I've taken off my Spurs tinted glasses

[Chavhater01]

I think he had no other option but to say that, this summer will be the acid test or the Poch/Levy relationship. if it sours I think we have Poch for only 1 more season definitely. But honestly who the fuck knows what goes on behind the scenes.

Yeah that’s the crux of it. We don’t really know what the chat was between Levy and Poch with regards to how much was available last Summer. Levy clearly has previous for being tight, so that’s an obvious starting point, it must be the tight cunts fault but then there were those sound bites from Poch, that he didn’t wanna buy players for the sake of it and that he was happy with the squad he had. I think Poch had an idea of who he wanted but from what I can remember they were unattainable, so without an alternative plan then sometimes it’s best to stick and did anyone genuinely think we were gonna splash out £50-100 mill?

So if you look at the squad at the start of the season...
We were well covered at Gk, the full backs looked good as well, as did the back line in general. In CM/DM you had Dembele, Dier, Vic, Winksy, Sissoko (at the time, it was well I hope we don’t need him and if we did, it would’ve been as a last resort, what a bunch of cunts we were made to look),so that looked relatively healthy as well, although I think we all were concerned about that area, with Dembele and Vic’s physical well-being and Dier’s poor form, I know I was. Up front we looked great, Eriksen, Dele, Sonny, Erik and Lucas with Harry leading the line. At the start of the season, it was really only the CM/DM and Striker area where we could’ve strengthened squad wise.

I guess my point is, as a manager you look at that squad, a squad which has gone 3rd, 2nd & 3rd in consecutive seasons and you think, yeah we’ll be fine, if the players I want are unattainable, then what’s the point of splashing the cash on players I don’t really want. Now I don’t remember us really being linked with anyone other than Grealish, so maybe/probably Poch’s hands were tied but I seem to remember reading an article from Alastair Gold, who said there was money there but not the kind of money that would’ve improved our first XI, so what if there was money to improve the squad, who’s fault is that?

The squad did look fine, the chavs, Arse and Utd barely improved theirs, so maybe it was deemed prudent to see out this season with a young squad that had been pretty successful over the last 3 years and then go guns out this Summer. It’s just that it’s hard to factor in the injuries we’ve had and the lengths they’ve been out. I also think there are players that have struggled for consistency this season, which again you can’t necessarily factor in.

So maybe it is Levy’s fault, or maybe it’s a combination of many things and not just his.

 

[Simba]

We are kack. Not the individual players, we have some real worldies in our squad but we do not have the depth needed to compete at the top table.

I know many of you are still making messes in your pants over the new stadium, but it's just a money making venue for Joe and Danny, cunts both of them. Without spending a huge amount of money on building the kind of squad we need I am not remotely arsed if we have one of the best stadiums in the world. I got so pissed off in the land of arseholes where people supported the 'financial prudence' of the club - club? Oh fuck off, it isn't a club anymore it's a fucking corporation. Now are we going to support the fucking stadium? Nah, not having that.

How can we be taken seriously at the highest level of football when we have lost 33% of our Premier League games this season? Yeah, I know we're third, but is that because we are great or the opposition is worse? 12 losses from 36 games is kack, there is no other word for it. We have got so lucky in the Champions League, how the fuck did we make it through the group stage? Shit opposition and maths. We only made it through to the semis due to a really fucking stupid tactical blunder by Pep in the home leg.

Today we had to rely on players like Dier, Jannsen and Llorente, sorry but they ain't good enough. Wanyama is not fully recovered yet and many of the first team picks looked knackered. But what choice did the Poch have? We don';t have a squad full of international stars like City so he has to play the players he has in the squad.

I love the team, I always will. I love the Poch, he's a giant among men but he can not work miracles. I expect Levy is counting his fucking money after spending fuck bleeding all in the last transfer window and two bob more than fuck bleeding all in the previous 5 years. He has got lucky with the Poch and he has got lucky with many of our players - this luck will not last if we don't get a European place next year, Sonny, Christian, Dele, Lucas will all be coveted by 'big' clubs and may find it hard to resist the temptation to move to a club that will spend for success, not to increase the property portfolios and the fabulous wealth of the owners.

Having said all that we have a good chance of making it to the final and even winning the Champions League this year! Fuck that would be a bit Chavvy innit? Being kack and winning the Champions League, I'll take it.

Well, I like the honesty of expression in the piece. I feel that 90% of it is the truth. The only 10% I disagree with is that Poch could not do better, and that our players will be taken by top clubs. Personally, I think Poch is earning a lot off Levy and Lewis, and did better in his first seasons when he had an even more limited squad.

To say that it is all the owners fault that we lost so many games in the second half of the season, and that we can't find a defensive midfield solution, or stop making individual errors and conceding sloppy goals from corners, is an excuse that our fans and the media let Pochettino hide behind when things go pear-shaped.

The bottom line is that Pochettino played some great stuff with worse players, shaped poor players into better ones, and got us 86 points at WHL. Does he deserve a shot at doing the same at the new stadium next season? Yes. Does he deserve to be backed like Klopp was? Yes. However, does he deserve to be blamed for being tactically inept in games and hitting his worst form as a Spurs manager? Yes.

No one is denying he doesn't have the players of City. However, it is his job to deal with that and find solutions. He has not done that well in the second half of the season in my opinion, particularly in the Premier League. There is no excuse, in my view, to lose to West Ham and Ajax 1-0 at home.

Multiple times we have failed to keep a clean sheet when it was the only thing we needed to see out a game. I don't care how many creative players are missing. If you do not have the quality, take off a striker and play a centre-back in defensive midfield.

The stadium, for all that has been said about it, gave us great moments on the opening night and against Man City.

 

[Nundy]

Hope we are all feeling all vented out and looking forward to June 1st. It would be proper spursy to lose 4-0 to Everton on Sunday and Arsenal to win 5-0 away and we finish outside top 4.

Personally I can't hate Levy. Yeah he makes things difficult but where he has taken spurs and invested heavily, I have no doubt he cares about the club and we are very lucky to have him considering we don't have a Arab billionaire owner like city.

I think a lot of clubs would cut there right arm off for him. He might not always let the cash flow, but he is the one who invested in the likes of Bale, Modric, Berbatov, vertonghen, Lloris ect. Not forgetting Jol, Redknapp and Poch who all contributed to take the team above mid table,no expectation bullshit. Sometime I question whether we have been so used to no expectation now we have it we are stuck on how to feel. Appreciate how the club have built it's reputation over the last 10 years. I will stick by levy until that day we do return to mid table shite then I'll question where did it all really go wrong.

 

[Don Diaz]

Of course we are doing fantastically, of course we will win tomorrow and go on to win the Champions league, but those Spurs goggles need to be removed occasionally.......

......Have you given them a clean and put them back on yet? You could probably make a bit of dosh by buying some blow up mattresses and offering accommodation to desperate Yids....?

 

[skiathospurs]

 

[Yid]

Why.....?

 

[Larcenist]

I believe that we have a very strong starting XI and a couple of pretty solid options past that. I don't think you get to the CL final without having that kind of quality somewhere. Yes, there is a little luck involved, but there always needs to be a little luck I feel.

The concern for me is the injuries and the quality of the squad after those options. I think you need to find people that can compete for starting positions willing to sit games here and there. Season long fatigue is clearly a thing with this team. There are times where they look absolutely knackered. The international breaks are a good reason for this too.

The difference in quality between the starting XI and the other options seems pretty crazy. One one hand you can beat teams like Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City. On the other hand you lose to teams like Bournemouth and Burnley. If you want to be a top team you need to put those teams at the bottom half of the table away. It happens every once in awhile where you lose points to them, but it cannot happen that often. I think the main thing is investing in better quality below the starting XI to improve the depth of the roster. That's probably one of the hardest things to do though because no quality player wants to ride the bench for any amount of time at all.

That being said you still need to hold on to your top players. If you lose them, then you're really in trouble without depth. I think that's one of the reasons why we were able to finish in the top 4 this season and get to the CL final. We didn't sell anyone that had superior quality. Still I think it's going to be an important offseason and if we don't land a transfer target or two, we're going to have a dip in the table.

 

[Don Diaz]

I believe that we have a very strong starting XI and a couple of pretty solid options past that. I don't think you get to the CL final without having that kind of quality somewhere. Yes, there is a little luck involved, but there always needs to be a little luck I feel.

The concern for me is the injuries and the quality of the squad after those options. I think you need to find people that can compete for starting positions willing to sit games here and there. Season long fatigue is clearly a thing with this team. There are times where they look absolutely knackered. The international breaks are a good reason for this too.

The difference in quality between the starting XI and the other options seems pretty crazy. One one hand you can beat teams like Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City. On the other hand you lose to teams like Bournemouth and Burnley. If you want to be a top team you need to put those teams at the bottom half of the table away. It happens every once in awhile where you lose points to them, but it cannot happen that often. I think the main thing is investing in better quality below the starting XI to improve the depth of the roster. That's probably one of the hardest things to do though because no quality player wants to ride the bench for any amount of time at all.

That being said you still need to hold on to your top players. If you lose them, then you're really in trouble without depth. I think that's one of the reasons why we were able to finish in the top 4 this season and get to the CL final. We didn't sell anyone that had superior quality. Still I think it's going to be an important offseason and if we don't land a transfer target or two, we're going to have a dip in the table.

You make a lot of good points, but even in a year when 98 points won the league, by a team with 2 squads good enough to play in the Premier League, they still got beaten by Crystal Palace at home and Leicester away, squeaking home at the end. Liverpool were reliant often on two key players Van Dyck and Salah, whilst the whole squad remained largely uninjured, so all in all with everything that happened this season we've done bloody well. Unfortunately as you point out, we have 5 key members of the England team, similarly Belgians and French and Asians and Colombians. We're impacted heavily every International break.

PSG spent £360m on Neymar and Mbappe, that hasn't worked out too well, whereas Salah and VvD have been a fantastic success. I know who I like, but only Poch knows who we need to fit into the squad in terms of work rate, desire, ego etc. We need fresh energy and we'll get some from a much longer summer and proper pre season, but it will be fascinating to see who arrives and who leaves.

 

[Yid]

..........and who leaves.

Absolute key to where we are heading as a club, closely followed by who joins them.

 

[Larcenist]

You make a lot of good points, but even in a year when 98 points won the league, by a team with 2 squads good enough to play in the Premier League, they still got beaten by Crystal Palace at home and Leicester away, squeaking home at the end. Liverpool were reliant often on two key players Van Dyck and Salah, whilst the whole squad remained largely uninjured, so all in all with everything that happened this season we've done bloody well. Unfortunately as you point out, we have 5 key members of the England team, similarly Belgians and French and Asians and Colombians. We're impacted heavily every International break.

PSG spent £360m on Neymar and Mbappe, that hasn't worked out too well, whereas Salah and VvD have been a fantastic success. I know who I like, but only Poch knows who we need to fit into the squad in terms of work rate, desire, ego etc. We need fresh energy and we'll get some from a much longer summer and proper pre season, but it will be fascinating to see who arrives and who leaves.

I don't disagree at all. I know it can happen. You can drop points to sides that are on their game no matter the quality. Everyone has off games as well. I just feel you have a higher chance of winning with that kind of depth. That's the main thing to take away. I think we did well with the players we have despite some key injuries and suspensions.

I agree with your second point as well. You never know exactly what you're getting in a player. The manager usually has the best idea. A quality player doesn't necessarily mean they will fit well into the squad. Usually with the larger clubs it can be like a revolving door. Players come and go. It would be nice to maintain some continuity, but it doesn't always happen.

 

[skiathospurs]

The problem with a quality first eleven and a few others is eventually you run them into the ground,causing injuries,lack of mental sharpness,and whilst we have a very good first team the depth or lack of was shown in the domestic cups,forcing us to play pretty much a 1st XI cos of a NLD and then our 2nd string suffered at Palace.At CB we are or were sorted,with Dier,Davies able to cover even if 4 of foyth to toby were out.Fullbacks we just about got through though quality at RB has been a worry this year.Its midfield where we have had problems,dier,lamela out injured long term with wanyama and lately winks,sold dembele thank god for the rise of Sissoko and eriksen if not his absolute best being reliable.Another area is if we start both Son&Moura we have no impact subs in attack,Llorente bless him is a plan B which has worked superb in europe,but low movement strikers in the PL just dont make a difference,and he truly is our cover for Kane or only attacking sub option if we start both son&lucas.Our squad is heavy with half a dozen or more on the way;CCV,onomah,vorm,janssen,NWhatsthefuckingpoint,llorente out of contract (though I wouldnt mind another year myself),wanyama will he be injury free and back to useful?what of KWP if we keep both aurier and trippier,there`s lots to happen even if toby and eriksen stay,what of Lamela?I half suspect upper management will be glad to see the fat fee for eriksen if it comes to that and the £25m for toby in an area we look strong,they would over look losing the quality I am sure.The sale of those 2 would fund quite an overhaul with the few millions we get for ccv,onomah,janssen,nkoudou added..