2014/2015 Tottenham Hotspur - January Update

How I’m Currently Sitting

So i’m about halfway through my first season as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, or just Spurs. I’m currently sitting very happily in 4th position, 5 points ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League. I have also taken Spurs to a Semi-Final Capital One Cup replay with Chelsea, who as you can see are absolutely dominating the league at present. On top of that, I’ve reached the First Knockout Round of the Euro Cup so far, which is all my board are expecting of me which is quite generous in my opinion. The only competition negative is that I was knocked out of the FA Cup in the Third Round but it was to Arsenal which I don’t see as a bad loss really.

The board have given me a recent report that suggests they are satisfied with my performance so far which is exactly what I like to hear. They say “A major contributing factor has been the atmosphere in and around the dressing room” suggesting that Squad Harmony is high which is exactly what I want; happy players bring happy performances.

Pre-season Transfers

In terms of transfers, I brought in Dedé the Brazilian defender for £13m as I felt Tottenham really lacked in the defence department and needed someone with more experience and a good head on his shoulders to accompany Vertonghen. However, I then went and sold Vertonghen to Manchester United for £12.5 as I felt I wanted a bit of money to work on other parts of the team as well.

When it came to these other sections of the team, I felt we didn’t really have an amazing Left Winger which was proven when Andros Townsend came down with an injury that has had him out for the whole season so far. Memphis Depay seemed like the perfect replacement and he’s gone on and done SO well for me so far! He was shortlisted as a World Golden Ball player within 4 months of having arrived at the team, which is quite an incredible feat for a 20 year old player!

My final major purchase of the opening transfer window was the signing of Éder Álvarez Balanta, the young 21 year old Colombian defender for £7m. I felt that with the lack of defensive options and the sale of Vertonghen that Balanta was a really good signing as he’s young yet is quality enough to arguably be a first team member in his first season (a we speak he’s made 28 appearances for the first team). The one struggle I’ve had with him is his discipline which is probably due to his inexperience, youth or possibly playing in a more disciplined league. However, with the correct fines and warnings, this should sort out.

January Transfers

"Very mature mental stats and technical stats for such a young midfielder"

Before the January Transfer window even began, I received a message in my Inbox that read that Andre Ayew’s contract was up at the end of the season and so he’d be a good signing as an alternative left winger to Depay. I instantly forked up the contract and signed him up as we all know he’s a bit of a Football Manager legend that Arsenal are famous for signing and utilising well!

After getting a player for free, I did my scouting for a central midfielder and eventually signed the Spanish player Sergio Canales from Real Sociedad for £12m. He has 17 Passing, 18 First Touch, 17 Dribbling, 18 Vision, 17 Flair and 15 Composure… mind he's only 23. In my opinion, this is very mature mental stats and technical stats for such a young midfielder. Right now, he’s more accustomed to AM(L) but I’ve stuck him straight on to train as CM Advanced Playmaker. I believe he could be our new genius in Midfield with Paulinho and Demebélé playing Roaming Playmaker in DM respectively.

Unfortunately, it appears that Canales has gone and got himself injured for 2 months which is NOT what I wanted. Let's hope he recovers quickly!

EDIT:
Since this post was uploaded I have signed the 23 year old Italian Central Midfielder Jorginho who was scouted at a potential of 4 stars. He's another promising young player for the midfield position with good Vision, Passing, First Touch and Determination which are all good attributes. Let's hope this can add some more creativeness on in the centre of the park!


Statistics

"Lamela has been a god for me this season with 17 goals"

In terms of the current stats, we have quite a surprise when it comes to Top Goalscorer: Erik Lamela has been an absolute god for me this season with 17 goals which is 7 more than my next highest goalscorer, Harry Kane with 10. In terms of assists Lamela is also leading with 13 assists which is 1 ahead of Memphis Depay on 12. Erik Lamela, like in real life has been an absolute hero for me; Christian Eriksen tore his hamstring which kept him out of the team for 3 months and during that period, Lamela lavished the CAM role of Attacking Midfielder. However, now Eriksen is back, he’s not shown the same flair having been moved to the Right Wing due to Aaron Lennon’s poor performances.

We’ve worked hard on our Ball Control which has paid off with 76% passes completed by the whole team which is a really good record to have kept considering the youth and inexperience of some of our players. Apparently Aaron Lennon has the best Pass Completion rate with 89% and Paulinho has an expectable 88% just behind him. What surprised me was that Christian Eriksen has an average Pass Completion of 77%, I guess this is due to attempting to play more crucial balls than just knocking the ball around safely in the middle of the park like Paulinho.

Our highest rated player so far is of course Erik Lamela with 7.52 in 29 appearances so far. Eriksen has got an average of 7.42 in 20 appearances. As you can tell, Lamela has been my main player this season and I can really see him and Eriksen leading this club in the years to come.

Future Plans

Throughout the rest of the season, I’m hoping to remain within the top 4 of the Premier League and secure myself Champions League football next season as that could potentially bring in not only a lot of money, but better players thanks to our improved reputation. In terms of other cups I would like to reach at least the Semis of the Euro Cup and any result better than a draw against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup would really keep things interesting.

In terms of Transfers, I desperately need to score a more prolific striker who can score me 20+ goals a season, as I feel along with Lamela and my other attacking midfielders scoring 15+ a season, I could really establish myself within Europe as a respected team.Therefore, depending on how much money I intake at the end of the season and how much money the board give me to spend, I shall be searching for the highest scoring Strikers in the world and hopefully secure someone who can take that Poacher/Target Man role and make it his own, scoring freely.

This has been a little update to my Tottenham season as it stands. I’ve always wanted to do a Football Manager blog as there has been many times when I’ve wanted to share a moment, player, season or statistic with others and I’ve just ended up posting it to Twitter or Pinterest. Here, I feel more people can see and interact with hopefully my long-lasting career and comment with their achievements too!