Football Season Guide

Tottenham Hotspur

In


Matt Doherty (def) Wolves; Joe Hart (gk) Burnley; Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (mid) Southampton; Giovani Lo Celso (mid) Betis – loan made permanent; Cameron Carter-Vickers (def) Luton Town – end of loan;

Out


Jan Vertonghen (r) (def) Benfica; Kyle Walker-Peters (sp) (def) Southampton – loan made permanent; Oliver Skipp (mid) Norwich – on loan; Michel Vorm (gk) released;

Spurs had a very difficult last season that saw long-serving manager Pocchettino sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho halfway. The displays were laboured all season, once again star players had health problems and even after Mourinho’s arrival the team’s displays didn’t improve much. In the end, drama on the final day of the season saw Tottenham fortunate to qualify for Europa League in a very unconvincing manner. So far things had been quiet in the off-season, which hardly surprising considering that right now 54% of the club’s worth is depth accumulated during the recent completion of the ridiculously expensive new stadium. With not much money to spend only notable moves so far the signings of Hojbjerg from Southampton and wing-back Doherty from Wolves + the securing of Lo Celso on permanent terms. Vertonghen’s departure creates problems in defence where he was very useful for many years. Right now the outlook for next season is simple, get the ball to Son and Kane up front and let them do their thing. Knowing Mourinho this will be the most likely approach with Spurs expected to sit deep, crowd their own part of the pitch and simply look for long balls towards their 2 forward stars. Tottenham’s main strength has to be their front line, with lots of firepower in that area and also solid depth. Also after a season of adaptation and relatively sparse use, big things are expected from Lo Celso now as he is seen as the team’s new main playmaker. In terms of weaknesses there are serious worries about the defence, especially with the injury-history of most of the centre-backs.

Target


Desire is to get back in the top 4, but this task might be way too difficult.