Yep, it’s something we should learn from.
Weirdest thing about them though is their academy often produces Prem calibre players quite frequently. No idea why they continue to buy them in when that’s the case.
Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction
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Weirdest thing about them though is their academy often produces Prem calibre players quite frequently. No idea why they continue to buy them in when that’s the case.
Both have excellent energy but Sarr hasn’t really come on as much as hoped. Gallagher is far better on the ball and better at using that energy productively.
I don’t think you can write off a player brought midway into the horror show that was our season and have him play under 3 different managers as a good judge.
Maybe wasn’t what we needed on his own in January but £35 million for a proven premier league player already looking much better under a proper manager seems like good business to me.
I’m writing off a player that has never been good enough. Chelsea didn’t need him, Atleti didn’t need him and it’ll soon be a case with us.
Much better in what aspect? He’s done next to nothing since joining, one good game, that’s it. We as a team got worse as he joined. It’s been an awful bit of business.
The player that made the biggest difference in us staying up was probably Bentancur, journalists and commentators have touched on it a bit too yet for some reason he gets criticised a fair bit on here, mind you so does Maddison and I’ve never really understood it.
When Bentancur missed those 11 games with the hammy injury, we lost 8 and drew 3. When he returned we won 3, drew 2 and lost 1.
Gallagher’s arrival if anything was a catalyst in us further declining. He wasn’t what we needed and it showed massively. I consider him one of the worst signings in our history so far, up there (or down should I say) with Ndombele and co, when factoring in cost, wages and impact.
When Bentancur missed those 11 games with the hammy injury, we lost 8 and drew 3. When he returned we won 3, drew 2 and lost 1.
Gallagher’s arrival if anything was a catalyst in us further declining. He wasn’t what we needed and it showed massively. I consider him one of the worst signings in our history so far, up there (or down should I say) with Ndombele and co, when factoring in cost, wages and impact.
I don’t see it tbh. I’m not saying I rate Sarr but he gives just as much (or little) as Gallagher .
Bentancur has faults for sure but I’m with you. I think he’s vital for Spurs.
I think he’s a really good player. It’s probably not the highest of praise considering some of the players we’ve signed but he’s the best CM we’ve had since Dembele. It’s just **** he’s gotten a number of bad injuries that’s taken their toll. Looking a lot more like his old self under RDZ though, hope it continues and progresses back to the levels he was at under Conte.
Our PPG with Bentancur in the team was much higher than without
Which is mainly an indictment on Gray and Bergvall, if anyone
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I agree and said it a while back - Bentancur massively raises the technical level of that midfield, and is just so much more assured on the ball than the others. We saw it with Maddison too in the final third, when he came on in those games. Transformational.
I don’t get the extent of the Gallagher vitriol to be honest though. Is he long term what we need? No. Was he, indeed, exactly what we needed if we were only going to sign him in January as a senior player? Also at the time no. Ok, but his application can’t be doubted, his energy was foundational to a revitalised game approach under RDZ, and he scored a wonderful goal against Villa in a win that was a key part of the turnaround.
Given what’s been coming out about the lack of discipline and rule following from players (which Frank was unable to fix), the fitness issues in the squad that Tudor had to work to fix, and the need for a more urgent, proactive style of play to help the group (and the fans) feel like they actually could own their destiny instead of sleepwalking into disaster, you can just as easily make the argument that Gallagher’s qualities addressed all of those terminal concerns - he’s widely regarded as a top pro by every coach he’s had, and he runs himself into the ground. Maybe he was exactly what we needed in the moment we found ourselves in? You could see him throughout his entire run of minutes on the pitch under RDZ organising the other players to press, for example.
The truth is somewhere in between really, as ever. I’ve grown to like him as a player for his endeavour but I think RDZ has to find a way to not rely on him starting matches unless he can improve his technical game because that’s his major deficiency, and as RDZ wants us to become better on the ball (based on his interview today) that’s going to be the barrier for Gallagher and Spurs to overcome.
I made a similar point yesterday.
I think it was obvious that Gray and Bergvall were brought in on the hope that at least one of them would emerge as his long term successor, but two years down the line and let's be honest they still look like they need another two years to even begin to challenge him, if that happens at all.
Which presents a bit of a quandary.
I like Bentancur and agree that he's been a massive help since returning, but even those who rate him much higher than me (DH) will have to find a working solution to the fact that he does seem quite injury prone. And that solution isn't Bergvall or Gray. So do we stick with them, or spend big and twist on a more expensive upgrade, effectively ending their careers?
Doesn’t surprise me, he’s a very good player.
I won’t **** on Gray or Bergvall though. Most are aware they’re some way off being at the desired level. Both could probably do with a loan this summer, though I’d be open to listening to offers for either tbh.
No one’s criticised his work rate but this just feels like a recurring theme amongst some of our players when people question their ability and impact, the response is “but they work hard”. Granted, Gallagher works harder than most but it’s just not enough. You need some level of quality and he doesn’t possess that. He’s brought nothing to the team that we didn’t already have and it took until something like his 13th game for us to record a win, was that solely his fault? No. But it’s just further proof he done absolutely nothing upon joining to raise any levels or provide something we didn’t have and even when De Zerbi came in, we got one genuinely noticeable performance from him.
By this time next year, I’d expect he’ll be looking for a move just like he did with Atleti because ultimately he’s not good enough to start for a side with aspirations of finishing high up the table and I think he believes he is so.
He’s been a terrible signing, no two ways about it. Don’t see much changing either.
Absolutely, the injuries have rocked him too because we’ve not seen the true Bentancur for quite some time. I do now think however we’ve got a manager that can get him back to his best or certainly near it, it’s already begun looking as so.
Definitely need a new midfielder though, to play alongside and/ or in place of Bentancur at times.
As for Gray and Bergvall, along with all the young players we’ve signed the last 18 months-2 years, none have managed to give the manager any headaches over selections, I don’t think any of them have generally improved either. I said it yesterday but I’d look at selling 2 or 3 of them and then probably loan out 1 more. The money we’ve spent on Gray, Tel and Odobert especially could’ve gone on two genuinely good players.
I disagree on his impact, which while it took a while to come, was just as important IMO over that last run of games as Bentancur’s. I don’t think we survive without both of them. There’s a reason Sarr wasn’t getting picked to do the same job - at a guess it’s because Gallagher is more of a voice than Sarr so helps organise the team too - so I don’t think it’s also entirely fair to say we already had that in the squad, because I think we demonstrably didn’t.
I accept you’ll disagree on this and that’s fine but from where I sit he’s had a significant impact when it mattered and that can’t make him a terrible signing - even the financial outlay for his fee and wages is dwarfed by the impact of relegation, which I think he played an important role in avoiding.
But regardless, in the long term like you say RDZ either needs to find a way of having that high impact pressing game without Gallagher starting every game, or coach him to the extent that he becomes a better technician. I don’t see him as a long term solution, on that we agree.
With Gray and Bergvall I think it says a lot that none of the coaches, let alone the fans, seems to really know where they should be playing. That’s surprising given how long they’ve been here. Archie has been passed from pillar to post to be fair, but Bergvall is a bit of a mystery still.
I honestly reckon it serves them and the club best to find them really good loans for next season and let them develop in a specific position and role for a year. Assuming that Biss is off, Bentancur stays, and let’s say for now we maybe get Palhinha back somehow (RDZ is clearly keen) then:
We get to see if Bentancur can stay fit and hit his levels under this coach. If not we try and get rid.
Palhinha raises the floor of the squad and gives us a very clear profile of player to build the rest around.
Sarr stays for some continuity (though, I wouldn’t be surprised if we sell him this summer and keep one of the others)
Gallagher probably mainly plays further forward but can fill in deeper.
We probably add one or two more - these should be players who are ‘ready’ and come in more experienced than Gray and Bergvall - the classic mid-20s, ready to enter their peaks sort of range.
Then after the year we make a decision about Bentancur/Sarr/Gallagher etc as the incumbents, and have a better picture of what Gray and Bergvall are turning into. Them hanging around for another season with no European fixtures to rotate through does nobody any favours really.
Nah sorry, he’s had nowhere near the level of impact on the team as Bentancur did.
We didn’t win in his first 10 or 11 league games and ironically one of the games we actually won during that period was against Atleti in the CL at home where he didn’t start.
Had we signed a player we needed in January, we could’ve been well shot of those relegation spots. He was a catalyst to us progressing towards relegation with his non-existent performances.
We needed more in January, obviously. I think quite a few of us said when the window shut that Gallagher is fine if you accept him for what he is but we needed forwards, and players in midfield to raise the technical level of the team, not just a runner who raises the floor.
Thats on Lange and the leadership though. Their comments implied there was resource there even having spent on Gallagher but they didn’t want to make any ‘rash decisions’ and that was nearly catastrophic, as has been discussed at length. Pure negligence.
Sarr will be sold I think. The Gallagher signing has basically ended his Spurs career. We’ve got no Europa next year, rotation’s gonna be minimal and Sarr’s just not gonna get much game time because of it.
I’ll almost guarantee you that Gallagher will be wanting out by this time next summer too. Unless RDZ has a huge brain fart (or we get another extensive injury list), Gallagher won’t be part of our best XI next season. Bentancur and Palhinha (assuming he stays) have already struck up a good CM partnership and then sitting ahead of them has to be Maddison, with Simons his backup once he returns. Gallagher will find himself in the exact same situation as he did at Atleti - not good enough to start and wanting regular football somewhere.
One of Gray or Bergvall should realistically be sold. I can’t see it happening for both here. We’re in too much need of immediate quality that we just don’t have the pathway for a young player any time soon.