Match Threads Sheffield United vs Spurs - Match Thread

[Teddy Klinsmann]

we’re gonna need a bigger list

These players are finished:
Vorm
Toby
Jan
Rose

These players needs to get sold:
Aurier
Lucas
Foyth (I like him)

Players not good enough:
Sissoko
Davies
Sanchez
Lamela

 

[SpursSince1980]

This squad is finished! Whenever a decision goes against us, we sulk and capitulate! Will need £300/400 million to sort this shower of shite out! And a forward thinking manager, kinda feels like the whole santini/Jol appointment (head coach is well known, whilst the assistant is the younger future manager (think Sacramento takes over after Jose) and I’m fast losing patience with Jose!... all lies with levy though!

Correct on the attitude issues. But I'm not even sure that a 300M spending spree is what's needed. To me, what we are lacking is an identity and philosophy that is woven into the entire club. I look at a team like Dortmund. And they have developed some outstanding players over the years. This is largely due to some amazing scouting and investing heavily in youth. Yes, they certainly have spending power now as well. But they go through phases of bringing through outstanding youth (similar to Ajax), and quite often selling them for huge sums of money, and then using that money to improve the squad in key areas.

We just don't seem to have any sort of cohesive approach to how the squad is built and managed. No overarching style of play that gets imprinted into the club at the earliest stages of player development.

I think Poch did much to paper over some cracks. But over-achieving can only last so long.

We need a long term plan that does not depend on requiring a massive windfall. And as a part of that plan, Daniel Levy needs to step aside and let someone else take the reins of the footballing side of the club. As we are going nowhere fast.

 

[lukadownthelane]

Anyone else just thoroughly fed up with tottenham and football in general?

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

I’m struggling to see where we go from here. This squad have failed to play for Pochettino and Mourinho.

The squad mentality is absolutely fucked and frankly I think the only fix is to rip it up and start again. Only issue being we are paying off a huge stadium loan along with no CL money incoming and COVID-19 causing us to take a further £200m hit.

As painful as it sounds, it’s getting to point now where we are going to have to sell Kane to highest bidder to help start any form of rebuild.

Fans need to stop saying 'sell Kane to rebuild'. Its a proper loser mentality.

It just gives Levy an excuse to actually do it.

Do you really think we would spend the cash wisely? Did you see the flops Jose spent fortunes on at United?

You could give any manager 100m and theres no guarantee they will improve their team with that money.

Managers should earn there wages coaching and improving players. Look at what Wilder is achieving FFS

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

A few sensible signings would make a big difference. I don't think our players are bad, I think we seriously lack balance. We need an offensive player who can pass the ball quickly, we need a midfielder who can help out with the defense. We need a fullback who can defend and that would already make a big difference. We more options and more players that make a team play, thankfully those kind of players are not always that expensive but yeah.

I don’t think anyone is doubting the quality of our squad.

The issue with this squad is their collective mentality. Whenever things don’t go our way, they shut down. We’ve seen it on so many occasions.

Its all well and good that Poch profiled his players and wanted players who were almost “yes men” and good squad players but it’s left us with a soft core.

 

[SpursD22]

Agree with all of the above.

On the “need to get sold” list, we should probably add Sissoko, Lamela, and Dele.

We also need to start succession planning for Hugo, and sadly Gazzaniga is not the one.

We need an overhaul of the squad, Dele has looked rusty for most of the last two seasons, and Sissoko / Lamela are both upgradable, while just about still at an age where they can command a reasonable fee.

If I had control I would make a complete overhaul, tried to be as realistic as possible

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Fans need to stop saying 'sell Kane to rebuild'. Its a proper loser mentality.

It just gives Levy an excuse to actually do it.

Do you really think we would spend the cash wisely? Did you see the flops Jose spent fortunes on at United?

You could give any manager 100m and theres no guarantee they will improve their team with that money.

Managers should earn there wages coaching and improving players. Look at what Wilder is achieving FFS

Right, so what kind of mentality have we got flowing through this current squad then? Kane included? We’re hardly winners, are we?

You counter my post with a load of hyperbole and what ifs? Without offering any form of rebuttal. What would you suggest we do then?

 

[freeeki]

My good friend, have you ever heard the term ‘deadwood’? It took on new, unparalleled meanings in the summer transfer window of 2018 and is ready to be deployed at any given notice over the next few months

Exactly. We've had a backlog of ‘deadwood’ needing to be flogged before we can plug the holes in the squad for what must be approaching 7 years now.

The more you think about it, the more you can’t help but feel the chairman needs to go sooner rather than later.

 

[Dirtysanchez6]

One problem is this I’ve seen over the last few weeks people get on like lamela aurier sissoko Davies lucas are all smashing players .... they aren’t wake up and smell the coffee !!! This squad needs a massive revamp !!

 

[ILS]

Players not good enough:
Sissoko
Davies
Sanchez
Lamela

Just for my sake add Dele to your list

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Are we seriously going to start screeching that this rot started when we got rid of Poch?

Really?

Levy and Poch’s arrogance, complacency and sheer incompetence in the transfer market over multiple are where this decline began.

It accelerated in Poch’s final year (one away win in almost a year, remember that?) and no manager is going to turn it round in a short space of time, the rot has sunk so deep.

We need wholesale change, beginning at the top. And we do not need fucking Poch back, no matter how loudly the hardcore Pochettes scream and shout and wear their collective memory loss on their snot-drenched sleeves.

We don’t need ‘wholesale changes’. Or at least, if we do we are properly fucked. What we need is a coach who can get more out of our players than the last few have been able. Poch was, and Jose certainly is, a manager, but we need a coach. A couple of full backs isn’t going to make us world beaters, but the creation of a style or ethos, some tactics to work to, could.

 

[Stamford]

I cant watch another game feat Sissoko, Lucas & Dele.

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

Exactly. We've had a backlog of ‘deadwood’ needing to be flogged before we can plug the holes in the squad for what must be approaching 7 years now.

The more you think about it, the more you can’t help but feel the chairman needs to go sooner rather than later.

Levy won’t sack himself. Unless he can rehire himself on better terms

 

[ILS]

One problem is this I’ve seen over the last few weeks people get on like lamela aurier sissoko Davies lucas are all smashing players .... they aren’t wake up and smell the coffee !!! This squad needs a massive revamp !!

The loving Erik Lamela gets on this forum is one of life's great mysteries.

 

[Blackrat1299]

I could've watched the Chase on ITV+1

I think thats what the team was doing.

 

[WePlayWednesday]

Correct on the attitude issues. But I'm not even sure that a 300M spending spree is what's needed. To me, what we are lacking is an identity and philosophy that is woven into the entire club. I look at a team like Dortmund. And they have developed some outstanding players over the years. This is largely due to some amazing scouting and investing heavily in youth. Yes, they certainly have spending power now as well. But they go through phases of bringing through outstanding youth (similar to Ajax), and quite often selling them for huge sums of money, and then using that money to improve the squad in key areas.

We just don't seem to have any sort of cohesive approach to how the squad is built and managed. No overarching style of play that gets imprinted into the club at the earliest stages of player development.

I think Poch did much to paper over some cracks. But over-achieving can only last so long.

We need a long term plan that does not depend on requiring a massive windfall. And as a part of that plan, Daniel Levy needs to step aside and let someone else take the reins of the footballing side of the club. As we are going nowhere fast.

Yes, to your point about BVB Dortmund. I live there and my friends support them. We should have been selling Eriksen, Verts and Toby 3 years ago and buying a shit ton of promising youth. BVB are now flying high on that principle, having sold Aubameyang. We should do the same.

 

[C0YS]

I don’t think anyone is doubting the quality of our squad.

The issue with this squad is their collective mentality. Whenever things don’t go our way, they shut down. We’ve seen it on so many occasions.

Its all well and good that Poch profiled his players and wanted players who were almost “yes men” and good squad players but it’s left us with a soft core.

For sure there is a mentality problem and a good coach builds an identity. I don't think we shut down, we just lose focus.

We have no identity at the moment, and that is an issue. Games like these happen, the question is how often. Collective mentality is 'collective' and can be worked on. This is why I am a little upset that Jose didn't set us up in the same way as previous games, namely playing deep and compact. He did at west ham as well, and it was clear from the first minute that we were allowing them to have space. It's almost as if he felt after two solid performances he could trust us to be defensively compact and organised.

For me this is his focus till the end of the season, create a strong mentality, and that will be playing to his strengths, compact defensive organisation, regardless who we play against. Now that is the focus, forget winning games or chasing anything. Lets try and get a few clean sheets and write this off as a bad day in the office.

 

[SuperPav10]

nailed it, the tactics look like we could be playing Championship or League 1. The players are then behaving like that

Can you explain the tactics to me please?

Because I saw a well set up attacking team who failed to execute the plan.

We were wasteful and indecisive on the counter. We didn't track or close down runners for their goals. We overplayed it around the box. We wasted countless set pieces.

That's not bad tactics, that's bad players.

Stop letting them off the hook.

 

[ILS]

We don’t need ‘wholesale changes’. Or at least, if we do we are properly fucked. What we need is a coach who can get more out of our players than the last few have been able. Poch was, and Jose certainly is, a manager, but we need a coach. A couple of full backs isn’t going to make us world beaters, but the creation of a style or ethos, some tactics to work to, could.

A couple of full backs turned Man City from an average team into champions. Most underrated position on a football pitch.

 

[rossdapep]

I don’t think Wilder outclassed Mourinho. The margins were fine, particularly in the first half. Also LLoris has bailed us out a few times since the restart.

The worry is that this form has been consistent for 18 months. The personnel have been chopped and changed and nothing has improved. The simplest explanation is this is a mid table side and no individual, including the manager, can change it. This is a 5-year rebuilding job at best, probably more because the pandemic will have crippled us more than the competition.

You get what you deserve, Levy.

Look at when United were on top all those years. If they won the title they'd bring in 1-2 top players to keep it fresh. If they lost the title they'd bring in 3-4 and ditch under performers. Fergie stopped doing this in his last two years and only opted for Van Persie to help win one last title.

Moyes felt the brunt of a regressed squad and he only added one player ( a poor one at that). This led to United falling away rapidly and have been fighting to get back for 7 years now.

We didn't heed the warning. When we lost to Chelsea the club should have invested heavily and taken the risk. If we were going to overpay for players that was the moment.

Ricardo Perreira - Porto want 30m? Okay we'll pay it cause it's worth the risk.

Zaha - 50m? Okay, we'll get it done cause it's the one Poch wants.

Fergie and United always brought in new players well before existing ones regressed. Van Nistelrooy for example, a guy who'd guarantee 20 goals a season but Fergie saw how Ronaldo was developing and decided to exchange him for another midfielder (Carrick). Keane left before he'd fully regressed too.

Us on the other hand, because of the way we operate, decide to milk the player for every ounce of their worth (Kane, Toby, Lamela, Eriksen) until they either regress or lose motivation. I'm not saying we should have moved them all on but Eriksen wanting to leave should have been addressed. If that was Fergie's United they would have sold him and brought in Grealish and another attacking mid.