The realism of a full rebuild

[Tarricko]

Thanks for this post @Trix, it's a good tonic after yesterdays result. Football is a passionate game and people were quite rightly angry after a really poor performance.

Those of you that keep shouting about top 4, and missed opportunities really need to understand that was never the main aim.

What bothers me is, if this is true, that we have pretty much written off this season, when it appears to many fans that we still have lots to play for.

It's reassuring the club has a plan for next season however.

As for Royal. No it wasn't entirely his fault yesterday. I didn't see anyone on here lay the blame entirely at his feet, but I've been banging this drum since early Nuno days that this kid is not and never will be good enough. I don't blame him - I'm annoyed at the processes which allowed him to be signed at such expense. It truly baffles me.

It's going to hurt to see another club take top 4 this season when it is in our grasp, and that it will give that club (whoever it is) the impetus to further widen the gap between us and them. In this respect I hope it is Utd as they already have the finances regardless of CL football, so it won't make much a difference. Arsenal or West Ham though will negatively impact us next season.

 

[Trix]

Agree with everything in Trix's OP.

Only thing I wonder, is whether our targets are happy to come full stop or is it contingent on CL football...or maybe its not even clear.

I know we're a big draw with Conte and new facilities/London...

Just fear if we miss out we'll be shopping at a different 'shop' so to speak.

From what I understand at least 3 of them are free agents/short contracts. You like to think we'd be aware of their position.

 

[Tarricko]

Name me a single successful club that hasn't made a whole load of duff signings. We're no different but many seem to expect us to hit the bullseye every time. It doesn't work like that I'm afraid.

Not one single person on here would expect us to "hit the bullseye every time". You've just made that up to make a point. Other teams, especially big teams, consistently improve their starting 11. We do not. We take punts that appear to be based solely on resale value or some other metric I don't understand. We have a long history of selling good players and replacing them with inferior players.

 

[Trix]

Thanks for this post @Trix, it's a good tonic after yesterdays result. Football is a passionate game and people were quite rightly angry after a really poor performance.



What bothers me is, if this is true, that we have pretty much written off this season, when it appears to many fans that we still have lots to play for.

It's reassuring the club has a plan for next season however.

As for Royal. No it wasn't entirely his fault yesterday. I didn't see anyone on here lay the blame entirely at his feet, but I've been banging this drum since early Nuno days that this kid is not and never will be good enough. I don't blame him - I'm annoyed at the processes which allowed him to be signed at such expense. It truly baffles me.

It's going to hurt to see another club take top 4 this season when it is in our grasp, and that it will give that club (whoever it is) the impetus to further widen the gap between us and them. In this respect I hope it is Utd as they already have the finances regardless of CL football, so it won't make much a difference. Arsenal or West Ham though will negatively impact us next season.

Nobody is saying we've written off this season, that's just your, quite frankly, shit interpretation.

 

[Tarricko]

Nobody is saying we've written off this season, that's just your, quite frankly, shit interpretation.

lol fair. It's a gamble at best then. Let's hope it really pays off. It'll be a blockbuster summer I guess.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

After a few months and a recent break for extended training I'd like to see the players looking more comfortable with Conte's system. From what I understand it's a lot about stressing positioning and timing of runs and that seemed to be a problem without the ball still. We have been pretty good at home and last night felt like a regression. Some of our forward play was really great however.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

Nobody is saying we've written off this season, that's just your, quite frankly, shit interpretation.

There are more respectful ways to have said that. Unnecessary.

 

[Trix]

lol fair. It's a gamble at best then. Let's hope it really pays off. It'll be a blockbuster summer I guess.

Of course, but a gamble on the longer term strategy over short term fixes that may need to be upgraded again in 6 months time.

 

[kent brockman]

Whereas last night certainly was disappointing, I am still very optimistic as long as we have Conte as our manager. I am amazed that we managed to convince him to come here.

 

[Tarricko]

There are more respectful ways to have said that. Unnecessary.

It's all good. Getting offended by randoms on the internet was for my early 20s. Trix is lovely IRL I'm sure.

 

[roy@SC]

Great Post trix. They won't, but I really think the board should drop match ticket prices for the rest of the season. Do some sort of deal for season ticket holders aswell (maybe free FA cup tix) the fans have lost faith in the board and I believe this is adding to the unrest. We all know there are 4 or 5 player's in the current team that are nowhere near good enough, they are the same culprits most weeks. I think the club would benefit now from dropping what are ridiculously high ticket prices for a few months to see if that brings new fans into the ground / takes some heat off the people who go most weeks and spend a fortune to see a team that is clearly not good enough despite having a fantastic manager.

 

[spursfan77]

I like a moan as much as the next man but there’s people on here and people at the ground who must have watched hundreds of spurs games yet just don’t get it.

I’ve moaned about the atmosphere and my own personal situation at games in the match thread since last night and to tell you the truth I’m completely fed up. I want to start bringing my kids to games but I’m really having to evaluate that and it’s really sad. I think that’s what’s pissing me off the most.

Since covid all started I’ve tried my best to be positive and enjoy life. Going to games (regardless of the result) is meant to be fun and an enjoyable experience. Coming on SC the same, which if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t do. I get that people need to vent but not the same thing all the time. There’s no patience. If you don’t like it just stay at home or turn off your device. Not everything in a persons head needs to be heard.

 

[G Ron]

Name me a single successful club that hasn't made a whole load of duff signings. We're no different but many seem to expect us to hit the bullseye every time. It doesn't work like that I'm afraid.

I get that there’s no silver bullet when it comes to signings, but I reckon our hit rate is less than 20%. It should be at least 50% (and even that would be poor).

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Agree with everything in Trix's OP.

Only thing I wonder, is whether our targets are happy to come full stop or is it contingent on CL football...or maybe its not even clear.

I know we're a big draw with Conte and new facilities/London...

Just fear if we miss out we'll be shopping at a different 'shop' so to speak.

You would assume that Kessie, Bale, Dybala, De Vrij and possibly Brozovic would all be on the shortlist purely because we have been linked to them by ITK (bar Brozovic but Conte is a huge fan so wouldn't surprise me) in the past, all would be an big upgrade (bar Bale due to age and injuries) and all are out of contract or only have a short time left. Question is how many would come to us if we didn't get CL, Kessie has already been linked to PSG and Barca and Dybala to Inter so it remains to be seen if we would even have a shot at them, or the rest, without the CL

 

[mil1lion]

Its funny because a lot of people were saying about this season being a write off a few months ago. Yet because 4th is possible it's hard not to get expectations up. I really want 4th now which was not even a thought before Conte arrived. What's interesting with Conte is that he usually arrives in a summer and has taken teams from poor league finishes to title winners. I do feel like this season for him is just an extended pre season where we might finish in a relatively poor position. Then next season will be like his usual first season where he has the summer to build a new squad and challenge seriously.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

Great Post trix. They won't, but I really think the board should drop match ticket prices for the rest of the season. Do some sort of deal for season ticket holders aswell (maybe free FA cup tix) the fans have lost faith in the board and I believe this is adding to the unrest. We all know there are 4 or 5 player's in the current team that are nowhere near good enough, they are the same culprits most weeks. I think the club would benefit now from dropping what are ridiculously high ticket prices for a few months to see if that brings new fans into the ground / takes some heat off the people who go most weeks and spend a fortune to see a team that is clearly not good enough despite having a fantastic manager.

Maybe Conte thinks CL would be a distraction next season and better off out of it. Wasn't that how he won the league with Chelsea?

 

[spursfan77]

Maybe Conte thinks CL would be a distraction next season and better off out of it. Wasn't that how he won the league with Chelsea?

That’s not conte at all. He will want to finish as high up the table as possible.

 

[razzmaster]

I like a moan as much as the next man but there’s people on here and people at the ground who must have watched hundreds of spurs games yet just don’t get it.

I’ve moaned about the atmosphere and my own personal situation at games in the match thread since last night and to tell you the truth I’m completely fed up. I want to start bringing my kids to games but I’m really having to evaluate that and it’s really sad. I think that’s what’s pissing me off the most.

Since covid all started I’ve tried my best to be positive and enjoy life. Going to games (regardless of the result) is meant to be fun and an enjoyable experience. Coming on SC the same, which if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t do. I get that people need to vent but not the same thing all the time. There’s no patience. If you don’t like it just stay at home or turn off your device. Not everything in a persons head needs to be heard.

There were 2 occasions last night that summed up how bad some fans are. First one was when Reggie was substituted and as he applauded fans in the South Stand while he walked off the pitch, there was one fan shouting abuse at him and saying he should have blocked the crosses for their goals.

The second was a guy behind me wanting Emerson to break both his legs so he never has to watch him play for Spurs again.

The sad thing is that you get these fans all round the ground and they tend to be the ones you hear loudest.

Same applies for the match day thread on here too.

 

[Stuart Leathercock]

Trix, do you think we are going to be able to do all the business required to be competitive next season, as Conte mentions not competitive for top 4 but for the title, we are miles off city pool and chelsea, squad wise we need about 10 players to cope with a season in whichever european comp we are in and a league title push cause the majoirty of the current team couldn't cope with the ECL and league now. Soo many upgrades needed

I don't think it is as many as 10 players. To compete right at the top end of the league I think we would need:

2 x Central defenders
1 x Central midfielder
1 x right wing back
1 x striker option
(and perhaps) a creative midfield option for certain games/situations.

The first four of those are players going into the first team, whereas the other two are for the bench/certain games.

We probably also need a good backup keeper who can take over from Lloris as first choice in 12 to 18 months time If we want to be competitive in the Cups as well as the league and we're looking at long term squad building.

I really, really hope that the midfield player the club are trying to get is Brozovic. He would be the perfect player alongside Bentacur and give us the workrate and tenacity that Conte wants from a player in his midfield pair but also a huge increase in the team's ability to play through the press. I'd be happy for us to overpay for him in terms of wages as I think his value to us would be very high indeed.

I suspect the RWB that the club want is Djed Spence from Middlesboro. Only has a year left on his contract this summer and Middlesboro won't miss him anyway seeing as he has been out on loan to Forest this season and they have a really good prospect themselves in Isiah Jones (who I would also be happy for us to go and sign). Fact that Spence had already played for Boro and Forest this season means he couldn't have played for us, hence the 'not available until the summer' comment.

 

[Duke of Northumberland]

That’s not conte at all. He will want to finish as high up the table as possible.

I would think the same. The suggestion in this thread is that it might be to the detriment of next year if we aim for top 4 this year.