Are you happy with our squad?

[brendanb50]

Yh would be great, sissoko may leave January or summer i don't know, but for this season, Its not the worst player to have in the squad, i know he hasn't done much yet, but im hoping for alot better this season, hes been here for year now and had whole pre season. World cup coming up, so he's going to be fighting hard for a spot. I just think we should get behind him now he's staying.

Agree - he's a polarising character to some extent but he does have ability - it may not always suit how we set up to play but either way we need to back him now. Time for him to do his bit as well and prove a few haters wrong.

 

[nicdic]

Apart from that, there are a couple other things this window showed definitively. Firstly, this age old belief I've seen people continue to push here, even recently, that waiting until the end of the window results in a total collapse of prices and bargain basement deals, simply isn't true. It has been true for a few seasons now, and once again, we see absolutely ludicrous fees on the final day for clubs desperate to do deals (Sakho for 28 million pounds and Drinkwater for 35 million). Doing business earlier in the window should be considered in the future before the market is set by moves like the Neymar one (AC Milan did brilliantly this window without paying over the odds for anyone, because they did all their signings in June/July). That doesn't preclude you from being opportunistic in the final days of the window if something like the Llorente or Van der Vaart deals pop up.

I've got a number of issues with this.

First, I'm not sure that the waiting 'til the end of the window is necessarily about prices dropping. The way that Pochettino, Levy, and the club have talked about it, is that you let the bigger cash rich teams get their business done and out of the way so that we have a clearer run at remaining targets. We're seeking to avoid those cash rich teams gazzumping us. Scenarios we've seen previously with players like Willian, Martial, etc. For some players (i.e. Barkley) there was sense in waiting because for some bizarre reason at the beginning of the window Everton believed they could realistically get £50m for him, by the end of the window £25-30m was the figure banded about.

Second, you cannot compare transfers in Europe generally with purchases of PL teams. Any PL team interested in a player is going to be asked to pay at least £10m more for a player because of the relative wealth they experience. Milan's business is made to look great by the madness going on in the PL, no PL could have got those deals.

 

[dude573]

I'm quite happy with it, yes.

I think a problem is that up until now we as fans have had a specific way of thinking what our squad should be. No matter how good or bad it is, we have always had a stand out attacking player who is considered one of the best. Bale was the most recent one and before him was Modric in his last season, but you can go back through the years and see players like Gazza, Ginola, Teddy etc. There are loads more I am not mentioning as you all probably know them, but these players were much better than the Spurs squad they played in and i think that mentality sticks in our mind as fans.

Right now our squad is much better than it ever has been before and I am not taking anything away from Kane, Ali, Toby, Eriksen or Lloris, but we do not have that 'bum off seat' player who captivates us as an audience.

Again I will reiterate that our squad is probably the best it has ever been, at least in my life time, but as Spurs fans we crave attacking, fast-paced football as that is what for the most part we have always been given. When you look at our current squad I feel we lack that special attacking player that we have got used to, which is ironic as our team is filled with so many special players.

 

[Shadydan]

I personally thing the club have played a blinder potentially securing the future replacements of Jan and Toby (should they leave) if not adding to our already strong back line with more than capable replacements. I'm ecstatic that we've replaced Walker with someone cheaper and better - smart move there, and having a player like Llorente as a back up to Kane is brilliant. Albeit slightly different player he brings a ton of experience and is Prem ready as well. We're going to need him to play if Kane goes down or to secure a match.

Only bad thing for me is not signing a quick technical player, I really would have loved to bring in a player like Wilf Zaha and although we replaced Walker we still sold him to a direct rival and subsequently strengthened them, would have loved for Barkley to come in but that's not fault of our own - apart from that I originally said that I was content with our window and gave it 7/10, but on review and time to look at it I'd mark it 8/10.

Forgot to add, that the biggest thing for me which everyone has pretty much overlooked is the fact that we've kept the overwhelming majority of our squad together yet again and we have improved he first team and the bench which i find pretty amazing.

 

[$hoguN]

The squad is absolutely startling really. Considering we had a team containing the ginger Pele and Chris Perry not that long ago, it's almost mind boggling. One thing of real concern is competition for Eriksen, the squad lacks someone else with a bit of magic. Hopefully Edwards can step up and give us that

 

[Marty]

I'm quite happy with it, yes.

I think a problem is that up until now we as fans have had a specific way of thinking what our squad should be. No matter how good or bad it is, we have always had a stand out attacking player who is considered one of the best. Bale was the most recent one and before him was Modric in his last season, but you can go back through the years and see players like Gazza, Ginola, Teddy etc. There are loads more I am not mentioning as you all probably know them, but these players were much better than the Spurs squad they played in and i think that mentality sticks in our mind as fans.

Right now our squad is much better than it ever has been before and I am not taking anything away from Kane, Ali, Toby, Eriksen or Lloris, but we do not have that 'bum of seat' player who captivates us as an audiance.

Again I will reiterate that our squad is probably the best it has ever been, at least in my life time, but as Spurs fans we crave attacking, fast-paced football as that is what for the most part we have always been given. When you look at our current squad I feel we lack that special attacking player that we have got used to, which is ironic as our team is filled with so many special players.

Isn't a homegrown top scorer in the PL two seasons running a "bum on seats" player?

 

[coys200]

Down to 24 now.feels a player light to me Unless Edwards or TOB really step up.Ideally a CM who could play AM if needed.Oh we had one and let him go to villa on loan.Couple more injuries or suspensions and it's gonna look very thin.

 

[JonnySpurs]

Overall I felt like we needed to add a CAM (Barkley) and I would've liked a quick wing forward that will probably replace Sissoko, at least in the long run.

It's pretty obvious why we're waiting on Barkley and I very much hope we secure his signature in January. The wide forward option can probably wait til next summer. I'm hopeful that GKN will contribute a lot more and we could even see some more of Marcus Edwards.

With that said, I like to keep my own Spurs Squad document for when I'm bored at work (geeky) and actually, having updated it this morning, I'm feeling really positive about it.

With everyone fit and healthy, this is how I see our strongest XI and bench (including additional youngsters that would rotate onto the bench depending on injuries etc)

Strongest XI:

Lloris

Sanchez Alderweireld Vertonghen

Aurier Dembele Wanyama Rose

Alli Eriksen

Kane​

Bench: Vorm; Trippier; Davies; Dier; Lamela; Son; Llorente
Additional: Walker-Peters; Foyth; Winks; Edwards

I'd personally ensure that we only had 1 full back on the bench to make room for Winks but this was based on everyone being fit at once, which is unlikely. I also expect Dier to be more involved on the whole but again, everyone fit, that would be my best XI.

Gotta say, it looks a lot better this summer than it did last summer.

 

[coys200]

Yup when all fit we look great.But effectively the squad is 19 outfield players .As who knows what's going on with Rose or a return date and Lamela looking promising but not getting my hopes up.Its 1 or 2 bodies short imo to push on 4 fronts but maybe poch thinks the kids are good enough if needed.

 

[spids]

Overall I felt like we needed to add a CAM (Barkley) and I would've liked a quick wing forward that will probably replace Sissoko, at least in the long run.

It's pretty obvious why we're waiting on Barkley and I very much hope we secure his signature in January. The wide forward option can probably wait til next summer. I'm hopeful that GKN will contribute a lot more and we could even see some more of Marcus Edwards.

With that said, I like to keep my own Spurs Squad document for when I'm bored at work (geeky) and actually, having updated it this morning, I'm feeling really positive about it.

With everyone fit and healthy, this is how I see our strongest XI and bench (including additional youngsters that would rotate onto the bench depending on injuries etc)

Strongest XI:

Lloris

Sanchez Alderweireld Vertonghen

Aurier Dembele Wanyama Rose

Alli Eriksen

Kane​

Bench: Vorm; Trippier; Davies; Dier; Lamela; Son; Llorente
Additional: Walker-Peters; Foyth; Winks; Edwards

I'd personally ensure that we only had 1 full back on the bench to make room for Winks but this was based on everyone being fit at once, which is unlikely. I also expect Dier to be more involved on the whole but again, everyone fit, that would be my best XI.

Gotta say, it looks a lot better this summer than it did last summer.

Having Trippier, Davies and Dier on the bench is a waste. Putting Dier there frees up two other bench slots for offensive players. If Aurier is injured Dier plays RB. If Rose is injured, Dier plays LCB and Verts goes LWB. Then add Winks and Edwards.

 

[coys200]

I think character wise in Llorente Sanchez Aurier ,feels like we've added some real personality.Llorente has vast experience and is a winner.Ive a funny feeling Aurier could have opposite effect everyone was fearing.He looks full of positivity and confidence and certainly brighten the place up.Not sure re Sanchez but he looks a larger than life character.I think all 3 will bring some freshness to the dressing room.

 

[pffft]

Last year's very good squad was strengthened. I'm happy.

Except...there was some bloke in Portugal I'd never heard of that everyone was getting excited about, so I watched a youtube vid of him and now I'm afraid the squad will always be incomplete until we sign him. He belongs at Spurs. Maybe.

 

[Shadydan]

Having Trippier, Davies and Dier on the bench is a waste. Putting Dier there frees up two other bench slots for offensive players. If Aurier is injured Dier plays RB. If Rose is injured, Dier plays LCB and Verts goes LWB. Then add Winks and Edwards.

Dier and Vertonghen as wing backs?

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Last season pundits repeatedly said we had the best starting XI but lacked depth. I really don't think that is the case just now...feel free to point out our weaknesses.

We comfortably beat a strong opponent away from home today, so there is no point questioning the strength of the starting XI (even though only seven of what I consider to be our best XI started)...I'll skip straight to the bench and injured players:

Bench:
Vorm - Better than some team's starting keepers and definitely one of the better back-ups in the league.
Aurier - Potentially one of the best wing-backs in Europe, albeit too early to call (Poch has a great track record with young fullbacks though).
Walker-Peters - Inexperienced but promising. Wouldn't be so far down the pecking order at many teams.
Dembele - Quality player.
Winks - One of the best young CMs in the league and only going to get better.
Son - Made a huge contribution last season.
Llorente - Scored 15 PL goals last season (10th top scorer)...certainly not a mediocre option.

Injured:
Rose - I'm struggling to think of a better LB / LWB
Wanyama - A beast!
Lamela - Was flying before injury struck. Leads the press brilliantly and creates more than his fair share of chances.
Nkoudou - Doesn't really seem to fit our system, even though fans keep crying out for a pacey winger. Probably the most disposable senior squad member at the moment.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Dier and Vertonghen as wing backs?

Apparently Dier also becomes left-footed when Vertonghen plays as a wing-back

 

[Giovanni]

Personally i feel we could do with 1 more atracking body. Somebody who "knows" where the net is. But if players like son, llorente, lamela and sissoko can chip in we will be fine.
This season the only thing stopping us is the wembley voodoo! Our first team and best 11 is a match for anybody. Aurier and sanchez are incredible signings and with rose to come back in and llorente off the bench i think we should all be very very exited!

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Personally i feel we could do with 1 more atracking body. Somebody who "knows" where the net is. But if players like son, llorente, lamela and sissoko can chip in we will be fine.
This season the only thing stopping us is the wembley voodoo! Our first team and best 11 is a match for anybody. Aurier and sanchez are incredible signings and with rose to come back in and llorente off the bench i think we should all be very very exited!

Last season, we scored more goals than anyone else in the PL and, by signing Llorente, we now have 5 of the top 11 PL scorers from last season in our squad. Once Lamela is back and in form (I'm still hoping that will be in the new year), Sissoko will be pretty much out of the picture and I can't see where another attacking player would fit in.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Anybody unhappy with our squad should consider the fact that today we swatted away a purportedly very good side at their home without the following players who would be unconditional first team players at most other sides: Vorm, Aurier, Rose, Dembele, Wanyama, Son, Lamela, Llorente.

Basically, throw in three centre backs (say Wimmer, Fazio and Kaboul) and you've got a side there that's better than Everton's, who most people are tipping to threaten the top 6.

 

[Lemon]

Today, sure.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Today, sure.

That's the thing, it's not a case of 'today or not today', it's a case of looking at the squad in place and asking yourself if you think that over a season it will achieve to our expectations. If the answer is yes, you should be happy, if the answer is no then you shouldn't be.