One of the the things I am looking forward to is the CFC fans singing “ He’s one of our own” to Harry Kane …mansion being built next to Wentworth..what less then 15 mins from the CFC training ground .
Levy will offer Kane £600, 000 a week to keep him ..but Kane will realise that money has to come from somewhere ..and it will come from letting the squad become weaker …Gentleman's agreements..haha I bet he can’t wait …
Success on the park. But given Levy and Co have milked him rather than build around him it will not come soon enough ..even if we won the FACup this year it would be a perfect moment to leave.
Personally I don’t mind him leaving ..he deserves better and we need to shake our dependency..and let’s face it when are those in the Room at the Top really going to invest consistently with a view to footballing success. They aren’t ..so the club needs the dosh..and people will still turn up to be at an event ….football is the inconvenience at Spurs . ..The lack expertise around the subject at Spurs is why we finished eighth..and have only been in the CL once in 3 seasons…and of course other clubs advance with coherent strategies of their own ..Kane may have a soft spot for Spurs the question is wether it is his ar#ehole.
I can't recall who said it recently (might have been Ryan....even a broken clock.....), but our current situation is that we have a mish-mash of players many of whom work well in one system but not so well in another. Similarly in the positions they play...........why is this?
Well Ryan may have been right in saying that we need to identify who we are and how we play the game: until we understand that we cannot design systems and then choose players who fit that system and philosophy. A lot of piss taking went on with Poch around this "philosophy" but basically his decline and the clubs subsequent decline was Levy not understanding the club's role in living that philosophy instead of perpetrating an alien one based upon property management.
So we have arrived at a point where yet another guy comes in trying to sort through several different jigsaws, all the pieces jumbled together in the same box and no picture on the front.
We have the legacy: Hugo, Sonny, Kane Dier etc. We have the last purchases of that era, Lo Celso, N'dom, PEH, etc., none of whom (apart from PEH) have worked out in the ultra defensive set-up we've utilised since Poch left. We then have players bought to suit the Jose/Conte system. All this these though are sub-par; the product of the undermining, the overarching incompetence and pernicious greed of Levy.
Each manager has had to compromise their vision by accepting Levy's version of what they want: ie, instead of Bastoni or Skriniar we get Longlet - instead of the leather jacket we get the vinyl one, because there's a rumour vinyl might go up in value.....
So we find ourselves with second rate players, best suited to a number of diverse systems and another poor Dr Frankenstein trying to stitch a body together in the hope it will live, to meet the objectives of the arch Golem in the director's box.
Gonville is spot on with his stats and conclusion: shipping 63 goals means we need a defence - that 's the major piece of work. We won't get a AAA CB we might get an A+ and/or a AA, but already Levy can be smelt in that scenario - we were in for 2 now it's the cheapest 1. You can see him spending a month haggling over peanuts for the dutchman instead of getting out there an offloading the dross.
THEN we can look a midfield option.
For my money we are off the mark with 433 and should probably look initially at a 442 with a diamond formation of a central DM and AM and two "half backs" we have the personnel to implement that: PEH Maddison and any of the handful of the current crop playing left and right.
But it won't matter a damn if we have to sacrifice 1 or 2 to protect the likes of Dier, Longlet or Davies and I can't see the great and powerful Oz (a small man behind a curtain pulling the levers) allowing a manager not to play at least 3 forwards.
You can put a dog in a stable but it won't make it a horse or a chicken in a kennel but it wont be a dog, and this is what we have: a farm where the farmer thinks that if he puts that dog in the stable he'll be able to sell it for the price of a horse and if he has a hen that can lay eggs and round up sheep he won't have to invest in two animals.
We don't have a squad, we have a menagerie: mainly mismatched livestock with a couple of lions but for sure, no pride.
Skipp should be in a skip along with his mate Dier. Ironic we have two players whose surname encapsulates their football.
On the Bissouma front. I take the point he may not be world class. However, Conte played him in a defensive role and insisted Pierre did too. This meant we lacked creativity. Throw Skipp in there it got worse.
Yet again we buy a player but don’t play to his strengths. Bissouma for me offers more going forward. He’d be ideal to partner Pierre if they had opposing roles. Won’t be able to play him with Maddison though and Bentacur if he’s ever fit.
If we are to let anyone go it has to be Skipp imo. For once with him gone we bring back creativity to our MF
I agree with this. I think Bissouma would be better suited in a more offensive role. Get him to press the opposition's DM (Bentancur is really good at that) and use his strength and pace to win the ball. He also has a decent shot in him. Bissouma should replace Bentancur until he gets back, playing with Hojbjerg and Maddison.
I said at the end of the season that we needed 3 key signings to achieve a functional first 11 in Anges preferred 433 formation. A CB, LB and AM around 50m a piece. So it's one down for 40m. If Hojbjerg leaves obviously I'll have to add a DM to the list. What looks scary is how we haven't gotten rid of much deadwood yet. Seems like Daniel is bound to relish deadline day again, his favorite day of the year.
It's no question really. If Pierre leaves he will have to be replaced with a new and similar midfielder, the 'Makelele position'. You always need that battler in there. Under Redknapp we had several players cut from that cloth, and I remember Palacios being an immovable object in Milano. Totally agree, Skipp isn't good enough. Several players who could fill that void have already signed for other clubs, Neves, Ugarte, Tonali, Frattesi etc. As usual Daniel is late to the party, never fashionably. I was under the impression Ange would continue his 433 formation with Pierre, Bentancur and Maddison in there. Seemed like a decent midfield and a no brainer to me. It's beyond confusing. If he wants to leave you fucking sell him off right now and splash 60m on the next big thing.
It will have to be Bissouma until he gets back. A midfield of Bissouma, Pierre and Maddison doesn't look too bad, but the moment you swap Pierre with Skippy it's a midfield doomed to the bottom half of the table.
Bents is out for fair old while ..possibly Xmas, other more competitive teams won’t be afraid to clatter him..especially with PEH sold to pay for punts and Moussa NDembeles fat fak wages. Many teams don’t buy into Levy World ..they want to win …As soon as Levy has to function outside of his bubble it all goes tits up….
Those stats above would suggest that Skipp shouldn’t be anywhere near the first 11,but of course he is a homegrown academy boy.One of our big problems last season was persisting with two midfielders and getting overrun in every game in MF.
Working on the rational that will see Levy sell PEH for a nice profit,it’s what he loves,I see Bentancur(when available),Bissouma and Sarr lining up with Maddison just in front.If Postie can get them to rotate as necessary in a defensive unit it could work.Sadly I don’t see any additions in that area,but we must get two CBS.
If Skipp wasn't from the Academy no one would want him at Spurs. If you do, your aspiration for Spurs is very low. He scored a goal v Chelsea, that Kepa should have saved, and some fans went overboard. The lad isn't good enough for what we should want at Spurs, just like Winks. Man City sell players from their Academy for £15m. Winks, with all his England caps sells for £10m! Skipp would be about the same, but only a Championship club would buy him.
Very surprised that Maddison doesn't pass the ball forward!
I would like to see the statistics for other midfielders in the league. Not even the top ones because comparing PEH to the Spurs midfield tells me little. I know PEH is better than what we have, I didn't need stats to tell me how bad Ndom and Skipp are. Bissouma and Hojbjerg didn't work as a pairing, but when we have played 2 out and out defensive midfielders together we have struggled as a team (see Skipp and PEH) because we have had few players who can attack from defensive positions.. Liverpool have had Henderson/Fabinho but Trent and Robertson got forward supporting their front 3. Our full backs have been terrible. Bents and Hojbjerg have been our best partnership but even that fell short because both of them are prone to doing really stupid things and they were surrounded by poor footballers.
Something needs to change, but playing Skipp and Ndom are not the answer to our problems.
I’d say ‘soft centred Spurs’ is far from a cliche. It defines our very existence, throughout the history of the Premier League. And whilst we’ve worn that label with some sort of misguided pride, all the great teams that won multiple titles had a spine, right through the middle of their side, that oozed everything necessary to achieve their success.
By all rational counts PEH is the far superior player and both take up the same position, which we need one of assuming some type of 4123 structure. Seems it’s the concept of Skipp - homegrown academy lad - that’s taking precedence here. That and Daniel can actually sell the Viking for some real coin I reckon.
If you're homegrown and actually picking up playing minutes Levy will be reluctant to sell you! We're getting desperate with that squad management, Maddison was that rare English player bargain.
Bentancur was by far the closest thing we had to an attacking midfielder, again, as per Porro, this was something fans noticed during games, rather than our scouts or coaches managed to clock themselves 🤔
One of the the things I am looking forward to is the CFC fans singing “ He’s one of our own” to Harry Kane …mansion being built next to Wentworth..what less then 15 mins from the CFC training ground .
Levy will offer Kane £600, 000 a week to keep him ..but Kane will realise that money has to come from somewhere ..and it will come from letting the squad become weaker …Gentleman's agreements..haha I bet he can’t wait …
Tell me Billy.......why would Kane sign a new contract?
Success on the park. But given Levy and Co have milked him rather than build around him it will not come soon enough ..even if we won the FACup this year it would be a perfect moment to leave.
Personally I don’t mind him leaving ..he deserves better and we need to shake our dependency..and let’s face it when are those in the Room at the Top really going to invest consistently with a view to footballing success. They aren’t ..so the club needs the dosh..and people will still turn up to be at an event ….football is the inconvenience at Spurs . ..The lack expertise around the subject at Spurs is why we finished eighth..and have only been in the CL once in 3 seasons…and of course other clubs advance with coherent strategies of their own ..Kane may have a soft spot for Spurs the question is wether it is his ar#ehole.
I can't recall who said it recently (might have been Ryan....even a broken clock.....), but our current situation is that we have a mish-mash of players many of whom work well in one system but not so well in another. Similarly in the positions they play...........why is this?
Well Ryan may have been right in saying that we need to identify who we are and how we play the game: until we understand that we cannot design systems and then choose players who fit that system and philosophy. A lot of piss taking went on with Poch around this "philosophy" but basically his decline and the clubs subsequent decline was Levy not understanding the club's role in living that philosophy instead of perpetrating an alien one based upon property management.
So we have arrived at a point where yet another guy comes in trying to sort through several different jigsaws, all the pieces jumbled together in the same box and no picture on the front.
We have the legacy: Hugo, Sonny, Kane Dier etc. We have the last purchases of that era, Lo Celso, N'dom, PEH, etc., none of whom (apart from PEH) have worked out in the ultra defensive set-up we've utilised since Poch left. We then have players bought to suit the Jose/Conte system. All this these though are sub-par; the product of the undermining, the overarching incompetence and pernicious greed of Levy.
Each manager has had to compromise their vision by accepting Levy's version of what they want: ie, instead of Bastoni or Skriniar we get Longlet - instead of the leather jacket we get the vinyl one, because there's a rumour vinyl might go up in value.....
So we find ourselves with second rate players, best suited to a number of diverse systems and another poor Dr Frankenstein trying to stitch a body together in the hope it will live, to meet the objectives of the arch Golem in the director's box.
Gonville is spot on with his stats and conclusion: shipping 63 goals means we need a defence - that 's the major piece of work. We won't get a AAA CB we might get an A+ and/or a AA, but already Levy can be smelt in that scenario - we were in for 2 now it's the cheapest 1. You can see him spending a month haggling over peanuts for the dutchman instead of getting out there an offloading the dross.
THEN we can look a midfield option.
For my money we are off the mark with 433 and should probably look initially at a 442 with a diamond formation of a central DM and AM and two "half backs" we have the personnel to implement that: PEH Maddison and any of the handful of the current crop playing left and right.
But it won't matter a damn if we have to sacrifice 1 or 2 to protect the likes of Dier, Longlet or Davies and I can't see the great and powerful Oz (a small man behind a curtain pulling the levers) allowing a manager not to play at least 3 forwards.
You can put a dog in a stable but it won't make it a horse or a chicken in a kennel but it wont be a dog, and this is what we have: a farm where the farmer thinks that if he puts that dog in the stable he'll be able to sell it for the price of a horse and if he has a hen that can lay eggs and round up sheep he won't have to invest in two animals.
We don't have a squad, we have a menagerie: mainly mismatched livestock with a couple of lions but for sure, no pride.
As ever, a very clear and succinct picture of where we are and how we got here.....
You’re right. Poch’s heart re: a philosophy was in the right place, but Levy suffocated that hope.
Levy then doubled down and installed (and this is the crucial bit) two coached very well known for grinding out victories type coaches.
This is what we call unjoined up thinking, in the trade.
Our squad looks like a bring and buy table 🥲
“There is no passion for football here , we chose football because it’s is the biggest money spinner”….We should be thankful we have a table..
LEVY OUT ENIC OUT
Even Skipp has won a trophy away from Spurs.Not that he was great.
Oliver “not that he is great” Skipp. Works for me!
Read the spurs fb site they spin it differently 🤷🏻♂️
Lunacy and passing off failure as success is the new ENIC FC mantra. The team are average punters. Gone by Christmas.
Could you do one of those spider things and compare Dier with Rodri.
For shits and giggles…?
Not sure it works for 2 people in different aports
🤣 will do
I’m trying to forget last season existed but I vaguely recall a couple of games where Sarr was the best player on the pitch or maybe it’s me meds?
He came on the pitch and didn’t realise he was supposed to be sulking a couple of times - stood out a lot for that!
The only player with good body language, some really unprofessional bozos in the side last season.
And none of them have left, if anything we’ve added more bad attitudes with the returning “loanees”
What are the odds on Dier, Davies, Sanchez and Ndombele being on the plane for Australia.
Quite good I would think, unless some very fast and furious business is done in the next week....hang on, we're Spurs, what am I thinking???
Skipp should be in a skip along with his mate Dier. Ironic we have two players whose surname encapsulates their football.
On the Bissouma front. I take the point he may not be world class. However, Conte played him in a defensive role and insisted Pierre did too. This meant we lacked creativity. Throw Skipp in there it got worse.
Yet again we buy a player but don’t play to his strengths. Bissouma for me offers more going forward. He’d be ideal to partner Pierre if they had opposing roles. Won’t be able to play him with Maddison though and Bentacur if he’s ever fit.
If we are to let anyone go it has to be Skipp imo. For once with him gone we bring back creativity to our MF
I agree with this. I think Bissouma would be better suited in a more offensive role. Get him to press the opposition's DM (Bentancur is really good at that) and use his strength and pace to win the ball. He also has a decent shot in him. Bissouma should replace Bentancur until he gets back, playing with Hojbjerg and Maddison.
It would be better if we just played like Brighton full stop.
Whilst I love the focus on midfield, it really isn’t the problem. Losing Hojberg would be bad, given our defence is soooo bad.
My advice to them would be sort out the CBs first, before we do anything else.
63GA wasn’t Skipp or Sarr or Hojberg’s fault. It’s the fact that Dier is a midfielder playing in defence and he has the mobility of a diplodocus.
We’re clearly going to buy at least one CB.
I don’t trust the club to replace Hojbjerg if he leaves though.
That’s the reason for worry.
I said at the end of the season that we needed 3 key signings to achieve a functional first 11 in Anges preferred 433 formation. A CB, LB and AM around 50m a piece. So it's one down for 40m. If Hojbjerg leaves obviously I'll have to add a DM to the list. What looks scary is how we haven't gotten rid of much deadwood yet. Seems like Daniel is bound to relish deadline day again, his favorite day of the year.
If Skipp is better than Hojbjerg why aren't Atletico Madrid in for him? He's younger and allegedly better
It's no question really. If Pierre leaves he will have to be replaced with a new and similar midfielder, the 'Makelele position'. You always need that battler in there. Under Redknapp we had several players cut from that cloth, and I remember Palacios being an immovable object in Milano. Totally agree, Skipp isn't good enough. Several players who could fill that void have already signed for other clubs, Neves, Ugarte, Tonali, Frattesi etc. As usual Daniel is late to the party, never fashionably. I was under the impression Ange would continue his 433 formation with Pierre, Bentancur and Maddison in there. Seemed like a decent midfield and a no brainer to me. It's beyond confusing. If he wants to leave you fucking sell him off right now and splash 60m on the next big thing.
As far as Bentancur is concerned, it’s omitted him because this guy is half a season away.
And then, we hope, hope he’s okay.
God help Ange 🤦♂️
It will have to be Bissouma until he gets back. A midfield of Bissouma, Pierre and Maddison doesn't look too bad, but the moment you swap Pierre with Skippy it's a midfield doomed to the bottom half of the table.
We still need some bench this season - more than just Sarr sitting there.
Assuming we actually sign a competent CB which is pushing it I know I can live with a lineup of:
GK
Royal Romero CBTBA notDaviesorSess
PEH
Bent Maddison
Kulu/Richi Harry Non-herniated Son
Bents is out for fair old while ..possibly Xmas, other more competitive teams won’t be afraid to clatter him..especially with PEH sold to pay for punts and Moussa NDembeles fat fak wages. Many teams don’t buy into Levy World ..they want to win …As soon as Levy has to function outside of his bubble it all goes tits up….
Minimum Xmas and if he returns as - what he was - a prospect, we’ll be fortunate.
Another one who became bigger than Jesus, the longer he was out of action...
I can live with Porro slotting in for Bents playing a TTA role. Or even Gio if he still exists.
Porro wlll be all we have and he cannot defend ..it isn’t a choice.
dos Santos?
Those stats above would suggest that Skipp shouldn’t be anywhere near the first 11,but of course he is a homegrown academy boy.One of our big problems last season was persisting with two midfielders and getting overrun in every game in MF.
Working on the rational that will see Levy sell PEH for a nice profit,it’s what he loves,I see Bentancur(when available),Bissouma and Sarr lining up with Maddison just in front.If Postie can get them to rotate as necessary in a defensive unit it could work.Sadly I don’t see any additions in that area,but we must get two CBS.
If Skipp wasn't from the Academy no one would want him at Spurs. If you do, your aspiration for Spurs is very low. He scored a goal v Chelsea, that Kepa should have saved, and some fans went overboard. The lad isn't good enough for what we should want at Spurs, just like Winks. Man City sell players from their Academy for £15m. Winks, with all his England caps sells for £10m! Skipp would be about the same, but only a Championship club would buy him.
Very surprised that Maddison doesn't pass the ball forward!
I would like to see the statistics for other midfielders in the league. Not even the top ones because comparing PEH to the Spurs midfield tells me little. I know PEH is better than what we have, I didn't need stats to tell me how bad Ndom and Skipp are. Bissouma and Hojbjerg didn't work as a pairing, but when we have played 2 out and out defensive midfielders together we have struggled as a team (see Skipp and PEH) because we have had few players who can attack from defensive positions.. Liverpool have had Henderson/Fabinho but Trent and Robertson got forward supporting their front 3. Our full backs have been terrible. Bents and Hojbjerg have been our best partnership but even that fell short because both of them are prone to doing really stupid things and they were surrounded by poor footballers.
Something needs to change, but playing Skipp and Ndom are not the answer to our problems.
Skipp is another academy player on the level of Mason, Winks, Carroll and Pritchard. Basically he belongs at Hull or Norwich, take your pick.
Precisely. If you watch Skipp, he leaves the pitch looking like a man who’s been staying with ISIS for his holidays. Hollow and shattered.
I’d say ‘soft centred Spurs’ is far from a cliche. It defines our very existence, throughout the history of the Premier League. And whilst we’ve worn that label with some sort of misguided pride, all the great teams that won multiple titles had a spine, right through the middle of their side, that oozed everything necessary to achieve their success.
By all rational counts PEH is the far superior player and both take up the same position, which we need one of assuming some type of 4123 structure. Seems it’s the concept of Skipp - homegrown academy lad - that’s taking precedence here. That and Daniel can actually sell the Viking for some real coin I reckon.
And the Dane has seen and smelled enough..
If you're homegrown and actually picking up playing minutes Levy will be reluctant to sell you! We're getting desperate with that squad management, Maddison was that rare English player bargain.
Stinks of Levy.
Skipp is way off the pace, that's not a view, it's borne out by the above...
We were much worse when Skipp started after Bentancur went down, that much I know.
Bentancur is by far our best midfielder
Bentancur was by far the closest thing we had to an attacking midfielder, again, as per Porro, this was something fans noticed during games, rather than our scouts or coaches managed to clock themselves 🤔