- Roo Legend: Rooney Retires from England duty!
- Australasia gets represented in the Premier League this year!
- Sanchez in North London, Where Have We Heard That Before?
- Sigurdsson Sale: Swansea could face Ragnarok after losing Thor!
- 2017/18 Premier League Predictions!
- PSG set to trigger record Neymar Fee!
- Mourinho thrives with a Prag-Matic approach!
- The Loan Ranger: Game of Loans!
- Rome(-lu) Wasn’t Built In A Day, But Hernandez Is Heading Hammers Way!
- Man United, Arsenal, and Huddersfield are all in a dash to splash the cash!
20 teams in 20 days – Tottenham Hotspur
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino
Stadium: White Hart Lane
Nickname: Spurs
Finish Last Season: 6th
In the summer of 2013, Tottenham Hotspur were the biggest spenders in the Premier League. In fact, during the for the past two seasons they have invested more than Manchester City have in their squad. In the 2013 summer transfer window alone they invested €121,880,000 in their squad – a figure only City got close to. Between the end of the 2010/2011 and the January 2014 transfer window, Chelsea are the only English club to have spent more than Spurs. Namely, Andre Villas-Boas spearheaded this spending spree, though Harry Redknapp began it. Now, it is Mauricio Pochettino’s turn to take this bolstered and make something of it.
With Pochettino taking over from interim manager Tim Sherwood, it is clear that Tottenham aren’t intending to keep up their spending spree. Only €23.34 million has been invested in their squad this summer, while Pochettino himself is a manager who does better taking over squads in which they have already spent than one in which he spends himself. At Southampton he took over a club that had brought up so much incredible youth and spent boatloads to help them get up into the top half of the table – Pochettino then took that club and meshed them into their highest ever Premier League finish, nearly ending up ahead of Manchester United in eighth. However, it is tough to say whether he will have as good of a time with Spurs as he did at Southampton – the Saints seemed to have invested their money much smarter than Tottenham have. The club spend €30m on Roberto Soldado, who failed to produce last season and is now exiting his prime. Pochettino will also have to get the best out of Erik Lamela, another €30n buy last summer, as with Paulinho.
It certainly is doable to lift Tottenham up into the top four, and possibly into a title contender. With the likes of Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris in goal, and of course Lamela, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, and Soldado. And that’s not nearly it – there is also the youth of new signing DeAndre Yedlin, Andros Townsend, Nacer Chadli, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, and Kyle Naughton, combined with the primed players like Jan Vertonghen, Sandro, Vlad Chiriches, and Moussa Dembele, along with the experience of Emmanuel Adebayor, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Brad Friedel, and Michael Dawson. Bring in fresh tactics – possibly the flowing style that Pochettino implemented at Southampton, maybe a 4-3-3 if their wings can produce, or 4-2-3-1 to implement all of their attacking midfield, and Tottenham could be dark horses for the title. At best, this is what will end up happening. A Champions League position has never been so highly contested, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, and even Everton all fighting for four positions, so a fourth or third position will be a success for Pochettino in his first year in charge. But at worst, the club will fall out of European contention down with the best mid-table performers in seventh or eighth. A fifth or sixth place position would be slightly disappointing but acceptable and predictable. But this season the main goal for Pochettino is to jell all the talent the club have, something AVB failed to do. Bring them under an effective tactical formation and shoot for a Champions League position over the next few seasons.
Full Fixture List:
August 16: West Ham (A)
August 23 : Queens Park Rangers (H)
August 30: Liverpool (H)
September 13: Sunderland (A)
September 20: West Bromwich Albion (H)
September 27: Arsenal (A)
October 4: Southampton (H)
October 18: Manchester City (A)
October 25: Newcastle (H)
November 1: Aston Villa (A)
November 8: Stoke (H)
November 22: Hull City (A)
November 29: Everton (H)
December 3: Chelsea (A)
December 6 : Crystal Palace (H)
December 13 : Swansea (A)
December 20 : Burnley (H)
December 26 : Leicester City (A)
December 28: Manchester United (H)
January 1: Chelsea (H)
January 10: Crystal Palace (A)
January 17: Sunderland (H)
January 31: West Bromwich Albion (A)
February 7 : Arsenal (H)
February 10: Liverpool (A)
February 21: West Ham (H)
February 28: Queens Park Rangers (A)
March 4: Swansea (H)
March 14 : Manchester United (A)
March 21: Leicester City (H)
April 4: Burnley (A)
April 11: Aston Villa (H)
April 18: Newcastle (A)
April 25: Southampton (A)
May 2: Manchester City (H)
May 9: Stoke City (A)
May 16 : Hull City (H)
May 24: Everton (A)