How do Spurs take the next step up?

[Everlasting Seconds]

We need a couple of players (especially CM) from a shelf we would never dream of signing from before.

 

[cider spurs]

I think we miss an outfield player with buckets of experience who can come off the bench and settle things down. Somebody like Banega would be great. he could be our modern Edgar Davids or Rafa VDV. I'm sure there are plenty of others. Maybe we need to forget about resale value once in a while.

See what you did there. One mention of Banega and you've lured me back to this thread once more.

Never mind the bench, be absolutely chuffed to bits if we signed him this summer.

Great vision and the exact type of player to link defence and attack quickly. Loves a tackle also. Masterful player on his day, and to be fair, he has a fair few 'days'

 

[coys200]

The thing is City haven’t actually bought any Gallacticos like United have or thought they they had. City bought a lot of very good young £40-50m players. Which over 2 or 3 seasons is very doable. We already got one in Sanchez. When you consider we really don’t need that much. X3 £40m young players could make a huge difference to where we are at. I really don’t think we need to think the only way is £70-80m players. With continued good coaching and scouting we can still make great improvements.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Drop this on a city in the north west. League's ours

 

[John48]

Buy more quality players that Poch wants.

 

[Bulletspur]

Buy more quality players that Poch wants.

Pointless if he doesnt up his game in tactics and game management

 

[davidmatzdorf]

What we need is slow, incremental improvement along the lines of what we have been doing since Pochettino arrived. We don't need any upheavals in our approach. We're still improving and we haven't stalled this season - we've just played 38 league games away from home and we've qualified for the Champions League with some ease anyway.

If there's a £40m signing like Sanchez that we can make to improve the first team, great, let's go for it, but we don't need more expensive players than that and we don't need, or even want, established "stars". We just need to build the team. The consistent message from all the players, even the ones who might be thinking of leaving, is that it's a squad of friends who love working together. We don't want to disrupt that. There is no individual player and no position that needs improving that is as important as preserving and developing that sense of "team". It's our one advantage over the richer clubs, because we have a manager who prioritises it over star individuals whom we cannot afford.

As for Pochettino improving his in-game management, I'm afraid I won't take seriously the views on tactics and selection of a group of drama-queens who start shrieking for half-time substitutions every time we aren't 2 goals ahead by the break. No one makes half-time substitutions unless they are losing, badly, or someone is injured. No one. Repeat. No one. So please spare me the "Pochettino is too late changing things. He's not. You're all too panicky. Pochettino is still in his 40s. He'll learn.

 

[dtxspurs]

Bring in a badass CM.

 

[swarvsta]

I think we miss an outfield player with buckets of experience who can come off the bench and settle things down. Somebody like Banega would be great. he could be our modern Edgar Davids or Rafa VDV. I'm sure there are plenty of others. Maybe we need to forget about resale value once in a while.

Llorente?
Sissoko?

We don’t always worry about resale, and it hasn’t exactly paid off.

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

​

I really like our model, but realistically...
View attachment 38118

Sheiks on a plane

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

Reality now, they got the best technical footballers in the world and added the best manager in the world.

When they target a player, 9 times out of 10 they buy them. When we target a player 9 times out of 10 we buy some average cheap French version of the player we want.

 

[olliec]

Well, if Toby wants to goto UTD then we should do a straight swap for Martial, that will be certainly a step in the right direction. On top of that we need a creative midfielder that can find key passes, personally I would like to see Eriksen drop into CM next to our DM he seems to be able to pick a pass. We struggle against teams that park the bus as we can never find a way through. Then we can go in for another attacking player, Bale!

I would like to see this:

Kane

Martial/Son Alli Bale

Eriksen Wanyama/Dier

Rose Sanchez Vertonghen Trippier

Lloris
​

That is a team of intent!

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

Technically better, definitely. Mind you, that's pretty obvious when Sissoko starts 24 games for you in a season. Paying more money is just a means to achieving that tbh - it allows you to retain your best players and attract better. Keeping the same core of players is important too - we don't have the sort of money needed to effectively rebuild an team in one close season and remain competitive.

Right now we need to look at picking up more homegrown players, particularly younger ones. We need to ensure that non-homegrown players are a direct improvement on what we have, or a potential improvement. We haven't got as much room to manoeuvre as I'd like.

We also need to identify upcoming replacements for a couple of specific positions. I'd say goalkeeper is one, CM, Eriksen, probably CF. Getting in Foyth and Sanchez was perfect before this year, knowing Toby's issues with injuries and his always-on-the-cards transfer. Lloris is starting to fray a bit at the edges, and obviously Vorm's time is running out. In CM, we are concerned about Winks and Wanyama's recovery from injury, Dembele's likely departure, and Sissoko's...being Sissoko. Losing Eriksen without a ready replacement would be disastrous, although I think Lamela can do a job. Pulisic would obviously be mint here. Then there's Kane - I mean, Son does a decent job, but we really should have a more better option there.

Finally, I would be happier if I had more confidence in Poch's decision-making and adaptability, but there's still room for that to develop. It's pretty damn good most of the time.

So - technically better, dealing with the homegrown rules, specific squad improvements, Poch growing into the role at the top table. Most of that goes hand in hand with paying more money for wages and transfer fees.

Hmmm that sounds like everything then?

 

[JimmyG2]

What we need is slow, incremental improvement along the lines of what we have been doing since Pochettino arrived. We don't need any upheavals in our approach. We're still improving and we haven't stalled this season - we've just played 38 league games away from home and we've qualified for the Champions League with some ease anyway.

If there's a £40m signing like Sanchez that we can make to improve the first team, great, let's go for it, but we don't need more expensive players than that and we don't need, or even want, established "stars". We just need to build the team. The consistent message from all the players, even the ones who might be thinking of leaving, is that it's a squad of friends who love working together. We don't want to disrupt that. There is no individual player and no position that needs improving that is as important as preserving and developing that sense of "team". It's our one advantage over the richer clubs, because we have a manager who prioritises it over star individuals whom we cannot afford.

As for Pochettino improving his in-game management, I'm afraid I won't take seriously the views on tactics and selection of a group of drama-queens who start shrieking for half-time substitutions every time we aren't 2 goals ahead by the break. No one makes half-time substitutions unless they are losing, badly, or someone is injured. No one. Repeat. No one. So please spare me the "Pochettino is too late changing things. He's not. You're all too panicky. Pochettino is still in his 40s. He'll learn.

Absobloodylutely.
If it ain't broke why fix it.
We may even stumble over the next step
so take the lift or escalator instead.
The one we are already on.
Carry on improving and refining.
The major thing we need is patience and trust.
Going all out for that trophy
might jeopardise what is great about us now.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
or the bath.

 

[nicdic]

The only way we are able to take the next step is a huge slice of luck. The model is right, we will never be able to compete financially with the top clubs. So we have to spot talent young before they command the interest of the top teams. Then we need the City's, United's, etc. to slip.

 

[mattyspurs]

Drop this on a city in the north west. League's ours

Nooooo, I live in said city

 

[danielneeds]

We need another player that sees the whole game like Eriksen. You see when City have KDB and Silva on the pitch they're almost impossible to tie down. When we play very good sides sometimes they can squeeze Eriksen's space. But if he had a partner, even if it was someone who played slightly deeper, this would be harder to do.

 

[vegassd]

I agree with those who say we don't need huge changes. We need to see how we adjust to playing in the new stadium and how we find the next level of improvement from the current squad.

In terms of playing staff I do think we would benefit from an attacking midfielder who had more of a goal threat - particularly from outside the box. Theoretically we have that with Alli and Son but they have both been patchy this season. Perhaps Moura will provide that. There doesn't seem to be enough goal threat from Lamela or Sissoko but maybe with more specific work they could become that player.

Splashing out for a Dybala or Isco type player doesn't seem to be an option. Sessegnon feels like the perfect signing although Martial would also be great if he can get back on track.

But new players are always a risk so it's a bit pointless talking about signings imo. What we can do is sort out our squad as early as possible - both incomings and outgoings. If that means tweaking our model slightly and paying over the odds for early business I wouldn't be against it. That certainly feels like something we currently do differently from the teams who regularly win stuff.

 

[beats1]

Money.

It's why those that spend vast amounts more than us, tend to win the trophies and titles.

Of course, this doesn't guarantee the league title every year, you've only to look at Chelsea this season to realise this.

But, they're in a FA cup final as a consolation. Those that spend the most, tend to win things more reguarly.

People are quick to point the finger at the other clubs who spend a lot of money but its worth noting that they have been spending money in the last 2 seasons to catch up to us

For example, Liverpool imo have had a better potential season than us, as they have qualified for the CL for the first time in years when you consider they had european football as well. When they qualified for the CL before they always had the advantage of no european football and this year they overcame that hurdle. Not to mention they have made the CL final as well. Worth noting until the winter window we actually outspent them in transfers.

I think we need to improve our transfer strategy as our success rate on signings is getting worse. Out of the 5 outfield players we signed, only Sanchez has been a success for us this season. The season before that we signed 4 players and only wanyama was a success out of those signings. Whereas the season before 3 or 4 signings out of the 5 transfers we made were a success

 

[double0]

Again I am going to be controversial and say what would help us to go to the next level is Poch also stepping up in his tactical and game management. Two games that stand out where he was found wanting, were the quarter finals against Juventus and the semifinals against Man Utd. I put our conceding those game solely at the feet of Poch, where his naivety was exposed. There were other games where we were fortunate to get a result despite his poor selection and game management. Not saying that this is the answer to the next level but without an improvement in his management, getting to the next level will be difficult in spite of any financial windfall we may get.

Being controversial by using the latest buzz phrase about Pochettinho " in game management " is a load of rubbish and to sight Juventus and Manchester United as legitimate examples because we lost is totally unfair imo take United, Dembele decided to be clever and was out muscled by Pogba ( a player mistake) nothing to do with tactics. Juventus threw the dice and made a tactical change they were losing after being behind and fair enough we were caught out a bit cold I wouldn't put that down to Pochettinho solely our players needed also to see what was going on, Juve had the experience and closed shop we were just unlucky they scored in quick succession.

Anyway for us to move this squad team club forward ahead of just money we must be so so clever and lucky with our purchases. Take Mo Salah who would have thought he'd be that good and for that price....a lot comes down to excellent scouting and some luck.