The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 31 August 2011

[sunnydelight786]

Stoke have had an awesome window. Crouch, Palacios, Woodgate, Upson amongst others. Excellent for a club of their stature.

I'm reasonably happy but Cahill and another striker would've been nice. Maybe we have Leandro lined up in Jan so we were never in for another striker? it's easy to blame Levy for not coughing up for Cahill but also understandable that he didn't want to pay 15-17m for someone in his last season, but more importantly, maybe Cahill didn't fancy us after being linked with arsenal and city.

Adebayor and Parker will make a big difference to us if they stay fit.

Agree with Adebayor, the jury is out for me on Parker if I'm honest. Problem is Parker is a bit injury prone and Ade is a bit moody. If we have got the Ade of 07-08 then I'm very confident that we can make a serious challenge for 4th, if it's the Ade of recent years then I'm a bit worried....

 

[L-man]

FOR FUCK'S SAKE DON'T SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!mg:mg:mg:mg:mg:mg:mg:mg:

Sky still have the transfer thing up with Crouchs name highlighted green to indicate the transfer is completed. I think we'd know if it fell through? surely? shouldn't we? please? mg:

 

[faze_coys]

Nah he's saying he's going to the riverside - looks like they have a game, messages coming in to him wishing him luck in the game

ah right didnt think hed be playing domestically as hes in the brazil squad for the friendly next week.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Torres was a disgrace last season, B_C. He sulked until he got his move and then forgot how to play when he did. I'm not entertaining the comparison.

I hold your opinions in very high esteem but Crouch couldn't hold his bloody trousers up.

Honestly, away at Blackburn in January would you honestly pick Defoe or Pav up front ahead Crouch ?

Anyway, it's academic now.

 

[Sandro30]

Nah he's saying he's going to the riverside - looks like they have a game, messages coming in to him wishing him luck in the game

Yeah big game V Santos at home.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Btw thats ITK just my mate texting me saying its fallen through?

hes a Villa fan so dont know wheres hes got it from but surely it would have been annoucned by now?

 

[WestBelfast Spurs]

when you see the formation we could play with parker and super man i mean Sandro in front of the back four with vdv modric bale and ade in front of them its not a bad 1st 11 hard to break down and maybe teams wont get at our weak back line so much with Parker and Sandro, with Modric and vdv switching we can cause alot of problems going foward, just somthing to think about, think everyone will be fine once we trash Wolves

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Nah...still good enough to compete for 4th.

Not under Redknapp, StartingPrice. Sorry.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Honestly, away at Blackburn in January would you honestly pick Defoe or Pav up front ahead Crouch ?

Anyway, it's academic now.

They're all borderline useless. But I maintain that Crouch cannot hold the ball up.

 

[ardiles]

Well now that the dust has finally settled, we can have a post mortem of the TW.

Overall, I think we have not done too badly. We all knew that we had a squad bursting at the seams and had to get rid of more players than we could get in. The problem was trying to trim the squad before we could get in the players that we needed. Most of the potential buying clubs were holding out to see if they could get the best deals or may have offered us derisive bids for our fringe players. Only on the last day of this TW, and probably, in some cases, out of desperation, did we get bids similar or near to the figure that we had wanted. By the time, we managed to transfer out these players, there was hardly any time for us to make much headway in adding to our squad.

Nonetheless, our priority was to get a striker and we did that, albeit only a loan signing, before selling off most of the fringe players.

Our squad is not weaker than the one we had before the TW opened.
Adebayor is an improvement on Crouch and Parker is an improvement over Palacios.

If we continue to play 4-4-1-1, we have four strikers for that one position - Adebayor, Pav, Defoe and GDS. We then have Niko as cover for VdV. For the two CM/DM positions, we have five players to choose from - Sandro, Modric, Parker, Huddlestone and Livermore. RM/RW - Lennon and Walker. LM/LW - Bale and Rose. We also have Falque, although I'm not sure which side he plays at.

In defence, we already have sufficient players to cover the RB slot so it isn't much of a loss with the Hutton sale.

I am also quietly hopeful that the deal for Leandro has been done for him to join us in Jan. Its only my opinion, not ITK.

We have so far, zero points from our two losses to the two, arguably, best sides in the Premier League this season. I'm confident that we will start picking up points now, especially with an improved strikeforce and the return of injured players like Sandro, King and Gallas. Hopefully now that the saga is over, Modric will get back to his best again and that Bale's current poor form is only short-term.

Our season starts now.

One more thing. I would like to applaud DL for sticking to his guns and not accepting any bid from Chelsea for Modric. I hope that this will deter the bigger clubs from trying to lure our top players and disrupt the team in forthcoming windows.

 

[stemark44]

when you see the formation we could play with parker and super man i mean Sandro in front of the back four with vdv modric bale and ade in front of them its not a bad 1st 11 hard to break down and maybe teams wont get at our weak back line so much with Parker and Sandro, with Modric and vdv switching we can cause alot of problems going foward, just somthing to think about, think everyone will be fine once we trash Wolves

I honestly think we will lose.

 

[StartingPrice]

Not under Redknapp, StartingPrice. Sorry.

:shrug: I hear Judge Bradshaw is doing the circuits :wink:

 

[lippyspur]

I thought you had a great window............even the stuff about Kaka wasn't wrong because we obviously had talks with him.
Cahill probably was touch and go ...............but the deal didn't come off,same goes' for Diarra.

I enjoy reading your stuff and I hope you keep filling us in with your info.

Thanks.

:clap:

All the ITKs deserve enormous credit for making all this so exciting, and the mods have been exceptional running this whole show, so thank you to them.

A&C your round ups are genius and I for one have thoroughly enjoyed the ride on SC/ITK this summer!

Fantastic.

:clap: seconded

Gloating is unbecoming...especially about something you should actually be really sad in being proven right about.

I was in the wait and see party.
We've waited, we've seen...I'm not happy.
I don't agree with your focus on penny-pinching, I don't think that is the problem.
I think the problem is that Levy clearly favours the DOF system. he has went with a conventional manager. But because he can't trust that manager with the money, we have not really had either. Levy has been acting like a surrogate DOF and he just isn't up to it.
He should go with a DOF, and if Redknapp won't work with him, get a manager who will. Or he should go with a conventional manager, and let him conduct the transfer business. If he doesn't trust Redknapp, replace him with one who can.

I don't do knee-jerk, which is why I say wait-and-see, when some jump in too quickly. I have watched this unfolding since Redknapp took charge - and that is my considered opinion.

Don't think it will be too long before we see Redknapps replacement

Nah...still good enough to compete for 4th.

Just a slightly disappointing window, not for what we did, which was fine...but for what we didn't do, which was show our ambition.

I like the optimism but 4th? really? I hope and pray we are there or thereabouts but I have a bad feeling we are in for a rough season, being a Spurs supporter should carry a health warning:grin:

 

[bomberH]

Agree with Adebayor, the jury is out for me on Parker if I'm honest. Problem is Parker is a bit injury prone and Ade is a bit moody. If we have got the Ade of 07-08 then I'm very confident that we can make a serious challenge for 4th, if it's the Ade of recent years then I'm a bit worried....

Hopefully, because it's a loan, he'll play his bollox off because he'll be playing for a move whether it's to us or someone else. All the gooners I know are saying he'll be brilliant for 2 months then shit, then brilliant for the end of the season.

Parker is exactly what we need in the middle, in my opinion. He's got the never say die attitude and genuinely does give 100% every match. With Sandro out, this is a very important signing, if he stays fit. I'd even go as far as to say if everyone's fit, Parker and Sandro will be our CM pairing with Modric LM and Bale LB. Though that would mean BAE missing out so maybe Parker will replace Lennon? Either way, if he plays for us like he's played for the hammers, I think he'll be a great signing.

 

[RuskyM]

Our defence worries me.

Hopefully January can sort this out.

EDIT: Lol, we won't finish anywhere near 4th. 6th at best, lads.

 

[Spurrific]

I just want Sandro back to fitness and Luka back unhypnotised, then I'll be happy.

 

[hcclnoodles]

£474m spent by premier league clubs this transfer window. Our contribution to that figure .... £5m !

 

[lippyspur]

£474m spent by premier league clubs this transfer window. Our contribution to that figure .... £5m !

Thought it was £7m, 5m for Parker and 2m for Coulibaly (sp)

 

[agrdavidsfan]

BBC 5 live's Juliette Ferrington on Twitter: "Outside Stoke's training ground and the chief exec Tony Scholes has just told us Peter Crouch will be out in 15 minutes... but I'm about to have a word with him now."

 

[hcclnoodles]

Thought it was £7m, 5m for Parker and 2m for Coulibaly (sp)

You are correct ...i take it all back :wink: