Looking at the squad - who else do we need?

[fozzi44]

LOL @ "Huddle" being a player to challenge the Top 4.

:stupid:

20/21yrs of age, cracker passer, european experience, regular pl experience, no where near his prime yet, lots of potential.....what would you do? Sell him?

 

[DoublePivot]

GK - Adler
DC - Jarque
LW - Nasri
D/HM - Toulalan (unless we could pull Xabi)

 

[Has1978]

First teamers (i.e. splash out)

Keeper
Defensive mid
Left wing


Back-up (i.e. cheaper but competent/potential)
Forward
Centre back
Right wing
Left back

TG, Stalteri, Ghaly, Robbo, Lee (I don't want him to leave but it looks likely), Chimbonda look like they're on their way out.
edit: oh and I forgot Rocha (as has Ramos)

 

[van_Pommel]

LOL @ "Huddle" being a player to challenge the Top 4.

:stupid:

20/21yrs of age, cracker passer, european experience, regular pl experience, no where near his prime yet, lots of potential.....what would you do? Sell him?

Thank you Fozzi. Some people are so impatient. Not every player reaches their potential at 19/20 years of age like the Rooney's and Messi's of the world. Others take time to develop and learn their trade. Every season different players of all ages make the step up, look at players like Bentley, Jones, Lescott, Flamini etc. All of which are over 20 and have had their best seasons in the Prem so far.

I have faith in Huddle, one of these days he'll put a run of good performances(like Sundays) together, his confidence will shoot up and we'll have a hell of a player on our hands.

 

[blankom]

1 X GK: Amelia or Gomes(PSV)
1 X DM: Poulsen
1 X LM: Quaresma
1 X S: Kanoute

 

[Kendall]

Huddlestone is going to make it. He is already improving in his ball winning and positioning. He is 20, most CM don't make it anywhere near their peak untill around 25. it's a mature position that takes work & he is an incredible talent.

 

[diegooners]

Huddlestone is so good at football. He just sucks athetically. I think it's fairly touch and go whether he stays or not, as Ramos will make a decision on whether or not he can mobilise him as it were. But technically yes, he is good enough to start for a top four team. If were talking about talent Ledley said last season that either Huddlestone or Berbatov was the best player technically in the squad. Im not picking on you here GL this is just my opinion.

 

[bryanabutler]

hotspurs 61 Buy Lassana Diarra, Aquero, Diego Capel, and GK Hart, With the young lad Ramsey from Cardiff

 

[MendD3]

Robinson
Gordon

Hutton Woodgate King Bale
Gunter Dawson Kaboul Ekotto

McGeady Jenas B-Ferguson J-Cole
Lennon Huddlestone O'Hara Taarabt

Berbatov Keane
K-Jones Bent

 

[Mullers]

A midfielder with Berba's skill.

 

[lukespurs7]

1.A world class keeper
2.A world class CB who isn't injury prone as TBH King (i play 1 in 4 games) isn't good enough.
3.A Left footed LM with pace.
4.A Quality CM either DM or AM to take over from Jenas OR Zokora
5.A pacy young RM to challenge Lennon for his place.
6.A tall but mobile striker who can hold up play and score goals.

1.Cudicini
2.Jarque
3.Capel
4.Poulsen
5.Naythan Dyer
6.Fred

SQUAD:

CUDICINI
Alnwick??

Hutton
Gunter

Woodgate
JARQUE
King/Dawson
Kaboul

Bale
Gilberto

Lennon
N.DYER

POULSEN
Huddlestone
Zokora
Jenas
Tainio

CAPEL
Malbranque

Berbatov
Keane
Bent
FRED

then we'd have everything and probably still not get into top 4

 

[DoublePivot]

After tonight it just feels like we are so far from anything substantial in the league and in Europe that we could replace all but 2 or 3 players.

But mostly its our central midfielders, none of whom are good enough. And a King replacement. He can only play an hour a week and while I love him, that's useless.

 

[DoublePivot]

1.A world class keeper
2.A world class CB who isn't injury prone as TBH King (i play 1 in 4 games) isn't good enough.
3.A Left footed LM with pace.
4.A Quality CM either DM or AM to take over from Jenas OR Zokora
5.A pacy young RM to challenge Lennon for his place.
6.A tall but mobile striker who can hold up play and score goals.

1.Cudicini
2.Jarque
3.Capel
4.Poulsen
5.Naythan Dyer
6.Fred

Why two completely different lists?

 

[General Levy]

I think Hudd can make it as an O'shea/Flechter type player i.e not playing every game. He has no chance cementing himself in the starting XI; and yes I have already written him off.

 

[striebs]

After tonight it just feels like we are so far from anything substantial in the league and in Europe that we could replace all but 2 or 3 players.

But mostly its our central midfielders, none of whom are good enough. And a King replacement. He can only play an hour a week and while I love him, that's useless.

Keith Burkinshaw's best 1980's sides would have ripped through that PSV side even without a striker of Berbatov's ability .

Now take Berbatov away and we stutter . The priority has to be to keep Berbatov as without him we aren't that great .


Keane looked tired from the start (are they training them too hard?) and we didn't have quite enough to break them down . Perhaps if Ramos had started with Lennon it might just have tipped the balance .

The absence of Bale should not be underestimated . I'd try a big money bid for Ashley Young as backup .

Even if we did qualify for CL then the same thing is going to happen as happened the last two years - we are going to get dumped out by the first decent club we encounter .


Spurs don't have the sums of money that people think and the sums just do not add up .
To challenge for the League or CL cannot be done on income alone , trying to do so is frankly just throwing money away .

To bridge the gap there needs to be an investment of circa £200m with the risk of doing a Leeds .
The only way of recouping this investment would be to sell the club .

 

[HertfordSpur]

Much depends on who leaves and who stays.

Keeping Berba is obviously top priority.

The good news is that we'll have Bale and Assou-Ekotto back (who I think will come good) so LB/LM is looking stronger with them, Gunter and Gilberto in the mix.

I think there is going to be a rather large purge of players with likely departures including Chimbonda, Rocha, Lee, Robinson, Cerny and permanent transfers of Stalteri and Gardner. I think also its highly likely that Boateng and Tainio may also find their place under threat with newcomers in the middle of the park almost certainly coming in.

I have to say that our midfield needs a lot of work and I think Ramos will be looking to improve it massively. All of our midfielders, bar arguably Jenas, have various limitations which stop us playing consistently well. e.g. Lennon's inconsistent final ball, Zokora's lack of ability to boss a game, Hudd's (albeit improving) mobility and Malbranque not being a natural LM.

So...what do we need:

Top class GK - ?
Back up RB for Hutton - ?
Quality CB to support King and Woody - Jarque?
A creative LW - Capel?
A stronger DM - Poulsen?

There will be others I'm sure but I think we might find a few surprising departures amongst the predictable ones. e.g. Would Ramos cash in on Lennon?

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

We don't need to invest £200m that is crazy. We just need to rethink and rebuild the entire midfield. Especially in the central areas where most of the game is played. All the sides who have been strong in England in recent years have had a great midfield. This is most likely because both Ferguson and Wenger build around the midfield.

Look at Utd's domintating team, they had a midfield of Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Giggs. Likewise Arse's Ljungberg, Vieira, Petit, Pires.

Right now Utd have 7 or 8 top midfielders with a couple of extra's in reserve: Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Giggs, Nani (plus the useful Fletcher and O'Shea).

Lennon could be the up and coming 'Nani', Hudd is useful as is Steed because he can play either wing. Most likely JJ would be an important player. If I go player for player that leaves us with: ........., .........., ..........., Jenas, .........., ........... Lennon (plus the useful Hudd and Steed).

Now we can hardly expect to sign 5 midfielders and it is unlikely we can find a Ronaldo. In my opinion we at least need two central midfielders who can retain the ball, win the ball and dominate the centre of the park, plus at least a natural left footed winger of some sort. Using players we have been linked with we could say:

...........(as we won't get a Ronaldo), Poulesn (Hargreaves), Xabi Alonso (Carrick), Jenas (Scholes),.........(Anderson), Capel (Giggs), Lennon (Nani) (plus the useful Hudd and Steed). If we could fill the other two spaces there it would be great, but the others would be a minimum for me if we want to compete. We really need a midfield who can control the posession, control the pitch and control the flow of the game.

Feel free to rip that apart.

 

[van_Pommel]

I wouldn't be at all upset if we sold Jenas, and we'd probably get a decent amount for him. I've changed my stance on Jenas, and I know many of you will defend him. Its not his physical or technical ability that worries me. Its the mental side to his game. He doesn't appear to be particularly intelligent, and he's not the type of player who has that aggression and hunger to drive the team forward. He's quiet and shy, and thats not the type of character I would want in my side, especially in the heart of midfield. I do also think he'd be much more suited to the right midfield position like he used to play for Forest, but we've got Lennon :hump:

 

[striebs]

We don't need to invest £200m that is crazy. We just need to rethink and rebuild the entire midfield. Especially in the central areas where most of the game is played. All the sides who have been strong in England in recent years have had a great midfield. This is most likely because both Ferguson and Wenger build around the midfield.

Look at Utd's domintating team, they had a midfield of Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Giggs. Likewise Arse's Ljungberg, Vieira, Petit, Pires.

Right now Utd have 7 or 8 top midfielders with a couple of extra's in reserve: Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Giggs, Nani (plus the useful Fletcher and O'Shea).

Lennon could be the up and coming 'Nani', Hudd is useful as is Steed because he can play either wing. Most likely JJ would be an important player. If I go player for player that leaves us with: ........., .........., ..........., Jenas, .........., ........... Lennon (plus the useful Hudd and Steed).

Now we can hardly expect to sign 5 midfielders and it is unlikely we can find a Ronaldo. In my opinion we at least need two central midfielders who can retain the ball, win the ball and dominate the centre of the park, plus at least a natural left footed winger of some sort. Using players we have been linked with we could say:

...........(as we won't get a Ronaldo), Poulesn (Hargreaves), Xabi Alonso (Carrick), Jenas (Scholes),.........(Anderson), Capel (Giggs), Lennon (Nani) (plus the useful Hudd and Steed). If we could fill the other two spaces there it would be great, but the others would be a minimum for me if we want to compete. We really need a midfield who can control the posession, control the pitch and control the flow of the game.

Feel free to rip that apart.

InOff , I applaud you for starting somewhere . Poulson and Jenas are of the level below Hargreaves (who is not brilliant himself) and Scholes .

Along with trying to retain our only regularly playing World class player , Berbatov , I think that getting the absolute top quality instead of the level below is going to be our challenge .


200m is not a reaction to last night but a long held belief .

I do not think it is a gross exaggeration of what is needed to win/get within 5 points , of the winners of the Prem and play the top European sides on near equal terms .

Wenger has done it on the cheap but look what it costs Chelsea and what Man Utd spend on quality players and wages .

And if we ever threaten the top 4 they will escalate their spending .

 

[van_Pommel]

InOff , I applaud you for starting somewhere . Poulson and Jenas are of the level below Hargreaves (who is not brilliant himself) and Scholes .

Along with trying to retain our only regularly playing World class player , Berbatov , I think that getting the absolute top quality instead of the level below is going to be our challenge .


200m is not a reaction to last night but a long held belief .

I do not think it is a gross exaggeration of what is needed to win/get within 5 points , of the winners of the Prem and play the top European sides on near equal terms .

Wenger has done it on the cheap but look what it costs Chelsea and what Man Utd spend on quality players and wages .

And if we ever threaten the top 4 they will escalate their spending .

They dont necessarily have to be top quality when we buy them, which means they wont cost silly money. Now we have a quality manager who can get the best out of players, it will be a case of spending wisely on players who do specific jobs.

We dont need 11 world class players to challenge the top 4, we need 11 square pegs to fit in 11 square holes.