Tottenham Transfer Talk Tuesday
Who still has a smile on their face?
In Tottenham Transfer Talk on Tuesday we'll have a little chat rather than honing in on specific players.
A season of ups and downs for Tottenham Hotspur, with ultimately a successful finish in the Premier League table.
It's been a rollercoaster of a season for Tottenham Hotspur, with highs and lows throughout. Ultimately, though, it's been a successful campaign for the North Londoners, who have finished inside the top four in the Premier League to secure UEFA Champions League football next season.
It's been a rollercoaster of a season for Tottenham Hotspur, with highs and lows throughout. Ultimately, though, it's been a successful campaign for the North Londoners, who have finished inside the top four in the Premier League to secure UEFA Champions League football next season.
A season of transition for Tottenham Hotspur, as they look to rebuild under new manager Antonio Conte.
All fans knew we needed a rebuild, Daniel Levy knew we needed a rebuild, but the funds for it were only going to be released if the head coach proved himself worthy of receiving that backing.
It takes us back to Terry Venables when the FA refused to offer him a new contract until they saw how he did at the European Championships, to which his response was I don't do auditions.
Well, Spurs' head coach has to do an audition.
Daniel Levy had decided he will only invest after the head coach had proved he could work with the club and it's players.
He had to do an audition, regardless of who he was.
Nuno Espírito Santo failed that audition and Levy moved swiftly to remove him and return to try and convince the man he wanted from the start.
It was down to Levy that we signed Antonio Conte, although his detractors won't want to hear that, it doesn't fit their rhetoric.
The short term contract is simply to ensure the club don't have a huge redundancy bill if things didn't work out.
They did work out so two 'essential' purchases were made (initial loan deals) to bring in Kulusevski and Bentancour, both who have proved their worth.
The talks between Daniel Levy and Antonio Conte have basically been along the lines of you have proved you can turn this club around so you will be backed, which was the agreed plan at the outset.
Rebuilding the Spurs squad has always been the goal.
Right from the beginning Conte wanted 6 new players in the first year, he got 2 in January and will receive a minimum of 4 during the summer.
Having secured UEFA Champions League football and the extra revenue that brings, we may well see more than 4 brought through the door.
Ben Davies will rotate with a new left-footed centre-back becoming a dependable the number two for the position.
Both wing-back areas will be strengthened, I say wing-backs because today a full-backs job is to be an attacker first and a defender second, although obviously the defending element is important.
I would be looking for an upgrade for Højbjerg with Oliver Skipp returning from injury, plus a more creative midfielder and upgrade on some squad members, particularly out wide.
The telling statistic that show end product.
One of my many mantras is end product, what is the end product?
Lamela didn't have enough of it, Bergwijn hasn't had enough of it, Moura doesn't have enough of it, although all could have their day.
Son and Kulusevski however, show us what we should be aiming for and their replacements should be looking to do the same.
Kulusevski has contributed to 30% of our goals while he has been on the pitch, Son has contributed to 46%.
In contrast Bergwijn has contributed to 6% of the goals we have scored while he has been on the pitch and Moura 12%.
Those are very telling statistics.
Moura can provide something different, pace and running at defenders but he lets himself down with his passing and the amount of times he loses the ball in the wrong areas.
You could make a case for retaining him but we need better than Bergwijn so the fact he wants to leave to play regularly isn't an issue.
The bottom line is goals win matches, looking good is irrelevant, a player isn't here for his personal ego, he is here for the good of the team, or he should be.
The fact that we have Champions League football will make a difference to our recruitment, players want it, it's the number one factor for 95% at that level.
We don't want to get involved with the 5% of money grabbers like Ndombele who become a noose around your neck.
We don't want to get involved with those players obsessed with their profile on social media, like Dele Alli, they lose their drive.
Spurs have searched for young hungry players before, but this time we need to search for young, hungry, ready players with the right mental approach.
It has been a regular failing of ours not getting the right mentality of players and not developing mentality within the club well enough.
The appointment of a first team sports psychologist has been one of our key signings this season and let's hope the new injury prevention and recovery individual can make an impact to our incessant long term injury woes.
The Kaisen approach, you analyse every aspect of the club and you constantly seek to make little improvements. I have preached it for a while and Daniel Levy puts it into practice.
"Antonio Conte witnessed one the first-team player eat nachos on his first day following his appointment. He then banned all heavy foods, including nachos, sandwiches, ketchup, mayonnaise, oil and butter." [The Athletic]
I can relate to the positive things he does for this club and why, even if others hatred blinds them.
The future is a bright one, once again after a little hiccup, which serves as a reminder to our fans that progress is not a constant upward line, it is a long term trend.
Spurs are still on the upward curve.
4 comments
For me the wing-back positions on both sides have been weak points. This has been somewhat ameliorated by our existing players learning to play better recently though. I expect that will still require some new blood though. A shame about Reguillon. He seems a lovely lad, but no real signs he has what it takes. Most of the others still in the scales.
COYS!!
I also agree - very much so - that the most important factors of our progress are looking very good with recruitment having improved exponentially with a focus on temperament & mentality, and we also have a psychologist to help work on that element too (Not even to mention we now have a fantastic manager in Conté of course).
I don't believe Spurs have been 'Spursy' for quite a while now, but it's a very easy stick to beat us with as clearly we have been at some points in our history. Now our failures in that respect are no better or worse than most other teams at the same level - they just ge…