Toby? Ok, I'm hopeful... but after Spurcat's comments on Baldini, I'm feeling like we can sign anyone at the moment! (within reason, of course).
the price of £15m for Toby and Eriksen makes me think its just made up. I know Eriksen only has a year left but that is too cheap. I suppose Fryers didn't look too bad vs Espanyol. Must help to have an experienced partner to hand-hold.
yeah, it might be a starting bid though. We'll see. In other news, apparently Capoue has broken our medical records, making him the fittest Tottenham player.
Yes, I agree, the suggestions I've seen of Paulinho Sandro and Dembele as our mid 3 if you like, there's a lot resting on Paulinho with MD's reluctance to get forward and provide 'the pass'. When the Espanyol game got a bit niggly, I could have been fooled into thinking I was watching one of our past EL games! I know its been friendlies so far, but you can only discuss what you've seen, and the final ball from someone seems to be lacking still, which again could all change in competitive games, but its something to keep an eye on. Don't want anyone to think I'm not upbeat for the season, I am, but with a bit more caution than others perhaps.
Bale was. Two people who knew him when he was a kid have confirmed that, Walnutt and Sam Warburton, who's a Spurs fan. Defoe has said that Ian Wright was his favourite player as a child. Gooner's deny that Bergkamp supported Spurs though, despite idolising about half the squad.
Bale was you say...Sherwood still is! For the record I liked Ian Wright, apart from 2 games a season! not for the shirt he wore, just a brilliant striker.
Its a very difficult question Roo, because it is such a crucial hole in our side right now. I definitely think there is more to come from Sig but as you say, perhaps he'll never quite reach the top, top level we're aiming for in that position. Which is a shame because I like him as a player. Holtby for me has the greater potential, he was playing CL football as a starting XI player last year and he's only 22 which you can't say about too many players, and given the rude health German football is in right now captaining their U21 side can't be dismissed either. I'd hoped that we might get a full preseason out of him and then we'd really see him kick on and progress but hopefully he can do that despite his injury. Not all signings have an immediate, short term impact lets not forget. Another option which has been widely supported on here is to use Carroll as the creator which I think could also work, but is perhaps unlikely in the immediate sense. I'm impressed how he seems to always have space and time on the ball, and when he is pressed he is also calm with his distribution. I reckon Holtby can already do a good job of playing a few decent passes and then linking up play in the final third around the box though, which is what we really lack IMO. And hopefully there is more to come from him as I've said. Of course neither will replace Bale but Bale is irreplaceable to us IMO, not to mention that the three of them (Bale, Sig and Holtby) are different players in their own rights. We all know what needs to happen if Bale is sold now in terms of spending, that much is obvious. I still think he's staying though.
Capoue's club accepted an offer from Cardiff and then both player and club sat back and waited for a bigger club to come in. Spurs became that club although I believe the player had expressed a desire to play in Italy so it wouldn't surprise me if he was now holding on for the likes of Juventus or one of the Milan clubs to trump Tottenham.
The blood samples are in, but we are yet to see the results of the cloning tests i'm told......by the voices in my head
I find it hard to believe that considering he was at the Lane watching the match on saturday and was having his picture taken with a some young fans.
They are just too similar to one another from what I've seen. They're all powerful strong lads who'll all be able to protect us defensively, but we need a bit more variety in that midfield. Dembele is going to need to adapt his game I feel. it's so frustrating, because he does so many things so well. You find yourself saying "just run at them mousa!!!" But no... he shimmys to the left! I also like Sig as a player. i think he definitely brings something to the game and he's really improved over the last few months. This is why I would definitely want him as part of the squad. (- if you'd asked me that before christmas time, my thoughts would be very different.) But Sig is one of those players you need who can come in and do a job. - A bit like Man United always seem to have. For years, they've always had these "squad" players who aren't amazing and never set the world alight, but offer something decent or perhaps something a bit different when they play. I guess the only other one of those we've got is Defoe. Again, same applies to Holtby. There's definitely potential, but we've not seen it yet. As for Carroll, he needs to be given more game time this year in order to help his learning. He'll get decent protection from Sandro, Dembele etc, but he still needs to be bedded in slowly, IMO. There's just something at the moment where I don't feel comfortable with what we have in this position. Too many points were dropped where we couldn't take advantage of teams when they had our game plan sussed. It was hard enough last season, even with Bale rescuing so many points for us. if he fails to produce that this season, or he's not with us... we're going to be very frustrated at times. I just want to feel more assured in that position that we have genuine options that can step up and take charge of that role. With our current personnel, I'm not convinced.
Fair enough Spurm but it does seem like it is taking an age for completion of the move to be announced. We had a similar situation with El Pitbull (Gary Medel) at Cardiff on Saturday but it was all signed, sealed and delivered by 8.00 pm that night. P.S. Not scoring points as I have been a Spurs follower for longer than I have Cardiff but Cardiff is my local team. September 21 will be tough for me when you visit Cardiff. I will have to sit on my hands and shut up - as I did last time you visited.
All of our transfers have been bizarrely slow this summer. I expect Capoue's is taking a lifetime due to him breaking the medical records. The club probably can't believe its luck and want to check for performance enhancing drugs!
Regarding creativity, I think we'll be taking more of a "sum of their parts" approach. Paulinho, Capoue, Chadli, Holtby and Dembele can all pass the ball well and work well in the final third. If we go 433, which is starting to look essential with our squad, then 2 of the 3 midfielders should have more license going forward and with Chadli coming off from the left flank(not too dissimilar to Modric a few years back) and a fullback overlapping I think we'll soon see players getting more times and space in attack. As for Chadli against Espanyol, he was good and I liked the way he was bringing Rose into the game, we just need an attacking left back that can read his game well.
