The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 21st July 2014

[Dirty Ewok]

Or what Vorm actually represents.......a need for us to worry about Hugo. That ITK has scared me.

I'm taking it for what it looks like right now a backup for Hugo that better fits into what Poch does with a team than Brad.....Hugo won't be leaving this season and unless there is a change in the landscape it really may be difficult for him to move in the near future as all the teams that could afford to buy him from us have the GK situation squared away.....hell, Valdes is sitting as a free agent (yes his injury is a massive concern) at the moment and LFC are completely unable to shift Pepe Reina who from the scousers i have spoken with are virtually willing to give away at the moment....

 

[HappySpur]

Very happy with the likely signings of Davies, Vorm and that we're also targeting Schneiderlin.

However am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of links to quality CBs.

That could be due to the lack of quality at the spot in general. If anybody is quality enough to get people other than Snarf excited, then they are probably in a transfer fee range that would make them most likely out of our league.

 

[dantheyid]

Quick question:
If Lallana played from the left for Southampton then why are we after jay Rodriguez as a lwf?
Did they both play there?

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Quick question:
If Lallana played from the left for Southampton then why are we after jay Rodriguez as a lwf?
Did they both play there?

Lallana's a CAM who can play on the left...

 

[robertgoulet]

That could be due to the lack of quality at the spot in general. If anybody is quality enough to get people other than Snarf excited, then they are probably in a transfer fee range that would make them most likely out of our league.

The thing I've been wrestling with is:

It seems like the price for an OK CB (Lovren for 20MM? Really?) is a bit ballooned at the moment. Would we prefer to overpay (right, like DL would overpay) for someone who is just OK or wait until Jan or next summer and target that position again? It seems like the other positions (specifically wings) are selling for decent prices now. Focus on those positions and wait for CB? Obviously that causes a problem during the season, but didn't some recent ITK suggest that this is a multiple year project anyway?

 

[SpursSince1980]

I'm surprised there is not more ITK on outgoings... We have Capoue, Dembele, Paulinho, Eriksen, Sandro, Bentaleb, Holtby, and Carrol fighting for the same spot(s).

Surely we cannot go into a new season with 8 Central midfielders? And we're also linked with Schneiderlin...

I felt this was one of the problems last season as well - New starting 11 every week, nobody settling in and getting a run of games.

With Bentaleb and Carrol as "happy back-ups" we could offload at least two or three and maybe get 20-30 mill funding a new signing or the stadium.

You bring up an interesting point about being overloaded in this position. However, it's worth keeping in mind that Pooch may not share your view of these players. He may well see the likes of Holtby, Dembele and Paulihnio as capable of playing in a variety of positions. Example:

Lloris
Walker Chich Verts Davies
Holtby Schneiderlin
Paulie Erickson Dembele
Ade.

Some of those dudes are very capable of playing in more advanced positions too... Which is probably what our new manager values most, is the ability to be flexible.

 

[RobjDerby]

But is Rodriguez a real No 11 or lwf?

 

[St José Dominguez]

Quick question:
If Lallana played from the left for Southampton then why are we after jay Rodriguez as a lwf?
Did they both play there?

Interchanging front 3. If we are after Rodriguez I struggle to see how Lamela and him fit into same team, they will basically both have same role within the team. Even so he's injured and probably won't play until what, Xmas.

 

[robertgoulet]

You bring up an interesting point about being overloaded in this position. However, it's worth keeping in mind that Pooch may not share your view of these players. He may well see the likes of Holtby, Dembele and Paulihnio as capable of playing in a variety of positions. Example:

Lloris
Walker Chich Verts Davies
Holtby Schneiderlin
Paulie Erickson Dembele
Ade.

Some of those dudes are very capable of playing in more advanced positions too... Which is probably what our new manager values most, is the ability to be flexible.

I'd guess that the lack of outgoing ITK has more to do w/ Poch wanting to see everyone in training before making decisions on who he doesn't rate. I'd expect to hear lots of smoke about outgoing ITK in the 1st week of August.

 

[balalasaurus]

Why are we talking about Eriksen and if he is a no.10 or not?

Shouldn't we be debating whether Vorm is a justifiable spend or at least if he is capable of playing LB?

Vorm? LB? Now theres an idea.

 

[gazzeh]

You bring up an interesting point about being overloaded in this position. However, it's worth keeping in mind that Pooch may not share your view of these players. He may well see the likes of Holtby, Dembele and Paulihnio as capable of playing in a variety of positions. Example:

Lloris
Walker Chich Verts Davies
Holtby Schneiderlin
Paulie Erickson Dembele
Ade.

Some of those dudes are very capable of playing in more advanced positions too... Which is probably what our new manager values most, is the ability to be flexible.

Stop, with the formations etc. A&C Will Bum Fuck you, in the Bot Bot.

 

[Barry Mead]

The thing I've been wrestling with is:

It seems like the price for an OK CB (Lovren for 20MM? Really?) is a bit ballooned at the moment. Would we prefer to overpay (right, like DL would overpay) for someone who is just OK or wait until Jan or next summer and target that position again? It seems like the other positions (specifically wings) are selling for decent prices now. Focus on those positions and wait for CB? Obviously that causes a problem during the season, but didn't some recent ITK suggest that this is a multiple year project anyway?

The thing is we don't really know the price. Latest reports suggest that it's 16 mill plus 4 mill in add ons. They may be realistic add ons or unlikely ones there to save Soton a bit of face, didn't they already say they would sell was £25 mill?

Allowing Lovren was bought for £8.5 mill and though he had a few poor games for the most part he had an excellent first season in the PL. Allowing how much premium gets slapped on most players having a good PL start £16 mill isn't a massive amount for them to be asking. Of course all prices are relative to what you can get for what elsewhere, but when you compare we paid 9.5 mill euros for Vlad who still looks a long way off being a decent PL CB, roughly £8 mill. Given a choice of paying £8 mill for Vlad or £16 mill for Lovren then Lovren looks good value
Again we don't really know the true price or add ons and there's not been too many CB transfers this summer to make other comparisons

 

[Waiwonder]

The thing I've been wrestling with is:

It seems like the price for an OK CB (Lovren for 20MM? Really?) is a bit ballooned at the moment. Would we prefer to overpay (right, like DL would overpay) for someone who is just OK or wait until Jan or next summer and target that position again? It seems like the other positions (specifically wings) are selling for decent prices now. Focus on those positions and wait for CB? Obviously that causes a problem during the season, but didn't some recent ITK suggest that this is a multiple year project anyway?

By then, knowing what fans are like, most spurs fans will be on poch a back. Avb all over again

 

[JayDub]

All this talk of Ericksen playing on the left or in the centre.... It looked to me that the two "wide" players played much, much more narrow than they did under AVB or Sherwood. All the width was provided by the two fall backs. In effect the AMR and AML (for want of a better expression) were both almost playing in the "number 10" role behind Kane/Soldado. I think that will suite both Eriksen and Lamela and not Lennon and Townsend.

Also think it will help Soldado as he won't be so isolated.

 

[ohwhenthespurs]

All this talk of Ericksen playing on the left or in the centre.... It looked to me that the two "wide" players played much, much more narrow than they did under AVB or Sherwood. All the width was provided by the two fall backs. In effect the AMR and AML (for want of a better expression) were both almost playing in the "number 10" role behind Kane/Soldado. I think that will suite both Eriksen and Lamela and not Lennon and Townsend.

Also think it will help Soldado as he won't be so isolated.

didn't suit poor Bobby Soldier when AVB played that way, with inverted wingers, coming inside and everything very narrow.
To me, Soldado is a predatory centre-forward who thrives on balls into the six-yard box, which would be provided by traditional wingers.

 

[JayDub]

I don't think the inverted wingers played anywhere near as narrow under AVB as they did on Saturday. Their starting position under AVB was always wide but they would then cut inside to shoot. Starting narrow against Seattle helped the side press better and pick up the second balls played up to Kane/Soldado even if the center back won the first ball.

I think Poch will be asking all the width to come from the full backs.

 

[SpursSince1980]

Stop, with the formations etc. A&C Will Bum Fuck you, in the Bot Bot.

Roger that!!

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

If Danny Rose is actually unhappy at the thought of us signing a new LB, then he must genuinely feel like he did well enough last season not to be replaced.

Liverpool are looking for a new LB, go see if they want you, pal.

Deluded little wasteman.

 

[MunkoSpurs]

The thing I've been wrestling with is:

It seems like the price for an OK CB (Lovren for 20MM? Really?) is a bit ballooned at the moment. Would we prefer to overpay (right, like DL would overpay) for someone who is just OK or wait until Jan or next summer and target that position again? It seems like the other positions (specifically wings) are selling for decent prices now. Focus on those positions and wait for CB? Obviously that causes a problem during the season, but didn't some recent ITK suggest that this is a multiple year project anyway?

I think it would be a dangerous strategy not to sign a CB. I agree that the prices for CB's seem high at the moment but last season showed this area definitely needs improving, more than wingers IMO. With Kaboul's injury record, Dawson's form and Vlad not proven yet, I think we need someone else.

 

[Sweech]

I'm a little concerned that there hasn't been much if any ITK about more outgoing players beyond Siggy.

There's a lot of fat to trim off this squad and even more if you want to see young players like Ceballos, Falque, Carroll, or Bentaleb given squad roles instead of shipped off on loan again.

I'm pretty confident we'll also be adding Schneiderlin along with Davies and that in itself should require some cuts. We also need a CB and whether we can get Dawson out the door is still a total mystery.