Pochettino's 'get out of jail free' card?

[spurs9]

Jol and Ramos were left short after summer windows and didn't get any sympathy.

Ramos was left short for strikers, but what was Jol left short on?

Also, Ramos had one if the best strike forces in the league taken away from him and replaced with Pav & Frazer Campbell, whereas this season, we haven't lost anyone that made a positive difference last year, where we finished 5th and we have strengthened in other areas. Yes, we are a striker lighter than we were last season, but that striker only scored 5 goals in all comps (just 1 in the league) and he didn't really contribute much else as a loan striker (most of his mins were in a two up top).

 

[fortworthspur]

we will struggle in the midfield this season and it will cost us points. We dont really know how much Levy and Poch each contributed to the make-up of the current squad so its hard to predict the fall-out.

 

[spurs9]

A supposedly simple question - has the botched ending to the transfer window given Pochettino more leeway with both the fans and Levy this season?

I say 'supposedly' because the more I think about it, the less obvious and simple it seems.

This is not an anti-Pochettino thread. Nor is it particularly anti-Levy. The main argument is that Pochettino clearly targeted at least a striker and a central midfielder for this window. Throughout the summer we have heard how we have been chasing Berahino and a DM. Pochettino made Schneiderlin his number one target last summer as well, so it's an area he obviously wants to strengthen with a 'starting 11' quality player.

The striker situation is apparent to all of us. Yes we have some square pegs available to force into the round hole if Kane is injured or needs resting, but I'd be very surprised if Pochettino is happy with the lack of options up front.

So given the paper-thin strength of key areas of the squad, and the impression that important transfers failed to materialise, will Pochettino be shown some sympathy from the fans if we struggle? Equally, will Levy be less reluctant to swing the axe considering he's played a big part in shackling this team?

Maybe you think a good manager should be able to work with what they have? Maybe the lack of a striker and DM are not enough to cover up other deficiencies in the team, and should not be used as an excuse? Perhaps you feel any form of success Pochettino achieves this season should be considered twice as good due to Levy letting him down in the transfer market?

I know some will say that the lack of a striker and a DM are really not that big a deal. Personally I think it will have all sorts of issues that will cause problems. For example, Pochettino will have to play Kane a lot more than I might otherwise do. He also has less room to change things up if Kane has a significant drop of form. Playing Son, N'jie, or Chadli out of position prevents them from playing where they are deemed more effective, and could damage their confidence. The lack of a DM also puts a lot of pressure on our young CM's, and without an experienced head in the centre of the park and on the training ground they won't be learning many new tricks when it comes to dealing with pressure situations.

I'd like to think that I'd keep in mind that the window has painted Pochettino into a bit of a corner, but in truth I'll probably forget all about that the next time we lose or play badly. I suspect a lot of fans will be the same (if, of course, we actually have a poor season). I'd also like to think Levy would own up to his part in any poor performances, but is that really too likely?

Are we weaker than last season, where we finished 5th? if you go through the squad to see if we are stronger or weaker, we don't look in to bad a shape.

GK - Same here as we were before. We lost Friedel to retirement but he didn't play for us last season anyway.
DR - Stronger than last season, bringing in Trippier without losing anyone.
DL - Same as last year.
CB - Stronger bringing in a 1st team player and a young squad player replacing the outgoing nightmare that is Chiriches and Kaboul, who only had 1 good game for us last year.
CM - TBD - A lot of fans would argue we are weaker here than last year, due to selling our 2 DMs, however Capoue's record was won 5, lost 6, drew 2 and he didn't even play (other than 1 sub appearance) after the beginning of November and Stambouli only played 451 mins in the league, starting 4 games. I also think Dier has looked better in CM then Stambouli ever did for us in the league. Depending on how Alli does and Dier continues to do, we may have actually improved here, as the only other player we lost here was ineffective and frustrating Paulinho.
AM3 - Stronger as we only sold Lennon, who was away on loan for 1/2 a season and only got 2 assists and 0 goals when he was here and we have brought in 2 very quick goals scorers. We also have Pritchard back from loan, who is a much more able replacement for Eriksen, from a creativity point of view, than we had last year.
Striket - Weaker but only slightly as we have only lost 1 striker and he only scored 5 goals in all comps, with just 1 of those in the league, which is not a difficult target for someone like Coulthirst to achieve, should we call upon him.

We have 15 more league games, 6 EL games and a maximum of 3 cup games before the next transfer window, which is not a big ask for this squad.

Also, we have gone from 4 players capable of scoring a decent amount of goals (Kane, Chadli, Eriksen & Paulinho) to potentially 7 (Kane, Chadli, Eriksen, Alli, Son, N'jie and Pritchard), so that should lift some of the burden from Kane.

Edit: I should also add that I too am disappointed that we didn't bring in another striker, and I really hope that is rectified in January, but it is not as bad as many are making out.

 

[cliff jones]

I think a lot will depend on how the supporters that go week in, week out respond if we continue not to win matches.

Levy is the guilty man for leaving us short, but as I've said in a few threads, surely we need to hold judgement after we have played another handful of matches to see if we really have a problem

fyp. levy left us short before the season started. a lot of damage is already done. september gets harder.

 

[Arthur Hucksake]

Levy has deflected all of the blame, put it entirely on to the manager and got him to sign off on it. Baldy aint daft is he.

I just hope we some of this fluid football sooner rather than later.

 

[Flashspur]

We are short of at least one specialist striker
and are tempting fate by relying on Harry.
Dier has improved but is not yet an accomplished enough CM.
None of this can be laid at Mauricio's door
but he will take the fall for Levy's mismanagement.
Some problems have been addressed certainly,
particularly the defence and the window has not been a disaster.
We have kept our key players, Verts, Lloris,Harry and Eriksen
but two areas have not been dealt with
and it will be this that comes back to bite us.
We have already seen Levy covering his nethers
by re-classifying an attacking midfielder as a striker.
Mauricio doesn't stand a chance if the boat starts to sink
whatever the fans might think, say or do.
Heung-Mi and Clinton might save his arse but it's a risky strategy.

this is one long mofo haiku dude, try harder next time

 

[Lighty64]

I myself am unsure on Poch. So far, I've seen very little to convince me he's the right guy - our football has been god awful ever since he arrived, and I've seen little improvement within the squad.

HOWEVER, the one thing (and it really is the one thing) that makes me remotely excited about him is his seeming commitment to really bring through the youngsters. It's an exceptionally brave thing to do and one that's rare to find in a manager at a top club. It may be madness, but I prefer to see the like of Dier or Carroll - a young English player with real passion - being given a go at central midfield than take a gamble on some overrated Paulinho type, signed for £17m.

Having not been fully backed almost forces him to use the youth players even more so for me does give somewhat of a 'get out of jail free card'. He does need to get them playing some decent football at some point though.

I too have my reservations about Poch, and was really hoping that by the end of the window he would of been fully backed. The style he played when at Southampton was the same, but with more pace. As a squad we have better quality than he did there, but the players really don't seem to be able to play at the same pace.

Last season at the start we looked so much fitter, and had more stamina, this season something ain't right. Either the end of season tour, or our pre season, or even both have made us look to tired. Kane might of not played as much as expected for the under21's in the stunner, but his rest time was not enough. That is why Levy needed to buy a striker, if we want to try and progress in the CoC, and Europa Poch is going to have put out stronger teams than we have in previous seasons.

 

[voxy28]

Frankly we may hit a bad patch before it gets better and I too have reservations about Poch.

 

[Spurger King]

Are we weaker than last season, where we finished 5th? if you go through the squad to see if we are stronger or weaker, we don't look in to bad a shape.

GK - Same here as we were before. We lost Friedel to retirement but he didn't play for us last season anyway.
DR - Stronger than last season, bringing in Trippier without losing anyone.
DL - Same as last year.
CB - Stronger bringing in a 1st team player and a young squad player replacing the outgoing nightmare that is Chiriches and Kaboul, who only had 1 good game for us last year.
CM - TBD - A lot of fans would argue we are weaker here than last year, due to selling our 2 DMs, however Capoue's record was won 5, lost 6, drew 2 and he didn't even play (other than 1 sub appearance) after the beginning of November and Stambouli only played 451 mins in the league, starting 4 games. I also think Dier has looked better in CM then Stambouli ever did for us in the league. Depending on how Alli does and Dier continues to do, we may have actually improved here, as the only other player we lost here was ineffective and frustrating Paulinho.
AM3 - Stronger as we only sold Lennon, who was away on loan for 1/2 a season and only got 2 assists and 0 goals when he was here and we have brought in 2 very quick goals scorers. We also have Pritchard back from loan, who is a much more able replacement for Eriksen, from a creativity point of view, than we had last year.
Striket - Weaker but only slightly as we have only lost 1 striker and he only scored 5 goals in all comps, with just 1 of those in the league, which is not a difficult target for someone like Coulthirst to achieve, should we call upon him.

We have 15 more league games, 6 EL games and a maximum of 3 cup games before the next transfer window, which is not a big ask for this squad.

Also, we have gone from 4 players capable of scoring a decent amount of goals (Kane, Chadli, Eriksen & Paulinho) to potentially 7 (Kane, Chadli, Eriksen, Alli, Son, N'jie and Pritchard), so that should lift some of the burden from Kane.

Edit: I should also add that I too am disappointed that we didn't bring in another striker, and I really hope that is rectified in January, but it is not as bad as many are making out.

The team might be slightly stronger, but I don't think we've improved as well as those around us, and certainly can't see us being in the top 5 again.

 

[Galactico14]

From my personal view point I just want to be entertained again. Excluding litterally a handful of games and some breathtaking moments from bale under AVB I haven't enjoyed watching spurs since Harry days.

So with that I mind I will remain reserved in my judgement as I have given poch last season to access and a summer to address. With the players he has (excluding depth which I accept is an issue) he should be able to get an entertaining starting 11.

 

[Hotspur33]

Do you honestly think what the supporters think makes a blind bit of difference any more?

Actually, yes I do. I sometimes think
Levy and co are guilty of listening too much to the noises made by ourselves and the media.
Any time a manager is put under pressure, they are sacked.
All transfer window we have been saying we need to get rid of the deadwood and only sign players that will improve us, no more Stambouli signings. We would rather use academy players etc. And that is exactly what we have ended up with.

 

[Gbspurs]

2 wide forwards, but shh, people still think a player can only play in one position (midfield) and will think we are nuts for thinking otherwise !!

You bought into Pochs statement then.

I think the issue that that they are completely different forwards to Kane and will presumably all lay together, whereas we really needed another option for when Kane needs resting.

Not just that but we have no idea how quickly N'Jie are going to adapt. What happens if neither of them hit the ground running....

 

[Dougal]

Some Spurs fans will blame whatever is easiest. Levy, Poch, Walker, Jenas, a bit of string being waved in front of them, global warming, Thatcher (Ben and Maggie). I just don't listen anymore. Football is a distraction and if we win, that's good. If not, not so good. Ironically, finger-pointing is a pointless exercise.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I'm expecting us to struggle this season, our squad is ok but I think a lot of mid table teams have improved much more than we have. And I don't think Poch is any kind of tactical genius to try different systems when things aren't working.

Having said that he does get a free pass this season as despite what he says, one injury to Kane and we're screwed. Yea he can try other guys in that position but should it not work and we're languishing bottom half it will be Pochs neck on the line and we've all seen what Levy does.

 

[Kiedis]

I'd think Poch has some leeway from Levy due to his preference for youth players and how that is such an important part of our strategy now.

Younger players see Spurs as a place they can actually get playing time if they deliver in training, and a guy like Alli has stated that that was an important factor in him choosing us.

The fans should be a bit more forgiving too, I think. We have a young team that has performed pretty well so far, and could just as well have had 10 points by now.

 

[Yid-ol]

You bought into Pochs statement then.

I think the issue that that they are completely different forwards to Kane and will presumably all lay together, whereas we really needed another option for when Kane needs resting.

Not just that but we have no idea how quickly N'Jie are going to adapt. What happens if neither of them hit the ground running....

I haven't even read the statement, I just looked into the players to see where they have/can play.

 

[danielneeds]

I think Levy knows top four is realistically off the table until 2018 and the new stadium now. He and Poch are all about blooding the kids and creating some home made stars and getting the team ready for that move. A good cup run and tilt at the Europa would help too.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

GK - Same here as we were before. We lost Friedel to retirement but he didn't play for us last season anyway.
DR - Stronger than last season, bringing in Trippier without losing anyone.
DL - Same as last year.
CB - Stronger bringing in a 1st team player and a young squad player replacing the outgoing nightmare that is Chiriches and Kaboul, who only had 1 good game for us last year.
CM - TBD - A lot of fans would argue we are weaker here than last year, due to selling our 2 DMs, however Capoue's record was won 5, lost 6, drew 2 and he didn't even play (other than 1 sub appearance) after the beginning of November and Stambouli only played 451 mins in the league, starting 4 games. I also think Dier has looked better in CM then Stambouli ever did for us in the league. Depending on how Alli does and Dier continues to do, we may have actually improved here, as the only other player we lost here was ineffective and frustrating Paulinho.
AM3 - Stronger as we only sold Lennon, who was away on loan for 1/2 a season and only got 2 assists and 0 goals when he was here and we have brought in 2 very quick goals scorers. We also have Pritchard back from loan, who is a much more able replacement for Eriksen, from a creativity point of view, than we had last year.
Striket - Weaker but only slightly as we have only lost 1 striker and he only scored 5 goals in all comps, with just 1 of those in the league, which is not a difficult target for someone like Coulthirst to achieve, should we call upon him.
.

For sure not a bad post, but I do think it lacks a relative element,
Mainly a comparison to other PL teams this season vs. last season.

Looking at the squads overall, I think we have again increased gaps to clubs ahead of us, and decreased gaps to clubs usually behind us. Overall, I think we have a weaker squad than last season, and will be in the race for 6th or worse.

West Ham, Swansea, Palace, Leicester all have made some interesting changes moving the squads forwards, Comparing to them, we are closer to having failed than to having improved. City, Chelsea, United, Liverpool, Arsenal all have nigh complete squads now, we don't. And we won't for still some time. In terms of squad completeness, we downgraded.

The only thing that I think we can reasonably expect is that Pochettino will use a higher number of players than last season. But that's just different, not necessarily empirically better or worse.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

Not just that but we have no idea how quickly N'Jie are going to adapt. What happens if neither of them hit the ground running....

Would that not still have been the case even if we bought another centre-forward though?

 

[nickspurs]

For sure not a bad post, but I do think it lacks a relative element,
Mainly a comparison to other PL teams this season vs. last season.

Looking at the squads overall, I think we have again increased gaps to clubs ahead of us, and decreased gaps to clubs usually behind us. Overall, I think we have a weaker squad than last season, and will be in the race for 6th or worse.

West Ham, Swansea, Palace, Leicester all have made some interesting changes moving the squads forwards, Comparing to them, we are closer to having failed than to having improved. City, Chelsea, United, Liverpool, Arsenal all have nigh complete squads now, we don't. And we won't for still some time. In terms of squad completeness, we downgraded.

The only thing that I think we can reasonably expect is that Pochettino will use a higher number of players than last season. But that's just different, not necessarily empirically better or worse.

It's all onions of course but to say United or Arsenal have complete squads is crazy. Ask any of their fans and many will be terrified of their striker situation. Chelsea and City, I agree with. And Liverpool? Bang average despite all those early window signings.