He's quick and dangerous. He could've given us an extra outlet against United, especially late on when we were pushing for an equaliser. Stoke might've been an issue of defence but when you look at how many times our players have been put in behind the defence over the 2 games you have to feel like having a more composed finisher, like Berahino, in those situations could've led to more goals. It's been a window that started brightly but has gone downhill as we've dithered over new signings. That said, all will be forgiven if we somehow manage to get Illaramendi and Berahino in Spurs shirts by the end of the window. 2 potentially brilliant signings.
"In the passed 4 yrs we have missed out on CL football by 1 or 2 points twice after very similar starts to this cos we were dicking around instead of being decisive." Or perhaps because of two very similar collapses in the final third of the PL season.
But many, many teams tend to tail off towards the end of the season, especially those who are competing across 4 fronts. I think we played a record number of games last season due to the Europa and our COC final run. It's no coincidence that Leicester and Sunderland basically have the best run-in form for the past two seasons - they were fighting for their lives and it showed in their performances. Liverpool, Southampton, Swansea all faded towards the end of last season once it became apparent that top 4 was impossible.
"But many, many teams tend to tail off towards the end of the season, especially those who are competing across 4 fronts." Not those who qualify for the CL. The stats on the PL bear this out.
I mentioned Illaramendi a couple of weeks back when Real supposedly said he's up for transfer (their signing of Kovacic definitely condemns him now), what a signing he'd be. Reminds me so much of Xabi Alonso - ironically the man he was meant to replace at Real. Great passing vision and sits back enough to help out defensively. We should be all over that. As for Saido, I'm getting more confident of us signing him before the deadline.
This is post 1666 on the thread. The Satanic number matches the hellish suggestion. Why does Moses keep getting mentioned in the same breath as Spurs? It's most unsettling. He's also been linked with Villa. Come on, Tim. Do the right thing.
Moses as an option wouldn't be that bad in my opinion, wouldn't want him as a marquee signing or anything but if available for a good price I wouldn't be against it, he'd be a decent option from the bench, fast and skilful... Though I could be in a very small minority on that .
The absence of a striker cost us last week as we had no one to push west brom back after kane went off imo Also think it limited our ability to change things in the final part of the united match...again just imo
Just in -great news : Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced Alex Pritchard has signed a new four-year contract. #THFC Hopefully he will see a bit of game time now.
We've only had one striker since November in fairness Though, I do see it from two point of views. On the one hand, we need someone to push Kane and as evidence with Stoke, someone who could've come on and replaced that sort of influence that Kane has up to. N'Jie is an option now but there's no doubt we need an out and out striker and it would've been ideal to have had them for pre-season. The other hand is that up until recently we had 3 strikers on the books, two who were earning a shed load of money and not playing, so if I were Levy I'd have been cautious bringing someone else in while we had a lot of money being wasted. As soon as Soldado went, N'Jie was finalised less than 24 hours later and I think his wages were are around £40k a week, a lot less than Soldado's reported £80k so we've got wage money to play with. I think the club is doing everything they can to get Ade off the books and if wouldn't surprise me if a mutual termination is discussed if we can't get rid, we're actively trying for Berahino and Poch says we have other options, so I'm sure that while it's getting late (which isn't ideal), we will have at least one other option come the deadline.
I think the world’s most stat-friendly player will be a great signing for them, and revert to the form he showed captaining Europa champions. He has no place in a team that plays a high line, which makes me question the decision to buy him, but his good qualities were captured by the stats. He was the second best in the air (to Bentecke) in the PL last year, and excelled at clearances and even, surprisingly, interceptions. No doubt he is a big, clumsy galoot when asked to sprint back towards goal, but he won’t have to do that much any more. Who was it who described him very accurately as "confident on the ball, but shouldn’t be"? I’ll be really ticked off if Everton sign Yarmolenko. I think he’s exactly the kind of quality which can raise all but the top teams a notch. I know exactly nothing about Lucimi, but 2 million for a 20 year old Columbian sounds like the sort of thing we should be doing. Levy’s mysterious insistence on saving us a few quid on transfers while costing us a CL spot woth tens of millions doesn’t bug me as much this year because I can’t see a CL spot being in the cards, in any case. That would have taken Yarmolenko plus Schneiderlin, or perhaps Bender. I wouldn’t assume we start the game against Leicester with one striker. Kane may not be fit, for all we know. I wonder how long until N’Jie joins the match day squad? I think this week might be too soon for Pochettino. I don’t even know if he has his work permit yet. (Edit) Whew! please log in to view this image
More good news @SpursOfficial We're pleased to confirm that Clinton Njie has been granted a work permit and received international clearance. #COYS
