Performance shows a marquee signing is simply for the fans ego


Should Spurs make a marquee signing, do we need to make a marquee signing? The debate revolves around whether you want a name or a player to fit, the two are not always the same.

A marquee signing makes a statement to your rivals we are told, which quite frankly is rubbish. Do you seriously think Mauricio Pochettino looks at a name of a teamsheet and starts getting worried? I can tell you, you don't think that way as a coach, you look at the whole picture. It is more important to know how a team plays and what the weaknesses are in their system, not who is in their team.

Every single player is analysed to see what they do in any given situation and players are then advised what they might do and what a player can do to come out on top. A coach doesn't just look at a marquee signing and isn't fazed by them either, nor are good players. If a player is affected by a name then he doesn't have the mentality to be a winner and needs to be sold.

A marquee signing doesn't make a statement to other clubs, it is just media hype. It is only fans and the media who place great store by it. The media, who are only fans themselves, nothing more, simply feed the myth with statement of intent garbage. Find out what truly motivates a player and tap into that, that is a statement of intent and far more effective than splashing the cash for the sake of it.

There is no guarantee that a marquee signing will be a success, many aren't. Manchester United paid £61-million for Angel de Maria, he lasted a season before moving on to where he wanted to be in the first place PSG. Emmanuel Adebayor could be considered a marquee signing at the time, as soon as he had signed a contract the effort dried up, he was getting his money.

The most important aspect of signing a player is not his name or his price, it is whether he fits into the squad, the environment and whether he will be effective within the system. We have bought Victor Wanyama, not a marquee signing but a player who strengthens the squad, a player we can trust to play the Eric Dier role. A player that fits, that is effective.

We have signed Vincent Janssen, a Dutch striker who was setting new benchmarks in Holland and who has forced his way into becoming the number one Ditch national striker. He again fits our system and we await the goals that I'm sure will come.

Manchester United bought marquee signings last summer, where did they finish? Answer, below us, Chelsea are full of marquee names, where did they finish? Answer, below us. Liverpool keep buying 'names', where did they finish? Answer, below us. Manchester City made marquee signings, where did they finish? Answer, below us.

Why then, if we finish above teams who make marquee signings do some fans clamour for a marquee signing? It isn't to improve the side, in all honesty, it is for their ego, it is to make them feel better because they don't trust Mauricio Pochettino. A fan simply assumes signing names improves sides, that isn't always the case. What many overlook is that every coach is not equal.

However just as some players are better than others, the ones with the right mentality to go with their talent, so coaches are not equal either. Some are better than others, in fact, there is a lot of mediocrity among coaches, just look at the incompetence of Roy 'Bungle' Hodgson whose personally selected coaching staff argued with him over his abysmal and antiquated coaching methods.

Pochettino stands out among coaches. Tottenham created more chances than anyone else and conceded less chances than anyone else in the Premier League last term. We fought at the top of the table to be beaten by a side who had no marquee signings themselves.

It is time people got over this fixation with designer label names and chequebook football. It isn't the name that counts, it's the mentality of the individual and you don't need to have a name to have the right mentality.

The game we have just witnessed, thrashing Inter Milan 6-1, rather puts into perspective the daft comments of some that Tottenham are not preparing for the Champions League. You prepare with a young team by improving as a group, not by changing half the team. Some it seems are still stuck in the past, can't grasp the strategy of keeping a young team together and growing with them.

Vincent Janssen showed he fits our system beautifully and he showed a goalscorers instinct by anticipating and being on the move to accept his chance while others were expecting a free-kick.

The performance, while still rusty, showed all is well ahead of the new season.