He’ll probably suit Bielsa’s system seeing as it’s similar to Poch’s. Skilful, got some speed and has a good pass on him but he’s at times a bit too confident when carrying the ball out and he’s been caught out on a number of occasions. Against your more pacey attackers he’ll do well but you wouldn’t fancy him often against the likes of Ashley Barnes/ Andy Carroll etc as he’s still a bit lightweight. As the others have said, he’s probably best suited to a RB right for now and he’s played there a few games for us and Argentina, although DM could be a good shout. A run in a side at CB may do him some good but I’d imagine you’ll have to deal with some mistakes in the early stages. I don’t necessarily want to sell him but it’s hard to see a future for him. One of our academy lads, Tanganga, broke through this season and has been the one shining light in a dogshit year for us and so because of that, Foyth is now about 5th choice CB and 3rd choice RB.
The following is a short list of players who I can guarantee we will all be thoroughly sick of hearing about by the end of the transfer window Philippe Coutinho Ivan Perisic Geoffrey Kondogbia Nicolo Zanolio Vedat Muriqi Andre Onana Samuel Umtiti ...why yes, we've already been linked with five of them since the transfer window opened on Monday
If Wilson really is gonna be available for £10m as some reports have said we should be all over that. He ain’t the target man Jose likes but he’s definitely a different style of striker to Kane and can more or less guarantee 15 goals a season. Agree on Sarr as well. He ****ed up big time joining Watford, be amazed if he stays in the Championship though. If we can bin Lamela and/ or Lucas he’d be a great signing. Though I think Jose likes Lucas so cant see him going.
Wilson would be excellent for that money. Don’t see us getting a winger tbh, we’re very well off there already.
No matter who we put in RB he will probably be a better defender than Aurier. Our problem is no one can play in that position that is the same goal threat as Aurier. He is fast, strong, aggressive and does something not many do at Spurs...put a cross in. So unless we get someone who can defend and attack...I can’t see Aurier going anywhere because his way of play is essential to our attacking game.
Unless we play Sess down the left and he does the attacking role and we just get a good defender in to play right back?
Yeah I can’t see it too. Problem is we’ve got quantity but not enough quality. Lamela and Lucas ain’t good enough in my opinion, don’t offer enough substance.
He’s not ready to start for us...everytime I’ve seen him play he looks like he is overwhelmed. Almost can’t believe he’s at Spurs kind of demeanour. once he gets his head sorted then maybe he can be an option but he isn’t ready as of today. Hopefully by next season he’s a real option for us because he’s got bags of talent and pace
By all accounts Jose has put a lot of work into him, hopefully we'll see that potential when the next season gets going.
Neither are starters for me, both too streaky. But Son and Bergwijn bring the quality and Lucas and Lamela bring the graft. Jose loves Lamela and seems to have got Lucas working too. Can’t see any of them leaving and I think one of those 4 would have to leave for us to justify a winger as a priority in any way. The ones we have all do slightly different things and complement each other quite well IMO. This isn’t the window to be bringing in good players for the sake of it in positions we’re pretty sorted in.
Foyth can certainly play RB in the Ben Davies role, not pushing as far forward but doing more to bring the midfield into the game - although the obvious issue with this is, if we're playing against a team parking the bus, what this does is essentially mean we're playing in front of the opponents instead of getting at them As we've been linked with him, Castagne at Atalanta looks like a good option: while he doesn't bomb forward at every opportunity like Aurier does, considering how many problems we invite upon ourselves due to Aurier's complete lack of attacking discipline that's having somebody who knows when to hold and when to run is definitely an improvement
I think they said on Sunday Serge Aurier is the only player to have played in every league game since Jose took over and since lockdown he has been part of a much more solid defence. How much he had to do with is debatable. But we saw a lot less of his reckless challenges and the only goal that was totally his fault was Lacazettes, though 2 of 3 that we conceded at Sheff Utd came down his side. To be fair to him I think that he has improved under Jose, we still need an upgrade for sure, but in the light of recent events if he is happy I think that it I would keep him but sign someone who gives us a better options on that side. He is an experienced European player and with the Europa on the agenda there will be plenty of matches for him to be involved in. I hope that if he stays Jose continues to improve him and the one thing I would really like to see is him bust a gut to get back when the attack breaks down. I don't expect many to agree, but I want to look at the positives and I also want my team to do the right thing by him.
Ritchie's for Newcastle? Cleared the ball straight to him: I'm not going to criticise him for it, as he probably shouldn't have even been playing, but it was down to him.
I totally agree and I also agree that people have already made their minds up about Aurier and focus on his errors a lot more than they focus on individual errors of others. He’s massively improved and when he has the ball I’m actually confident of us causing an issue In the opposition half. He’s not the worst player at our club...that accolade goes to Tanguy but the big wedge spent on him for some reason blinkers people’s opinions on him because he always gets the ‘bags of talent though’. I’m feeling the same about Tanguy as I felt about Eriksen near the end...bags of talent are useless when you’re stinking the place out.
The graft is all well and good but sometimes you just need quality and both Lucas and Lamela lack it. In fact I feel we've got too much graft in the team but little quality. Lucas, Lamela, Winks, Sissoko... Dele these days too. This lot scream mediocrity and little end product, Dele on his day can be great but his inconsistency for three years now is boring me. I want players who'll make something happen or at least look like they can. Whenever any of that lot get the ball, I more or less expect either a backwards pass, a failed cross or running into a defender's path and getting tackled.
I agree with you broadly, I just think now isn’t the time. We already need 5 players or more and realistically who are we going to sell to raise funds this summer? There’s some serious surgery to be done in midfield and competition needed in defence and for Kane. I can live with 2 backup wingers who work hard and occasionally contribute moments of quality under the circumstances. Now, if we were to get big fees for Tanguy or even someone like Dele, that would change our horizons for this window a bit. But I’m not sure it’ll happen, more likely swaps/part exchange if the former leaves and I think Dele is staying.
This is why I dont want Aurier totally canned...he brings a menacing aura to our team...we need that Talking about what players bring to a team, I have to mention again that I can see why Lloris is our captain now.
The thing is we don't have the manager for that: we have a manager who likes two banks of solid with a reliable goalscorer and a winger/attacking midfielder who can create something out of nothing up top The issue isn't the ceiling of the players, after all we have numerous players whose ceiling is an 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 on their day, the issue is the floor because how many players in the squad can you say are guaranteed to give us a guaranteed 6/10 every single game? Actually, I'll go one further: how many players in the squad can you say are guaranteed to give us 6/10 for 19 of our 28 league games? Take a look at Lucas for an obvious (too obvious, frankly, and that's the problem...) example: there's games where we can say he gave us an 8/10 performance - the recent NLD was easily an 8/10, for example, and the second leg against Ajax was a definite 10/10 - but there's so many games where he's 4/10 or worse
