The In and Out Squad Building Thread

[Johnny J]

Love how we're going to yet again flog Hojbjerg and now Skipp every single game. Amazed we didn't get another CM in.

 

[Yid-ol]

Love how we're going to yet again flog Hojbjerg and now Skipp every single game. Amazed we didn't get another CM in.

Shouldn't be every game. Lo Celso, Dele, &Gil can all play also. Though going by how Nuno has gone in the league so far, he does seem to go with 2 more defensive types.

 

[Johnny J]

Shouldn't be every game. Lo Celso, Dele, &Gil can all play also. Though going by how Nuno has gone in the league so far, he does seem to go with 2 more defensive types.

Gil is a winger, not a CM. Alli is being played there but he's no good at it going forward, as he holds onto the ball too long and isn't great at picking out passes.

GLCL, sure.

 

[Yid-ol]

Gil is a winger, not a CM. Alli is being played there but he's no good at it going forward, as he holds onto the ball too long and isn't great at picking out passes.

GLCL, sure.

Didn't Gil play in a CM 3 in the Europa conference league for us? Might be wrong but I thought he did.

 

[EQP]

Think we'll a lot more involvement of youth players this season to fill-in the gaps. In the CM role we have Harvey White, Nile John. We have Markanday, Bennett as AM/wingers and obviously Scarlett can play as a central striker or off the left. Also, I don't think NES is convinced by Sessegnon as a LB and will likely deploy him further up field moving forward.

 

[spursfan1976]

Anyone here worth a look?

 

[nedley]

Some really good additions this summer but 4 new signings is nowhere near good enough for the effort that was required this summer.

6/10 window for me.

And don't get me started on no striker.

 

[bbunc]

Anyone here worth a look?

Obviously Andy Carroll.

 

[Schoolboys' Own Stuff]

Anyone here worth a look?

Some real blasts from the past in that list.

Llorente is on there - perhaps for old times sake?!

A more serious option would be Mandzukic, particularly given the Juve ties but in reality, none on there are really worth a look.

 

[SpursTillIDie1882]

Anyone here worth a look?

Bentaleb .......... Wiltshire ................ David Luiz ........... lol ?

 

[mattstev2000]

Anyone here worth a look?

Gio Dos Santos + Nabil Bentaleb + Zeki Fryers = second times the charm.

 

[smallsnc]

Didn't Gil play in a CM 3 in the Europa conference league for us? Might be wrong but I thought he did.

It looked like it but the fact was the front line was very fluid as to where they were playing. I expect Gil, whether outside or playing more of a # 10 role will be very creative once he settles in. One nice thing about him is that he will be hard to mark out of a match because of his movement which will also open space for others.

 

[H-SF]

with the window done, my guess is that we will see this in the near future:

Lloris
Emerson Sanchez Dier Reggy
Hojbjerg Skipp Dele
Lucas Kane Son

this team won't sustain the success we want in the long term, but to be honest with Chelsea and Arsenal coming up that midfield will be just fine. In the long run, I'd like/expect to see:

Lloris
Emerson Romero Dier Reggy
Hojbjerg Ndombele Lo Celso
Gil Kane Son

I know that midfield 'didn't work' last year but I don't see why it can't under Nuno. Lo Celso is a grafter/hard worker just like Dele but possesses more quality on the ball (admittedly minus Dele's goal threat). Ndombele simply has to be in the team if we want our midfield to be conducive to playing the football we want to see. In bigger games, by all means chuck Skipp in there for GLC. Another cool idea if Bergwin kicks on would be him in the front 3 and Gil at LCM instead of Lo Celso (where he played in the Conference qualifier). If Kane gets injured we are a bit buggered but all things considered I'm fairly happy with the squad going into the season.

 

[ultimateloner]

I'm satisfied with this window overall given the likelihood of the worst case scearnio: losing Kane, not found a striker to replace him and to continue with the old problems. We haven't addressed all the weaknesses across the team but I felt that was unrealisitc to start with, over one summer window. Here's where I think we got right:

1) By far the most important: kept Kane and extended Son. Keeping Kane at least for this season allows us to kick the can down the road.
2) Addressed problems in defence, which I felt was our main weak area. We are a counter-attacking team, and you can't do that without a good backline. This was where I thought Mourinho got it wrong, and hence results went down the drain.

Romero's CV clearly fits the bill, and if he lives up to it I think we will get back to being water-tight which was what propelled us to CL in the first place.

Tanganga's rise and Emerson Royal also addressed the problem RB area. I dont know much about Emerson Royal, but Tanganga overall has been a relevation.
3) Gil's profile makes sense but for me he is a bonus. I dont expect him to start regularly this season.

Problems that remain:

1) CMs still lack goals/assists/ball-playing ability, for a side with top-6 aspirations. Nuno wants to compensate this by out-running the opposition, which I think will work for a while but wont last beyond the 1H of this season. I hope Tanguy will be our white knight, but it's more hope than expectation.

2) AMs also lack goals/assists. I like Moura but he lacks sufficient end-product for this level, despite doing other things well (like ball-carrying etc). I doubt this would change. Same thing for Bergwin; good feet and athetic, but doesn't produce when it matters.

Overall I think that we refreshed our backline but the goal-scoring/creative burden is still heavy on the front 2, and aside from Gil we haven't really addressed it. For this season we can still persist with counter-attacking (which is Nuno's style anyway), and with luck maybe that would be enough to get top-6.

 

[talbot64]

Feels like Sessegnon is now one of the 6 attacking players now and Davies survives at LB. Hopefully Sessegnon gets his confidence up in the cup games

 

[Rob]

So now a few things are settling I thought it was worth a thread for where we want this window to end up.

This is where I think I am but it definitely wasn't easy, even with Football Manager style turnover in the squad.

View attachment 93357

In:
Ings
Vlahovic
Damsgaard
Romero
Kounde
Tomiyasu

Out:
Kane
Winks
Sissoko
Dier
Sanchez
Aurier

While I think that's a crazily strong squad, I'm not sure ever after that I know what my starting 11 is.
We probably are too overloaded with wide attackers how I've left this so maybe Bergwijn goes too.

Which of the rumoured players do you want and how do you fit them in?

So from what I thought we needed, we ended up a backup striker (Ings), a goal-scoring midfielder (Damsgaard) and a central defender (Kounde) short. Ouch.

Right-back ended up better than expected with Emerson over Doherty and assuming Tanganga moves across, that cancels out not getting Tomiyasu.

Realistically, failing to move on Winks was poor but always unlikely we'd move on both Dier and Sanchez.

 

[Thenewcat]

Ings w

So from what I thought we needed, we ended up a backup striker (Ings), a goal-scoring midfielder (Damsgaard) and a central defender (Kounde) short. Ouch.

Right-back ended up better than expected with Emerson over Doherty and assuming Tanganga moves across, that cancels out not getting Tomiyasu.

Realistically, failing to move on Winks was poor but always unlikely we'd move on both Dier and Sanchez.

Ings was never a fit if Kane stayed - we needed a back up who can play as a wide or central forward (like Son) to give us 3 options through the centre but without paying big wages to someone who would barely play if Kane is fit. Personally I’m not convinced by Damsgaard but this was the area that needed addressing the most and Levy is blind if he can’t see it. I’m ok with the defence. Full back positions look the best they have since 2018, and I think Sanchez and Dier can be decent with better coaching and a top CB alongside them.

Excited about Sarr for next year, if he works out this could look like a much better window with hindsight, rather than the missed opportunity it feels like today

 

[Johnny J]

Anyone here worth a look?

Wouldn't mind seeing Musacchio next to Romero.

 

[isaac94]

Anyone here worth a look?

would take llorente, pelle, mandzukic as back up striker for conference league if dane is too young

 

[dtxspurs]

So from what I thought we needed, we ended up a backup striker (Ings), a goal-scoring midfielder (Damsgaard) and a central defender (Kounde) short. Ouch.

Right-back ended up better than expected with Emerson over Doherty and assuming Tanganga moves across, that cancels out not getting Tomiyasu.

Realistically, failing to move on Winks was poor but always unlikely we'd move on both Dier and Sanchez.

Damsgaard only scored like 4 goals for Sampdoria last year, he was hardly going to come here and solve our problems right away.