Vital Spurs Debate Section

2021 Transfer Thread – Something Else Spurs Need To Get Right This Summer

|

With Tottenham Hotspur securing seventh place in the Premier League table for 2020/21 with our final day victory over Leicester City, we of course pipped rivals Arsenal by a point which was a good reason to smile.

There’s no denying though that this is now a huge summer for the club, we have the ongoing managerial search, there will be the distraction of the European Championships and then, not only will fans be focusing heavily on how we choose to strengthen the group, a big topic of talk this summer will be whether or not Harry Kane finally moves on.

If Kane does leave, he surely goes with the best wishes of most, but a move abroad would be more palatable for fans who wouldn’t want to see him lining up against us. A departure would significantly boost our transfer kitty, but it would also be another major headache to solve – not just in terms of finding a quality replacement, but it might see others address their own futures, so the calibre of our incomings would also need to send a message that minus Kane, we are still looking to break that ceiling.

Let silly season begin…

1 of 10

Tottenham Hotspur's foundations lie in another sport, which one?

Share this article

0 comments

  • Niall D says:

    123
    Just wondering Moura, as with many of our team members just play their way.
    Can we coach the mistakes out of Dier and Dave, can we coach Regs not to panic in defence and hit it anywhere usually toward his own net. Can any body actually coach Aurier or stop Sissoko from toe punting the ball rather than side footing it, can anyone coach Lamella to be a bit more sensible, can anyone coach N Dombers to speed up his game to match his skill and just like Lucas actually put in a telling pass or cross or God forbid an actual shot on goal.
    I think to be honest all of the above are like my old lawnmower beyond repair.
    So I scrapped it and did what Spurs should do, I got a newer model which does what I need it to do.

    • wentworth says:

      Can anyone teach Lo Celso how to kick a ball particularly with his right foot? Or to stop falling over.
      Or Winks to pass the ball forwards more than 5 yards
      Or Lloris how to pass the ball out without causing utter panic with the defenders and midfielders.
      Or Levy how to spot a decent transfer.
      Or Joe Lewis to realise you have to have decent furniture inside the showpiece stadium.
      Or Spurs not to throw away matches against inferior opposition from a winning position.

    • Geofspurs says:

      ND …. Imagine how much better we would be if a coach was able to find the answer to all of your pertinent questions.

  • 123spurs says:

    Niall agree. Coaching is one thing. But silly passes and stupid tackless in the box and no chance of getting the ball. No manage can control that. That’s why we have been saying spurs are the giver of gifts. It’s all about learning from mistake but players aren’t. You can accept the odd error but spurs players have so many it’s frightening

  • Niall D says:

    WW and 123 100%.
    We’re all talking the same language, why can’t the “professionals” who are actually on a wage see this.

  • Geofspurs says:

    I think the last few posts have highlighted most of our problems on the park …. so many players consistently making the same basic mistakes.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    Many people have certain ways / habits, footballers are no different. The problems mentioned in posts above are started in their ages from 12 -18 in my opinion. So its very important that clubs academy coaches are top quality and are part of the clubs senior squad management coaching ideas. Poch tried this system over the 5.5 yrs he was with spurs.

    We all know Ajax have world renowned coaching and top quality players (spurs toby for example) and this has been the same for many yrs. and different club managers. THFC would do well to emulate this football coaching method again. So a massive change / review of this system in THFC by a DoF / management is urgent. As we should take this opportunity to recover from this disaster of the last 2.5 yrs or so.

    Then we could return to the glory days of THFC playing the way we all have known, and silverware won.

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    And today’s rumour is Antonio Conte. I can only assume this is made up, he is a good manager but he is more trouble than Mourinho especially when it comes to transfer funds.
    for god’s sake Levy, stop trying for a big name to appease the fans, just go ahead and appoint Graham Potter. IMO he is the best man for the job and will be a fine appointment.

    • TQ2Spurs says:

      DH….he is a proven winner…..but then so was Jose. 🙂

      Like you, I’m not sure he would be a good fit at Spurs, that said, I do love the passion he shows!

    • BelgianSpur says:

      Agree Conte isn’t the answer. His brand of football doesn’t suit the club’s DNA, which causes 70% of Spurs fans to throw their toys out of the pram.

      This being said, if the perfect candidate should have experience in the Prem, experience in European cups, a winning pedigree, a philosophy based on positive football and experience managing a difficult dressing room with fragile egos (let’s face it, that’s what we have), Graham Potter really only has 2 of those skills. He is every bit the gamble Antonio Conte would be, it’s just that the question marks aren’t in the same places.

  • jod says:

    The usual reality gaps. Lets start with managers. Spurs haven’t won anything for twenty years so managers not cutting it is not a new phenomenon. Mourinho was effectively the last chance to hire a proven manager with a winning record and it turned into a disaster. So going forward anyone you hire will be a gamble and more likely to fail than succeed.

    While we have supporters who just want pretty football and don’t care about winning clearly that’s not how players feel and I expect Kane to be on his way. You can’t replace Kane, he’s in a class of his own. I wouldn’t be surprised if others followed and there is likely to be a painful rebuilding period over several seasons.

    Still the good old “spend lots of money and don’t explain where its coming from” posts. Levy said the Lockdown would cost us £150m, not that we are alone of course. Meanwhile Man City have the revenues of an oil state at their disposal, if no fans ever attended their matches again it would make no difference. Interesting post from BelgianSpur on Atletico. I read they were close to £1bn in debt. Of course so are Real and Barcelona so at least its a level playing field in Spain. But we are supposed to pretend there is this magic pot of money somewhere, financial reality is ignored.

    I suppose the only good thing is some of the fans on this site are likely to get the team they want, a mid table side that plays some pretty football but doesn’t bother the big boys when it comes to winning trophies. I wanted something a lot more competitive.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    I’m sure there are fans who think Joe is sitting on £5billion of cash in his bank which he should be throwing at the club, but of course this isn’t the reality, even if it were if you take FFP seriously you can’t do it anyway, unless of course you are an oil magnate ….. apparently!

    Playing attractive football and winning things aren’t mutually exclusive, I’ve never had a problem with City’s style of play and they aren’t doing too badly are they?

    • BelgianSpur says:

      If we were going to spend what City have to build a squad, I’m sure we could easily combine pretty football and results.

      If we have to work with a tighter budget and have to compromise on one of those things, the conversation becomes harder.

  • wentworth says:

    Football has always been about entertainment. The exciting players showing great skills….Gazza, Ginola, Gilzean, Greaves etc; the amazing goals and stunning dribbles; superb passing skills a la Hoddle and brilliant defending. I have always been in anticipation on my way to White Hart Lane over 6 decades.

    Yes it’s great when we win a trophy and I am lucky enough to have been around in 1961 to see Blanchflower, Mackay, Smith and Jones win us the Double.

    However, my other best memories are of seeing live the dribbles of Greaves, the forceful runs of Gazza, the superb wing play of David Ginola and the classy skills of Alan Gilzean.

    Harry Kane has been a joy to watch. Not only our top striker but also our best midfielder with his strength and passing skills showing how poor we are in that department since losing Eriksen. If Kane goes, we will need several seasons to get back into a dominant force. It will take canny transfers both ways and some top youngsters coming through. This is something, we are extremely poor at.

    Very interesting times. Will the new coach be able to perform miracles.

    • Geofspurs says:

      WW …. You’ve just described most of my fondest football memories. Great Players doing great things to entertain us.

    • BelgianSpur says:

      Fancy stepovers only keep me entertained for so long…

  • PompeyYid says:

    TQ, spot on there regards JL, he is an Asset! £3.5 Billionaire I believe, note asset! not cash.

    As for the FFP, we abide by it, while an oil magnate does not, he gets round it by “Sponsership!” that is, he the owner of the club also owns the “Sponsers” thus putting cash in, in a back handed but legal way, think I have explained that correctly. COYS

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Jod – in light of everything you have said in your post and your desire to see a competitive winning team and also taking into account the current financial climate, how do you propose we go about it. Which manager would you like to see, which players do you think should be sold (if there are any takers) and if we are to assume Kane will be sold, how and on whom do you think the money should be spent.

  • Geofspurs says:

    DH …. Now there’s a twist …. asking jod for names! : – )

    • TQ2Spurs says:

      LOL

    • TQ2Spurs says:

      Geof…..big changes to the womens squad with 11 players released having reached the end of their contracts. Kennedy is among them which really surprised me. I hope they are looking towards a major upgrade for next season but that’s probably wishful thinking if the history of recruitment in the mens squad is anything to go by.

  • Niall D says:

    Afternoon folks,
    We were talking about funds, now I’ve heard through the grape vine that CCV, Aurier, Lamella are all on their way for around 30 to 35 mil now surely that would cover Sabizer, sales of Dier and Sanches, should easily cover the cost of Anderson Sissoko and Winks should cover the cost for Aaron’s.
    So if we get more out than we have in but better players, we should, should be at least on the right road to recovery even without dipping into the bank, not forgetting we’re bringing in Skipp and Sess.

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Geofspurs – somehow I don’t think we will get a reply from Jod. He loves to trash other people’s opinions, even pulling them apart for things they haven’t actually said but when it comes to offering something constructive he goes missing.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    I was reading geof and B108’s posts on the mistaks made by our players, and it brings me back to a post I wrote a few weeks ago.

    I look at a footballer like Davinson Sanchez (but there are plenty ofothers, like Aaron Lennon, CCV…) and I see a flawed footballer who has been fast tracked to the senior team thanks to his physical attributes. There a fundamental technical/cognitive flaws in their game, but just because they’re big, fast and/or strong (pick at least 2), they have made it to the top despite being found lacking in basic footballing skills.

    Indeed, some clubs like Ajax still value proper football IQ and technical ability. A model to emulate indeed.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Again the usual stupidity from jod, asking where the money is going to come from.

    From 2015 to 2020, our revenues more than doubled, our club went from 12th richest in the world to 8th richest, above Arsenal and Chelsea. In that time frame, we also beat the record for most profits by football club in a calendar year twice.

    In that same time frame, our wage budget increased a modest 46%. That is less than 7% year on year.

    Instead of asking where the money should come from, we should be asking where the money went. Of course, we all know the answer: Levy’s vanity project.

    Our biggest problem is that we have “lost track of priorities” – to quote Daniel Levy himself!

    Of course, Covid came along but we are not the only club having to deal with Covid. It just sounds like a very convenient excuse to throw around when clubs around us have continued to spend (and not just the ones backed by oil magnates).

    I guess jod would prefer to continue defending failure, rather than asking the difficult questions.

    The irony of course, is slating Atleti for having almost a billion in debt, but how much debt have we taken on with the stadium? According to Deloitte, somewhere in the vicinity of 750 million currently. Pot and kettle?

    Even if Atelti,do carry more debt, how is that necessarily a bad thing? Interest rates across Europe are at an all time low. As long as Atleti are staying within what the rules and regulations permit, which they are, and it allows them more flexibility to invest in the squad, good for them. It’s called ambition.

    Two things are evident: first, jod may dislike Atleti’s model but there is no arguing the results. Second, no team ever won a trophy for being the most financially prudent.

    Managing a modern football club may imply taking calculated financial risks from time to time. If DL can’t live with those risks, it’s time for ENIC to sell up and let someone with ambition take the club forward.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    A very good point BS but intelligence alone isn’t sufficient to be a top player, work ethic is also needed, the best example in the PL currently being Brunos Fernandes. We have Dele who has the intelligence, but very often insufficient work ethic, and then we have Aurier who has a good work ethic but little football intelligence. We do currently have a few players with a decent amount of both, not sure for how much longer, but there is no doubt we need a Fernandes type of player who can open up packed defences, and one or two defenders who can do so without giving away stupid set pieces in and around the box.

    • BelgianSpur says:

      Agreed.

      This being said, physical performance can always be improved over time. Intelligence, I’m not so sure…

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    BS…..you shouldn’t forget that some of that increase in annual income came from Levy’s vanity project.

    • BelgianSpur says:

      Not according to Deloitte. Most of those revenue increases come from TV rights (both the PL and CL), and better sponsorship deals.

      The matchday/hospitality revenues only accounted for a fraction of the increase (and it was mostly the Wembley effect in that period, a stadium 1.5 times larger than the new stadium. Those hospitality revenues are due to actually decrease given the move away from Wembley).

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Talking of our failure to recruit well……Leicester are reported to be close to signing the highly rated young midfielder Boubakary Soumare for a fee ‘which could rise to £18m’. This guy has just helped Lille win the French league but still plays in his country’s U21’s. We paid a similar sum for an 18 year old with barely any games in the championship and even now rarely gets games at that level on loan!

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    For the 1000th fucking time!

    Those of us that prefer to see attractive and entertaining football; want to see attractive and entertaining WINNING football! We don’t like losing either!

    Why is this used as some kind of insult to our intelligence? It’s a very strange kind of insult…

    I’ll suggest that somehow preferring to see dull, overly defensive (even winning) football, is the stranger preference to have! LOL!

    But yes jod, where is the money coming from to make our team magnificent? Boring and magnificent?! haha!

    Even so, what has money got to do with the style of football to be played? I say sweet F all!

Comments are closed.