Again there is a difference between Man City and a Girona, against Orient last season he fielded a total youth team.
Spurs 2018/19
- Thread starter Adisa
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It's a top flight side who finished 10th in La Liga, not Leyton Orient. That was also our first pre-season game, lots of managers in the early games will field some youth but then turn to the seniors for the later games. You don't want players starting vs Newcastle who haven't kicked a ball for weeks.
Late pre-season (as I've said) is a perfect time to bed in new signings. Doesn't impact us though, of course.
As for the game itself, we've been outplayed, lucky to go ahead in the first place and now deservedly behind. Lozano has been excellent for Girona.
Played actually quite well in the first half, cracking free kick from Lucas.
Are Spurs really "letting other clubs complete their transfer business" before they get involved?
Or do they not think they need any upgrades?
Been very quiet
Or do they not think they need any upgrades?
Been very quiet
lol it's our youth side.... do you not think the kids have done well against a team 10th in La Liga? How were we lucky to go ahead?
No. That was an invention by people who wanted to act like Daniel Levy is a mastermind strategist, when really he just loathes spending money and attempts to grind it out to the last minute. It's always been his way and isn't some tactic we've gone with. God knows what the board thinks, we blatantly do need players (primarily as squad depth, but also most importantly a CM to help phase out Dembele) but seemingly aren't willing to compete in the market. Will be interesting to see if we do try and rush anyone over the line in the next few days.
I know? I wasn't criticizing, it was an honest assessment. We were lucky to go ahead because they've been the better side from the go and are now ahead as a result of that. It's not a big deal... it's a pre-season game and the result itself does not matter. I wasn't expecting the youth players to tear up a decent Girona team.
Weird that you are trying to "phase out" Dembele yet, he literally just turned 31.
He is constantly carrying a back/hip injury he has had for years. He has leaned down a lot but he's puffing half way through the second half in most games.
Injuries. Still a monster on his day but can't be relied upon anymore because of that. 31 isn't particularly old but he plays a very physically demanding role and can no longer consistently do it as he used to.
Isn't Harry Winks taking the role slowly but surely anyway?
That's the plan, but Winks himself has only just started coming back from a bad injury and is still very much a work in progress. Would be perfect if Dembele's injury problems weren't a thing, as Winks could play understudy for the next couple of seasons but alas, they are.
Typical Spurs to do business on the last day (struggling to get fecking Greaslish to join them). I wonder who will be the next Janssen or N'kodou?
I don't think we're struggling to get Grealish to join, but struggling with Villa over the price .. because Daniel Levy.
I lurk around the Spurs thread a ltb to often I think sometimes. I guess that part of it is because posters like you (and I really appreciate your posts, dont get me wrong) reflect on myself and maybe United-fans in general. Sometimes its like one can just substitute "Levy" for "Woodward" and be in another thread.
I get that you are not happy with your dealings in this window so far. Understandably.
And I get that you blame Levy. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on why you believe Levy is acting in a way that is detrimental to your club long term. Because that is what you are basically saying as I understand it. I just dont get why he would not be acting in the clubs (ergo himself as the majority owner) best interest.
I could pose the same question about Woodward (even if he is a proxy and not the owner) in another thread. And I dont buy this "4th place is enough BS", because as you eloquently argue yourself; to "settle" for top 4 means way bigger of a risk to miss out on it. Which would not be good for Spurs at all.
So why does Levy act like this? Might the reason be that there actually is not any money to spend after renewing contracts, stadium etc? Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this, if not because Levy doesnt come across as an idiot to me. Nor does Woodward for that matter.
TBF to Spurs when you look at their squad it's not like ours in that there's no obvious glaring deficiencies, just the "you should always strengthen and refresh" mantra.
Janssen was signed in July, and Nkoudou pales into insignificance compared with their other late signings, last season for example Sanchez, Aurier, Moura, Llorente haven't been disasters.
Hope so really like Winks but funnily he has a totally different game to Dembele. For as much as I love Dembele he is an incredibly frustrating player, if he couldn't be more decisive and release the ball quicker I think we would have been in the world class bracket. While Winks is nowhere near the physicality of Dembele he does always look to pass the ball forward and quickly.
I think they could be looking at other options and have Grealish ready to go if we want him as a backup. No other explanation at this stage imo.
Getting pumped by Ginona. Poch out?
Players marked in red are in the friendly squad tonight against Girona.
Were At The World Cup:
Injured:
Were At The World Cup:
- Heung-min Son
- Christian Eriksen
- Danny Rose
- Davinson Sánchez
- Dele Alli
- Eric Dier
- Harry Kane
- Hugo Lloris
- Jan Vertonghen
- Kieran Trippier
- Mousa Dembélé
- Toby Alderweireld
Injured:
- Harry Winks
- Érik Lamela
- Moussa Sissoko
- Victor Wanyama
- Juan Foyth
- Ben Davies
- Georges-Kevin N'Koudou
- Lucas Moura
- Michel Vorm
- Serge Aurier
- Fernando Llorente
- Kyle Walker-Peters
- Paulo Gazzaniga
- Cameron Carter-Vickers
- Josh Onomah
- Vincent Janssen
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Central midfield. With Dembele clearly facing a much reduced role, we badly need to replace a man who has been vital to our success the last few seasons. We have nobody capable of fulfilling that role in the squad, Winks is not ready to do so yet and our other midfielders are water carriers, not players who can open up a game with a driving run like Dembele can. We badly needed a player to come in and fill that spot in the squad this window, and if we don't do so it will have repercussions. United have Matic & Pogba, City have Fernandinho & De Bruyne, Chelsea Kante & Jorginho and even Liverpool have fixed up by bringing in Fabinho & Keita.
Also, depth. It's not just about refreshing the squad, one of our biggest issues has been the fact that we don't have the squad that others in the top four do. Son will be off to the Asian games and that will leave us light up top, we are pretty light in central defence too with question marks over Alderweireld. Also midfield again - Winks, Dembele and Wanyama have all had injury issues.
Levy isn't an idiot. He's a very intelligent businessman who has done a lot of fantastic work off the pitch for this club which has changed our future for the better, undeniably. I may criticize him plenty, but I far from want rid of him and absolutely appreciate that he pulled our club away from a very dangerous position. I do however believe that's he's a man who values profit over all, thus we will potentially have issues with taking the next step in order to properly compete for trophies. Is Levy the kind of man who will take risks by investing in the squad in order to take the next step and win a trophy/compete for a title? Or is he perfectly content with Pochettino's management gaining us top four season after season and failing at the semi-final stage? I think it's the latter, and that the situation suits Levy. For him, the financial risk it would take to really push the squad up a level probably isn't worth the risk. Levy isn't a charitable man, he's not bringing in a new stadium out of the goodness of his heart, he's thinking about future revenue.
When it comes to matters on the pitch, Levy can be out of his element. I think his tactics regarding transfers have often been to the detriment of the squad (last minute rushed signings, punts etc) in which he's focused more on trying to be a 'tough negotiator' than what the manager actually requires. He's done this a number of times and each time it gets criticized and usually does backfire, yet he continues to do it. We also went through some pretty poor managers (AVB was a hideous appointment who was bound to fail and made no sense) so in terms of the footballing side of things, he has made plenty of errors. Pochettino came out and said we needed to 'be brave' and focus on being properly prepared for pre-season with some fresh arrivals, and he got the exact opposite, to the point where he now seems unsure of whether he'll get any reinforcements. Maybe this pre-season game will be a message to Levy that it is needed.
There is money to spend, we're not destitute. Of course the new stadium means that the purse strings have to be tightened, but we have very healthy revenue already and have for a long while been in austerity mode with a number of seasons of low spending (net wise lower than the likes of Palace) and also spend far less on wages than other top clubs. We obviously can't afford to splurge hundreds of millions, but it was expected that this window would be a statement that we weren't going to 'do an Arsenal' and allow the squad to rot in favour of stadium repayment, that we did want to compete and back our manager .. but we were wrong. Basically, not an idiot like a Mike Ashley, but not a footballing man and he's expecting Pochettino to work with far too little. We badly need to act quickly with very little time to go, or we're going to be left in horrible shape for the first few games of the season.
Thanks for the reply. I understand and mostly agree on most of your points regarding Levys actions.
But still: what Levy has been doing this year (you could maybe even argue for awhile now): It will not last. You cannot stand still while the competition moves forward. It will not secure or grow future revenue either. It might even risk it. You make the points very well yourself.
So I guess my original question still stands somehow: why doesnt the astute businessman realise this? Well, no need to go further into this, I appreciate the reply and its an interesting subject since this owner/club conflict is something that is relevant for most of us except maybe the Oil clubs.
I will reserve judgement until after the window shuts but at the moment I am sharpening my suicide spear and will have it ready to fire from my catapult aimed at my head. I still hope I will not be firing it but it's not looking too good for my head at the moment.
I wouldn't worry, shooting a spear from a catapult probably would fail
.Why do Spurs fans think they need to do anything in the transfer market? I don't get it.
You don't think that we could use even a single new player to improve our squad?
One or two new faces maybe but football fans are generally delusional about the value of transfers. Keeping a good squad together is far more important. You also don't have any huge obvious weaknesses in your first XI, and not many in the squad either. A couple of young players, perhaps, and I think you will probably get them anyway.
Is this sarcasm? Significant depth issues, could do with another wide player, need another central midfielder to come in and fill the void Dembele will leave. There's plenty to be done.
Every single club in the league but us has done business. I don't think anybody is delusional for thinking we could do with reinforcements, unless we're in the special situation of needing no improvements? We have weaknesses emerging with the decline of Dembele being the biggest issue, and plenty of weaknesses in the squad. Our manager came out at the start of the season and said we needed new players early, so unless he was straight up lying it's pretty clear he also feels there are improvements to be made.
I mean the squad is generally young. You have Lloris/Vorm, Trippier/Aurier, Vertonghen/Aldeweireld, Sanchez, Davies/Rose (slight weak link defensively but left backs are hard to buy), Dier/Wanyama, Dembele/Winks, Eriksen (a bit reliant on him perhaps), Alli/Lucas, Son/Lamela, Kane/Llorente.
And then some promising youngsters.
I mean if you have to replace players fair enough but otherwise it is a tough market in which to improve.
And then some promising youngsters.
I mean if you have to replace players fair enough but otherwise it is a tough market in which to improve.
Why is Dembele leaving?
Some of the best improvements in league positions by teams have happened with no new players in at all.
Nothing confirmed yet his contract is down to a year and he wants a new longer contract but we're not sure due to his injury issues.
Also, surely this 'decline' in Dembele is being exaggerated? I mean based on what exactly?
Rarely. Generally the teams that improve the most, win. City had weaknesses, identified them, won the league. United had weaknesses and improved by signing Matic, Lukaku etc. In the past Chelsea under Mourinho came close to the title, brought in Fabregas and Costa and won the league. Usually the teams who go out in to the market and decisively work on getting proper improvements are the ones who win titles. We obviously can't afford to spend like these teams, but we can afford to bring in players who can compete for spots. Dembele isn't suddenly going to have his best season at 31 after being plagued with injuries, we need to work on that.
I don't know what your point is, really. Do we have a good team? Yes. Do we have a team which cannot be improved? Absolutely not. The fact you say our depth is good makes me think you didn't really watch us all that regularly last season, we regularly had to rely on players who weren't good enough and I expect it to be the same this season. Compared to the rest of the top 4 our depth is poor.
I kinda agree with @sincher here. Signings or not, I think Spurs will do pretty well once all their WC players have been back for a while.
Yeah, you didn't watch us much did you? Sorry, but I dunno why you're coming in and saying we have no squad issues and you don't get why we want transfers when you don't even really know the status of some of our key players. Dembele has had back injuries which kept him out for much of last season, and like @InLevyITrust says he was looking puffed out in a number of games last season. He's been struggling for a while and the pace of the league often looks too much for him, especially when he plays a very demanding role. He can no longer be relied on him, this isn't a prediction, it's a current fact. He's often resorting to fouling constantly because he's lost a step.
Still capable of some fantastic games (Juve, United, Liverpool) but they're pretty rare now, and most of the time he just didn't look like his old self.