He also had Gareth Bale single handedly winning us games we really didn't look like winning so I'm a little surprised he has become so revered after last season. Back to Paulinho is he not playing tonight? If not is he injured or finalising his move....??
Even the commentator on the Italy and brazil game (Jonathan Pearce I think) said "missing today is paulinho, who's on his way to spurs". Seems to be common knowledge now.
AVB rules out Martinez and Bernard.... http://www1.skysports.com/football/...oas-not-in-for-Porto-striker-Jackson-Martinez And..confirms he's staying with Spurs... http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892...h-paris-saint-germains-president?ICID=HP_BN_1
In the case of Bernard, his agent says we're the front runners but the player says he wants to join Porto - sounds like an attempt to get an auction going to me...
Sounds more like we've still got a lot of negotiating to do, so AVB is choosing his words carefully in order to help it to work in our favour.
context is everything. Nobody is saying he is the second coming, but I don't think you can take anything away from what he has done. The fact is economicaly other teams around us are in a different league. Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have far greater history and prestige and can still get players because of it. The fact we are competing with them is a testiment to our good financial prudence, and AVB last year. Everybody says winning trophies is the be all and end all, but it isn't. Spurs have been rubbish the whole time I have supported them so just seeing us playing the way we do and being competitive is a massive step forwards. These last 4years have been very consistant and we are now moving beyond just getting 5th, to aiming for 4th and going on a European adventure with purpose. If we win the Europa league I will be exstatic, as it is both a great trophy and a route to CL. But Winning a trophy did nothing for portsmouth, Birmingham, or Ramos or George Graham. We are improving all the time though, both with our squad, league placing, points hauls, training ground and soon a new stadium which may not have us chasing the title, should take us closer to Arsenal and away from Everton and Liverpool. And at the moment, AVB is the person I want to take us there.
Totally agree, many seem to celebrate our underachievement because we do it on peanuts as some sort of moral victory. Clutching at straws maybe?
Paulinho could be a great signing... surely will gel well with Sandro and give you a very solid look. Will be interesting to see him in England.
Paulinho will only decide on Spurs offer after Cup: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ttenham.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 So, as usual, everyone's jumping the gun... Amazing how often things which people take as done deals aren't. As to the question of why AVB seems to be in such high demand after a fifth place finish: Partly he's high profile. People tend to be superficial, and like someone who gets in the news a lot. There is, I think, also a substantial argument to be made for how he did last year. In a nutshell, Spurs did very well outside of a few periods the could be considered out of any manager's control: chaos at the beginning, and two massive injury spells. Another point is made in my signature. Conversely, of course, you could argue that the test of a manager and a team is their ability to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals, and that Spurs didn't do this last year. I'm in the glass half full camp as to how the season went personally, as is PSG, apparently, but in any case this year should provide a fairer test.
Yup - Sandro, Dembele and Paulinho is an exciting prospect - need to get some better cover in though, Huddlestone and Parker can't cut it anymore. I have high hopes for Carroll, Holtby and Sig though.
What do people make of Paulinho mentioning our bid for him? Does it mean he finds it exciting or is he simply trying to drum up more interest?
Drum up more interest, IMO. I think he'll wait until after the Confederations Cup and weigh up his options. Playing time is obviously key in a WC year as is playing in Europe.
For me it's entirely a question of in what context he said what he said. If he was asked a specific question as to whether clubs were in for him then I guess its a fairly innocent answer. If it was a statement released outside of any sort of official official interview session then I'd be leaning towards the theory that he's trying to start a bidding war, or at least get other clubs to express interest. The BBC story didn't make it too clear what the situation was as to this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23019246 As to his actual signing, from what I've seen he appears to be almost a cross between Dembele and Sandro - strong, good technically, a decent goalthreat and a box-to-box engine. My worry is that for £15-17 million we're paying over the odds for a player who is too similar to what we already have, and for a player who will want regular football ahead of a home WC. If we're moving towards a 4-3-3 or pushing Dembele forward in a 4-2-3-1 then he'll get his football presumably but otherwise (for example if we plan on persisting with Sandro-Dembele and then Bale in 'the hole' or with a free role behind NEW STRIKER) then large - for us - fee we're reported to be paying is a bit brash, considering that we've heard almost nothing concrete about the new striker which we all agree is the priority. My worry is that unless Levy really is opening the warchest for AVB, then forking out this sum so early on will limit us as to what we can spend on the all important front man, as I doubt we'll recoup enough from the sales of the deadwood to cancel out the outlay on Paulinho. I guess what I'm saying is that if we're going to be spending upwards on £10 mill on a midfielder then I'd rather see us buying a really good passer of the ball, as I think we've got enough physicality and workrate in the team to last us. Or we could look into promoting Holtby/Carroll into the midfield 3 to do this and just buy a damn striker. I've no doubt that Paulinho is a fine player and that a midfield 3 of Sandro-Paulinho-Dembele has potential to be effective in certain ways, but I feel that this trio would be limited in the way we were many times last season - it lacks a player with the ability and/or vision to unlock a packed defence with a pass. This led to Bale bailing us out by knocking in a screamer every now and then. There's no guarantee that he will do this again with such regularity, or even that he'll be at the club. We need a striker, a proper passing creative mid in the Modric mould, and a LB if BAE leaves. Anything else is a bonus for me.
