I can imagine that other chairman like to indulge in a bit of Levy-baiting, i.e. string him along and then spectacularly shaft him at the last moment. They probably have a league table between them. That's the problem with being seen as too tough a negotiator; people will either stop doing business with you or will use your own tactics against you.
I appreciate all the well made arguments defending our lack of transfer activity but I still can’t believe we are less than 8 hours until the window closes and nothing significant has happened either way. I know it’s more difficult nowadays, with mediocre players going for huge money, but I can’t believe we have hit a brick wall on all our options. Not saying we should sign just for the sake of it but we do have weaknesses in the squad which urgently need to be addressed. Right now my money is on no one coming in and maybe one going out. I can see us keeping Toby and him getting in a strop about it and refusing to play. I really hope by some miracle there is a final flurry of activity but it’s looking more and more unlikely as the clock ticks by.
Moura is 1 of those players. He barely played last season and therefore is an addition to that squad and will challenge the first XI. Amos and Skipp will also challenge the midfield. Onomah is back after experience away as is CCV. To a certain extent also Lamella. Am I the only one who is happy with our squad? Sure I would have been happy with Bale or Modric but things quickly went against us , as soon as ZZ and CR7 left RM.
Nope, I am happy with the squad. I like continuity. And of course by signing no one, we are being brave and it also means that we got our transfer business done early, January in fact.
I am actually pretty happy with the squad as it is and it SHOULD be enough to have a decent season. There are a lot of variables that do worry me though. Lots of ifs and buts that all need to slot into place simultaneously: - Toby needs to focus and give it his all - Winks, Wanyama and Dembele's fitness needs to hold (a minor miracle) - If Rose does leave we need a very solid replacement. Like DH i was having recurring nightmares last night about another Aurier down the opposite flank. With 7 hours left I can't see us pulling this off so it concerns me the most. - If Lucas delivers on the promise he has showed - If Llorente remembers how to play football There's a heck of a lot up in the air. If none of that happens and we suffer one or more injuries to key players/they go through a bad patch, we are totally screwed.
You only have to look at this thread to see how countless words and hours are expended on nothing more than rumour. The media love it, it fills their vacuous spaces with must read headlines. I haven't done the counting but there is an argument to be had that the more transfer activity the worse the team. The first time I became aware of this was when, years ago, Bert Head lead Crystal Palace and managed to fill the Evening Standard every day for weeks with an amazing amount of transfer activity. Bloody hell I thought Palace will be champions, they were relegated. Right now I can see parallels with the 60's team we just need a Dave Mackay to galvanise this team. They are so difficult to find, Arsenal have needed one ever since Viera left, United would love a new Roy Keane. Our Dembele has filled this role to some extent but in truth he lacks the confidence and decisiveness of the three I mentioned. The midfield general is the player that really makes a difference and as far as I can see only City have that role filled at the moment. The higher we get the harder it becomes to find the players we need and this window is proving that to be correct.
I agree about Moura and the 5 players challenging for the “forward” positions. It’s an area I don’t think we need to strengthen at all. I think that we’re all over the place at CM though, and all of our efforts should have gone into securing a top player this window. Any further incoming business was only needed if other players left. Which, at the moment, no one of note has.
As the clock ticks there will be plenty of players on the blower to their agents demanding to know why they haven’t received their move to a champions league club.this is where levy has a great poker hand. I suspect there is plenty of agents with his number on speed dial.
With the exception of CM, yeah I'm happy. Dembele's best days have gone. Winks is worryingly becoming injury prone and still yet to kick on. Wanyama apparently has a chronic injury. Onomah being injured in pre-season will have done sod all for his chances of getting in the side. Sissoko is Sissoko. Amos/ Skipp all great talents but there's no way we can realistically expect them to step up to the required level this season as regulars, chances in cups is fine. Get Grealish in, get a top CM in (Brozovic/ Ndombele/ Left field signing), don't sell anyone and we'll be sweet.
I do hope so. I really do. This is supposed to be a draw, yet since we became a relatively firm fixture in the CL I don't hear it said as much by pundits. Funny that.
Alastair Gold, who covers Spurs for Football London, claimed in a transfer column today that he is expecting Spurs to have secured two arrivals “by the time 5pm rolls around”. Gold mentioned Aston Villa attacking midfielder Jack Grealish, Manchester United forward Anthony Martial and Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha as targets and intriguingly added that “a new name will suddenly emerge in the afternoon” as he believes “there will be a player that Spurs have kept close to their chest who will join late on”.
