- Oct 19, 2004
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Pochettino is obviously part of the decision-making of all signings. Anything Pleat says about him being responsible for the signing is rubbish. Remember when Poch went to the MK Dons-United match? Why do you think that happened?
Your point on Walker makes no sense. You say Walker hasn't gone to another level, but then recognise that he has improved defensively. Even if that was down to Pochettino, it's still Walker who has improved
I think Son is a very good player who has had a disrupted season, and he'll be much better next season. He's shown much more than Lamela did in his first season.
On Alderweireld, if I recall correctly, you frequently advised us to recognise that Alderweireld was part of a strong unit at Southampton, and that this may mean he wouldn't be as good at Spurs.
Regarding Walker, I said "any improvement in his defending", so yes, I acknowledge there has been an improvement in his defending, but I don't think his all round play has reached "another level".
This is my first post on Alderweireld I believe:
"I think Alderweireld always looked like a decent CB whenever I saw him last year, but we do have to take account that Southampton's ultra conservative system makes their defenders look better, but more importantly he would want to be first choice and I would be really pissed off if we were buying him to usurp Dier's progress."
I don't think that's a crazy statement.
I don't think (23yo) Son showed more than (19yo) Lamela did in his first season. And I certainly don't think he will ever be top quality.
And while we're at it, I forgot to mention Alli. I was honest enough to say I'd only seen him 3 or so times and questioned how he would fair in a CM2 in the EPL. I had a conversation with you where I said, you could see the boy has ability I just wasn't sure how he'd fit into our CM2. And I stand by that, I still think that. It wasn't a slight on the boy, it was a tactical observation made on, admittedly scant evidence, I feelt/feel the same about players like Lampard, Gerrard, Pogba, Yaya etc. I also said I'd rather be making that type of signing (investing 5m in a 1yo with potential, than some other types of signing we have made).