£48m has bought good depth, but what about the balance and cohesion?

[sloth]

Arguably the only position we've really balanced is Goalkeeper, where we needed a good number two and have bought one.

In defence we bought a RB which provides depth, but we already had three other RBs and another player who's performed very well in that position. We can't play both Chimbo and Corluka at RB but maybe one or either can provide cover for an alternative position, what happens to the expensive Hutton when he comes back though? At LB we have two novices, surely back-up for BAE was a greater priority than support for Corluka?

We've certainly added depth to our CM but we now have players surplus to requirements and they're still on the books, this can't add to the cohesion of the squad. On the right we have two wingers, but none on the left and this wasn't addressed despite Redknapp recognising and mocking the existence of this imbalance.

Upfront we've bought two small guys to complement the quick but hardly robust Bent and the knackered Pav. When Defoe's back we're going to have a problem with morale for one of these expensive aquisitions. Redknapp demonstrated a desire for a big target man in his pursuit of Kenwyne Jones, when/if we secure one in the summer that's going to be one less berth for which the diminuitive duo can scrap.

In short then we've spent £48m, added some depth, but short-sightedly imo stored up a heap of trouble once the injured players are fit again. Even if we get rid of some of the surplus you can guarantee we'll take a hit on them because as Harry demonstrated at Portsmouth and Southampton he doesn't care about the long-term future of the clubs he works for.

 

[Paxtonite]

The only area that has not really been addressed is left midfield in my opinion.

The acquisition of Chimbonda means that Corluka can be freed to play more central. Indeed Chimbonda himself can play right across the back four and has done for us in the past. As long as he applies himself like we know he can then that would be decent acquisition.

We have strengthened our forward line although i fear that we have recreated the whole Keane or Defoe debate all over again, as i doubt Harry will play with them both. And we have strengthened central midfield and our goalkeeping options.

All in all we are in a better position coming out of the transfer window than we were going into it.

Over to "Arry!

 

[Hoowl]

I think that there are certain positions, like left back and left midfield, in which we've looked at getting people in but haven't been able to find the desired quality. As we are so often told, January isn't the best time to do business and I think the club have decided that they would rather make do with BAE and Bentley on the left than buy stop-gap players who wouldn't necessarily be much of an improvement. The same applies to getting a target-man type striker in. We wanted Jones, but he signed a new contract (apparently with a fixed fee release if they get relegated) so we didn't want to settle for someone else.

Despite any lack of balance in our team, we still have the players to get us out of our relegation struggle.

 

[mil1lion]

Well we haven't sold any first teamers, so the squad is more balanced than before. I agree about left back, but i dont think there were any good quality ones about. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with someone like Shorey. But i do also agree with getting another right back. I think we need to stick Corluka to one position, and i agree with harry putting him at centre back. I consider Bale and Gunter still too young for the first team though.

Defenders have a lot more responsibility than attacking players, and they dont usually hit the heights of top football until they're about 23-35 years old. So it might be an idea to loan Gunter and Bale out next season. So i think we need an experienced left back in the summer. But the right back was also needed. We now have Hutton and Chimbonda at right back. And Ekotto at left back. And Gunter and Bale developing for the future.

Then we have Corluka, King, Woodgate and King at centre back. So in defence we are only 1 player from being strong enough at this level imo. ALthough i'd like to make sure we have a good quality young centre back coming through the reserves too. But i haven't seen enough of Archibald or Dervitte to know if they are capable of growing at the club, and making the first team squad in the near future. If neither are capable, then we need the scouts to find someone who is. Someone to play at reserve level, with maybe the odd cup appearance in the first team.

Add to the defence, the goalkeepers. Probably the best 1 and 2 combo of keepers in the League. So very good there. And a couple of promising young keepers to learn from those 2 and develop for the future.

In midfield, again its the left that is a problem as you mention. But again, i dont think there was anyone good enough, and thats why we didn't sign anyone. Although i'm convinced we'll sign Downing in the summer. I also think that Giovani can cover on that side, as he is very capable of developing as a winger who can play on either flank. But being left footed, he can learn to play that role effectively. And i think we need a young holding midfielder too in the summer. But we needed a responsible and physical centre midfielder like Palacios aswell. So that was also a good move.

We did try and sign Kewyne Jones in the window, so Harry does want another big target man up front. So it was more a case of which strikers we could get. I dont think we can really include Keane and Defoe so much in terms of balance. I think they will ultimately replace Campbell and Bent for next season. So they are more upgradeds than anything. But Robbie Keane is a different type of player to those. And he also offers experience in that role, aswell as leadership. And we have to bear in mind that, balance is not just about positions on the pitch, but also balance in terms of leaders and experienced players.

The January window is very difficult to work with. But i think we have gone a long way in adding depth and balance to the squad. The rest of the process will be completed in the summer i'm sure. My personal opinion is that we should look to sign an experienced left back, young holding midfielder, a left winger and a young target man up front. Those would add the balance and depth to the squad with a few players being sold in the summer depending on how they play between now and the summer (Jenas, Huddlestone, Taarabt)

The only other additions then would possibly be to replace current first teamers. I think we have a very good first team now though. Maybe we could upgrade on Zokora with someone with better leadership qualities, and someone more clever. If Appiah can overcome his injuries, he could be the perfect player there. If not, then possibly Gattuso in the summer. All in all i think we're getting much closer to the sort of squad that can compete for silverware, aswell as finish in the top 6. That for me would be a good step forward.

 

[stevenurse]

We could probably do with another right back though.

 

[leetotty]

Positionally I agree that it may seem like that we have spent 50 odd million and not really enhanced the team that considerably. But one of our biggest issues has been mentality (our dismal away over the past couple of years reflects this). We need the ability to grind out results while still playing badly. The top 6 all have that ability.

Hopefully Keane/Palacios an co. will help to rectify this with a little bit of heart and passion.

I think as fans we get caught up with formations, when the attitude and spitirt of a squad is sometimes more important.

 

[SpurSince57]

I think we worry about Hutton when and if he comes back, the 'if' being a very big one in my mind. Corluka's been extremely solid, if occasionally a little suspect against pace, but not very effective going forward—which is where Chimbo is a plus, as we saw against Bolton. Everyone has concerns about his lackadaisickal attitude towards getting back and his tendency to switch off at set pieces, but you pays your money and takes your choice. I don't think Gunter's ready, and surely he was signed as one for the future anyway. It's a shame the loan fell through—a spell with a decent Championship outfit would have benefited him a lot.

I agree about the LB cover, but who was available? At least O'Hara, if not ideal, can do a very creditable job there. Zokora probably could, too. Really, this is the upshot of Ramos' bizarre decision to consign Lee to the outer darkness.

We tried to sign Downing, had Quaresma lined up only to have Chelsea nick him at the last moment. My feeling is that we decided against signing a stop-gap (Hunt, obviously) who would be replaced in the summer—I suspect, by Downing—and didn't fancy N'Zogbia. I don't know why we didn't try for Pranjic, who's totally wasted with those bumpkins at Heerenveen, but there you go. We've been getting by with square pegs for so long now I'm sure a few more months won't hurt.

We at least tried for a target man in the shape of Kenwyne 'Not Good Enough For Spurs' Jones. Why not Heskey? Pass—but maybe at this stage of his career more or less guaranteed UEFA Cup and possible CL football next season was far more attractive than helping us out. Then you're left with, er, Mido. Clearly we needed another striker, and if Defoe wasn't ideal I'm pushed to think of anyone better—and then he goes and spoils an outstanding injury-free record. Sod's Law.

Yes, we signed a new CM, and yes, that probably will mean a clear-out in the summer. Hopefully it will be better-considered than last summer's. And whilst last summer's signings looked good on paper and in the pre-season games, in real life, Corluka excepted, they've hardly been an unqualified success, have they? Redknapp can hardly be blamed for that, or for the fact that he's had to take 'short-sighted' measures to address at least some of the issues he inherited in the interests of survival.

 

[stemark44]

I think Harry will sort us out in the summer.
I think we will go back for Downing and Kenwyne Jones and probably sell Bent and Bale.
We could get Glen Johnson and sell Hutton and I think we should get a better LB than Ekotto,possibly Warnock.
Jigsaw complete!

 

[mil1lion]

I dont think we'll sell Bale tbh. I would like him to be loaned out, aswell as Gunter, to a Championship side next season though. They're still very young and i think they are both not good enough for us yet, but too good for the reserves.

I'm thinking of Taarabt, Bale and Gunter out on loan (and O'Hara too if Appiah signs) and Huddlestone, Jenas and Bent sold with Campbell released.

 

[Kendall]

Well he wanted Quaresma or Downing and got neither, so I think it's safe to say Harry still won't be 100% happy with the balance of the squad

 

[markie]

Balance isnt too bad if we look at it like this:

-----------------------Gomes/Cudicini
Chimbs/Corluka - Woodgate/Dawson - Corluka/King - BAE/Bale/Chimbs
Bentley/Lennon - Palacios/Zokora - Modric/Jenas/Hudd - Bale/Lennon
-------------------Pav/Bent - Keane/Defoe

 

[sloth]

Well we haven't sold any first teamers, so the squad is more balanced than before. I agree about left back, but i dont think there were any good quality ones about. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with someone like Shorey. But i do also agree with getting another right back. I think we need to stick Corluka to one position, and i agree with harry putting him at centre back. I consider Bale and Gunter still too young for the first team though.

Defenders have a lot more responsibility than attacking players, and they dont usually hit the heights of top football until they're about 23-35 years old. So it might be an idea to loan Gunter and Bale out next season. So i think we need an experienced left back in the summer. But the right back was also needed. We now have Hutton and Chimbonda at right back. And Ekotto at left back. And Gunter and Bale developing for the future.

Then we have Corluka, King, Woodgate and King at centre back. So in defence we are only 1 player from being strong enough at this level imo. ALthough i'd like to make sure we have a good quality young centre back coming through the reserves too. But i haven't seen enough of Archibald or Dervitte to know if they are capable of growing at the club, and making the first team squad in the near future. If neither are capable, then we need the scouts to find someone who is. Someone to play at reserve level, with maybe the odd cup appearance in the first team.

Add to the defence, the goalkeepers. Probably the best 1 and 2 combo of keepers in the League. So very good there. And a couple of promising young keepers to learn from those 2 and develop for the future.

In midfield, again its the left that is a problem as you mention. But again, i dont think there was anyone good enough, and thats why we didn't sign anyone. Although i'm convinced we'll sign Downing in the summer. I also think that Giovani can cover on that side, as he is very capable of developing as a winger who can play on either flank. But being left footed, he can learn to play that role effectively. And i think we need a young holding midfielder too in the summer. But we needed a responsible and physical centre midfielder like Palacios aswell. So that was also a good move.

We did try and sign Kewyne Jones in the window, so Harry does want another big target man up front. So it was more a case of which strikers we could get. I dont think we can really include Keane and Defoe so much in terms of balance. I think they will ultimately replace Campbell and Bent for next season. So they are more upgradeds than anything. But Robbie Keane is a different type of player to those. And he also offers experience in that role, aswell as leadership. And we have to bear in mind that, balance is not just about positions on the pitch, but also balance in terms of leaders and experienced players.

The January window is very difficult to work with. But i think we have gone a long way in adding depth and balance to the squad. The rest of the process will be completed in the summer i'm sure. My personal opinion is that we should look to sign an experienced left back, young holding midfielder, a left winger and a young target man up front. Those would add the balance and depth to the squad with a few players being sold in the summer depending on how they play between now and the summer (Jenas, Huddlestone, Taarabt)

The only other additions then would possibly be to replace current first teamers. I think we have a very good first team now though. Maybe we could upgrade on Zokora with someone with better leadership qualities, and someone more clever. If Appiah can overcome his injuries, he could be the perfect player there. If not, then possibly Gattuso in the summer. All in all i think we're getting much closer to the sort of squad that can compete for silverware, aswell as finish in the top 6. That for me would be a good step forward.

I think we worry about Hutton when and if he comes back, the 'if' being a very big one in my mind. Corluka's been extremely solid, if occasionally a little suspect against pace, but not very effective going forward—which is where Chimbo is a plus, as we saw against Bolton. Everyone has concerns about his lackadaisickal attitude towards getting back and his tendency to switch off at set pieces, but you pays your money and takes your choice. I don't think Gunter's ready, and surely he was signed as one for the future anyway. It's a shame the loan fell through—a spell with a decent Championship outfit would have benefited him a lot.

I agree about the LB cover, but who was available? At least O'Hara, if not ideal, can do a very creditable job there. Zokora probably could, too. Really, this is the upshot of Ramos' bizarre decision to consign Lee to the outer darkness.

We tried to sign Downing, had Quaresma lined up only to have Chelsea nick him at the last moment. My feeling is that we decided against signing a stop-gap (Hunt, obviously) who would be replaced in the summer—I suspect, by Downing—and didn't fancy N'Zogbia. I don't know why we didn't try for Pranjic, who's totally wasted with those bumpkins at Heerenveen, but there you go. We've been getting by with square pegs for so long now I'm sure a few more months won't hurt.

We at least tried for a target man in the shape of Kenwyne 'Not Good Enough For Spurs' Jones. Why not Heskey? Pass—but maybe at this stage of his career more or less guaranteed UEFA Cup and possible CL football next season was far more attractive than helping us out. Then you're left with, er, Mido. Clearly we needed another striker, and if Defoe wasn't ideal I'm pushed to think of anyone better—and then he goes and spoils an outstanding injury-free record. Sod's Law.

Yes, we signed a new CM, and yes, that probably will mean a clear-out in the summer. Hopefully it will be better-considered than last summer's. And whilst last summer's signings looked good on paper and in the pre-season games, in real life, Corluka excepted, they've hardly been an unqualified success, have they? Redknapp can hardly be blamed for that, or for the fact that he's had to take 'short-sighted' measures to address at least some of the issues he inherited in the interests of survival.

Might be too much to quote the too longest posts in one reply but they're both full of good points and I admit to feeling reassured in particular by mil1lion's analysis.

On the Corluka points I think Vedran's been our stand out player this season both in terms of consistency and quality, he has got failings such as a lack of pace but a manager needs to decide who is number one and stick with it. Perhaps Chimbo's been bought merely as cover and perhaps he also frees Corluka to cover CB, but it seems messy and potentially disruptive - it certainly doesn't appear to be the kind of approach a coach like MoN would take.

Perhaps my biggest for reason for raising eyebrows though is the £48m spent. If we had bottomless reserves then fair enough, but this is money which will have a knock on effect on future transfers. For an example of a club which spent today and didn't worry about tomorrow look at Portsmouth with the highest debt to turnover ratio in the Premier League and who, i suspect will sink very fast indeed over the next 18 months unless they're bailed by an oversees investor.

 

[SpurSince57]

So, Markie, you've forgotten how catastrophic Chimbo was at LB last season? He damned near lost us the games against Chelsea and Blackburn (where the Bentley we thought we were getting made him look nearly as big a monkey as Cole did). And that's just two examples off the top of my head.

 

[SpurSince57]

Well, you say £48m, but that's a largely notional figure. Around £7m of what we 'paid' for Defoe was written-off debts, and with Pompey's desperate financial situation, which could get a whole lot worse if they get relegated (a distinct possibility the way things are going) there has to be some doubt that we'd ever have seen that money. It's not at all clear what we paid for Keane, with newspaper estimates diverging to the tune of several millions, but we appear in essence to have restructured the agreement by which we sold him, basically writing off the £10m-odd that was still owed to us. I very much doubt that we've paid the whole of the £12m for Palacios up front, and we appear to have made a modest profit on Chimbonda. And we've probably made a bob or two on Ghaly as well!

Writing off that Pompey debt means we acquired Defoe for what we sold him for, including the £2m profit we made in the first place. We made a notional £13m profit on Keane. However, the actual profit in the bank was 'only' £3m. As accountancy isn't exactly my strong point, I'll leave that to Levy and his bean-counters, but I doubt that the real outlay (if there is such a thing as 'real' money in football) is anywhere near £48m—quite possibly less than half that. Relegation would be a good deal more costly, surely.

 

[NickHSpurs]

The current crop is very much a solution to keeping us up.

The selection problems with Hutton, Defoe/Keane etc will be tackled as and when, but for now we just need to stay in this league.

 

[mil1lion]

Perhaps my biggest for reason for raising eyebrows though is the £48m spent. If we had bottomless reserves then fair enough, but this is money which will have a knock on effect on future transfers. For an example of a club which spent today and didn't worry about tomorrow look at Portsmouth with the highest debt to turnover ratio in the Premier League and who, i suspect will sink very fast indeed over the next 18 months unless they're bailed by an oversees investor.

I wouldn't worry too much about the money spent to be honest. We always spend big money in the transfer window and keep the books balanced. We're in very good hands with Daniel Levy in financial terms and i see no reason to be concerned. I think its best to focus on the actual players signed, and let Daniel Levy worry about the costs. Most of which are paid over 55 years anyway, if you believe Steve Bruce :grin:

 

[mil1lion]

The current crop is very much a solution to keeping us up.

The selection problems with Hutton, Defoe/Keane etc will be tackled as and when, but for now we just need to stay in this league.

Thats exactly right. We dont need to concern ourselves with top 6 yet, or even the top half as such. We just need to pull away from the bottom 3. And we have more than enough quality to do that.

What the new arrivals will also have though, is time to settle and gel with the team. Then, hopefully, next season, we'll hit the ground running.

 

[DavidsSpecs]

I think Harry will sort us out in the summer.
I think we will go back for Downing and Kenwyne Jones and probably sell Bent and Bale.
We could get Glen Johnson and sell Hutton and I think we should get a better LB than Ekotto,possibly Warnock.
Jigsaw complete!

sorry to say, but the sound of that jigsaw doesn't excite me very much, nor do i expect it to be much more than a top 7-8 side. maybe that's what we are but surely in the summer we've got to be at least trying to bring in a couple of world class players.

 

[SpurSince57]

We can try all we like, but they won't come, any more than they did last summer—unless you have a very flexible notion of 'world-class'.

 

[DC_Boy]

as i pointed out last summer LB was a problem

still not resolved satisfactorily I suspect

let's see what happens over the next few months

I still think zokora might be worth trying there or Rocha if BAE continues to have his 'moments' or gets injured/suspended

Bale - no no no no


LM - - I think o'Hara is fine there and maybe he'll be back for the Hull game - hope so anyway

if not - who knows not me

probably lennon is the best option - with jj wp and lm being the regular mids and zoko as back up

unless HR is serious about dropping LM for away games - then I guess in comes zoko

but it's all so much froth really predicting even two games in advance

I'm nowhere near confident I could even predict the team HR will pick on sunday

really pleased we got CC in , but he's not up to gomes' level as evidenced by the bolton game - especially with our defending at set pieces - really hope HG is back on sun or at least by the Hull game

good buys in PC & WP

we need depth

maybe Corluka can play LB - but like PC I tend to see him as too right footed to succeed there