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Someone tell Jamie Redknapp Spurs are carrying passengers


TOTTENHAM TALK


So much that I have written about as being needed at Tottenham has come to pass, I have even been asked my views by someone who meets with Daniel Levy.

Now I am not for one minute suggesting the club implement my views, but a lot of what I talk about on this blog happens at Tottenham, a lot of it by coincidence I'm sure. As a coach I look at things differently from the average fan, I take other factors into account and I constantly look at things through the eyes of the club strategy or the clubs transfer strategy.

For a couple of years, in fact since we signed Federico Fazio I have been writing about the adjustment time it takes a new signing to bed in, if they bed in at all. It is this 'learning' process you have to take into account when buying a player from abroad, there is no point buying a 27-year-old from Italy for instance.

He doesn't know the Premier League and would need to adjust to it, some don't, and he would need to adjust to our training demands and be 'Pochettino' fit, quite apart from learning our particular system and the role everyone plays in it.

Since Pochettino arrived, when was the last player bought from abroad with no Premier League experience who slotted in straight away?

It can usually take them months, even years in the case of Eric Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Vincent Janssen. Bottom line is that is unacceptable. That is a waste of wages, but more importantly, it is a waste of valuable time. You can not continually wait for players to perform or you will keep holding yourself back.

Now some of you will say, buy older more experienced players. The downside of that is we play a young man's football game, high energy and that they have less time left in their careers. Besides which, we have plenty of experience in the side at the moment, we don't want to be adding to the age of it, we need the next generation behind them pushing them on for continuity. We need the likes of Harry Winks keeping Mousa Dembele on his toes.

There are a string of players we have bought that haven't cut the mustard, Clinton N'Jie and Kevin-Georges N'Koudou spring to mind, while Dele Alli has shown what can be done with a British youngster used to British football.

Tottenham thought ahead, UEFA is continually trying to amend the rules so teams have to play not just home grown players, but players trained at the club. EU employment law prevents them doing so as there has to be free movement of people to live and work in the country they choose.

Brexit would change that and indeed the country voted to stop Brussels dictating to us over what we can and can't do. Nobody knows what the outcome will be, despite all the hot air being blown on both sides, nobody can predict the future.

You can prepare for it though and Tottenham appear to have prepared for it by establishing a British core, indeed an English core in the club. Should the laws change of the freedom of movement, then Tottenham are sitting pretty.

The are suggestions now the Pochettino has decided he wants players with Premier League experience, that is not new, but it is being reported as an instruction to daniel levy, it isn't, it is just a matter raised and discussed on the transfer committee with mutual agreement and an understanding of the objective on all sides.

Nothing has actually changed, we will still buy players with Premier League experience if possible to reduce bedding in time and if not we will look abroad unless someone special becomes available who meets all our criteria and is the right price.

For m,e it is all about a players effectiveness and his contribution to the squad. A player not performing on the training ground is a passenger and while the TV pundits like Jamie Redknapp keep telling us there are no passengers in this team, it is because the passengers are in the squad and they have to step up or be replaced.

COYS

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9 comments

  1. I'm sure you're an excellent coach however you'd be wrong to assume you look at things differently than other Spurs fans. As far as this article goes, you suggest by the title Redknapp is wrong when he says there are no passengers in the team, and then seem to agree that there aren't. Jamie Redknapp seems to talk a lot of sense to me, and isn't particularly pro Spurs, and he usually adds a word of caution by saying that they haven't got strong enough back up in some areas, particularly centre forward.
    • He does talk a lot of sense and I'm not one of the people who think he has a chip on his shoulder because his dad was sacked. He comments that there are no passengers at Spurs, which is incorrect, no passengers in the team is a different matter, unless Sissoko is playing. he was very excited by Spurs beating Arsenal so I think there is some pro-Spurs there but I'm like you, I like his analysis.
  2. God, Im glad the Tottenham board dont take advice from this blog otherwise we wouldnt have Walker, Rose, Vertonghen, Dembele, Lamela or any of the other players youve said dont have the correct mental attitude to play for spurs in the past. We'd also still have Tim Sherwood at the helm.
    Someone who does a sports psychology diploma at the local tech and thinks that over rides every other aspect of the game like natural ability, flair, creativity, intelligence, ball control, workrate etc.
    The narcissism in this blog sometimes comes across as parody.
    • You cearly have missed all the articles which show a mindset can be changed, as it has been among players.

      To suggest we would also have Sherwood at the helm is complete nonsense as I was dead against his appointment as I wrote at the time, which you have conveniently forgotten it seems.

      If you don't believe mentality is the single biggest factor in Sport then you know very little about top level sport, go ask any top level athlete, they wil all put you right.
  3. I suppose the crux of this post is ‘how long do you persevere with a squad player?’
    I agree with Anon that the five players he mentions have perhaps received more than their fair share of perseverance but then did Poch have any choice when he arrived? Lamela aside, the other four are the current building block of our defense.
    It’s a moot point isn’t it?
    Do I persevere with this player or don’t I?
    Or do I push him out on loan (as with Kane) and let him sink or swim in the lower leagues?
    There’s a lot of questions to be answered when evaluating a player’s progress and I’m not sure that it’s as straightforward as you seem to imply Clive.
    • It certainly isn't easy and yes Hibberni, the key is how long do you carry someone as a passenger in a squad? That is the $64m dollar question.

      The answer is simplified when you have a coach who improves players, as opposed to putting a team together.If a coach who improves players like Pochettino decides selling is the best option, then it is I would say. You the move on.
  4. They are all points boys but you don't have to be personal Clive and everyone else has an opinion. I was anti Poch but am big enough to admit I was totally wrong. Have in said that if he thinks Trip is equal to Walker I will be back where I started and we will be going backwards !
    • I don't think he is Walker's equal no, his crossing is better though.
  5. All very good points, but I think it's unfair to accuse Clive of being unaware of them. Most of them he's made himself at one time or another.

    The players mentioned have changed from those not properly fit to play for Spurs into those who understand what's required and perform at a very high level. In all cases because their attitude and mentality has changed.

    I see this as the difference at Spurs nowadays. We don't just accept what's there - We work on attitudes etc. and produce far more effective players. MP is at the heart of this change and, frankly, is following along very similar lines as those advised by Clive for a number of years now.

    COYS!!