Regardless of the reasons (your opinion or not) RCL, I don't think we'll see us sell that many in the summer. We know all too well what happens when there's so many changes. It's more likely that we'll get shot of about 4-5 players which might consist of 1 or 2 "first teamers" and 3 or 4 squad players. Then, in January when Poch has had a few months, we might see a few more move on.
Remembercolinlee I think the likes of Vertonghen and Lloris will stick around for another year buddy. There wont be a huge upheaval of the squad, Levy has already stated this. Pochetinno has been bought in to improve the players we have who arent living up to their potential and to also bring through some youth players. As ive previously said, i think we will see 3 max coming in and 5 or 6 being shipped out.
I reckon that, right now, players nailed on to start would be: Lloris Walker ---- Verts ---- Sandro ---- ---- Eriksen ---- Soldado Even Soldado is a dubious one and who knows, might be out the door this summer as apparently Athletico Madrid might be interested. I'm not saying that players for the blank spaces have to be bought in from outside the club, they could well be players who are already here, but for me those are the positions where questions remain and need answering. At least one of the two wide midfielders will be someone who is already at the club you'd think, be it Lamela, Townsend, Chadli etc. Chiriches could be the centre back but we'd still need to buy another, assuming Daws is leaving and Kaboul's problems remain as they are. My issue with Kabs is that even for a backup he wasn't reliably fit to play when we needed him. He's no Ledley. The big questions remain LB and the second centre mid. The former is the prime need this summer and there have to be big questions as to whether the likes of Holtby, Bentaleb or Carroll can do the job required there well enough to not justify the buying of a player to fill the gap at CM. Fitting in Dembele and Pauliho will be a nightmare for us next season IMO.
Pochettino will hopefully make use of the legacy left by Sherwood and his "Sherwoodie Babes" and we may see Carroll, Kane, Bentaleb, Mcevoy and Veljkovic all become first team regulars and put an end to this obsession with signing a carlos kickaball each year. If Pochettino is brave enough then he could win fans over as he will get more respect for going with youth and showing you don't have to always look outside the club.
According to our release/retain list (which I posted last week) Kaboul is listed as retained rather than a free transfer, which would imply he signed a new deal - although, if he has, the club should've announced it.
Kaboul finished the season injury free and did ok. Perhaps with a pre season under his belt, Pochetinno might be able to get the best out of him. When hes fit and on form there arent many better CB's around. We also have Chiriches who i think has huge potential with the right coaching could become an absolute legend at Spurs.
Kaboul made some embarrassing mistakes last year and it hurt his confidence. But he looked about as good as ever physically. He could still dominate in the air, showed excellent speed and was effective attacking the other goal, not something many CBs will try. Loss of confidence for anyone is worrying, but I think the chances are he'll be back to his best this year. The mistakes had a lot to do with general chaos in the team setup owing to two managers. I would have thought Kaboul-Chiriches would have been our best CB pair but they were awful when paired last year. So I guess we start with Kaboul-Vertonghen, and play Chiriches frequently. I can't see Dawson fitting into Poch's plans. In a dream world, and quite possibly in Poch's dream world they could be three total football attacking CBs. Vertonghen's attacking abilities may be as good as any CBs, so we may as well use them. Paulinho could fit into Poch's plans well as a high energy, pressing player. But he's got to either tackle better to play in a deep lying role, or learn to shoot, if he's going to be CAM. I think he could be good in the latter role, though, since he times his runs well, is good in the air, and presses effectively. I'd still rather we spend on getting the closest thing to a young Pirlo we can. If we're going to press aggressively, we need a player who can pick the right pass quickly when we get the ball. Bentaleb's not bad, but a bit too cautious. Dembele is far too cautious. I like what I saw of Carroll, but wonder why he couldn't start for a Championship team. Sandro actually does a good job of knocking the ball forward quickly at times, so he might be part of the picture. Paulinho's long passing has never impressed me. Holtby is quite a good CAM, I think, but becomes a lightweight huff and puff in a deeper role. Gylfi's not bad, but not great either. Poch might well like him for his attitude and goals, though. The Torygraph has us thinking about half a dozen strikers, including Remy and Lukaku. I'd take either one, but don't see us getting them.
Someone who can pick a good pass? Hull have got a young chap called Tommy Huddlestone, he looks pretty good at that.
Noticed that nobody has mentioned Pritchard. Wigan are chasing him as loan, but does anyone think he might be a Poch type of player and will have a shot at the 1st team?
http://tottenhamlive.com/threads/tom-carroll-2013-14-scout-report-by-a-qpr-fan.67/ Interesting blog from a QPR perspective on Carroll. Basically says that his attitude is very good, he's technically sound and that if he bulks up a bit then he could be a tidy player. You'd hope that Pritchard would get another full season of starting XI footy under his belt at a good Championship team. Poch might fancy him though, we'll have to see. I still think that Paulinho and Dembele could be two big problems for Poch because if we fill that other CM spot not occupied by Sandro or Capoue with another player who is not the Brazilian or the Belgian, then there are two big name players there who both want and need first XI football who won't be getting it. Frankly, I don't see where either of them are easily going to fit into Poch's system, unless one of them played at no. 10 and Eriksen was once again pushed out wide, as Lallana was at times for Southampton. But I think we have better options available for the team than that and it has to be considered that the money that could potentially be made from the sales of one or both of Paulinho and Dembele could go far towards making funds for the LB, CM, CB and striker we really need. Their two situations after the World Cup could be very interesting and divisive issues for us Spurs fans.
There's a lot of talk of paulinho being wanted by Chelsea. I wouldn't be too bothered if we sold him to them to be honest. Normally the thought of selling to a rival is a no no, but I don't actually think he'd strengthen them. If we can sell and somehow get a profit, I'd be well up for using the money for a playmaker.
I rate Tom Carroll very highly. I think there are too many thugs in the championship and believe that he would do better in the premiership as he would get a little more protection from the referees. He has many of the attributes of a young Danny Blanchflower, lets hope he develops in the same way.
For me Paulinho has always been a problem. No doubt he's a good player in the right team but for a player described as 'the black Lampard' in Brazil, and who was supposed to be a proper goalscoring midfielder some of his shooting was truly atrocious last season, although he did pop up with some important, well taken goals. Cardiff away springs to mind. But I just don't see where he fits into our system, either back under AVB or now if Poch's previous exploits are a blueprint. He's not strong enough defensively or distribution-wise to justify him being a DM (and that would be a waste of his talents, as he does carry a goal threat and his penchant for a layoff can be an excellent creative tool) and he is definitely no deep lying playmaker. Dembele could have a role, as he has strength and ball-carrying ability which can change a game, but he's also too conservative in his thinking right now to be what we need. I'd still rather sell to teams outside the PL but if Chelsea came calling Levy could skin them I reckon, what with the Levy tax on PL imports, the fact that (to Chelsea) we have no need to sell the player who still, one would assume, still has a way to go on his contract. Plus everyone knows they have shedloads of money anyway but even more now due to the David Luiz sale, and if Hazard goes too you wouldn't expect it to be for a dissimilar sum. Paulinho's situation is like Huddlestone's last summer IMO. Nobody wants him to leave, but if a good fee comes in then selling up with a heavy heart would probably be best for the club and the player. Yes they'll probably go on to shine at another club but would they every get that opportunity here? Probably not.
