is this a fair appraisal ?

Dublin Spur

From F365


"Our focus therefore is to continue to invest in and develop the squad [but] we shall not look to a summer of major upheaval, rather to strengthen in key positions - to play the style of football for which we are famous" - Daniel Levy, April 2014.

It's difficult to blame Tottenham's chairman for such an opinion. The hangover from last summer's transfer scattergun party is presumably still causing Daniel Levy to reach for the Paracetamol to staunch a headache caused by a squad bloated with under-performing players about to enter their second season and last chance at White Hart Lane.

Upon his appointment, Mauricio Pochettino spoke of his ambitions whilst at the club. "All managers want the best and want to be the best," Pochettino said. "I knew from the first day I came here that Spurs are a big club. My challenge is to win the Premier League...eventually. This is our goal, to win the title one day." It was said with tongue pressed slightly into cheek, but the remit is evident: Higher than sixth, please.

Furthermore, within Levy's quote lies an additional pressure upon Spurs' third new permanent manager in two years - an expectation to play a brand of football deemed to be pleasing on the eye. This is a side that must improve its league position whilst playing better and more attractive football. It's a tough ask.

The challenges don't end there, either, as Pochettino must also carry out his task amidst a club once again seemingly changing its transfer market policy. Last season seven players joined the club, all foreign, all from abroad and all without any experience of playing in England. In hindsight, it always appeared optimistic to expect Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen all to settle immediately, and so it proved.

This summer, Spurs have looked far closer to home, clearly a deliberate strategy. Michel Vorm and Ben Davies have joined from Swansea, whilst Eric Dier grew up in England and spent time on loan at Everton in 2011. But that's it. Nine days before the season begins and Pochettino has added only one first-choice player (both Dier and Vorm will, for now, be back up). Presumably left-back wasn't the only 'key position' Levy was referring to.

Therein lies one of Spurs' principle issues. Whilst opting to purchase players domestically is perfectly logical, Levy's reputation for driving a hard bargain is far harder to upkeep in the overpriced pool of the Premier League. Offers for Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin (again indicative of Spurs recruiting domestically) were immediately laughed off by Southampton, and chairman Ralph Krueger now appears to be adamant that neither will leave St. Mary's. Liverpool paid big money for Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren, but at least they got their deals done effciently.

Spurs' evident search for a forward has also been entirely fruitless. Imagining dual Premier League and European campaigns with a strikeforce of Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane should make supporters wince but only a seriously injured Rodriguez has been mooted. Romelu Lukaku has joined Everton, Wilfried Bony appears too expensive and Javier Hernandez completely lacking any rumour. It's a very strange state of affairs.

It may sound harsh, but a squad can be fairly easily split into three categories: 1) Struggling for form or fitness, 2) Not good enough for the desired ambition (in Spurs' case, the top four) and 3) Good enough to assist in that aim. That latter group comprises of the players that could expect to move higher up the Premier League if they were sold now, and contains just five names - Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen, Moussa Dembele and Erik Lamela. And I'm being kind to Lamela after last season.

Instead, a group of players leave a squad bloated on quantity rather than quality. Michael Dawson, Danny Rose, Andros Townsend, Kyle Walker, Younes Kaboul, Nabil Bentaleb, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Kyle Naughton, Harry Kane, Nacer Chadli and Ezekiel Fryers, all names that would leave the Premier League's elite uninterested if they were sold. Many of them wouldn't even trouble the top half.

While Spurs have dallied, each of their top four rivals have resurged, regrouped and reinvested. Manchester City and Chelsea already appeared to belong to a separate echelon to Spurs even before their summer outlays, whilst Manchester United (initially at least) seem renascent and Arsenal have again strengthened impressively. That's ignoring the relatively unknown quality of Liverpool.

Amidst such inadequacies, Levy and Pochettino's references to title bids and footballing aesthetics simply feel like an ambition to run before walking and, with ltitle over a week until their first match, more questions than answers remain.

Chairman and new manager may talk of further improvement in league position and greater style, but right now it feels as if the top four is increasingly becoming more forlorn hope than reasonable expectation.

Daniel Storey - Follow him on Twitter

Kiith

I just finished reading this on Football 365.

Some of it is fair, as we do have a bloated squad with plenty of players who are not good enough. Regarding the striker (or lack of), if Ade turns up, and Soldado starts knocking a few in, we'll be grand for strikers. They are two big if's though, so we'll have to see how it plays out. And the top 4 spot will be even tougher this year, as they say. Liverpool will struggle to challenge i think, but they'll definitely be higher up the pecking order than us.

It'll all depend on in Poch can get last summers signings to perform. Get the most out of Lamela, Eriksen, Verts, Ade and Soldado, while bringing in a new CB (Musacchio hopefully) and there's no reason we can't be knocking on the top 4's door.

Hatch99

Kiith wrote: »

I just finished reading this on Football 365.

Some of it is fair, as we do have a bloated squad with plenty of players who are not good enough. Regarding the striker (or lack of), if Ade turns up, and Soldado starts knocking a few in, we'll be grand for strikers. They are two big if's though, so we'll have to see how it plays out. And the top 4 spot will be even tougher this year, as they say. Liverpool will struggle to challenge i think, but they'll definitely be higher up the pecking order than us.

It'll all depend on in Poch can get last summers signings to perform. Get the most out of Lamela, Eriksen, Verts, Ade and Soldado, while bringing in a new CB (Musacchio hopefully) and there's no reason we can't be knocking on the top 4's door.

A lot of ifs and buts there mate. Unless Soldado comes good and bangs them in which is unlikely, we haven't a hope as Adebayor won't do it over the season. Goals win games. We'll be playing for 6th without a real goalscorer

Kiith

Oh absolutely. I'm not really expecting most of that to happen...it would just be nice.

Dublin Spur

looking forward to seeing how we perform under Poch

quietly confident about him

mickman

My opinion is 6th would be a good season

Hatch99

Dublin Spur wrote: »

looking forward to seeing how we perform under Poch

quietly confident about him

hopefully he gets us playing some decent stuff... we need a goalscorer though, maybe soldado will come good

Ormus

I think we'll be better than last season, but I also think 4 of the 5 ahead of us will still be better than us, plus United. So we'll probably finish 6th again.

The article is mainly well written, apart from the bit about Spurs evident search for a new striker. We haven't even bid for any strikers this summer, apart from Rodriguez, who would be more of a wide man.

Adebayor is always a worry, but Soldado and Kane will certainly be better than last season. If needs be, we can go in for Bony, Remy or Benteke in January. I like it when a manager works with what he has rather than trying to solve it with a raft of transfers like Spurs traditionally have.

mickman

I'm not really sold on poch at all , he is completely unproven

What did he achieve at espanyol??

He inherited a golden generation of players at Southampton and got them to 8th

I am fully behind him but I think he is our most unimpressive appointment in years

Ormus

mickman wrote: »

I'm not really sold on poch at all , he is completely unproven

What did he achieve at espanyol??

He inherited a golden generation of players at Southampton and got them to 8th

I am fully behind him but I think he is our most unimpressive appointment in years

Similar record to Rodgers at Swansea, better than Martinez at Wigan

mickman

Ormus wrote: »

Similar record to Rodgers at Swansea, better than Martinez at Wigan

Fair enough. I don't rate Martinez either though and Rodgers season last season probably won't be bettered by him again.

Ormus

mickman wrote: »

Fair enough. I don't rate Martinez either though and Rodgers season last season probably won't be bettered by him again.

Fair enough. You think they were bad appointments?

mickman

Ormus wrote: »

Fair enough. You think they were bad appointments?

Not bad , I do think they were both 'lucky' with last season though. Suarez is gone abd Sturridge will fade , leaving the pool outside the top 4. That's my opinion anyways

Dublin Spur

Going into a new season with a manager with a clean slate is good after last seasons debacle and I wish him well. Sherwood was an amateur and never should have gotten near the job - the hows and whys of how this happened are for another thread !

Anyway, I expect Poch will be a significent improvement on Sherwood but unfortunately the sad reality is that we'll probabaly finsih 6th and maybe get to a cup semi-final. We're a million miles off the leading clubs bacuse the owners are not ambitious for football glory

Would take a point on Saturday

Ormus

mickman wrote: »

Not bad , I do think they were both 'lucky' with last season though. Suarez is gone abd Sturridge will fade , leaving the pool outside the top 4. That's my opinion anyways

Ok, well personally I'd be thrilled if Poch does as well as either of those and either gets us a record points total (a la Martinez) or has us challenging for the title next season (a la Rodgers)

mickman

Ormus wrote: »

Ok, well personally I'd be thrilled if Poch does as well as either of those and either gets us a record points total (a la Martinez) or has us challenging for the title next season (a la Rodgers)

As would I but I reckon neither of those managers will do as well this year.

It's really hard to know, things seem very quiet and settled under poch so who knows !

DubPerryman

mickman wrote: »

I'm not really sold on poch at all , he is completely unproven

What did he achieve at espanyol??

He inherited a golden generation of players at Southampton and got them to 8th

You maybe right.... but that golden generation have all since come out and said they turned golden thanks to Poch.

Plus, that golden generation wasn't considered too great under Nigel Adkins. Everyone was shocked when Adkins got sacked because he managed to keep Southampton's golden generation up. Though Poch took them on and not only kept them up but beat City, Chelsea and Liverpool's best teams in the past decade too.

I'm a glass half-full kinda guy! :cool: