'Transfer policy needs a re-think at White Hart Lane'
Saturday 27 September 2014 13:15, UK
A few seasons ago Tottenham had closed the gap on Arsenal – but now they’re further away than they have been in a long time.
Spurs are miles away from being a top four team now and that’s down to their transfer policy.
The club haven’t spent their money with a great thought-process. The director of football, Franco Baldini, has brought a lot of players in but you can’t just throw them together and expect it to work, you need a system. Spurs need to re-think their structure and how they sign players.
For instance, they sold Gareth Bale and haven’t replaced him with a left-sided player; they’ve got Erik Lamela, Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon who all want to play on the right.
Defensively they’ve still got problems, too. Younes Kaboul has been made captain and he’s a good player but I’ve lost count of the amount of times he’s made huge mistakes in big games and cost the team.
That runs through the side; they punish lesser teams like flat-track bullies but when they come up against the big teams they come unstuck. Last season they took just one point off the teams that finished in the top four. That’s not good enough if you want to make the Champions League places.
It needs a major overhaul at Spurs for them to get back into the top four – but they have to give Mauricio Pochettino time to do that.
They’ve never had patience before at White Hart Lane with managers and chairman Daniel Levy has set a precedent with how he sacks managers that, if things don’t pick up, Pochettino will come under pressure. But it would be ridiculous for them to get rid of him.
If Spurs think he’s the right man he’s going to need time to go and buy players and sell players. The problem he has is he doesn’t currently have the players to play the high-pressing game he wants.
Pochettino has come from Southampton, where he maybe didn’t have as talented a bunch as what he’s got at Tottenham but the work ethic and organisation was so much better.
He wants to play a pressing game and put teams under pressure like he did at Southampton but it’s impossible with that group at Spurs to implement that. You can’t ask Nacer Chadli, Lamela and Emmanuel Adebayor to go and press from the front - whereas Jay Rodriguez, Adam Lallana and even Rickie Lambert bought in to that at St Mary’s.
The midfield at Southampton had high energy compared to the likes of Etienne Capoue, who wants to play at his own pace. It’s just completely different for Pochettino at Spurs and I think he’s finding it very difficult.
Arsenal, meanwhile, look fantastic when it all comes together, as it did against Aston Villa last weekend.
Mesut Ozil in the number 10 role was an obvious highlight from that match and that performance could bring a big change in him. It’ll be interesting to see what Arsene Wenger does now, though – he’ll have to leave out a big name such as Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshere if he wants to keep the German in that role.
But whatever combination he goes with, I expect Arsenal to win on Saturday Night Football. It should be a great, high-tempo game – as most North London Derbies are – but I think the hosts will come out 2-1 winners – and demonstrate their current superiority over Tottenham.