Summer transfer mission

OTE="longtimespur, post: 4575762, member: 28135"]Tantalizing about Thauvin..

http://www.thetottenhamway.com/2015/05/01/spurs-target-a-mysterious-omission-from-marseille-squad/?[/QUOTE]
Could be ours this time next week

Kane's Young Player of the Year Award interview interested me in that he confirmed that he was always recognized for his football intelligence and took pride in it himself, but Pochettino and the staff gave him that extra bit of pace and strength and fitness he needed to take the next step.

It would be nice if our summer transfer mission looked to bringing in players who have shown this acumen for being very good footballers with intelligence on the pitch knowing that our coaching staff has shown to bring out something extra in their physical side.

Bottom line however one wants to ignore the facts, pace is important in today's game and imo we need more pace in the team/squad.

If we are going to press teams and acknowledge that turning the ball over and capitalising on the 5 seconds of transitional disorganisation a team suffer when they have to quickly reposition from attack to defence, then we need pace. We need direct runners. Players who can be ruthless. That Townsend goal against Swansea, but more than once every 18 months basically.

double0 said:

Bottom line however one wants to ignore the facts, pace is important in today's game and imo we need more pace in the team/squad.

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I agree that pace is important, but we need players with more than just pace. Most fans assume that if a player has pace he will be effective but it is untrue. Townsend and Walker are as quick as they come but have produced little in both attack and defence respectively this season. We need more than just quick runners

Japhet said:

It's not the be all and end all but by Christ it helps if you have players with a bit of pace to close down the opposition. It's the same as every other aspect of the game - you can never have too much of it in any player that has the requisite skill set.

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You can operate the system without having players with lighting pace as long as they have the other attributes I mentioned but you can't operate it with players who have pace but not the other attributes. That is the point. Lightning pace is not the most important attribute.

Pace would do a number of things, such as force an oppositions defence to sit deeper, giving our players more space in midfield. I agree it's all in how you use it. I'm not suggesting we sign Varney just because the boy like to charge around. I think a team need options. Wenger went our to add pace to his squad and that has really helped them. He now places Carzola deeper and they are actually considering selling Walcott how has pace but it's that great with it (except against us obvz).

NeverRed said:

Hadn't the foggiest. No doubt that's why I wrote "providing the...

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And what does that mean? A money back guarantee? There are few, if any, "appropriate injury assurances". Either you buy or you don't. And Spurs have a bad record of having done the forrme in the past.

thekneaf said:

Pace would do a number of things, such as force an oppositions defence to sit deeper, giving our players more space in midfield. I agree it's all in how you use it. I'm not suggesting we sign Varney just because the boy like to charge around. I think a team need options. Wenger went our to add pace to his squad and that has really helped them. He now places Carzola deeper and they are actually considering selling Walcott how has pace but it's that great with it (except against us obvz).

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Selling Walcott also, apparenlty, is the he values his, well, pace more than Wenger is - and Walcott want a lots of money to stay at Arsenal.

Dharmabum said:

Selling Walcott also, apparenlty, is the he values his, well, pace more than Wenger is - and Walcott want a lots of money to stay at Arsenal.

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True, but last year, even with his broken body, that might have been enough leverage to get a contract. But pace isn't a problem for Arsenal now. They will probably sell him and replace him with a player in the mould of Isco/Sterling [a player who is quick a tricky].

thekneaf said:

True, but last year, even with his broken body, that might have been enough leverage to get a contract. But pace isn't a problem for Arsenal now. They will probably sell him and replace him with a player in the mould of Isco/Sterling [a player who is quick a tricky].

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Unfortunately they've got a lots of money to burn; although I believe Isco is out of their reach. Sterling however, maybe be withint their means.

TEESSIDE1 said:

The Barca cast off? The only Celta player we should go for is their teenage sensation Mina, scored 4 the other week in a league game.

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Mina would be a player for the future.. at the moment he isn't a first choice at Celta.. he's only started 11 lg games or so this season, scoring 5 & as you say 4 of them were in one match, a game Nolito provided 3 assists in, Nolito is there star man by a long shot, choosing Mina over Nolito at this moment in time when we need players for the starting XI makes no sense Mina is nowhere nere ready to be a starter in the Pl.. a third or fourth choice that you can develop over time fine.. I'd be all for it. Calling Nolito Barca cast off is football snobbery.. is Fabergas a cast off how about Thiago is he a cast off, Look at who was ahead of him at Barcelona.. Iniesta was playing wide left at the time as well as having Pedro & others to compete with.. no shame in not been in the team with that amount of competition for places & it doesn't make him a bad player.. besides Barca wanted to keep him & offered him a new contract which he turned down, so he left for Benfica . For a cast off he has done well to get called up to the Spain squad this season & he got there by hard work & desire to improve his game.. but what would Del Bosque know. He ticks the boxes for me.. a player with fire in his belly who scores & assists who suits the system plus with Ade & Soldado on there way out it saves having to buy 2 strikers + a lw. I'd choose a player like Nolito ahead of Thauvin any day of the week he's another Nasri has all the talent but doesn't apply himself.

dude573 said:

I agree that pace is important, but we need players with more than just pace. Most fans assume that if a player has pace he will be effective but it is untrue. Townsend and Walker are as quick as they come but have produced little in both attack and defence respectively this season. We need more than just quick runners

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I don't think anyone would be so stupid as to suggest pace is the only attribute needed. Of course they need footballing skills, positional awareness, a good work ethic and any number of other attributes. However, having pace is a very big plus for any player in any position. You can't have too much of it. Conversely, if some players weren't blessed with pace they would be nowhere near the level they have achieved. If Walker was slow he wouldn't get in a pub team on current form.

whitelanefever said:

Mina would be a player for the future.. at the moment he isn't a first choice at Celta.. he's only started 11 lg games or so this season, scoring 5 & as you say 4 of them were in one match, a game Nolito provided 3 assists in, Nolito is there star man by a long shot, choosing Mina over Nolito at this moment in time when we need players for the starting XI makes no sense Mina is nowhere nere ready to be a starter in the Pl.. a third or fourth choice that you can develop over time fine.. I'd be all for it. Calling Nolito Barca cast off is football snobbery.. is Fabergas a cast off how about Thiago is he a cast off, Look at who was ahead of him at Barcelona.. Iniesta was playing wide left at the time as well as having Pedro & others to compete with.. no shame in not been in the team with that amount of competition for places & it doesn't make him a bad player.. besides Barca wanted to keep him & offered him a new contract which he turned down, so he left for Benfica . For a cast off he has done well to get called up to the Spain squad this season & he got there by hard work & desire to improve his game.. but what would Del Bosque know. He ticks the boxes for me.. a player with fire in his belly who scores & assists who suits the system plus with Ade & Soldado on there way out it saves having to buy 2 strikers + a lw. I'd choose a player like Nolito ahead of Thauvin any day of the week he's another Nasri has all the talent but doesn't apply himself.

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Thing about Nolito is that he'll turn 29 by next season start (well in October to be more exact).

The fact is we are a one paced team. Its very easy to defend against if everything's in front of you. for us to get in behind teams now it generally either has to be rank bad defending or a perfectly timed run and pass from deep. You need to offer that threat in behind imo. I'd bet if you asked any defender at any level from any era what is the hardest thing to defend against I would guess pace would be the one thing they would say. you obviously need ability and composure as well so I'm not sure why people keep on bringing up Townsend saying, see pace doesn't matter. Not only that, I actually only think Townsends pace(which I don't think is that great) is with the ball over long distances. I don't think he has that burst over five-ten yards with or without the ball. I don't believe you need pace to be a good player but you do need pace as an ingredient In a team, definitely.

Grey Fox said:

OTE="longtimespur, post: 4575762, member: 28135"]Tantalizing about Thauvin..

http://www.thetottenhamway.com/2015/05/01/spurs-target-a-mysterious-omission-from-marseille-squad/?ç
Could be ours this time next week

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Going to repost this from the first time the link came up. The kid has talent in abundance, but.. I can almost guarantee he will run into the same problems Lamela did as he needs to be in nearly the exact same position as him. And our slow system means our wide players rarely receive the ball high up the pitch, which both players need to succeed. Also I don't like his decision making and work rate at times. People will call him Flerik Thauvela i'm guessing.
And worse, it would show we really haven't learned much from the Lamela transfer. Both of these guys could be world class, but we don't need could right now. We need someone tangibly and consistently impressive.

Eh..

Recently gotten into a rut of form. I'm attempting to study abroad in France and so I keep up with the language as well as the teams and let's just say Marseille fans are not too pleased with him right now. He's banging miss cote d'azur, but playing like Lamela mixed with invisible Chadli recently. They say he has "des problèmes d'attitude" and has been wearing un maillot d'invisibilité recently.

Now, the kid clearly has talent in spades, still works pretty hard and last year was the want of all Europe. But still, let's remember how highly regarded Lamela was when he came here. The grass is not always greener, and when Marseille fans are saying he's getting "zero to shit" ratings multiple games in a row there is an issue. Payet is the real prize from that side.

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npearl4spurs said:

Kane's Young Player of the Year Award interview interested me in that he confirmed that he was always recognized for his football intelligence and took pride in it himself, but Pochettino and the staff gave him that extra bit of pace and strength and fitness he needed to take the next step.

It would be nice if our summer transfer mission looked to bringing in players who have shown this acumen for being very good footballers with intelligence on the pitch knowing that our coaching staff has shown to bring out something extra in their physical side.

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If they can improve a duck like Lambert, they can improve anybody who has the desire to listen and work hard.

Dharmabum said:

And what does that mean? A money back guarantee? There are few, if any, "appropriate injury assurances". Either you buy or you don't. And Spurs have a bad record of having done the forrme in the past.

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It usually means passing a thorough medical, consulting the medical professionals who have handled him, knowledge of other such cases of injury and recovery... Now you've pressed me on it, it probably does also include consideration of what kind of insurance quote you can get on him - footballers are expensive assets after all. All that weighed against price of availability, previous injury record, quality.... then you either buy or you don't.

Every signing is a gamble.

Summer transfers should be pretty straightforward.

I think we need to start with two, inter-related premises: 1) current squad is too big, and 2) we should only focus on two objectives next season - for me that is top-4 and Europa (once we get past group stage). Lets not get bogged down in trying too hard on either domestic Cup. Get the squad down to 23 players, who are ready, willing and able to play Poch's style.

S: Kane | Soldado, Adebayor

With the preferred 4231 formation, we only need 1 more striker to backup Kane, and play in Cup/Europa matches. Sell Soldado and Adebayor, bring in one player.

AML: Chadli, Pritchard

If Pritchard is ready, bring him back into the squad, keep Chadli. If Pritchard can back up Eriksen, I could see a need to bring in a AML to compete with Chadli.

AMC: Eriksen | Dembele

I think Eriksen needs to be pushed a bit next season., but I don't see this as a critical need. I could see Pritchard come in a deputise behind Eriksen, if we bring in a player to play on the left. Dembele is good enough to stay in my mind, but may simply be part of the culling of extra players.

AMR: | Lamela, Townsend

I think we need a first team player on the right. We need to sell one of Lamela or Townsend, not both.

CM2: Bentaleb, Mason, Alli | Capoue, Paulinho, Stambouli

For me, we need a veteran presence to pair with Bentaleb. Schneiderlin remains a great option for this spot. Mason and Alli make a good back-up pairing. If we go to 24 players, I could see an extra spot for this role.

DL Rose, Davies

I am happy with this pairing, no changes

DC: Vertonghen, Dier, Fazio | Kaboul, Chiriches

I'd like to see us bring in a starting CB to pair with Vertonghen. I rate Dier, just think we need a more seasoned veteran with some pace, and ability to read the game. Dier's time will come. I like Fazio as a back-up who can play against certain teams who have size up front.

DR: Walker, Yedlin

Meh - I think we roll with what we have, let Yedlin play in Cup and Europa games and lets see what we have.

GK: Lloris, Vorm, McGee

Obviously if Lloris goes, we bring in another keeper, but surely McGee can handle the 3rd spot as well as Friedel did this season.


We still need a lot more out than in - I count 12 out, including Holtby, Lennon, Carroll, and 4-5 in.