Important Players vs Squad Players

The Tottenham Hotspur squad comprises a group of first-choice or important players (more than just an XI) and squad players.

How you compile your squad players plays a vital role in the ability of the whole squad and can, in fact, hold you back.

Take for instance Oliver Skipp, a squad player. Ignore his age for the minute because I could use Kyle Walker-Peters but Skipp affords me the opportunity to make further points.

Oliver Skipp cost nothing. Plenty of fans shouted he is useless, not good enough, will never be good enough, send him on loan, sell him, buy someone last season.

OK, let's look at that.

Useless, well not true and demonstrates fans are terrible judges of players and utterly clueless and player development. The lad needed developing. You learn by making mistakes. Nobody in life has succeeded without making mistakes first.

Man City and Chelsea don't play youngsters for fear of dropping points thus their youngster very rarely come through.

Not good enough, well the same answer applies plus being a part of the group and around the first team will improve him if he has the right mentality, a winning mentality that makes you work to constantly improve your game.

Send him on loan or in other words, abdicate the responsibility to develop a player and have to buy a player to replace the player you are loaning out.

He isn't then learning his role within your system, he is just learning to play football and compete at a higher level than development football and as Pochettino points out, can easily pick up habits he considers to be bad and then need eradicating from his game.

Eradicating a habit is difficult, ask anyone who has tried to give up smoking or tries a diet or that new year gym resolution. Establishing the right actions and making those habits is arguably better in the long run.

Pros and cons of course, but that seems to be Pochettino's mindset on it.

Sell him, gives minimal income to buy a replacement, more expenditure.

Buy someone, more expenditure.

OK, fans who want to buy ready-made replacements, also want top money spent on the important players, in other words, in their world money grows on trees.

The more you spend on squad players, the less you have to spend on the important players.

Therefore, isn't it better to develop some squad players through the academy and into your squad?

If you come up trumps with the likes of Harry Kane and Harry Winks, that just gives you more money to spend on the important players, doesn't it?

It is a question of having limited resources, we generate about 73% of the income that Manchester City generate. Yes our income is growing ad we are spending more, but so is the income of the clubs around us so you have to look at figures in relation to their increases in turnover.

If you buy squad players and reduce the money you have to spend on the important players then you end up getting lesser important players who have a lesser impact and thus reduce your ability to achieve what you want.

Do you settle for middle of the road mediocrity or buy a better team and back it up with emerging talent. It's a balancing act and a difficult one to get right.

The latter is the Tottenham way, the former, with greater cash at their disposal, is the Manchester City way, the Chelsea way, until now that is as under Frank Lampard their model appears to be changing to match ours out of necessity. 

Previously we have bought squad players with the aim of developing them, Vincent Janssen, Georges-Kevin N'Koudou and through injury players like Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier have become squad players.

All of those are for sale for the right price, indeed Janssen has left. Selling Wanyama and N'Koudou would free up £100,000 wages a week, plus raise capital for squad strengthening elsewhere (clearly this was written before the window shut as they are both still here).

I don't hear so many people suggesting we need a replacement for Skipp this summer because his pre-season has been impressive, he has improved, no, now they want to buy a striker and hinder the progress of Troy Parrott.

Troy Parrott, Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga, these players need our support this season, not the abuse our toxic minority so vocally give.

They play an important financial role in the squad, quite apart from what they give on the field.

Mauricio Pochettino has to balance, homegrown with non-homegrown, youth development with squad development and trophy-winning capability.

Daniel Levy has to balance expenditure within our means, balance on squad versus important player outgoings, a rather complex affair that a 'just pay what they ask' approach doesn't coincide with, it reduces your spending power in other key areas.

It is all a balancing act.