Sweden's forward Dejan Kulusevski looks on during a press conference at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on November 8, 2021, a few days ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B qualification football match between Georgia and Sweden to be played in Batumi, Georgia on November 11. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Me? Not at all, just helping those with selective memory. Loss…
Are you on a wind up? 🤣
Pochettino did not inherit a good team. He had to clear out all of Baldini’s Bale money signings as well as the all the other dead wood. Chiriches, Capoue, Stambouli, Soldaldo, Paulinho, Chadli, plus left overs from Arry like Kaboul and Adebayor. Kane wasn’t even a starter when he turned up.
The only survivors from that period were Hugo, Eriksen, Lamela (who was constantly injured) Walker, Rose and Kane five players, four of whom weren’t even over 22 or regulars.
If someone in the job can get a team from that to those league places within two seasons then are you saying that coaching and management are two separate things? There was no man management involved, either individually or in galvanising team spirit? No tactical awareness to set the team up to beat Real Madrid, or beat Liverpool 4-1?
How do you know this stuff? It’s truly amazing…
Botch was a great coach, but poor manager… Conte is a great coach and great manager.. Botch inherited a good team. Conte didn’t… Still I expect Conte to have us ‘competing’ in a year or two. It took Botch four or five years and there were still gaps and questions raised.
I hear the comments about benchwarmers but I do not believe these guys were the principle targets.So one has to ask the question why? Would Juve let two top first team players leave? They may both be an improvement on what we have already but that doesn’t necessarily say much considering our current level. I still see Levy and ENIC all over this transfer window. Let us hope these signings do enough to help us grab a CL spot which will help us attract better quality players in the summer. If Paratici is the answer then one would hooe between now and the summer window he and Conte will identify our targets and we will go and get them early on so they can have a full pre season with Conte ( if he is still here) and we can finally start a new season with a settled team and hit the ground running. Of course that would mean ENIC and Levy “investing” in new additions before selling the deadwood and not waiting to sell the deadwood to recirculate the income towards new players by which time they will have gone elsewhere and we will once again be looking at bin ends and not strategic targets to drive the “ football “ business towards success.
Should have happened two years ago, but the manager at the time wasn’t fully supported. The coach has changed but their message hasn’t in that it will take a few years to sort the mess out
Have a look at Bentancur’s appearance record for Juve, this season. He’s hardly been a benchwarmer.
Every signing we make is usually considered some kind of ‘messiah’. “Oh look, a new fresh person who’s not tainted by years of toil under ENIC. Maybe they’re the answer?!” Give it 18 months and you have the same atmosphere of resignation in the squad as usual.
Until something fundamentally changes, no one player or clutch of players will ever be the answer.
Poch changed things as much as he could, Conte has the profile to do the same and galvanize things. Even that though, will run out of steam unless there’s coal to put in the burner. Conte found our burner completely burned out on arrival…
Correct, but then again as Spurs fans we are used to, and conditioned to feed on such small morsels. Particularly in January as HH points out.
However, with them both coming from Juve, the cynic in me sees their signings as as much of a PR stunt. After we failed with Diaz (supposedly), can you imagine how toxic it would have been with nobody arriving in January?
Good to fix some of the issues around the expensive fringe players but has there been much in the way of any real forward motion here? Sorting out the squad neglect should have happened about a year ago, I’m certainly not jumping up and down with glee. More a case of ‘finally’ something proactive has happened… yay!
We spent no money in January whatsoever by the way. People need to understand that this was a zero-net spend window. To back one of the finest coaches in the world. Sound familiar? 🤔
I can’t see Sessingnon making the grade and Doherty just isn’t up to scratch so that’s two. If we can find an upgrade then Bergwjin is also gone for me. Can’t see Royal going yet though.
I agree that we probably need something different in central midfield. Both PEH and Skipp are fit for purpose, but a bit limited as a pair.
Good post H just what I was thinking I like the two new players they certainly won’t be bench warmers and both give us something different to what we have and have improved the squad, and we have cleared out the deadwood, summer window will be all important and even better if we can offer CL next season
but it is never about how much is spent or unspent. it has to be about need.
if all transfers – indeed, all football-relateds – continue to be dominated by enic’s puckered goblin in-chief, there will continue to be boys’ club quality scouting and succession recruitment.
cautiously optimistic (with spurs) is tantamount fence-sitting. always beware the splinters.
al swearengen (badly beaten): ‘welcome to f%**ing deadwood! can be combative!’
They are both good additions, but it was and is more important to have got players away, and the same will apply during the summer window. I would like to see about another five players out of first team squads going forward. Regardless of what happens this season through to the summer, I want to see Conte make hard and decisive decisions over the summer and to seek to replace players that are not good enough. That sort of proper revamp of the present squad, with well targeted replacements, is what is required for Tottenham to get back into real contention for top competition.
4 out for no money. 2 in at positions not really needed. No left footed CB, attacking mid, RB, backup for Harry and Hugo. A shambles to me sorry to say.
You have to admit, it’s better than no signings or we couldn’t get Diaz, Vlah or Traore so we got no one, like Wham did.
These are quality players, Bentancur doesn’t suit the formation Juve play, will more than suit our formation, the formation he won his 3 Juve titles in, doesn’t make him a useless bench warmer.
You see how Chelsee improved when Lamps got sacked & “benchwarmers” were played again?
Kulu is a fresh much needed player that will put Lucas & Bergy under pressure to score goals & not just work hard as they do & have been.
Kulu will be as important as Son, given time.
Exactly, I believe Kulu can be a new Son on the other side of Kane in the not too distant future, maybe this season.
…..also Bentancur is an improvement on Skipp [although he’s done well], Winks & even Hojgberg in aspects.
So both good signing in my opinion.
It is kind of backing the manager, as Harry said, getting players out who were not helping Conte, helps Conte & the rest of the squad completely concentrate on Top 4 & not quality players that were not consistently playing well for us.
The 2 new signings will replace the 4 outgoings that hardly played, makes sense & helps Conte out.
Hopefully if Tanguy & LoCelso come back they’ll be improved mentally & if not, they will be off the books, to be replaced by players Conte actually wants round the squad.
Same goes for Gil.
As I said on an earlier blog, the Tanguy deal is the beat possible deal Levy could’ve done. Why? He’s sold him back to the club I’m imagining we’ve still not completed paying for Tanguy, so that 20-30 mill will be wiped off, job done, not much of a fee left for Lyon to pay us for their former player back.
Any other club, then you’re right, we would be dreaming of getting the same fee back.
I reserve judgement until I see them both in action in the EPL. I just hope they can start playing immediately in the first team as all of our signings always seem in need of time to bed in rather than hit the ground running. Good to offload the midfield trio of wasters that have been blagging a fortune from us and delivering nothing. It will be interesting to see how they fare with their new clubs. Not convinced yet with Paratici,as going back to your old club Juve and scrabbing a couple of benchwarmers as a result of hitting the panic button after declared targets didn’t materialise does not exactly sit well with this reputation of being the Don of player recruitment.
Well Rodrigo Bentancur, our new midfield signing has got his Spurs career off to a good start.
A few hours ago for Uruguay he scored in the 1st min of his countries World Cup Qualifier.
A shot from the edge of the 18 yard box no less, not a header from a corner, as you might imagine.
Not bad for a midfielder that doesn’t score goals. So an improvement on Winks & Skipp internationally, atleast.
Not much more he could’ve done, for some Spurs fans watching the game, to see how he performed.
Maybe HH will put the goal on here later in a new post.
By the way, for you guys who wanted Luiz Diaz here, he didn’t look anything special, for the 7th Colombian game in a row.
He’s no where near Son’ level… yet.
Great daily brief… Trust in the Contedust the only way is up… Mentality is everything in football. Shifting Ndombele straight out was a necessity. After 3 years of 200k a week. 10.4million a year. That’s over 30 million in wages plus his 65 million fee. Extortionate money over 100 million he’s cost us.. Dele would have been my second choice to go.. Lo Celso is the Argy Lewis Holtby.. Not a bad window at all.. Good luck to Benty and CoolioJeffSki. It will be hard for them to jump in mid season but both can play…. I also think that we dodged a bullet with Adam Traore. He’s Ade Akinbyi in disguise.
The books had to be balanced somehow after 100 million wasted. Dele gone will immediately improve the atmosphere and two new lads will freshen up the team and the stadium. Swedes are usually reliable and work hard.
Not so much backing the manager as trying to cut the wage bill.
Cautiously optimistic is exactly what I said to the missus last night, not that she was even vaguely interested. Culling the herd is what’s been needed for so long – although, notwithstanding a miraculous change in form,the price that he’s put on Lyon’s option to buy is Ndombele is in the realms of cloud cuckoo land.
But yeah, I hope this is the start of a process. The litmus test will come in the summer.
Yes, but we’ve actually spent zero in this window, net. So actually nothing in the way of ‘commitment’ of funds towards anything, yet again…