Tottenham in the Summer Transfer window - 2013 edition!

"Having a striker who can cause those who oppose him to go insane, rather than a striker who drives us insane by being out of position or offside for the majority of chances we create, would be an improvement."

And the big C antics on the pitch, and getting involved with the crowd, would make Suarez and Cantona
look like toddler tiffs.

 

There's no doubting that Dempsey has got us some important goals, and 10 is a fairly decent amount. The problem is that although he scored a few, most of the time he's very poor for most of the 90 mins when he plays. Yes he's has some good performances and has worked hard, but it's not been enough.
We need someone with a bit more flair, a better first touch and better creativity to benefit us more over the 90 mins. Dempsey seems to actually break down a lot of our attacks IMO. Goals are 1 thing, but we need someone who is more beneficial to the entire team.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that he's been a resounding success. I completely agree that we need to invest in someone else to score goals and who will work better with the rest of the team and I will be pointing the finger firmly at those responsible if Dempsey is starting games regularly next season due to a lack of investment from the club. I don't think we should be selling him yet though, unless we get a decent offer. He's an experienced Premiership professional, he's shown his quality at Fulham, and I think he can do a job for us in a number of positions. Therefore he's perfect squad filler material due to his versatility and the fact that he's the type of player who'll always look to get himself into positions to try and score goals. This might just not be the right club for him, it happens sometimes. But at the same time I reckon he's worth keeping hold of for now, so long as no decent offers come in or we need to fill up a squad place.

 

I'm surprised no one's mentioned getting a decent backup for Lennon. To me, the turning point of the season was juggling our lineup against Liverpool because there was no one suitable to replace Lennon.

I would love to get Moutinho. I think with him, Bale and the rest of our team, we could be amazing. I'm not sold on Eirkson.

I'd take Baines at any reasonable price, assuming Beni's gone, which looks like a safe assumption. Most of us want to get rid of Dempsey. But what about Gylfi? To me, he's underrated, very young, and proved his value when he finally had a chance to start. Every game he either scores a goal, creates a goal, or comes very close to doing so. He also works hard and presses very well.

I can see the anti-Gylfi point of view: that he's not quite what we want. I just think we need to make a decision with him, and probably Holtby as well: commit to them and start them, or get rid of them. One thing Gylfi doesn't seem to do well is sit on the bench, and I'm not at all sure Holtby will do well at it either.

 

Agreed huddle, and I think we will keep him. But he's not a starter for me.

Rwaeb - moutinho is very expensive and he's another year older. I really wanted him, but I think eriksen is the better option as he's only got a year Left on his contract. He's also very creative and scores goals. + he's 21 I think.
I think we've got enough in holtby dembele and sandro, not to need moutinho now either.

 

Benteke hatrick tonight. Sign him up, levy!!

 

When Randy tells Levy down the phone what the price is, it will go in one ear and you'll see it physically leave the other one without registering, the phone will then go down..."Daniel...Daniel...you still there!"

 

Levy is going to just have to bite the bullet and realise that strikers are expensive!!

Negredo looks like he could be going to fiorentina or Dortmund
Damiao could well be going to Napoli

... Who's going to be next?

We faff about for far too long!

 

If he ends these few games strongly, and scores the winner v Chelsea, then yeah!

 

I just want to say how much I appreciate you taking the time to make your ins and outs as thoroughly as this. I think that sometimes people forget that there are a limited amount of squad spots and that those young players are all a year older now and some might take up actual squad places. One thing - you could have asterisked the "home-grown" players - though I presume we're pretty comfy with them now are we? Out of 25 only 17 can be non-home-grown. Well you've only got 11 up there (Gylfi qualifies as homegrown). So we're pretty comfy there I guess.

Might be worth bearing in mind if people are gonna recommend selling Parker, Defoe, Walker, Rose etc though.

 

Personally I think that we need:

At least one striker (two if we can get Ade to part with his lovely contract - unlikely).

Cover/competition for Lennon and the left wing too (can one player do this?)

Another keeper

And that's about it really. Now that is assuming that no-one leaves. Yes it'd be nice for Walker to have some competition but hardly worth spending a few million unless you're really gonna replace him. I think it's not a priority. All in all I think our defence is pretty sorted. AVB seems to think otherwise re the LB position which seems weird to me...

CM we have Dembele, Sandro, Holtby, Parker, Hudd. There's a bit of a lack of creativity for sure and it'd be lovely to sign a Mata or a Coutinho but for me we'll get more bang for our buck if we invest in some skill and ability further up the pitch. A skillful forward - not just a goal-scorer (though "just" goalscorers start at 20m plus...). And another option for our wings. With Bale moving inside our left-side has looked a bit tame (not helped by having a Naughton out there being the only person "providing" "width" at times). And when Lennon's not fit or not on form we all of a sudden have no cutting edge.

For me Remy looks like he might kill at least two birds with one stone. And Levy must love not wasting stones. Is he good enough? Dunno - going by MOTD highlights TBH.

Thinking about it again yes - it would be nice to have a more skillful/attacking midfielder around. But they'd have to be clearly better than what we have now. And that'll cost big bucks that will rule out strikers. But if we can get a bit of money for Parker/Livermore then who knows if we can manage to buy a match-winner type for 10m (other teams seem able to). Hmm - lose those two and the MF is looking a bit light-weight if one injury happens though...

Am I the only one who thinks we should bite Sunderland's hand off if they offer 8m for Rose? He never impressed me a great deal at Spurs. Maybe he's come on this season but from my point of view it's 8m for a fairly average LB. I'd take that.

 

OS might know the answer to this, is Jordan Archer ready to be back up to Lloris, or does he need another season on loan somewhere?

 

As long as we sign a good new striker I'll be happy.

I'd like Smith to become our RB or shift Kaboul there and play Caulker/ Dawson beside Vertonghen.

Carroll will hopefully be a bit more involved.

Townsend will add some much needed competition on the wings.

Kane can come in and be 3rd choice striker (hopefully, if we can shift Adebarndoor).

Archer can challenge Friedel to be back up keeper.

Think Parker, Gallas, Huddlestone, Naughton, Rose and possibly even Dempsey could be on their way out permanently.

 

we've often said this season that we struggle for options on the bench who can make a difference. IMO, we've lacked depth this season. Surely if those names were on the way out, we've got to be bringing a lot in? As it stands I'd say we need 4 players as an absolute must. I don't think we'll be signing 8-10 somehow!

 

Just saw this and thought you all might want to have a watch.

we really really cannot lose Bale this summer!

[video=youtube;fxuY0F1Pt1M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxuY0F1Pt1M[/video]

 

I've got a lot of faith in our youth mate. For the first time in years we actually have a conveyor belt of what I'd consider potential Premier League talent. Our lads just need game time to prove themselves. Dortmund and Barca are prime examples of what youth can do when given the chance, I'd love us to follow suit.

Carroll - Hudd.
Livermore - Parker.
Smith - Naughton.
Fryers - Rose.
Townsend - Dempsey (we have Sig and Holtby who can play Deuce's position, plus Pritchard will be good enough in a year to challenge IMO).

All the lads I've mentioned have the potential to either better the player they'd be replacing or at least fill the gap without much difference.

EDIT: Perhaps Livermore is the only one I'd hold questions over, while I think he's capable of being in our squad, I'm 50-50 as to whether I think he'd fill in well IF Sandro picked up another long term injury.

 

Carroll - yes, has proven he should be pushing for the matchday squad, week in week out.
Livermore - not good enough IMO. Has gone backwards under AVB.
Smith - showing potential, but a big big step up.
Naughton - been out of position so it's hard to say. Do we need all of Walker, Naughts and Smith?
Fryers - seems like he's being babysat in a creche at the moment! why isn't he out on loan? He's played for united FFS.
Rose - playing well for sunderland so who knows? But it's a big step up
Townsend - same as Rose

I completely agree with what youre saying about our youth policy but I think in most individual cases, it's a little too soon. Those youngsters cannot be relied upon to get us champions league football. They are still very inexperienced or perhaps playing at a lower level. it's a big step for them and it's not fair to give them that pressure just yet, IMO.

 

To be honest has Jake been that much worse than Parker? Jake's barely featured for us this season where as Parker has had way too many starts. Harry had a lot of faith in Jake where as AVB doesn't (it seems) so Jake's confidence may have taken a hit, on last seasons performances I felt Jake had the potential to replace Scotty in the near future and I'd like to cling to that lol.
I think Smith is good enough now, he's had spells in League 1 and Championship and excelled in my opinion, so I'd like to think he's ready for the step up.
Townsend has proved he's got all the ability and potential to become a good Prem winger in my opinion.
Rose like Townsend has proven he's got Prem ability but I'd have Benny all day long there and with Fryers looking to push through (and like you said he's played for Utd so why can't he play for us?!) I think Rose would be better off joining Sunderland perm.

I wouldn't rely on them so to speak to be at the forefront of getting us CL but the players they'd be replacing aren't the "first team superstars" if you know what I mean, so I think they'd be capable of filling in adequately and if they can push on and improve then that's a bonus.

 

Thinking about players' ages is helpful. If this were the squad (and it seems realistic), that would mean getting rid not only of Gallas, Naughton, Ade and Gomes, but also Khumalo, Dawkins, Parrett, Livermore, Falque, Obika and Bentley (some of whose contracts will simply expire). I'm always surprised by how many over-21s we have who aren't in the first team squad

 

No, probably not! But Parker is a bit more agile and mobile which is probably why we've seen him feature more. Livermore has hardly played this season, which I think says it all about his future. Even with sandro out for half a season, he can hardly get a game.
Many of those players mentioned are worthy of a squad place, which may help our depth out. But it won't necessarily help our quality in depth, just yet. We need a few names who will make the difference and add more value to the team, so it's not the same players carrying us all the time.

2 x strikers
1 x creative goal scoring midfielder (a Modric - VDV love child)
versatile wing cover

^^ that's the very least for me.

Hopefully AVB will be given the funds to shape the team the way he wants. I doubt it though.