Depressingly, that's really not far off. Livermore's been a real let down all preseason and getting in the referees face last night after commiting a clear foul, intentional or not, has really left me feeling he's another that needs to be shifted on. Hopefully he'll improve with a few Europa League games this season. Defoe lacks the discipline and awareness to play up front on his own and Kane's not an out and out striker, although they linked up well when they were played together towards the end last night. Ultimately I wouldn't be comfortable with anyone other than the following players playing regular games for us this season: Friedel, Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Caulker, Benny, Sandro, Parker, Huddlestone, Lennon, Sigurdsson, VDV and Bale. 14 players and very patchy positionwise.
Such a let-down that Woy has named him in the latest England squad!! Haven't seen enough of Jake through pre-season to comment, but congrats to him anyway on this promotion. Spurs lad through and through and that must count for something!!
I've consistently said that I'd welcome Carroll at Spurs, as long as we also signed Adebayor. He'd thrive in our system, despite people thinking that he's some anti-football lump. I've been pretty unimpressed with him in this pre-season, but he's been repeatedly paired up with Jenas, who's not an ideal partner for him. There's not enough creativity in there to make the system work at the best of times and the senior man's recovering from a bad injury, too. I'd rather have seen Huddlestone and Carroll playing together, as odd as that sounds. The big man seems perfect for the way that we set up, as one of the central midfield pairing needs to basically become a third centre-back at times, allowing both full-backs to push up. Having someone with his range of passing in a deep position would appear to be ideal, especially with another creative option further forward, multiple threats on the wings and a fair number of goalscorers. His mobility and fitness are issues, though. Having no playmaker, no frontman capable of holding up the ball and nobody shielding the centre-halves just seems bizarre, to me. We did start very well, in the manager's defence. Lost our way badly after conceding.
Carroll, much like Smith, Gallas, Naughton, Townsend, Livermore, Defoe and Kane I'm happy enough for to play a part in the squad this season but I wouldn't be happy if they were relied on to play regularly for us at any point in the season.
i wonder how over the moon some of us would be if we had a pre season like the one in 2008..when Bent was banging them in left right and centre and we won all our games..culminating in a 5 nil win over Roma...including a Bentley cracker. This season is going to be about AVB 'STARTING' the job..not completing it. and Carroll would become a massive player for us....better player than Crouch and will get plenty balls for his head...our management knows what we need..but it is not easy purchasing it...wages have no structure and even average players get astronomical wages..that makes clubs that are well run like Spurs,look like they are a bit miserly..because they cant even buy players that are ...'very good' not just 'world class'....im sure we are trying behind the scenes.
dona, I don't think the form in pre season is any concern, as we all know it means sweet fa when it comes to the start of the season. Whats concerning is the fact we're going into the season un-prepared and theres no getting away from it, our squad is looking weak, we have defoe and kane as our main strikers and once again one of our top players is trying to leave. Its all well and good us thinking "oh levy must be trying behind the scenes" but this has happened before and not just once so its not clever leaving things to the last minute, especially when we have a new manager in place.
yeah but how can we sign players when we cant find any that fit into our way of thinking? the 2 we could we snapped up no probs..every club has a guideline...we do too..we cant throw big wages at incoming players...what have they done to prove themselves? unless they are already seasoned champions...like when we got VDV. and the likes of Podolski and Giroud that Arsenal purchased do not fit into that category for me...and the purchases they have made do not send a shiver down my spine at all....Wenger and his french superstars mean nothing..the french players he signed a decade ago were from the Zidane era..world champions etc..but these chamak's he has been signing ever since have been dire....Gervinhio....and you can throw Giroud the big hype and sub for a mediocre French team into that mix......we could sign nilly willy too..i wonder if that would appease most? Spurs cant be bending over backwards for Ade the greedy basterd who thinks its our duty to provide for his charities..cheeky basterd. If Rondon wanted to prove himself as a player he would have waited a bit maybe and come to us instead of joining Rubin.....the PL is miles ahead of that league...etc etc... Oscar for 25 million? chelsea got fingered again!..and thanks to clubs like chelsea who have no structure whatsoever do you know what Internacionale are demanding for Leandro Daimio? i feel embarassed just typing it!!..47million..sickening..almost makes me hate football and the beast it has become..ill see how far Oscar gets for them or wether he becomes Lukaku's best mate on the reserve bench. we are not made of money...its far from clever leaving things to the last minute..however...do we have a choice? even Carroll he is on 90k a week..no bloody wonder we cant even compete for this type of average player because he is paid superstar wages and no way does he or many other incoming players deserve to be on a par with the likes of Bale at our club...in the long run we might end up with a bunch of lads who want to play for the shirt...a feeling i get very much when i see Vert and Sig play.
The Adebayor situation should have been resolved in january, as it was clear he was settled so we should have either signed him in that window when he was playing for the club and arry was manager or if he made it clear he wouldn't budge on the wages and we couldn't match them, then we accept its a year loan and thats it. Instead what do we do? we wait till he has left, try and seal the deal, find out its not likely to happen but wait in hope of him doing some deal with man city, just so we can save some cash. We won't get anywere if we just wait to sign players who play "for the love of the club" you have to have a mix, if we just want players that play for the love of the club then we will always come up short. Thats not to say we have to just cave into all demands but sometimes as a club you have to loosen the strings to bring in a player that brings pedigree and will help us move forward. As for all these foreign signings, these are players we're not in the market for, as they are out of our league in a financial sense and the super rich clubs are always going to spend crazy money, its been happening for years, so its nothing new. But as for Leandro Daimio, we was in for him some ago, wasn't we? didn't we go cold because we was a few million off in value? now his stock has risen and so has his value. No matter what is said, if we start the season with defoe and kane as our two strikers then I don't see how anyone can defend Levy on this.
wether we attempted to sign him in january or the summer would make no diffrence because no matter when the subject came up we would be faced with the same issue..his 175k a week..settled or not Ade does not care because ultimately..he wants that amount...i could say to you that he was so settled and enjoying his football that it was a no brainer for him to sign permanently..but no he wont..he does not care about that...its the £££ he wants. yes with Leandro we should have maybe signed him way back and given them the extra 3 million they demanded....i think Levy has been stung by how pear shaped the Bent and Bentey's went for us with that one..so much so that we as a club are still in some way or another paying the price for them hiccups....can you imagine another 15million pound flop for us? i agree we cant wait for players that want to play for the shirt because they are few and far between..but we cant be held to ransom either....im not neccessarily defending Levy..im just recognising our boundaries... because im not sure who he could bring in that would appease us without us parting with silly money..and Defoe and Kane makes me choke just thinking about it..however say if we got Giroud id still be choking....and the only people that will run to our club are the likes of Fletcher from Wolves im afraid....hes not that bad actually but..'next level'? not sure.... so we seem a tad stuck...and the season is approaching...and i dont think it will be healthy for any of us going into it waiting for a disaster....im sure AVB is thinking similar to most of us on the transfer issue....he would like more incomings...but he also seems to accept that we cant get shafted everytime we show intrest....with regards the tictacs..he needs time..lots of it..
Unless AVB is planning something radically different, like using VDV and Siggurdsen as our strikers, or Bale in the Messit type role?
and i have a feeling this is what will happen...AVB is not everyone's cup of tea..but he is a young man..who at least in his own head sees himself as part of a crop of young revolutionary managers who are trying to bring in new ways of playing the game....and for him to go for this 6 midfielders type of thinking will not surprise me one bit...and it does not make me roll my eyes at him either..infact it makes me get excited at what we may see in the long run at our club which has always been at the forefront of English football when it comes to playing classy football.
Dona it may well be the £££ that ade wants, well to be honest its blatantly obvious thats what he wants! yet January would have been the ideal time to conclude any deal, especially with us in 3rd and arry as manager, would have saved a lot of hassle and fans wondering whats happening. We don't even need a huge signing, doesn't have to be world class, just someone with premier league pedigree that can help in the short term (heskey ) ......I would even take Carroll on loan. But as SpursDisciple has pointed out, AVB could be planning something different, he may well be looking at Bale upfront........can you see that working? I can't, as Bale is someone that runs from deep, hows he going to time runs like a striker or dribble past 3 players like messi
Well Bale upfront will cut off the one major threat every other team runs scared of..and that as you said is Bale running from deep..maybe he might not be the one on top..i think the Sig would be better with Bale providing the ammo..or i think it maybe Defoe with both Sig and Bale providing..along with Lennon with Sandro and Parker/Livermore sitting....or Sandro and Modric if Modric decides he loves us again...the Kant!..or maybe the slower but technically gifted VDV upfront? i need a wage rise if im sorting this conundrum. Carroll would please me as i think we have a midfield that will put plenty crosses in...however as i type this i got a mental image of how we could not get a corner past the first man last season and that includes Bale, VDV and that 40 million squid Real Madrid wanabee Mod'rich'!
VDV would concern me upfront as he seems to be a player for the spectacular goal, or link up with a big man, I can't see him timing runs like a striker or poaching a goal, but we shouldn’t have to be putting midfielders upfront.
I'd be fascinated to see Spurs play a no-striker system, though a little terrified. Lots of excitement and plenty of cause for worry. One reason I'm still hopeful is that I like Vertonghen and Gylfi for the money better than anyone else's acquisitions.
the problem i'd have with Carroll on loan is,when we have a tall forward the side, we stop playing and just lumped long balls toward's him,we might do the same with Carroll.
Hat-trick for Harry Kane tonight at Southend, 5-0 to Spurs at the moment. Finished 6-0 Obika, Townsend and Coulibaly got the others.
When we signed VdV he struck an immediate partnership with Crouch and got something like 14 goals, poached a number of his knockdowns as I recall. January was not the time to conclude any deal for Adebayor either, Levy was as we know entrenched in finding a new manager. He also had his mothers failing health at that time. Ade's deal was always going to be complicated, and was always going to be left until the summer, City let him sign a silly deal so fair enough, he wants compensating from City for it, City are trying to offload his pay on us thats how I see it.
