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Arrivals and departures under Pochettino

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
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12,242
http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.dk/2015/07/pochettino-rebuilding-18-players-gone.html


Mauricio Pochettino arrived at Spurs on 27 May 2014 and since then 18 first team squad players have departed the club.

  1. Michael Dawson
  2. Kyle Naughton
  3. Benjamin Stambouli
  4. Paulinho
  5. Sandro
  6. Younes Kaboul
  7. Lewis Holtby
  8. Brad Friedel
  9. Cristian Ceballos
  10. Etienne Capoue
  11. Heurelho Gomes
  12. Jake Livermore
  13. Gylfi Sigurdsson
  14. Iago Falque
  15. Zeki Fryers
  16. Jonathan Obika
  17. Benoit Assou-Ekotto
  18. Jermain Defoe

Friedel/Gomes
Naughton Dawson Kaboul Assou-Ekotto/Fryers
Stambouli/Capoue Sandro/Livermore
Holtby Sigurdsson/Paulinho Ceballos/Falque
Defoe/Obika
In addition there have been other departures, Jordan Archer, Bongani Khumalo, Alexander McQueen, Cameron Lancaster, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Darren McQueen, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Roman Michael-Percil, Souleymane Coulibaly, Jack Munns and Jonathan Miles.

The first team squad has been added to by some players with potential and some players expected to produce now. Fazio was expected to have a better season than he did and Alderweireld should form a strong partnership with Vertonghen next season. Davies and Trippier have proved themselves at Premier League level so it seems the defence is being strengthened both with the immediate and future in mind.

Below is a list of first team squad players who have arrived since Mauricio Pochettino joined the club.
  1. Ben Davies
  2. Michel Vorm
  3. Eric Dier
  4. DeAndre Yedlin
  5. Federico Fazio
  6. Dele Alli
  7. Kevin Wimmer
  8. Kieran Trippier
  9. Toby Alderweireld
  10. Benjamin Stambouli (now departed)

Often criticised by Spurs fans Franco Baldini had thus far had an excellent summer having been charged with offloading the high earning, underperforming and egotistical players.
egotistical players causing issues off the pitch and undermining the manager

Some coaches have to have players bought for them and they'll develop a team from the creme de la creme, quite frankly any manager who can handle egos should be able to achieve success if the club is wealthy, what it doesn't tell you is how good a coach they are when they don't have money backing them.

Can they build by improving players, by producing a conveyor belt of academy talent? Can they create a team spirit that sees the team as a unit perform better than it's individual parts would suggest. Finding a coach who has those qualities is for any club with a restricted budget essential and if that manager can also handle egos then you have an exceptional coach on your hands.

I have said many times as a coach you look for the route cause of a problem and address that. The route cause may not be visible to the fans and there is certainly a lot that goes on behind the scenes at Tottenham.

Coming to Spurs Pochettino had to understand and accept the constraints he is working under, such as not having an endless pit of money. He needs an eye on the future with a stadium being built and an understanding of how any future transfer budget will be affected. He needed to have a strategy on the playing side that matched the strategy the club vision has both on and off the field.

Obviously the two were in accord or he wouldn't have been appointed and he has perhaps been backed by Daniel Levy more than any other manager in his reign. It has been clear from the start he was here for the long term, that he had been tasked with building the club toward and beyond having a stadium built.

He has assessed the players both for ability to adapt to a set system and their attitude. He has looked to incorporate positive egos within the squad and remove the negative egos ones. You go into hospital to have cancerous cells removed for recovery to take place, for a football squad who are together every day the same theory applies. Those who tried to undermine his authority have either left or are training with the Development squad.

He has put a set system in place and has set about reshaping the squad to suit that system with an emphasis on youth. Harry Kane, Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason became automatic choices keeping purchases out of the team while Danny Rose and Nacer Chadli had arguably the best campaign of their careers. Add to them Alex Pritchard, who it is suggested in good enough for the Premier League now and Dele Alli, who is amazing the players in training and you have the basis of a squad for the future.

Kevin Wimmer has been acquired as we expect him to develop into a high-class centre-back and Eric Dier has the same potential. Kieran Trippier demonstrated last season he could play at Premier League level with figures that compared with the best. Toby Alderweireld was a significant signing as he is good enough to play in a top four team, as is Jan Vertonghen, who was on Barcelona's shopping list last summer. They give the centre of defence a more solid look.

The issue in front of them is being addressed, Nabil Bentaleb can't play every game and is clearly highly thought of by others clubs, top teams both at home and abroad were hoping to sign him. While he needs help we also need one player with a greater physical presence also, the latest news is that Moussa Sissoko is interesting us.

Former Tottenham director of football Damien Comolli who spent 3 years at White Hart Lane before he was sacked spoke to talkSPORT and feels Spurs are now making progress.

“I think they have found their team and I think they have found their starting eleven – A lot of credit to Mauricio for bringing the young players through and putting a lot of faith in the likes of Dier, Rose, Mason, Bentaleb and Harry Kane obviously, Andros. Apart from Dier, they are all kids from the academy from when I was there – They have stabilised the team.”
Assess, stabilise, rebuild. That's what's taking place. It doesn't take long to assess players, especially when they have the wrong attitude, so removing them from the equation and saying 'ok you guys are the core for the future' is standard coaching practice. There will be ups and downs, but that is all part of a learning process so sticking with the youngsters as they meet the difficulties they met last season strengthens them for the future.

Situations will now be new to them, they can start to draw on experience, however slim, to help them handle future pressure. Once you have experienced something once it becomes easier nest time around as you knowledge of what to expect and you learn from how you dealt with it.

Pochettino is now building and building for a future, looking for year on year development so it is going to be an interesting season to what size step we take.
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
34,361
83,720
What might be most interesting from the list of players bought since Poch took over is that so far not one of them is considered a 1st team starter.

Obviously Alderweireld, Wimmer and Trippier have only just joined and Alli and Yedlin have so far spent their time either on loan or for the future.

Dier has so far made the biggest impact but with Alderweireld's signing might not be an automatic starter when playing our strongest 11.

The thing that has most impressed me is how Poch is playing the youngsters. It is a high pressure job and I can see why a manager would play it safe with a more experienced player who isn't giving enough to reach any height but does enough to get you top 6.

If Poch can get a great team spirit and everyone working together then great but my guess is we need some experienced heads in there to guide them.
 

Everlasting Seconds

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2014
14,914
26,616
We still have more outgoings to take care of, so we are not done with the stabilising phase I suppose. I've noticed that people are again this summer touching upon this zero net spend issue. With this TW specifically, I don't see the problem. This window can in fact only be successful if we do achieve 1) zero net spend & 2) high gross numbers for both signings expenditure and gains from outgoings.

Our squad is what it is abilitywise, but it is in fact quite valuable in funds. Hence, the number of outgoings we would like to achieve must come with a high income. If we don't achieve a high income this summer, we have been somewhat unsuccessful. We have sold players for 30M already. Lennon, Townsend, Chiriches, Carroll, and Soldado are possible outgoings with a possible fee attached. That's easily an additional 45 millions, bringing the total potential income to 75M (or more?)!

Pochettino wants a smaller squad. We must sell more players than we buy to achieve this. In the process, we must be increasing the number of players he trusts and actually wants to use. If the facts are 1) we must get rid of more players than are being signed, 2) the players to go represent quite a high total income and 3) we manage go sign new players wisely, then for once, can we please stop moaning about zero spending. This summer, we must be looking at the total numbers of goals achieved once the transfer window is shut. The higher number of satisfactory achievements, the more natural a zero net spending will be.
 

Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,162
38,452
on what basis is alderweireld top four quality? he wasn't deemed to be good enough by the only top four club he's played for.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
I like the boy but
no manager is ever at Spurs for the long term.
Well not since the Premiership began and for a decade before.
Mauricio will do well to finish the season and beat the 18 month average.
 

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,149
For some reason I thought Pochettino was brought in to work with what we already had, and reverse the trend of constantly shuffling the pack that saw AVB systematically destroy a good squad (obviously I don't blame AVB for players like Bale leaving).

If I were being critical I'd say that this long list of players who have left might indicate an inability to man-manage. After all, AVB isolated certain players in a similar way and was endlessly slagged off for being a socially inept weirdo that couldn't communicate with his own squad.

However, it's starting to look like Pochettino is being given the opportunity to re-shape the squad (even if I'm not that impressed by any of the players we've signed under him, with the exception of Dier). Just hope we actually stick with the manager for a meaningful amount of time, otherwise the next guy is going to be trying to shift half the squad all over again.
 

@Bobby__Lucky

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
2,933
3,982
So first season buys...all defenders (exept Stambouli who marsailles wanted as a CB) so reality all defenders...

This seasons ins...all defenders..

Building from the back ? Twice?
 

npearl4spurs

Believing Member
Sep 9, 2014
4,253
11,129
So first season buys...all defenders (exept Stambouli who marsailles wanted as a CB) so reality all defenders...

This seasons ins...all defenders..

Building from the back ? Twice?

Well, considering we have seen the departures of Benoit Assou-Ekotto (loss of form and loss of whatever desire was there), Younes Kaboul (loss of consistent form since his major injury), Michael Dawson (detoriation of physical skills expected at Tottenham), Gomes; it isn't terribly surprising.

The sentiment of your post though hits the point. We really should be conceding less goals and less chances this season if we are buying well and Pochettino and his staff are developing the players. 53 goals is far too many. 45 is the maximum number I would expect this coming season without feeling disappointed, not to mention some added goals and assists from the back four.
 
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ilikeost

Well-Known Member
Jul 17, 2012
5,382
12,072
Wanted him so much they sent him on loan last season?

What about what I said do you find hard to understand? Yes, Atletico sent him out on loan last season. He performed well and Atletico decided they they wanted him to stay after his great season with Southampton, he told them he wanted to go so they let him go.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
What about what I said do you find hard to understand? Yes, Atletico sent him out on loan last season. He performed well and Atletico decided they they wanted him to stay after his great season with Southampton, he told them he wanted to go so they let him go.

I understand what you are saying. But what you are saying does not tally up to AM's actions.

It doesn't matter anyway.
 

ilikeost

Well-Known Member
Jul 17, 2012
5,382
12,072
I understand what you are saying. But what you are saying does not tally up to AM's actions.

It doesn't matter anyway.

Quotes from their sporting director.

"Our technical staff have been closely following all of the players who are currently out on loan at other clubs,"

"We are very happy with the development shown by Alderweireld and Oliver for example -- both players are enjoying a great season with their respective clubs and we are counting on both players for next season.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
Quotes from their sporting director.

And then they sold him. They even put a purchase clause in his loan deal with soton. If they were counting on him they must be idiots. Especially knowing that soton were going to trigger the clause and toby had said he wanted to stay in the prem.
 

ilikeost

Well-Known Member
Jul 17, 2012
5,382
12,072
And then they sold him. They even put a purchase clause in his loan deal with soton. If they were counting on him they must be idiots. Especially knowing that soton were going to trigger the clause and toby had said he wanted to stay in the prem.

I'm getting dizzy, this argument is going around in circles, haven't we already talked about this? I'll try again I guess.

  • They loaned him out and agreed a fee with Southampton if the move would be made permanent but there was obviously no obligation to sell.
  • He had a great season.
  • During the season their sporting director said that they are monitoring his progress, that he is doing well and that they are counting on him for the next season.
  • He returns when the season is over and says that he wants to go back to England. They allow him to go.
You might say they sold him because they think he is shit and that is fine but you are obivously wrong. Atletico Madrid is a club that sells its players all the time if they get the right money or if the player wants to leave. When was the last time they forced a player to stay? I can't even think of one. This window they sold Turan and Miranda, two of their best players. Last season they sold Costa and Luis and the season before that they sold Falcao.
 
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