Goals based on previous performances/estimates United scored 89 last year to win the league, they conceded 43 We only scored 66 last season and conceded 46 so we need to significantly improve Potential goals based on previous performances/estimates Paulinho = Ave 8 goals/per season Capoue = Ave 3 goals/season Chadli = Ave 12 goals/season Soldado = Ave 24 goals/season Lennon = Ave 5 goals/season Defoe = Ave 16 goals per season Gylfi = Ave 4 goals/season Verts = Ave 4 goals/season Walker = say 2 Daws say 2 Kaboul say 2 Holtby say 2 Sandro say 2 Townsend say 4 Benny say 2 Danny rose say 2 Tommy Carroll say 2 Ade, who knows say 4 - 10. AN Others??? Somewhere between 100 and 106 goals as it stands so we don't really need Bale. What we need is to learn how to defend corners.
Wow, I didn't realise we had brought in that much. Couple that with the TV money (seen people say it was £35m?) = £62m....... and at the moment our net spend is.....£62m coincidence? So for all the media hype (and fan hype) about our buying, we are yet to actually show any ambition (outlay) meaning the rumours of us buying Willian, Chariches, Lamela and Errickson could be true! (especially if they are off set against CL money and/or Bale) Obviously there will be a burden on Wages, but this just seems like clever re-jiging of assets so far.
Doesn't add up, you're talking league but then seem to use averages for all comps. 24 LEAGUE goals would be utterly spectacular. Defoe won't get 16 league goals (1 in 2 playing 32 games) with a likely reduced role. Similarly with Ade, he won't get 10 league goals with a reduced role based on his goal scoring last season. Half those defenders and midfielders won't score at all.
Pretty sure Fergy said he looks for 100 goals in his squad for any given year for all comps min. Those stats would indicate we are actually ok, though i'm not 100% convinced. Ade was a beast when he got service (VDV) take that away and he was poor. Bobby will be the same unless we can give him the ball in dangerous areas. Bale created so many of his chances last year and made us better then we were. If we can get in someone to put the ball in the danger zone then Bobby, Ade and Defoe could all get 50 goals in all comps. Then we need 50 goals from the rest of the squad which is fair enough. I'm surprised we were so close to utd on goals conceded - actually means we are not as far away as people think from being title contenders. With a small amount of mind-set change, a good run and cutting out goals from corners and we could be on to something good!
i'd be looking for a lot more than 100 in all comps if it takes circa 90 to win the league. How many cup games are we expecting/wanting to play? Maybe 20? If we want 90 in 38 in the league (2+ per game) then we'd be looking at similar in the cups, so another 2x20=40. Thats 130 goals in all comps. I don't think we will challenge for the title this year anyway, but it would be good to score 75 in the league and drop our conceded a bit.
No problem Roo. What gets me, and I've just seen it on another site is people saying Daws is 'history' under AVB, oh and some other 'expert' also said there's no room for Daws in our first 18, Right ho, that's our captain not even making the bench. It's true AVB thought Daws was history, so he made a massive mistake, which he has since admitted, and that was one of the key reasons we lost out on CL. I would play Daws instead of JV, and push him out to LB, IF required. But ATM, Daws is the only properly fit CB we have, so he will lead us out at Palace, and all those people who didn't have Daws in their 'first XI', i.e. practically everyone in Spursdom except for me and Michael's mum, can stick their selections right up their jumpers. (I am allowed to say this aren't I?)
Vertonghen was in the team of the year last year as a centre-back. He openly admitted that he didn't particularly like playing left-back and only did it as an emergency measure. It would be very harsh to shove him out there again in my opinion.
Cheers Rob. Definitely nothing personal, and I apologise again if I went OTT, it does happen, and I'm not proud of it.
Vertonghen is our number 1 centre back and number 1 defender. He's injured currently but its not such a serious injury that it is likely to have affected anything (unlike Kaboul). If Kaboul comes back as he was then him and Verts are our 1 & 2. Until we find that out our 1 & 2 are Verts and Daws.
I've tried to do an estimate based on goals/appearance average and tried to normalise it for 38 league games. They are only averages and I'm sure some will score more and some will score less. However, I think we have a lot more goals in the squad than before. Losing Bale may not be as bad as many are thinking. 24 in the league would be magnificent but Soldado has scored 88 in 161 matches so my mental arithmetic was a little astray, but it still comes out as 20.77 over 38 games which is pretty dammed good.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...sen-and-Willian-in-bid-to-keep-Bale-from-Real Fairly intersting.
Space. - exactly what I was getting at with my comments on Carroll, when I spoke about his movement and knowing what his next idea is. completely agree with all that Spurm. This is why I've had my reservations about Holtby and Sig. we're yet to see this from them. They may have it in their lockers, but what if they haven't? We missed this type of player so badly last season and despite our abundance of midfield numbers, this is why I keep saying we're still missing something. Do we take the risk that Holtby and Sig might not shine? But yes, Dembele is an exception to the rule. - great strength and awareness around him. The thing is, Despite Daws being Captain, that doesn't necessarily mean he needs to play. It's not just about what he does in the 90mins of football, being a captain is also about everything else he does all week in training and in the dressing room.
Well it would be harsh, and probably won't need to happen much, given suspensions, rotation, injury, whatever. As long as Daws is playing most weeks, I don't really mind. To me, we need a captain and leader out there, and that's Daws for me. We'll see what happens. IF JV was fit for Sunday I would have expected him to start alongside Daws, as AVB probably would prefer Kab on the bench ATM If all three were fit and raring to go, I'd play JV at LB, as I don't think Rose is at the level of the other 3. We'll see what happens as the season progresses.
If that is all true, and the plan works, there will be an enormous amount of pressure on AVB. Will also mean that no player would play more than 25 league games as we could rotate and not weaken. Even Bale could be rested with those players.
one thing we do need to sort out before the Arsenal game is who is playing at LB. Danny Rose is gonna get torn a new one by Walcott.
They will all get a lot of game time. We seem to be building a large squad, whereby Dawson, Kaboul and Vertonghen will all play a significant number of games. It only becomes an issue when you play games like the NLD or cup finals (God willing), the sort of games all the players will want to play in.
I'd rather not think about that right now. Not with all this positivity floating around! Think that will be a game for Verts.
Exactly SD. I don't think it's an issue, and I'm not worried about Daws not getting enough game time. Because I know if he stays fit, he'll play plenty and will be happy and loyal to AVB. It's when people start up with their 'first XIs' or even 'XVIII's that the trouble starts, for me, and yes I am a grumpy old git. All summer I've been reading 'XI's' that completely ignored Daws, had Sandro JV and Kab in, didn't have Soldado and Capoue, etc. Some had Holtby in, and one or two might even had Hudd or Parker in. People can play Mystic Meg if they want, but if they get it wrong then maybe they should pack away their crystal (palace) balls The first XI that starts at Selhurst will not have been predicted by one of these soothsayers is my prediction (do we have a Michael in the House)
I dunno, that might be the one game where i'd prefer Rose. Rose has pace, Walcott has pace, neither have much else With Benny at LB Walcott's 1 weapon can get used
