So far, it jut seems like Spurs have transitioned from being all about their front 3, for the last few years, to now being all about their midfield. The rest of the team looks pretty average so far, but the midfield of Bissouma, Maddison and Sarr, is very good and will carry them to some extent. It's like in Conte's first season when they finished 4th, it was Kane, Son and Kulusevski that got them there. Bissouma is so dominant, Maddison has a real swagger about him and Sarr is going to one Madrid, PSG or City in the next few years.
Ange Postecoglou | New Spurs boss on 4 year contract
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Rodgers had Leicester in the thick of the top 4 battle for a couple of years, and he won the FA Cup. He was also a Gerrard slip away from winning the the title with Liverpool. I know people like to dunk on him a lot but he ended up being a pretty good PL manager overall.
Yep, we have Bentancur to come back soon as well which gives us another good option, though that will depend on how he recovers from his injury.
I'm even relatively content with the defence(could definitely do with another 1st choice level CB to compete with Romero/VdV though) but it's the front three that now looks to be the weakest area of the side. Ange likes his wingers to stay super wide and to be able to dribble into the box but we don't really have the players for that; Kulusevski did it for the goal on Saturday but only because Shaw and Garnacho decided to just let him do it. Son's lost some pace and has never really been about dribbling, I think his best bet now is to go down the Cristiano path and become a box #9. Perisic obviously isn't that type of player either but does have excellent delivery. Solomon in theory might be the closest we have to an Ange type winger.
Richarlison works hard but isn't cutting it right now up front, although to be fair he's not exactly had a ton of chances come his way. I think if we can only get a winger of a striker between now and the end of the window I'd probably go for the winger and move Son up top. Everything I've read and seen of Ange is that he doesn't really want his striker getting involved in the general play too much so that should suit Son well.
Udogie and Sarr are such a breath of fresh air to this side, I'm excited to see how they develop.
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I just don’t see where Spurs go though. As a club they will just continue to go sideways and more likely backwards than forwards. They will generally require managers who will come in and maintain status quo.
What are realistic goals for spurs this season and next few years? Trying their best to get 5th place probably. They are competing with teams above them who are constantly improving or spending serious amounts of money to improve. So in reality spurs’ aims are basically below what they’ve been recently been achieving. Especially with the absence of Kane. I just think the manager has to come in and just play some nice football with not much hope of achieving anything higher than a 5-7th place finish.
Over the next few years the gap between spurs and City/Liverpool/Chelsea/Utd/Arsenal/Newcastle is only going to get bigger simply down to spending power.
What you've just described sounds exactly like the Spurs i grew up with. They had a few good years there and couldn't capitalise on the talent of Kane, now they are back at par. Does anyone outside of an optimistic spurs fans see it differently? An occasional top 4 run, domestic cup runs and europa. Not that im disparaging that, thats just how it is from where im standing.
Ange after the game:
"what's your secret?"
"there's no secret, I'm just copying Pep, mate"
"what's your secret?"
"there's no secret, I'm just copying Pep, mate"
Early days, but I'm liking the early signs of Ange Postecoglou.
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I think I'm going to thoroughly enjoy watching Spurs. Fluid, technical, interchanging, and highly offensive.
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I love the high risk intensity here, 8 Spurs players around the opponent's box and this wasn't from a set piece either.
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One touch, incisive passing
Defensively they're suspect
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Keeper!!Tweet
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and it wouldn't surprise me if they're shopping for a new keeper by January 2024. The manner they conceded against West Ham, I imagine would be a real concern for Spurs fan. Although, this entire post is just my initial thoughts. Being suspect in preseason doesn't necessarily that will translate to the actual season, as they may have ironed out some things by then. Ange - " "Not the sort of stuff [defending set pieces] we worked on." He's been more concerned with trying to get across his style of play in this early stages.
First and foremost, my eye is very much untrained, so take what I say with a large pinch of salt.
Early days still, but I'm delighted thus far with Spurs' acquisition of Ange Postecoglou. It was lovely seeing all three midfielders combine for their opening goal today. Although Udogie will rightly receive plaudits for his role in Spurs' second goal, but what I think is more encouraging for Spurs fans should be the combination play between Udogie and Perisic during the 20 minutes they shared the pitch together. Really brought an interesting dynamic which contrasts with Spurs previously relying on sporadic individual brilliance from Son or Kane. Would be a real pity if Udogie is out for a lengthy period, and this is the time for the players to acclimatise to Ange's way of football, and what Udogie brings to the Spurs side appears to be very different to Porro who was often coming infield to assist Sarr and Bissouma in creating central overloads giving Maddison the freedom to consistently find pockets of spaces to weave intricate passes.
It's too early to make tenuous projections, but it's been bright start for Micky van de Ven, whose been overshadowed by the performances of Bissouma and Maddison, but there's been instances during the first phase of play, and when Spurs were looking to establish dominance by progressing play higher up the pitch that Micky somewhat reminded me of Vertonghen. I look forward to seeing how Micky fares under together tests.
There's still many ways Spurs can improve going forward, especially the attacking trident. But, I think Spurs fans would be encouraged about the kaleidoscope of movement with the side as a whole which the attack could benefit from. Even so, they may be understandably concerned with how their current attacking options can make the most of their opportunities. Richarlison will understandably get the bulk of the criticism as he made a number of questionable decisions in and out of possession and whilst signings are often the last solution in improving deficiencies in a squad, signing Celtic's Kyogo I would imagine would have a galvanising influence on this Spurs side. A winger wouldn't go amiss either, If Jota's position in Saudi looks untenable at the moment, his versatility in attack, and familiarity with Ange could potentially be an asset. 1 or 2 signings in attack would be a real compliment to their dynamic and press resistant midfield.
If they don't make any meaningful signings between now and the close of the transfer window, then having the temperament and game management to slow the game down will be instrumental to their progress. There were signs of this during the game today when they picked and choose when to try to carve a goal from sustained build up, and when to recycle possession, but there's significantly tougher opposition approaching in a month time in Arsenal and Liverpool back to back, and that if you give them a sniff of momentum, they are very difficult to subdue given the inherent quality they have in multiple areas. Really looking forward to those two games in September, will be a great test.
I was laughing at his answer to who is his penalty taker, "I have watched Bissouma take 500 penalties and miss 495 but his in there somewhere"Ange after the game:
"what's your secret?"
"there's no secret, I'm just copying Pep, mate"
I actually like him so I'm waiting for him to do something cnuty
Dont dread/ forget about watching us for the first time in 3 years so thats a positive at least.
Bissouma has awoken. Such a class player when he’s at it. Good balance in midfield. And the two full backs are really exciting. Think their front three lets them down though. Son still not the same. Be interesting to see if they sign a forward. Could be the difference between top 4 and not.
It's mostly Richarlison letting them down, Kulu does a job, Son has been lively just not on the score sheet, it was his chip through playing a 1-2 with Udogie that led to the Kulusevski goal.
Richarlison just in a run of poor form, they need a backup for him anyway in case he goes down injured. Spurs cannot compete in the market for big name strikers but they could definitely bring in a young player with a lot of promise as backup to Richarlison,
They are quite an exciting team to watch.
Other than their game with us, I’ve not watched them this season. Are they doing that well for all these plaudits to go their way? They had a good second half but I thought that was more to do with us being poor and we should have had the match done and dusted before that.
All he really did was replace Dier and go back to 4231.
Came to say this. He didn’t revolutionize the way Spurs play, it’s more or less same as Conte but more direct going forward.
His real credit is that so far the players seem to be buying in, but let’s see if it’s just new manager’s bounce or not.
After all, people talked of Tottenham as title contenders when Conte took over (and how shite we were for not going after him)
Pretty much. I mean, so far so good and everything, and he might end up doing very well there, but Alan Pardew football would probably look like joga bonito after years of watching Jose, then Nuno, then Conte.
Not really. Vicario looks better than Lloris who was one of the worst keepers in the league for years now, Udogie looks absolute class and a huge upgrade over Sessegnon and Perisic, Bissouma looks like the midfielder they bought from Brighton who got there with a huge reputation, Porro is still a bit suspect defensively but attacking wise he's a clear upgrade over Emerson Royal, Sarr, who we were linked with, looks better than the likes of Skipp and Hojbjerg.
Just for the record, Spurs now have a bigger income (£523m) than Arsenal (£367m) and are closing in on Chelsea (£568m) (these figures are before the Kane sale). This is due to the new stadium which has the highest ticket prices in Europe (first 3 games sold out in half an hour) plus all the non-football events (NFL/Rugby/Gigs/Boxing, etc). According to a study from Forbes, the most profitable football club in Europe (and the world for that matter) is Tottenham Hotspur with a net profit of 325 million pounds over the last three years.This is despite the stadium debt which has been amortised over a long period, plus ENIC continues to expand non-matchday business revenues which other London clubs can't do.
So, regarding spending power Spurs are moving up the list (although the oil clubs are on another level, obviously).
Of course, spending power does not equate to spending and it will be up to Levy as to whether this money is actually put back into the team. IMHO, it's Levy - so probably not.
The might as well pack it in and shut the club down. No point in even playing if you can't make it into Europe.
Btw how did spending all that money work for us over the last decade again? Forgot about all the silverware all the spending has brought us.
How people can say he has done nothing either hasn’t watched us or are just trolling. The most important thing he has done, above Jose and Conte, is let the players have freedom. There is an interview with him post the Bournemouth game on YouTube I’m to lazy to post. Basically he’s telling the players not to be afraid to go forward, if there is space move into it and make urself available.
Bissuma, Sarr, VDV and Udogie have been a god send.
Bissuma, Sarr, VDV and Udogie have been a god send.
you do realise you aren’t the club you were under Fergie?
Your just gonna get we get the *high income trophy* for our empty trophy case mate.
oh and your manger’s so great just because he can down a whole can of 4x and finger blast his cousin?
I think you went a bit over the top here my friend, I’m just saying your putting United in the same bracket as Liverpool, City etc is a bit of a fantasy based on recent history. United is still a big club but it’s not like they have challenged for the title in 10 years?
Also why would Ange finger his cousin? Is that a thing around your way? Is your mother your sister?
we achieved all the success we wanted to in the previous decade and didn’t see the point in doing it in the next one.
Your a Man City fan?
I have to disagree ... He took over a Leicester team with some decent players and slowly made the team worse. His best attribute is keeping the pundits & press onside. Once he has any input into transfers it's a disaster.
That can't be a surprise, surely? It feels like these days most people don't even have the attention span to watch their own team for a full 90 minutes, let alone as a neutral.
I've been following Ange for a long time now and I'm genuinely shocked at how quickly Tottenham are adapting to his style. It usually takes a lot longer than this for his teams to gel, although in the past the quality of players he's had at his disposal have been much, much worse. This new manager bounce talk is just lazy nonsense from people who have NFI what they're talking about. He's made a fantastic start and it will only get better from here, enjoy it.
That doesn’t change the fact Spurs are still Spurs. Despite the mess we’ve been in since Fergie we’ve won trophies. Spurs have just been Spurs.
You seem to be mixing up your Euros and pounds for Spurs figures. In the last set of accounts ending June 22 they had a revenue of £444m (€523m).
Arsenal were £367m but that was a period without European football.
I'd imagine that will equalise at the very least now Arsenal are in the Champions League and Spurs are outwith European football.
I'm no expert on Spurs finances but last summer did they not need a cash injection of £150m from ENIC for their summer splurge last season?
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When I created this thread saying he would be a success in England, I assumed Wolves or Everton would be the step.
Spurs didn’t seem the right club as their players mentality from the past few coaches would require a lot of new faces. Despite my high regard for him, even I underestimated him. I thought it would take a long time to get a tune out this Spurs team.
I’ve said repeatedly though since day 1 that the front 3 will become an issue. None of them are suited to the way he plays and he’s getting results regardless but goals are coming from elsewhere.
If he’s given money this week to find a striker and right winger and possibly a back up centre back, Spurs have a serious shout for top 4. They also have a young enough squad that additions next summer with a year of adapting to a new style, they could be a very very good team.
Spurs didn’t seem the right club as their players mentality from the past few coaches would require a lot of new faces. Despite my high regard for him, even I underestimated him. I thought it would take a long time to get a tune out this Spurs team.
I’ve said repeatedly though since day 1 that the front 3 will become an issue. None of them are suited to the way he plays and he’s getting results regardless but goals are coming from elsewhere.
If he’s given money this week to find a striker and right winger and possibly a back up centre back, Spurs have a serious shout for top 4. They also have a young enough squad that additions next summer with a year of adapting to a new style, they could be a very very good team.
Dropping Dier and changing formation seems to have worked a treat.
Just seems odd other teams, including perennial losers like Spurs, can bring in a manager and change style of play quickly but we need the new manager 2 years to settle in, build his team and pay inflated fees for average players before we resemble a decent team.
better than Poch
Started well but could just be a new manager bounce. Let's wait for his first real test
When Manchester United stop being a real test
What is the matter with this front 3? Scoring left right and centre despite Kane's departure.
When United are that passive it really isn't a test.