If Rose got help by a left sided player like the R/B does by Lennon,we wouldn't be saying we need a L/B
I hope you're right. I want to like Rose. He's fast and dangerous coming forward. He has developed confidence issues--never really recovered from gifting Arsenal a goal. But he might still bounce back and play very well next year.
Permanent: IN = We definitely need a left-back, and with that I think Ben Davies would be a great signing. I'm hoping whatever manager comes in finally sees past Michael Dawson (the ultimate liability) and gets rid off him, meaning another centre-back would be needed. Possibly re-sign Steven Caulker from Cardiff? With Gomes' contract coming to end this season and Friedel coming to an end, I think another goalkeeper would be needed. No idea who though. OUT = Michael Dawson, Ettiene Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Lewis Holtby are all players that could realistically go. But of course it all depends on the new manager. Loans: IN - Returns = Alex Pritchard, Souleymane Coulibaly, Cristian Ceballos should all be given a chance in pre-season IN - New = n/a Out - New = I feel loaning Nabil Bentaleb to a club where he would be playing every would be hugely beneficial to him after a pretty decent start to his Spurs career.
He was playing well before his injury,and coming back into the team when it is struggling,was never going to help his confidence,then he gets no cover in front of him,of course he will struggle
Coulibaly has done nothing to deserve being anywhere near the first team from what I've seen and heard. Coulthirst and Obika are both better strikers than him. Holtby? Dawson? Yeah, we're going to disagree a lot, I can tell I'd love to see one of Pritchard of Ceballos get brought into things this season. I get the feeling Ceballos will be heading for the exit door, Onomah and Winks are rated highly and it doesn't sound like Ceballos has done much on loan. Van Gaal apparently has a good reputation for bringing through youth players though so lets hope we can get him, there's definitely potential lurking in our youth teams.
Dawson, Capoue and Holtby are Moyes type players. Perspiration before inspiration. Looks like they'll be staying then.
Bollocks, have you even seen Holtby or Capoue play? Funny how the United fans are trying to wum us over Moyes being linked with Spurs now. It'll be even funnier if Moyes doesn't get sacked tomorrow
While there are too many MF of similar age on the books, Pritchard will not get game time. QPR and the Os could be in the league below next season, so loan to one of them. Ceballos looked really good in the 4-3-3 setup. Dunno how he plays in other formations, So I'll assume he'll be sold as redundant to needs.
I think it would be a mistake to sack him,listening to United fans they seem to think it is thier devine right to finish in the top 4.SAF got out because he knew he had an ageing team that couldn't do it again,that is why Moyes is struggling.If the owners backed him with funds,prehaps it would be different
I'm wumming myself, YV. Moyes won't be sacked unless the Glazers panic - and if they do, they'll have to be prepared to back a big name manager with big money. I've seen Holtby - he runs about a lot. Seen less of Capoue but he's always crocked.
OK - here we go: Goalkeepers: Only change if there are exits. Well Gomes is off but won't be missed. Assuming Friedel can handle another season as number two not a priority. If Lloris goes there are a wealth of decent keepers in the EPL at the moment who I wouldn't mind us getting in, many at clubs who are likely to sell. CB: Again, we only need to buy if we sell. Problems in this position have been mostly down to attitude (Verts), organisation and lack of midfield cover. I think our defence was never as good as it looked on paper earlier in the season and our clean sheets etc were more to do with the fact that AVB had made the team behave as if we had a back four and everyone else's job was to play DM. Likewise I don't think they're as bad as they look now. My initial doubts about Chiriches are re-surfacing but I think it's a coaching/management/general team shape issue. Full backs: NOW we can talk about transfers. We have one full back who I'm happy with and evben then I don't rate him that highly. But everyone bar Kyle Walker could leave and I would not be worried. Naughton does appear much better as a stand-in right back but he's never gonna push Walker for a starting spot. I would like a proper first-11 left-back (assuming BAE is out of here) and a decent right back who can cover and offer competition for Walker. Someone either at the beginning or end of their career I would have thought. - Buy two new fullbacks and sell Naughton. CM: We have Livermore, Carroll, Sandro, Capoue, Chadli (?!), Paulinho, Dembele, Bentaleb. Of these I think only 3 are out-and-out DMs (Sandro, Capoue and Livermore). Every squad needs a couple. Sell Livermore. Of the rest I would say that Dembele and Chadli won't be missed. I'd only keep Paulinho to give him one more season to show us, well, anything really. Ideally I'd like to see Carroll given a loan spell at an EPL team. - Buy a properly decent creative midfielder, sell Livermore, Dembele, Chadli if decent offers come in. Loan Carroll to an EPL team or keep him. If NEW MIDFIELDER sets the world alight and NEW MANAGER works out a system that does not really involve Paulinho much maybe sell him come January. Wingers/attacking midfielders: Sell Siggy - he's just not really good enough. Scores goals but I'd hope the team next year won't be quite so desperate on this front. Keep Holtby if he's happy to basically be back-up. Lennon - well what you gonna do? He might learn to cross before he's 40 so keep him. Townsend I would actually also let go if a substantial offer came in but it would have to be silly money. I still hope he can prove me wrong and, with a bit of coaching and in a settled, decent team, he might stop being so bloody frustrating. If a new manager came in and liked what he saw with Lamela then I would be happy to keep him. Only problem for these positions is LW. Our left side has been a shambles all season. New left back needed and our total lack of any single LW has cost us dearly too. As things stand Townsend might be our best option there. So that's not saying much. - Siggy out, Townsend out if we're offered 10m+, buy someone to sort out the left side of midfield. Strikers: All calls to sell Ade seem absurd to me. Do we learn nothing?! Guess what? When you've got a good player how about we try to keep him? Buying decent strikers is not easy in case some people haven't noticed. Again I would be tempted to keep things how they are. I do think there's a very good player in there with Soldado and Kane looks to be a very handy option too. If a very good offer comes in for Soldado, though, and he wants to go then let him but only if we have a very solid replacement lined up. Someone like Lukaku.
I'm hoping for a quiet window. 1x left back 1x manager Listen to offers for anyone we have out on loan bar Carroll. The rest deserve another season that isn't such a calamity.
I'm not far from Lenny's thinking on this one. Out: Assou-Ekotto, Gomes (free), Sigurdsson, Dawson, Naughton, Livermore, some loans (Carroll, Pritchard, Bentaleb, possibly), fringe players (Falque, Mason, etc). In: Coentrao/other left-back, Lescott/Caulker, Richards/decent right-back, Marshall/Stockdale/back-up, competition keeper. Lloris; Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, NewLB; Sandro; Lennon, Paulinho, Eriksen, Chadli; Adebayor. NewGK; NewRB, NewCB, Chiriches, Rose; Capoue; Lamela, Dembele, Holtby, Townsend; Soldado. Friedel, Fryers, Kane and others to make up the squad.
Rose is the only weak first teamer. If we can get a new LB and keep the current squad with a manager who'll get the best from them, then we can have a good season next year. Though as always with Spurs, things are easier said than done. We'll probably end up selling 3 key players, sign 5 promising/ squad players, keep Tim, give Rose a new deal and make Soldado captain.
Signing strikers is no more difficult than anyother position. There are bargains out there, like Hernandez, Sturridge and Benteke but the key is getting the right player for the style of football. Players rarely just flop, most times they were never a good fit for the team in the first place. By your logic we shouldn't have signed a right back after wasting £9mill on Hutton, or maybe we should've stopped buying wingers after Bentley. The reason I want Adebayor out is because he's a timebomb, he falls out with managers , throws a strop and stops trying. Arsenal were still able to get a good price for him because he was young and didn't have his record as a stroppy baby. City only managed to shift him on loan initially and we could only get a few Turkish sides half intersted last summer. After a good season this season we stand a good chance of having clubs interested in him, if he falls out with our next manager he won't even have a scrap value and we can't cope with having a player on £100k a week that we don't play and can't shift. Some might join Ade in blaming AVB but he's not the one who wasted the start of last season trying to get every penny he could out of City instead of just making the move and getting on with it. AVB isn't the one who changed his mind about going to the ACON at the last minute and returned back weeks late. He's also not the one who broke club rules and boasted that he could get a transfer in the summer(before those moves fell through).
I'm pretty much where lenny and PNP are at. My only concern is Adebayor. He has a history of performing when he feels like it and not being the easiest for management to get along with, hence never really settling anywhere. If we get a new manager come in who doesn't like Adebayor, then what?! We're left with Soldado who's had a nightmare first season and an inexperienced Kane. + the fact Adebayors wages are a big stumbling block. Is he worth the baggage? Edit: didn't see YV's post above. Spot on re Ade, YV
I do see what YV is saying, while Ade can be one of the best strikers around on his day, he really is a time bomb. I'll openly admit that prior to his re-introduction to the side I wanted him out, I felt his attitude on the pitch stunk of someone just going out there to pick up his pay packet. Obviously it makes the decision harder to go by now, as currently we've got an Ade who seems interested in doing the goods so of course selling him would look stupid but what if next season, after say rejecting a £15m-£20m+ bid, he throws another strop and we're left with a 30 year old, £100K+ (I think HBIC mentioned he gets an automatic pay hike next season, if true then we need to be very careful financially) player who we can't shift? It's a tough choice. The on form Ade I'd keep all day long but the problem is you just never know what frame of mind he's in.
