Out with Berba and Keane, In with....

[diegooners]

eto'o

He has already openly rejected us mate. I do love your blind optimism though... cheers me up:grin:

 

[jamesc0le]

i'll have a tommy tank over my realistic attainable wish list if we get santa cruz and martins.

+ if liverpool dont want to pay the monies for keane, we should do a straight swap deal with pompey for defoe.. imagine the headlines: ''return of the king''

''return from exile''

defoe: '' i simply had to return, i want to fire spurs into the champions league..''

 

[mackay59]

So now that we know where we stand, its time to look forward. Keane and Berbatov want out, and i for one never want a player in our shirt, who doesn't want to be here. No matter how good they are. Theres no doubting the quality of these two players, but we built the team for them. Open attacking football with plenty of chances falling for both of them. For all the quality the two had, one thing was missing, an out and out striker/predator.

If we hadn't been so gung-ho in attack at times, would they have scored anything like the number of goals they got? For all the quality they possess, did they really kill teams off when we were 1-0 up. As great as they were together, i cant help but feel that we still missed the killer instincts up front.

We will be uber rich from the sale of these two. Personally, i think its the perfect time to change the formation. It was mentioned recently that we could go with the 4-2-3-1 formation. The more i thought about it, the more i think its the best way forward. Take Giovani. He can play on the wings, but we will only get the best from him as a number 10 (coincidently Keanos number) in the middle.

So now would be a good time to get a left winger. I have a good feeling that we can pull off the Capel transfer. We've been linked for a long time now, we had a bid rejected and the player has still not ruled out a move. He's the kind of young exciting winger that we've been crying out for. Very quick, skillful, great crosser, great tenacity and he can become a frequent goalscorer.

Right wing isn't as important, but we're clearly looking to sign Bentley. I really like him myself and i think he would be a great addition to the team. He offers something totally different to Lennon, and both he and Lennon will suit different types of opposition. Bentley has more goals in him at the moment though. We'll need that with 1 striker.

Up front we need someone quick and powerful. I know Bent is capable of playing this role, but we'll need someone else aswell. I'm sure we'll try to sign a top class player. David Villa is a slight possibility. He looks likely to stay at Valencia at the moment, but with cash to burn, we could launch a high bid. He wont be playing in the Champions League at the moment with Valencia either, so we might stand a chance. Then theres Eto'o. Nobody has put up the money yet. This could be our chance to have one more attempt. He would be best suited to the formation, as he plays there for Barcelona. Maybe the most realistic would be Huntelaar. He's still young (similar age to Berbatov when he joined) and there still seems to be a lack of offers for him. People will doubt him to step up to the Premier League, but when you watch the goals he scores, it really doesn't matter who the opposition are. Most of them are unstoppable.

As long as we get a top quality midfielder alongside Modric, i think the formation will work. I have to say that we have the best manager for the situation. Juande Ramos had the same problem at Sevilla. What he did so well though was build a team. On paper they didn't look great, but together they played some of the most attractive football in Europe. They won trophies and qualified for the Champions League. Now i know the top 4 will be tougher in England, but i'm still very optimistic about the future. I even think that we can build a better team through the sale of these two, and get a predator up front aswell. All in all, i think we'll succeed.

So what does everyone think we should do with the money. We're going to have to act quick. Do we sign a new strikeforce, rely on Bent and 1 new striker or change formation?

1) have berba and keano said they wanna leave or are we assuming they want to leave cos they haven't said just lately that they wanna stay?

2) I think we can do better than those two

3) the off season is a time for dreams...some things seem rosier than they really are.

 

[mil1lion]

1) have berba and keano said they wanna leave or are we assuming they want to leave cos they haven't said just lately that they wanna stay?

2) I think we can do better than those two

3) the off season is a time for dreams...some things seem rosier than they really are.

1) "I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively."

2) Trouble is, Eto'o pretty much turned us down several weeks back (although, we're still just about in the running until a top teams comes up with the money for him.) Villa sees us a work in progress and wants to join a bigger club. Arshavin would prefer a top club and has openly stated his desire for Barca and Arsenal. We have an outside chance of pulling off one of these, but its going to be very tough. I think we could pull off 1 top quality striker, and 1 very good one. Not really better than Berbatov and Keane, but should still be good.

3) Not sure things seem rosier then they seem lately. This Berbatov and Keane situation has put us in a situation where we not only need a quality defensive midfielder (which was the one position i felt we really needed to complete the 1st team) but also two new strikers. A lot of work needs to be done very soon. I really wanted our 1st team sorted for the Jubileum (SP?) Tournament which starts Aug 1st.

 

[Samson]

1) "I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively."

2) Trouble is, Eto'o pretty much turned us down several weeks back (although, we're still just about in the running until a top teams comes up with the money for him.) Villa sees us a work in progress and wants to join a bigger club. Arshavin would prefer a top club and has openly stated his desire for Barca and Arsenal. We have an outside chance of pulling off one of these, but its going to be very tough. I think we could pull off 1 top quality striker, and 1 very good one. Not really better than Berbatov and Keane, but should still be good.

3) Not sure things seem rosier then they seem lately. This Berbatov and Keane situation has put us in a situation where we not only need a quality defensive midfielder (which was the one position i felt we really needed to complete the 1st team) but also two new strikers. A lot of work needs to be done very soon. I really wanted our 1st team sorted for the Jubileum (SP?) Tournament which starts Aug 1st.

There's limits to what will happen this season. Better to get things right for a run over the whole of the next two seasons than panic about this one.

I'm strangely confident that we won't replace Berba and Keane with a load of tut. The club will probably be willing to spend more on a replacement for Keane than we get for him. We bought cover for Berba last summer. Do need a defensive midfielder though.