really? Do you think we'd be spending £30m on Willian if the people that saw Townsend day in day out thought he could do as good a job?
We can have them, too. I'd expect Townsend to go out on loan though, at least. Hope we don't sell him, though. Still want another keeper, mind. Gomes out and Stockdale in, perhaps?
I'd be happy for us to sell Sigurdsson and purchase Eriksen. - that's another upgrade, IMO. It's strange, we seem to be relying on our danger coming from the wings, when really we're still in need of someone in a slightly deeper central position to cut defences apart. Aparrently Lamela is a done deal, except we've got to wait until they have got a replacement before it is official.
Holy ****. Really? How confident are you on that Roo? I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop here. BEST. WINDOW. EVER.
Interesting for me to see the football end of this long debate. In most American sports the size and speed factors are so marked it more or less ends the debate. Boxing (not an American sport, I know) is different. It's not ridiculous to claim Robinson could beat any modern welterweight, and most would take Leonard over Mayweather (though Mayweather's best weight was lightweight). I would think modern football players are considerably faster in my ignorance. No doubt they're fitter as well, on average, but effective fitness can come from strange regimens, and despite what many now would view as crippling habits. Carlos Monzon, for example, was a heavy smoker and drinker, and threw power punches three minutes every round, was never stopped and won something like his last sixty fights. Either videos lie, or the best players today tend to be better, more acrobatic athletes, than those of even the relatively recent past.
I'm afraid so. I think boss was a big harsh when he said "sigurdsson is ****" (LOL), but I sort of know why he made that statement. He is a squad player IMO and I don't think he's got enough about him to justify a starting place, playing as a "creative" type. It's a waste of one of our 11 starters, if I'm being blunt. It's just my opinion, but technically i don't think he's quite good enough and is slightly our of his depth when you consider where we're trying to get to, and the standard we're currently bringing in. If we were looking at Sigurdsson as a new signing right now, I'd be thinking "really?". He wouldn't excite me. IMO, he was a reasonably priced signing who's not quite lived up to expectations, and after the cull we've seen this summer (with a few surprises (caulker for example)), I'm surprised we haven't replaced him with someone better. The fact that we nearly sold him to reading in Jan but couldn't get a replacement quick enough, says it all for me. i don't dislike him, but I just think that at the rate we're moving, he's going to struggle for game time soon.
We could end up with a Juninho or a Veron. A reyes or a Pires. There's always a huge gamble on big Signings, especially foreign so even though I expect homework has been done, it's unlikely all will be a success, and i don't want to see our young players have their route blocked by flops.
Hang on, my message was confusing. I meant how sure on that are you regarding the Lamela bit. Then you said "afraid so". I assumed Lamela was a done deal for us? Yes? That is a good thing imo! I realise this confusion was all my fault. To dare is to do. Carroll and Townsend might make it at Spurs, i hope they do. But they are not ready to carry our creative hopes right now, but i'd love for sub and cup appearances for them. AVB/Baldy watch these players day in day out and would not be spending the sort of money we are supposedly spending on Willian/Lamela if we had players of that quality already. Also, if Townsend and Carroll were THAT good then other clubs in the prem would be bending over backwards trying to sign them because they would be considerably cheaper than £30m. I'm fairly confident in my assessment that Lamela is better than Townsend, especially when backed up by people much more in the know than me. Going on what Spurcat has to say about Baldini's thoroughness i'm pretty confident we won't get a Veron. And Reyes was _that_ bad, just incredibly stupid
I agree with you here. However, at the same time, how many times have we spent the odd £7-12m on very average players. - you can even go up to £15m if you wanna include bentley in that! There's always going to be a gamble, i guess it just comes down to trusting the coach et al. AVB has my full backing over new signings, after last seasons performance.
Oh! I'm just passing on what I'm reading, from what I believe to be relatively decent sources. Time will tell. It wasn;t your fault dude, it was mine. having read it back, i should have realised. Instead, I wrote a needless Essay!
I agree Gylfi will struggle for game time with the new signings. What I'll be watching is how many good chances whoever does start creates. While I have hopes for Willian, it's Lamela who I really want. He's only 20 or 21 and could conceivably develop into a Bale-level talent. Interesting that as I understand it Carroll remains our only deep-lying playmaker.
We've now been linked with about four centre-backs. Cirinches, Alderweireld, Sakho and Eric Dier of Sporting. We definitely need one.
footballitalia ‏@footballitalia 22m Interesting. Erik Lamela's gf Sofia Herrero tweeted "What a grand farce..." just before he ran out for Roma's presentation. #THFC #Roma On his way? Edit Sky Italia announced we have signed Erik Lamela from Roma for 35M Euros and on a 5 year deal via @THFCarmandinho7. #THFC
No offence Spurm I keep hearing '' he isn't ready '', yet in reality until a player has a chance and takes it, no one knows how ready a player is. Players like sterling and Barkley are examples and Townsend performed at this level last year. Anyway Carroll has already shown in games against the goons, Fulham, in the Europa league more creative instinct then older, higher priced players show on a weekly basis and there is no way all our Signings will hit the ground running, meaning some young player will get his chance. So I expect once Carroll is given a proper chance, views will change and if some of our Signings are flops, we will realise some where no better then what we had. We have players like siggy who is average, dembele for all his qualities flatters to deceive and we tend to get over excited by foreign names, big money Signings yet I'll reserve most judgement until I see them in a Spurs shirt performing in the Premier league.
sky sports have deleted the tweet about us signing Willian.... and there's new reports suggesting that a deal has been agreed for chiriches, and he's been left out of tonight's game.
Isn't Willian only one day one of his two day medical? I'd expect him to be announced either tomorrow or Friday. Maybe Monday, after he's actually played for us.
