this could be a cause rather than a consequence.
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Transfers Summer 2019 transfer thread
- Thread starter Ginolaflair
- Start date
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this could be a cause rather than a consequence.
100% this has to be our priority. Fullbacks are integral to how we play and they’ve contributed to let us down this season. We need a LB a RB and a DM tbere’s good examples in the pl- chilwell, wan Bissaka, Doucoure, ndidi etc but they’ll cost too much so we’ll have to look for value either in Europe or in the championship
How so, if quality of player is the widely portrayed issue (rather than lack of bodies as your comment suggests)?
We haven't had to go as far as playing CBs as DMs etc. so evidently we had sufficient number of bodies to cover injuries. If certain players like Winks have been overplayed it's because of the absense of those who'd ordinarily be ahead of him in the pecking order, again, not because we didn't start the season with enough bodies. Those occasional games where things have been particularly thin have simply down to the extent of the injury list in the game week i.e. When we had Son, Kane, absent and Lamela/Luca/Dele all struggling to clock up a run of games or playing Jan at LB cos BOTH LBs were out (ironically tho, here it seems we dug out results only for performances to dip when 'better' players returned)....
Peeps are screaming for FBs, but it's not like we don't have 3RBs and 2LBs. Ditto CM where we still have 5 bodies for 2 CM roles (or 7 for 3 if you wanna factor Dele/Eriksen as options in a 3CM situ). So again, if a we have a problem, it's an issue of quality not an under-manned squad stretched to breaking point.
Levy & Poch took a gamble signing no-one over the last 2 windows and have arguably been caught out; not by a lack of players, but seemingly allowing teams around us to improve in relative terms (however mildly)...
If we'd have replaced Wanyama in the summer and Dembele in Jan, much of what is being complained about would be moot in terms of depth (even if a few posters insist this could have been resolved before Poch even got here... or at least before Wanyama's fitness even became an apparent issue).
After another 'so near yet so far' season it's no less clear why this team shrinks (or the gaffa falls short in motivating/focussing them) when it comes to crunch moments, but in the interests of getting over the 'hump' I'd welcome a refreshing of personnel this summer (rather than expecting a significant jump in quality of signings). Identify and build round a committed core (whoever they are)...
However, realistically there's only so much business we can achieve in one window and the amount of sales required to generate a substantial kitty capable of making a dent in the upper quality end of today's stupidly-inflated market could well pose a risk to the detriment of the buying side of things(*).
(*Is a temporary switch to a spend early/sell later method an option for us right now? I suspect not...)
Making up wish-lists of 7-10 players-in is simply not practical. Regardless of the 'what might have been' surrounding recent seasons, our (Poch's) goal was stated to be (paraphrasing) 'deliver a top 4 team to coincide with the opening of the stadium'; I'm sure none of us wish to see an arduous 12 month gelling process to kick things off instead.
RB (Sell, 2 buy 1)
2 x CM (Replacing Vic & Dembele)
'Son' MK-II (i.e. WFwd + ST cover) (Replacing Llorente)
+ Another body depending on who else leaves.
+ Clear out
(Subject to TA/CE staying; if not the case that's 4 (or more!) additional deals to get done.)
Talk of upgrading (eg) Lamela (5th choice AM!) is fanciful when we have a number of way more pressing matters to address..... Collectively our defense has been brittle all season and the platform to create just hasn't been there a lot of the time.
Park Lane Mark Twain
The cause of our injury problems go back to the World Cup last summer. We had the most players in the last 4 of the WC (10 players) who after their 3 week holiday entitlement got back to Spurs the day before the PL season started - hence they had no pre-season.
So playing PL football with no pre-season immediately risks muscular injuries (hamstrings and the like) which is what most of the injuries have been, and that carries on until the players have adequate rest and/or get back into the swing of it. So players will certainly need a good rest this summer.
Of course with us having 6 or 7 players out for long periods has meant that the other players in the squad cannot easily be rotated and that in turn means those players playing weekend, mid-week, weekend for several weeks on the trot, increasing the risk of more players getting injured.
Whatever we did last summer in TW there was no way around it as the players at the WC were our best players and we have a pretty full squad so could never bring in extra players .
If the squad was bloated and we couldn't shift anyone then surely that is or was down to levy and poch that allowed that to happen seeing as normally they like to free up wages etc.
Injuries happen to every club to greater or lesser degree west ham have had a lot as well but don't remember seeing too many of their player's at the WC.
Again it seems as if the mentality is still fragile and this club still struggles when the pressure is on, I hope they find a way of getting fourth considering the way this season has panned out.
Injuries happen to every club to greater or lesser degree west ham have had a lot as well but don't remember seeing too many of their player's at the WC.
Again it seems as if the mentality is still fragile and this club still struggles when the pressure is on, I hope they find a way of getting fourth considering the way this season has panned out.
Something to consider: Fulham are, if I'm correct, potentially one result away from confirming relegation.
If Spurs' rumoured interest in Sessegnon and Mitrovic is true, then we should be getting those deals negotiated now to be made the second the window opens.
If Spurs' rumoured interest in Sessegnon and Mitrovic is true, then we should be getting those deals negotiated now to be made the second the window opens.
If Klopp went to the board and asked for money for a new first choice keeper, they better show him the door
Straight swap for Eriksen?Varane is apparently leaving Madrid this summer. €100M
now that would be a marquee signing for the stadium......
Definitely we should be getting the Sessegnon deal done Asap. Young, talented, versatile, good attitude. The identikit Poch player. Get it done Levy
There's just no way we'd ever get a deal for Sessegnon over the line
God, this is beautiful.
I'd drop Dele deeper though and play a 433.
Not sure I'd go with Sessegnon though.
Don't you typically go with the more defensive guys in the middle of the 4-3-3? Dele needs to be on the outside so he can make runs through the gaps. I'm a fan of Winks or Sissoko in the middle. Then you could have Dele and Grealish/Coco on the outside making runs into space.
What a shame. Not much we can do if the player isn't sure about the move:
www.fourfourtwo.com
Frenkie de Jong considered Tottenham ‘long and hard’ but had ‘unfinished business’ at Ajax
Frenkie de Jong has told FourFourTwo that he was tempted to join Tottenham last summer, but felt he owed Ajax another season of his services.The 21-year-old, who has won seven caps for the Netherlands
www.fourfourtwo.com