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Tottenham Hotspur What went right Despite potential roadblocks (stadium issues, transfer issues, long-term questions about manager and key players, injury issues), the club qualified for the Champions League while getting into a Final of a major competition. Spurs have continued to mature as a side, getting past the semi-final hurdle for the first time since Pochettino's first season, along with finding a way to win in plenty of matches that they may have drawn or lost in past season. "Spursy" has for the most part effectively been killed off, partly due to improvement from some members of the first team squad, but also due to the manager's own progress tactically. Additionally there are a few notable performances worth mentioning; Son, Sissoko, Alderweireld, Vertonghen. Son won the supporters player of the season, and clearly is continuing to improve. He has probably made the leap into the conversation into Elite forwards in the league. Sissoko is a story of redemption, having improved massively over the last 18 months and becoming a key contributor to a CL side. Alderweireld probably was underrated by most Spurs supporters this season. He played the 2nd most minutes to Lloris, and his overall quality as a defender allows for a lot of flexibility in tactics from Pochettino. Vertonghen performed individually at arguably his best level in a Spurs shirt and at times may have even bested Toby. The two of them as a back line continue to allow for Spurs to have a solid base. What went wrong Quite a bit actually. The stadium opening was a disaster, with continued delays and issues with fans over ticketing amidst an ever decreasing "home-field advantage" at Wembley. While Spurs were able to turn Wembley into a bit of a home ground for a period last season, attendances dropped and general reviews of the match atmosphere were poor. Many supporters will tell you Spurs played 3/4ths of their season away from home, which has to be viewed as a failure. Playing a cup tie at Stadium MK ended up being a necessity, which was also disappointing. The transfer window lack of activity has clearly caught up to the squad. While 1-14 probably match up with just about anyone, it is clearly 15-25 just simply aren't at the level to be able to compete with City or Liverpool. Lucas Moura was the clubs last signing 18 months ago. There is some debate as to if funds are available, Poch is asking for money, while there are whispers Poch is actually the one vetoing players. There are serious concerns about the future of a few key contributors, with Alderweireld and Eriksen being the chief threats to depart in the summer window. Losing either would be a significant blow, both would probably put Spurs as outsiders to make the top 4 next season. There are even more worries now about Pochettino departing despite United appointing OGS, as he is increasingly talking about the need to make changes and stating he may need to consider his future. There were also a few players who probably didn't do themselves justice this season. Despite having a good world cup, Trippier is now considered below the level needed, and plenty would be happy to see him gone. Dele appears to have dropped a level from his peak last season. Though Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama both missed significant parts of the season due to injury, neither of them looked fit to fill the roles required when healthy. The squad needs quite a bit of work/improvement. Highlight of the season A tie between opening the new stadium and reaching a major European final. By all accounts the stadium is among the best in world football and I can't wait to get back over next season. Having said that, it is been an absolutely incredible European campaign. 1 point after 3 group matches and yet qualification was assured by getting a point in Barcelona (tough to do based on United/Liverpool's efforts there). An absolutely electric night in Manchester saw them progress against maybe the best team in Europe (with a little help from VAR). Another wild 45 minutes in Amsterdam and a brilliant set of finishes from Lucas Moura brought Spurs back to the promised land for the first time since 1984.
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May 12, 2019 20:38
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EvilHawk posted:I'm actually dead interested in hearing more about this because it's something I've been wondering for a while. Everyone has been lauding Poch for doing so much with so little, but for me he doesn't sound like someone who's annoyed that he can't spend the money. Is it (potentially) a case of him simply saying that the players they could get for the money they could offer wouldn't be good enough? At a few different points over the last few windows Pochettino has openly stated if the quality of a player wasn't sufficient enough to improve the first XI, he had his doubts about making changes. He typically cites Harry Kane as the main evidence of this, as Spurs have struggled to get a reliable 2nd choice striker (using a combination of Son/Llorente). His point is essentially, "who is going to come here to sit on the bench every week while Kane plays every minute he is fit?'. This of course is a bit thick, since Kane is showing an inability to play every minute of long campaigns, no one can. If you go back a little bit further there are questions that can be raised ever since Paul Mitchell left in 2016/17. Some claim Poch was the main driver behind bringing in Sissoko around that time, knowing him from his performances in the league. Two problems with this of course; 1) No one person can be a manager and chief of scouting for a top level team and 2) Sissoko was pretty terrible at the time he was purchased from Newcastler (source - everyone). Beyond that if you look at players who Spurs have purchased, there are a distressing number of players who come from previous stops in Poch's own career. Pau Lopez was from Espanyol, Toby Alderweireld and Paolo Gazzaniga both played at Southampton, Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura both at former Poch playing club PSG. Mitchell and Pochettino had worked together at Southampton as well, so it is hard to know where exactly some of those decisions were made. But if Poch really does have the power it seems like both Levy and him agree that he does, they sure do keep buying players and pretty much only players that Pochettino has someone telling him from his past are likely to come good.
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May 12, 2019 20:56
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Der Shovel posted:Didn't he say that if Spurs win the Champions League, he's gone? If that's the case, that's one hell of a catch 22. He has been doing a little bit more of that lately. It seemed quite possible he was joking, as he later said he would go if they win or if they lose (which seemed much more like a joke). Either way, it seems clear he is at least thinking about the idea if Levy doesn't give him what he wants. For me, it feels like after 5 years and moving the club towards stability as a top 10ish team in Europe, that he wants to do something else. He would be fine doing that at Spurs, as long as Levy made it clear the plan was to try and become a top 3-5 team in Europe (and was prepared to spend like it)
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May 13, 2019 14:18
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habeasdorkus posted:I'm not sure you can really say that when Spurs are one moderate upset away from a big, big trophy. But your underlying point is a good one as fullback was a relative weakness for Spurs this year. I'd disagree there. In the last few years Spurs have failed to progress out of 3 semi finals against similar quality of opposition (Chelsea 2x, United 1) and were multiple breaks away from either being dumped out of the CL in the Quarters/Semi stage. I'd argue at this point it is clear that Spurs are good enough to win a knockout competition (though obviously the CL would be an over achievement compared to the League cup), but clearly are not at the same level as teams who expect to win multiple trophies per season (or expect to be right there). Poch tends to prefer styles of play that involve Fullbacks/Wingbacks of a certain quality. Spurs haven't recovered since selling Kyle Walker. They went from a team that could very well win the league to a team that likely would finish top 4. In my opinion, they won't move back to the level of "could with the league" until they upgrade back to the level of Walker pre city and upgrade on Rose (who has regressed from the level he was at during that campaign). Problematically, Spurs have other issues that they haven't resolved.
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May 16, 2019 20:07
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