nor that perhaps - being young n' all - their punching weight might go up a notch next season.
 
That navy and gold (or is it dark purple and gold) kit looks very good. The one that player to Alli's right is wearing (not Kane).
 
RedSky said:
Dark horses for the title imo. All the major clubs (except Arenal) having big changes to their squads/management. Spurs are a settled club and are continuing with their good transfers. They'll improve on last seasons form, only problem is they don't have much of a contingency plan if Kane gets injured.
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Isn't this simplistic thinking? If improvement has been this linear, then there's no way Leicester could have won the league. You don't have any if in your post, like this is a certainty to happen!
 
GlastonSpur said:
Janssen - imminent, aged 22. He was top scorer in the Eredivisie last season with 27 league goals and 32 in total. I've never seen him play and have no idea whether he'll be good or not. In Poch we trust.

We've also signed Wanyama as cover/competition for Dier. That's it so far in terms of squad additions (no departures yet) ... apart from one or two youth players, most notably Cameron Carter-Vickers (centre back) and Marcus Edwards (midfielder), who I expect will join the first team squad.
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27 league goals in 32 matches as a backup of Kane. I think it's a good choice, you need a good backup as compete in CL and league are definitely tougher. Dier played an important role in Porch system last season so Wanyama signing might be a vital to cover Dier if he is injured.
Probably if you want to splash huge money, should try go for an explosove winger like Sane to offer more pace. Although Lamela and Son are still pretty good option.
 
finneh said:
It's a similar season; albeit a far less impressive one. Liverpool's season was based around the 4th best player in the world dragging his team up several levels. Spurs season was based around maybe the 25th best player in the world dragging his team up several levels. Think back to which players were actually great last year for Spurs...hint: when I saw England starting XI had 5 Spurs players; the QF was always a hopeful dream.

I'd compare Spurs season with Kane to West Ham's season with Payet. The player is worth 15 points on their own, but you're never going to win a title or gain any real success with that kind of "keep it tight and hope for a miracle" tactics.

There's a reason that the United team with RVN was one of the least successful. Most teams who build an entire plan around one player producing magic end up falling short (unless that player is Messi/Ronaldo).

The League is getting stronger and it wouldn't surprise me an iota if opposition teams next year realise that Spurs only have one plan with 2 players who can score... one of which is a young player on a huge hot streak which he's unlikely to replicate given his elevated status.
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If you're going to attempt analysis, you might try and make a better fist of it than this.

* "Spurs season was based around maybe the 25th best player in the world dragging his team up several levels". Oh, right, so (for example) the joint best defence in the league had nothing to do with it ... or maybe Kane was playing CB when I wasn't looking.

* Kane is "young player on a huge hot streak which he's unlikely to replicate given his elevated status". Hmmm .... I wonder where I've heard that before? Oh yes, I remember, it was at the end of the season before last, just before Kane went on to win the Golden Boot.

* "Think back to which players were actually great last year for Spurs". Err, OK, let's try Alli, Dier, Aldweireld, Walker, Rose and Dembele ... just for starters.

In essence, your argument is that Spurs are mainly a one-man team - i.e. Kane. This, of course, is self-evident nonsense.
 
I think it's useless to compare points in different seasons. It's better to compare it in direct relation to other teams in that specific season, as that paints a clearer picture. In recent years the gap between the traditional top teams and the smaller teams has lessened, most small teams can now boast of more talented squads, so you get less cannon fodder.
 
Cascarino said:
I think it's useless to compare points in different seasons. It's better to compare it in direct relation to other teams in that specific season, as that paints a clearer picture. In recent years the gap between the traditional top teams and the smaller teams has lessened, most small teams can now boast of more talented squads, so you get less cannon fodder.
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But the 40 points rule still pretty much intact. Many team teams fight out in survival battle the same way.

More to do with top teams losing points more to the mid table teams. Top teams don't look that impressive last season to themselves few seasons ago. There are a drop in top teams quality more than huge improvement in other teams except Leicester last season.
 
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ti vu said:
But the 40 points rule still pretty much intact. Many team teams fight out in survival battle the same way.

More to do with top teams losing points more to the mid table teams. Top teams don't look that impressive last season to themselves few seasons ago. There are a drop in top teams quality more than huge improvement in other teams except Leicester last season.
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Oh yeah I agree with that, I don't think I conveyed myself well. I think the top teams have gotten weaker, but I think a lot of the mid table teams have gotten a bit better (West Ham, Southampton). I still think it's useless to compare point tallies over seasons though, as the dynamics of the league does change.

Looking at a lot of the premier league tables over the last 10 years, a lot of the bottom placed sides have a lot less points than the bottom 6 or so teams in this years table. I genuinely think it's a mix of the top teams losing quality, but also these sides improving (bar Aston Villa, they were the worst prem side in ages).
 
GlastonSpur said:
Spurs already have several top talent players. You seem hung up on big fees and big wages as the pre-requisite for "top talent", when of course it isn't.

Which striker scored the most league goals last season in the Prem? I'll give you a clue - it wasn't Costa or Aguero or Martial.

Who were amongst the very best Prem midfielders last season? I'll give you another clue - several of them played for Spurs. And the same could be said of defenders in relation to several players in the Spurs back 5.
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Straw man argument. You're moving the goal posts and arguing something entirely different. I won't get hung up on this, and I'm not gonna start up a debate on an entirely new topic to what I'm stating, which is that Tottenham can't compete in the transfer market with Arsenal and Chelsea. If a big name player, a 'top talent', signs in London, he's not going to your lot. Does that imply that Tottenham players can't outperform other players? Of course not.
 
GlastonSpur said:
If you're going to attempt analysis, you might try and make a better fist of it than this.

* "Spurs season was based around maybe the 25th best player in the world dragging his team up several levels". Oh, right, so (for example) the joint best defence in the league had nothing to do with it ... or maybe Kane was playing CB when I wasn't looking.
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Hence the "keep it tight and hope for a miracle" comment. It's the same with United; we weren't great defensively, but we employed tactics that are conducive to not conceding.

GlastonSpur said:
Kane is "young player on a huge hot streak which he's unlikely to replicate given his elevated status". Hmmm .... I wonder where I've heard that before? Oh yes, I remember, it was at the end of the season before last, just before Kane went on to win the Golden Boot.
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That comment was in reference to Alli, hence the "2 players who can score".

GlastonSpur said:
"Think back to which players were actually great last year for Spurs". Err, OK, let's try Alli, Dier, Aldweireld, Walker, Rose and Dembele ... just for starters.
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Dier, Walker, Rose & Dembele are mid table fodder. Alderweireld, like your other defenders look much better because of the system you employ.

GlastonSpur said:
In essence, your argument is that Spurs are mainly a one-man team - i.e. Kane. This, of course, is self-evident nonsense.
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My argument is that Spurs are a team with one great player (Kane) and one player who has been on a massive hot streak for several months (Alli). The rest of the team are mediocre players elevated by having a great player in front of them, just like Henderson, Sterling & Sturridge all suddenly became top class players when Suarez was playing well, but returned to normalcy once he left.
 
finneh said:
My argument is that Spurs are a team with one great player (Kane) and one player who has been on a massive hot streak for several months (Alli). The rest of the team are mediocre players elevated by having a great player in front of them, just like Henderson, Sterling & Sturridge all suddenly became top class players when Suarez was playing well, but returned to normalcy once he left.
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You don't rate Eriksen or Lloris?
 
finneh said:
Dier, Walker, Rose & Dembele are mid table fodder. Alderweireld, like your other defenders look much better because of the system you employ.



My argument is that Spurs are a team with one great player (Kane) and one player who has been on a massive hot streak for several months (Alli). The rest of the team are mediocre players elevated by having a great player in front of them, just like Henderson, Sterling & Sturridge all suddenly became top class players when Suarez was playing well, but returned to normalcy once he left.
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Alderweireld was great at Southampton too. Dier as a defensive mid is definitely far from mid table fodder, there's a reason he's one of the few English players to come out of the Euros with any credit. Lloris is a brilliant keeper, among the top 4 in the prem imo. Vertonghen is among the best CB's in the league. You say Alli is on a 'hot streak', but I doubt you've seen much of him before he played for Tottenham so how do you it's a hot streak? Eriksen is a really good playmaker, for what it's worth I prefer him to Mata (though I place him behind Miki).

I'm not saying Tottenham have a world class squad or anything, I think they lack goals and could do with a little more star quality, but you're severely underrating some of their players here man.
 
They'll do well again if they are as lucky as last year with injuries, keeping their best 11 (which is very good) on the pitch for pretty much every game. If not, we saw what happened at the end of the season when they were missing a couple of their main men.
 
Leftback99 said:
They'll do well again if they are as lucky as last year with injuries, keeping their best 11 (which is very good) on the pitch for pretty much every game. If not, we saw what happened at the end of the season when they were missing a couple of their main men.
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I think it comes down to this, they were lucky last season bar a few injuries here and there (though Vertonghen missed a lot of the second half of the season, Wimmer actually did well from what I saw) so they'll be hoping they can try and keep their strongest 11 on the pitch. Though I think they've added some depth by bringing in Wanyama to cover/compete in CM and Janssen to do the same in the striking positions.
 
I think most of their players got overrated, but you have to give Poch the credit for getting his players overrated, he managed to do at Southampton and he has managed to do at Spurs.
I feel, they can just nick into top 4 behind us, Ars, City. Don't fancy Chelsea, because they have quite a bit of rebuilding to do especially at defence, and don't think 3-5-2 will work in PL, especially as they have no top quality CBs. Pool always lack something. Feel their defence is pretty bad as well. Unless there are some drastic changes, Spurs can finish in top 4
 
finneh said:
Dier, Walker, Rose & Dembele are mid table fodder. Alderweireld, like your other defenders look much better because of the system you employ.



My argument is that Spurs are a team with one great player (Kane) and one player who has been on a massive hot streak for several months (Alli). The rest of the team are mediocre players elevated by having a great player in front of them, just like Henderson, Sterling & Sturridge all suddenly became top class players when Suarez was playing well, but returned to normalcy once he left.
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Your rating of some of our players is laughable frankly. It's your opinion and fair enough but to say the likes of Dembele, Dier and Alderwiereld are 'mid table fodder' is ridiculous.
 
They would do very well to keep their position in top 4 this season. They would have to play in CL & they can not ignore it by playing weaker team like they did with Europa last season. Game management would not be easy now.

Also, I do not see Harry Kane sticking with them after this season, he would push for a move if he has another stellar season. Maybe 2 seasons at a stretch. Would be most probably to another PL club, as he does not seem like the one who would fancy a move to Spain.
 
kafta said:
You don't rate Eriksen or Lloris?
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Lloris is a good keeper, albeit quite overrated in my view. Eriksen in my opinion is the definition of average, he'll score a few great goals (usually set pieces) and then will go a dozen games doing nothing.

Cascarino said:
Alderweireld was great at Southampton too. Dier as a defensive mid is definitely far from mid table fodder, there's a reason he's one of the few English players to come out of the Euros with any credit. Lloris is a brilliant keeper, among the top 4 in the prem imo. Vertonghen is among the best CB's in the league. You say Alli is on a 'hot streak', but I doubt you've seen much of him before he played for Tottenham so how do you it's a hot streak? Eriksen is a really good playmaker, for what it's worth I prefer him to Mata (though I place him behind Miki).

I'm not saying Tottenham have a world class squad or anything, I think they lack goals and could do with a little more star quality, but you're severely underrating some of their players here man.
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Dier is basically Cheick Tioté playing in a better team. He has no discernable abilities apart from being somewhat busy and athletic. Alli played for MK Dons before Spurs so I'm not sure you can take much from that. Verthonghen and Alderweireld in my opinion benefit from their system as much as anything else. They're decent but not better than other mid table defenders like Shawcross, Reid or Jagielka. Erikson as above is severely overrated, Mata is twice the player.

Fair play to Pochettino as he gets a lot of average players looking much better than they are with the organisation he drills into the team. Without Kane though they'd have finished at least 10 points lower which puts them alongside Liverpool.
 
finneh said:
Lloris is a good keeper, albeit quite overrated in my view. Eriksen in my opinion is the definition of average, he'll score a few great goals (usually set pieces) and then will go a dozen games doing nothing.
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Lloris is definitely not overrated. He has got a genuine claim to be the third best goalkeeper in the league. Joe Hart is overrated. Also, Eriksen is anything but average, he is a very good & talented player.
 
Cmz' said:
At the moment I really think they have a good shot at the title, all the pieces seem to be there for them. Great manager, best football in the league and possibly the best team (by that I mean as a collective rather than individuals.) Everyone will point to their collapse towards the end but the title was gone for them at the point and whilst there's no excuse for the capitulation to Newcastle, they have the youngest? first 11 in the league, they'll learn from the whole experience last season (i.e. title race and subsequent drop afterwards). Wanyama could prove to be a solid back-up especially as Poch knows him and he'll provide good rotation for those weeks where they have Prem, CL, Prem fixtures. The only issue that could be slightly problematic is the amount of players they had at the Euro's/Copa and how that will affect them early on in the season( although with that being said they seemed to start pretty slowly last season and still managed to do well.) Of their strongest 11 only Eriksen will have had a full summers rest which with the intensity they play at may cause them issues later on in the season especially as they don't seem to have much cover beyond the starting 11, overall though at this point they would probably be my favourites although that's because on paper they seemingly have less flaws than other teams.
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Tottenham have no chance of competing for the title, they will be competing for 4th spot. So overrated last season and couldn't even finish above a poor Arsenal side.
 
Are they planning on signing more players besides Wanyama?
 
jungledrums said:
Straw man argument. You're moving the goal posts and arguing something entirely different. I won't get hung up on this, and I'm not gonna start up a debate on an entirely new topic to what I'm stating, which is that Tottenham can't compete in the transfer market with Arsenal and Chelsea. If a big name player, a 'top talent', signs in London, he's not going to your lot. Does that imply that Tottenham players can't outperform other players? Of course not.
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The point is that Spurs currently don't especially need to compete with Arsenal and Chelski in the transfer market. This is because we are successfully developing youth/young players, have a high quality scouting/transfer negotiation system (and no, before you jump in, it's not perfect), and know that there are very good players (and prospects) out there who don't have 'big names' and thus won't involve big fees and high wages.

So the fact that we can't currently compete with Arsenal or Chelski on transfer fees or wages doesn't matter as much as you seem to imagine.
 
finneh said:
but you're never going to win a title or gain any real success with that kind of "keep it tight and hope for a miracle" tactics.
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Total Shots 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Tottenham 17.3
  2. Liverpool 16.6
  3. Manchester City 16.2
  4. Arsenal 15.1
  5. West Ham 14.7
  6. Chelsea 13.8
15. Manchester United 11.3

Total Shots In Penalty Area 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Arsenal 9.5
  2. Manchester City 8.9
  3. Tottenham 8.5
  4. Liverpool 8.1
  5. Southampton 7.9
  6. Leicester 7.6
14. Manchester United 5.7

Shots On Target 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Tottenham 6.6
  2. Arsenal 5.6
  3. Manchester City 5.5
  4. Liverpool 5.3
  5. West Ham 4.9
  6. Leicester 4.7
12. Manchester United 3.8

Goals Scored 15/16​
  1. Manchester City 71
  2. Tottenham 68
  3. Leicester 67
  4. West Ham 64
  5. Arsenal 62
  6. Liverpool 62
10. Manchester United 46

Key Passes 15/16​
  1. Tottenham 501
  2. Liverpool 497
  3. Manchester City 479
  4. Arsenal 469
  5. West Ham 427
  6. Chelsea 404
16. Manchester United 313
​
:confused:
 
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baanke laal said:
Janssen the Dutch striker from AZ.

Gotze seems to be angling for a move to Spurs from the Bayern bench.
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Gotze would be a great signing for Spurs imo. He's played wide in his career so could replace Lamela, he'd give cover for Kane and would also provide competition for the AM slot. He'd be going to the right Manager too because Poch would get his fitness back and he'd be in a young team and most would see him as a leader. He'd have a point to prove after failing at Bayern. Could be really good business for Spurs and more importantly for Gotze.
 
RedSky said:
Total Shots 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Tottenham 17.3
  2. Liverpool 16.6
  3. Manchester City 16.2
  4. Arsenal 15.1
  5. West Ham 14.7
  6. Chelsea 13.8
Total Shots In Penalty Area 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Arsenal 9.5
  2. Manchester City 8.9
  3. Tottenham 8.5
  4. Liverpool 8.1
  5. Southampton 7.9
  6. Leicester 7.6
Shots On Target 15/16 (per game)​
  1. Tottenham 6.6
  2. Arsenal 5.6
  3. Manchester City 5.5
  4. Liverpool 5.3
  5. West Ham 4.9
  6. Leicester 4.7
Goals Scored 15/16​
  1. Manchester City 71
  2. Tottenham 68
  3. Leicester 67
  4. West Ham 64
  5. Arsenal 62
  6. Liverpool 62
Key Passes 15/16​
  1. Tottenham 501
  2. Liverpool 497
  3. Manchester City 479
  4. Arsenal 469
  5. West Ham 427
  6. Chelsea 404
:confused:
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Spurs will be in the mix, I think some people think they will just go away and that won't happen.

Spurs, city, Utd, arse, pool, west ham and Chelsea will be up there. Going to be a great season.
 
finneh said:
Hence the "keep it tight and hope for a miracle" comment. It's the same with United; we weren't great defensively, but we employed tactics that are conducive to not conceding.

Hope for a miracle? Only City scored more league goals (2 more) than Spurs last season.


That comment was in reference to Alli, hence the "2 players who can score".

34 league goals last season were scored by Spurs players other than Alli or Kane.


Dier, Walker, Rose & Dembele are mid table fodder. Alderweireld, like your other defenders look much better because of the system you employ.

My argument is that Spurs are a team with one great player (Kane) and one player who has been on a massive hot streak for several months (Alli). The rest of the team are mediocre players elevated by having a great player in front of them, just like Henderson, Sterling & Sturridge all suddenly became top class players when Suarez was playing well, but returned to normalcy once he left.
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"Mid-table fodder" and (besides Alli and Kane) "the rest of the team are mediocre" ... you're not doing yourself any favours with such silly statements.
 
bio202 said:
Spurs will be in the mix, I think some people think they will just go away and that won't happen.

Spurs, city, Utd, arse, pool, west ham and Chelsea will be up there. Going to be a great season.
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Most people in here are baiting GlastonSpur, it's the same with every Tottenham thread. Personally i'd just threadban posters like Finneh.
 
So far Spurs look to be adding depth to their squad rather than improving the starting XI but tbh it's hard to see how they can improve their XI without signing players who have historically been out of their reach

Top 4 next season in no particular order Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea & Liverpool
 
RedSky said:
Most people in here are baiting GlastonSpur, it's the same with every Tottenham thread. Personally i'd just threadban posters like Finneh.
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Oh right.... Is he that easy to wind up?

There does seem to be a few wums in here. They seem to get more enjoyment out of piss taking than talking about their teams new player, tactics or current news.

It's as bad a rawk and bluemoon sometimes and the shit they get for their comments. :wenger:
 
charlenefan said:
So far Spurs look to be adding depth to their squad rather than improving the starting XI but tbh it's hard to see how they can improve their XI without signing players who have historically been out of their reach

Top 4 next season in no particular order Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea & Liverpool
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Pretty much this. 2016 was a bad season for United and City but both clubs only finished 4 points behind Tottenham who had a great season according to pretty much everyone, so to be in the top 4 they will have to improve while it's perfectly possible it's not going to be easy and they are not favorites for the top 4.
 
bio202 said:
Oh right.... Is he that easy to wind up?

There does seem to be a few wums in here. They seem to get more enjoyment out of piss taking than talking about their teams new player, tactics or current news.

It's as bad a rawk and bluemoon sometimes and the shit they get for their comments. :wenger:
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Some people find it amusing to bait him because Glaston likes to defend Spurs (obviously given he's a Spurs fan). So they come out with all kinds of wild shit and it goes unchallenged half the time, in the old days of the Caf such posts would get ridiculed and the wums would slink away. But modern Caf encourages such behavior because the majority of the time people don't want to get warnings/banned for insulting other members.

I'm sick of it. I used to enjoy having opposition fans on here talking about their teams but now they get chased off by a bunch of wankers.
 
RedSky said:
Some people find it amusing to bait him because Glaston likes to defend Spurs (obviously given he's a Spurs fan). So they come out with all kinds of wild shit and it goes unchallenged half the time, in the old days of the Caf such posts would get ridiculed and the wums would slink away. But modern Caf encourages such behavior because the majority of the time people don't want to get warnings/banned for insulting other members.

I'm sick of it. I used to enjoy having opposition fans on here talking about their teams but now they get chased off by a bunch of wankers.
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I must admit I do have to read my posts a few times before I posts for fear of over the top criticism. I feel I'm relatively fair with my posts but I check to make sure it won't be taken the wrong way. It's a bit sad actually.

Anyways, back to football....

Spurs will be strong next season and stronger still with the new stadium on the way. They're on the up, no doubt about that.
 
Very likely good enough for consistent title challenges as part of first XI, under any system:
Pochettino, Lloris, Alderweild, Kane, Alli, Vertonghen,

Lots of other solid players and Dembele in particular is fantastic on form so I'd be skeptical trying to upgrade him, but I think the others are all upgradeable. Eriksen isn't a winger, Lamela works like a god but has struggled offensively (the skills are there, though, so maybe it'll come together), Rose is okay, Walker slightly below that.
 
bio202 said:
I must admit I do have to read my posts a few times before I posts for fear of over the top criticism. I feel I'm relatively fair with my posts but I check to make sure it won't be taken the wrong way. It's a bit sad actually.

Anyways, back to football....

Spurs will be strong next season and stronger still with the new stadium on the way. They're on the up, no doubt about that.
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My opinion is that the Premier League is a very different beast to what it was even 4 years ago. With Chelsea, Liverpool and United all struggling lately it's narrowed the gap to the mid table teams who are now capable of attracting excellent players due to high wages and high fees that they can now afford.

If we look at Tottenham in a bit more detail:

14/15 Stats
Position: 5th
Goals Scored: 58
Goals Conceded: 53
Goal Difference: 5

Jan Vertonghen - 2810mins
Danny Rose - 2371mins
Eric Dier - 2290mins (played CB/RB)
Federico Fazio - 1777mins
Kyle Walker - 1307mins
Younès Kaboul - 990mins

The above defense obviously wasn't working. So Poch decided to bring in Alderweireld to replace Fazio, convert Dier into a DM and bring Wimmer to replace Kaboul. At that point the defense had major surgery and required some time to adjust. So rather than playing expansive football from the start, he allowed his defense to gel. The start of the season for them was disappointing, 5 draws, 1 loss and 4 wins from the opening 10 games. But if you looked at their Achilles heel in 14/15 (the defense) they had conceded 8 goals but scored 16 in 15/16, giving them a GD of +8, promising. It was at that point that Poch allowed Rose and Walker to start pushing forward and by midpoint in the season they'd scored 33 and conceded 15, compared to 14/15 of 24 scored, 24 conceded.

15/16 Stats
Position: 3rd
Goals Scored: 69 (+11)
Goals Conceded: 35 (-18)
Goal Difference: 34 (+29)

When you look at the huge improvement in their defense but then take into consideration their slow start to the season it puts it into perspective that nobody should really be under estimating Spurs. They won't be changing tactics, they won't be changing their first team defense. They'll be a settled first team that can hit the ground running from the opening game. Also if you look at the results against the top teams from last season they are as follows:

Manchester United (A) - 1:0
Leicester City (A) - 1:1
Manchester City (H) - 4:1
Liverpool FC (H) - 0:0
Arsenal FC (A) - 1:1
Chelsea FC (H) - 0:0
Leicester City (H) - 0:1
Manchester City (A) - 1:2
Arsenal FC (H) - 2:2
Liverpool FC (A) - 1:1
Manchester United (H) - 3:0
Chelsea FC (A) - 2:2

Only 2 losses and 1 of them being against us in the opening game of the season. If they are going for the title they need to convert a few more of those into wins. But they're a very difficult team to beat.

The obvious area of improvement is bringing in a player to give Kane cover (Poch seems to have identified Janssen for that). They've replaced Mason with Wanyama who will bring much needed depth to their midfield and the last remaining area of improvement in my opinion is bringing in another attacking danger to play on the right. Lamela is a good work horse and had a good end to the season (4 assists and 2 goals in final 6 games) but they need someone with a consistent goal threat and that's not Lamela. Gotze could provide the answer. I also expect Clinton N'Jie to do well for them, he was unlucky he got badly injured just as he was looking to have settled.
 

Fair enough man, that's your opinion and all but I can't personally agree with any of it.

When Ben Davies left to Tottenham, I was pretty sure that he'd be going as first choice as at the time I thought he was better than Rose, but Rose has proved me wrong and I think he upped his game last season. It also helps that his athleticism makes him more suited to the full back position in Pochettino's system than Davies. Laudrup once said that on the continent Davies would be playing as a CB, and I can see where he comes from with that, but I can't ever envisage Davies displacing Vertonghen or Alderweireld, nor can I see him even getting back up gametime as a CB in a back two, it'd have to be a 3 at the back system like his national side. Would love it if Swansea could wrangle him back.
 
RedSky said:
My opinion is that the Premier League is a very different beast to what it was even 4 years ago. With Chelsea, Liverpool and United all struggling lately it's narrowed the gap to the mid table teams who are now capable of attracting excellent players due to high wages and high fees that they can now afford.

If we look at Tottenham in a bit more detail:

14/15 Stats
Position: 5th
Goals Scored: 58
Goals Conceded: 53
Goal Difference: 5

Jan Vertonghen - 2810mins
Danny Rose - 2371mins
Eric Dier - 2290mins (played CB/RB)
Federico Fazio - 1777mins
Kyle Walker - 1307mins
Younès Kaboul - 990mins

The above defense obviously wasn't working. So Poch decided to bring in Alderweireld to replace Fazio, convert Dier into a DM and bring Wimmer to replace Kaboul. At that point the defense had major surgery and required some time to adjust. So rather than playing expansive football from the start, he allowed his defense to gel. The start of the season for them was disappointing, 5 draws, 1 loss and 4 wins from the opening 10 games. But if you looked at their Achilles heel in 14/15 (the defense) they had conceded 8 goals but scored 16 in 15/16, giving them a GD of +8, promising. It was at that point that Poch allowed Rose and Walker to start pushing forward and by midpoint in the season they'd scored 33 and conceded 15, compared to 14/15 of 24 scored, 24 conceded.

15/16 Stats
Position: 3rd
Goals Scored: 69 (+11)
Goals Conceded: 35 (-18)
Goal Difference: 34 (+29)

When you look at the huge improvement in their defense but then take into consideration their slow start to the season it puts it into perspective that nobody should really be under estimating Spurs. They won't be changing tactics, they won't be changing their first team defense. They'll be a settled first team that can hit the ground running from the opening game. Also if you look at the results against the top teams from last season they are as follows:

Manchester United (A) - 1:0
Leicester City (A) - 1:1
Manchester City (H) - 4:1
Liverpool FC (H) - 0:0
Arsenal FC (A) - 1:1
Chelsea FC (H) - 0:0
Leicester City (H) - 0:1
Manchester City (A) - 1:2
Arsenal FC (H) - 2:2
Liverpool FC (A) - 1:1
Manchester United (H) - 3:0
Chelsea FC (A) - 2:2

Only 2 losses and 1 of them being against us in the opening game of the season. If they are going for the title they need to convert a few more of those into wins. But they're a very difficult team to beat.

The obvious area of improvement is bringing in a player to give Kane cover (Poch seems to have identified Janssen for that). They've replaced Mason with Wanyama who will bring much needed depth to their midfield and the last remaining area of improvement in my opinion is bringing in another attacking danger to play on the right. Lamela is a good work horse and had a good end to the season (4 assists and 2 goals in final 6 games) but they need someone with a consistent goal threat and that's not Lamela. Gotze could provide the answer. I also expect Clinton N'Jie to do well for them, he was unlucky he got badly injured just as he was looking to have settled.
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Now that's a post!

Absolutely agree with gotze, he's just what they need with help for Kane too.

If you think about it , spurs are in really strong position right now.

Based in London and players want to live there, new stadium on the way meaning more revenue, top manager and they're in the cl this year to boot.

On top of that they have one of the most competent chairman in world football in Daniel levy. Far better than the imbeciles that have incredibly reached the top of other clubs like Liverpool and Utd.

Exciting times for spurs fans on and off the pitch.
 
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