I don't think having him would hurt. The league winners have an embaressment of riches in forward positions. Whenever we come close to competing similarly, we start discussing the 'practicalities'. Chelsea knocked us out of the cup because they had the likes of Hazard and Willian on the bench. I say we start competing. Get more firepower and new CMs.
Yeah for sure I'd agree with that but we don't have the same stature as some of those sides to be able to keep all happy. City continuously attract stars even if they're not guaranteed a place in the XI because they know that a) they'll earn a stack load and b) chances are they'll pick up a trophy or two. Chelsea just flash money at the first player to make a name for themselves and then if they don't work out just get chucked on loan to Vitesse Arnheim for a season or two before being sold.
We need numbers to add competition and quality. I don’t like that so many of our players are nice comfortable in their positions and know they’re guaranteed to start.
There's a reason people talk about the practicalities: the Chavs can keep the more mercenary members of their squad happy by giving them six figures to sit on the bench because they're content topping up their bank balance for the occasional cameo, we're not in that position by any stretch of the imagination
I agree, but I don't think that we need additional wingers or whatever that particular role is called in our system. We've got Son, Alli, Moura and Lamela, while we still haven't managed to move on N'Koudou. Perhaps the idea is to use Son as an option up front or we need more width to get anything from Llorente, though? It would explain our slightly different style against Roma.
To be honest, if we really need MOAR WINGERS the real question has to be why we don't use Georgiou or Shashoua in that role, as Zaha looks to be an expensive addition for a position we're well stocked in. Also, some fans might remember Gerry Francis' bizarre habit of stockpiling wingers...
It might help with communications and getting a deal done if Zaha's agents had dealings with Spurs before, sort of if they were also representatives for a leading Spurs player, someone like Harry Kane...............**** me, that's a coincidence, they are.......and for Andros Townsend.........and Raneri Sandro.........and..........a whole load of others. Interestingly, also Ryan Sessegnon who we have been wooing for some time.
Plenty more, too Jamaal Lascelles David Brooks Callum Wilson Wayne Routledge Ryan Fredericks William Troost-Ekong Honestly, I think there must've been a Tuesday afternoon in 2011 where they showed up to one of our academy games and signed up the first five players they could find
I hear what you're saying. The obvious question that needs answering is, 'At what measurable point in our progress do we assume the same stature of rival clubs?' I'm not talking about competing for mercenaries, with the exception of Bale perhaps, let the 'mercenaries' go to Chelsea, I'm talking about building a squad of quality players with enough depth to compete with clubs of similar stature. We've been banging on about wages forever. Now the wages have been upped, we talk of club stature being a barrier?!? We are already attracting excellent players. Are you saying that you wouldn't have Zaha and Bale/Martial if we moved N'Koudou and Sissoko on for example? Because 'too many wingers'?!? In my humble opinion, our problem has not really been our first eleven, it's been the weakness that we show when we have injuries to key players, or when we have to change things mid game to effect the course of a match. Not enough dangerous, genuinely goal threatening, options to rotate in key positions.
Allow me to give you three very good reasons why spending £60m and **** knows what in wages for Wilfried Zaha makes no sense 1.) Son Heung-min 2.) Lucas Moura 3.) Erik Lamela Adding a fourth to that area makes no tactical sense, let alone financial, because the current system allows two from those three while also having the "excellent" option on the bench - adding a fourth to that clutters the squad, something you should really recall from the Baldini Splurge when we were trying to make a coherent attacking band while also trying to keep *deep breath* Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli, Sigurdsson, Lennon and Townsend happy at the same time. And, yes, that list happens to have four wingers on it. Bringing up Bale and/or Martial further underlines how needless Zaha is - because while Martial's played almost as many games as a striker as he has a winger while Bale can be deployed on either flank while has also been used as a striker for Wales, Zaha plays almost exclusively as a right winger (151 out of 238 career appearances, according to Transfermarkt), which happens to be the exact same position both Moura and Lamela primarily play in. So why the hell would we need to pay £60m for a player in a position where we already have two players vying for a starting place in? That's why a move for Zaha makes no tactical sense whatsoever, as he wouldn't be a game-changer like Bale would be, and he lacks the flexibility to play in more than one position that Son has and Martial would have. Instead he's a bloke who plays in a position we're already well stocked in, when what the team needs more than anything else is a central midfielder capable of dictating the game from deep, because with Dembele on the wane and Sissoko being an overpriced Jamie O'Hara we don't have one of those - and signing a winger is as likely to fix that as Kevin Keegan spunking £15m on Alan Shearer miraculously fixed Newcastle's non-existent defence.
I know we need strengthening in CM, we all do, I just don't agree that it's either CM or AM. Pochettino will have his tactical reasons if he is indeed interested in Zaha. One may be that he's a homegrown player, as is Grealish, and we could do with upping those numbers. Another may be that he sees a quality that he likes, and way of retraining him to fit more than just the position that he's played in, as he did with Alli, Dier etc. He may even want to be more flexible with the system played. He is the expert, not me. By your logic, Liverpool didn't need Salah and Man City didn't need Mahrez or Sane. When Moura and Lamela start scoring Prem goals for fun, from the bench too, I may change my tune.
Except all 3 were or are an improvement on what they had. Zaha isn’t a step up on Sonny, Lucas or Coco in my opinion. I do agree that we need another creative top class AM - and a CB if Toby’s going.
Saltypool did need to sign Salah last season, for the simple reason that they wanted somebody pacy to play between Mane and Firminho, and as the other option was the perpetually injured Daniel Sturridge (who Norbert clearly doesn't rate) they had to sign somebody else. As for the Sheikh Mansour Team, they certainly did need to sign Sane at the time - but they certainly didn't have to sign Mahrez, as that's a clear example of signing a player for the sake of signing him so nobody else can (see also: Fabian Delph, Wilfried Bony, Scott Sinclair, Patrick Roberts, let alone the numerous players Man Utd and Chelsea have signed for this reason over the years) More than anything else, though, if you believe the scuttlebutt about us playing 433 next season (which appears to be confirmed by the Roma game) you'll see how pointless Zaha is in terms of how our squad lines up GOALKEEPER Lloris Vorm Gazzaniga RIGHT BACK Trippier Aurier KWP CENTRE BACK 1 Alderweireld Sanchez CCV CENTRE BACK 2 Vertonghen Foyth Davies* LEFT BACK Davies Rose KWP* CREATIVE MIDFIELDER Eriksen Winks DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER Dier Wanyama (Skipp) COMBATIVE MIDFIELDER Alli Dembele Sissoko RIGHT WING Moura Lamela (Shashoua, bitches!) CENTRE FORWARD Kane Son Llorente (Sterling, Parrott, Griffiths) LEFT WING Son N'Koudou Based on that, the following spots need addressing Left wing: Son needs an understudy, as GKN isn't good enough and Georgiou is too raw to trust as a regular option Combative midfielder: Alli's not really tested in centre midfield, Dembele is on the wane, Sissoko is...well, Sissoko Centre Back 2: Foyth is at least a season short of being a non-terrifying option to cover Verts, while Davies doesn't work as a centre back in a back four From that standpoint, that's where our most persistent rumours make sense Pavard/De Ligt would be Centre Back 2 Ndombele/Kovacic/Rabiot/Haidara (or, until last week, Seri...) would be Combative Midfielder Martial (or, until last week, Plea...) would be Left Wing while also doubling up as Centre Forward That might also explain why we apparently cooled our interest in De Ligt. If we were thinking of a back three next season we absolutely should be going in for De Ligt (or Pavard) no matter whether or not Toby stays or goes (and on that subject, does anyone really believe Murdoch's Hate Comic's assertion that the only reason he's still with us is because Expensive Stoke are quibbling over paying an additional £10m?) but if we play a back four then an additional centre back is far less important and Foyth & CCV are no longer the fallback options in case of injury and burnout.
Adding yet another thing against Zaha, when the other team has the ball he goes missing - something you can't say about Eriksen, Alli, Son or Lamela.
