Yeah Isco and Banega are attacking playmakers, the only sort of midfielder I think we need now if Holtby doesn't arrive 'til the summer, though if Lewis completes his move (which is seeming likely) then I'm happy to trust him to take over the play making responsibilities, he seems a great prospect. I highly doubt Moutinho would have/ will be brought in as competition for Mousa though. The club is not in a financial position to be able to fork out £15m and £20m+ respectively with the idea one of them likely to be benched. If Moutinho does indeed join, he'll be playing in the same team as Mousa, of that I'm sure, like in the 4-3-3 as you mentioned. Agree on the striking situation, that needs to be sole priority, if Sevilla are willing to sell Negredo then we should bite their hand off, Llorente has always been my preferred choice but Juve do seem favourites to land him. Negredo seems to have perfect attributes to be able to adapt quickly to the Prem. I don't want Damiao unless he's last option, I'm still undecided on the guy as to whether he really is as good as what Internacional seem to think. Unfortunately they're aren't too many well established strikers out there that we can attract/ afford, the club needs to act fast though I think, leaving it 'til the 31st again will likely end in disappointment I feel.
Glad Falque's gone on loan, he really impressed in his cameos this season but hasn't looked like getting much of a chance so a loan was best for him I reckon. Surprised it's not to a Prem/ Championship club though, surely for his development over here, an English club would've been better suited for his needs?
On paper an english club would suit him but did Falque get any games when on loan at the saints? as most of the clubs in the lower leagues prefer strong/physical players so if Falque has a bad game he would prob then he left out and the loan is wasted.
Not sure what it is you've all seen, nothing special against senior opposition for me. He came from 2nd tier Juventus and if he finds himself a couple of years later in 2nd tier Spanish football (or shop window!) so not much improvement.
Hes average but to quote More chance of us offloading him. If we was keeping him and wanted him to adjust then an English club would be ideal, but thats the not the case so the club won't want him sitting on the bench of a championship side.
nothing special against any big sides notso, but some good performances in europe and a couple of encouraging performances when he's come on as a sub. But yes, that's my feeling too. - he's not got anywhere and he's not had much of a chance. so, who plays on the right if Lennon is out? Dempsey? Sig? we've got options, but we'll completely lose our shape and pace.
I've not seen much of him on the right to be honest. is he as strong on the right? or is he going to have to do what most winger do when playing on the opposite side, and cut back onto his other foot to put a cross in?
When he came on against Swansea, it was his run on the right that got us the freekick which lead to Jan's goal. Came on against Reading away for a brief cameo too and set Defoe up with a chandce that he squandered. So I reckon he can do a job there without a doubt. Wingers in general can usually switch sides pretty well, except Bale, he's woeful on the right in my opinion. Townsend has all the right attributes to be a good Prem winger in my opinion, AVB just needs to trust him a bit more and give him some more game time.
Someone we've supposedly been linked to, M'Vila, seems to have the mercenary thing about him, or his agents advice is. If the FFA reduce my ban and I have a chance to play for France I'll move to England. If not, don't care about the football, I'm going to Russia for more salary and less tax. Take your gloves, scarf, and ushanka and see you later anyway! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21143027
If we do get Moutinho in though we're going to have an awful lot of young and quality midfielders to keep happy. If we play a 4-3-3 then Holtby and Sig are going to miss out because I would assume that the 3 would be Sandro, Moutinho and Dembele (which would be sheer quality btw). Holtby could easily play in that 3 though IMO because from what I've seen of him although he doesn't have the physical presence of Dembele or Sandro he will put himself about if he has to and chase down and press. Similar to the Modric/Parker partnership we had last year as well, but with even more freedom for the creative force if anything. If we play a 4-2-3-1 then I'd assume that Holtby would be in the hole and the Dembele/Sanrdo partnership would continue. I'm just not sure where everyone fits in, hell, I'm not even sure we need Moutinho in if we get Holtby because it creates too many selection problems and I'd be more than happy if Dembele got injured to play Holtby there and then move Sig or or Dempsey into the no. 10 position. Either way I see AVB moving us towards playing one (or switching between the two) of these formations in the long run. Negredo is always a name that gets touted about, so one would perhaps assume that he will be able to do the business here. Llorente to Juve has definitely happened according to the BBC now (see 1252 on today's sportsday) so that's out of the question. Damiao would either be sensational or a complete flop and for the money they want I don't think Spurs as a club can financially afford that risk. So it looks like Negredo is the best option we have to go for as a striker. He's had a good record at Sevilla and Almeria and 6 in 12 for Spain. He'd definitely score goals for us but it's whether he's more of a complete option than Defoe, as that's what is lacking from the team.
I don't think Moutinho is needed any longer, especially if Holtby arrives now which does seem likely. Moussa and Sandro are a great partnership and I don't think any of us expected Moussa to make such a great impact, so much though that there's not many CM's around I'd swap him for to be honest, with Holtby's creative instincts, him behind the striker with Moussa and Sandro (Parker for time being) behind and Bale and Lennon on the wings, it's an extremely impressive exciting midfield, especially with players of Dempsey, Sig, Parker etc as competition. Adding Moutinho will result in an added bit of competition that I don't think is necessary now. Yeah Negredo seems to be best value and more ideal than most of the targets bar Llorente (who's agreed the Juve move now like you say). Damiao's not proven at a top league and has a goal record that doesn't justify a £15m-£20m price tag. On a whole, if we could get Holtby and Negredo now, I think it'd be an extremely successful January for us. A bonus for me would be a right back as a short term solution while Walker continues to play like a player from the Blue Square Prem and not the Barclays Prem (but that won't happen).
Agreed on Negredo and Moutinho SoS. Don't think we need a RB though, Walker is slowly but surely getting back to his best and Naughton would do a decent enough job for us there if Walker really headed downhill. His main problem on the left has been his total reliance on his right foot, on his natural side I think he'd be solid, and dependant, perfect backup for Walker.
I've wanted Naughton to be given a game at RB for ages but it seems AVB wants to stick with Walker, something I think has costed us a lot of goals this season. For me Walker has been really poor bar about a 5 game run. He seems far too easy to beat and his positioning at times has been dire. To me it looks as though he's become far too complacent, last season he had no pressure and was aiming to impress to keep Corluka out the side which he did and managed to have a blinding season too, cementing him as 1st choice RB. Now, he seems to be too comfortable and I think a "kick up the arse" could do him - and the team - some good.
I can deal without getting Moutinho if we get Holtby. The concern is Dembele's hip. Who comes in and gives us that energy, possession retention and passing ability, if dembele gets injured? We hope holtby will solve our no10 issue and give us a few more ideas, but the loss of dembele to injury will completely **** us due to the lack of game changers or general quality in his position. we've got no one else with the engine he has, or his skillsets. Holtby solves an issue, where currently there's a hole, but the difference in quality between the first 11 an the bench is my concern. - especially in Dembele's position.
Siggy is tidy on the ball with a good engine. Clearly not in Dembele's league, but with Holtby ahead of him, I think he could do the job.
I agree mate, the gap between Dembele and his back up is a concern but then it's not easy to find "quality" back up either. Bringing in someone like Moutinho now we have Holtby will create too much quality competition in my opinion, too much to the fact I think it could have detrimental effects. It's hard to find players who won't expect to be the first name on the teamsheet but "can do a job". For us, it's either a case of hoping we don't get too many injuries/ relying on the back up we have/ making sure the scouting teams get their arse in gear and find some jems. In my opinion, we should be scouting the Croatian/ Belgian/ Dutch/ Spanish leagues, them countries are producing talent after talent and I think we need to exploit that.
If Dembele got injured again then we could see Holtby or Sig there, they'd both be fine in the middle with someone like Parker beside them. Modric was after all.
Good call. I can't believe the big clubs aren't doing Spain already though, i think Michu was a one-off. Belgium similarly is quite in the limelight for young untapped talent. Croatia is a good call though and other similar leagues. The prob is, like the SPL, you never really know how good they are til they've cut it in one of the big leagues. There were even doubts over Hazard for example
