The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 19 July 2011

[Twizzle]

I think it simply means that right now we will only bring one in, but if we can shift one of Defoe or Crouch (which might still be possible as there seems to be interest) then we could get another in also.

If for example we sign Vucinic in addition to what we have then at least we will have a very good striker in (who would be able to play with any of our other forwards). Then if say Crouch moved to QPR we could push through the Adebayor deal, but we can't have 5 strikers.

Vucinic, Adebayor, Defoe and Coulibaly would be strong. Defoe can't be worse than last year.

he did qualify his response by saying we will only sign two if we get offered silly money for one of Pav,Defoe,2MP which doesn't look likely atm

 

[pablo73]

Just spoke to a mate of mine whose neighbour is a football correspondent who has given him some correct info in the past. He reckons Vucinic to Spurs is as good as done and that an agreement to sell Modric will be made in January with Modric leaving the club next summer. Not groundbreaking and I've no idea how reliable this source really is but I for one will be very happy if true. I think Vucinic would be a great fit for us.

 

[lifeof...]

I know its Agent talk but this, on Rossi return to his club pre season training:

Pastorello (Rossi's agent) said: "This will be a decisive week for the future of Rossi. There are no alternatives to Juventus. If he doesn't join them he will stay in Spain."

Does not bode well for those who are dreaming of Rossi @ Spurs

 

[yozza]

Just spoke to a mate of mine whose neighbour is a football correspondent who has given him some correct info in the past. He reckons Vucinic to Spurs is as good as done and that an agreement to sell Modric will be made in January with Modric leaving the club next summer. Not groundbreaking and I've no idea how reliable this source really is but I for one will be very happy if true. I think Vucinic would be a great fit for us.

Cheers for the info Pablo :up:

 

[Babylon22]

Well for starters we'll pay Keane, Defoe, Pav and Crouch more than £10m in wages between now and January. Also, at least 2 of them wouldn't make the 25 man squad cut.

Already said I'd sell keane and keep the rest. Id drop a few midfielders/defenders for a couple of strikers in the 25 man squad. Goals win games.

 

[Spurvert]

Keane and Crouch, imo, have to go. £4m for Keane and £6m for Crouch. I'd be happy with that. Keep Defoe and Pav, Sign Vucinic and Adebayor, play Couilably in so called 'lesser games'

If VDV gets injured/suspended/poor form then we'll revert to 442 surely. Adebayor and Vucinic up top would be amazing and realistic

 

[faulks]

I do wonder what will happen if our strikers score nothing this preseason.

Which could actually happen!

 

[talkshowhost86]

1) We play 451 so we're not going to be able to sign two 'top top' strikers as one of them won't be a starter (I know we have a lot of games, but a top striker would surely want to start regularly in important matches). Thus We'll have to target one main striker and someone who's happy to play second fiddle, at least in the short term. I get the feeling Leandro was/is planned to be the second fiddle and he wouldn't expect to play every week as he'd be adjusting to the league, as with Sandro last season.

2) We've still got 4 strikers, for the 1 spot. I don't see Defoe or Crouch leaving but Pavlyuchenko and certainly Keane have been touted around for a while with no takers. Surely one if not two of these players need to go if we are to bring anyone in?

3) Levy got burnt when Defoe, Keane and Berbatov all left in a short space of time and I can't see him wanting that to happen again. Also, Redknapp is clearly fond of Crouch and Defoe. Thus I'd be shocked if Defoe or Crouch were moved on this summer.

4) Really good strikers are hard to find. A lot of our recent signings have been oppertunistic approaches for players that are out of favour (VDV) or whose contract is running down (Friedal, Pienaar, Gallas) or are from a smaller or relegated club (Krnajcar, Bassong, Crouch, Kaboul). Getting 'top top' players from big clubs who don't necessarily want to sell is very difficult (if you don't have the huge finances of City, United or Chelsea). I think we'll struggle to get one 'top top' striker and if it does happen it may well be someone like Vucinic who looks like he's falling out of favour.

1. We sometimes play 4-5-1. We've also played 4-4-2 and with two out and out wingers in the squad both will always be an option for us. If we play 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 we still need two 'forwards'. In a 4-5-1 it would be VdV + Striker 1 or Striker 2. In a 4-4-2 it would be The two strikers together with VdV on the right or rested. basically VdV can't play every game. Our 'main' striker can't play every game. We need three players to rotate and I don't think any of the current crop are good enough to be with Rafa in that rotation.

2. I agree. Personally I think we need to sell at least one before someone comes in and probably three of them if we want to bring in two strikers.

3. Again I agree, but I don't necessarily think it's a good thing for the club. If we sign two strikers we can happily get rid of all four of the current lot. I don't see that happening though.

4. Again (again!) I agree but there are strikers around who are 'out of favour' who are on our radar. Vucinic, Adebayor and maybe even one of the Real Madrid strikers to name a few.

I think the best situation would be four strikers out and two strikers in.

I suspect we'll end up with two strikers out and one striker in.

 

[Hoowl]

Well for starters we'll pay Keane, Defoe, Pav and Crouch more than £10m in wages between now and January. Also, at least 2 of them wouldn't make the 25 man squad cut.

They all flopped last season. None of them contributed anything (except Crouch for a few matches in Europe). They are millstones, not insurance.

Saying none of them contrubted anything is hyperbole, Pavlyuchenko alone socred 14 goals! I agree that Keane did little to nothing but all the others played a significant part in our season.

You've admitted that Crouch is useful is europe and that alone could justify keeping him as a backup. Over his career Defoe has generally scored goals and against represents a useful option.

Aside from this, we're just not going to bring in and intigrate 2 or 3 really top strikers. It's hard enough to find and buy them, let alone get them used to the league whilst rotating them in a 451. Maybe in Football Manager but not in real life. We need a certain amount of continuity, look at the squad players other big clubs keep.

 

[RamsesV]

The french media are talking of a fee around 17m euros for taraabt to complete his move to PSG.

How much we could get back from that deal ?

 

[brasil_spur]

I do wonder what will happen if our strikers score nothing this preseason.

Which could actually happen!

Panic :shrug:

The french media are talking of a fee around 17m euros for taraabt to complete his move to PSG.

How much we could get back from that deal ?

i think it's 40%

 

[Clamour_Kid]

The french media are talking of a fee around 17m euros for taraabt to complete his move to PSG.

How much we could get back from that deal ?

40% so €6.8m

 

[Cavehillspur]

Keane and Crouch, imo, have to go. £4m for Keane and £6m for Crouch. I'd be happy with that. Keep Defoe and Pav, Sign Vucinic and Adebayor, play Couilably in so called 'lesser games'

If VDV gets injured/suspended/poor form then we'll revert to 442 surely. Adebayor and Vucinic up top would be amazing and realistic

Id be happy with this, probably the very best we can hope for, although I can just see 1 main striker coming in - and no doubt will pick up a bad injury in our opening game.

 

[Hoowl]

1. We sometimes play 4-5-1. We've also played 4-4-2 and with two out and out wingers in the squad both will always be an option for us. If we play 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 we still need two 'forwards'. In a 4-5-1 it would be VdV + Striker 1 or Striker 2. In a 4-4-2 it would be The two strikers together with VdV on the right or rested. basically VdV can't play every game. Our 'main' striker can't play every game. We need three players to rotate and I don't think any of the current crop are good enough to be with Rafa in that rotation.

2. I agree. Personally I think we need to sell at least one before someone comes in and probably three of them if we want to bring in two strikers.

3. Again I agree, but I don't necessarily think it's a good thing for the club. If we sign two strikers we can happily get rid of all four of the current lot. I don't see that happening though.

4. Again (again!) I agree but there are strikers around who are 'out of favour' who are on our radar. Vucinic, Adebayor and maybe even one of the Real Madrid strikers to name a few.

I think the best situation would be four strikers out and two strikers in.

I suspect we'll end up with two strikers out and one striker in.

I actually think we'd do better playing a 442 in the premiership. We still don't get a massive amount of goals from midfield and I think we play best when we're more direct.

I think the biggest players we could attract would be someon who's out of favour like Vucinic or someone a club actively want to get rid of like Adebayor, or someone older like Forlan. Wages would be an issue in cases like this.

 

[talkshowhost86]

This whole Adebayor on loan story continues to baffle me.

I still can't see any possible reason why City would go for that sort of deal. The only reason a club would normally offload a player of his standard on loan is to get rid of the wages but I can't see City being worried about that sort of money if it meant improving one of their rivals.

If they did though we could end up with Vucinic and Adebayor for a combined outlay of about 17m (not including wages etc). That wouldn't be too shabby!

 

[talkshowhost86]

I actually think we'd do better playing a 442 in the premiership. We still don't get a massive amount of goals from midfield and I think we play best when we're more direct.

I think the biggest players we could attract would be someon who's out of favour like Vucinic or someone a club actively want to get rid of like Adebayor, or someone older like Forlan. Wages would be an issue in cases like this.

I think we don't get more goals from midfield because of our strikers inability to hold the ball and bring them into the game.

VdV and Bale got their fair share last season and that was largely playing with Crouch/Pav/Defoe. If you give them a Vucinic or an Adebayor to play off there are more than enough goals in our midfield.

Ultimately though we need the option to play both 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3 I suppose) and if we bring in two strikers we'll have those options.

 

[Bofbro]

This whole Adebayor on loan story continues to baffle me.

I still can't see any possible reason why City would go for that sort of deal. The only reason a club would normally offload a player of his standard on loan is to get rid of the wages but I can't see City being worried about that sort of money if it meant improving one of their rivals.

If they did though we could end up with Vucinic and Adebayor for a combined outlay of about 17m (not including wages etc). That wouldn't be too shabby!

I've got a family member who works at City, and i know for certain they will not help us out in anyway.

 

[ohwhenthespurs]

This whole Adebayor on loan story continues to baffle me.

I still can't see any possible reason why City would go for that sort of deal. The only reason a club would normally offload a player of his standard on loan is to get rid of the wages but I can't see City being worried about that sort of money if it meant improving one of their rivals.

If they did though we could end up with Vucinic and Adebayor for a combined outlay of about 17m (not including wages etc). That wouldn't be too shabby!

Absolutely. Do people honestly think that if City are prepared to sell or loan to us we'd have 40-yr-old Brad Friedel while Shay Given goes to Aston Villa for a little over three million quid?

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I've got a family member who works at City, and i know for certain they will not help us out in anyway.

Thanks, but unless your family member is Gary Cook. It's pretty irrelevant.

 

[Bofbro]

Thanks, but unless your family member is Gary Cook. It's pretty irrelevant.

So your saying all our ITK is irrelevant unless it's Levy's family then?