Well done Levy and co.

[Hoops]

Sissoko is a class player that made a bad decision to join a shitty team. Can you really blame him for being half interested when playing for a shambles of a club like Newcastle? It was obvious those Newcastle players were playing for a transfer last game of the season. The Euros showed how good he is.

Subs
Trippier
Davies
Wimmer
Sissoko
Wanyama
Son
Nkodou
Janssen

Thats a strong second line. We can compete with this team.

 

[Young Nasty Man]

Happy to admit I lost my rocks for a minute. Levy came through. We didn't get Isco but we have a mean team that will make you hurt if you challenge us. We are physically imposing in so many ways. It's very clear Poch values speed, strength, and a motor that doesn't end. I welcome teams that will try to out grit us on the pitch because this team can make you hurt physically for 90 minutes. Imagine (because this will never happen) a 4-4-2 with a midfield of Sissoko, Dier, Wanyama, Dembele, Janssen, and Kane? Bring on Tony Pulis. Bring on Stoke. Harry bodied the balls off of Everton and got called for it, I welcome that every week.

Say what you will about Sissoko, he an upgrade and can bring the ball forward and play multiple positions. That's a Poch player. I'm telling myself it's Mason and Chadli for Sissoko. That's worth it.

The biggest tell all for me this window is how much we value Son, and clearly management sees some type of value in him. Levy had his chance at making a profit on the guy and said no. We need to get settled but we have soldiers that are gonna be mean on their day. We're looking at 3/4/5 table finish given CL and everything else, but we got good odds. I can't wait to take on Arsenal. We are a mean team that will make teams pay, especially ones that come at us.

Lastly, I hate the window. It gets me everytime. So much drama and so many highs and lows. In some ways it's easier without the ITK, but it's a fucking drug. And once I allow myself to sip the cool aid, it's down a deep dark hole that I can't get out of. Shout out to all the ITK folks for making this week a trip.

Lastly, JJ: you're more important than Spurs themselves. Yeah, I probably look like I'm swooning, but JJ will get you hooked when he drops the "don't go yet".

See you at the Brittanica, and I can't wait to see who leaves on a stretcher for Stoke.

 

[Ribble]

Certainly not the worst window but I don't really see how we've improved the starting eleven at this point. Hope I'm completely wrong of course.

Our starting XI was great last season, what was really lacking was depth in just a few positions, partly due to injuries (Mason, N'jie in particular) and partly unsuitability (Bentaleb, Fazio). Personally I would have been happy with bringing in youth players to fill the gaps in the midfield, as it seems we will with CCV in defence, but as long as they get opportunities to play that's not a problem really.

 

[Lighty64]

It's a shame we don't play to the counter though. We're go from either trying to press high or dominate possession, without doing either that successfully. We don't often sit back, invite the opposition and then hit on the break.

the trouble is we sit back or we are push back more when we take the lead in a game, now we have the options to counter that and hopefully get the killer goal more often. 7 of our 12 games we drew last season we lead at some point, we now have the option to counter more directly which may turn those into bigger wins

 

[thfc1973]

Honestly, I am not convinced we are ready to compete. Not with the 1st team squad we have. Those other players are great players but I don't know if we can compete against the Madrids or even the hard defending PL teams. We needed a player with the qualities of Hazard or Mane and instead we got something else.
We have improved our strikeforce yes, we have kept our defense, yes, but I really don't believe we've added that creativity and guile needed to open teams up, break them down and dribble through them. That's my worry.

1 question.
Can someone tell me why we didn't spend 6M quid extra and get Mane instead of Sissoko at the end of the season?
Poch talked about needing a player like Mane the other day, drooling over him and describing him like he really wanted him, (i really think he did) yet with all our clout, money, Mitchell and future potential we decided to stick instead of twist at the time.. and then when we did twist we got a player who - imho - in nothing like Mane. I say that based on what Mane offers vs what Sissoko offers.
Mane is a dynamo, with speed, skill, guile, tenacity and a good eye for goal as well as great with assisting - whereas the other is a big lumbering no nonsense player.

That to me is not competing - its trying to match brain with brawn. Skill with power. creativity with no nonsense.
Sorry but we aren't ready to compete, just yet.

 

[Hoops]

Honestly, I am not convinced we are ready to compete. Not with the 1st team squad we have. Those other players are great players but I don't know if we can compete against the Madrids or even the hard defending PL teams. We needed a player with the qualities of Hazard or Mane and instead we got something else.
We have improved our strikeforce yes, we have kept our defense, yes, but I really don't believe we've added that creativity and guile needed to open teams up, break them down and dribble through them. That's my worry.

1 question.
Can someone tell me why we didn't spend 6M quid extra and get Mane instead of Sissoko at the end of the season?
Poch talked about needing a player like Mane the other day, drooling over him and describing him like he really wanted him, (i really think he did) yet with all our clout, money, Mitchell and future potential we decided to stick instead of twist at the time.. and then when we did twist we got a player who - imho - in nothing like Mane. I say that based on what Mane offers vs what Sissoko offers.
Mane is a dynamo, with speed, skill, guile, tenacity and a good eye for goal as well as great with assisting - whereas the other is a big lumbering no nonsense player.

That to me is not competing - its trying to match brain with brawn. Skill with power. creativity with no nonsense.
Sorry but we aren't ready to compete, just yet.

I assume that Mane chose Liverpool over us, just like Sissoko did us over Everton

 

[thfc1973]

I would very much like to read quotes by someone official if that were the case. I respectfully believe Spurs are a better option for ANY player given our current standing and future prospects compared to LFC.

 

[ajspurs]

The squad seems stronger, not sure how much the first 11 is. I guess for me that depends if you put Janssen in the first 11 as he's looked a really good player. If Nkoudou and Son are able to provide meaningful contributions throughout the season our squad as a whole looks quite strong and we have good backup for a lot of positions but now I feel that any signings we make really need to be ones that we feel will jump straight into the starting 11.

Saying that though a lot depends on whether Nkoudou can bring something to the team and won't be as raw as N'Jie was. Because if we find that he's really struggling, that leaves Son as our only backup wide player. In fact, that would leave Son as the only natural wide player in the whole squad as Lamela cuts in every time and seems better in the middle anyway.

A bit more creativity in the middle and pace out wide I feel wouldn't go amiss.

As for Mane it wouldn't surprise me if we just felt the valuation was too high, even I laughed quite a bit at the time thinking they massively overpaid but considering what other players are going for and what we just spent on Sissoko, plus how dangerous he's looked for Liverpool it doesn't seem like a bad deal at all at the moment.

 

[BaFa94]

I assume that Mane chose Liverpool over us, just like Sissoko did us over Everton

No one is going to chose Liverpool over us if we both get bids accepted unless they blow us out of the water with wages. I don't get the impression his wages at pool are exorbitant, and i don't recall hearing anything about us putting in a bid.

 

[Danners9]

..and if not, we can do this again in January

 

[Pellshek]

I could be wrong, but I actually think wages were precisely the issue with Liverpool and Mane. My understanding is that he's on bonkers money there. I don't know for sure, but Liverpool may not run as flat a wage structure as we do, and it's possible they have room for a few mega-salaries, one of which goes to Mane.

 

[Lighty64]

Honestly, I am not convinced we are ready to compete. Not with the 1st team squad we have. Those other players are great players but I don't know if we can compete against the Madrids or even the hard defending PL teams. We needed a player with the qualities of Hazard or Mane and instead we got something else.
We have improved our strikeforce yes, we have kept our defense, yes, but I really don't believe we've added that creativity and guile needed to open teams up, break them down and dribble through them. That's my worry.

1 question.
Can someone tell me why we didn't spend 6M quid extra and get Mane instead of Sissoko at the end of the season?
Poch talked about needing a player like Mane the other day, drooling over him and describing him like he really wanted him, (i really think he did) yet with all our clout, money, Mitchell and future potential we decided to stick instead of twist at the time.. and then when we did twist we got a player who - imho - in nothing like Mane. I say that based on what Mane offers vs what Sissoko offers.
Mane is a dynamo, with speed, skill, guile, tenacity and a good eye for goal as well as great with assisting - whereas the other is a big lumbering no nonsense player.

That to me is not competing - its trying to match brain with brawn. Skill with power. creativity with no nonsense.
Sorry but we aren't ready to compete, just yet.

apparently Liverpool are paying him £125 a week, so good chance if we showed interest the wages were a stumbling block

 

[lukespurs7]

Overreact much? I just don't see how we've improved our starting eleven from last season, how is that such an unbelievable opinion to have that it merits such a reaction from you?

I like both Wanyama and Sissoko as players but how are they better than the regular central midfield we had last season exactly? You're actually saying it yourself that our midfield was really fucking good last season. I'm the one who should WTF your post, not the other way around.

You aren't getting it are you?
I've asked you who in our best XI would you improve on from last year and you've not answered me.

It seems to me when people say this they don't understand football and what makes a successful team and squad so it pisses me off.

Who could we sign that is better than Lloris?
Which RB or LB in the world would you pick over ours who would realistically come to us and that we could afford?
Why would we change our CB pairing who work so well together?
CM I would argue Wanyama or Sissoko are slight upgrades on Dier as well as he did he's still very young and is learning that position.
The attacking 3 is the only other place I could see us improving but again Eriksen and Alli got double figures goals and assists and Lamela is key to our play so very very hard to find better players than them without breaking the bank and then you can't displace / upgrade Kane really.

So why say 'we haven't improved our starting eleven ' when that is really irrelevant as it was nearly impossible for us to realistically do so and we've completely cleaned out all the deadwood or players who potch feels can't cut it and upgraded back-ups in all other areas.

 

[lukespurs7]

Excellent OP, agree with every word.

The Sissoko signing was absolutely necessary and, oddly, seems disproportionately bigger than just one player, because it brings the squad into much better balance, in one fell swoop. Fwiw, I don't think we significantly overpaid for Sissoko. Few million bucks maybe, but for a (just) 27 year old, 44-capped French international in the post-TV deal new world, it's fine.

Well done Levy & team.

Completely agree l, especially this bit. If you get football and what's key in a squad you'll realise like you have just how important that final signing was.

I imagine Mr Potch will be a very very happy man sitting on his sun lounger right now.

 

[beats1]

You aren't getting it are you?
I've asked you who in our best XI would you improve on from last year and you've not answered me.

It seems to me when people say this they don't understand football and what makes a successful team and squad so it pisses me off.

Who could we sign that is better than Lloris?
Which RB or LB in the world would you pick over ours who would realistically come to us and that we could afford?
Why would we change our CB pairing who work so well together?
CM I would argue Wanyama or Sissoko are slight upgrades on Dier as well as he did he's still very young and is learning that position.
The attacking 3 is the only other place I could see us improving but again Eriksen and Alli got double figures goals and assists and Lamela is key to our play so very very hard to find better players than them without breaking the bank and then you can't displace / upgrade Kane really.

So why say 'we haven't improved our starting eleven ' when that is really irrelevant as it was nearly impossible for us to realistically do so and we've completely cleaned out all the deadwood or players who potch feels can't cut it and upgraded back-ups in all other areas.

Sissoko hasnt played as CM for years even at the Euro's he started playing better when he was further out wide on the right wing, last season he played in cm, once in a 6-1 defeat

 

[lukespurs7]

Happy to admit I lost my rocks for a minute. Levy came through. We didn't get Isco but we have a mean team that will make you hurt if you challenge us. We are physically imposing in so many ways. It's very clear Poch values speed, strength, and a motor that doesn't end. I welcome teams that will try to out grit us on the pitch because this team can make you hurt physically for 90 minutes. Imagine (because this will never happen) a 4-4-2 with a midfield of Sissoko, Dier, Wanyama, Dembele, Janssen, and Kane? Bring on Tony Pulis. Bring on Stoke. Harry bodied the balls off of Everton and got called for it, I welcome that every week.

Say what you will about Sissoko, he an upgrade and can bring the ball forward and play multiple positions. That's a Poch player. I'm telling myself it's Mason and Chadli for Sissoko. That's worth it.

The biggest tell all for me this window is how much we value Son, and clearly management sees some type of value in him. Levy had his chance at making a profit on the guy and said no. We need to get settled but we have soldiers that are gonna be mean on their day. We're looking at 3/4/5 table finish given CL and everything else, but we got good odds. I can't wait to take on Arsenal. We are a mean team that will make teams pay, especially ones that come at us.

Lastly, I hate the window. It gets me everytime. So much drama and so many highs and lows. In some ways it's easier without the ITK, but it's a fucking drug. And once I allow myself to sip the cool aid, it's down a deep dark hole that I can't get out of. Shout out to all the ITK folks for making this week a trip.

Lastly, JJ: you're more important than Spurs themselves. Yeah, I probably look like I'm swooning, but JJ will get you hooked when he drops the "don't go yet".

See you at the Brittanica, and I can't wait to see who leaves on a stretcher for Stoke.

Love this post lol!!! Ledge

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

Loving the optimism but the last time this happened "we swapped Elvis for The Beatles" and before signing Sissoko the forum was suicidal and in Levy murdering mode, so I will reserve judgement. I think the most important thing at the club happened when Poch extended his contract, that for me was Levy's real master stroke.

 

[Donki]

No one is going to chose Liverpool over us if we both get bids accepted unless they blow us out of the water with wages. I don't get the impression his wages at pool are exorbitant, and i don't recall hearing anything about us putting in a bid.

Liverpool destroy us on the wages they offer. Also I hate saying it they are a massive club and brand, just look at what they have won, we need to take our rosey glasses off sometimes. Oh plus they were Robbie Keane's boyhood club lol.

 

[Richitov]

You'll never get past Sissoko, he's magic, you know,
you'll never out run Nkoudou, he's magic you know,
Mauricio Pochettino, he's magic you know,
you'll never out sing a yiddo, we're magic you know...

good window, now bring on the football!!!


#COYS

 

[Shadydan]

No one is going to chose Liverpool over us if we both get bids accepted unless they blow us out of the water with wages. I don't get the impression his wages at pool are exorbitant, and i don't recall hearing anything about us putting in a bid.

He's said to be on £125k a week, we cannot match that.