But who is going to head the ball into people's shoulders? WHO WILL HEAD THE BALL INTO PEOPLE'S SHOULDERS?????
Looking at the comments on this board I think most would argue that Winks, Sissoko, Dier, Alderweireld, Aurier, Davies, Dele, Lucas and Lamela are all below top 4 standard. In the last nine games of last season more than seven of those featured on average. In those games we got 20 points and should have had more given better refereeing. Can people really not see that they must be better than we think and that it is going to be really hard to improve upon them as squad players, even if we should be trying to strengthen the starting X1. If we were to line up like this Lloris Doherty, Sanchez, Skriniar, Reguilon Ndombele, Hobjberg, Lo Celso Bale, Kane, Son That's theoretically a much better team than any we fielded in that run, but is it really going to get more than 2.2 points a game?
We just scraped a 6th place spot on the last day of last season. We finished 4th before that. 3rd before that and 2nd before that. We've progressively gotten worse with most of those players you've listed and most have been prominent members of the first XI not just the squad, especially last season. I'm not sure why a 9 game run makes you believe they're good enough when over say a 114/ 152 game run they've seen us decline and generally play poor football during the process. Though in those 9 games, Lucas, Dele and Lamela managed just 1 goal and 1 assist between them. Sissoko and Winks didn't manage a single goal or assist, in fact Winks didn't even manage a goal or assist all season - in all competitions too. Our defence kept just 4 clean sheets in those 9 games and haven't kept a clean sheet so far this season, in both the league and Europa. To try suggesting they're better than what they are is - in my opinion - pretty bizarre. They're poor/ below-par players (some who have been good in the past, some not even that) who have been bailed out often by the brilliance of Kane and Son. It's similar to when we were under AVB where Bale was "Bale-ing" us out back then, though the moment he left, AVB was sacked midway through the season and Sherwood was sacked at the end of it, partly as they were incompetent managers and partly because the players here at the time (including the new signings with the Bale money bar Eriksen) were no where near the desired quality. The team you've listed with the possible Skriniar signing is on paper, a brilliant XI again but we now need to make sure those players don't get too comfortable and that's something we need to work on in the upcoming windows by binning those poor squad players and bringing in players who can truly give their first team counterparts something to think about whilst also adding better stats in general too. That's where we went wrong under Poch, we built a fantastic first XI where we finished 2nd in 2017 but poor/ no recruitment after that meant we progressively got worse.
Thanks for the controversial post. I don't always agree with you PS, but you do think outside the box and provoke some debate. That side looks better on paper to me, not just in terms of personnel, but in terms of balance and a working system. I tend to look to those things as much as quality, as a lot of teams in the Premier League have one or the other. The best have both. A lot of our team selections in the last couple of seasons have weaknesses, often glaringly so. I look at that line-up and if everyone's fit and firing, then I think that most opponents would be bloody terrified. We'll have to wait and see if that ever happens, though. There are a lot of unknowns about it and it may not work in practice.
To be fair I think what actually happens is that if Lloris, Son and Kane are fit we do well. But I still think some of the criticisms are over the top.
I think most of the criticism has been spot on. When you go back to Poch’s team at its peak, we had XI players who were in their prime and a real joy to watch. Nowadays we have (excluding the new boys) three players we can truly say are brilliant and they’re who you’ve just mentioned. Outside of them we have a few reliable options as well as some up and comers who could be great but we have far have too many passengers or has-beens that need throwing out. It’s why I was pretty fuming with the club giving Toby a new deal and I can’t say I was delighted that Dier was too. Two players who’ve been below par for years have gotten extended contracts and pay rises, it’s madness. People still cling to Dele’s form from 2015-2018 yet seemingly cast aside the last two years of him being abysmal whilst still thinking he’ll suddenly come good again, his poor form has been going on for too long to now just be a bad patch that some go through. Winks is a player who I’ve never known to have so many excuses made for over the years, made worse at the fact that unlike Dele he’s never been a key player for the club. Lucas lives off of his semi final heroics. Lamela is more liked for his attitude than his actual ability in my opinion, he’d die for the badge and I genuinely love that but as a footballer is he really good enough for our aspirations? I’m not so sure. Aurier has generally been a walking disaster albeit does have a few good games here and there. Sissoko’s been here for four or five years now and has had one great season, it seems his best use is being the older brother figure to some of the players more so than his actual ability. For me there’s just too much mediocrity around the place. Thankfully the business we’ve done this window has a lot of promise and I’m excited to see them all together in due course but beyond those players - just like in 2017 - there isn’t enough quality in the squad.
I think with the news about son doing a hammy I would prefer Kim min jae and get in a quality striker
We have known since 3 days before the start of the 19/20 season that we screwed up leaving ourselves with only 1 striker. I fail to understand how we find ourselves a week before the end of this summers window (almost 14 months and 2 window later) and it still has not been rectified.
Most likely because no-one has much cash and everyone is trying to outstare each other. there is some talk that the Real Madrid deals were easy bcause not much cash up front.
I don't mean a top name...I mean a Llorente etc. Never got why we just ditched him for no one tbh. Last season we could have gone Mitrovic or Shane Long etc. Short term and happy to come from the bench and a chance to play European football. It was a suicidal decision that is continuing to haunt us. Tomorrow we play chelsea with no striker ... bizarre state of affairs.
Foyth now being linked with Fulham, as it's dawned on them that the CBs who got them relegated last time might not be up to the task
