Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [14th - 19th September 2018]

[Admiral Huddy]

I'm starting to believe that Mauricio Pochettino doesn't have the experience to have taken Spurs to the next level like Klopp has done for Liverpool. The team Saturday looked out of ideas, out of touch and lacked any kind of leadership. There's no doubt he has superb Charisma and is very well liked but I think he's run into a wall. I'm very confused after bringing no one into the club in the summer transfer window that he still doesn't know what his best 11 is. He still seems to be experimenting. I appreciate there always injuries to deal with, but in my opinion, always select your best players and only change things when they absolute necessary. The player rotation isn't working and there's no consistency. Whilst they weren't completely outplayed on Saturday, they are starting to lack a bit of confidence and Liverpool proved just how ,much they have moved on from a year since beating them 4-1.. They were awful that day. I'm scratching my head as to why Rose is playing over Davies is a casing example.

 

[fez]

I'm starting to believe that Mauricio Pochettino doesn't have the experience to have taken Spurs to the next level like Klopp has done for Liverpool. The team Saturday looked out of ideas, out of touch and lacked any kind of leadership. There's no doubt he has superb Charisma and is very well liked but I think he's run into a wall. I'm very confused after bringing no one into the club in the summer transfer window that he still doesn't know what his best 11 is. He still seems to be experimenting. I appreciate there always injuries to deal with, but in my opinion, always select your best players and only change things when they absolute necessary. The player rotation isn't working and there's no consistency. Whilst they weren't completely outplayed on Saturday, they are starting to lack a bit of confidence and Liverpool proved just how ,much they have moved on from a year since beating them 4-1.. They were awful that day. I'm scratching my head as to why Rose is playing over Davies is a casing example.

Liverpool have massively massively outspend Spurs over the past few seasons. I wouldn't read too much into a single game either.

 

[MikeTheNative]

I don't think anyone will be able to take Spurs to the next level unless they are willing to match the top clubs in wages or transfers.

 

[fez]

Over the past 5 seasons Spurs have a net spend of £3.5m/year and Liverpool £35m/year. If you consider the fees they have got for Suarez and Coutinho as well then you get an idea of how much more Liverpool have spent. Before all the Liverpool fans jump in, yes I know that when you lose a star player you usually spend to replace them.

Liverpool have spent smart but they have spent at lot and Tottenham have spent almost nothing.

 

[BaZ87]

I'm starting to believe that Mauricio Pochettino doesn't have the experience to have taken Spurs to the next level like Klopp has done for Liverpool. The team Saturday looked out of ideas, out of touch and lacked any kind of leadership. There's no doubt he has superb Charisma and is very well liked but I think he's run into a wall. I'm very confused after bringing no one into the club in the summer transfer window that he still doesn't know what his best 11 is. He still seems to be experimenting. I appreciate there always injuries to deal with, but in my opinion, always select your best players and only change things when they absolute necessary. The player rotation isn't working and there's no consistency. Whilst they weren't completely outplayed on Saturday, they are starting to lack a bit of confidence and Liverpool proved just how ,much they have moved on from a year since beating them 4-1.. They were awful that day. I'm scratching my head as to why Rose is playing over Davies is a casing example.

The problems faced of overachieving. I wrote something a year or so ago regarding Spurs and the difficulties they faced to continue progressing. You're competing against 5 sides that are massively outspending you both in terms of transfer fees and wages. As of the 16/17 season Spurs wage bill was £127m, the lowest wage bill of the other 5? Arsenal with £200m, going all the way up to Utd who spent over £260m, more than double Spurs. Throw in the cost of building the new stadium and the difficulties of not having a home stadium for the past 14 months easy to see why Spurs have stalled slightly.

Poch and Spurs as a club have done incredibly well over the past few years. They've been able to compete as a result of being clever in the transfer market, buying underpriced players that other sides haven't fancied and getting decent fees for players that haven't been missed and most importantly of all, Pochettino's development of players. This is incredibly hard to sustain though, especially as you go up the table - it's much harder to replace Alderweireld than it was Wimmer for example and it's much easier to develop players into players capable of challenging for the top 4 than it is to develop them into players that can go on to challenge for the title in what might well be the hardest era in PL history to do so. You mention the job Klopp's doing and he has undoubtedly done a great job but he and Liverpool are doing everything Spurs are doing but with greater resources available to them. It's the same with Pep and City - they're doing the same things again with even more money.

Spurs are probably in the middle of a 5 year period where treading water is progress. It's going to take another few years before Spurs start to see the financial benefits of moving to their new ground and if they can couple that with still being able to finish in the top 4 spots and the revenue that brings, plus continuing to grow their commercial revenue they then might reach a point where they can begin to compete financially. Until then it's very hard to see how Spurs can do better than they are when there's at least 2 sides, with excellent managers, doing everything Spurs are doing only with greater resources. It's like asking a top F1 driver to compete against other top drivers but with an inferior car.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

100% right there Baz.. I can't argue against any of those comments.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Liverpool have massively massively outspend Spurs over the past few seasons. I wouldn't read too much into a single game either.

Again I couldn't agree more. but I do read into it when I see the performances towards the tail end and the beginning of this.. We might have pulled in some results.. that sometimes is all you need.. but there have been signs and personally, I don't like seeing an inconsistent selections because we do have some great players and they need to play.

 

[da_mic_1530]

Can't wait for Newcastle to play someone other than the top 6 so we can start our season! (I know we've played Cardiff.....) but we have had a tough run

Can't get worried until we've lost to a few more mid table sides, that said, its likely given the motivation and quality in the team at the moment

 

[fez]

As Baz says, Tottenham are doing pretty well to maintain their progress realistically. They have managed to unearth some gems for peanuts like Dele, Kane, Son, Eriksen, Rose, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Lloris. They have then managed to keep all of their players apart from Walker. Moura for £25m was a great bit of business if a bit risky.

Along with that they play good football. It would be easy to be an Everton who float around the edges of the top 4 playing dull football that gets results but Poch has them playing nice football.

I thought Tottenham were doing pretty well out of the stadium deal though. Isn't their agreement basically daylight robbery of the government for use of Wembley.

 

[BaZ87]

No idea of the terms of their Wembley deal but the cost of building their new ground has gone through the roof. Early estimates were £400-500m but talk is now of anywhere between £800m and £1bn and this is why they've had no money to spend the past couple of seasons - all the cash the football side of the business has made has gone towards the stadium and they're still going to have loans well in excess of £400m at the end of this.

 

[McBain]

Cracking goal in the Saints Vs Brighton game.

 

[Sui]

That was some hit

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Keeper should have had that or at least got closer to it.

 

[Kenai]

****** away another good result with some sloppy play conceding 2 goals that we really ought not to be conceding. This is last season all over again, can't see a game out.

 

[McBain]

Poor from Southampton, to go 2 up with 25 minutes to play and end up drawing is dire.