JPG357-I agree that Paulinho looks really good, However, Sandro IMO remains the best ball winner. Against teams that keep the ball well, Arsenal, Chavs, if we ever get to play Barca, Sandro is a must to break up the middle of the park. I've been impressed with Epoue so far but I haven't seen enough to reach a conclusion. I hope we have the luxury of being able to rotate but I'm sure that the injuries will be along soon enough.
Answer to Poll...(not the dopey mod! ) I hope Soldado makes the biggest impact, getting the thing in the onion bag is 'impact', all the pretty play is for nothing otherwise. Answer to thread title 'who might I get excited about'...Lamela, he's got some serious natural latin flair, top Argentinian talent...its like the 80's again!
Fair comments Deedub. We'll see how things go, hopefully Sandro will get back to his best and if he does that will be a fantastic achievement in itself given the appalling nature of his injury, one of the worst a footballer can suffer. Sandro may well be the best ball winner of the three, though I think Capoue had more interceptions in 30 mins against Palace than any other player on the park or maybe in the Prem that weekend. It was some incredible stat anyway, so he may well have something to say on that score. Paulinho is also good and maybe even excellent at winning the ball too, so he might argue that one too. We'll see how the stats pan out over the season. Sandro definitely has more of a physical presence in his play than the other two, so the intimidation factor is probably stronger with him, but that can also result in more cards and free kicks against him and therefore us. I'm delighted Sandro is back, which of the three proves to be the best player will be fascinating.
Tough call, I think. I like Paulinho a lot. He has something of Vieira about him, a player I admired greatly. Lamela has the potential to make the biggest impact, if he copes with the transition quickly. Likewise, I have a feeling that Soldado will score a good few goals for us. So, who will make the biggest impact? In a way, who cares? We are, hopefully, not a one man team anymore, so I hope they all make a massive contribution. It's already been said, but let's not expect too much, too soon.
I have to go for Soldado as the striker we have craved for years (hopefully) to make the biggest impact. The player I am most excited about? So far Paulinho a smooth operator in midfield a class above anything seen at Spurs since Davids, but that is to understate the excitement of all these new players. Come on! let's go.
Disagree there JPG. Hugo is world class don't get me wrong but Brad is still a very good keeper. Even at 42 he's still a better goalie than a few first choice in the Prem (McGregor, Westwood, Speroni, Marshall, Jaaskelainen) and I think we're very lucky to have him here as number 2 to Hugo, not only due to ability but his experience and knowledge can be passed on to the younger keepers like Archer, Miles, Vigouroux etc. If Brad started today (which he won't), I wouldn't automatically go into the game thinking we've lost already, of course it'd be a huge blow but I wouldn't write off our chances of getting anything. Out of interest, what back up keeper is available that you'd prefer? I genuinely can't think of many keepers out there who'd be happy to play 2nd fiddle and are of a higher calibre to Brad.
I'm not a fan of Brad but as a number 2 he's fine. Although I'd have McGregor over Friedel any day - he's a very good keeper.
Well, Soldado is the player who has least impressed me, today. Looks like we could have spent silly money to buy another Pav. Hope I'm wrong.
Oh come on HIAG, even Klinnsmann would gave struggled with that kind of service! This team needs time and a bit of a shake up. This two week break may be the ideal chance to get things right before we host Norwich. Keep the faith.
Thats harsh imo mate, RS has worked his socks off for the previous 2 matches making runs no one had the vision to spot, today one of the creative options to help him, Townsend, spent the match mostly ignoring him, what do we do? give him Dawson hoofs. He looked disillusioned and rightly so, I was.
HIAG mate that's very rash and harsh. Soldado gets himself into brilliant spaces but our midfielders aren't finding him. However don't fear, Eriksen is here!
That's all well and good, guys, yet when it was Bent suddenly it was all his fault, not lack of service. "It's like having only 10 men," you all cried, and "He doesn't work hard enough for the team," you tried to have me believe. I'm sorry, but I didn't see any difference with Soldado. Are you all saying that Soldado is our luxury player, there only for the purpose of putting the ball in the back of the net? If that's the case, why did we get rid of Bent? As I said, I hope I am wrong, and that we haven't bought ourselves another Pav; and if he proves himself I'll be the first to pat him on the back.
Soldado's movement and workrate are absolutely off the scale compared to Bent. There's no comparison. The current system hasn't suited him at all and nobody's linking up the midfield with the attack. Either Holtby or Eriksen need to play in front of two of our more physical midfielders.
Nothing to do with Soldado. You don't create enough so he has to drop deeper. He's a fox in the box striker who will get you 20 a season with good service. He's not a Suarez or Rooney type that can drop off and bring attacking midfielders into play, that's the sort of player both Chelsea and Spurs need or they will have to change formation.
I say we should keep Carroll. He will progress much more training with our first team squad than going to QPR. There ae plenty of games that he will be able to play- EL and cup -and we will be able to monitor his progress far more. He is probably the best player to come from our Academy yet.
I agree, Paul. He'll get more opportunities now too, as Capoue's injury didn't look good. Very different players but still central midfielders.
I was told he was going to join Ajax on loan. That's a perfect club for his development but QPR? No. Just no. If he's going on loan in England then it needs to be in the Prem otherwise I'd rather keep him here.
Being loaned to QPR didn't do Walker or Townsend any harm, and I'd take QPR over the rumoured move to Palace. As for Ajax being a perfect club for his development, whilst I agree to this in theory there's plenty of other clubs he could develop at that have a proven track record with youngsters, such as Southampton or Dinamo Zagreb.
