Spurs track Riera

[yanno]

He was playing in a shitty team with a shitty manager. Riera would make Spurs better than they are. He is strong, has decent pace, good delivery and a cracking shot. He'd form a good partnership with Bale on the left, and Malbranke could move to CM, a position more suitable for him IMO.

You couldn't be talking about Stuart "Psycho" Pearce, could you? :wink:

I agree that I can see Riera and Bale making a good, and intelligent, combination down the left-flank.

Other players I would consider buying are Abbondanzieri, who wouldn;t cost much considering his age and is a better keeper than Robinson and more suited to Ramos style, and Garay, a 21 year old CB who plays for Racing Santander. Great reading of the game, very good passing ability, good in the air and can even take free kicks with his right peg. The problem is that he'd cost £10 million minimum and a few big teams are after him.

Garay looks a super player. But he is only 21 (can we risk another young promising CB?), and Man Utd were linked with him today.

What do you think of Jarque as the solution to our CB problems? Apparently Ramos wanted him at Sevilla, but DoF Monchi signed Mosquera instead.

 

[yanno]

I could of sworn he was somewhat pacey and a decent dribbler of the ball.

Not disagreeing - Riera is a decent dribbler, from what I've seen. But what I was trying to suggest was that he often uses 1-2s and good passing to get behind the defence. In other words he's not one of those wide players who gets the ball, sticks his head down and tries to beat five men every time. I think he mixes it up, and is for instance a much cleverer user of the ball than say our very own Aaron Lennon. Lennon is much more direct and much faster.

 

[thfcsuperyid]

If he's that good Mr. Ramos will try get him.

 

[Juande_Ramos]

You couldn't be talking about Stuart "Psycho" Pearce, could you? :wink:

I agree that I can see Riera and Bale making a good, and intelligent, combination down the left-flank.



Garay looks a super player. But he is only 21 (can we risk another young promising CB?), and Man Utd were linked with him today.

What do you think of Jarque as the solution to our CB problems? Apparently Ramos wanted him at Sevilla, but DoF Monchi signed Mosquera instead.

Garay is only 21 butr plays like a 30 year old. Nothing like Kaboul who to be honest, apart from his great athleticism I fail to see what is good about him. Garay is slow but reads the game very well. Maybe moving to a very diffirent culture and football at such a young age may make him struggle. That would be down the scouts to evaluate his personality and likehood of him adapting. The fact that he has managed to make the transition to Spain so quickly is a good sign.
Jarque is a good solid CB with leadership qualities and excellent diagonal passes from the back and has played for the Spanish NT in all the youth categories, but hasn't played for the senior NT yet. If players like Marchena, Pablo or Albiol are there he should be there too, cause he isn't any worse than them. His buy out clause is 12 million euros, but I reckon he could be bought for around 8 million (euros).

 

[Juande_Ramos]

Not disagreeing - Riera is a decent dribbler, from what I've seen. But what I was trying to suggest was that he often uses 1-2s and good passing to get behind the defence. In other words he's not one of those wide players who gets the ball, sticks his head down and tries to beat five men every time. I think he mixes it up, and is for instance a much cleverer user of the ball than say our very own Aaron Lennon. Lennon is much more direct and much faster.

True, but he crosses like Beckham...compared to Lennon :grin:

 

[yanno]

Garay is only 21 butr plays like a 30 year old. Nothing like Kaboul who to be honest, apart from his great athleticism I fail to see what is good about him. Garay is slow but reads the game very well. Maybe moving to a very diffirent culture and football at such a young age may make him struggle. That would be down the scouts to evaluate his personality and likehood of him adapting. The fact that he has managed to make the transition to Spain so quickly is a good sign.

That's quite a recommendation. If he's that good we should sign him, regardless of age.

Jarque is a good solid CB with leadership qualities and excellent diagonal passes from the back and has played for the Spanish NT in all the youth categories, but hasn't played for the senior NT yet. If players like Marchena, Pablo or Albiol are there he should be there too, cause he isn't any worse than them. His buy out clause is 12 million euros, but I reckon he could be bought for around 8 million (euros).

Isn't that a really low buy-out clause for a Spanish player? If it is in the region of 12 million Euros, and Juande wants him, then the price isn't really an issue and I'd have thought he's pretty nailed on to be a Spurs player in January. Given Sunday's Observer linked us to both Jarque and Riera, perhaps we're trying to negotiate a joint fee with Espanyol?

 

[SpurSince57]

My brother-in-law, as I've posted before, has been a City season-ticket holder for years. He really rated Riera when he was there and was very disappointed they didn't take out the option to sign him, although he also said he'd probably have been completely wasted.

 

[Juande_Ramos]

I never know what the big deal is with this. Whether or not a player is suited to a particular league. What's supposed to be this huge factor that differentiates the leagues? Pace?

Apart from adapting to a country with a different culture, you have to adapt to a different type of football with different refereing. In England the game is faster, and generally the players are taller and stronger. Referees allow much more contact. So being physically strong is important. Also an important factor is the team the player is moving to and the type of manager at the club. Some players whose attributes are tactical awareness and technique may not display the best of their abilities if they play under a coach or with team mates that don't know how to make use of those qualities. If Cesc Fabregas was playing for, let's say West Ham, I am sure he wouldn't look half as good as he does for Arsenal. MAscherano was of not much use to West Ham who were struggling at the bottom of the table, and under Benitez is almost first choice. That's whay I said the perfomance of Riera at City shouldn't be taken as a definitive proof of the value of the player for Spurs, as Spurs surely play a more technical and tactical game more suited to his abilities.

 

[yanno]

Yup - Pearce is from the Kevin Keegan School of Management. Deliver a rousing speech to get the players pumped to the point of madness, and send them out to "do it for England/the fans/Beanie (your daughter's teddy bear)". When he was managing Nottm Forest, Psycho once submitted a team sheet with 12 names on it, and it was his wife who had to tell him he was only allowed 11 players. God only knows what formation he had them playing..

But the FA - the same goons who appoint clowns like Dowd, Riley and Rennie as EPL referees - have put Pearce in charge of our best young players, the England U21s. :bang::bang::bang:

 

[Juande_Ramos]

I think the coaching in England has stagnated and things that worked well 20 years ago are of not much value in todays's game. There is too much emphasis put on athleticism, guts, passion etc, although that is a global trend but perhaps not as accentuated as in Britain. It is curious that 30 years ago English teams were teaching the rest of Europe how to play a modern zonal defense and now they need foreign managers to catch up with the latest tactical developements.