Pochettino's limited role in the summer transfer window

As we approach our final Premier League game against Everton on Sunday, both hope and excitement will permeate through our fan-base, as the summer transfer window, and ultimately, player recruitment begins.

After the unforgettable nightmare of the summer window in 2013 – which is still making us suffer to this day – you will be relieved to hear that it is rumoured Franco Baldini is to have a limited role when it comes to transfer activity this time around. In fact, The Daily Mail Online has even gone as far as saying that Baldini will be handed his P45 after the summer window closes.

So with Baldini slowly creeping out of the picture, does this leave recruitment decisions solely with Mauricio Pochettino, Daniel Levy and Paul Mitchell? Pochettino has argued that he will have the final say – telling journalists who asked who’d make the ultimate decisions: “I think it should be me, no?”

But after a lame last two windows, should Mauricio Pochettino really be granted that overriding responsibility alone?

A cut-throat, cold manager

In his most recent press conference, boss-Pochettino has urged players at the club that no-one is safe from the chop this summer – not even those bought-in by the Argentine. Our Head Coach has said: “Always you need to analyse the last season and nobody is sure to stay at the club. If you bring in a player and the performance was not good, it is not good. You take a decision. The thing that you bring, you try to sell. I don’t know, but you take a decision.

“You need to be professional when you take a decision. My first speech with the players is one thing is the human side, the other the professional side. I am very cold on my professional side when I need to take a decision.”

Along with those who were brought into the club before Pochettino’s reign began expected to leave, this also makes for uncertain futures for the trio of Ben Davies, Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli.

Does this make for a clueless manager too?

It’ fair to say that Pochettino will take no flak if players such as Paulinho or Roberto Soldado are waved off this coming-window, but surely he must be held accountable if any of those, who he had brought in himself, do indeed leave?

As Pochettino has specifically brought up the topic of no players being spared of his coldness, especially those brought in last summer – he is almost forewarning fans of their potential exits – so we, in time, are not left surprised if they are sent packing.

Pochettino’s comments are in-time with the Daily Mirror’s piece that Benjamin Stambouli is in advanced talks with Ligue 1 runners-up Marseille. Stambouli has only played 11 games for the club and has been dubbed as a merely a cheap alternative to Morgan Schneiderlin. In addition, Federico Fazio and Ben Davies have both played sparingly and have also failed to impress when given a chance. As a result, it seems neither of these three are safe from being sold!

Whether these players are sold because they are simply not good enough, or because they haven’t been given a fair run in the side, will undoubtedly leave the blame solely on Pochettino’s shoulders. If any of these three are sold, they must surely be labelled as ‘Pochettino transfer flops’ – as Stambouli cost up-to £6m; Fazio £8m, while Ben Davies was in a swap deal with Gylfi Sigurðsson – a player who I personally felt should’ve stayed.

Pochettino’s PL past come back to haunt?

It may be slightly unfounded to suggest that Pochettino should not be trusted with transfer dealings this summer on the basis of three signings alone, but – and in comparison – Franco Baldini has been hung out to dry (and rightly so) for the mess he made in 2013, so why should any other figurehead at Tottenham be exempt from facing consequences of dealings gone wrong?

During his time at Southampton, Pochettino spent £36 million on three players. Two of the signings, Victor Wanyama and Dejan Lovren were a success, but the third – Dani Osvaldo – was a disaster, and was considered even worse, as the Saints had paid a club record-breaking fee of £15m for his services.

It is without any doubt that Pochettino had asked Southampton to bring in fellow-Argentine Osvaldo (having previously worked with him at Espanyol), who is now out on-loan at Boca Juniors. The striker, known for his fiery clashes with other professionals, fell-out of favour at St.Mary’s after getting involved in a touch-line scuffle at Newcastle in December 2013. This was made worse, weeks later, after Osvaldo broke the nose of team-mate Jose Fonte in a training-ground bust-up.

Just as we, through Baldini and Levy, paid a club-record fee for a striker not suited to the Premier League, Pochettino at Southampton did exactly the same! As a result, should we really be willing to trust Pochettino alone with a designated transfer budget?

Mitchell our only hope, or a false one?

As Pochettino’s sense in the transfer market is still too unpredictable to call, many of us will (and have) taken hope that the appointment of Paul Mitchell, back in November, will better prepare us this window. Mitchell was head-hunted by Levy, after his innovative ‘black-box’ method proved a success for Southampton.

Many, who have pinned their hopes on Mitchell being our guiding light in upcoming windows, have praised him for his role in the massive summer of change that had taken place at St.Mary’s last year. However, we should be wary as to what can be credited to Mitchell – with most signs suggesting that Ronald Koeman was the driving force behind his side’s upheaval.

That being said, it is without a doubt that Paul Mitchell is an exciting talent to have at our club in the department of player recruitment – and over time, we may well see some Saints-eqsque success stories at Spurs, in seasons to come.

With the 33-year-old having been at the club since November, Mitchell has been given around eight months to work with Pochettino to draw up targets – and if this window isn’t a success, it won’t be long before he too will face the firing line – just like Baldini.

But since it is Mauricio Pochettino who has come out in the press, urging Spurs to be “clever” in future transfer windows, we can only hope that our Head Coach practices what he preaches – and that we, the fans, will be celebrating signings made come May 2016, not being left with receipts of rue.

 

I can't agree with your analysis of the summer 2014 dealings. Fazio was a cheap option, just as Stamboulie was, for Pochettino's preferred centre back.
That leaves Dier and Davies. Dier was promising, and Davies , if nothing else, provided competition to danny Rose which may well have been a factor in his improvement. I saw Davies in the flesh in the home Fioretnina leg on a rare trip over to the Lane, and was impressed with him that night. I wouldn't be writing off a young Welsh left-back on the basis of a slow first season!

 

I agree dier for me remember is only 20 years old recently switched to a different league and done well in the main. At a similar age terry was nearly sold and carragher was a shadow of what he became and also playing in a bk four lacking leaders. Davies has been hit and miss but he is still young and ample time to improve!
Schneiderlin has to be the primary target and if he is available for 25m make the bid today ffs. Miralles 2nd buy with lennon makeweight. The deadwood will be difficult to shift so the first saleable assets should be Townsend and dembele unfortunately for me.

 

I think you've got it wrong. Pochettino (hopefully )has the final saying on who is bought, but he is not doing the scouting himself. The scouting is being done by Mitchell and his crew, who will recommend the players suited to Poch's chosen playing style, then Poch makes the final decision who will be bought.

 

We need a big clear out and improvement in quality we knew this last summer but failed miserably.
So we need it even more so this summer, do we have the people in place to deliver whats needed.
The evidence would suggest no, Pochettino is not a major pull across the globe his track record is very average, players signed thus far are no better than average or what we had, his football is 1 dimensional and dull.
Mitchell sounds very inovative but really what has he done? Unearthed Gems that look to be finishing behind us and our disjointed set up? Im sure his 'black box' will be useful when picking through yet another wreckage.
Levy the master negotiator and ultimate failure squeezing the life out of every deal often hindering player movement, snoozing over or offering insulting money for players who would be an upgrade then delivering cheaper poorer alternatives.
With little to no investment, a wage cap, parasites refusing to move, no CL football, possible loss of 1 or 2 of our better players etc....

A recipe for hope and success?

Id love to be proved wrong but were gona need a miracle to move forward with the aformentioned people and issues.

 

Trust them to make another mess this summer! One has to ask why so many players under-perform at Spurs and yet excel in their former or subsequent clubs. The list is rather long! It seems that the problem is not the players per se but the managerial teams employed. Teams like Spurs can only succeed, if they employ a managerial team that is capable of utilising the squad available with some additions at the margin, and produce playing strategies and teams that are capable of competing against teams from both the top and the bottom of the league table. It seems that the managerial teams recently employed have not proved good enough to utilise the squad in their possession and produce winning combinations. In other words, the major fault is the playing style and tactics adopted by successive managerial teams. Such style and approach is simply one-dimensional, inflexible and not appropriate for most games. In this scenario most players of average ability will have a small chance to succeed. Top quality players and football teams in teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City would excel irrespective of the system because they play with other outstanding players and thus their skill level would allow them to outperform most teams they play against. Such teams sometimes struggle against well organised teams such as Arsenal or teams like Crystal Palace. The MP team at Spurs this year, like AVB before, appears to lack understanding of its own team as well as the opposition team’s strengths and weakness. Spurs in essence played the same style and team against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup Final, against Fiorentina in the Europa Cup, Leicester in the FA Cup as well as Liverpool in the Premier League. Inevitably they lost all games. This shows that the squad has enough skill to perform well as shown against Arsenal, Chelsea (5-2 result), West Brom and many other games. Had the team and tactics changed according to the game, it is very possible that the outcomes in the Cup Final and Europa League would have been different. Similarly, a top four would have been within the team’s reach. Thus the conclusion from this analysis is that Spurs needs to sort out the skills of their managerial team first and this does not mean changing the whole team but it means ensuring that the team has somebody strong on tactics and team selection skills. However, it is equally important to ensure that a team approach is implemented and monitored. Once the managerial team is sorted out, then a game plan is simulated for most of 2015/2016 games and on the basis of this exercise, identify the players that need to be bought and sold. It seems that Southampton has done something like this during 2014/2015. I fear that unless the above happens, the current MP team will buy some and sell some players but we will end up with the same game plan, same problem of lack of fit for newcomers and lots of miserable games ahead with a realistic chance of parting company with MP come early January 2016.

 

For me there is someone else who should be taking responsibility for what has happened in the past couple of years and that's the chairman. He's the one constant link across all the transfer windows. We seem to have a wide range of individuals in charge of selecting transfer targets and this group changes every year or so. This is all just a smokescreen to protect the man who is ultimately responsible. It's never Levy's fault and when things go wrong there's always someone else to fall on his sword. Last year Poch wanted Schneiderlin and Musacchio. Levy went and got him cheap substitutes Stambouli and Fazio neither of whom has settled in well. The same will happen this close season. Levy controls the purse strings and his penny pinching will once again see us falling short in the transfer market. We need one good central forward and a midfield general. Get those and next season can hold lots of promise. Unfortunately, with Levy at the helm, I'm not too optimistic.

 

aggree MP is one diamential can't change the tactics before or during a game, his job is to knit the skill set together failed there also. Example the mid field Mason and Bentaleb don't work to alike the better performances this year has been when these two are parted for what ever reason. So trusting him and the committee to bring in game changes dream on..

 

Although I know Levy is not guiltless in any of this (and past transfer dealings) , I think it's foolish to blame every single poor signing on him.

In regards to Fazio, Pochettino wanted Fazio. The defender came out and said Pochettino made contact with him when he was appointed Spurs boss. Here's the link: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tottenham-...e-despite-signing-transfer-window-end-1477488

If any manager is worth his salt (and I'm sure Pochettino is), if any players were signed against his will, he would surely have the backbone to resign (we have all commented on how stubborn the guy is at times) - in similar vein to how Pulis left Crystal Palace.

What disappointed me with AVB was how quick he was to say the 7 players we signed - he didn't want, I'm sorry but if that was 100% the case then he would've packed up his bags and left - as it would undermine his authority as manager; big blow to an ego.

But anyway, just as we shouldn't blame Pochettino for Levy's failings, we shouldn't use Pochettino's flaws merely as a stick to hit-out at Levy.

Both should be made accountable for their individual mistakes, just as both should be praised (when merited) for whatever success the achieve.

 

Anyway wasnt Poch 'very happy' with his squad in August and January?
The defence has been woeful and half the squad have dissapeared whilst still collecting wages?
Now all of a sudden we need changes.
Same old same old it really is

 

I agree that both responsibility and credit should be shared when due. However, other people lose their job when things don't work out as planned Redknapp, Jol, AVB and if rumours are true Baldini and so on. Levy gets a £500,000 rise. Early days there was hope when ENIC came on board. Now I'm afraid that I've run out of patience and cannot see progress while we have this glass financial ceiling imposed on the club. Not looking for a wild spending spree but enough of this so called "Levy look at me I'm a hard negotiator" when some well planned and ambitious squad investment might just take us those vital extra steps

 

I think talking bout getting rid of wrong players Ben Davies is decent needs time Stamboli could be a squad player so much dead wood start doing some swap deals disappointed didn't try and get konoplyanka in last transfer he's a good winger and he can play number 10 to give Eriksen a bit of comp

 

Levy will be to blame as he has been in the past with so called hard negotiations no one wants to get into a deal with him except real Madrid and that's because they always end up with what they wanted . For God's sake please do all the transfer business early instead of waiting until the last day and panic buying . For me the dead wood is capoue,stambouli,fazio,ade,soldado,paulinho, still not sure on lamela . I'd like to see a pacey cb New striker Lennon to come back as his been great at Everton a couple of real leaders in the centre midfield as I think we don't have any leaders at spurs someone who will tell players to pull there fingers out there arse .

 

What's everyone saying to the lavezzi transfer. I'm normally dead set against this sort of transfer at 30+ years but surely he has to be quicker and more dynamic than chadli and also to cover on the right and a striker!!

 

I think the narrow, unflexible formation. Lack of experience, physicality and pace in key positions is our undoing. I agree with giving the youth opportunities to shine and learn but its unrealistic to rely solely on them when countered by teams with experience, consistancy and physicality. Im fed up of watching backwards running and sideways passing.

 

All the other sides that successfully play this formation if watched carefully, attack as a unit and defend as a unit they also alter the pace of which they play dictating the tempo and exploiting errors, we do absolutely none of the above, we are very 1 paced, when we attack its not busy and all at once and our defending has no structure to it whatsoever.

 

Totally agree our defending is atrocious we have no structure no organisation we really lack leaders at the club . I want to see a Roy Keane type player who will rip into his own players that are not doing there job our players look terrified to let go at one another sherwood was right on the money when he said there to nice and want to all be friends . Let's hope this time round the transfer business is done right and early .

 

Re Fazio, look at the fighting ****'s (@lovetheshirt on twitter) article - he was part of a EL winning CB partnership, but he had two solid defensive midfiekders in front of him - we don't. The team there was also set up to play a deep line against every opposition, where his lack of pace wasnt an option. Our system is nothing like this, hence the weaknesses in his game

 

Our business must be done as early as possible; Levy and Co must learn and not dither. Buy the right players with PL experience. Leaving deals til the end of the window is utterly pointless and can/will ultimately cost us important points come May.

Fact - we have an awful lot of bang average players in the squad, along with others that need moving on. Namely Fazio, Stambouli, Chiriches, Capoue, Kaboul, Soldado, Paulinho and possibly Lamela too. So rationalise this bloated squad and invest accordingly - PLEASE.

In terms of targets, PL experience is clearly preferable. So, Schneiderlin would be great, but unlikely. Others which should be up for consideration and would offer much needed value (with calculated risk) are - Wanyama, Milner, Mirallas, Schlupp, Benteke, Ings, Mahrez, Williams and/or Stones.

Anything else? First and foremost, taxi for Baldini and keep Hugo, Harry and Eriksen - fail to do so, then write off next season Levy!

 

MP had no role at last summer transfer. They were Baldini's players.
Every PL club is looking for players with PL experience. Every scout there is tasked to find an above average performer. Spurs have average players because believe you or not THFC is an average football club in EPL ( which is much, much better than below average that is majority in the EPL due to Spurs being above its middle). The best of the best will go to clubs that are higher in ranking. Spurs may have outstanding performers only in short period before they move up.
The art is to win with average players. Average players may be able to produce above the average results as a team. Pochettino is known specialist in this. His players were always average, see how they are doing in LFC, for instance. Let him do his job, please. Also , please, stop asking him to adapt Spurs tactic to an opponent. He can change the tactic, but players cannot, they have hard time playing the only way they were asked to. Do not blame them for being average. They had a few good results this season, I don't have to remind that. To make it more consistent occurrence is the attainable objective for next season. COYAS(A is for average)!!