The Briefing: Is Levy the problem at Tottenham and what can Man Utd learn from Brighton? – Blogging Sole

Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday Athletics discusses three of the biggest questions posed by the weekend Premier League action.

During this series of meetings, Darwin Nunez restarted his navigation software to get Liverpool past Brentford, Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead to Aston Villa losing ground, Nottingham Forest continued to vibrate, Manchester City returns to the top four and the bottom three all lost (again).

But here, after another defeat at Evertonwe will ask if TottenhamThe biggest problem is their manager or the man who hired him, whatever Manchester United could learn from the last mid-table team to beat them and why Andoni Iraola is destined for a bigger stage than Bournemouth.

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Surely, someone has to go to Tottenham – but who?

We all know the answer to this question: football clubs cannot sack their players and sacking the assistant kit manager is unlikely to elicit the desired reaction.

So although he won three consecutive Manager of the Month awards last season, leading Spurs back into European competition and providing plenty of entertainment for neutrals over the past 18 months, Ange Postecoglou’s days as Tottenham boss appear numbered.

A 3-2 defeat at Everton on Sunday, which wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests, means they have picked up just one point from their last six league matches and remain stuck in 15th place, one place and four points better than their record. recent conquerors but on course to equal the club’s worst league ranking for 31 years.

Given that better returns failed to keep Mauricio Pochettino, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte in the job, Postecoglou cannot claim that speculation about his future is unfounded. And his calls for patience are not helped by the fact that Everton have just demonstrated what a new face and a change of voice can do for a team lacking confidence.

But is it really Ange’s fault? Is this also the fault of his predecessors?

Tottenham have had top-six revenues and wage bills for a quarter of a century, but have won just one trophy, the 2008 League Cup, during that time.

But where they have led the way is in executive compensation. Year after year, Tottenham president Daniel Levy tops this ranking. The 62-year-old, who joined the board of directors in December 2000, gave himself remuneration worth £6.5 million ($7.9 million) last seasonincluding a £3 million bonus.

OK, during his reign, Tottenham built a new training ground and the best stadium in the country, and the club can now boast sky-high revenues (mainly thanks to this stadium). But it also fired 11 permanent managers, accumulated record levels of debt, recorded financial losses over the past four years and sparked arguments with its most loyal customers on ticket prices and discounts.

Maybe the problem isn’t the one in the dugout, it’s the guy who keeps hiring and firing them?

Of course, presidents don’t fire themselves, especially when they have large stakes in the company. But Levy had a ringside seat in the directors’ box at Goodison Park, so he couldn’t have missed the “Levy Out” chants coming from outside.

Levy runs Tottenham because he owns a third of the investment company ENIC, who owns the club. But Joe Lewishis partner at ENIC, is now 87 years old and has transferred his shares in the company to a family trust. And for the past year, the Lewis family, always open to offers, has been actively looking for a buyer for its stake.

Maybe it’s time for Levy to realize that it’s time for him to cash in his chips and let someone else take a chance as well.

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Manchester United must accept their place – and learn

Even though Manchester United have been poor at times this season, they are very unlikely to be relegated.

So no, Ruben Amorim, the team you chose to lead is not the worst in the club’s history – United have been relegated five times in their history, so that’s at least five teams that this group has been better at.

But we all know where Amorim is going with this, right?

Three wins in their last 10 league matches, four defeats in five at home, 13th in the table, seven points from 10th Fulham.

But what are we waiting for? This is exactly where you would expect to find a team that Brighton beat at home and away, lose at Western Ham And Wolves and getting beaten up, at home, by Bournemouth. They even lost to Spurs.

Manchester United are average. Actually, Fulham are average, so they’re not even that good.

Now that we have clarified this point, let’s focus on how they might come out of this slumber.

Well, for starters, they could take a close look at Brighton, a team who have spent most of their history in the third tier of English football but have recently joined the fold. Premier League furniture through clear leadership, targeted investments and smart recruitment.

Clearly, Manchester United should have bigger ambitions than a comfortable existence in the elite of English football, but some humility wouldn’t hurt at the moment, which means recognizing that the likes of Brighton are better than them right now, on and off the field.

Amorim is not responsible for this state of affairs, but he is partly responsible for its resolution. He of course needs help from above, and this is where improvement is most needed. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has only been in overall control for a year, but so far the gap between mission statements and tangible results is glaring.

By contrast, Brighton owner Tony Bloom barely says a word publicly. He doesn’t need it, we can all see the results.

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Anyone know where an underachieving giant might find his next coach?

I know this one!

In fact, so has anyone who’s been paying attention to what’s been happening 90 miles west of Brighton over the last season and a half.

When new Bournemouth owner Bill Foley replaced the popular Gary O’Neil with Andoni Iraola in the summer of 2023, the consensus was “what are you doing?”

O’Neil led Bournemouth to Premier League survival with five wins in seven games, including crucial wins against the club’s relegation rivals.

But having made his fortune in financial services, Foley is a numbers man. He knew that the little-known guy who had made it unfashionable Rayo Vallecano a tough opponent for each team La Liga It was a better bet.

Nine league games without a win last season, this bet looked like a failure. But then Bournemouth beat Burnley and it all started to make sense. By the end of the season, Bournemouth had secured a further 12 league wins and moved up to 12th, with a record points tally.

This record is unlikely to last for long, as Bournemouth’s 4-1 victory over Newcastle United Saturday was their 10th in 22 league matches and took them to seventh in the table. But this was no ordinary away victory.

Newcastle entered the match as favorites. First, they had won nine straight games. Two, in Alexandre Isak they had the most talented striker in the country. And thirdly, Bournemouth were missing 10 players due to injuries.

Faced with these obstacles, Iraola laughed and uttered words like “we attack at dawn” (almost literally, as the coaches taking Bournemouth fans on the 350-mile journey north left at 2 a.m. Morning).

With nine young people on the bench and a central midfielder Lewis Cook At right-back, Iraola told his players to stick their game difficult, demanding and fast and blitz Newcastle from the start. By time Justin Kluivert scored the first of their three goals in the sixth minute, they should have led twice already.

Kluivert, whose famous father Patrick played for Newcastle, obviously received most of the post-match applause, but Ryan Christie And David Brooks were immense in midfield, Dean Huijsen And Illia Zabarnyi a flawless performance at the heart of the defense and what a left-back player Milos Kerkez East.

Earlier this season, I received praise for Foley from a director of football at a rival club. The latter had said that Bournemouth worried him “because they seem to know what they are doing”.

“I’d rather they think we don’t know what we’re doing,” Foley responded.

Sorry, Bill, secret’s out. Iraola and many of your players are brilliant.

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Coming this week

• We complete this weekend’s menu with a match between two teams lacking points but for very different reasons. Chelseathe hosts, have not won in the league for a month and have been embroiled in a fight for next season’s Champions League, while Wolves are fighting for league survival.
• After a month on a diet of only national matches, the European competition returns on Tuesday, with large portions of Champions League and Europa League football. Top of table Liverpool will host Lille on Tuesday, with Villa Aston visiting Monaco.
• Wednesday’s fare pick is Paris Saint-Germain against Manchester City but not for the reason most would have predicted a few months ago, as this match is between the 25th and 22nd best team in the Champions League so far this season. A loss for either would leave this team with a major fear of missing out. Arsenalthird in the table, has no such concerns ahead of the visit of Dinamo Zagreb.
• Thursday, as everyone knows, is Europa League day, but this week’s best match is no afterthought as it is a “Battle of Britain” between Manchester United and Rangers. Tottenham will travel to Hoffenheim with hope. And if cross-border clashes, with a North American flavor, are your thing, there’s a cracker in League One: Wrexham v City of Birmingham.

(Top photo: Getty Images)