Ready to take the leap
Ready To Take The Leap
Now those of you who don’t want to take this in…
Those of you who prefer to listen to mainstream journalists who are simply professional writers writing about their hobby to get clicks without helping you to understand the 'why' events happen...
Those of you who still want to go and play Hunt the Trophy…
You are not ready to take the leap.
You are not ready for success.
Success takes discipline and a methodical approach.
It means starting small and scaling.
It means tweak, test and make minor changes.
It does not mean abandon your strategy.
It does not mean buy for the sake of buying, which half our fanbase and all journalists seem to think we should.
It means selective buying and if you can't buy better parts than you have, you don't buy, you improve what you have.
Start small and scale up.
That is our transfer strategy in a nutshell.
It is the strategy we adopted this summer when we couldn't sell and thus couldn't buy our specific targets.
It is the strategy I outlined on this blog that we should adopt to rebuild this great club back in April 2013.
It is the strategy we adopted this summer when we couldn't sell and thus couldn't buy our specific targets.
It is the strategy I outlined on this blog that we should adopt to rebuild this great club back in April 2013.
As the club grows so the standard of player we try to sign increases, which makes signing players more difficult.
We are not the club we were 10 years ago yet some cling to that crutch to support an outdated anti-Levy opinion.
We are not in the transfer market for players we were after 5 years ago, the club has moved on.
Mauricio Pochettino has done the groundwork, now we are looking to add some quality.
We were not able to sign players during the summer for a variety of reasons, all of which are common sense, yet we saw uproar. Pochettino is very specific about who he wants and he only wants players who can improve us, not just more of the same
We saw walkout threats, we saw people demanding explanations from the club when all they had to do was calm down and ask themselves why.
We saw walkout threats, we saw people demanding explanations from the club when all they had to do was calm down and ask themselves why.
The answers were all there in plain sight
Our start to the season with a host of injuries, with Son going to the Asian games, the players returning late from World Cup duty (most having gone further in the competition than our competitors), playing 8 of our first 12 games away from home and a new home that is delayed has been excellent, despite fans complaints.
We sit in the top 4 above Arsenal, above Chelsea and on the heels of Liverpool who people believe are title contenders.
Yet we haven't hit our straps yet, others have.
I advocated during the summer that a side can improve by improving the players already at a club. If you buy in, you stunt growth.
Jan Foyth looks a real prospect and looks like a good player on the ball, despite a few errors. He makes me think of Vlad Chiriches who chipped a ball over an opponents head and won over a whole section of fans. Myself, I thought and said he was an accident waiting to happen. Foyth isn't, he looks the real deal
Trippier, who was excellent last season and outstanding for England, has made a few errors so fans suddenly suggest he isn't good enough. Everything must be black and white, sorry I don't agree.
Football, indeed all top sport, is mental.
It is everything. Your brain tells your feet what to do and when to do it.
If your brain is tired, then you make slower decisions, that affects your game.
If your brain is tired then you get fatigued quicker, you make more mistakes, you revert to your default mode.
All that benefits the opposition.
At the top level these little things make the difference.
Look at Hugo Lloris, currently he is half the keeper we know he is. He has been poor coming off his line, poor deciding not to, poor with crosses, poor with his distribution. Signs are he is improving now and returning to his best, just in time for the busy Christmas period.
He hasn't suddenly lost his ability, but he hasn't had the break others have had to recharge his batteries and add to that a drink-driving charge, it seems he has a lot on his mental plate.
A good Christmas period and the club could be in a very healthy position just as we are improving and starting to gel again, much in the way Manchester United used to come strong and win trophies after Christmas.
COYS
Our start to the season with a host of injuries, with Son going to the Asian games, the players returning late from World Cup duty (most having gone further in the competition than our competitors), playing 8 of our first 12 games away from home and a new home that is delayed has been excellent, despite fans complaints.
We sit in the top 4 above Arsenal, above Chelsea and on the heels of Liverpool who people believe are title contenders.
Yet we haven't hit our straps yet, others have.
I advocated during the summer that a side can improve by improving the players already at a club. If you buy in, you stunt growth.
Jan Foyth looks a real prospect and looks like a good player on the ball, despite a few errors. He makes me think of Vlad Chiriches who chipped a ball over an opponents head and won over a whole section of fans. Myself, I thought and said he was an accident waiting to happen. Foyth isn't, he looks the real deal
Trippier, who was excellent last season and outstanding for England, has made a few errors so fans suddenly suggest he isn't good enough. Everything must be black and white, sorry I don't agree.
Football, indeed all top sport, is mental.
It is everything. Your brain tells your feet what to do and when to do it.
If your brain is tired, then you make slower decisions, that affects your game.
If your brain is tired then you get fatigued quicker, you make more mistakes, you revert to your default mode.
All that benefits the opposition.
At the top level these little things make the difference.
Look at Hugo Lloris, currently he is half the keeper we know he is. He has been poor coming off his line, poor deciding not to, poor with crosses, poor with his distribution. Signs are he is improving now and returning to his best, just in time for the busy Christmas period.
He hasn't suddenly lost his ability, but he hasn't had the break others have had to recharge his batteries and add to that a drink-driving charge, it seems he has a lot on his mental plate.
A good Christmas period and the club could be in a very healthy position just as we are improving and starting to gel again, much in the way Manchester United used to come strong and win trophies after Christmas.
COYS
1 comment
I have to say I've been so frustrated reading all the rubbish written about how much of a disaster the summer and our approach since has been. The results speak for themselves, yet everyone and his dog seems to want to deny what's happened. Most also misinterpreting what MP says and representing it generally as quite the opposite of what he really meant.
Certainly our continuing injury situation is a worry but everything appears to me to be developing well on top of a very good start.
Barca will obviously be a major hurdle but even if we don't win there but just come away having played well and given them a lot to think about we'll be able to hold our heads up high.
As you know, I don't believe the early results against PSV & Inter were a reflection of anything more than how bad the refs can be in these European games, but whichever way yo…