Daniel Levy’s Transfer Strategy Has Weakened Tottenham’s Squad

Daniel Levy worked throughout the summer to bring new players to Tottenham but the end result of his policy is that the club and coach, Andre Villas-Boas, have been left in a weakened position. Tottenham’s 25-man squad has been submitted to the Premier League and to any observer it has obvious deficiencies in its balance and personnel.

The press and an element of supporters are already heaping pressure on Villas-Boas who is only two months into his position at White Hart Lane. The Coach is taking the criticism for the team’s poor start to the season – still looking for a win after three Premier League games, including two matches at home against what were considered to be ‘easier’ teams. The blame is laid at the coach’s door but he wasn’t the one involved on the transfer negotiations which dragged on, as usual, to the last minute of the final day of the transfer window on 31st August. The Coach, on his appointment, had intimated that he hoped the transfer business would be completed in time for preseason training and definitely before the start of the season.

Striker Light!

Such hopes floundered and Tottenham entered the first match with a squad ill-prepared to meet the rigours of a Premier League season. There was only one senior striker available while the uncertainty over Luka Modric’s transfer continued for a second summer. All transfer activity was then focused on the final fortnight of the month. Numerous names were mentioned as potential signings to fill a variety of positions and negotiations took Mr Levy to many different countries but as time slipped past it became clear that having re-signed Emmanuel Adebayor after discussions that had started in mid-May, there was unlikely to be any additional strikers arriving at Spurs. One of Tottenham’s failings last season was their inability to finish clinically but this season the new coach has to accept the same two strikers with no further back-up or cover in case of injury – with no disrespect meant to Harry Kane.

Midfield Creativity

With the transfer of Modric to Real Madrid completed, the Tottenham squad was lacking a creative midfield player – the role that Modric had successfully filled with Rafael Van der Vaart over the past two seasons. In the opening two matches at Newcastle and against West Bromwich Albion, Van der Vaart had shown his value in that role as Tottenham created a number of goal scoring chances but failed to accept them. Villas-Boas had one player in mind to fill the role, Joao Moutinho from Porto so discussions on that transfer continued and then on the final day Van der Vaart returned to Hamburg, making it even more critical that a creative midfield player was signed. Tottenham had received in the region of £40 million in fees for the two players and while Mousa Dembele had been signed and Hugo Lloris and Clint Dempsey were to sign late in the day, there were still funds available to complete the transfer of Moutinho. Positive action was needed and Spurs were set to break their transfer record but it had been left too late and the negotiations failed, for whatever reasons, and Moutinho remained a Porto player while Spurs must play through the next four to five months of the season without a creative midfield player. The lack of a creative player was evident in the match against Norwich as Spurs put in their poorest performance of the season and failed to make any headway against  a well organised defence. Over the past two seasons, Spurs have on occasions struggled to breakdown a well drilled defensive set up, even with Modric and Van der Vaart in their team – Wolves and Stoke immediately come to mind. Without that creative touch available, it is going to prove doubly difficult this year.

Villas-Boas has a host of midfield players available for selection, there are twelve in the squad. Four play wide and eight will be competing for two or three central positions, depending on the coach’s tactical approach. None have the creative instinct of the missing Modric or Van der Vaart and many fulfill a very similar role. The strength in depth can also be questioned with Tom Hudlestone only recovered from injury while David Bentley and Jermain Jenas have been sidelined for the past two seasons – out on loan and injured.

Pressure is mounting on Villas-Boas as boos echoed around White Hart Lane at half-time and full-time against Norwich. The media is already critical of some of the decisions taken by the coach, waiting for another fall from grace and anxious to prove their point that his appointment was a high risk strategy by Daniel Levy. Villas-Boas must be wondering what he has let himself in for at Tottenham where he no doubt received assurances from the Chairman before agreeing to take over at the club. The coach’s thoughts in early July surely wouldn’t have included having Bentley and Jenas as part of his squad for the new season.

Daniel Levy keeps a very tight hold on the purse strings at Tottenham and no-one is wanting him to spend money that the club doesn’t have but when looking to strengthen the team in pursuit of Champions League football which must have been set as the minimum target for the new manager on his appointment, it may be necessary to take an occasional calculated risk or gamble to sign a player who is essential to the development of the team.

Every new manager makes changes at a club, as Tottenham well know with the number of managerial appointments that have been made over the past three decades. Not all decisions can please everyone but Villas-Boas shouldn’t be left as solely responsible for the situation Tottenham finds itself in. The coach can only work with the players that he is provided with and clearly Daniel Levy has failed to deliver the required quality in certain areas, especially as all the indications were that he was going to bring in top class players to mount a sustained challenge which would place Tottenham in the top four in English football on a regular basis. He has failed the coach in that area and left him with a squad considerably weakened compared with last season.

Andre Villas-Boas needs support and backing in the coming months as he puts his Tottenham team together and the best way to do that would be with a win against Reading in ten days time but he will require all his coaching and tactical skill to make the best out of the players available to him.

Has Daniel Levy failed Andre Villas-Boas or should the coach be held solely responsible?