This summer has been one of change at Tottenham as Ange Postecoglou looks to take Spurs on a new trajectory to the top of the Premier League but will the Australian coach be the man to take some power away from Daniel Levy at the club?
Postecoglou’s football is a lot different to the recent managers that have held the role at Tottenham and the signings he has made this summer seem to clearly be his as the former Celtic coach endorsed James Maddison to the club’s hierarchy and got him.
The 57-year-old is still in the market for ball-playing centre-backs, progressive midfielders and a wider player for his 4-3-3, as he looks to address Tottenham’s issues with starters.
Behind the scenes at the North London club, Levy has replaced Fabio Paratici with two people and there are now three senior figures at the club. Spurs have a new strategy in place and transfer expert Ben Jacobs has given insight into it.
Ben Jacobs’ insight into Tottenham’s new strategy
Speaking on the latest episode of The Debrief podcast for CaughtOffside, transfer expert Ben Jacobs stated about the lay of the land at Spurs: “It is a new strategy and era, and that is one of the most intriguing things. Daniel Levy is a planner and what we are seeing at Spurs now are a lot of new faces; it’s not just Ange Postecoglou. Fabio Partici basically had two roles as a sporting director and a general manager, and now those roles will be split. Tottenham have three senior figures at the club now.
“There is pressure still on Daniel Levy and that is the paradox here in the strategy as Levy says he wants to step back but he can’t step back because everyone else is new. Strategies are normally spread out over multiple windows and yet Spurs haven’t been able to plan as there is a big difference between Conte-ball and Postecoglou-ball; now Postecoglou is looking for ball-playing centre-backs, progressive midfielders and a wider player for his 4-3-3.
“The only real sign that Levy is going to surrender some power is Postecoglou has been able to come in and endorse a player like James Maddison, Vicario has come in because the fee for David Raya was too high. When I look at the signings so far, I feel like they are starters. When I go back to last summer Spurs bought a high volume of players, and that is very exciting, but a lot of them were squad players.”
The club are always looking at cheapo alternatives, most of the squad are not top four material and it’s simple, the criteria should be; Is this player top 4 material or will he be that in the near future. If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’, then they should not be bought.
To line up a groupd of players that answer that question in the negative: 1.Dier too risky, meltdowns quite often seems to have sine autism issues that haven’t been addressed. 2. Skipp, much too unconfortable on the ball cannot give good passes, I rememebr one in all last year. The rest were square or safe. Is not capable of being a controlling player. 3. Ben Davies, a disaster as well, cannot play controlling football, and blames everyone except himself, poor marking for crosses seldom stops a cross coming in from that side. 4.Reguilon is way too erratic, should be sold asap Better than Davies are stopping crosses. 5. Hoijberg is better than most but kicks the ball in all directions when confronted in close duels no controlling features. 6. Richarlison is nt a team player should be dumped immediately. 7. Hasn’t shown much up till now, dump. Look at Brighton for a great example of a team that is pretty good at pressing and controlling, even Liverpool are poor at controlling, too many water buffaloes in the team.
The rest are okay, Son is not very effective, Kulo is becoming less and less effective. Harry Kane is the only one that is top 4 material at the moment in time.
I wrote earlier about Conte and mourinho not being pro football managers, and then the question arises how come someone who has a passing interest in this team sees it an dthe club do not see it?