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The Daily ITK Discussion Thread CHRISTMAS EDITION

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Sweech

Ruh Roh Ressegnon
Jun 27, 2013
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No new foward and harry gets injured for a long time then we don't get top four
Which forward is going to just step right in and have this team not miss a beat if Kane gets injured?

We're just like every other team in this league, if our top striker gets injured we will dip. It happens to City and everyone else.

No January signing is going to see us covered for this type of problem.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
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Think its the hustle, bustle,hold the ball and score goals where Kane excels. IMO

Son - scores the goals and is best fit
Chadli - too immobile, would need a Poch re-education
Lamela - Not physically robust enough to do the hustle, bustle and hold up the ball
Alli - fits all the physical requirements and probably the goalscoring, but may not be technically good enough, but certainly worth a try.

Might be the odd wild card in the squad - I thought of Bentaleb who used to play a more forward midfield role in u21's and has the physicality, height and technical skills - just needs to be seen whether he could be re-trained for the role. But there may be others

I don't think Chadli immobile, I think he's just lazy. Lamela is physically far tougher and tenacious than just about any of our front four and he'd show for, receive and hold the ball better than Kane IMO, who has an annoying habit of trying to dribble round three players when he's a "one dribble player" at best. I think Kane and Alli both have very similar technique, they can bot be a little clumsy and bumbly at times.

What about Dembele (our one) ? He's robust, can hold the ball (sometimes too long), tenacious and played as a striker in his early career.

I think we've an abundance of back up options already. If someone like (Fulham) Dembele offers the range of skills of a young Kane/Lukaku/Drogba i.e. the hustle, the hold with the finishing then I'd be OK with signing him as a back up who would appreciate he's not going to start every game. But if he isn't that player, and we can't find someone who is who would be perfectly happy to become part of an EPL (nearly) top team squad as opposed to wanting to be a regular starter, then I really don't see the need or point of signing anyone.


Agree with this BC, but I do think we really should try and bring in that understudy for Kane. I'm sure we're trying and January is never ideal but if Kane picks up any kind of serious injury we'b be in trouble. Dembele at Fulham would make sense on a lot of levels - havn't seen much of him, but someone who is happy to come in and be used gradually.

See my post above.

But surely by definition, whoever we bring in wont be as good as Kane, or as prolific ? And as we have other players here already who can either do the the things Kane can do outside the box (Chadli, Alli, Son, Lamela) or offer a slight variation then and no-one we sign as back up to Kane is going to be a starter anyway, so why bother?

we need someone who can replicate what Kane does but who will accept not starting most weeks,that's either someone who was top banana once but now on the way down (which means a short term fix with pitfalls) or a kid on the way up. Either way not easy to find and likely is that neither type would be as good as Kane - and we already have back ups that aren't Kane but can do a decent job, especially as we have goals from various other players now.
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
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Have many people not watched WBA this season? The issue with Berahino isn't just his attitude, but that his playing form has taken a massive dive. He doesn't look like a player that would come close to starting for us at the moment, as he looks short of fitness. Even Anichebe was selected over him last week. I want to sign a striker more than most, but if we are only going to get one between now and the start of next season, I'm not sure I want it to be Berahino. I'd rather look for a loan or low release clause option (Remy, Negredo, maybe even activate Gomis release clause) as cover and then go for Batshuayi in the summer as our big money striker signing. He's simply a much better footballer than Berahino, and a far better fit for the Pochettino system.

Berahino is joint top scorer for WBA (along with Rondon) with 3 goals, despite very limited playing time and mainly off the bench.

Not sure its fair to say that his playing form has taken a dive or his fitness - most January purchases do not contribute for a month or two after signing due to their being no pre-season to get to know how the new team and team mates play, and I'd guess that in those 2 months he'd get up to speed with any lost fitness.

Also worth re-iterating that any January purchase will contribute a little to the current season - but their main contribution will be for the next couple of seasons.

The main reasons for Berahino not coming to Spurs will be (1) Peace (2) Berahino's attitude if Poch velieves it a problem.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
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Just to add, a player like Embolo, would be ideal, fits the Kane remit to a tee, he's robust, works hard, if anything has even better technique than Kane (for his age) and creates (i.e. gets his head up, where Kane often doesn't) as well as scores, but he'd cost a bomb and would want to be playing, not sitting on a bench.
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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It's not my job to give an answer to that question, that's what scouts are for. People on here asking for "backups" clearly lack ambition to improve.

Most of the best known pundits will rate Kane as one of the best strikers in the premiership.

So that means the number of strikers as good as Kane are few and far between. That's why most people are labelling an alternative as a 'back up'
 

Everlasting Seconds

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2014
14,914
26,616
Don't think we'll sign anyone, don't think it will be much to talk about for all of January. Rather use Son & Clint a bit than get more players in — who'll need half a year or more to settle anyway. Only signing on to wish you all a happy new year!
 

Spursidol

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Sep 15, 2007
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I don't think Chadli immobile, I think he's just lazy. Lamela is physically far tougher and tenacious than just about any of our front four and he'd show for, receive and hold the ball better than Kane IMO, who has an annoying habit of trying to dribble round three players when he's a "one dribble player" at best. I think Kane and Alli both have very similar technique, they can bot be a little clumsy and bumbly at times.

What about Dembele (our one) ? He's robust, can hold the ball (sometimes too long), tenacious and played as a striker in his early career.

I think we've an abundance of back up options already. If someone like (Fulham) Dembele offers the range of skills of a young Kane/Lukaku/Drogba i.e. the hustle, the hold with the finishing then I'd be OK with signing him as a back up who would appreciate he's not going to start every game. But if he isn't that player, and we can't find someone who is who would be perfectly happy to become part of an EPL (nearly) top team squad as opposed to wanting to be a regular starter, then I really don't see the need or point of signing anyone.




See my post above.

But surely by definition, whoever we bring in wont be as good as Kane, or as prolific ? And as we have other players here already who can either do the the things Kane can do outside the box (Chadli, Alli, Son, Lamela) or offer a slight variation then and no-one we sign as back up to Kane is going to be a starter anyway, so why bother?

we need someone who can replicate what Kane does but who will accept not starting most weeks,that's either someone who was top banana once but now on the way down (which means a short term fix with pitfalls) or a kid on the way up. Either way not easy to find and likely is that neither type would be as good as Kane - and we already have back ups that aren't Kane but can do a decent job, especially as we have goals from various other players now.

If Chadli's problem isn't mobility than we can but hope that Poch can coach (or put a bomb behind ?) him so he can do the role.

Lamela has a history of needless petty fouls (slightly better this season but still too many) when being challenged so I'm not sure your description of him being physically tougher and tenacious is completely accurate as he'd tend to do that even more when placed in the fulcrum position - he needs to develop Mason's (someone else with a slight build) ability to deal with the opposition .

Think Kane looks bumbly and awkward but that's just his style, he's very effective, not sure Alli has the technique Kane has.

Dembele used to be a striker but a non -scoring one hence Martin Jol moving him back. We'd probably get our fulcrum but not too many goals !

IMO Dembele (Fulham) is at the stage to introduce to PL (eg off the bench for a few minutes), not sure we could rely on him to play lots of complete games this season - next season maybe. But maybe with a bit of of coaching he might be ok by the end of the season, its difficult to tell
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
12,636
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Don't think we'll sign anyone, don't think it will be much to talk about for all of January. Rather use Son & Clint a bit than get more players in — who'll need half a year or more to settle anyway. Only signing on to wish you all a happy new year!

and a Happy New Year to you sir !
 

thebetamaxboy

Active Member
Jun 5, 2012
382
480
Who is going to be able to just step right into a fit actively pressing team and kick right off and score goals without a bedding in time?

Even if we brought in a striker I'd expect Son to still act as Kane's backup for the next few months.

.. I think that correctly applies to every other position but it's of least importance to a striker/cf ... As long as they do what they are good at and convert chances then a backup striker will be good insurance against injury to Kane.
 

Dillspur

Well-Known Member
May 18, 2004
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I'm feeling confident we're getting a striker, the last time we were in a similar position, the rumors were that Levy was almost begging Harry to strengthen, but he (Harry) wouldn't pull the trigger.

I do question if Poch is really happy with the options he has as back up to Kane, when was the last time Kane was rested? I think he's started every PL game and most of the europa games too, that doesn't tell me Poch is happy.
 

Sweech

Ruh Roh Ressegnon
Jun 27, 2013
6,752
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.. I think that correctly applies to every other position but it's of least importance to a striker/cf ... As long as they do what they are good at and convert chances then a backup striker will be good insurance against injury to Kane.
Considering all that Kane does I disagree that as long as they score they are good enough insurance.
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
12,636
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Considering all that Kane does I disagree that as long as they score they are good enough insurance.

Think that comes back to what most on here seem to agree - whoever we bring in will not be as good as Harry, just a question of to what extent they mitigate not playing Harry (and recognising Harry cannot play every minute of every game without his performance deteriorating)
 

Sweech

Ruh Roh Ressegnon
Jun 27, 2013
6,752
16,378
Think that comes back to what most on here seem to agree - whoever we bring in will not be as good as Harry, just a question of to what extent they mitigate not playing Harry (and recognising Harry cannot play every minute of every game without his performance deteriorating)
And also do the job better than Son, Lamela, or Chadli would.

Methinks there's not many of them out there, none that we've been linked to either.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
Think that comes back to what most on here seem to agree - whoever we bring in will not be as good as Harry, just a question of to what extent they mitigate not playing Harry (and recognising Harry cannot play every minute of every game without his performance deteriorating)

There is no one we could afford that will be better than Kane, but I don't see why we have to settle for someone who is resigned to playing second fiddle to him. Good players believe in their ability even if those looking from the outside can see there is not much chance of them getting in the team.

I still think a loan until we can secure the correct long term target is the right option.

Even Lambert on loan until the end of the season would be preferable to just doing nothing.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
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And also do the job better than Son, Lamela, or Chadli would.

Methinks there's not many of them out there, none that we've been linked to either.

Son, Lamela and Chadli are not CF's. I don't know why everyone thinks it's a walk in the park to play the number 9 role?
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
There is no one we could afford that will be better than Kane, but I don't see why we have to settle for someone who is resigned to playing second fiddle to him. Good players believe in their ability even if those looking from the outside can see there is not much chance of them getting in the team.

I still think a loan until we can secure the correct long term target is the right option.

Even Lambert on loan until the end of the season would be preferable to just doing nothing.

Would lambert really be better playing up front than son?
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
Son, Lamela and Chadli are not CF's. I don't know why everyone thinks it's a walk in the park to play the number 9 role?

Son said in an interview in feb that he can play there and has played the position before. Why do you think he can't play there?
 
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