Mauricio Pochettino’s latest cue card from Donna Cullen was read perfectly, with all the desired sense of purposefulness.
At face value, Tottenham’s season has been a credible one.
Spurs achieved a 5th place finish by dint of sticking with the existing group of players, and seeking to find a formula that worked for them.
The boss told the press after the game:
It’s very important because we are straight to the (Europa League) groups.
For next season we have more time to prepare for the season and this is very important. Finishing above Liverpool, Southampton and Everton is a very, very good thing for Tottenham
From the beginning of the season we can see that the ambition was unbelievable in the club. For us, our (goal) next season is to try and improve our squad and try to fight from the beginning of the next season for the top four
It’s a difficult thing but we need to be ambitious.”
Difficult is one way of putting it, but we’ll return to that.
Reviewing the season in snapshots, there isn’t too much to moan about.
Harry Kane was an unlikely hero in many respects, but the phrase ‘breakthrough season’ seems inadequate to describe a development squad player who after some years on the books, was given a thorough blooding and went on to score 31 goals.
Nacer Chadli had somewhat of a last laugh. Written off by swathes of fans, based upon not very much at all, he went to score 11 goals. Which is respectable.
Christian Eriksen chipped in 10 goals himself, and created 83 chances. Some of his free kicks were simply extraordinary.
Erik Lamela’s bona lallies to one side, the doe-eyed one achieved little of any tangible merit, but his 60 chances created indicated that he was at least, trying.
Danny Rose went from being as daft as a brush to being one of our most reliable players. Spending £10m on Ben Davis was just what the doctor ordered. Rose was fast and furious, and scored 3 times.
When others looked confused and tired, he was the original dynamo. A credit to the firm.
Hugo Lloris faced a dismal task, but emerged at least with his reputation in tact.
He made save after save – many of which were death defying – from an endless supply of self-inflicted, defensive chaos.
Spurs conceded 53 Premier League goals, and that was with arguably one of the best goalies in the world.
Only the relegated Burnley and QPR did as poorly!
The devil is in the detail and it is when you pan out, and look at the broader picture, that things look less rosy.
Some will submit that reaching a cup final was an achievement.
I have to spoil their cornflakes by pointing out that history doesn’t remember losers. In fact, what Spurs will be remembered for, is getting mechanically beaten by a team that we had previously showboated a win over in the league.
We were the very definition of inconsistent.
The final was depressing as it served to only emphasise the horrible disparity between us when we played well – which was pretty much just the two times – and when we played in our default mode of gormless.
The London derby wins were atypical. Unrepresentative.
For the chairman to highlight them in his end of season message reveals either acute arrogance or acute stupidity.
This is where I crow bar in a reference to Villas-Boas and remind those who were talking at the back earlier that I did question whether Levy & Co had a better idea, when making André’s position untenable.
Sure AVB was accused and found guilty of producing some dull football, but I’m struggling to recall having had fallen into a coma watching Spurs, quite as many times, as I have this season.
That said, having won his league, and looking forward to some meaningful Champions League football, opposed to the war of attrition that is the Europa League, he’s probably managed to put it the whole sorry business and his still unbeaten win ratio behind him.
Meanwhile, in downtown N17, the world’s biggest time-water, Emmanuel Adebayor, the capital asset that Levy fought so irrationally to defend, has imploded beyond parody.
Drenched in cobblers, codswallop and chaos, he has fled the club to involve himself in yet another one of his now infamous wild goose chases.
Improvement next season is very much possible, however the services of a generous philanthropist are not required.
What needs to be done is painfully clear.
We need to shift the lost causes, persevere with those that are showing the merest glimpses of being useful and bring in a few, perhaps three key players that Poch believes will be important for him to deliver his strategy.
Whatever the hell that might be.
Funds to achieve this will come from selling said lost causes and simultaneously freeing up our wage bill. This route will inevitably mean THFC losing out financially in the deal.
I maintain that buying the right players, on the right salaries is achievable. Most other clubs do it.
The knock on effect of selling stock for less than what it originally cost is relatively disastrous to a business, but nowhere near as catastrophic as waiting and hoping that interest in this stock miraculously picks up.
Specific to Spurs, is the issue of whether the chairman is prepared to acknowledge that he bought badly. If he is determined to wave spreadsheets and generally strut about hiding behind tried and tested accountancy drills, opposed to wash his face and move on, then we’re doomed to more of the same from this team.
Apologists will inevitably roll out some chart or other proving that we are where we ought to be, given the comparative monies spent.
Sadly this is a myth. A convenient one, but a myth, nevertheless.
The value of our spending is undermined by who we actually buy. Not how much we spend.
You can spend a thousand pounds on ingredients, but if the chef is left struggling to make anything even as appetising as a cheese sandwich, then your problem is either the chef, or the bloke that spent the grand.
The financial hit will have to viewed as somewhat tempered by the mixing in you the developing talent, such as Bentaleb, Mason etc.
But a word of warning here.
Patience is required with these guys and it’s unhelpful to expect these guys who are thrown into to possibly the world’s most unforgiving league to all make an instant impact.
Harry Kane joined Spurs in 2009.
It took him 4 loan spells and 6 years to become ‘one of our own’.
Ryan Mason joined us the year before and has been loaned out 5 times. Simply by adding some perspective here, you can see that Mason is actually doing quite alright, and may well benefit from hearing his name sung.
Tottenham is as it ever was for the last 14 years, dysfunctional.
Too many chefs, lots spent on ingredients but only one modest League Cup winning meal.
It appears that Kevin Wimmer is first through the door. What effect will actually have?
Is this another spreadsheet or tactical purchase to sit alongside Yedlin and Alli, or is this player that Pochettino specifically targeted, as he lends himself to a template in the boss’ mind?
Given the close to pointless nature of the January window, and the fact that bar two games this season we’ve been unwatchable, the business end of fixing Spurs, making Spurs right, starts now.
If we do make the reforms required, I’ll be amazed.
