Well done Levy and co.

[ginola99]

8/10 window for me, close to a 9.

We have kept ALL of our best players, so good imo it was very hard to find a player to improve that starting XI, and added depth to our squad. It's the first time ever we've managed to do both, just look at the 2008, 2012, 2013 summer windows when we invested a lot on good players (on paper at least) at the expense of losing Berba, Modric, VdV and Bale (£160m combined).

Also, we always bang on about Levy not giving the manger what he wants, well now he has and the scary thing is, if things do go Pete Tong then Levy is arguably in the clear, scary stuff. All joking aside, as others have said, fair play to the chairman for recognising the managers needs and not the club's wants.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Winks.

This is a question still to be answered but I suppose that's the hope yes.

 

[muppetman]

Things I really wanted for this transfer window:
- Rotation/Cover/Pressure for Kane
- Rotation/Cover/Pressure for Dier

I got both so am pretty happy, I would have liked to actually get to see N'Jie play but we appear to have swapped him for GKN which means we are back to square one there.

I think if we'd bought in GKN and Sissoko and THEN shipped out Chadli, Bentaleb and Mason it would have felt a lot less panicky but we were all feeling a bit light on resources and so felt a bit desperate.

Keeping all the players we wanted to keep is also massive and seems to have been taken for granted which I don't think it should have been. I'm sure lots of teams would very much liked to have taken Kane, Lamela, Eriksen, Dembele etc and some of them pay higher wages than us so that was a real bonus.

I'm excited to see what Harry Winks, Josh Onomah, GKN and possibly even Marcous Edwards can do if given the opportunity. I never thought that signing one or two "special" players would turn us from top 6 to league winners so overall I'm pretty happy.

Also, apparently we are building something just north of the current stadium. . .

 

[longtimespur]

To me this has been a very good window. We have improved our squad and injected quick players (GK, Sissoko) More power ( Wanyama, Sissoko, Janssen), and versatility in many positions,

People really need to forget about a "FIRST X1".
We will have a strong core of 15/16 players + the youth team lads.
IMO there will be a lot of rest for players this year compared to last through rotation within the squad.

All bodes well for me.

 

[R_1001001]

Winks.

*Winks back*

What's the secret?

 

[jurgen]

From Pogba downwards players have gone for money they aren't worth.. Sissoko probably was a bit of a panic buy but doesn't mean it's a bad move - apart from the player's qualities it also says 'we're still here and ready to compete.' Plus although neither of our new speedsters have put up amazingly productive numbers yet, someone like Lennon never did but made lots of space for others. Put Sissoko in the team and I think we'll see a better Eriksen / Lamela because teams will be wary of the speed of the unit on the right. Same as Dembele is so good at drawing players towards him and making gaps for others.

 

[jurgen]

Plus I'm glad we kept Son and I think he'll do well this season.

 

[EZSpur]

.
The bad:

• For me we look light on quality replacements in a few areas. Considering we have the Champions League this year where we won't be able to rest players (as we did at times in the Europa) I am very worried about burnout in some areas.
• We don't have a midfielder who can pass the ball particularly effectively. Lot's of defensive nous and strength but not a great deal going forwards.
• We are very reliant on Eriksen getting his form back as I'm not sure where else the spark comes from. This is presumably why we were after Isco.

So yeah. A reasonable window. I suspect if it wasn't for the stadium we'd have flashed the cash a bit more, but the stadium is important so I'm fine with that.

Overall grade: B

We say that we need a midfielder that can pass, and that we rely heavily on Eriksen (..which i agree we do!) - but, Lamela and Alli both have great vision and can play a pass, and from the little i've seen of Edwards, if blooded properly, he could be a playmaker too. Ultimately I think it's more a question of formation.

Now that we have some pace (and strength), i'm really hoping that Lamela in particular is given that CAM role - with the likes of Nkoudou/Son and Sissoko on the wings, Kane and Janssen upfront, and with Dier/Wanyama just behind, we might already have that creative player we need.......without even knowing it!

 

[talkshowhost86]

We say that we need a midfielder that can pass, and that we rely heavily on Eriksen (..which i agree we do!) - but, Lamela and Alli both have great vision and can play a pass, and from the little i've seen of Edwards, if blooded properly, he could be a playmaker too. Ultimately I think it's more a question of formation.

Now that we have some pace (and strength), i'm really hoping that Lamela in particular is given that CAM role - with the likes of Nkoudou/Son and Sissoko on the wings, Kane and Janssen upfront, and with Dier/Wanyama just behind, we might already have that creative player we need.......without even knowing it!

Yep I was talking more about the midfield 2 rather than the front 4.

I just think we lack a midfielder who can pass from deep which would be very useful against certain teams.

A very hard position to find the right player in though.

 

[EZSpur]

Yep I was talking more about the midfield 2 rather than the front 4.

I just think we lack a midfielder who can pass from deep which would be very useful against certain teams.

A very hard position to find the right player in though.

Dier is getting there though, no?

 

[THOWIG]

By the sounds of it we started the window wanting Mane, Schneiderlin, Batshuayi and Isco. All very costly.

I think we've bought pretty well. Time will tell on Janssen, but he looks promising or certainly a Kuyt clone who will work hard . 9m these days is nothing so N'koudou is low risk who could be a big hit. The fact he was signed by Bielsa bodes well. I can see the reasoning behing Sissoko as long as we have the Euro 2016 version. I made my thoughts very well known on Wanyama as we crave a better passer from midfield, but he impressed on Saturday so I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Going forward depending on how one or two progress we go into the season pretty well covered. We still need more guile and craft in the final third, but we have two windows to solve that problem plus Edwards will continue with his development. We could enter next Summers transfer window only needing one or two players.

 

[stewartd]

As a big Levy critic I am ecstatic today so I will lay off him for a while, out of all the players we were linked to early on in the window Sissoko was the one I wanted, I think he'll be great for us, much more excited about the coming season, was fully expecting another frustrating window given the past (lost count) number of crap windows... well done for a change!

Why lay off for a while. He has done all that you wanted. If we don't perform it wont be his fault it will be down to the players and management.
Don't think you can have another go at him until next August

 

[zepstar]

£30m is the old £15m. We're off the back of an unprecedented TV payout. It's driven the prices up. When you start to look at it that way, Sissoko is just a tad over priced. I'd have been happier paying 22m-28m.

When the likes of Sunderland, West Brom and Everton are splashing about silly money, you should know the games gone barmey.

If £30m seems mental, it's because it is mental. But that's football nowadays. That's the money we're talking about. We're probably at peak crazy.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Dier is getting there though, no?

Yup he is certainly improving.

But if he's going to play that role then when he plays with Wanyama he needs to be the more advanced of the two.

 

[michaelden]

Interesting to see what our best 11 is now.

it's 23 any of them, even lloris, vorm & lopez as gk, , cdm & st ... i have seen the future! We're unbeatable with our new formation - 3-7-4-7-2

 

[EZSpur]

Regarding Sissoko, a good few people have commented about his commitment (or lack of) and how he can sometimes drop off in form, which is a concern.
But apart from Poch helping him, i actually think Lloris will/can have a massive impact on him.........and Nkoudou!
For me Lloris leads by example and being the current captain of France, the players will look up to him.

 

[beats1]

We say that we need a midfielder that can pass, and that we rely heavily on Eriksen (..which i agree we do!) - but, Lamela and Alli both have great vision and can play a pass, and from the little i've seen of Edwards, if blooded properly, he could be a playmaker too. Ultimately I think it's more a question of formation.

Now that we have some pace (and strength), i'm really hoping that Lamela in particular is given that CAM role - with the likes of Nkoudou/Son and Sissoko on the wings, Kane and Janssen upfront, and with Dier/Wanyama just behind, we might already have that creative player we need.......without even knowing it!

Alli doesnt have great vision, thats not true at all. Dont get me wrong he does find some great passes but thats only when he has bypassed the midfield and only has the back 4 in front of him and a runner.

He doesnt see passes further back and struggles to move ball around from deep. He has a great through ball but not great vision

 

[Bulletspur]

Lloris, Vorm, Lopez
Walker, Trippier
Rose, Davies
Alderweireld, Carter-Vickers
Vertonghen, Wimmer
Dier, Wanyama
Dembele, Sissoko
Lamela, Son
Alli, Carroll
Eriksen, Nkoudou
Kane, Janssen

Walker-Peters, Winks, Onomah and Harrison as depth.

I'm happy with that. Plenty of flexibility in that senior 23 too, Dier/Wanyama can drop back into defence, Dembele/Sissoko can play higher up, Alli/Eriksen can drop into CM, most of the AM can rotate across right, left and centre, plus Son can play higher up and Kane can drop deeper of required.

Suddenly we can field something like this.

Lloris, Walker, Rose, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Alli, Eriksen, Kane.
Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Wanyama, Sissoko, Son, Janssen.

People will question the fee for Sissoko, but in truth that's the market we're in now. Was Bolasie worth £25m(ish), was Stones worth close to £50m etc etc. Also there'll be suggestions that Sissoko isn't that good, but we had repeated ITK that Poch had final say on all targets, so you've got to assume he see's something he wants there. Personally I think that one final signing pushed us from being stripped down too far, and not having sufficient quality/depth, to being a very astute window.
I feel a lot happier going into the rest of the season now, than I did when I thought Nkoudou and Lopez was then end of our incomings.

You spoiled an otherwise excellent post by putting Carroll ahead of Winks.

 

[EZSpur]

Alli doesnt have great vision, thats not true at all. Dont get me wrong he does find some great passes but thats only when he has bypassed the midfield and only has the back 4 in front of him and a runner.

He doesnt see passes further back and struggles to move ball around from deep. He has a great through ball but not great vision

Ok, I agree he doesn't always see passes further back - but then again, don't we really just want him to make those (killer) passes forward!
When i say vision, i guess i am referring to his forward passes - which i do believe are very good and you can only play those passes if you're clever enough to do so.

 

[Flashspur]

you have all seen this right? Says its 30m quid subject to him staying the 5 years

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...-mauricio-pochettino-wanted-the-a3334451.html