Pascal Chimbonda believes that Tottenham Hotspur are only a few top additions away from potentially challenging for the Premier League title next season.
It is fair to say that Ange Postecoglou’s honeymoon phase at Spurs is now over, with there being clear signs in recent months that opposition teams are learning how to exploit the weaknesses in his system.
Tottenham have struggled to break down teams in some of their recent encounters and have also looked susceptible defensively.
Pascal Chimbonda thinks Spurs can challenge
However, Chimbonda argued that this season has to be considered a success for Postecoglou, given the state of the club when we took over.
The former Spurs right-back told Football.London: “You can’t really ask for much more from Ange Postecoglou, considering it’s his first season in charge.
“He came to the club and brought a new ID with him, which people have enjoyed. We’re challenging for fourth place in the table and you’d have to say that would be considered a successful first season in charge.
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“I love his honesty. I love that he speaks the truth. When he has to say something, he says it. He’s a calm guy and I think the most important thing is that the players like him and believe in his ID. You can see they want to win for him, and that’s a special position to be in.”
Chimbonda stated that the gap between Spurs and the top three is not as big as it might seem, insisting that there is no reason why the Lilywhites cannot challenge for the title next season.
He continued: “I think Tottenham have got to win a trophy next season, that’s how you start to build something special. You know, whether it’s an FA Cup or the Carabao Cup, even challenging for the title, actually. The gap between us and the top three really isn’t that big, I don’t think,” said the former right-back.
“The next few weeks are really important because there are some big games coming up against that top three, and it’s an opportunity for Spurs to test themselves ahead of a bigger push next year.”
The Frenchman opined that Tottenham need to add reinforcements at centre-back and in the base of their midfield this summer while also needing a world-class number nine to replace Harry Kane.
Chimbonda added: “Strengthening the team this summer is so important; we need to add depth. First of all, I think we need to add some more quality at the back, maybe one or two new centre-backs. I’d also like to see us add a midfielder when the transfer window opens. Someone like a Claude Makelele who doesn’t even think about attacking; all he thinks about is protecting the back four.
“Then, the obvious area for me would be up-front; we need to bring someone in who is capable of scoring 20-25 goals a season because we lost that when Harry Kane left last summer. Ollie Watkins is very good. He’s strong, he’s powerful and he knows where the goal is.
“Dominic Solanke is the same; he’s a big guy who has shown he’s capable of scoring goals. Both have Premier League experience and, for someone like Solanke who plays for Bournemouth… while I don’t want to say they’re a small club, you’d expect that if Solanke was to sign for a bigger team in the league, he’d probably find himself scoring even more goals.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I agree that we are not more than three quality additions away from going to the next level. What is promising is that almost all of our recruitment decisions have been spot-on since Ange arrived through the door and there is no reason to think we will not make the right additions this summer.
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