In theory Dembele would be a great shout. He's VERY difficult to get off the ball and is good at maintaining possession when being harried. He's also very good at passing sideways, which is often what is needed to bring the other advancing players into the game. Not great in the air though, despite his height, unless i've just always missed it.
Since you mention stats.......there are some interesting ones. We’re first in winning aerial challenges, third in shots on target, fifth, I think, in possession, and fourth or fifth in successful pass percentage. We’re also up there in fewest goals conceded...and the problem, as we all know, is the ball isn’t going into the net. The half-full crowd will say we’re playing reasonably well, but just have had bad luck with shots on target not going on. The half empty will say this is AVB 2: lots of possession and no end product. It’s probably a bit of both, though I think it’s more bad luck so far. Unlike in AVB days, the excellent chances have been coming along at a reasonable clip. Chadli and Kane have each had a few. Adding Dier as DM, along with reuniting Vertonghen with his favorite CB partner, has made us much harder to score against, but has also kept games from getting harum-scarum, which tended to somehow work out for us very well last year. It makes sense, really. A wild game is much more a contest of your skilled players and keeper against theirs, and Kane, Eriksen, Chadli and Lloris are better than most. The truth as I see it is that last year our record of 19 wins and 12 defeats happened despite getting the better chances only about half the time. This year’s record of 1 loss and three draws should be two wins and two draws, if it were determined by who created the better chances, and perhaps even three wins and a draw. I think we’re looking better this year, but at times our buildup is too slow, and we try to push it around at the edge of the box too much, which was our problem at times last year, and throughout AVB’s time. I have to say Mason looked inventive, and able to maintain a good tempo, as number 10. But we clearly missed Eriksen, who looked sharp and created a goal when he played. Going forward we have to score more. I’d like to bring in Trippier (last year’s leading crosser in the PL) to take advantage of our aerial strength (2/3 of our goals have been headed). He also tends to head off the problem of faffing around at the edge of the box by firing in crosses. Son should start on the right. I hope he’ll make a big difference there. I don’t know what else we can do but play more 4-3-3 to rest Kane, since Adebayor will not play the Europa. Son and Clinton should both be comfortable in the front line, along with a number of our other players, certainly including Chadli. I mentioned Dembélé as striker not very seriously, since his striking days are some time ago. But it’s worth a try if it’s something he wants to do. I don’t think we’ll see it, though. The 4-3-3 may well be a way forward in the medium term, while Dembélé as striker probably is not. If we do keep playing a lone striker, Clinton and Son look the likeliest to be given time there. I wonder...what about Eriksen?
No to Eriksen as a striker. With Kane not playing and Eriksen out of position we're basically nullifying our 2 biggest weapons for our opposition by doing that.
most squads have holes in them but we cant plug them with 49 million and 55 million etc.....but we try to....whilst at the same time no doubt trying to save a few pennies for our new stadium.
I get we need to save for the new stadium but in the meantime the team will end up going backwards if we don't sign enough players.
Stoke and Southampton are below us..........their purchases seem relatively better than ours. I think it isnt about the money spent...we tried that...it is about what is purchased. I dont know for which window that net spend table is for KH. but we blew the Bale money..had a 'throw enough **** and some will stick strategy'. Id rather have Shaqiri than Lamela. Pelle than Soldado. Wanyama instead of Paulinhio etc etc. If their is a criticism from me about the hierarchy it is this....wasting money..as oppose to spending money. Son and Njie, given the chance will be more effective than Lamela..thats how poor Lamela is...that the others dont even need to play and i would still stick my neck out and say they are better for our team.
The table is for this window just gone. Yeah we do spend money but we always sell too, so never seem to be adding to the squad, just replacing and overall there's never much of a net spend at all. I understand the in needs to save for a new stadium but surely the priority has to be what happens on the pitch. At this rate when the stadium finally arrives, the club will be mid table rather than pushing for top 4 or in the top 6.
The teams that are likely to be our direct rivals this season also have low net spends so I don't see that as a problem. We have added pace and a more secure defence. Catching last season's top four may be beyond us but I don't believe many of us thought that would be a possibility anyway.
We were very fortunate to finish 5th last year. I don't think we'll be that lucky again. Obviously, I hope very much that Son and N'Jie will prove to be both star turns and lift us from our current standing, but at the moment I think somewhere in the top ten is more where we're liable to end up.
Lies, damn lies and statistics. That table can be interpreted in so many different ways and, as many have already mentioned it isn't about how much you spend but who you spend it on. The first and most obvious point is that the final table at the end of the season won't look a thing like that net spend table, with the exception of City 1st and Palace/Everton/Leicester mid table. So to suggest that net spend somehow corresponds to success is demonstrably false. All this table shows you is a point that I have been making since day 1: TV money is completely changing the landscape of English football. There's no way in hell the likes of WBA, Watford, Sunderland, Palace, B'mouth etc would be able to show net spends in excess of £20m in one window a few years back. 5 years ago, they would be bringing in past-it players on the cheap and loaning in youngsters from bigger clubs to keep things ticking over. One of the reasons we struggle so much to place our promising youngsters in PL teams when they go out on loan is that they're simply not needed. It's a miracle Yedlin secured a move to a PL club to gain experience; but even then - we're talking one of the worst clubs in league. Man City are utterly irrelevant so I ignore them from the outset. Out of the remaining teams, I'd argue that the ones who have done the most sensible business are all in the bottom half of that table - Stoke, Soton, Leicester, Swansea, Palace have all brought in players who have immediately settled in and are having a positive impact on the team. Then there's a host of clubs who really have just thrown money at a wall hoping some of it will stick. West Ham, Liverpool, Sunderland, Newcastle, United, Watford, Norwich, West Brom - the list is endless and I'm glad we're not part of it - again - and seem to have learned the hard way from Bale-gate. Unlike us, Liverpool have now spent two summers throwing money at anything that moves hoping to hit a footballer yet still look no better than they did 2 years ago when Suarez left.
It is possible that MP means it when he says he ONLY wants players who will improve on what we have. In which case his declaration of love for Berahino was genuine. and alternatives did not interest him. Especially when you consider the overloaded squad of players he found when he arrived at Spurs and the time he presumably had to spend trying out all the various combinations. He's cleared the decks a bit now and has a clearer idea of his resources, I could believe that he is averse to cluttering it up again.
Look at the Transfermarkt web site which shows the value of the current squad. Ours is well up there which partly explains why we have no net spend as a high value squad will soak up a lot of wages.
