What I don't want is another Lamela **** up. Liverpool accepted that Sturridge was ****ed and cut him adrift. We renewed Lamela's contract and as much as I like the bloke, it was a bad decision. Not picking these players isn't the answer. We need to clear them out and accept the need to sign fit players to replace them. We're not moving forward until we set a proper benchmark for being at the club, as we had in 2015. Players need to be fit, willing to work hard and commit by signing a proper deal that's offered to you. We've drifted too far from this.
Unfortunately I think the Lamela deal ties in to what I feel was part of Poch's downfall in that he became too loyal to players. Any other manager would've cut Lamela off with his injury record. Thankfully we have probably the most ruthless manager in charge now so most of this deadwood should be gone in the summer unless they choose to continue sitting in the stands or picking their nose on the bench. Players won't be getting deals based on sympathy or loyalty.
For me, the entire right side of our team needs addressing Lamela offers creativity and tenacity further up the pitch, but his injury problems make him a squad option Lucas has pace and goal threat, but he's giving me Townsend flashbacks with his inability to pass Aurier is a pacy winger, but a right back isn't supposed to be a winger and is supposed to know how to defend which he doesn't Foyth can bring the ball out from the back and link up with midfield, but he's been unpersoned since his error against Norwich Assuming we have a Son-Kane-Bergwijn front three next season that definitely means neither Lucas nor Lamela will be getting as many starts as they have this season so one of them will likely leave, and the thing is that I'd honestly sell Lucas if Lamela is willing to be a squad player - and if not, that makes the decision that much easier
You can't let your standards slip or you're ****ed and we've gone significantly backwards and are reaping the whirlwind. I hope that Mourinho will clear house and buy young, hungry, dynamic replacements. Levy needs to buy in this time, because when Poch was talking about radical rebuilds, nothing of the sort happened.
I think that's a bit harsh on Lamela and on Poch too tbh. There was a lot more going on with Sturridge than just his abysmal injury record. Apparently his attitude stank and he wasn't putting in the miles in training. Lamela at least offers a positive contribution when fit and is a consummate professional. We have a backlog of players who offer just one or even neither of the above even when fully fit, and they need to be cut adrift long before we consider doing the same to Lamela. In no particular order: Rose, Wanyama, Dier and KWP offer next to nothing to this squad and all need to find a permanent new employer in the summer.
Sorry, but no. Lamela's not fit enough. If he's not fit, he's not a proper member of the squad. No more muddled thinking. Regularly fit to play and contracted for more than 2 years...or it's time to leave.
This is definitely the most scrutinised Levy has been/ will be. I've felt in the past he's gotten a rough ride, fans have moaned at him for seemingly not spending like City/ Chelsea/ Utd which has been totally unfair considering our stature and resources but Spurs are now in a position where, we might not be able to exactly match those sides £ for £ but we can certainly leave a big enough mark in the transfer window. This season has been encouraging in terms of spend, £130m on arrivals is a promising sign of things to come, but that's just it, it needs to be the first step of things to come and not a one off.
Tbf i think you are being generous there. Pool spent far more than that when they spent a couple of windows spending bare minimum That 130m split over 3 windows is around 45m a window
Actually, I agree with your order of departures but Erik Lamela's on borrowed time. I don't believe he will ever be fit enough to play a full season and we should be looking to move him on...and there were rumours this summer that MP agreed. I believe we offered him a new contract to bump his value. It was a mistake.
I definitely wouldn't keep Lamela over Lucas. Lamela already is a squad player because of his injuries and for roughly half a season each year we can't even call upon him. Lucas struggles with inconsistency but he's generally always available and that's what we need.
Only at the start of a season. He's then painfully average for the most part when he returns from his usual early season injury. Lamela also has to be in that list, as probably does Foyth.
Pool did make a fortune on Coutinho though don't forget. They also got really good money for some of their cast offs, think they managed to get about £13m for their 3/4th choice keeper in Danny Ward! They've done really, really well in the market over the last 2-3 windows and are reaping phenomenal rewards for it too. Our £130m is on two windows though, summer and January. Of course, the barren 18/19 meant we absolutely had to spend big this season but this is why I feel it's now down to Levy to prove this wasn't a one-off season of spending and that he sufficiently backs Jose going forward. EDIT: Meant 2-3 seasons not just 2-3 windows.
Lucas is also a very good sub - and players who can come on an actually change matches are actually quite rare, but he seems to be able to find the pace of a game quickly and that is not an attribute that all players have
That's why I brought up how Man Utd used Ryan Giggs for a good three or four years: he rarely started, but still had enough in his locker to have an impact when he came on While I'm not saying Lamela is on the same plane as Giggs, he does offer something off the bench, as sometimes we need someone gritty to come on and that's exactly what he is - and the real clincher is that we really don't have anyone pressing high up the pitch these days, not with Lo Celso being played in a deeper role at least, and Lamela's about the only player we have who will actually do that There's ways to change games without scoring or assisting, and sometimes a little ****ehousery further up the pitch is what we need Come to think of it, some ****ehousery anywhere in midfield is also needed, and we're not exactly providing much of that either...
If he was available to be selected more often, then I would agree but he isn't... Not having fit alternatives means that we have to overplay others. This has to stop.
But where do you draw the line? Kane hasn't come close to completing a season in 3 years now, does that mean we should consider (allowing DGC back on here and) replacing him with a striker who can guarantee us 38 games a season? To my mind, a senior squad of 25 players should be more than large enough to be able to accommodate a couple of injury prone players. Lamela's problems have only become a serious burden in recent years because many of his fellow squad players are ****e. He missed almost the entire 16/17 season but no one noticed because the wider squad had the quality to cope. This was Arsenal's dilemma. Players such as Wheelchair, Eboue and Diaby became a liability because the other fringe players were so much worse than them. So as i said, if we can clear out the 4 players I've mentioned and bring in improvements on them all, it is well worth having one or two Lamelas around the squad. I'd sooner have that, for instance, than the situation we had last season with RB populated by 3 bang average players.
I’m a big Lamela fan though I do bemoan his injury problems. I think he’s impressed Mou with his attitude as well since the change in management. I’d keep him and Lucas as squad players if nothing else because though we could upgrade them, we need to prioritise spend urgently elsewhere.
Lamela will go eventually but he is not a priority at the moment. Until we have a player who can offer more for more games he is a useful member of the squad. He was badly used in his first few seasons, eg scores a goal,wins a penalty because of his quick feet and is rewarded with being dropped. There are others who have neither the skill or work ethic who must go before him
For me, the one place in player recruitment where Poch cut his throat was signing non-HG players as depth options, with N'Koudou and Janssen the obvious examples of this, because that depleted out number of non-HG places and that ultimately caused us untold problems a couple of summers ago Realistically, if we wanted to sign depth options, we should have followed one of two criteria: a.) They have to be HG players, so they won't deplete the number of spaces available b.) If they're non-HG they need to qualify as U21 until at least the end of the following season In other words, rather than signing Janssen and N'koudou we could have signed (to pick names out of a proverbial hat) a.) James Ward-Prowse and Connor Wickham b.) Ousmane Dembele and Timo Werner And this is where it looks cost effective, because compare the fees Janssen - £17m Wickham - £7m (which is what Palace paid for him in 2015) Werner - £8.5m (which is what Taurine FC Leipzig paid for him in 2016) N'Koudou - £11m Ward-Prowse - ...okay, let's call it a hypothetical £12m Dembele - £7m (which is what Dortmund paid for him in 2016) Or, to put it bluntly What we paid in reality: £28m What we would have paid if we bought HG: £19m* What we would have paid if we bought U21 non-HG: £15.5m
Oof, back to the old days here old friend, because I disagree with all of that Kane has had one less full season in the first team as Lamela yet played 44 more league games - 144 (out of 253) to 188 (out of 215 - I excluded the 10 league games Kane played under AVB/ Sherwood). Kane's also started a large portion of those, although I don't have exact figures, I could probably hazard a guess and Lamela's started about 60-65% of his games. Kane's definitely taken a battering of late but if we'd adequately utilised the back up striker in the last two seasons (or got one this season!) then Kane wouldn't be having these problems. I don't think a team can accommodate one or two injury prone players in a squad. It's something a team may have to deal with but at earliest convenience once it becomes apparent a player is now injury prone, they should be moved on at the earliest of convenience otherwise you're faced with having a player a shadow of their former self and no one willing to pay up for them, leaving you with a proper piece of deadwood. We definitely need a clear out and the players you've mentioned are certainly on that list but Lamela and probably Foyth need to be on it too.
