dontcallme
SC Supporter
- Mar 18, 2005
- 34,255
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Standing still while rivals improve
- Thread starter Hoops
- Start date
sunnydelight786
Chief Rocka
- Jan 7, 2007
- 6,075
- 4,243
Im all for that if we actually see that through but fact remains we have signed none of the best young talent available in Europe this window. That would be understandable if we had no European football to offer, but thats not the case here, which leads you to the question why have not we....?
THOWIG
Well-Known Member
- Feb 14, 2005
- 6,504
- 8,357
Sorry I meant players aged between 14-17. The likes of Bellerin for example.
The only team this season who seems to have invested in young players is Dortmund.
sunnydelight786
Chief Rocka
- Jan 7, 2007
- 6,075
- 4,243
Fair enough but you know my thoughts on the BVB situation from a previous post in this thread. Are we signing up the best 14-17 year olds out there because we don't tend to hear much about this.
Please can we have some context. Last season we ended up 3. A lot changed over the last 5-6 games last year.
As one of the better teams last year we don't really need to re invent the wheel. So thus far in terms of signings V results cannot complain one little bit.
Really think that El Poch is training us like a better race horse. The potential was shown last preparation so no need to push too early.
Big season for all SPURS fans lets not peak too early
COYS
As one of the better teams last year we don't really need to re invent the wheel. So thus far in terms of signings V results cannot complain one little bit.
Really think that El Poch is training us like a better race horse. The potential was shown last preparation so no need to push too early.
Big season for all SPURS fans lets not peak too early
COYS
GetSpurredOn
Well-Known Member
- Jun 18, 2006
- 5,022
- 8,922
I still believe we are only two signings away, just two positions from having significantly better balance than last year.
We have addressed DM and CF, where we only had one option for each last season.
Now we need to address two critical uogrades.
1. The moving on of Bentaleb, and the apparent will to send Mason and Carroll out of the door after him, suggests (hopefully) to me, we are raising funds and creating space, to bring in a CM genuinely capable of providing a viable alternative to Dembele. Someone to provide the strength and ability to bring he ball upfield from that box to box role in the midfield two. Playing two out and out DM's in Dier and Wanyama clearly hasn't quite fired for us, we miss the ability to break forward with the ball.
2. Chadli's impending apparent departure, and with Pritchard already gone, plus Njie's future still uncertain, we definitely need an addition in that AM/WF bank of 3. As to what type of player we need, I'm not quite sure. Do we need a Van Der Vaart type playmaker, someone who gets on the ball and picks passes, inviting fellow attackers to make runs off the ball. Alternatively is someone more in the Bale mould, someone who unsettles defence's rather by taking the ball at them at pace.
In an ideal world, getting someone in the first role, who could also provide the vision and guile as an AM alternate, would free the second signing to solely be a WF, as such covering all our bases.
Who? Remains to be seen. You'd assume Nkoudou will be the latter, perhaps more raw than some of us would prefer, a year to so back in his development than some of our rivals are signing, but somewhere there has to come a balance, are we paying big money £30m ish for the likes of Mane, Benteke, Lukaku, Bony etc when they join Liverpool, Everton and City, or are we buying the very same players for £10-15m as Southampton, Villa, Chelsea and Swansea did for the very same players just a season or two before? Same players, all it's a case of identifying them prior to their talent boom. I truly believe that's what we've done with Janssen, question is, will Nkoudou be one too.
As for CM/AM, I'm favouring any one of the three Croatians linked during media stories this summer's Coric, Kovacic or Brozovic, as our new Modric esque CM/AM hybrid, someone capable of dictating tempo for us.
The current raft of outgoings should be making space for signings. Are we far enough along with making these signings happen by Wednesday, only time will tell. I'd like to think so, and we're not just going to strip the squad down with no replacements. I like the theory of giving the academy players chance to step up, but needs to be in a controlled way, not due to no viable alternatives.
We have addressed DM and CF, where we only had one option for each last season.
Now we need to address two critical uogrades.
1. The moving on of Bentaleb, and the apparent will to send Mason and Carroll out of the door after him, suggests (hopefully) to me, we are raising funds and creating space, to bring in a CM genuinely capable of providing a viable alternative to Dembele. Someone to provide the strength and ability to bring he ball upfield from that box to box role in the midfield two. Playing two out and out DM's in Dier and Wanyama clearly hasn't quite fired for us, we miss the ability to break forward with the ball.
2. Chadli's impending apparent departure, and with Pritchard already gone, plus Njie's future still uncertain, we definitely need an addition in that AM/WF bank of 3. As to what type of player we need, I'm not quite sure. Do we need a Van Der Vaart type playmaker, someone who gets on the ball and picks passes, inviting fellow attackers to make runs off the ball. Alternatively is someone more in the Bale mould, someone who unsettles defence's rather by taking the ball at them at pace.
In an ideal world, getting someone in the first role, who could also provide the vision and guile as an AM alternate, would free the second signing to solely be a WF, as such covering all our bases.
Who? Remains to be seen. You'd assume Nkoudou will be the latter, perhaps more raw than some of us would prefer, a year to so back in his development than some of our rivals are signing, but somewhere there has to come a balance, are we paying big money £30m ish for the likes of Mane, Benteke, Lukaku, Bony etc when they join Liverpool, Everton and City, or are we buying the very same players for £10-15m as Southampton, Villa, Chelsea and Swansea did for the very same players just a season or two before? Same players, all it's a case of identifying them prior to their talent boom. I truly believe that's what we've done with Janssen, question is, will Nkoudou be one too.
As for CM/AM, I'm favouring any one of the three Croatians linked during media stories this summer's Coric, Kovacic or Brozovic, as our new Modric esque CM/AM hybrid, someone capable of dictating tempo for us.
The current raft of outgoings should be making space for signings. Are we far enough along with making these signings happen by Wednesday, only time will tell. I'd like to think so, and we're not just going to strip the squad down with no replacements. I like the theory of giving the academy players chance to step up, but needs to be in a controlled way, not due to no viable alternatives.
GetSpurredOn
Well-Known Member
- Jun 18, 2006
- 5,022
- 8,922
Reality check. Look at the squad/bench for first 3 games, then look at what we should have as our players return.
Lloris, Walker, Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen, Alli, Kane
Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Wanyama, Winks/Onomah/New Signing, Son, Janssen.
Suddenly doesn't appear we are falling behind.
Lloris, Walker, Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Eriksen, Alli, Kane
Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Wanyama, Winks/Onomah/New Signing, Son, Janssen.
Suddenly doesn't appear we are falling behind.
jurgen
Busy ****
- Jul 5, 2008
- 6,747
- 17,326
He got fans to commit to all 3 CL matches early doors before we found out who'd actually be playing for us in them
jurgen
Busy ****
- Jul 5, 2008
- 6,747
- 17,326
I'm sure everyone at the club likes the idea of buying young players with resale value, but the primary criteria for recruitment often seems to be a contract running down or an abnormally low buy-out clause. Given the infrastructure put in place to find more young stars has just quit on us, I'm not sure we'll be mixing it up with Dortmund for those players any time soon.
I feel that we still lack a few elements from an attacking perspective.
1. Searing pace to get in behind/ smash teams on the break/ press very fast
2. A world class dribbler
I can't help but feel that Liverpool looked a little more balanced than us on Saturday from an attacking perspective. Mane is a great signing for them as they now have that player with searing pace and that threat in behind when the clever players like Firmino and Coutinho draw defenders to them. They have very good dribblers (Coutinho, Firmino) good passers, willing runners (Lallana is very good off the ball). We have the better defence but without Dembele they looked the better unit.
We can argue all day about Eriksen being better than Coutinho etc. etc. but ultimately it's about team balance, and I feel we need to address points 1 and 2 above. Is Nkoudou the pacy player we need? (is he good enough? Time will tell) Isco is definitely a world class dribbler and the player that could definitely help break down the parked buses, but we've seen this story before and I can't see us getting him.
1. Searing pace to get in behind/ smash teams on the break/ press very fast
2. A world class dribbler
I can't help but feel that Liverpool looked a little more balanced than us on Saturday from an attacking perspective. Mane is a great signing for them as they now have that player with searing pace and that threat in behind when the clever players like Firmino and Coutinho draw defenders to them. They have very good dribblers (Coutinho, Firmino) good passers, willing runners (Lallana is very good off the ball). We have the better defence but without Dembele they looked the better unit.
We can argue all day about Eriksen being better than Coutinho etc. etc. but ultimately it's about team balance, and I feel we need to address points 1 and 2 above. Is Nkoudou the pacy player we need? (is he good enough? Time will tell) Isco is definitely a world class dribbler and the player that could definitely help break down the parked buses, but we've seen this story before and I can't see us getting him.
yiddo
Well-Known Member
- Aug 19, 2003
- 543
- 1,099
Im glad to hear that Poch seems to acknowledge where, most of us know, we are lacking with the comments about Mane.
But at the same time I am concerned that we have not scouted well enough or acted quickly enough in the market to have any chance of addressing the issue.
The late bid for Zaha reeks of desperation. We would have had a lot better chance of landing Zaha if we had gone for him early in the window, ideally before they had already sold Bolasie.
But at the same time I am concerned that we have not scouted well enough or acted quickly enough in the market to have any chance of addressing the issue.
The late bid for Zaha reeks of desperation. We would have had a lot better chance of landing Zaha if we had gone for him early in the window, ideally before they had already sold Bolasie.
DiamondLites
Well-Known Member
- Jul 29, 2011
- 4,647
- 13,170
Clearing space for a Dembele alternative would have been fine had we had this alternative in to actually play the games Demeble has missed. Even if we do sign one (not likely at this point) he will cover for 1 game and then Moose is back. If Winks is being entrusted to be this player, and by the clear out it appears this way, then why are we not playing him?
Seems like we are throwing all of our eggs into the basket of the last few days of the window, again
Seems like we are throwing all of our eggs into the basket of the last few days of the window, again
littlemandefoe
Conte's Blue and White Army!
- May 22, 2005
- 4,245
- 4,540
Getting very very close to the window shutting. Was hoping for a little more action by now! Should we be worried or?
Nkoudou is the Mane type player surely, not Zaha. Zaha I read the deal as just something opportunist. I think Zaha is a player the club guys like Pleat have always liked and followed. I think Zaha's agent has probably been touting him around trying to find him a better club than Palace and Levy has tested the water with a low-ball offer to see what the chances of doing a bargain deal are.in the context of him requesting a transfer. I also think while we wanted Nkoudou we didn't quite expect Marseille to insist on Njie being part of the deal. So I don't think we are desperate and nobody would even have known had their chairman not decided to have a massive paddy.
How often did Bentaleb, Mason and Chadli feature last year?
What he means I think is that he'd rather we spent £30m on a Liverpool flop in Benteke rather than £17m on 22 year old Eiredivisie top scorer Janssen and £20m on Bolasie rather than £11m on Nkoudou and would probably rather we spent £30m on Fabian Delph than £11m on Wanyama, because well, because that is what it sounds like he wants to do, because yes we might have spent a load on average players, but at least he wouldn't have be moaning about Levy not spending money, even though we don't have to spend the same amount as we actually use our scouts and analysis departments to find good players at good prices.
Agreed but I would say that was down to injuries but in my view all three players are very good squad players. If these guys go we definitely need replacements of higher quality. I guess you could argue Wanyama replaces Bentaleb and to some extent Mason. We just don`t feel stronger to me but a couple of signings could change that..
Metalhead
But that's a debate for another thread.....
- Nov 24, 2013
- 25,407
- 38,422
Dembele is a big miss from the side. Incredible to think that 2 or 3 seasons ago.
dannythomas
Well-Known Member
- May 17, 2004
- 3,758
- 2,813
Has Nkoudou signed ? Looks like we may have shipped out Pritchard, Yeidlin, Mason, Bentaleb, Chadli and Son by the end of the window. A mystery over Wimmer too. I can only imagine we must have at least 2 more players about to sign in the next 2 days , or we will arguably be weaker at the end of the window than at the start. I wouldn't even count Nkoudou in that even if he signs since it is basically like for like with Clinton leaving.
