Dier and Alli wouldn't have been playing

I see Neil Ashton of the Sun believes in chequebook football and signing designer names as the only possible way for Tottenham to move forward and suggested that that is Pochettino's view, for which there is absolutely no evidence.

Tottenham have a long-term strategy that is very clear and must be given time to come to fruition. I wrote when Pochettino arrived that he was clearly here for the long-term so it was no surprised he wasn't interested in the Manchester United speculation, not that it was very serious, they were always going to sign Jose Mourinho having signed a pre-contract agreement with him when he left Chelsea.

Sir Alex Ferguson produced a crop of players from the Manchester United youth system to win titles and conquer Europe, Tottenham are attempting to do the same so simply signing world class players, whom we can't afford anyway, as opposed to international class players, which isn't the same thing, will block the route to the first team.

A happy balance has to be found, but the like of Dele Alli and Eric Dier have shown you don't need to be world class to make a difference. If Spurs had followed the Neil Ashton route neither would be in the team!

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