Buying early but fans still living in the past
There were some interesting questions in the recent Facebook Q&A session with Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy from Australia.
Some suggested their may be a lack of understanding among our own fans but a Facebook question can't ask or explain everything, thus is open to interpretation. Some suggest Levy wasn't answering at all, others simply dismiss the answers as they didn't support their set in stone opinions.
The following question was one that set me thinking about old and new, are some fans still stuck in the past? When was the last time two wingers crossing a ball to a striker was successful?
The traditional English game of having two wingers who cross for a powerful centre forward is no more, the English game has moved on from that with the influx of foreign players and coaches. The question asks us to totally change our style again to a style that isn't successful. When was the last time a side or a nation won something with that approach?
The question asks us to buy players so we can bed them in the way our head coach thinks and then tells us Pochettino should change the way he thinks basically. If you have two wingers who stay wide you have to change the formation of the midfield and then you are going to need players with a different skill set.
Did Arsenal just win the FA Cup by using two wingers, or did Aston Villa win by pumping the ball to Benteke? The passing game murdered the cross to a centre-forward approach. Two wingers crossing is not a recipe for success. It's tired old traditional football that wins nothing. Frustration and moaning that X is no good or Y is no good all stems from a lack of understanding.
It's rigid thinking. A winger is a player who crosses the ball, if he doesn't he isn't doing his job. If you have wingers staying wide they are not going to score goals, there is no way Nacer Chadli would have scored 13 goals had he stayed wide and crossed the ball, Harry Kane wouldn't have scored 31 either.
It reduces your ability to score, wide men are no longer a goal threat, all a defending side has to do is defend the two strikers. You would have to play two strikers with two wingers crossing the ball or you'd be easy to defend against. Fan complain Lennon does not score enough goals, yet how can he if he is to stay wide? You can't have it both ways.
In that system the full-backs are no longer a threat, they have no space to operate so they must now just stay back to defend which means your only other attack is from central midfield, where in today's game you would be outnumbered and thus a reduced threat.
Signing players early is not simply a case of we want this player so let's sign him. The player himself will wait for the best opportunity, why commit himself when a netter opportunity may come along? Other clubs do the same as we do, they sound out their alternatives so players know there may be a possibility of moving to a bigger club or a club abroad where the competition for a Champions League place isn't as tough as the Premier League and the opportunity to win things is greater.
All clubs, not just Tottenham Hotspur buy players late because they can force a price down. Clubs can't simple buy players when they haven't sold their own, the wage bill would go through the roof and clubs knowing you then have to sell urgently will offer low fees to force you to virtually give your players away. Why offer more when they have you over a barrel? It's basic business to buy at the cheapest price.
Figures showed a couple of years ago that 37% of ALL summer transfers happen on the last day of the window, I think it was 57% in the last week so late buys are not a Tottenham thing or a Daniel Levy thing, they are a football thing.
We are an in between club, we are above the rest of the pack and can offer better wages but can't compete with the top four or five. We are the best many players can aspire to, equally we are a stepping stone for the highly ambitious, until we can compete financially that will always be the case.
Some suggested their may be a lack of understanding among our own fans but a Facebook question can't ask or explain everything, thus is open to interpretation. Some suggest Levy wasn't answering at all, others simply dismiss the answers as they didn't support their set in stone opinions.
The following question was one that set me thinking about old and new, are some fans still stuck in the past? When was the last time two wingers crossing a ball to a striker was successful?
The traditional English game of having two wingers who cross for a powerful centre forward is no more, the English game has moved on from that with the influx of foreign players and coaches. The question asks us to totally change our style again to a style that isn't successful. When was the last time a side or a nation won something with that approach?
The question asks us to buy players so we can bed them in the way our head coach thinks and then tells us Pochettino should change the way he thinks basically. If you have two wingers who stay wide you have to change the formation of the midfield and then you are going to need players with a different skill set.
Did Arsenal just win the FA Cup by using two wingers, or did Aston Villa win by pumping the ball to Benteke? The passing game murdered the cross to a centre-forward approach. Two wingers crossing is not a recipe for success. It's tired old traditional football that wins nothing. Frustration and moaning that X is no good or Y is no good all stems from a lack of understanding.
It's rigid thinking. A winger is a player who crosses the ball, if he doesn't he isn't doing his job. If you have wingers staying wide they are not going to score goals, there is no way Nacer Chadli would have scored 13 goals had he stayed wide and crossed the ball, Harry Kane wouldn't have scored 31 either.
It reduces your ability to score, wide men are no longer a goal threat, all a defending side has to do is defend the two strikers. You would have to play two strikers with two wingers crossing the ball or you'd be easy to defend against. Fan complain Lennon does not score enough goals, yet how can he if he is to stay wide? You can't have it both ways.
In that system the full-backs are no longer a threat, they have no space to operate so they must now just stay back to defend which means your only other attack is from central midfield, where in today's game you would be outnumbered and thus a reduced threat.
Signing players early is not simply a case of we want this player so let's sign him. The player himself will wait for the best opportunity, why commit himself when a netter opportunity may come along? Other clubs do the same as we do, they sound out their alternatives so players know there may be a possibility of moving to a bigger club or a club abroad where the competition for a Champions League place isn't as tough as the Premier League and the opportunity to win things is greater.
All clubs, not just Tottenham Hotspur buy players late because they can force a price down. Clubs can't simple buy players when they haven't sold their own, the wage bill would go through the roof and clubs knowing you then have to sell urgently will offer low fees to force you to virtually give your players away. Why offer more when they have you over a barrel? It's basic business to buy at the cheapest price.
Figures showed a couple of years ago that 37% of ALL summer transfers happen on the last day of the window, I think it was 57% in the last week so late buys are not a Tottenham thing or a Daniel Levy thing, they are a football thing.
We are an in between club, we are above the rest of the pack and can offer better wages but can't compete with the top four or five. We are the best many players can aspire to, equally we are a stepping stone for the highly ambitious, until we can compete financially that will always be the case.
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