Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

To be fair my main reason would be b)

 

Yeah, You're probably right about Coutinho and De Bruyne overall, but there is something slightly different about their game which I don't think we have, that's why I mentioned them.

I get what you're saying about Son and Sissoko. But taking Son as an example as he's had more time with us, I just don't feel that even when he's at his best, he's in the same league as Alli and Eriksen when they are at theirs. And IMO, he's at his best far less frequently than the other 2. A post from CK the other day indicated that he'd come to the conclusion that Son was nothing more than an impact sub, and I tend to agree. There's nothing wrong with that, as many clubs have that type of player. But for me, it kind of feels like he's a bit...limited... or perhaps unreliable?. - which could ultimately have been one of the reasons there were conversations a few weeks back about needing 1 or 2 fresh attacking faces. - Alli and Eriksen were off form for quite a period of time, but no one else was able to step up and take charge.
At the moment, the going is good as you say. But it wasn't a few weeks back. We could see that again, as there's a long way to go, so I guess what I'm hoping is that we remember the issues we've faced over the last year or so, and make the right choices in this window.
I don't wanna hear about a dream player on deadline day at 10pm that we've failed to sign!!!

 

I would include KDB and Coutinho in that list.

Erikssen blows hot and cold and on his day is great. Alli again and this year he's been a bit inconsistent.

Coutinho on the other hand has that little bit of magic and KDB. They can shoot (coutinho was **** a few years back at shooting) from anywhere, they've got that killer pass in them (much more consistent than alli and erikssen) and they have that small burst that allows them to beat a man/make the defender back off (especially coutinho) to give them that extra time and space.

Alli and eriksen don't have that extra bit so if its a tight game and they are marked pretty closely you can see them disappear a bit. Also whilst alli does his fair bit of work erikssen is pretty lazy and a bit of a bottler whereas kdb and coutinho both put in a good shift.

 

I agree with most of these comments, but you're very wrong on Eriksen being lazy. He covers a lot of ground in matches and always has.

 

I haven't looked at the stats but is it a similar thing with Ozil and Cesc? They all cover a lot of ground and their running distances are high but the key its at a jogging pace and mainly when you guys are attacking (they run a lot to find those pockets of space). In terms of high intensity sprinting especially defensively (to be fair to Cesc that guy is ****ing slow) i believe these boys are pretty slack (i may be wrong but i always get that impression with eriksen)

 

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...t-distance-per-game-run-furthest-hard-working

Not sure how reliable this is as the article doesn't concern boob jobs or celebrity smut, but the top 10 average distance per game across the whole of last season has Lamela, Eriksen and Alli in it. This shows their incredible work rate as well as the ethos that Poch is trying to instill in the club through players like them. Fabricarse surprises me with his work rate; comes across as a lazy git but puts in the mileage.

 

Eriksen covers the distance, but bottles individual challenges and blocking shots.
Lamela chucks himself into them, possibly going a little bit too far at times.

 

The only one I ever tipped from a foreign league was Paolo Dybala (when he was still at Palermo and broke through there, I used to watch a lot of their games), and he's long gone now. First Juve and Barca soon probably. He's sheer quality.

Oh and on Eriksen yes he can pull out of challenges/blocks sometimes but he is often the one leading the press and wins the ball back more often than you'd think. So I'd use that anecdotal evidence, and the more provable running stats, to distance him from the kind of player Ozil etc. are.

 

I just find Coutinho quite overrated, not in the sense he's a poor player portrayed to look good but because he plays for Pool he gets a lot of love from media and pundits and so whenever he has a good game it gets overly hyped - perhaps over-hyped is a better word to use rather than overrated because I do think he's a great player. Take last night's win, if Coutinho had hit those crosses that Eriksen did, the media would be creaming themselves in excitement and no doubt some knob would be screaming something like "he'd be able to replace Iniesta at Barca" or some **** like that, Eriksen never seems to get that sort of praise and yet he's such a special player on his day in my opinion and certainly on a par with Coutinho, at the very least.

Oh yeah agree that Son and Sissoko aren't in Eriksen or Alli's league but they're part of what I'd consider to be solid options in those AM positions and I just feel that now we're on form and everyone barring Lamela is back fit (something I've touched on for ages like a broken record, injuries really affected our form/ performances), the need for any more "solid" options isn't a necessity but one of the level of say Isco (or in that mould) would be more than welcome. It's why the rumours of Barkley, Zaha and even Bruma don't wet my taste buds, I don't feel they're players we need to fill any gaps as we're well stocked in their roles already, GKN can't even get a look-in while young Onomah has barely featured this season either, I don't see why adding another option that isn't top class would be worthwhile because there are already guys not getting a sniff.

Mate it's Spurs, we're always going to be linked with a dream player at 10pm on deadline day, we should just sit back with a spliff to help calm us down and realise it ain't happening

 

FIXED

 

I think you'd probably need to see Eriksen on a regular basis to realise he covers a hell of a lot of ground and isn't anywhere near say the Ozil level of laziness of attacking mids. He's often been one of the players who's covered the most ground in a season for us since Poch took over and that's not just wondering around in space looking lost. Despite being a **** tackler and bottles doing the gritty challenges like Lamela does, he'll get back and try and help out, even if it's to no avail, he still tries doing his bit which I'll always respect. I've never really seen Coutinho put in a "shift" for Pool if I'm honest other than orchestrating their attacks - but then, as I've said to you regarding watching Eriksen regularly to see what he does, a Pool supporter could say the exact same to me.

Both of their form blows hot and cold but the magic you speak of with Coutinho is exactly what I've touched on in my previous post above in that the bits of magic he produces each season somehow paper over how anonymous he can be in spells but because he plays for Pool, neutral fans are led to believe he's amazing throughout a campaign because he plays for a media darling club.

I know stats don't tell the whole story but Eriksen is bettering Coutinho's since both arrived in England (pulled from Transfermarkt):

Eriksen - played 157, scored 37, assisted 41.
Coutinho - played 159 - scored 34, assisted 34.

As I've said though, both great players but I do feel Coutinho's over-hyping from the media clouds the true judgement between the two.

 

Don't get me wrong, i'm a chelsea fan. Eriksen for me is technically brilliant. He's just so inconsistent. He's so streaky like Giroud where he'll look a world beater for a good few games, then he'll have a run of games here he's absolutely pony. If the team is doing well, he'll be doing well whereas if you need to grind something out, Erikssen isn't your man (although he showed his magic last night, i thought the game was more down to your back 7).

As for distance covered stats, Ozil always has massive distance covered stats alongside people like Silva and Fabregas, as i've said before it's the sprints but i appreciate you guys see him far more than i do.

Alli can be special (that flick he tried for Kane that nearly came off against Watford was great) but i may have discounted him because he's only been doing it for a half a season last year when he broke in and the past month or 2 (he was really off form earlier). He's good technically and he has the ability to play on the half turn. He is definitely someone who can develop into the one of the elite players.

For Coutinho, admittedly his stats aren't great (tbf he was subbed a lot in his first couple of seasons), you can see how hard he works in klopps pressing game and he's not just a player with a killer pass and a great shot, he's someone who can run a game before he also plays on the half turn, has great spacial awareness and can dribble past players in both directions because he has the skill and that quick burst, something that Alli and Eriksen lack. Coutinho does the Silva, Fabregas side of things as well as the Finishing touches.

You also have to bare in mind coutinho doesn't really take many of the corners or free kicks whereas Eriksen takes them all (obviously he has a great delivery but those really help to enhance assists and goals, Fat Frank was a master of taking everything)

 

I would put Coutinho in the same class as Payet and Mahrez. They can score wonder goals from nothing, going past a couple of players on the edge of the box and curling it into the corner.

 

You haven't seen our corners, they enhance nothing

 

yea i've been hearing you guys moaning about them, he's still got quite a few assists from them in the past though and he's scored a few free kick screamers (was smashing them in a season or 2 ago, gone a bit down hill recently)

 

Fibreglass' stats are skewed by all the extra yards he covers falling to the deck every 5 minutes - cheating Twat!!

 

Right, I think it's time to play Sky Sports News at their own game...

Los Ladrones do Madrid are determined to hold onto James Rodriguez and will not sell at any price, despite reports Tottenham Hotspur are considering a summer bid for the Columbia midfielder.

The 25-year-old has racked up 21 goals and 23 assists in 63 La Liga appearances since he joined Los Ladrones from Monaco in the summer of 2014, and scored twice in last night's sensational Copa del Rey victory against Sevilla.

That form has caught the attention of Spurs and Sky sources have confirmed the London giants have been closely monitoring James since last season.

A January bid is out of the question as, with Los Ladrones unable to sign a replacement until the summer due to flagrantly flouting various FIFA transfer rules, but Los Ladrones will strongly resist potential offers in the summer.

However, the advances of Spurs are difficult to dismiss as Madrid's local government have finally had enough and are prioritising the much-needed infrastructure improvements for the city over the second-best team in the city's need for another shiny trinket.

Rodriguez, who has a species of coral named after him, has not committed his future to the club as he has not signed a new contract since moving to the Bernabeu in 2014.

With Los Ladrones building the Oily Rat a new private island, manager Zinedine Zidane - who lucked into one of the easiest jobs in world football in 2015 - has admitted the club's spending will be limited over the next few seasons.

In recognition of this, club president Florentino Perez has been proactive in agreeing new contracts for the club's core players with the Oily Rat, The World's Most Overrated Player, Portugal's Second-Most Obnoxious Export and fourth-choice captain Cristiano Ronaldo also committing their futures to the personality cult masquerading as a football club this season.

Rodriguez is central to this policy or making the Oily Rat look good and Los Ladrones are willing to fight to keep someone whose job is to get out of the way when their prized asset is celebrating scoring a goal.

...yes, I did just take a story from SSN's website and change a couple of words here and there.

 

Update the OP!!!

 

Habitual transfer story bait Yunus Malli has signed for Wolfsburg, meaning there won't be any more stories linking him with a potential move to Spurs until at least June.

Meanwhile, in a Q&A session Guillem Ballbag said that Los Ladrones don't want Alli - which begs the question why SSN let him say such things, as that's the next eighteen months of clickbait he just flushed down the toilet.

Finally, we're linked with Fiorentina winger Federico Bernardeschi...although with the figures being tossed around (a potential £40m fee and a £70m buyout clause) this sounds an awful lot like his agent testing the waters ahead of the summer window - although given the similarities he shares with Lamela, and how he can be deployed as a winger, attacking midfielder, wide forward and even wing back, he does sound a very Poch player.