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The Weekend ITK Discussion Thread 2/3 August 2014

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thinktank

Hmmm...
Sep 28, 2004
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Who: The Goat
When: 2nd August
Where: SC


A few bits trickled into The Goat's shell-like ears…………..JR is not going to force a move, The Goat hears that he is happy with the medical team getting him back to recovery so will happily wait until January and decide what he will do then. Also a little snippet, his Jump increased by 40% in under a year using a resistance machine Poch uses and has taken to Spurs.

Schneiderlin. It's possible that he will be sold AFTER the first game of the season. They are adamant that he will be with the club on the first day of the season to prove a point and hopefully squeeze more money out of us.
Pretty sure he's got a good few tricks up his sleeve for training. That's a beaut though.
 

St José Dominguez

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2014
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This is post is really on the money for me.

Just wonder if the hip injury will come into our thinking ie is he going to rid this problem?

Wasn't there rumour he needs an operation? And we decided against him having it last summer. With us being healthily stocked in CM, even more so if Schneiderlin coming in. Maybe it could be opportunity to get fixed and maybe return to his best at what is a very busy Xmas period. Then reevaluate if we actually need Sandro, Capoue and Schneiderlin then.
 

prawnsandwich

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2014
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I'd assume reports of our initial 16mil didn't sit well with the fans and they now are trying to get as close to the touted 27mil number as possible
I would assume reports of our £12 mill bid are more accurate.
His agent is desperately trying to drum up interest and IMO apart from us there ain't any.
As for the leavers-I would suggest that Paulinho is the least likely to leave because he scores goals. I reckon he could go double figures this season.
 

Oshi

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2011
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Wtf is a resistance machine and where can I get one?

Or has he got a bag full of bungee cords?

I believe it is essentially based on cable machine tech, these are normally designed for upper body work i.e. Pec flys, arms work blah blah.

This version probs has a variable height platform that you can do step ups on and jump onto whilst either holding or attaching the cables to provide added resistance.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
I just can't see him getting shot of capoue ahead of dembele, sandro or paulinho tbf. Not after capoue's pre-season form.

Paulinho
Sandro
Dembele
Capoue

I would think it'd be that selling order, knowing poch.


Dembele's got to be top of that list surely. Paulinho's a bit meh in scrappy CM2 football, but at least he offers some goals from midfield if used correctly. Dembele spends too much time with his head down. Plus both Dembele and Sandro are continually injured.
 

Snarfalicious

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Jul 15, 2012
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Dembele's got to be top of that list surely. Paulinho's a bit meh in scrappy CM2 football, but at least he offers some goals from midfield if used correctly. Dembele spends too much time with his head down. Plus both Dembele and Sandro are continually injured.

Paulinho's likely to get a pass for the reason you noted. We simply don't have goal scoring options from midfield that makes him expendable. Schneiderlin, Capoue, Sandro, Bentaleb are unlikely to score many goals. Keeping the guy who managed to score 6 in the midst of a pretty lackluster season makes sense so long as Pochettino can somehow get him to play a little more well-rounded.
 

prawnsandwich

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Jul 19, 2014
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People here are grossly underrating the talent that Dembele possesses. There's a reason someone like Soldado, whose played with some of the best players on the planet, said upon his arrival that Dembele was the player that most impressed him. Dembele's hip issue clearly has hampered his progression, but his dribbling and tackling skills when he is fit are absolute top class. I'm hoping he'll come in healthy and hungry to fight for his place, because when he's at his best, he's a top class player.

For me, Dembele's ball retention and dribbling, coupled with Paulinho's ability to score goals, trumps keeping Sandro for his defensive abilities in the CDM role. Neither Schneiderlin, nor Capoue are goal-scorers, or dribblers who can beat multiple men, but they are very good ball recyclers, and are better passers than Sandro. For that reason, Sandro will be the odd man out.
Jenas used to frustrate me but not half as much as Dembele. He should be scoring more.
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
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Third party ownership apparently holding up the Musacchio deal. In this case you've got three parties (agent, river plate and villarreal) all owning one third each but with Villarreal holding the decisive stake. If the Mangala to City deal is anything to go by, this could take some time to resolve with each party possibly arguing over their share. A 15m move leaves them all with 5m each which I assume, Villarreal will not be happy about (given they'd struggle to replace him for that price) but the other two would be delighted. At least this time, Levy has started the process early and thus learned from the Damiao and Moutinho affairs.

Because Real were so late agreeing our price for Modders we had just five days to sort out a very complicated deal. I'm sure there must have been preliminary contact, but there were some nasty surprises along the way; there was one bit of ITK that claimed Moutinho was demanding the sort of money he's getting at Monaco, and that AVB had had to be brought into the negotiations. To be honest, I was amazed we got as close as we did.

It was difficult to escape the conclusion that Internacional were yanking our chain. We may have dodged a bullet anyway.
 

Syn_13

Fly On, Little Wing
Jul 17, 2008
14,851
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Dembele's got to be top of that list surely. Paulinho's a bit meh in scrappy CM2 football, but at least he offers some goals from midfield if used correctly. Dembele spends too much time with his head down. Plus both Dembele and Sandro are continually injured.

I've had a feeling since Poch came that both Dembele and Sandro would be off if decent offers came in and we brought in Schneiderlin. We probably have 1 too many centre mids as it is, with the emergence of Bentaleb (a player I think Poch could work wonders with).
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
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I've had a feeling since Poch came that both Dembele and Sandro would be off if decent offers came in and we brought in Schneiderlin. We probably have 1 too many centre mids as it is, with the emergence of Bentaleb (a player I think Poch could work wonders with).

Yeah, I feel like we could really see Bentaleb flourish under Poch. He was also playing a box-to-box role for our U21s when he appeared to score goals pretty regularly. Perhaps he views Bentaleb as a great understudy to Schneiderlin.
 

thinktank

Hmmm...
Sep 28, 2004
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Dembele's got to be top of that list surely. Paulinho's a bit meh in scrappy CM2 football, but at least he offers some goals from midfield if used correctly. Dembele spends too much time with his head down. Plus both Dembele and Sandro are continually injured.
Paulo/Sandro = more ££ = more likely imo.
 

$hoguN

Well-Known Member
Jul 25, 2005
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Paulo/Sandro = more ££ = more likely imo.
Dembele is the footballing equivalent of a fit cock tease, yeah they seem to have it all but it gets you nowhere and leaves you more frustrated than when you started. If anyone has to go he has to be the first one out the door.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
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Dembele is the footballing equivalent of a fit cock tease, yeah they seem to have it all but it gets you nowhere and leaves you more frustrated than when you started. If anyone has to go he has to be the first one out the door.

Adding to that cock tease was how great he looked when he first came to us. Routinely dominated the midfield, made class midfield opponents look like chumps and that goal against Norwich was so awesome. I think the effect of the hip has really hurt his play. He's not as physical, doesn't have the same change of pace and I wouldn't be surprised if the hip has resulted in less quality of training which in turn has effected his play.
 

thinktank

Hmmm...
Sep 28, 2004
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Dembele is the footballing equivalent of a fit cock tease, yeah they seem to have it all but it gets you nowhere and leaves you more frustrated than when you started. If anyone has to go he has to be the first one out the door.
Got a feeling poch will wanna try and work with him and take a proper look.

Sandro's been on the cards for a sale and paul could well be a square peg. Both would bring in more cash and help balance the books this window. Levy likes, poch gets his transfers, everyone's happy (well, obviously some fans will be pissed off....).
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
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People here are grossly underrating the talent that Dembele possesses. There's a reason someone like Soldado, whose played with some of the best players on the planet, said upon his arrival that Dembele was the player that most impressed him. Dembele's hip issue clearly has hampered his progression, but his dribbling and tackling skills when he is fit are absolute top class. I'm hoping he'll come in healthy and hungry to fight for his place, because when he's at his best, he's a top class player.

For me, Dembele's ball retention and dribbling, coupled with Paulinho's ability to score goals, trumps keeping Sandro for his defensive abilities in the CDM role. Neither Schneiderlin, nor Capoue are goal-scorers, or dribblers who can beat multiple men, but they are very good ball recyclers, and are better passers than Sandro. For that reason, Sandro will be the odd man out.

Not for me, I think far too often he simply flatters to deceive. The odd good day nowhere near compensates for the poor ones
His dribbling skills should be useful but he seems to have no purpose, he'll beat a player with no apparent thought what to do if he goes past him, he then dithers and then tries to beat another player, he either ends up a blind alley and loses possession or meanders across the pitch slowing our attacks down and so they fizzle out
He doesn't score many goals. neither does he create any, he slows play down, he lacks vision, lacks decisiveness and even though he can be a decent harrier and tackler he is also prone to bundling players over and giving away needless fouls in dangerous areas
I know Sandro has had a few injury issues but given a choice of who to keep give me Sandro every time


These two posts are a good example of how much Dembele can split opinion.

I read both and find myself agreeing with a fair chunk of both of them.

That said, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Injury problems have seen him regress though and that could be decisive when a decision is made.
 

Cornpattbuck

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2013
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Let's put it this way, when we had Modric there were plenty on here that moaned he wasn't fulfilling his potential and regularly went missing...

I like all the options we have currently and they all offer interesting tactical possibilities (and all have scope to improve, with the talent to achieve it). I hadn't heard anyone bang on about MS before we were linked with him, but he is another very decent option.

If Dembele and Sando are semi-permanently (and check out the likes of Van Persie's injury record when things stop going to plan...) crocked they'll be moved on if poss - Levy is too smart. Pauli and Capoue both easily deserve a second season in my view. Maybe we've been spoilt for talent in recent years, but they are streets ahead of what came beforehand!

EVERYONE in our team looked demoralised last year except for maybe Bentaleb and Kane - ie, the new blood who weren't used to a 'professional' environment anyway...
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
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The way I see it, it has to be either Dembele or Paulinho to go.

Sandro may be limited on the ball, but he has a set role and when fit performs it exceptionally well.

Paulinho has a role too, but from what I've seen actually performs it quite averagely.

As for Dembele, I'm not even sure what his role is anymore? Yes his dribbling out of tight areas is superb but that's about it.

In an ideal world I'd happily sell both Paulinho and Dembele but on balance we don't have anyone else in midfield who runs beyond the ball so I think Dembele should be the one to make way.
 
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