Summer 2018 transfer window

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Hello all. I'm a long time lurker and decided to put my 1st post here as it seems the most appropriate and frequented place for people to judge whether they can be bothered to read my thoughts about this Club we all love or whether I'm a troll or whether you'd like me to see you next Tuesday

My basic stances that may help make your decision much easier

- I'm in the "camp" of supporters who are blown away by where we are in comparison to how things were 25 odd years ago. I'm 33. I grew up hearing whispers of once legendary players , reputation and stature.

As young as I can remember back we were in my younger years very much a mid table club hoping for decent cup runs. There's nothing particularly wrong in that, we made some greatly received signings like Davids, Klinsman et al giving us hope of once again being amongst the elite. I honestly feel that we contributed to some amazing premier league memories,without having to build an extension to WHL to fill the overstocked trophy cabinet.

- With the above in mind I may frustrate some in being very calm about our current transfer window.
I won't tread over the last few seasons in any real depth to try keep this message as short as possible. I would put my self in the "camp" that is delighted with our transfer strategy and philosophy with regards to how to progress as a club.

I do appreciate the frustration that comes with our model. For me, Daniel Levy has shown that he's concerned with the long game , for use of a better term, than to rely on a model that solely relies on investment based on no guaranteed results. Nothing I can say can better example this than the envy inducing new stadium and football schooling and training infrastructure we have at our disposal.

All this makes me feel content. Again, I do appreciate frustrations. Every morning I come on here hoping to read of an announcement or at the least a concrete link.

- It's only my opinion but until pre season starts without any players in the squad that we end up purchasing after it starts and who were NOT at the World Cup will likely contribute to frustration for Poch and arguably not as productive as alstart to the season as a scenario where they're all their and working hard from day one.
It's also frustrating to see that other clubs have either concluded some business or are at least close on finialising deals.
For what it's worth I don't envy Levy or Poch at the moment. I look at the team and see it as a very difficult situation to handle.
We're enticing enough with the players here and the above investment in everything Tottenham that we could feasibly substitute an established policy of spreading the transfer kitty on youngsters with a highly regarded likelihood of making it or diamonds in the rough and look towards now making major statements in the transfer marketI feel the answer lies somewhere in between and I think this is the strategy we'll now see as evidenced by our large outlay in Davinson Sánchez last year.

A final note on this point. I feel that a lot of people may not appreciate or take into account our current position when they too freely berate the owners and philosophy that got us here. We can, rightfully, attract some players who's stature in the game would perceivably elevate us another level. However, there are so many many factors that have to go our way. We love the club but not everyone holds such passion for it. If you're Kovacic, for example, with all likelihood while you'd be happy to join Tottenham given where we are their is the possibility that a club with a perceivable larger stature atm who can easily offer more than our seemingly incentive based wages, all round signing fees and commercial exposure means that we can't necessarily just identify a target and significantly hedge our time and eggs into them.

For many factors beyond both Poch and Levy's control we sometimes have to wait until other clubs have completed or made firm inroads with their transfer business

- To summarise and bring this back round to transfers. I can see why we are linked with certain players and why we (likely) may not yet have done any business

* Jack Grealish - meets homegrown requirements and has some relatively high positives from our perspective. He's still young and developing despite having a lot of experience as a first team starter in both the premiership and the championship. He's versatile, something I feel is integral to how Pochettino wants players to be. Like many players that havetrodden a similar path he's gone from someone further upfield anywhere behind the 3 due to his indisputable ability to beat players to somewhat of a central A.M. to now being an adaptable midfielder. With all his experience and natural bulking up, understanding of the game etc it's actually encouraging imo that he's moved into central midfield and is using his dribbling traits alongside a seemingly consistent ability to be creative with his passing and channeling his anger / competitiveness / perceived childishness into a hunger to take charge. For anything under £25m I'd consider it an investment that has high reward / low risk written all over it. He can't come here and demand high wages and in today's game it's pretty sad to say £25m is not a huge sum for either a single transfer or towards or potential to spend

* Martial / various wing/forwards

Short and sweet for this. I see this as the main way forward in regards to how we try and keep a well rounded squad capable of losing Kane without needing a "like for like" striker to remain in our style of play. Kane's one of a kind.
Not saying Martial necessarily, but these versatile type of forwards would be extremely more valuable to us than Llorente or Vincent. Some hindsight there tbf as I liked the idea of llorente at the time for various reasons
* Central midfield - for me this is tricky and relies on a lot of things including any changes in shape or formation Poch may think of. For me here and central defender is where we need the most investment again be that by a "marquee" signing like Kovacic or dare I say it, Savic, or a few gambles like Wilmer Barrios and other relatively unknowns.
*Central Defender - de Ligt is probably a prime example of why it's so difficult for us to do business. If we take general opinion at face value this lad is the player I've seen us mostly linked with and certainly has abilities that are clear now with the scope for further improvement. Great. But as we can see there are "bigger" clubs with the same view. For us to win this race we'd have to hope that like Sánchez and Eriksen before him he sees that we are an established route to guarantee you a shot in the highest club competitions regardless of age and that we are as close as you can come to guaranteeing you improve as a footballer as a bigger pull than the immediate glitz that comes from "bigger" clubs.

- I wanted to add that , pre Southgates England , I did wander whether we may see this style of shape or formation next year

GK
CD CD CD
RWB LWB
CM CM CM
FWD FWD

I feel this could solve some of the problems with the lack of pace from our current fullbacks when Rose and Aurier aren't on song. I really love Davies and Trippier and while the days of Rose and Walker at full back causing teams nightmares with their pace was great we have so much intelligence throughout the squad and players that can play intricate passes that it would maximise our strengths while turning a perceived weakness to a threat.
In this shape I'd use Christian, Dele and one of our more defense minded players ie Dier or Wanyama for the 3 cm or Winks against teams that sit back.
CE and DA can both play box to box and would give both opposition holding midfielder/s and defenders something to watch as well as the two up top.

With our current squad I'd start Kane and Son and it would still be crucial that the player paired with Kane can play as a wide forward as well so at the minimum one of VJ or FL have to go to be replaced with a Martial type.

This would give us the ability to switch to a 4-2-3-1 seemlessly in and out of possession but, more importantly, means that we can leave Kane to do his usual devestating roaming while also giving the opposition the nightmare of a second forward hugging the touchlines and stretching them.

What do you do? Follow Kane for him to leave space for our proven goal scoring 2 box to box midfielders ? Let him win a knock down to a pact player cutting inside ? Sit deep and we have strength in the box , runners and wingbacks that haven't had to rely on their ability to beat a man to create space for their impressive ability to create.

Anyway that's my 1st post done and dusted. Thanks to anyone that made it all the way and my sincere apologies for the length to those that have made it and those that got bored part way through.

Looking forward to making some enemies and spending my embarrassingly amount of free time trading one offs with them all

COUS
 
Hello all. I'm a long time lurker and decided to put my 1st post here as it seems the most appropriate and frequented place for people to judge whether they can be bothered to read my thoughts about this Club we all love or whether I'm a troll or whether you'd like me to see you next Tuesday

My basic stances that may help make your decision much easier

- I'm in the "camp" of supporters who are blown away by where we are in comparison to how things were 25 odd years ago. I'm 33. I grew up hearing whispers of once legendary players , reputation and stature.

As young as I can remember back we were in my younger years very much a mid table club hoping for decent cup runs. There's nothing particularly wrong in that, we made some greatly received signings like Davids, Klinsman et al giving us hope of once again being amongst the elite. I honestly feel that we contributed to some amazing premier league memories,without having to build an extension to WHL to fill the overstocked trophy cabinet.

- With the above in mind I may frustrate some in being very calm about our current transfer window.
I won't tread over the last few seasons in any real depth to try keep this message as short as possible. I would put my self in the "camp" that is delighted with our transfer strategy and philosophy with regards to how to progress as a club.

I do appreciate the frustration that comes with our model. For me, Daniel Levy has shown that he's concerned with the long game , for use of a better term, than to rely on a model that solely relies on investment based on no guaranteed results. Nothing I can say can better example this than the envy inducing new stadium and football schooling and training infrastructure we have at our disposal.

All this makes me feel content. Again, I do appreciate frustrations. Every morning I come on here hoping to read of an announcement or at the least a concrete link.

- It's only my opinion but until pre season starts without any players in the squad that we end up purchasing after it starts and who were NOT at the World Cup will likely contribute to frustration for Poch and arguably not as productive as alstart to the season as a scenario where they're all their and working hard from day one.
It's also frustrating to see that other clubs have either concluded some business or are at least close on finialising deals.
For what it's worth I don't envy Levy or Poch at the moment. I look at the team and see it as a very difficult situation to handle.
We're enticing enough with the players here and the above investment in everything Tottenham that we could feasibly substitute an established policy of spreading the transfer kitty on youngsters with a highly regarded likelihood of making it or diamonds in the rough and look towards now making major statements in the transfer marketI feel the answer lies somewhere in between and I think this is the strategy we'll now see as evidenced by our large outlay in Davinson Sánchez last year.

A final note on this point. I feel that a lot of people may not appreciate or take into account our current position when they too freely berate the owners and philosophy that got us here. We can, rightfully, attract some players who's stature in the game would perceivably elevate us another level. However, there are so many many factors that have to go our way. We love the club but not everyone holds such passion for it. If you're Kovacic, for example, with all likelihood while you'd be happy to join Tottenham given where we are their is the possibility that a club with a perceivable larger stature atm who can easily offer more than our seemingly incentive based wages, all round signing fees and commercial exposure means that we can't necessarily just identify a target and significantly hedge our time and eggs into them.

For many factors beyond both Poch and Levy's control we sometimes have to wait until other clubs have completed or made firm inroads with their transfer business

- To summarise and bring this back round to transfers. I can see why we are linked with certain players and why we (likely) may not yet have done any business

* Jack Grealish - meets homegrown requirements and has some relatively high positives from our perspective. He's still young and developing despite having a lot of experience as a first team starter in both the premiership and the championship. He's versatile, something I feel is integral to how Pochettino wants players to be. Like many players that havetrodden a similar path he's gone from someone further upfield anywhere behind the 3 due to his indisputable ability to beat players to somewhat of a central A.M. to now being an adaptable midfielder. With all his experience and natural bulking up, understanding of the game etc it's actually encouraging imo that he's moved into central midfield and is using his dribbling traits alongside a seemingly consistent ability to be creative with his passing and channeling his anger / competitiveness / perceived childishness into a hunger to take charge. For anything under £25m I'd consider it an investment that has high reward / low risk written all over it. He can't come here and demand high wages and in today's game it's pretty sad to say £25m is not a huge sum for either a single transfer or towards or potential to spend

* Martial / various wing/forwards

Short and sweet for this. I see this as the main way forward in regards to how we try and keep a well rounded squad capable of losing Kane without needing a "like for like" striker to remain in our style of play. Kane's one of a kind.
Not saying Martial necessarily, but these versatile type of forwards would be extremely more valuable to us than Llorente or Vincent. Some hindsight there tbf as I liked the idea of llorente at the time for various reasons
* Central midfield - for me this is tricky and relies on a lot of things including any changes in shape or formation Poch may think of. For me here and central defender is where we need the most investment again be that by a "marquee" signing like Kovacic or dare I say it, Savic, or a few gambles like Wilmer Barrios and other relatively unknowns.
*Central Defender - de Ligt is probably a prime example of why it's so difficult for us to do business. If we take general opinion at face value this lad is the player I've seen us mostly linked with and certainly has abilities that are clear now with the scope for further improvement. Great. But as we can see there are "bigger" clubs with the same view. For us to win this race we'd have to hope that like Sánchez and Eriksen before him he sees that we are an established route to guarantee you a shot in the highest club competitions regardless of age and that we are as close as you can come to guaranteeing you improve as a footballer as a bigger pull than the immediate glitz that comes from "bigger" clubs.

- I wanted to add that , pre Southgates England , I did wander whether we may see this style of shape or formation next year

GK
CD CD CD
RWB LWB
CM CM CM
FWD FWD

I feel this could solve some of the problems with the lack of pace from our current fullbacks when Rose and Aurier aren't on song. I really love Davies and Trippier and while the days of Rose and Walker at full back causing teams nightmares with their pace was great we have so much intelligence throughout the squad and players that can play intricate passes that it would maximise our strengths while turning a perceived weakness to a threat.
In this shape I'd use Christian, Dele and one of our more defense minded players ie Dier or Wanyama for the 3 cm or Winks against teams that sit back.
CE and DA can both play box to box and would give both opposition holding midfielder/s and defenders something to watch as well as the two up top.

With our current squad I'd start Kane and Son and it would still be crucial that the player paired with Kane can play as a wide forward as well so at the minimum one of VJ or FL have to go to be replaced with a Martial type.

This would give us the ability to switch to a 4-2-3-1 seemlessly in and out of possession but, more importantly, means that we can leave Kane to do his usual devestating roaming while also giving the opposition the nightmare of a second forward hugging the touchlines and stretching them.

What do you do? Follow Kane for him to leave space for our proven goal scoring 2 box to box midfielders ? Let him win a knock down to a pact player cutting inside ? Sit deep and we have strength in the box , runners and wingbacks that haven't had to rely on their ability to beat a man to create space for their impressive ability to create.

Anyway that's my 1st post done and dusted. Thanks to anyone that made it all the way and my sincere apologies for the length to those that have made it and those that got bored part way through.

Looking forward to making some enemies and spending my embarrassingly amount of free time trading one offs with them all

COUS
Blatant "I have a keyboard" post
 
Hello all. I'm a long time lurker and decided to put my 1st post here as it seems the most appropriate and frequented place for people to judge whether they can be bothered to read my thoughts about this Club we all love or whether I'm a troll or whether you'd like me to see you next Tuesday

My basic stances that may help make your decision much easier

- I'm in the "camp" of supporters who are blown away by where we are in comparison to how things were 25 odd years ago. I'm 33. I grew up hearing whispers of once legendary players , reputation and stature.

As young as I can remember back we were in my younger years very much a mid table club hoping for decent cup runs. There's nothing particularly wrong in that, we made some greatly received signings like Davids, Klinsman et al giving us hope of once again being amongst the elite. I honestly feel that we contributed to some amazing premier league memories,without having to build an extension to WHL to fill the overstocked trophy cabinet.

- With the above in mind I may frustrate some in being very calm about our current transfer window.
I won't tread over the last few seasons in any real depth to try keep this message as short as possible. I would put my self in the "camp" that is delighted with our transfer strategy and philosophy with regards to how to progress as a club.

I do appreciate the frustration that comes with our model. For me, Daniel Levy has shown that he's concerned with the long game , for use of a better term, than to rely on a model that solely relies on investment based on no guaranteed results. Nothing I can say can better example this than the envy inducing new stadium and football schooling and training infrastructure we have at our disposal.

All this makes me feel content. Again, I do appreciate frustrations. Every morning I come on here hoping to read of an announcement or at the least a concrete link.

- It's only my opinion but until pre season starts without any players in the squad that we end up purchasing after it starts and who were NOT at the World Cup will likely contribute to frustration for Poch and arguably not as productive as alstart to the season as a scenario where they're all their and working hard from day one.
It's also frustrating to see that other clubs have either concluded some business or are at least close on finialising deals.
For what it's worth I don't envy Levy or Poch at the moment. I look at the team and see it as a very difficult situation to handle.
We're enticing enough with the players here and the above investment in everything Tottenham that we could feasibly substitute an established policy of spreading the transfer kitty on youngsters with a highly regarded likelihood of making it or diamonds in the rough and look towards now making major statements in the transfer marketI feel the answer lies somewhere in between and I think this is the strategy we'll now see as evidenced by our large outlay in Davinson Sánchez last year.

A final note on this point. I feel that a lot of people may not appreciate or take into account our current position when they too freely berate the owners and philosophy that got us here. We can, rightfully, attract some players who's stature in the game would perceivably elevate us another level. However, there are so many many factors that have to go our way. We love the club but not everyone holds such passion for it. If you're Kovacic, for example, with all likelihood while you'd be happy to join Tottenham given where we are their is the possibility that a club with a perceivable larger stature atm who can easily offer more than our seemingly incentive based wages, all round signing fees and commercial exposure means that we can't necessarily just identify a target and significantly hedge our time and eggs into them.

For many factors beyond both Poch and Levy's control we sometimes have to wait until other clubs have completed or made firm inroads with their transfer business

- To summarise and bring this back round to transfers. I can see why we are linked with certain players and why we (likely) may not yet have done any business

* Jack Grealish - meets homegrown requirements and has some relatively high positives from our perspective. He's still young and developing despite having a lot of experience as a first team starter in both the premiership and the championship. He's versatile, something I feel is integral to how Pochettino wants players to be. Like many players that havetrodden a similar path he's gone from someone further upfield anywhere behind the 3 due to his indisputable ability to beat players to somewhat of a central A.M. to now being an adaptable midfielder. With all his experience and natural bulking up, understanding of the game etc it's actually encouraging imo that he's moved into central midfield and is using his dribbling traits alongside a seemingly consistent ability to be creative with his passing and channeling his anger / competitiveness / perceived childishness into a hunger to take charge. For anything under £25m I'd consider it an investment that has high reward / low risk written all over it. He can't come here and demand high wages and in today's game it's pretty sad to say £25m is not a huge sum for either a single transfer or towards or potential to spend

* Martial / various wing/forwards

Short and sweet for this. I see this as the main way forward in regards to how we try and keep a well rounded squad capable of losing Kane without needing a "like for like" striker to remain in our style of play. Kane's one of a kind.
Not saying Martial necessarily, but these versatile type of forwards would be extremely more valuable to us than Llorente or Vincent. Some hindsight there tbf as I liked the idea of llorente at the time for various reasons
* Central midfield - for me this is tricky and relies on a lot of things including any changes in shape or formation Poch may think of. For me here and central defender is where we need the most investment again be that by a "marquee" signing like Kovacic or dare I say it, Savic, or a few gambles like Wilmer Barrios and other relatively unknowns.
*Central Defender - de Ligt is probably a prime example of why it's so difficult for us to do business. If we take general opinion at face value this lad is the player I've seen us mostly linked with and certainly has abilities that are clear now with the scope for further improvement. Great. But as we can see there are "bigger" clubs with the same view. For us to win this race we'd have to hope that like Sánchez and Eriksen before him he sees that we are an established route to guarantee you a shot in the highest club competitions regardless of age and that we are as close as you can come to guaranteeing you improve as a footballer as a bigger pull than the immediate glitz that comes from "bigger" clubs.

- I wanted to add that , pre Southgates England , I did wander whether we may see this style of shape or formation next year

GK
CD CD CD
RWB LWB
CM CM CM
FWD FWD

I feel this could solve some of the problems with the lack of pace from our current fullbacks when Rose and Aurier aren't on song. I really love Davies and Trippier and while the days of Rose and Walker at full back causing teams nightmares with their pace was great we have so much intelligence throughout the squad and players that can play intricate passes that it would maximise our strengths while turning a perceived weakness to a threat.
In this shape I'd use Christian, Dele and one of our more defense minded players ie Dier or Wanyama for the 3 cm or Winks against teams that sit back.
CE and DA can both play box to box and would give both opposition holding midfielder/s and defenders something to watch as well as the two up top.

With our current squad I'd start Kane and Son and it would still be crucial that the player paired with Kane can play as a wide forward as well so at the minimum one of VJ or FL have to go to be replaced with a Martial type.

This would give us the ability to switch to a 4-2-3-1 seemlessly in and out of possession but, more importantly, means that we can leave Kane to do his usual devestating roaming while also giving the opposition the nightmare of a second forward hugging the touchlines and stretching them.

What do you do? Follow Kane for him to leave space for our proven goal scoring 2 box to box midfielders ? Let him win a knock down to a pact player cutting inside ? Sit deep and we have strength in the box , runners and wingbacks that haven't had to rely on their ability to beat a man to create space for their impressive ability to create.

Anyway that's my 1st post done and dusted. Thanks to anyone that made it all the way and my sincere apologies for the length to those that have made it and those that got bored part way through.

Looking forward to making some enemies and spending my embarrassingly amount of free time trading one offs with them all

COUS

In short...

"I ain't no melt, muvvafuckaz!!!" :tobyarm:

(Welcome.)
 
Hello all. I'm a long time lurker and decided to put my 1st post here as it seems the most appropriate and frequented place for people to judge whether they can be bothered to read my thoughts about this Club we all love or whether I'm a troll or whether you'd like me to see you next Tuesday

My basic stances that may help make your decision much easier

- I'm in the "camp" of supporters who are blown away by where we are in comparison to how things were 25 odd years ago. I'm 33. I grew up hearing whispers of once legendary players , reputation and stature.

As young as I can remember back we were in my younger years very much a mid table club hoping for decent cup runs. There's nothing particularly wrong in that, we made some greatly received signings like Davids, Klinsman et al giving us hope of once again being amongst the elite. I honestly feel that we contributed to some amazing premier league memories,without having to build an extension to WHL to fill the overstocked trophy cabinet.

- With the above in mind I may frustrate some in being very calm about our current transfer window.
I won't tread over the last few seasons in any real depth to try keep this message as short as possible. I would put my self in the "camp" that is delighted with our transfer strategy and philosophy with regards to how to progress as a club.

I do appreciate the frustration that comes with our model. For me, Daniel Levy has shown that he's concerned with the long game , for use of a better term, than to rely on a model that solely relies on investment based on no guaranteed results. Nothing I can say can better example this than the envy inducing new stadium and football schooling and training infrastructure we have at our disposal.

All this makes me feel content. Again, I do appreciate frustrations. Every morning I come on here hoping to read of an announcement or at the least a concrete link.

- It's only my opinion but until pre season starts without any players in the squad that we end up purchasing after it starts and who were NOT at the World Cup will likely contribute to frustration for Poch and arguably not as productive as alstart to the season as a scenario where they're all their and working hard from day one.
It's also frustrating to see that other clubs have either concluded some business or are at least close on finialising deals.
For what it's worth I don't envy Levy or Poch at the moment. I look at the team and see it as a very difficult situation to handle.
We're enticing enough with the players here and the above investment in everything Tottenham that we could feasibly substitute an established policy of spreading the transfer kitty on youngsters with a highly regarded likelihood of making it or diamonds in the rough and look towards now making major statements in the transfer marketI feel the answer lies somewhere in between and I think this is the strategy we'll now see as evidenced by our large outlay in Davinson Sánchez last year.

A final note on this point. I feel that a lot of people may not appreciate or take into account our current position when they too freely berate the owners and philosophy that got us here. We can, rightfully, attract some players who's stature in the game would perceivably elevate us another level. However, there are so many many factors that have to go our way. We love the club but not everyone holds such passion for it. If you're Kovacic, for example, with all likelihood while you'd be happy to join Tottenham given where we are their is the possibility that a club with a perceivable larger stature atm who can easily offer more than our seemingly incentive based wages, all round signing fees and commercial exposure means that we can't necessarily just identify a target and significantly hedge our time and eggs into them.

For many factors beyond both Poch and Levy's control we sometimes have to wait until other clubs have completed or made firm inroads with their transfer business

- To summarise and bring this back round to transfers. I can see why we are linked with certain players and why we (likely) may not yet have done any business

* Jack Grealish - meets homegrown requirements and has some relatively high positives from our perspective. He's still young and developing despite having a lot of experience as a first team starter in both the premiership and the championship. He's versatile, something I feel is integral to how Pochettino wants players to be. Like many players that havetrodden a similar path he's gone from someone further upfield anywhere behind the 3 due to his indisputable ability to beat players to somewhat of a central A.M. to now being an adaptable midfielder. With all his experience and natural bulking up, understanding of the game etc it's actually encouraging imo that he's moved into central midfield and is using his dribbling traits alongside a seemingly consistent ability to be creative with his passing and channeling his anger / competitiveness / perceived childishness into a hunger to take charge. For anything under £25m I'd consider it an investment that has high reward / low risk written all over it. He can't come here and demand high wages and in today's game it's pretty sad to say £25m is not a huge sum for either a single transfer or towards or potential to spend

* Martial / various wing/forwards

Short and sweet for this. I see this as the main way forward in regards to how we try and keep a well rounded squad capable of losing Kane without needing a "like for like" striker to remain in our style of play. Kane's one of a kind.
Not saying Martial necessarily, but these versatile type of forwards would be extremely more valuable to us than Llorente or Vincent. Some hindsight there tbf as I liked the idea of llorente at the time for various reasons
* Central midfield - for me this is tricky and relies on a lot of things including any changes in shape or formation Poch may think of. For me here and central defender is where we need the most investment again be that by a "marquee" signing like Kovacic or dare I say it, Savic, or a few gambles like Wilmer Barrios and other relatively unknowns.
*Central Defender - de Ligt is probably a prime example of why it's so difficult for us to do business. If we take general opinion at face value this lad is the player I've seen us mostly linked with and certainly has abilities that are clear now with the scope for further improvement. Great. But as we can see there are "bigger" clubs with the same view. For us to win this race we'd have to hope that like Sánchez and Eriksen before him he sees that we are an established route to guarantee you a shot in the highest club competitions regardless of age and that we are as close as you can come to guaranteeing you improve as a footballer as a bigger pull than the immediate glitz that comes from "bigger" clubs.

- I wanted to add that , pre Southgates England , I did wander whether we may see this style of shape or formation next year

GK
CD CD CD
RWB LWB
CM CM CM
FWD FWD

I feel this could solve some of the problems with the lack of pace from our current fullbacks when Rose and Aurier aren't on song. I really love Davies and Trippier and while the days of Rose and Walker at full back causing teams nightmares with their pace was great we have so much intelligence throughout the squad and players that can play intricate passes that it would maximise our strengths while turning a perceived weakness to a threat.
In this shape I'd use Christian, Dele and one of our more defense minded players ie Dier or Wanyama for the 3 cm or Winks against teams that sit back.
CE and DA can both play box to box and would give both opposition holding midfielder/s and defenders something to watch as well as the two up top.

With our current squad I'd start Kane and Son and it would still be crucial that the player paired with Kane can play as a wide forward as well so at the minimum one of VJ or FL have to go to be replaced with a Martial type.

This would give us the ability to switch to a 4-2-3-1 seemlessly in and out of possession but, more importantly, means that we can leave Kane to do his usual devestating roaming while also giving the opposition the nightmare of a second forward hugging the touchlines and stretching them.

What do you do? Follow Kane for him to leave space for our proven goal scoring 2 box to box midfielders ? Let him win a knock down to a pact player cutting inside ? Sit deep and we have strength in the box , runners and wingbacks that haven't had to rely on their ability to beat a man to create space for their impressive ability to create.

Anyway that's my 1st post done and dusted. Thanks to anyone that made it all the way and my sincere apologies for the length to those that have made it and those that got bored part way through.

Looking forward to making some enemies and spending my embarrassingly amount of free time trading one offs with them all

COUS

I think you'll find its spelled COUS COUS.

Here to help.
 
Compounding your last post with bollocks at this point.

He was injured and/or shite for his first season.



So our budget has no bearing on what we as a club can afford?



Jeeeezus! ...Some of you lot are so 'challenged' when it comes to finance and economics I'm shocked ya'll have the balls to post a single word on the matter.
No, our budget doesn't have an effect on his value. Do you understand the difference?
What season are you referring to? His Leverkusen season or the first with us? You strike be as a bit dim, are you by any means a sammy alt?
 
Unfortunately there's some truths in these posts

Blatant "I have a keyboard" post

All typed on my phone... I really should of emphasised just how much free time I have

In short...

"I ain't no melt, muvvafuckaz!!!" :tobyarm:

(Welcome.)

Thanks for summarising and for the warm welcome ha


I think you'll find its spelled COUS COUS.
As if I typed all that and fell at the final hurdle... spursy



Here to help.
 
No, our budget doesn't have an effect on his value. Do you understand the difference?
What season are you referring to? His Leverkusen season or the first with us? You strike be as a bit dim, are you by any means a sammy alt?

Wind your neck in.

Too late for you to save face with merely childish insults and a bit of bravado.

(Orig. comments were from a tottenham affordability point of view - see comment re: Levy; not your speculation over his 'true' market value 3 years ago.)

Maybe you're just too "dim" to stay on topic 1st time round.
 
It can be a bit like a Jerry Springer show on here at times but the vast majority of the posters are good Yids.

P.S. Mrs Perryman Mrs Perryman is royalty on here so treat with respect and you will be fine.

I did say I'm a long time lurker I do get some of the etiquette ... I just came to chug another beer and possibly throw a chair if the opportunity presents itself.

Realistically though this place has been a great find over the last year as health has forced me to spend waaaay too much time indoors. Not enough football banter in my life so decided to make that change
 
Can't help but feel we've gone for the big names and now are going for plan B or C

We want De Ligt......that Brazilian guy, he'd be cheaper...
We want Martial.....Ah, but perhaps Plea would do the same job....
We fancy N'Dombele.....Could we get someone a bit cheaper though.....

Are we in a sell before we buy big scenario?? Or are we being priced out of what we want?

For clubs like us, I think it's just slow right now with the world cup going on- nobody playing in it is going to want to sign a contract when they can raise their stock with better performances. Clubs also need to wait for those players to make decisions before they can do any resultant business as well. I think we'll see activity start to ramp up as the tournament starts to wind down.
 
I did say I'm a long time lurker I do get some of the etiquette ... I just came to chug another beer and possibly throw a chair if the opportunity presents itself.

Realistically though this place has been a great find over the last year as health has forced me to spend waaaay too much time indoors. Not enough football banter in my life so decided to make that change

Welcome and enjoy.
 
I did say I'm a long time lurker I do get some of the etiquette ... I just came to chug another beer and possibly throw a chair if the opportunity presents itself.

Realistically though this place has been a great find over the last year as health has forced me to spend waaaay too much time indoors. Not enough football banter in my life so decided to make that change
If you’ve found your way this cess pit, you must have done a lot of searching the net over The last year.
Welcome to the madhouse.
 
Wind your neck in.

Too late for you to save face with merely childish insults and a bit of bravado.

(Orig. comments were from a tottenham affordability point of view - see comment re: Levy; not your speculation over his 'true' market value 3 years ago.)

Maybe you're just too "dim" to stay on topic 1st time round.
You said it was weird that Levy would be willing to pay 20m for him and I said it was relatively cheap in relation to his value.
You're too dumb to understand the concept of value because you're a sammy alt
 
Wind your neck in.

Too late for you to save face with merely childish insults and a bit of bravado.

(Orig. comments were from a tottenham affordability point of view - see comment re: Levy; not your speculation over his 'true' market value 3 years ago.)

Maybe you're just too "dim" to stay on topic 1st time round.

Dont bother mate he gave up on us again just the other day.......because West Ham have signed someone.
Then he put me on ignore...

giphy.gif
 
Hello all. I'm a long time lurker and decided to put my 1st post here as it seems the most appropriate and frequented place for people to judge whether they can be bothered to read my thoughts about this Club we all love or whether I'm a troll or whether you'd like me to see you next Tuesday

My basic stances that may help make your decision much easier

- I'm in the "camp" of supporters who are blown away by where we are in comparison to how things were 25 odd years ago. I'm 33. I grew up hearing whispers of once legendary players , reputation and stature.

As young as I can remember back we were in my younger years very much a mid table club hoping for decent cup runs. There's nothing particularly wrong in that, we made some greatly received signings like Davids, Klinsman et al giving us hope of once again being amongst the elite. I honestly feel that we contributed to some amazing premier league memories,without having to build an extension to WHL to fill the overstocked trophy cabinet.

- With the above in mind I may frustrate some in being very calm about our current transfer window.
I won't tread over the last few seasons in any real depth to try keep this message as short as possible. I would put my self in the "camp" that is delighted with our transfer strategy and philosophy with regards to how to progress as a club.

I do appreciate the frustration that comes with our model. For me, Daniel Levy has shown that he's concerned with the long game , for use of a better term, than to rely on a model that solely relies on investment based on no guaranteed results. Nothing I can say can better example this than the envy inducing new stadium and football schooling and training infrastructure we have at our disposal.

All this makes me feel content. Again, I do appreciate frustrations. Every morning I come on here hoping to read of an announcement or at the least a concrete link.

- It's only my opinion but until pre season starts without any players in the squad that we end up purchasing after it starts and who were NOT at the World Cup will likely contribute to frustration for Poch and arguably not as productive as alstart to the season as a scenario where they're all their and working hard from day one.
It's also frustrating to see that other clubs have either concluded some business or are at least close on finialising deals.
For what it's worth I don't envy Levy or Poch at the moment. I look at the team and see it as a very difficult situation to handle.
We're enticing enough with the players here and the above investment in everything Tottenham that we could feasibly substitute an established policy of spreading the transfer kitty on youngsters with a highly regarded likelihood of making it or diamonds in the rough and look towards now making major statements in the transfer marketI feel the answer lies somewhere in between and I think this is the strategy we'll now see as evidenced by our large outlay in Davinson Sánchez last year.

A final note on this point. I feel that a lot of people may not appreciate or take into account our current position when they too freely berate the owners and philosophy that got us here. We can, rightfully, attract some players who's stature in the game would perceivably elevate us another level. However, there are so many many factors that have to go our way. We love the club but not everyone holds such passion for it. If you're Kovacic, for example, with all likelihood while you'd be happy to join Tottenham given where we are their is the possibility that a club with a perceivable larger stature atm who can easily offer more than our seemingly incentive based wages, all round signing fees and commercial exposure means that we can't necessarily just identify a target and significantly hedge our time and eggs into them.

For many factors beyond both Poch and Levy's control we sometimes have to wait until other clubs have completed or made firm inroads with their transfer business

- To summarise and bring this back round to transfers. I can see why we are linked with certain players and why we (likely) may not yet have done any business

* Jack Grealish - meets homegrown requirements and has some relatively high positives from our perspective. He's still young and developing despite having a lot of experience as a first team starter in both the premiership and the championship. He's versatile, something I feel is integral to how Pochettino wants players to be. Like many players that havetrodden a similar path he's gone from someone further upfield anywhere behind the 3 due to his indisputable ability to beat players to somewhat of a central A.M. to now being an adaptable midfielder. With all his experience and natural bulking up, understanding of the game etc it's actually encouraging imo that he's moved into central midfield and is using his dribbling traits alongside a seemingly consistent ability to be creative with his passing and channeling his anger / competitiveness / perceived childishness into a hunger to take charge. For anything under £25m I'd consider it an investment that has high reward / low risk written all over it. He can't come here and demand high wages and in today's game it's pretty sad to say £25m is not a huge sum for either a single transfer or towards or potential to spend

* Martial / various wing/forwards

Short and sweet for this. I see this as the main way forward in regards to how we try and keep a well rounded squad capable of losing Kane without needing a "like for like" striker to remain in our style of play. Kane's one of a kind.
Not saying Martial necessarily, but these versatile type of forwards would be extremely more valuable to us than Llorente or Vincent. Some hindsight there tbf as I liked the idea of llorente at the time for various reasons
* Central midfield - for me this is tricky and relies on a lot of things including any changes in shape or formation Poch may think of. For me here and central defender is where we need the most investment again be that by a "marquee" signing like Kovacic or dare I say it, Savic, or a few gambles like Wilmer Barrios and other relatively unknowns.
*Central Defender - de Ligt is probably a prime example of why it's so difficult for us to do business. If we take general opinion at face value this lad is the player I've seen us mostly linked with and certainly has abilities that are clear now with the scope for further improvement. Great. But as we can see there are "bigger" clubs with the same view. For us to win this race we'd have to hope that like Sánchez and Eriksen before him he sees that we are an established route to guarantee you a shot in the highest club competitions regardless of age and that we are as close as you can come to guaranteeing you improve as a footballer as a bigger pull than the immediate glitz that comes from "bigger" clubs.

- I wanted to add that , pre Southgates England , I did wander whether we may see this style of shape or formation next year

GK
CD CD CD
RWB LWB
CM CM CM
FWD FWD

I feel this could solve some of the problems with the lack of pace from our current fullbacks when Rose and Aurier aren't on song. I really love Davies and Trippier and while the days of Rose and Walker at full back causing teams nightmares with their pace was great we have so much intelligence throughout the squad and players that can play intricate passes that it would maximise our strengths while turning a perceived weakness to a threat.
In this shape I'd use Christian, Dele and one of our more defense minded players ie Dier or Wanyama for the 3 cm or Winks against teams that sit back.
CE and DA can both play box to box and would give both opposition holding midfielder/s and defenders something to watch as well as the two up top.

With our current squad I'd start Kane and Son and it would still be crucial that the player paired with Kane can play as a wide forward as well so at the minimum one of VJ or FL have to go to be replaced with a Martial type.

This would give us the ability to switch to a 4-2-3-1 seemlessly in and out of possession but, more importantly, means that we can leave Kane to do his usual devestating roaming while also giving the opposition the nightmare of a second forward hugging the touchlines and stretching them.

What do you do? Follow Kane for him to leave space for our proven goal scoring 2 box to box midfielders ? Let him win a knock down to a pact player cutting inside ? Sit deep and we have strength in the box , runners and wingbacks that haven't had to rely on their ability to beat a man to create space for their impressive ability to create.

Anyway that's my 1st post done and dusted. Thanks to anyone that made it all the way and my sincere apologies for the length to those that have made it and those that got bored part way through.

Looking forward to making some enemies and spending my embarrassingly amount of free time trading one offs with them all

COUS

Absolutely no fucking way I’m reading all that, but welcome.
 
You said it was weird that Levy would be willing to pay 20m for him and I said it was relatively cheap in relation to his value.
You're too dumb to understand the concept of value because you're a sammy alt

....And i disagreed on the basis that £22m was a lot back then; particularly in terms of what we could afford.

This wasn't us snaring a star like VDV for 8m. Son was a somewhat expensive punt that whilst good now looked like iffy business off the back of his first season with us

I understand fine thx.

I'll leave the actual posts to speak for themselves (should, however unlikely, anyone else give a fuck).

Semantics aside...

Were you originally implying that we'd have paid more if not for Son's military dillema?

I don't recall him him having the kind of profile that would have led to a 30/40m pricetag in 2015 money.
 
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