The Spurs thread | 2017-18 season | Serious thread - wummers/derailers will be threadbanned

Will Spurs finish in the top four in the upcoming season?


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If Spurs wants to compete for multiple fronts they won't get top 4. If they focus solely on the PL I can see them getting top 4 again. They need the CL money year after year to continue their growth.
 
Not much. It's been very quiet for them which probably suggests they'll do a Levy special late signing which never really works out. Also seems unlikely they'll sell too many players as the last thing they want is 4/5 players leaving and having to replace them late in the window. That probably suggests that players like Jannsen and Sissoko will remain with them. Dier might leave which will be an issue for them as they'll need to find a replacement unless they promote Carter Vickers (who is widely regarded as their best youth talent) according to Spurs fans on here.

If they continue to finish high on the league table but win nothing I think some players might start to look elsewhere.

It seems Walker's head was turned quite easily, reports are suggesting that Dier wants to move to us too, then you'll have the likes of Lloris, Vertonghen etc who are in their prime and haven't achieved much to show for it yet.
They'll do well to keep their best players unless they start winning.
 
If they continue to finish high on the league table but win nothing I think some players might start to look elsewhere.

It seems Walker's head was turned quite easily, reports are suggesting that Dier wants to move to us too, then you'll have the likes of Lloris, Vertonghen etc who are in their prime and haven't achieved much to show for it yet.
They'll do well to keep their best players unless they start winning.

I honestly don't think there's anything in it. What most players care about is money, as long as they're paid well they don't give a feck (see Arsenal). The ambitious players might leave, but only if big, big offers come in from the right clubs and as we saw with Bale, Levy won't exactly make it easy and will delay the sale by a Season at least. Ultimately what Spurs really need is to get into their new Stadium asap and then revise their wage structure to fit the current PL wage structure to keep players happy.

They need to keep hold of Pochettino. That's their most important asset.
 
Really don't see Walker and Dier(if he goes) as a big issue for them. They'll get a ridiculous price for two players who aren't that tough to replace, Trippier has already replaced Walker for them.

Dier would be tough to replace as he seamlessly covers two positions so negates the need for a separate CB and DM. That said I'd be very surprised if he wasn't still there come September.
 
I honestly don't think there's anything in it. What most players care about is money, as long as they're paid well they don't give a feck (see Arsenal). The ambitious players might leave, but only if big, big offers come in from the right clubs and as we saw with Bale, Levy won't exactly make it easy and will delay the sale by a Season at least. Ultimately what Spurs really need is to get into their new Stadium asap and then revise their wage structure to fit the current PL wage structure to keep players happy.

They need to keep hold of Pochettino. That's their most important asset.

I agree on Poch being their most important asset, but I don't agree that players only care about money. And even if that's the case, plenty of other clubs can offer Dier, Alli, Lloris etc much better wages too.

But we shall see, its certainly going to be interesting to see how they cope with pressure & expectation to succeed from the start of a campaign, their last two seasons they benefited from going under the radar until Feb/March time.
 
I think you're under rating Spurs and over rating the rest. Still plenty of time left in the Transfer window though so it's still a bit early to be making any predictions.
I just don't think they have the depth to win the League
 
Dier has huge value to Spurs because of his flexibility. He allows Pochettino to play multiple formations in the same match, and gives a huge amount of ability to make substitions and changes in other areas of the pitch. Spurs will often play 2 or even 3 formations in the same match, and Pochettino absolutely relishes having that ability. It's possibly a bit frustrating to Dier because he wants to nail down the CDM spot for England before the World Cup, but his fluidity positionally is a huge part of Spurs success the past 2 seasons.

For example - if Spurs start with 3 at the back and Dier playing RCB in that formation, even without substitutions Pochettino can (and does) switch to more of a 4-3-2-1 defensive arrangement with Dier stepping up next to Wanyama, or maybe to 4-4-1-1 attacking with the right back stepping up as a winger and Dier sliding further right into the nominal RB position. If Pochettino needs to make a sub, he can remove a CB, RB or CM and know that Dier can slide into any of those spots - so he can sub off whoever is the most tired or playing poorly on that day and not be tied by positions or have to make multiple substitutions just for tactical purposes.

All of that has huge value to a manager who loves to flex his formations during matches in real time. I think you'd see a big fracture between Pochettino and Levy if Dier was sold, and that's the #1 reason I can't see him going anywhere this year or next.
 
I agree on Poch being their most important asset, but I don't agree that players only care about money. And even if that's the case, plenty of other clubs can offer Dier, Alli, Lloris etc much better wages too.

But we shall see, its certainly going to be interesting to see how they cope with pressure & expectation to succeed from the start of a campaign, their last two seasons they benefited from going under the radar until Feb/March time.

Last season I was convinced that their pre season was the reason for their slow start. The key players that were rested played the last two pre season games and looked rusty through August. I haven't checked what they're doing this year, I think they're over in America but i'm not sure how many games they're actually playing this time round. Last year they were in some weird cup in Scandinavia I think?

Luckily for them, they have a pretty decent set of fixtures at Home (Chelsea and Liverpool are the toughest fixtures) before they get to the Christmas period. So I don't think the Wembley move will be as much of an issue as some might think. The fixture list let them off the hook with that one.
 
Not seen them linked to any player that will improve their first 11, but more strengthening the squad, which is needed if they want to go anywhere in cup competitions as well as the league.

The stadium will hold them back in the transfer market, which could cause them to fall behind the top teams and potential fall outside of the top 4, making it extremely difficult to attract players of good enough quality to improve them.

The other big issue is their wage budget, which is fantastic for the money men of Tottenham, but again, will cause players to leave and quality players to sign.

They have a good balance of expericed players and younger, talented players in their squad. However, there are few that have actually won anything in their careers to give them that winning mentality. They really need to win some silverware in the near future to give this squad that winning feeling. Being nearly men is not what footballers would want to look back on in the future.

The more ambitious players will start to push for moves, like Walker and Dier. I feel players like Alli and Kane won't stay just to be part of a team that doesn't win anything but players football the correct way. They are the sort of players who need and want to be winning trophies every season.
 
I just don't think they have the depth to win the League

Spurs just had a season where they had 86 points and a +60GD despite missing Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld for big chunks of time and the best LB in the league only played 18 matches - not mentioning guys like Erik Lamela that basically didn't play at all. That speaks very highly to Spurs depth. I do agree that one or two more strong squad members would be nice, but frankly - just avoiding major injuries to the stars would be even better.
 
Will be sad to see Walker go but in a way, it makes sense.

Out of all our major players, he's the one who is most expendable imo. The 2 cbs, Rose, Dembele, Alli, Eriksen, Kane and Lloris would all be much worse. 50 million is a pretty decent amount and Trippier did an excellent job when Walker fell out with Poch last season and was dropped (though I don't think he's as strong defensively as Walker).

I also can't begrudge him the move. He's been here for a long time now, reaching the age where he's starting to approach final contract time (as in when it will be negotiated) and he'll be closer to home up in Manchester.

Dier is a whole different matter. It would be pretty crap from whichever of Levy or Poch if they did sanction a sale and would make the squad significantly worse imo.
 
Agreed. Don't think many Spurs fans will think they can do it either. They missed their opportunity in the last two Seasons imo.

I don't think we do either but in fairness, it is very difficult to predict the future. And when people say this missed opportunity thing...football changes so quickly.

I think it is fair to say that very people would have had us pegged as the main title challenger for both of the past 2 seasons. I also think its fair to say that many people said missing out vs Leicester was our best ever chance and we would drop down the table as the others became better again the next season. As it was, that didn't materialise.

I think it is very very difficult to predict this kind of thing tbh.
 
Spurs just had a season where they had 86 points and a +60GD despite missing Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld for big chunks of time and the best LB in the league only played 18 matches - not mentioning guys like Erik Lamela that basically didn't play at all. That speaks very highly to Spurs depth. I do agree that one or two more strong squad members would be nice, but frankly - just avoiding major injuries to the stars would be even better.

Normally i'd agree. But switching to Wembley will cost you points at Home that you wouldn't normally drop at White Hart Lane. You only dropped 4 points at Home last season, which is incredible. This means you'll need to improve your Away form to counter the dropped points at Home and that's where you struggled last year.

West Ham - Lost 1-0
Liverpool - Lost 2-0
Sunderland - Drew 0-0
City - Drew 2-2
United - Lost 1-0
Chelsea - Lost 2-1
Arsenal - Drew 1-1
West Brom - Drew 1-1
Bournemouth - Drew 0-0
Everton - Drew 1-1

If you look at those results, the only club in the Top 10 you actually managed to beat away was Southampton. All the other clubs you dropped points against. In fact you only dropped points at West Ham and Sunderland from the bottom 10. The good news I suppose is in all of those games you only missed out on improving the result by 1 goal (except Liverpool). But that's the area of your season you really have to improve in, thats where you have to improve in to balance out the points lost at Home.
 
So can anyone envisage Spurs going through a similar period to Arsenal when they moved into their new stadium? i.e., their in inability to compete in the market and pay the big wages. Obviously this will be detrimental to their competitiveness in the league - for the immediate future, at least. They're not paying their big stars the wages now, especially in comparison to teams around them, and while that hasn't hindered them so far as they've been very competitive and put in some great performances over the last couple of seasons, surely that will change - especially if they continue to win nothing and their players start to get itchy feet.

I can obviously understand the need and excitement of moving into a brand new stadium, but surely, in the short term at least, this is going to have a huge financial impact on them. I'm not trying to paint a doomsday picture here and say they're going to be fighting relegation or something ridiculous like that, but dropping out of the top four could be a possibility in my opinion.
 
So can anyone envisage Spurs going through a similar period to Arsenal when they moved into their new stadium? i.e., their in inability to compete in the market and pay the big wages. Obviously this will be detrimental to their competitiveness in the league - for the immediate future, at least. They're not paying their big stars the wages now, especially in comparison to teams around them, and while that hasn't hindered them so far as they've been very competitive and put in some great performances over the last couple of seasons, surely that will change - especially if they continue to win nothing and their players start to get itchy feet.

I can obviously understand the need and excitement of moving into a brand new stadium, but surely, in the short term at least, this is going to have a huge financial impact on them. I'm not trying to paint a doomsday picture here and say they're going to be fighting relegation or something ridiculous like that, but dropping out of the top four could be a possibility in my opinion.

It won't be as bad as there is far more money in football than there was when Emirates was built. But I do think the first thing they need to do is sit down and have a hard talk about wages before it causes a big issue in the squad. If they don't then they will lose out on future signings but also players leaving like Walker for being pay packets and unlike Walker it will be players they don't want to leave.
 
It won't be as bad as there is far more money in football than there was when Emirates was built. But I do think the first thing they need to do is sit down and have a hard talk about wages before it causes a big issue in the squad. If they don't then they will lose out on future signings but also players leaving like Walker for being pay packets and unlike Walker it will be players they don't want to leave.


Sure, but wouldn't that extra money that's available now just be going towards paying the stadium off, therefore leaving their transfer funds rather depleted. But yeah, i suppose it won't be as bad as Arsenal, but it's still going to be an issue for them in the short term i think.

Anyway, i agree with the wages. I genuinely can't see Harry Kane leaving that club as he seem to live and breathe Tottenham. But as for the others...
 
Once a selling club, always a selling club.. just for bigger amounts
 
I don't rate them as highly as you do. Will Alli and Kane have another great season? Probably, probably not. The rest of the team is strong with a very good manager but they might run into "2nd season" syndrome. I know everyone thought the other top teams will be stronger last season, but this season, I'm sure that City and United will be stronger. Arsenal I am not sure, but Chelsea will be strong as well. Let's see
This is what people said before last season "2nd season syndrome" etc. It didn't happem and they got better.

Personally I don't rate Guardiola quite as high as others. I don't think he's strong enough mentally and won't get them as Champions without a Messi, Neymar.

Chelsea won't retain. Eventually the power of Rom takes over after the honeymoon period. Leaks from the club suggest Conte isn't happy.

I'd like to think United will be better, but they never prove it.

I think Spurs have a big gap to exploit. Alli and Kane will definitely have another great season. They cannot be underestimated
 
Really good articl here on Spurs:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...enham-transfers-daniel-levy-kyle-walker-spurs

Some of the good points made are:

- Spurs have quality players earning much less than they could elsewhere.

- How can they continue to sustain this? Longterm they simply can't. They either break the wage structure or lose players.


- They are going to struggle improve on what they have as they won't pay big fees and wages that are required.

I guess it's what we already know but a good read nonetheless.

Spurs turnover figs were £209.8m for 2015-6.

Chelsea,Man utd,Man city wage bill for the same season are reported by various sources to be around £190mil-£210mil.

So clearly they will be under pressure to keep players happy.

Selling players like Walker and Dier is good business if the replacements are cheaper.

I think they will just have to find away to pay Kane and Alli the going rate.
 
I can actually see them winning the league next season or at the very least challenging until the very end. They are very stable squad wise and I don't expect Chelsea to reach the same heights as last season. They need to transition smoothly to Wembley and do smart business for the rest of the transfer market which I think they'll do as they're being linked with the right kind of players. It's impossible not to admire the work they've been doing for the last few years.
 
Spurs turnover figs were £209.8m for 2015-6.

Chelsea,Man utd,Man city wage bill for the same season are reported by various sources to be around £190mil-£210mil.

So clearly they will be under pressure to keep players happy.

Selling players like Walker and Dier is good business if the replacements are cheaper.

I think they will just have to find away to pay Kane and Alli the going rate.

Levy has stated quite clearly that he has no intention of altering the wage structure at Spurs, due in no small part to their new stadium far exceeding the projected costs. It was previously thought the new stadium would cost £400m but that figure has risen drastically to £800m over the last year of production. Diabolcal management if you ask me. The forseeable future will see no Spurs players receiving their just rewards, at least not in the form of a wage increase.

Edit^

Wanyama and Alderweireld have been offered new contracts that they are yet to sign. Safe to assume they aren't happy with the salary on offer.
 
Levy has stated quite clearly that he has no intention of altering the wage structure at Spurs, due in no small part to their new stadium far exceeding the projected costs. It was previously thought the new stadium would cost £400m but that figure has risen drastically to £800m over the last year of production

The stadium cost number of £400m was from the original proposal 8 years ago, when Spurs were looking at building a fairly standard football stadium for a upper middle table football club. Since then, the profile of the club has risen dramatically and the money into the PL has exploded - Spurs have now moved on to building what will likely be one of the finest football stadiums in the entire world, in addition to an entire entertainment complex and the facilities to natively host NFL games and other entertainment events in London on a regular basis. The two projects aren't even really comparable (and obviously, neither are the prices). Brexit didn't help the bottom line either, but it does appear in recent statements that Spurs have managed to mitigate at least part of the Brexit penalty.

Trying to compare the original stadium design to the one being currently built is pretty laughable.
 
Just to add - Spurs approved planning application for the stadium as it is being built currently (so before ground was broken) estimated a cost of £750m (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...dium-cost-750m-double-original-estimates.html). Brexit has tacked on some so going from £750m to £800m under those circumstances is pretty understandable.

The £400m number is from a building project that was never approved or undertaken. Spurs had moved on from that design years ago.
 
So Walker's gone then, and I reckon one more of this Spurs crop will also leave this window.

How many games did Walker play last season? I remember he started being phased out at the end of the season.

Will he be a big miss to them (not interested in the Glastonesque 'Levy Worship' that often takes over here - just honest answers)?
 
Just to add - Spurs approved planning application for the stadium as it is being built currently (so before ground was broken) estimated a cost of £750m (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...dium-cost-750m-double-original-estimates.html). Brexit has tacked on some so going from £750m to £800m under those circumstances is pretty understandable.

The £400m number is from a building project that was never approved or undertaken. Spurs had moved on from that design years ago.

I wasn't aware, apologies. Presumably the £50m loss is due in part to foriegn exchange rates increasing 20% (I work in the construction business, don't even get me started on Brexit we'll be here all day) Of course it's not entirely down to Brexit. Sure the revised basement plans would add significantly to the overall costs, but have you factored in overtime and construction costs of which far exceeded the initial projection?

It's irrelevant either way. With the revised new stadium costing upwards of £750m, Levy is simply unable to fund a new wage policy at Spurs right now and for the forseeable future. Selling Walker was a neccessity (not that Levy will admit that) and it's safe to assume futher departures from Spurs will occur sooner or later.
 
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So Walker's gone then, and I reckon one more of this Spurs crop will also leave this window.

How many games did Walker play last season? I remember he started being phased out at the end of the season.

Will he be a big miss to them (not interested in the Glastonesque 'Levy Worship' that often takes over here - just honest answers)?

Up for debate I guess.

Trippier looked decent in the few games I've seen of him, but it's uncertain as to whether he will play to a consistently high standard like his predecessor did.
 
So Walker's gone then, and I reckon one more of this Spurs crop will also leave this window.

How many games did Walker play last season? I remember he started being phased out at the end of the season.

Will he be a big miss to them (not interested in the Glastonesque 'Levy Worship' that often takes over here - just honest answers)?

Depends who we get in as a replacement really, I'm happy For Trippier to be our main WB/RB and get in someone to push him. Don't think it will effect us much at all if Trippier continues where he left off. Walker is a good player, but not without his problems both in defence and attack.
 
So Walker's gone then, and I reckon one more of this Spurs crop will also leave this window.

How many games did Walker play last season? I remember he started being phased out at the end of the season.

Will he be a big miss to them (not interested in the Glastonesque 'Levy Worship' that often takes over here - just honest answers)?

Difficult to say. I said earlier in this thread that he was definitely the most expendable out of all the 'key players' we have but he's still a great rb.

Attacking wise, I think Tripper is his equal tbh (in terms of creating chances, crosses etc). Where I think there is a difference is in defence (Walker is better) and Walker's athleticism and pace, which by itself can both help get him out of awkward situations defensively and also pin the opposition winger back a bit.

Against most teams in the league, he may not necessarily be a huge loss (especially if Rose is on the other side). I think he'll be missed against the top teams though (assuming we only keep Trippier).

Kyle Walker-Peters is very highly rated but I think this season comes perhaps a season or two too early for him unfortunately.
 
Difficult to say. I said earlier in this thread that he was definitely the most expendable out of all the 'key players' we have but he's still a great rb.

Attacking wise, I think Tripper is his equal tbh (in terms of creating chances, crosses etc). Where I think there is a difference is in defence (Walker is better) and Walker's athleticism and pace, which by itself can both help get him out of awkward situations defensively and also pin the opposition winger back a bit.

Against most teams in the league, he may not necessarily be a huge loss (especially if Rose is on the other side). I think he'll be missed against the top teams though (assuming we only keep Trippier).

Kyle Walker-Peters is very highly rated but I think this season comes perhaps a season or two too early for him unfortunately.
Agree with this. I think the biggest thing we'll miss about Walker is his pace and, subsequently, his ability to recover when he's caught up the pitch or otherwise out of position.

In terms of the attack, Trippier should provide a boost with his ability to cross the ball. There aren't many fullbacks that match him in this department. He's not going to take on defenders and beat them for pace down the wing like Walker did, but he'll create a lot of chances for our attackers.

We do need to sign someone to come in and compete with him. Maybe Pereira will be that player, because I agree it's a season too soon for KWP.
 
Not sure how Spurs will ever look to compete if they are selling their key players.

You can dress it up all you want, Walker a first choice RB wanted to leave to further his career. Interesting to see who they replace him with post Walker. Can spurs shake off their selling club mentality?
 
Do Spurs actually have a RB from the academy named Kyle Walker-Peters who could replace Kyle Walker?
 
Do Spurs actually have a RB from the academy named Kyle Walker-Peters who could replace Kyle Walker?

Coincidence? I think not. Levy is cloning his players and shoving them in to the academy hoping no one will notice. How else do you explain Spurs' seemingly endless producton line of top young talent?

Kind of obvious when you think about it.
 
Not sure how Spurs will ever look to compete if they are selling their key players.

You can dress it up all you want, Walker a first choice RB wanted to leave to further his career. Interesting to see who they replace him with post Walker. Can spurs shake off their selling club mentality?

I don't think Walker can be fairly regarded as a "key" player for Spurs. The only players I'd put in that category are Lloris, Alderweireld, Eriksen, Alli and Kane.

Walker is a very good wingback, but Trippier is a decent replacement with attributes of his own. I'd also say that Walker left mainly for two reasons: more money and to move back up north (which his wife/partner apparently wanted), rather than to further his career.
 
I don't think Walker can be fairly regarded as a "key" player for Spurs. The only players I'd put in that category are Lloris, Alderweireld, Eriksen, Alli and Kane.

Walker is a very good wingback, but Trippier is a decent replacement with attributes of his own. I'd also say that Walker left mainly for two reasons: more money and to move back up north (which his wife/partner apparently wanted), rather than to further his career.
He left because DADDY Pep WANT WANT WANTED him
 
Kyle Walker moving to City debunks the myth that Spurs don't see to rivals.

Bonucci moving to Milan from a much bigger club than Spurs debunks the myth that players don't move to 6th placed teams.

Both in the same day.
 
Kyle Walker moving to City debunks the myth that Spurs don't see to rivals.

Bonucci moving to Milan from a much bigger club than Spurs debunks the myth that players don't move to 6th placed teams.

Both in the same day.

The "myth" - post-Berbatov - is that Spurs no longer sell star players to rivals. The myth lives on.
 
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