Associate
- Joined
- 19 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 1,917
- Location
- Manchester
5 years. Loool. 5 months Levy means.
Manager Merry Go Round 2014
- Thread starter G|mp
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 8 Dec 2002
- Posts
- 20,788
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Hopefully we give this guy a chance, didn't Southampton sort of get found out towards the
end of the season?
end of the season?
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 1,917
- Location
- Manchester
5 years to get Lamela firing and other Spanish/S American players.
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 12,050
- Location
- Manchester
I felt the same when your lot signed Rodgers, it sounded like trouble and so far that's what he's proved to be.
It's difficult to know what to think about Pochettino at Spurs.
I like him and he's undoubtedly done a very good job at Southampton but it's maybe not quite as good as you think at first glance. I've not checked the figures but I'd be surprised if Southampton have spent less than many if any of the sides that finished below them. Getting to 8th with a half decent budget isn't that difficult. Getting Spurs into the top 4, which I assume will be the target, when there'll be 5 sides with bigger budgets than them will be much harder.
Similar to Rodgers when he got the Liverpool job it is easy to see how a manager like Pochettino can fit in at a bigger club though. He plays a high tempo, pressing game that better players should excel at.
The biggest problem I see with him is that on paper his appointment looks very similar to AVB's.
I like him and he's undoubtedly done a very good job at Southampton but it's maybe not quite as good as you think at first glance. I've not checked the figures but I'd be surprised if Southampton have spent less than many if any of the sides that finished below them. Getting to 8th with a half decent budget isn't that difficult. Getting Spurs into the top 4, which I assume will be the target, when there'll be 5 sides with bigger budgets than them will be much harder.
Similar to Rodgers when he got the Liverpool job it is easy to see how a manager like Pochettino can fit in at a bigger club though. He plays a high tempo, pressing game that better players should excel at.
The biggest problem I see with him is that on paper his appointment looks very similar to AVB's.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Oct 2010
- Posts
- 3,053
- Location
- ireland
Don't understand why they gave him the job in the first place if they had intentions of giving it to Inzaghi only 6 months later.
While I would agree with that, to be fair looking at spending over a short period doesn't tell the whole story as it depends on what squad you started with. In other words a club who only got promoted the year before (and have neither been in the top flight recently, nor gone on a mad sugar-daddy fuelled spending spree to get them there) are likely to / should have a weaker squad to start with than established Premiership sides who have had a few years to develop their squads e.g. Newcastle, Villa, Stoke, Fulham, WBA etc. If Burnley go out and spend more than Man City over the summer, I still wouldn't expect them to finish above them even with a 'bigger budget' (extreme example that doesn't take wages into consideration, but you know what I'm getting at).
I also think that 8th place is realistically the best these sort of sides can hope for given that before a ball was kicked this season the top 7 was easy to predict with confidence. Yes, Spurs is a big step up in terms of expectations but in the short timeframe he had to work in at Saints he was never going to overhaul the big boys. It will be this job that proves whether he has what it takes or not.
edit: Speaking of expectations, Spurs have a bit of a problem in that there are more (7) genuine contenders for top 4 finishes now compared to say the Jol era of 7-8 years ago. Yes, Arsenal and MU are arguably weaker but there is now MC to contend with and Everton have emerged as a genuine threat.
Last edited:
Which is exactly where comments like Lallana's below stem from:
"How far we've come in a short space of time is beyond anyone's belief. We've won our league, in our eyes, with where we've finished"
The players themselves essentially consider that they've won the 'second tier' league by finishing 8th.
Could we have gone further? Doubtful and is probably why Pochettino is keen to leave - if he had finished 10th, fans would have been happy and he could still have improved on it but realistically, where was he going to take the club from 8th? Nowhere really, the only way is in all likelihood back down and especially so if the club are willing to sell the players that got us to 8th in the first place. You could shout cup run all you want but that can be a complete lottery at the best of times and isn't worth hanging your rep on.
I wouldn't say it was simply their spending over the time they've been in the PL but, and again I've not checked, I'd have thought the total cost of their squad would be more than the majority of sides they've finished above.
And I agree that 8th probably was the best they could hope for without either even larger scale investment or much more time.
I don't want to take anything away from what he done at Southampton because I think he's done very well however getting to 8th with Southampton was much more attainable than getting 4th with Spurs. Even if there are 3 or 4 clubs (that finished below Southampton) that have spent more than Southampton, been in the PL for longer etc, there wasn't a huge gulf in terms of investment between them. There's 5 clubs that have bigger budgets than Spurs varying from quite a lot more to **** loads more, and Spurs need to finish above 2 of them + Everton.
Probably correct, although I just checked and their squad for this season cost just under £73m, and that includes £15m on Osvaldo who was loaned out for half the season (given he was a MP buy, it seems fair to include it). That's less than the likes of Newcastle, Villa, and Sunderland (I was a little surprised however to see Stoke squad cost marginally less than Saints!)
I'm so bored of reading how Spurs need to give managers time. Each of our previous managers had a major failing that meant they were not viable in the long term. It didn't take 5 years to work this out in each case. The same applies here. Pochettino will either do well or poorly but it won't take 5 years to see that.
The three key points for me are
1) can he get the best out of the players in the squad already (a lot of players in the spurs squad have impressive careers and underperformed at spurs)
2) can he develop a team style and identity
3) does he have the tactical awareness and coaching ability to adapt that style to deal with better teams
The three key points for me are
1) can he get the best out of the players in the squad already (a lot of players in the spurs squad have impressive careers and underperformed at spurs)
2) can he develop a team style and identity
3) does he have the tactical awareness and coaching ability to adapt that style to deal with better teams
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Well caretaker manager to tide things over, I understand that and not being able to find a manager considered to be genuinely top class to take over. But when that guy does a fantastic job the only way I'd consider replacing him is if you manage to get one of those genuinely world class guys. But Inzaghi is now the untested massive gamble to Seedorf's actual 6 months of very good results.
If they intended to install Inzaghi 6 months later, why not just start with him, and why give Seedorf a longer contract. It's mental and a cynical/realistic part of me honestly says that Berlusconi is a bit racist and would prefer a white guy in charge. He may well have given Seedorf a shot just to see him fail so he could put Inzaghi in who would hopefully look better in comparison.
If you're referring to things like this:
Then I think the point is not that Spurs need to blindly give a manager time, but more that those in charge (Levy) need to start getting it right and picking a manager who's capable of delivering the things you describe.
Spurs don't have a good enough squad to be competing for top 4 unless their competition has a really poor season and they have a great one. The money from Bale was almost completely wasted and there are only a few players in that spurs team that are genuinely good players. Will Poch be given £50-100m to strengthen and offload the deadwood? I doubt it.
