The farcical press sharpen their knives again
The newspapers love a bit of sensationalism, we had the nonsense in the Mirror recently lapped up by websites. According to the press Franco Baldini's position s under scrutiny whatever he does, they could at least be consistent.
Tottenham technical director Franco Baldini's position in doubt after Spurs fail to land new striker the daily newspaper claimed, above a picture of him and Andre Villas-Boas for some reason.
The papaer went on to claim Tottenham's technical director is under increasing scrutiny for not landing a striker, which is complete nonsense. Buy 7 new players and his position was supposedly under scrutiny, don't buy a striker and his position is supposedly under scrutiny again. What they actually mean is the media don't like him and in the media he is under scrutiny, he isn't and hasn't been at Tottenham.
According to the fans not buying a striker is Daniel Levy's fault, if it can even be classed as a fault. To bring a new striker in means a non-home grown player must move out, which one should that be and who should buy them?
Danny Welbeck was never an option, he wanted a permanent move, we wanted a loan, which suggests we don't think he is the long term solution. Tottenham tried to buy Jay Rodriguez, even though he is injured and are expected to return for him in January to add to the options behind a striker. In Pochettino's system the four are more important than the one.
Our game is now based around one striker, not two, we haven't had four strikers for years. Mauricio Pochettin decides who he wants and who he doesn't want, he helps decide player values, both to sell and to buy, he isn't expecting us to pay over the odds for players, and we shouldn't.
There has been absolutely no indication whatsoever that Pochettino is unhappy with the summer business, given that we have bought 6 players he will have agreed and moved some out that he didn't want. Had we bought more the paper would no doubt have angled the story to say we were making the same mistakes as last year and that buying 7 new players puts his position under scrutiny.
The paper, like some fans, seem to think a team should buy for buyings sake, that every problem, if it is a problem, should have an immediate answer, rather than a strategy to improve a squad over a period of time. When there are a series of problems to address you have to prioritise and sometimes take your medicine until you can address the other issues. Defence is well know to have ben Pochettino's number one priority with left-back and centre-back issues to address.
Roberto Soldado is a goalscorer, he may not be doing it but he is a goalscorer. He hasn't suddenly become a bad player and would no doubt bang in goals if he returned to Spain or went to Italy. Nobody will pay his transfer fee as his value has shot down, it needs to be rebuilt. This season is a new season and Mauricio Pochettino has hardly had the chance to work with him yet or Emmanuel Adebayor, yet some fans set in their views don't want to give Pochettino a chance to see what he can do.
How can a club have the fabled stability if it is constantly changing players, come in, have a season. leave, new player in, have a season, leave. Where do you stop? Mauricio Pochettino has been tasked with, and accepted, improving what we have, how can he do that if we are selling the very players he is supposed to be improving?
Loic Remy clearly stated he wanted a club with Champions League football, which he got and Swansea wanted a figure nobody was prepared to pay for Wilfried Bony. What were his wages, realistic or unrealistic and was he actually looking for Champions League football as well? He is available therefore he should have been bought, why? Is he the right choice, are his wage demands what we consider him to be worth, do we have another target who isn't yet available, does he actually want to come to Tottenham?
Here in the real world it's a bit different than a player wants to move therefore we should have bought him.
Recent Articles:
Tottenham News Shorts - Issue 60
Spurs keeper Archer stars in final game for Scotland U21's
Pochettino assures Archer he has a future at Spurs
Feeling no pressure will help Pochettino
Rose responds to Ben Davies challenge
Eriksen happy to switch roles
Vertonghen and Fazio
The Mirror go on to comically suggest Pochettino was said to be concerned Franco Baldini was lining up moves for Chadli, Lennon and Townsend, yet Pochettino himself admits he talks to Baldini and Levy every day. To think there isn't agreement between the three or that Baldini ignores what they all decide and does his own thing is plain daft. Baldini is not some loose cannon with no idea what the club or head coach wants.
If another club wants one of our players before they will even entertain bids for one of their own and leak that information, is that also Baldini's fault? To suggest Baldini is trying to sell players Pochettino doesn't want him to sell is absurd. Tottenham is a business, a big business, not some mickey mouse company where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
There has been one transfer window for Pochettino to reshape the squad how he would like it. His priority, which we knew from the very first meeting with Daniel Levy and Franco Baldini was to sort out the defence, if other areas could be improved, excellent, if not, then they could be tackled in future windows.
You try to solve things, if you can't, you wait to try again when they then have a greater priority. Next summer Tottenham are in a good position. With non-home grown players coming off the books we can buy early so addressing a perceived attacking problem may be better tackled then anyway. When you have to sell to buy it lengthens dealings, when you don't have to sell to buy obviously it's easier.
Friedel, Assou-Ekotto and Kaboul coming off the payroll will free up around £150,000 a week wages. We already have a reserve goalkeeper, two left-backs and will still have four centre-backs without buying anyone. Money free to spend on a strikers wages perhaps, money we don't have now.
Priorities have not changed from that first Baldini, Pochettino, Levy meeting. The defence has started to have an overhaul, which I doubt has finished. The other problem area Pochettino wanted addressed was defensive midfield, where he feels we need to be moving the ball forward quicker to set up attacks. Our midfield is all about short little passes or dribbles that don't actually get us anywhere, or do so too slowly. Quicker incisive passes need to be played, but they can only be played if they are seen.
Your defensive midfielders therefore need to have vision as well as a defensive ability. Morgan Schneiderlin is a former creative midfielder who has dropped back to the defensive role, Benjamin Stambouli has the same creative instinct. The defensive midfielders we have are not creative enough, although Bentaleb has so far played 2 goal creating passes both of which were not taken.
The Mirror go on to contradict themselves when talking about Aaron Lennon turning down 3 clubs to stay at White Hart Lane, yet Baldini is under increased scrutiny for trying to sell him against Pochettino's wishes, even though it seems Pochettino is happy to let him go. They really ought to make their minds up.
Townsend was unable to complete a move to Southampton they say, yet it was Southampton saying they wanted him and bidding for him, did Tottenham not turn down these bids just as the paper is implying Pochettino would have wanted?
They claim Pochettino wants Lennon, Chadli and Townsend to stay but then say Lennon and Townsend are expected to leave in January. Consistency doesn't seem to be the Mirror's strong suit in the aricle.
Pochettino took the job on the basis that Spurs would not be spending vast amounts the paper tells us, but the article is a complaint about a lack of expenditure. The new boss insisted he wanted a striker, no he didn't, he has never insisted that once anywhere in the media. He wanted to solve the defence first and has started to do so. The striking area is simply another area that needs to be addressed, as a lesser priority.
The Danny Welbeck deal fell through so there was no Plan B they say, yet Welbeck was never Plan A in the first place. He was simply a stop gap loan move until the right targets become available and a deal reached that satisfies the criteria of all parties.
It was amusing when scrolling to the bottom of the article to see another one saying Pochettino doesn't want Aaron Lennon, which would justify Franco Baldini for trying to sell him, something he apparently is under scrutiny for!
Tottenham technical director Franco Baldini's position in doubt after Spurs fail to land new striker the daily newspaper claimed, above a picture of him and Andre Villas-Boas for some reason.
The papaer went on to claim Tottenham's technical director is under increasing scrutiny for not landing a striker, which is complete nonsense. Buy 7 new players and his position was supposedly under scrutiny, don't buy a striker and his position is supposedly under scrutiny again. What they actually mean is the media don't like him and in the media he is under scrutiny, he isn't and hasn't been at Tottenham.
According to the fans not buying a striker is Daniel Levy's fault, if it can even be classed as a fault. To bring a new striker in means a non-home grown player must move out, which one should that be and who should buy them?
Danny Welbeck was never an option, he wanted a permanent move, we wanted a loan, which suggests we don't think he is the long term solution. Tottenham tried to buy Jay Rodriguez, even though he is injured and are expected to return for him in January to add to the options behind a striker. In Pochettino's system the four are more important than the one.
Our game is now based around one striker, not two, we haven't had four strikers for years. Mauricio Pochettin decides who he wants and who he doesn't want, he helps decide player values, both to sell and to buy, he isn't expecting us to pay over the odds for players, and we shouldn't.
There has been absolutely no indication whatsoever that Pochettino is unhappy with the summer business, given that we have bought 6 players he will have agreed and moved some out that he didn't want. Had we bought more the paper would no doubt have angled the story to say we were making the same mistakes as last year and that buying 7 new players puts his position under scrutiny.
The paper, like some fans, seem to think a team should buy for buyings sake, that every problem, if it is a problem, should have an immediate answer, rather than a strategy to improve a squad over a period of time. When there are a series of problems to address you have to prioritise and sometimes take your medicine until you can address the other issues. Defence is well know to have ben Pochettino's number one priority with left-back and centre-back issues to address.
Roberto Soldado is a goalscorer, he may not be doing it but he is a goalscorer. He hasn't suddenly become a bad player and would no doubt bang in goals if he returned to Spain or went to Italy. Nobody will pay his transfer fee as his value has shot down, it needs to be rebuilt. This season is a new season and Mauricio Pochettino has hardly had the chance to work with him yet or Emmanuel Adebayor, yet some fans set in their views don't want to give Pochettino a chance to see what he can do.
How can a club have the fabled stability if it is constantly changing players, come in, have a season. leave, new player in, have a season, leave. Where do you stop? Mauricio Pochettino has been tasked with, and accepted, improving what we have, how can he do that if we are selling the very players he is supposed to be improving?
Loic Remy clearly stated he wanted a club with Champions League football, which he got and Swansea wanted a figure nobody was prepared to pay for Wilfried Bony. What were his wages, realistic or unrealistic and was he actually looking for Champions League football as well? He is available therefore he should have been bought, why? Is he the right choice, are his wage demands what we consider him to be worth, do we have another target who isn't yet available, does he actually want to come to Tottenham?
Here in the real world it's a bit different than a player wants to move therefore we should have bought him.
Recent Articles:
Tottenham News Shorts - Issue 60
Spurs keeper Archer stars in final game for Scotland U21's
Pochettino assures Archer he has a future at Spurs
Feeling no pressure will help Pochettino
Rose responds to Ben Davies challenge
Eriksen happy to switch roles
Vertonghen and Fazio
The Mirror go on to comically suggest Pochettino was said to be concerned Franco Baldini was lining up moves for Chadli, Lennon and Townsend, yet Pochettino himself admits he talks to Baldini and Levy every day. To think there isn't agreement between the three or that Baldini ignores what they all decide and does his own thing is plain daft. Baldini is not some loose cannon with no idea what the club or head coach wants.
If another club wants one of our players before they will even entertain bids for one of their own and leak that information, is that also Baldini's fault? To suggest Baldini is trying to sell players Pochettino doesn't want him to sell is absurd. Tottenham is a business, a big business, not some mickey mouse company where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
There has been one transfer window for Pochettino to reshape the squad how he would like it. His priority, which we knew from the very first meeting with Daniel Levy and Franco Baldini was to sort out the defence, if other areas could be improved, excellent, if not, then they could be tackled in future windows.
You try to solve things, if you can't, you wait to try again when they then have a greater priority. Next summer Tottenham are in a good position. With non-home grown players coming off the books we can buy early so addressing a perceived attacking problem may be better tackled then anyway. When you have to sell to buy it lengthens dealings, when you don't have to sell to buy obviously it's easier.
Friedel, Assou-Ekotto and Kaboul coming off the payroll will free up around £150,000 a week wages. We already have a reserve goalkeeper, two left-backs and will still have four centre-backs without buying anyone. Money free to spend on a strikers wages perhaps, money we don't have now.
Priorities have not changed from that first Baldini, Pochettino, Levy meeting. The defence has started to have an overhaul, which I doubt has finished. The other problem area Pochettino wanted addressed was defensive midfield, where he feels we need to be moving the ball forward quicker to set up attacks. Our midfield is all about short little passes or dribbles that don't actually get us anywhere, or do so too slowly. Quicker incisive passes need to be played, but they can only be played if they are seen.
Your defensive midfielders therefore need to have vision as well as a defensive ability. Morgan Schneiderlin is a former creative midfielder who has dropped back to the defensive role, Benjamin Stambouli has the same creative instinct. The defensive midfielders we have are not creative enough, although Bentaleb has so far played 2 goal creating passes both of which were not taken.
The Mirror go on to contradict themselves when talking about Aaron Lennon turning down 3 clubs to stay at White Hart Lane, yet Baldini is under increased scrutiny for trying to sell him against Pochettino's wishes, even though it seems Pochettino is happy to let him go. They really ought to make their minds up.
Townsend was unable to complete a move to Southampton they say, yet it was Southampton saying they wanted him and bidding for him, did Tottenham not turn down these bids just as the paper is implying Pochettino would have wanted?
They claim Pochettino wants Lennon, Chadli and Townsend to stay but then say Lennon and Townsend are expected to leave in January. Consistency doesn't seem to be the Mirror's strong suit in the aricle.
Pochettino took the job on the basis that Spurs would not be spending vast amounts the paper tells us, but the article is a complaint about a lack of expenditure. The new boss insisted he wanted a striker, no he didn't, he has never insisted that once anywhere in the media. He wanted to solve the defence first and has started to do so. The striking area is simply another area that needs to be addressed, as a lesser priority.
The Danny Welbeck deal fell through so there was no Plan B they say, yet Welbeck was never Plan A in the first place. He was simply a stop gap loan move until the right targets become available and a deal reached that satisfies the criteria of all parties.
It was amusing when scrolling to the bottom of the article to see another one saying Pochettino doesn't want Aaron Lennon, which would justify Franco Baldini for trying to sell him, something he apparently is under scrutiny for!
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