not sure if this is on any other post but this from espn Manager Andre Villas-Boas has revealed Tottenham came close to sealing a deadline-day deal to sign Internacional striker Leandro Damiao, before insisting his club will not be held to ransom over inflated fees and wages. Villas-Boas conceded he would have welcomed the arrival of a new striker to back up the options of Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, but he has moved to quell the concerns of Spurs fans frustrated by the club's failure to sign a hit-man. "We have approached this market sensibly and said that if it was going to go out of proportion (fees and wages), we would step out of it," Villas-Boas said. "We told you he was a player we chased, but we couldn't agree on the full conditions, so we have moved on. "The fans' concerns for this situation are due by opinion making and expectation. It is a rollercoaster for them. If this window was not open and you are sitting in fourth position, you are pretty comfortable, but we are where we stand. We sounded the market for different possibilities as we have found comfort in a 4-4-2 formation and we only have two strikers, but it didn't happen." Villas-Boas confirmed that leading scorer Jermain Defoe suffered no reaction from his injury after making his return in the 1-1 draw with Norwich and is fit to start Sunday's game against West Browmich Albion, while he also suggesting young striker Harry Kane could play a part in the remainder of Tottenham's season after his loan spell at Carrow Road was cut short. "It was in the interests of the player and the team," he added of Kane. "Norwich didn't have the necessity to hold onto him and it is good for us to have another striking option." Read more at http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/191190.html#72RiEePID1Urcs7y.99
I can understand the club not paying 20-25 million for Damiao, as for that sort of money I would expect us to be taking a risk on a proven striker, not a punt on someone that may not even settle in European Football, however that doesn't excuse the lack of strikers as the club seems obsessed in trying to secure Damiao on their terms, its a long running saga that Levy must accept he can't win, unless he truly believes Damiao is worth taking a huge risk on.
I hope Levy draws a line under this Damiao nonsense. Good player but simply not in our kind of price range and I really wish we'd given up on him earlier so we could've tried to bring someone else in. I still think our squad is good enough to compete for 4th and Holtby looks a quality signing so not the worst window for us, all in all.
He talks sense in that if the window wasn't there then the problem wouldn't exist. But the fact is that the window is there and others around us (Arse + Pool) have strengthened their weak areas whereas we strengthened our strong area (i still think Holtby was a good signing however)
I hope from the above that we aren't too wedded to 4-4-2. Can't see us getting the most from Holtby if he is competing with Dembele and Parker for 2 places. Siggy will get no game time either in that set-up?
We'll be in either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 long term, 4-4-2 was just a temporary measure IMO. Especially now we've bought in Holtby.
Either way we still have 4 players competing for 2 places in the team; Dembele, Holtby, Sig and Dempsey are going to have to fight out the playmaker/'in the hole' roles. A good situation to be in on paper, but one is new to the league and the other three have been so inconsistent/consistently poor. We need to start picking up points again and quickly, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have all strengthened.
I think that Villas-Boas is using 4-4-2 in the loosest sense. He's counting players like Dempsey, Holtby and Kane as potential parts of that front 2, I think. Playing one traditional striker, which leaves us with a choice between Defoe and Adebayor, plus one of the above players in behind them, should work pretty well. With Holtby offering an additional option in the middle of the park and both Dempsey and Sigurdsson able to play wide, I think we're relatively ok for depth. I'd still wouldn't be against us bringing in some sort of short term fix to see us through, though.
I would view Dembele as being one of the '2' in a 4-2-3-1 WY but I see what you mean. I'd like to see him getting forward more with Parker sitting deeper. Also although Holtby may be new to the league the Bundesliga isn't too dissimilar to the PL, it's far more similar than La Liga/Serie A for example. I see no reason why he shouldn't bed in reasonably quickly. I would have been an advocate of loaning Sig out as well to a PL side just so he can get his confidence back and start playing with a smile on his face, as I think that's his issue really, but as we loaned out Townsend it's sensible to keep him as he can potentially do a job anywhere across that '3'.
His club won't be held to ransom with inflated fees and wages. I will always back an attitude like that even if we don't get top 4.
It's just not Gylfi's year. He's had two late game winners denied by extraordinary saves. I hope we stick with him, because I still think he's a very good player. I'd like to see the 4-2-3-1 continue, for the moment with Holtby at CM and Dempsey as striker, the reason being that Holtby looks best in that role, Defoe is injured and/or playing badly and Dempsey has been scoring. If Dempsey keeps scoring, keep him there. If not, bring back Ade when he comes back.
