Summer Transfers

Schneiderlin simply doesn't fit into what Levy said was the plan, namely signing players in the £10-15m range.

Unless we use on of the following loopholes:
i.) Sign a couple of players for less than that, for example Wimmer is rumoured to be costing us £4m, meaning that £6-9m is free to sign Schneiderlin
ii.) We offer £15m + a player we value at £10m. Given how we somehow hoodwinked Southampton into thinking Tommy Forecast was worth £2m a few years back, I'm thinking that Grant Hall will be part of the deal

 

Schneiderlin's a good player but not £25m+ worthy, which is what I'd presume Soton would want to even tempt them into selling. From what I've seen of him, he's similar to Bentaleb just a little more polished and with Nab's scope for improvement huge, I'd rather just let him progress into what I believe will be a better player. The money could be spent elsewhere in more needed areas, like a partner/ competition for Kane and a CB or two.

 

The papers are saying the Schneiderlin is a slightly more affordable £20m this summer, although that still requires finding an extra £5m somewhere (with the papers suggesting Townsend and/or Stambouli most likely to be makeweights) It makes a lot of sense to have someone in midfield who can screen our defence better, and a Schneiderlin/Bentaleb partnership would work both from a defensive standpoint as for moving the ball around quickly in a way that the Sandro/Dembele partnership of AVB's first season couldn't quite manage - but I hope we have backup targets in case it doesn't come to fruition.

Also, we're being linked to yet another centre back: Kamil Glik of Torino/Poland. So if he and Wimmer are signed, that confirms Kaboul and Chiriches will be sold.

 

Why would we want Schneiderlain at the moment? Bentaleb is no1 defensive and Stambouli, i think, is a good backup. Mason just got into the England squad and is completing his first full season in the team.
We've got Pritchard coming back from Brentford and Alli arriving. And that's before we even get to our Brazilian and Belgian international central midfielders.
For the cost Schneiderlain would have to start which seems a waste of money in an area we are already well equipped in.

 

The simple reason we need Schneiderlin (or any other capable defensive midfielder) is because our central midfield has been poor at screening our defence all season, and because we simple are not well stocked in that area: Capoue's talked himself out the door, Dembele is used further up the pitch (and it's questionable if he'll be here come September), Pritchard and Alli are attacking midfielders rather than defensive ones, Mason's a liability from a defensive standpoint - so the options we have that can actually do a job are Bentaleb and Stambouli. Not only is that an area that clearly needs improving, as a look at our goals against column will tell you, but it's a problem we keep having: we had a soft midfield until Freund was signed, we had a soft midfield until the Carrick/Davids partnership was formed, we had a soft midfield until Palacios replaced Zokora, and we had a soft midfield while Sandro was ruled out with one of his many injuries until Parker was signed.

If there's any Southampton player we're linked to that would be a waste of money, it's Jay Rodriguez.

 

I'd have to agree with Croydon on this one. Schneiderlin would definitely do a job for us, plus he counts as homegrown.
He'd free Bentaleb up to attack more and be more box-to-box. I like Mason, but he'd suit a more defensive partner. They both would.

How many of our options in that position are actually fancied by the manager?
Paulinho appears to be ahead of Capoue and Stambouli in the pecking order and he's being linked with a move himself.
We might see something of a clearout in that role in the summer.

 

Nice to see the media doing Utd's bidding again and targeting Lloris for a move.
It's not at all predictable, boring and annoying...

 

AVB is thinking of helping us out this summer by making a bid for Paulinho. Don't suppose we can interest him in Chiriches as well?

 

Pauli has been linked with going back to Corinthians in Brazil too.

I agree with hbic the only three I trust to do a job deep in midfield are Bentaleb, Stambouli, and Mason, and even the latter has his problems. Schneiderlin would command a hefty fee but it might be worth the investment for a player who has been one of the best PL players in that position for a couple of years now, especially if we can make part of the fees back with part exchanges and/or selling Dembele, Capoue and Paulinho. He's likely to be in high demand if it looks like he would move though and there are more attractive clubs than us to be honest.

 

Not that I'm saying Nabs and Mason have been great on the defensive aspect but I wouldn't put too much blame on them for goals conceded. Nabs does a decent enough job when sitting back and snuffs out a number of attacks but the real problem lies with the defence. The amount of unforced errors Fazio makes is beyond a joke, where as Walker has been dire, with the likes of Chiriches (at CB) and Kaboul barely playing but when they have they've been poor. They alone have cost us a number of goals, Jan, Rose and Dier have had decent seasons but the unit as a whole just doesn't seem to click most of the time.

I think having a good defensive unit makes a defensive midfielder look better. Not taking anything away from Matic, who I'd say is the best DM in the league but the Chelsea back four of Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpi have been immense and therefore Matic has it "easier" so to speak by having such a solid back line behind him for when anyone gets past him. The same at Soton, that back line of Clyne, Fonte, Toby and Bertrand have been great, not taking anything away from Wanyama and Schneiderlin as they too have been very good but having a good collective unit behind is always good to have.

A DM can only stop a certain amount of attacks during a game before the defence have to be called upon, the problem for us is when our defence are called upon, more often than not they let us down. IF we signed Schneiderlin it'll be a good signing there's no doubt about it, but I wouldn't really like the idea of spending more than £20m/ £25m. That money could be put to better use, in my opinion. I'd happily part with players though in some sort of exchange deal, I'd offer Paulinho and Capoue if they wanted, we wouldn't make the money back on what we spent so I'd rather they be used to sign a player who'd do a much better job than them.

 

I remember a few years back, when Zokora was supposed to be screening our back four but was hopelessly ill-equipped to do so, several people on Old606 were demanding that Dawson be sold off as he was often exposed by the lack of protection. Yet when we replaced Zokora with Palacios, or when Sandro/Parker were screening the back four, people were talking about how he was constantly overlooked by the England team as he was one of the most reliable centre backs in the Premier League. The same can be said for John Terry: when playing behind one of Makalele, Essien or Matic he looks rock solid - but when he had the Gerrard/Lampard partnership in front of him for England he regularly looked flat-footed, one-paced, and blessed with the turning circle of an oil tanker.

If the defence is better protected, there's less opportunities for Fazio, Chiriches or Walker to make costly mistakes, so at the very least our goal difference would be much improved (although I'll stop short of hypothesising about which games we could have got more points out of, as that's the sort of thing that'll drive anyone bonkers...)

 

You can't really separate the back 4 from the defensive midfielder(s) in terms of defensive culpability in the modern game for sure. Chelsea's back 4 have been reaping the plaudits this season, and I'm not saying they're not good players, but they're helped enormously by Matic in particular but also the whole defensive effort of the Chelsea forwards. City by contrast have a few really good defenders (although they're often misfiring this season) who haven't been helped by poor central midfielders this time round.

Schneiderlin for £25 mill I would take in a heartbeat. He is better than any one of our players in that position hands down IMO, and we'd make back probably at least £15 mill off Dembele, Paulinho and Capoue who play in that position, and it would be money very well spent for me. That said, I think that discussion is academic as we'd be well back on the list of clubs he could potentially sign for. Pretty much any team in the league would be improved by him apart from Chelsea and possibly Arsenal, although the latter might be stretching it, and he's have suitors abroad too you'd think. And there are maybe more important positions for us to be spending that money on.

 

Although the players have not been very good as a group, the bigger problem seems to me that Pochettino hasn’t really figured out how to teach our players a system that can score goals without leaking many. At this point we can either score them and leak them, or score few and give up few. I don’t think this is a damning fault, though next year it might be. We have young players and changed things up most of the year. Aside from the many individual defensive mistakes various players have made, we’ve been far too vulnerable to the long ball, and seem to leave individual defenders isolated more than anyone else does. A look at our expected goals shows this year we’ve handed other teams the tactical advantage in order to have an open game, in the hopes that our better finishing can make it a good gamble. We’ve gotten mixed results. Playing an open, attacking style the great majority of the time is good for Spurs. But I think we have to learn how to do it in a way that doesn’t put us at a disadvantage so often. The team needs to address a number of issues, including vulnerability to counterattacking in general and the long ball in particular.

 

Our defending's been poor all over the place, rather than our defence just playing badly.
We use a high line, attacking fullbacks, no holding midfielders and inverted wingers that don't track back.
The best players in the world would struggle with that combination.

 

I have very mixed feelings over Lamela saying he wants to stay at Spurs despite Inter’s interest. I’m glad we (reportedly) have the chance to sell one of our big buys, when I wasn’t sure that would ever happen. On the other hand, Lamela may yet come good for us. He has often looked bad, it’s true. He’s very one-footed and has misplaced too many routine passes. On the other hand, he’s been improving, and had to adjust to a new league and a new position. What he has is an end product, the ability to do the spectacular and produce great chances. While it’s true that Coutinho has looked very good in general, and so is a great contrast, the fact is Lamela has the same number of PL goals plus assists in what I believe are fewer minutes. With a goal and an assist in his last two games, Lamela’s PL productivity could be just beginning. He remains our leader in assists. I also like his attitude. Throughout what often must have been a very difficult period, Lamela has kept his head down and done his best to scrap and work for the team.

 

I think your assessment is fair in places but I don't see a lot of the thing you are seeing if I am honest… you say he's often looked bad. I think at times, he's looked terrible and completely lost out there.

His goal last week for starters, was hardly a premeditated strike at the ball was it? He was bumped into the ball and it took a rather lucky deflection. I wouldn't exactly award him with plaudits as though it were a great taken strike. Right place, right time with a large dose of luck.

IMO I thought Lamela's primary role when we signed him was to be a winger, providing crosses and goalscoring chances and ensure our squad maintains width we lost when selling Bale but he seldom stays out there. I also thought he was supposed to offer goals and creativity. I don't think we've got neither yet.

But what concerns me more than anything about Lamela is his lack of footballing intelligence. He always cuts in when he receives the ball wide. He also tends to run into the same spaces that other players occupy, looking as though they could bump into each other if one doesn't move out of the way. For me, he doesn't seem to learn the game or understand his role at times and if you have a manager from the same nation as you speaking the same language (technically and linguisitclaly) and he still doesn't seem to make any notable improvement, then for me there's a huge question mark.

The guy cost £30m so it irritates me when I hear all this talk of potential. At that price point, potential should be a thing of the past. He should be at a stage where he's proved his worth to a degree (within reason) and should be looking to push onto another level and improve on what he's got - not stand still. Our younger youth team players look far more at home and accomplished than he.

The fact that only Inter are looking at him says it all for me. The Italian league is slow and lethargic compared to most others and Lamela's lack of pace and quick brain is suited to that style of football, where we unsurprisingly bought him from. If he was as good as we thought he as, there would be a queue of clubs from the PL and beyond trying to sign him but there's diddly squat.

I like his attitude too but that's sadly not enough at this level. If he does stay at Spurs, he needs to apply himself more on understanding what's missing from his game and work his socks off in the summer to improve those areas. Sadly though, I can't see it and I just predict another season of bit parts where he may offer a few assists, a few glimpses of hope but never really sets a standard we expected from him.

 

The sad fact is that our recruitment policy has been a complete disaster. With the exception of Eriksen & possibly Chadli ( for what he cost) the rest of what we bought is overrated, overpriced, and unfortunately, over here - at Spurs!

Who's to blame? Levy, Baldini, AVB, combo of all three? The buck has to stop at Levy. As Ballesteros once said to his caddie, "it's not your fault, I'm the idiot who hired you"

 

It's the glut of wingers we had that always got me: Lennon and Sigurdsson were already established at the club, while Townsend was earmarked to get first team opportunities that coming season - and then we added Chadli and Lamela to the mix. Five wingers for two positions is never going to work out well for anybody.

 

Well, I'm in the minority here, but I think the problem is that we've got three number 10s playing in Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela where we should have at least one winger. I also think our buys were meh rather than bad, considering both Liverpool's buys and the fact that we'd make our money back more or less if we sold them. (If Lallana is worth 25 million, surely Eriksen is worth 35 million, maybe 40.)

It was interesting to see Pochettino saying he wanted more control of transfers. I think he may have felt we needed, and need, a first rate wide player to stretch defenses, an upgrade on Townsend or Lennon, rather than the glut of central players we have.

 

If you include Sigurdsson and Holtby, that's another couple of No10s we had expecting to play.

I'm wondering if the original plan was to have some kind of Total Football system going, given how pretty much every attacking player we brought in during AVB's time could play in two or three positions in the attacking trio - we certainly saw glimpses of that in the Europa league last season, but rather than go with the courage of his convictions AVB lacked the courage to go for it in league games and instead we had that maddening possession-based play where we passed sideways for ninety minutes.

Similar can be said for this season, too: in pre-season and the first few games we did see our attacking trio switching flanks, notably against QPR, but since the Liverpool game it seems our players have been performing their roles in one set position (barring games where they're moved for tactical reasons, such as when Dembele is deployed as a No10 so Eriksen moves to the wing)