The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 1st September 2015 DEADLINE DAY!

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

Drexl said:

Only players over 27 allowed to do that

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Not entirely true... the player can be below the age of 28 providing he signed the contract 3 years prior to buying it out. I believe Berahino signed a contract December 2013.

ross the saint said:

even as a BSoDL, I'm scratching to be positive today.

But the bottom line is, we have bolstered the defence and have more options going forward compared to last year. I'm struggling with the idea of only one front man, but at the end of the day, we effectively only had one last season too. I would have loved another, but the club obviously had a top price they would pay for SB, and it wasn't enough. I'm not going to castigate them for not bowing to WBAs demands if they were felt to be excessive.

I'm confident that we had targets and options identified, but it just didn't come together on the last day.

Panic buying is panic buying, whether it's at the start of the window to 'make sure we get someone in for the start of the season', or at the end of the window because we failed to get our targets. Everyone would be just as upset if we got another Rasiak today.

We all just need to chill out, get behind the team and hope for the best from Kane.

And yes, dare I say it, remember what it was like in the days before Levy. Cue neg reps.

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But that's the point! We shouldn't be in a situation where we have to hope for the best. We've had all summer to address our striker options. We sold Soldado, and told Ade he will not be part of our plans. The path has been cleared for a new striker. How can we go into the season with just Kane? Ok we didn't sign Berahino but where's plan B, C, D etc etc. That little c**t has screwed up AGAIN!!!! His transfer dealings are done. "Levy Time" my ass!!!!!

Supersi32 said:

No offence dude but I couldn't give a monkeys about what other teams did or didn't get and quite frankly we've been let down again.

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That's just a matter of opinion though, as to whether we've been let down, I was just trying to offer another perspective.
If Poch thinks he's been let down, well that's the important opinion but it's one we won't be privy to.

LexingtonSpurs said:

I get the disappointment - I do. But I don't get the despondent responses.

Last year we finished 5th - sure we could easily have been 7th, but over the course of the season we were 5th. Biggest weakness last season was shipping too many goals. So what did we do? We added a new starting CB. We added competition at two other defensive spots. We now have 8 solid defenders - with nobody having to play out of position at the first sign of injury.

We shook up the CM pairing - which last year was not strong enough defensively. We put Dier in that role - where he has played well as a defensive midfielder - allowing his partner Mason/Bentaleb freedom to move forward a bit. Dier is not long-term solution there - but he is a quality DM, even this early in his development. Dier is also a guy we want on the pitch as much as possible for the passion with which he plays.

So, our defense is better. Our CM2 partnership is better balanced. What about the attack?

Glad you asked. Our front four will likely be Kane, Chadli, Eriksen, and Son - all 4 can score goals. Son adds a pace dimension to the squad that was missing last season. We also added Clinton, who also provides pace and a direct scoring threat from the AM positions. Behind the starters, we brought back Pritchard, who should find room as Eriksen's apprentice, we added Alli who looks like he could slot in anywhere in the midfield - both young, but both look promising.

The only area where we did not improve is back-up striker. But wait, you say - we don't have any back-up striker. Surely our season is doomed!! But that is only because you get caught up on titles - we have a number of players who can play up front - including Chadli, or Lamela (or Son or Clinton) - and given that we got the square root of fuck-all from our back up strikers (sorry Bobby, still love ya), you could probably say that our back-ups this year are an improvement.

So, yes, we all wanted more. Greedy bastards, all of us. But, when you look at the totality of the window - what our goals were, we did pretty well to improve the squad - for 0 net spend. We shifted a lot of deadwood, and have the makings of a very good young team. So, as @Stoof says, support the team thats on the pitch - they deserve it. Lets not get caught up in the "what-ifs" or "what-could-be's" nothing is going change what we have, and what we have is pretty damn good.

COYS!

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I like this post and it has made me feel more positive about things. I think our first team has definitely had some improvements on last year.

My only concerns are that it would be great to have a good cup run and win some silverware; we've got no chance of winning the league but a good European run would be brilliant for us fans. My issue with not bringing in another striker or central midfielder is that we will struggle to compete on 4 fronts; it will be difficult to play Chadli or Son up front when they've played 90mins out wide at the weekend.

It's also frustrating to see teams like Swansea pick up players like Gomis and Ayew for nothing. It seems crazy when you compare that to £20m for Berahino! There are some real gems out there but we are struggling to find them.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the season and I'm excited to see how our young players develop. I think there's a definite cause to be excited. COYS!

Drexl said:

Only players over 27 allowed to do that

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No the rule is if you are under 28 you can buy out your contract at the end of the 3rd year of contract.. Over 28 & you can buy it out after completing 2 years

Utterly embarrassing.

KingNick said:

We have a better first XI than we did before we played Man Utd.

We have a few EL and COC matches between now and January but not so many that HK will be that knackered if he has to play them all in addition to PL games, which he won't in any case.

We could have signed Berahino and he could have got injured in his first game.

HK may go the season without an injury.

The pace we have added to the team might mean we finally play Poch's system properly and make DM a less important position / one than Dier can fill exactly as asked.

In short, anything could happen. I'm deferring judgment and not blaming anyone for anything until I see us in a worse position than we are now

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Agreed, huge risks signing Trippier, Toby, Wimmer, N'Jie and Son. In fact, we really shouldn't sign anyone, sell the whole squad and take up something more relaxing and safe like bowls.

Drexl said:

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

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Would love to read this exchange, tbh. Gotta hear the party line so I can make my rebuttal and get shit on by the bsodl's. Post it on Spurs Chat?

Drexl said:

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

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Her PA used CTRL + V more times than people hit F5 in here today

Breezer said:

But that's the point! We shouldn't be in a situation where we have to hope for the best. We've had all summer to address our striker options. We sold Soldado, and told Ade he will not be part of our plans. The path has been cleared for a new striker. How can we go into the season with just Kane? Ok we didn't sign Berahino but where's plan B, C, D etc etc. That little c**t has screwed up AGAIN!!!! His transfer dealings are done. "Levy Time" my ass!!!!!

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Like I said, I have faith that we had targets and options, which for one reason or another didn't work out. None of us know whether there were plans B, C or D, ITK suggested there were. I'm disappointed but confident that Levy didn't do this on purpose.

Drexl said:

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

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Why waste your time? Everything is always rosy. The Club always finish the window stronger, yada, yada, yada...

Drexl said:

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

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What did you/she say, if you don't mind sharing.

I'm email her myself, but Indoubt my choice of language would be appreciated

I was so gutted when 5:45 came and nothing, the site overload, utter madness on twitter, and I honestly couldn't take it so left it all resigned to the fact that Berahino (and a cm) was not incoming.

Everything came crashing down and it was an awful feeling. This is on Levy, and he deserves every criticism for today's outcome.

However, after being away for an hour or so, and looking at other (top) clubs fans and their reactions to their dealings, on the whole we have had a much more productive window. I say top clubs, because for all the stokes, swanseas, saints, cp's, I don't believe there signings (or current form) make them a better club than we are. We are Tottenham, last season we came 5th with a much worse squad who for most of the season didn't look particularly good. We have a stronger squad overall, young players with more experience. A CM would've been great but we have more cover (if a bit inexperienced) than most other teams in an around our BPL level. I am only seriously worried about Kane, which is GROSS NEGLIGENCE. Poch WILL have to be smart there. But really, besides that we have addressed other issues.

It's hard, but remember this is a squad for the future. I believe in our youngsters, gonna be some baptism of fire but as long as we support our team and our players we and they will benefit from it.

I would be much more worried if I was a fan of:

1) Arsenal, who only have coquelin who, if injured or suspended (inevitable), has literally NO half-decent replacement (please no Arteta) and Giroud who isn't good enough

2) Chelsea, whose manager is clearly irritated bc of lack of 'quality' signings AND woeful displays with egos and attitude problems.


Yes, these teams may have on paper better players but my point is on our transfers.
And even if on paper they have better squads, we've showed from last season we can take them on.

Now TW is over, time for us to focus on the team we do have, which is a very capable one.

AGAIN this does rely on Kane staying healthy and for that FUCK LEVY.



p.s. This may be all over the place for some and that is my fault, I'm not altogether back yet. COYS!

wiggo24 said:

So near to a brilliant window, that's what's annoying.

Not actually that bad objectively, but today has left a sour taste.

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Perfectly sums it up for me. Couple short of a perfect window.

Just something I've been thinking. I know several Spurs fans that know their football but don't do the whole online thing and aren't registered to any forums. I've spoken to 5 of them today in a mini experiment type thing and every single one is at least ok and at most very happy with our window. They've basically between them said that Trippier, Alli, Wimmer, Alderweireld, N'jie and Son makes for a really good window. They would've liked a striker but are generally ok due to Son & N'jie as back up and only one of them was angry at the failure to sign a DM. They're normal fans. Most hadn't heard of Wimmer for instance but generally know what they're talking about.

I think my point is that if there was no internet and no reminder every other minute that we're after Witsel or Wanyama or Martinez or Illaremendi or Berahino or Pato or all the other players on the transfer rumours forum, then people would be much less angry at the result of our business. Sure they'd be gutted but nowhere near as angry. Some people take the ITK thread far too literally and as we all know, what was the case one minute might change the next. If people weren't aware what was happening that first minute then they can't get angry at the next when nothing comes of it. As much fun as the ITK thread is, and it is, it doesn't half bring out the worst in people. The Internet era has changed people's patience. For example, in the whole scheme of things, the Illaremendi rumours lasted around a week, maybe 10 days before he signed for Sociedad but because of the Internet, people were constantly talking about him every minutes of every day so it felt like we'd been after him for years and it made it worse when we didn't get him.

While I'm yapping on and on I might as well get this thought in too; I personally completely understand how ITK works and that things can change quickly. My 'advice' to the ITK's is that if you add the terms 'my source believes/states' and 'as of this moment' then that would go down better with lots of posters. So a comment like 'Berahino is pretty much done' could be changed to 'my source believes that as of this moment, Berahino is pretty much done'. That way the ITK doesn't come across as any kind of know it all (not that they do now) and even the most anti ITK poster will understand that the ITK is just passing on info in good faith and not declaring themselves to be the daddy. This should be obvious anyway but not all posters understand this..... This is absolutely not a dig at ITK's, especially our ones. They've been beautiful.

Back to the window, I'm writing this season off in terms of top 4 but I think we'll use lots of youth over the season and that can only be good for next season. If Poch really wants Berahino that much, I'd rather he waits for him next season than get someone in for the sake of it and not play them much anyway (like Stambouli & Fazio). Saying that, I'm very disappointed we didn't get a striker & think we're an injury to Kane away from having a 'mare but am excited to see how Son & Clinton work out. And I really fucking love Dier so I'm glad he'll get more game time. I'd play him up front if it meant him being on the pitch. Future captain for me.

It's been disappointing but it's not a disaster. And striker/DM aside, it's been a pretty decent window. I'm 50/50 re Levy. There's no doubt he's done some amazing things for us but he's also fucked up too. I'm ready for a sugar daddy City style to take us to the next level. I've been a season ticket holder for 35 years and now I want to see us compete properly and regularly. I'd very much prefer to do all this under Levy but I can't see that being possible due to the limitless spending by City, Chelsea & now Utd.

Jesus how long? If you're still reading you're obviously bored.

nailsy said:

By the way, for those saying our new scouting system is useless we were trying hard to sign Martial way before Man Utd became seriously interested.

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I think our scouting system is probably pretty good. But the fact of the matter is they don't sign players, they suggest players. And if Levy isn't willing to spend/listen/(whatever it that has caused this) then they are basically people we pay to watch football. Good for them for getting something out of Levy. They got a few wins, but you have to imagine they suggested a lot of strikers and we couldn't get off the Brummie train long enough to consider them.

Supersi32 said:

It wouldn't surprise me if Poch genuinely said to Levy its Berahino or no one, we know he wanted a smaller squad with players who are adaptable in several positions. We saw what happened last summer with Stambouli, bought as an alternative and hardly featured, fwiw I think Clinton is gona tear it up for us.

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Yep it's the fault of the coach. Not even a manager any more, a coach. I bet he has a lot of say in transfers.

whitelanefever said:

No the rule is if you are under 28 you can buy out your contract at the end of the 3rd year of contract.. Over 28 & you can buy it out after completing 2 years

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I believe he signed his first contract in 2012 and a contract extension in December of 2013. I'm not sure how that would work. Can he buy out in December 2016 (3 years from 2013) or could he buy out in December 2015 (3 years from 2012).

It would solidify Daniel Levy as a God if he was able to wrangle Berahino away in January for just a few million because of the contract.

Drexl said:

I emailed Donna Cullen my thoughts on the transfer window just after 6 (no threats or abuse) and she replied within 15 mins, credit where credit is due as she must have been swamped with messages, she towed the party line and positive spin and all that but ffs we have to make the most of the Jan window!

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don't do it to yourself