Mauricio Pochettino

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You're conclusion is right but I don't agree with the reasoning if this is indeed the club's view. If Dele Alli were coming through at MK Dons now we'd probably not go in for him and that's bad policy. No one expected Dele to make the jump up so quickly and so well but he did and £5m looks a bargain. This season was his first "poor" season but it's relative to the high standards he set so early.

If we were to buy Maddison now we're talking a fee north of £40m. Ditto with Brooks. 12 months ago they cost £30m between them. Both would have got into our team on the basis of the seasons they had, coupled with our out of form / lack of options during the season too. We can't miss out on these players.

Personally I don't think it's so much the clubs view, as an obvious concern to a potential signee.

From another perspective; we just spent £40m on Dav and even he's struggling to keep that pathway open whilst he makes a few inevitable errors whilst he comes of age. We could go out and spend 30-40 mill each on the above and/or Sessengon; who's to say things will be any smoother for them? Meanwhile we'd have blown circa 100m, yet still have pressing need for improvements to our first XI.

It's a quandary.
 
How can any of us presume to know what goes on behind the scenes, who is fit, fully fit or deemed to be fit enough for a 1 off final. Kane was a long way from his best and lacking sharpness but so were a lot of supposedly 'fit' players, Eriksen, Dele, Son (at times) and Moura when he came on.

If the manager thinks he is fit enough then I'm happy with that. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but a 'cowardly' decision - no.

I actually thought playing with Kane up top may have allowed us to hold the ball up a little bit better as 2nd leg against Ajax we couldn't do that with Son and Moura until Llorente came on.

You right. Who knows what the fuck is going on back there. I give up. I am probably wrong and you are most likely right. And the word coward, I use it all the time on myself as I give up things on a daily basis. Like what I am doing right now. Giving up trying to blend in. Not sticking out. I am such a coward lol. Pfcourse I could laugh about it because nothing I ever do would win or lose a club a CL title.

Lets implement other words like "safe" then instead of "coward". maybe this is more proper because I am calmer now and still do like the club but want it to improve.

Case a. Start Kane and Win: The best in the world! gets 10 out of 10 for the success/acceptance/bang score!! party till September

Case b. No Kane and win: Hey Look, the first CL title ever for the Club! gets 9 out of 10.
case c. Kane and lose: well this is 5, meh
case d. No Kane and lose: this would be like -2, and possible sanction and a burial?

So Kane vs No Kane is roughly about?
15 vs 7?
safe vs unsafe
unbrave vs brave
good boy vs Jose?
tire no tire?
 
If Kane had been taken off I wouldn't have complained but I don't presume to know better than the management and they have access to a whole load of information we don't.

The other big difference was Liverpool were 1 goal up, defending fairly comfortably and happy to not chase the game further whereas we had to score so why not keep Kane on whilst bringing Llorente on.
Because of what we saw pan out....

If ever there was a game to raise our intensity this was that game.

To dare, to be brave, to try something different, to take a risk, to do something unexpected, to go all out for the name and history of this club, then that game was the one, and we may never have that chance again.

What do we do?
Trundle on like it was Leicester mid season.
 
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How many champions league quality players does £100 M buy today? Perhaps 1.5 if lucky and half a player is not much kop. It will definitely need a war chest in excess of 200 M to even contemplate closing the gap on Lpool and City.. we only finished in the top four because our closest rivals both imploded and I don’t see that happening two seasons in a row.

Levi’s shrewdness or stubbornness will I suspect see pchettino moving on - he pretty much told us so several months ago.

Big money does not equal great player - Moura was 23m and he was certainly a 'champions league' player this year. How did PSG do in the Champs League with Mbappe and Neymar? How about Juventus with Ronaldo? United with Pogba and Sanchez? Barca with Messi and Countinho?

I'd take a hard working 100% dedicated James Milner over a dis-interested, sulking Pogba.

We didn't buy in the last 2 windows because the right player wasn't willing to come to us. This summer we are a more attractive prospect and have confirmed funds. The hardest part of this will be clearing room in the squad and not letting existing players go for peanuts.
 
Because of what we saw pan out....

If ever there was a game to raise our intensity this was that game.

To dare, to be brave, to try something different, to take a risk, to do something unexpected, to go all out for the name and history of this club, then that game was the one, and we may never have that chance again.

What do we do?
Trundle on like it was Leicester mid season.

I disagree with a lot of the crap you spout on here Sammy but sometimes you hit the nail. Your "trundle on like it was Leicester mid season" phrase really rang true for me. I'm sat there after half-time thinking "come on lads, Poch, do something, this is once in a lifetime, don't let this just slip away". And of course, at the end, after 15 minutes of decent pressure and dozen half-chances, you think "well, why didn't we do that from the get-go, instead of waiting til the end?".

But it's all about the understandable pain and bitterness of defeat coupled with hindsight.

If we'd scored on the 80th and the 88th minutes to win it, the world would have been hailing Poch and the team as footballmg geniuses - why? - because they didn't panic when they went 1-0 down to a crap decision, because they kept to their game plan, because they were patient and slowly ramped the pressure up and chipped away at a team until they broke.

It's a game, shit happens, all you can ask is that people give their best. It's all narratives - one from the winner and one from the loser.
 
In this instance, he has no gain to make in lying. What manager wouldn't want more money to spend on improving his team?
Particularly one who's had nothing for a year and a half.
So when it suits he's not lying but when it does he is.

When Glenn Hoddle said it was Poch's choice not to spend you said you didn't believe him.
 
So when it suits he's not lying but when it does he is.

When Glenn Hoddle said it was Poch's choice not to spend you said you didn't believe him.
What was the analogy I used at the time?

If you wanted a new pair of trainers, and your Mum gave you a tenner to go look in the local charity shop, maybe you'd choose not to spend it too.

So yes, I believe Glenn. Just as I believed him when others on here were calling him a floppy haired cunt and a bitter ex manager when he consistently called for more spending from the board.

I'm backing the unstoppable force. You should too
 
What was the analogy I used at the time?

If you wanted a new pair of trainers, and your Mum gave you a tenner to go look in the local charity shop, maybe you'd choose not to spend it too.

So yes, I believe Glenn. Just as I believed him when others on here were calling him a floppy haired cunt and a bitter ex manager when he consistently called for more spending from the board.
Well then, you acknowledge it was Poch's decision. We go from there now...

Poch was always promised that spending on wages would go up, and it did. He was always promised once we were in the stadium transfer spending will go up, and it will.

Can you name a club that wasn't frugal whilst building a new stadium?
 
Big part of the quandry.... EL is the perfect blooding ground for youngsters and new signings.... Now we have to rely on the early League Cup ties or injuries and fixture congestion mass forcing out hand.

Also See KWP, Skipp etc.

This is why we need more individuals with quality. At the moment if the collective drops a bit we suffer, we really lack the individuals to drag us through (obvs Moura in the CL was different and rare). With the extra class or individual bit of brilliance we should be able to blood youngsters into easier games thus relying on shitty cup games less
 
Personally I don't think it's so much the clubs view, as an obvious concern to a potential signee.

From another perspective; we just spent £40m on Dav and even he's struggling to keep that pathway open whilst he makes a few inevitable errors whilst he comes of age. We could go out and spend 30-40 mill each on the above and/or Sessengon; who's to say things will be any smoother for them? Meanwhile we'd have blown circa 100m, yet still have pressing need for improvements to our first XI.

It's a quandary.

with a defender or keeper there is nowhere to hide... difficult for youngsters. We need enough of a safety net or players on the pitch to pick the slack and make their transition easier.
 
What do we do?
Trundle on like it was Leicester mid season.

Great word Trundle much underused IMO.

Early in Poch's reign I was at the lane watching a dire game which we lost 1 0 to I think WBA.

I remember thinking to myself at the time that we appeared to be playing a Sideways Crab Formation

It's now become a Trundling Sideways Crab Formation.
 
Can you name a club that wasn't frugal whilst building a new stadium?
I only support one club. So I have no insight into the finances of others.

Can you name a club that refused to sanction a single signing that the manager wanted through a whole summer transfer window. From any of Europes top 5 leagues, ever?

That's not just being frugal, mate, that's a shameful neglection of the football team we all support.

Klopp was backed, Poch was handicapped. Why cant you throw your support behind our best manager since Nicholson rather than the guy who ties his hands up
 
I only support one club. So I have no insight into the finances of others.

Can you name a club that refused to sanction a single signing that the manager wanted through a whole summer transfer window. From any of Europes top 5 leagues, ever?

That's not just being frugal, mate, that's a shameful neglection of the football team we all support.

Klopp was backed, Poch was handicapped. Why cant you throw your support behind our best since Nicholson rathe than the guy who ties his hands up
I've supported Poch and the boys far more than you all year.

This is your problem as a follower. You think support is financial and not emotional. You'd be happy with us coming 6th if it meant we bought Ronaldo for 200m

You've said the squad that reached the Champions League final has been inadequate all season.

So let's not pull at that string.

You do understand the difference in situations between Spurs and Liverpool, right? In terms of financial freedom.

P. S. Poch has said transfers were sanctioned. So you're fibbing there. Unless you don't know the difference between sanction and completion?
 
Because of what we saw pan out....

If ever there was a game to raise our intensity this was that game.

To dare, to be brave, to try something different, to take a risk, to do something unexpected, to go all out for the name and history of this club, then that game was the one, and we may never have that chance again.

What do we do?
Trundle on like it was Leicester mid season.

Poch knows best but i'm sure a lot of fans would have been happy to see Lucas and Sonny start and run themselves into the ground for 60mins then see Kane come on with 35mins to go when there are tired legs giving him that extra space. He holds play up well, has great passing range. I would have thought that was the perfect scenario. Maybe that was too obvious, it's frustrating... Personally if we had gone that way and lost I wouldn't have questioned it. Now a little part of me is left thinking 'what if'.

We are where we are and our manager has done stonkingly well, as have most of the team. Managers will always have their faults (in our eyes), one of his is commitment to players when they are underperforming, CE, Ali and Kane. With more competition for places players will become less complacent and maybe that's part of the issue? Who else do we really have?

He always used to say players are paid to train and not play. We need a group of player whilst united are competing for a place.
 
Big money does not equal great player - Moura was 23m and he was certainly a 'champions league' player this year. How did PSG do in the Champs League with Mbappe and Neymar? How about Juventus with Ronaldo? United with Pogba and Sanchez? Barca with Messi and Countinho?

I'd take a hard working 100% dedicated James Milner over a dis-interested, sulking Pogba.

We didn't buy in the last 2 windows because the right player wasn't willing to come to us. This summer we are a more attractive prospect and have confirmed funds. The hardest part of this will be clearing room in the squad and not letting existing players go for peanuts.

Moura was majestic at times, in other games not so much. When he is hot 'WOW' but he hasn't been like that all the time. He was a PSG reject, if he wasn't we wouldn't have got him for such a small fee... luckily the manager wasn't keen so it worked in our favour. Their fans certainly seemed to like him but shopping at that level expecting to get the next Bale isn't going to happen and is very risky.

Pogba is everything that is wrong with a modern footballer, he makes it all about him and not the team, that's not an ethos we nurture and I believe a lot of care goes into making sure players like this are never signed but the his ability compared to Milner is insane. Imagine if he trained and had the professional work ethic of Milner... I would rather have a committed Pogba that Milner everyday. Man u paid enough of a transfer fee and in wages to believe that was what they were getting SAF knew he was a bellend and got rid...

I believe we did buy in the last transfer window because we didn't have enough funds to secure the type of player we were looking at, a player that will take us to the next level, not because said player didn't want to come to us.
 
I believe we did buy in the last transfer window because we didn't have enough funds to secure the type of player we were looking at, a player that will take us to the next level, not because said player didn't want to come to us.

My understanding is that we tried for 2 players last summer and 1 player in January; fee agreed with clubs but all 3 players rejected us.

Not sure who they were. Maybe Rabiot since he publicly said we are 'too small' for him.
 
Moura was majestic at times, in other games not so much. When he is hot 'WOW' but he hasn't been like that all the time. He was a PSG reject, if he wasn't we wouldn't have got him for such a small fee... luckily the manager wasn't keen so it worked in our favour. Their fans certainly seemed to like him but shopping at that level expecting to get the next Bale isn't going to happen and is very risky.

Pogba is everything that is wrong with a modern footballer, he makes it all about him and not the team, that's not an ethos we nurture and I believe a lot of care goes into making sure players like this are never signed but the his ability compared to Milner is insane. Imagine if he trained and had the professional work ethic of Milner... I would rather have a committed Pogba that Milner everyday. Man u paid enough of a transfer fee and in wages to believe that was what they were getting SAF knew he was a bellend and got rid...

I believe we did buy in the last transfer window because we didn't have enough funds to secure the type of player we were looking at, a player that will take us to the next level, not because said player didn't want to come to us.
I think we'll see steady improvement from Lucas the more he learns under Poch. This was a breakout season for him. Think he'll be special next season.
 
What was the analogy I used at the time?

If you wanted a new pair of trainers, and your Mum gave you a tenner to go look in the local charity shop, maybe you'd choose not to spend it too.

So yes, I believe Glenn. Just as I believed him when others on here were calling him a floppy haired cunt and a bitter ex manager when he consistently called for more spending from the board.

I'm backing the unstoppable force. You should too
Go to TK Maxx. Always a bargain there. It's like the championship it ligue 1 but you just have to work hard to find them 😂
 
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