The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 1st September 2015 DEADLINE DAY!

[Locotoro]

We should be stronger, but we are much more exposed than last seasons if injuries occur

We also have more youngsters who we'll be able to blood. Whilst unknown quantities, these youth prospects are far more likely to give 100% because they have a lot to prove.

I would take Alli, Pritchard and Clinton over Paulinho, Lennon and Adebayor any day of the week.

 

[DCSPUR]

last seasons starting X1 (secured 5th) is still at the club and with Clinton, Son we have improved over Soldier and Ade.
Toby, Wimmer and Trippier are defensive upgrades. Midfield is upgraded - Dier, Alli, etc.
Our 23 is in decent shape BUT Poch needs to sacrifice Europa completely.

 

[Kaboul'sForehead]

Could be so much worse. My mate forgot about Bank Holiday Monday and is still optimistic for transfer deadline day tomorrow bahahahahhah

 

[Drexl]

Couple of people asked about what was said in the email, it was hardly Watergate stuff but some food for thought regarding today


Hi Chris

Harry will be supported by Sonny (whom we bought once we knew WBA were unlikely to sell) and Clinton - also I know Mauricio feels he has good attacking players across the squad. Perhaps best judged as the season progresses ? Apologies for brief response but didn't want to leave your email unanswered - regards Donna

Sent from my iPhone

 

[Gb160]

But in bidding for weeks Levy managed to fuck them off by making a series of low bids. If you want a player that badly, you pay the price, or at least make a sensible offer. You don't (apparently) offer £5m upfront on deadline day.

You/me don't know what the bids were....even blabber mouth Peace kept quiet about that.
From articles I've read in the last hour, there was no price set.
Very dubious about the 5m upfront offer...what's the source of that mate?

 

[mrlilywhite]

Interesting in the BBC article it says Peace never set a figure for Berahino. With hindsight he probably looked at Sterling going for £49m and hoped one of the other super rich boys would come in and blow us out of the water.

This never happened but of course Peace in his public bleatings had backed himself into a corner and so it effectively became a cock fight. The increased TV money though gave him grounds to dig his heels in and look powerful.

I don't think Berahino is worth £22m but we do need him so I would have understood us paying it. Berahino will probably be sold to Utd or Arsenal for £12m in January so in the end Peace will probably lose out also.

All in all we have strengthened our weak point from last season, defence, and replaced 2 ineffective forwards with Clinton and Son. So not a disaster of a window. We still lack an experienced head though.

I have doubts we really wanted him anyway after we signed Son & N'jie. Berahino would not have come to be back up for Kane in the lone role upfront.

 

[Gollorius]

Just wondering, what is the basis for the 'strengthening' claims? We've signed 7 (including Alli), NONE from PL. Remember the last time we did that? Ok Toby and Trippier have experience but Trippier hasn't played yet (and looks unlikely to do so anytime soon) and Toby has already voiced concerns over our lack of a DM.

I'm not too disheartened by this window, we have done some good work.

But we have a light squad, in numbers and experience. Don't know if I'm excited or concerned but all I will say is I that we have no wins - every game that passes now without a victory will just turn up the pressure cooker.

I hope Poch doesn't pay for today's cock-ups with his job. But we all know how the story goes.

Eager to hear the ITKs post-mortems.

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

Hope JJ isn't going to do a POTL...

 

[Gb160]

Hope JJ isn't going to do a POTL...

Honestly wouldn't blame him if he did...the shit he gets on Twitter is ludicrous.

 

[spursfan77]

How do you know we didn't have a list of back up strikers?

Pochs words last week strongly suggest that for him it was Berhaino or go with what we have.

Because we weren't linked with any and didn't have an alternative so had to persue berahino to the last minutes. Pretty obvious really.

 

[nailsy]

I'm happier with the thought of Chadli playing as the No.9 than I would be with Berahino there. Honestly. And I don't think Berahino is a bad player.

I just can't see him scoring more as a striker than he does at the moment. I'm also not sure he'd be great at holding the ball up - maybe Dembele could do that, but his scoring record isn't that encouraging.

Son seems to be the obvious answer though (especially after reading @Drexl email from DC).

 

[Bus-Conductor]

LOL are some people really defending Levy and saying at least we have youth players coming in?

Are these the same people who said they would rather we give Veljkovic the DM spot than sign someone good? Some of you must work for the Spurs PR team lol

It's ok that we don't have back up for Kane, we can just play little Jimmy from the under 12's upfront, he is a youth player and meant to be an exciting prospect!

Are you capable of grasping the concept of a development academy ? The same people saying give Veljkovic a chance instead of buying a fucking massively overpriced decent but ordinary alternative are possibly the same who have seen the results of giving Kane a chance, or Bentaleb or Mason - you know those players that went toe to toe with the likes of McCarthy & Wanyama and came out best.

You realise that two of the biggest purchases made this summer were players under 21. Sterling (50m) and Martial (36m). How the fuck do you think that happened ? think about it….I'll save us both a a couple of hours, they got played by their clubs as teenagers. As did a couple of the players we have bought. Could their be something in this philosophy ? Especially if you have hired a manager based on his supposed coaching ability, not his ability to wheel and deal in football's middle market.

Days like this you stand up and applaud Newcastle fans. They saw how bad things were there (way worse than here I know) and voted with their feet and regularly protested Ashley and the board. Don't see our lot actually doing something like this, no, we sheeple at the Lane will pay crazy money to watch shite and boo at the end.

Newcastle survived at the skin of their teeth last year but this year they'll finish I think between 14th - 9th because they've bought some very cheap good players. The protests actually forced the club to spend some money that Sky and BT are basically throwing at the Prem. (BTW, where's our share gone Levy? New stadium? Bullshit. You split basically the £100 mil we get a year in half and put it all in the stadium fund. Leaves a good £50mil to spend on reinforcing the team and hopefully improving our league position, don't see that happening this year)

Mbemba and Wijnaldum spring to mind. For all this BS about this mysterious 'black box' and how we actually have scouts now, how the hell didn't they see this? Didn't expect every link to be an unknown gem but FFS they were in Holland(good league that produces good for value, technical players and cheap) and Belgium (awesome for youth). Isn't this where we're meant to be finding players? Not just chucking in FIFA 15 and saying 'oh Berahino gets good, get him and also Wanyama has good defending stats, him too'.
So disappointed, I feel for Poch and Harry

Days like this you need to appreciate it was the fuckwit Newcsatle fans inability to grasp reality that got them in the ginormous clusterfuck they were in. If you remember it started with them demonstrating against Pardew. Now I don't think Pardew is a fucking genius but he was doing an OK job for a club that now has to be run as a sustainable business, they were making shrewd purchases, he was getting performances out of them and they were making big profits and trying to repeat the process, the model for any sustainable club, including the likes of Porto, Ajax, most of Germany and France. Unfortunately he was so convinced of the ****y nature of the idiots that support that club who singularly failed to grasp that it is no longer 1995 and their owner was already a couple of hundred million in debt to the club, that he jumped ship for a relegation team with about a fifth of the budget just to get away from the fucktards. Who then got what they wanted, one of their own, with a similar IQ, and nearly took them down, which would have been exactly what they deserve.

I think Levy deserves all the criticism which will come his way. He has to learn that deal making is about human relationships, and yes those messy feelings he doesn't really like too. Deals are about more than just pounds and pence.

Worse than that though he's failed even by his own measure, because I think we couldn't get it across the line because Levy let his emotion get the better of him. When you gamble and wait this late you have to accept that sometimes you lose ; then what do you do? You swallow your pride is what, accept you lost and pay the surcharge. Levy couldn't, so he failed.

Or rather he doubled down on his gamble, betting the season on a side with obvious weak points and in a league where the middle and lower level clubs are stronger than ever. Perhaps he'll win that gamble, but it's reckless, irrational, and weak from Levy. All the things he prides himself that he's not!

How about the guys on the other end need to man the fuck up and realise this is a trading game. Levy never puts a gun to their head, they never have to sell fuck all to him. And if they do feel they've been bullied they don't have to like it but how about they don't have to blubb to the media about it. Because chances are they are just as likely to need Levy's business in the future as he is theirs. And I said exactly the same when Levy grumbled about ManU tapping up Berbatov.

Everyone is saying Levy tried to bully Peace but Peace was also trying to bully Levy into paying over the odds. His player is going to have one year left on his contract this time next year, unless he becomes Aguero this season his (over) value is going to drop considerably. If Peace ends up taking 12m for him who's the idiot ?

We play a one striker system. As do ManU. They sold (or gave back) three CF's this summer and have bought a teenage wide forward. Arsenal have the same, one true striker, two/three wide forwards. We already have a couple of wide forwards and We've bought two, one who's experienced in one of Europe's strongest leagues. This is the logical way to operate, especially as we don't even have those two clubs budget. One main striker, three or four versatile forwards who can contribute to the team in other areas and back up the striker. Like Chelsea did with Costa and Remy (who spent a lot of his time in France as a wide forward in 4231/433)

It would have been idiotic to pay 25m for a player to sit on our bench when we have easily enough options to at least cover us until January.

And with regards to your post yesterday about the middle teams all strengthening, I agree they have, but it was a disingenuous thing to say as you know it is much easier for them to strengthen than it is for the likes of us and Liverpool. We are operating in much more marginal markets, players that strengthen clubs like us are those close enough to be top class to improve us but not quite there enough for those bigger fish to snap them up, and fuck knows, everything that kicks a ball straight aged 18 is now getting snapped up.

I can't think of too many of these ready fit, top class, guarantee to improve our first team players that either didn't get snapped up by bigger fish, were priced out of our range or were not for sale. I would liked players like Kramer or Embolo but even they were young potential, not sure fire off the peg, fully formed top class.


To All the B(itching)W(hiners)ofD(aniel)L(evy)

Do I blame Levy for not getting bullied into massively over paying for Defoe mark 2, hell fucking no, in fact I'll put my money where my mouth is and chuck in the £25 promised if he didn't. I'll also add £5 for offloading the insipid gangsta ant and generally LEARNING LESSONS FROM PREVIOUS WINDOWS like not wasting money on decent but limited, ordinary, ho fucking hum footballers who we have paid millions to sit in the stands most of the last two years.

We hired a coach with a philosophy that includes energy & tempo, we have an academy that has been teaching that from 15yo up. No more fucking Dempsey's, Chiriches's, Stambouli's, Davies's.

We may go through some more transition, but if we struggle and finish lower than eighth but get these kids moving in a year or two we'll have our own Sterling's and Martial's. If we finish lower than eighth and Levy sticks by Pochettino and preservers with and supports the philosophy, I'll chip another £50 in to SC, by way of putting my money where my mouth is.

Levy fucks up. Not supporting AVB through a difficult time.The Berbatov summer. And the BWofDL no doubt have databases bigger than dating Agency's for married men of his misdemeanours, but this blubbing about every transfer window is pathetic. "I would actually have settled for Austin". Fuck me. How about thinking further than next fucking saturday's result ?

We've finished 4th, 5th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 5th. Anyone would think Levy had taken over the Champions and got them relegated, instead we are the most consistent and highest achieving self sustaining club in this league over the last few years. We don't do that by vastly over paying for mediocrity too often.

 

[mrlilywhite]

One of the reasons today seems a disappointment is we haven't actually seen N'Jie and Son play for us yet. Fast forward a few weeks and both them hit the ground running, playing on either side of Kane, banging them in we'll look back on this as a great window. Optimistic admittedly but shouldn't underestimate how good these two could and should turn out to be.

Yeah the problem is we all kinda thought that about Lamela too, and Soldado. In fact we thought that all of our signings would turn out to be great. I remember thinking how good a midfield we would have with Capoue and Sandro in DM roles. Sadly the truth is we have a habit for buying lemons lately, so one can be forgiven for being pessimistic and downbeat. Still the proof is in the eating as they say, so let's wait and see I guess.

 

[McFlash]

Couple of people asked about what was said in the email, it was hardly Watergate stuff but some food for thought regarding today


Hi Chris

Harry will be supported by Sonny (whom we bought once we knew WBA were unlikely to sell) and Clinton - also I know Mauricio feels he has good attacking players across the squad. Perhaps best judged as the season progresses ? Apologies for brief response but didn't want to leave your email unanswered - regards Donna

Sent from my iPhone

Sonny?! She's given him a pet name already.

 

[Jospur]

What a horrendous deadline day for Tottenham Hotspur!

I'm looking forward to hearing what JJ and Trix will have to say about it.

 

[joelstinton14]

Evening All.

Disappointed to see no CDM and Striker, as you guys all are. Especially the latter, it is pretty inexcusable really.

I'm not going to jump on the anti levy bandwagon though, (yet). The club is better for him, and the next few years is going to be really exciting for us. If things go south in the next few months (which i don't think will happen, Levy will have to take responsibility, especially if Kane does get injured.

All in all it's been a pretty good window, addressing our defensive concerns especially. I don't know much about Nije and Son, but as an overall attacking unit we have added and improved in that area too with pace which we genuinely needed.

Is it possible to recall Shaq from Wigan? He may be young, but hey.. so is kane. So is Martial. Playing minutes will earn him experience. His goal tally coming up through the ranks is sensational.

I also like to see poch and levy be the better man, and offer Ade a route back into the squad as well. His behaviour and professionalism as been really poor, and i understand why he has been left out to dry. We should offer him a chance, and if he fucks that up..well it's all down to him. Most fans will see that, if they don't do already.

It seems that we have been played by a madman today in the west brom chairman. He has a right to stick to his guns, but ultimately he has upset the apple cart rather than coming to reason. His excuse of not having time to bring in sometime else is utter bollocks. They been signing forwards for fun, and play one up top.

As for CDM. Dier as been good for us there. Also we played most of last season with Mason and Bentaleb in the middle. We could also move Toby there for cover to if need be. So that side is not a disaster.

Hey, onwards to sunderland. COYS.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

You/me don't know what the bids were....even blabber mouth Peace kept quiet about that.
From articles I've read in the last hour, there was no price set.
Very dubious about the 5m upfront offer...what's the source of that mate?

Pat Murphy of the BBC

He said that's what he was told from the WBA end, Spurs contacted him to refute and he asked for the correct figure, which as far as I know he's still awaiting the answer on.

 

[Daredevil]

Pretty sure the ideal scenario at the end of the transfer window is to be better off coming out than we were going in, and I think we are.

Actually, I know we are.

Do I feel the frustration everyone else does on here? Sure. But honestly, I'm more frustrated we have to wait best part of 2 weeks for the next game. If I've learned anything from the cyclical nature of the last few windows, it's that once the boys start playing and get a few wins, the severity of all this stuff fades pretty quickly.

Ride's over, folks. Come back in 4 months.

 

[rocklink]

Couple of people asked about what was said in the email, it was hardly Watergate stuff but some food for thought regarding today


Hi Chris

Harry will be supported by Sonny (whom we bought once we knew WBA were unlikely to sell) and Clinton - also I know Mauricio feels he has good attacking players across the squad. Perhaps best judged as the season progresses ? Apologies for brief response but didn't want to leave your email unanswered - regards Donna

Sent from my iPhone

How did you get her personal email address ?? Anyway thnx for sharing .. Seems like Media was right all along that we signed Son after knowing Berahino will not happen.

 

[spursfan77]

We had been hearing for a long time about all these plan Bs, Cs etc

It appears that was not the case.

Well, I hope there is for January because west brom won't be selling us berahino then. We will need another striker then.