Agree with you 100%. Just can see the appeal of Gallagher as a much better 8 if Ange feels like he can’t play Gio and Maddison together for some reason.
Bentancur is awesome, but I think we’re making a huge mistake if we expect him to be back to normal at any time this season (absolute best case is sometime in spring.)
KILLA_SIN
Well-Known Member
- May 24, 2008
- 7,960
- 14,699
Maybe not started, but second half we were in control was a good time for him to come on
Ghost Hardware
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 18,495
- 63,713
Tbh I was wondering if Ange was thinking long term with that. Both were obvious choices but idk, maybe because they played 90 on Tuesday or maybe he wanted others to play 90 yesterday. I’m probably reading way to much into it but I kind of feel Ange does everything for a reason. It will be very interesting to see if/how they feature on Saturday.
rabbikeane
Well-Known Member
- Mar 29, 2005
- 6,971
- 12,818
"Play for Barca, or sit on the Spurs bench?" ... hm
Ruffinthepuffin
Well-Known Member
- Jun 21, 2011
- 1,341
- 3,854
I think it’d be more like swapping sitting on our bench with sitting on their bench.
Still more appealing I would of thought so if he wants to go then fair enough, I only want fully committed players playing for us.
CanadaSpurs
Well-Known Member
- Aug 14, 2013
- 1,450
- 4,367
Where has this talk come from? Thin air?
Ghost Hardware
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 18,495
- 63,713
Why? Ange has spoken very positively about him and he excelled in pre season. Even Gold was saying how his attitude and drive was completely different. Even Veliz was talking about how Gio said he’d take him under his wing. Is this just about not getting subbed and his name not being on a drop down list on the club shop? The club shop are clearly the last people to know anything. I don’t get where this talk is coming from. Even if he was available, which I doubt he is, where would he go? Barca want Felix + Cancelo and Napoli want Veiga. Those are the only two that have been linked in the past. Villa I guess also but I wouldn’t be surprised if Zaniolo will be played as an AM.
eddiev14
SC Supporter
- Jan 18, 2005
- 7,176
- 19,689
I agree with this midfield but it assumes that Bentancur makes a full recovery and can regain his pre-injury form.
His injury was a very bad one, and one some players never fully recover from.
Especially given how good he’s been in pre-season it would be entirely self-defeating to sell Gio now even for a healthy profit (which I doubt Napoli are even offering?).
he gets in the midfield of the World Champions (still gutted for him missing the WC) and I have confidence that Ange will find the best way to use him.
he gets in the midfield of the World Champions (still gutted for him missing the WC) and I have confidence that Ange will find the best way to use him.
fishhhandaricecake
Well-Known Member
- Nov 15, 2018
- 19,437
- 48,509
Yep only slight criticism of Ange so far was him not making those two exact subs, that being said if we’d done than and lost 3-2 we’d all have been criticising him
fishhhandaricecake
Well-Known Member
- Nov 15, 2018
- 19,437
- 48,509
Same!
Ron Burgundy
SC Supporter
- Jun 19, 2008
- 7,747
- 23,426
Yeah. Kind of surprised it didn’t happen actually
- Aug 18, 2005
- 6,527
- 267
After preseason I'd be surprised if he went. That said, he's not a first choice and it feels like there is a potential to make a huge dent in our wages by getting rid of older stars (harry, lloris, hojbjerg) and players who commanded big fees (ndomble, lo celso). Without the income of Europe it would not surprise me if this was something on Levy's mind. I also suspect Ange would be on board if it gives him the chance to work with new signing who fit his preferred profiles or younger players he feels it's easier to mould.
Ghost Hardware
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 18,495
- 63,713
To Ange all the players are new signings really. Also Gio is tailor made for his tactics so I don’t see why he’d even be okay with him going. He’s already shown on the pitch how well he has fit in and Ange has spoken very highly of him. It would be quite the turnaround. It’s also worth noting that during pre season Gio was almost always on the winning team in training, if you go back and look at Spurs social media posts he’s in almost all of them. I know that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things but still I don’t think that goes unnoticed.
Beyond that I think as the weeks go on we will see a lot of different line ups from Ange, im not convinced it will be 1 set 11 for every game no matter the opponent. I think he will get a good amount of starts tbh, as long as he performs well. And that goes for a number of the team, Ange often likes to keep his back line set but beyond that he will set up his team to best exploit the opposition. He will often tell the players at the last possible min who’s actually starting to keep everyone on their toes. At set 11 only breeds complacency and Ange knows this very well.
Personally, unless Gio wants to go which doesn’t seem to be the case, I can’t see one reason to sell him unless a team offer way over the odds. Which nobody will. Personally I’d think we struggle to replace him with a player of his quality for the money we’d currently get for him.
There is very little sense in trying to build a new system and then straight away sell the players that are motivated and clearly work well in it. The primary focus should be selling players that don’t completely fit the system even if they don’t bring in as much money.
Bluto Blutarsky
Well-Known Member
- Mar 4, 2021
- 15,238
- 70,956
Having just sold Kane for £100M - allegedly much of it up-front - you would hope Levy is not as worried about cash flow this summer - but would be worried about making sure we can be competitive.
Having said that, if Spurs are ready to sign a couple of CM replacements who have higher long-term value than Hojbjerg and Lo Celso - then that would make sense. otherwise - feels very short-sighted, and will leave the club short, once again.
Finchyid
Well-Known Member
- Jun 27, 2017
- 3,792
- 12,006
Yeah their bench is a bit warmer
JacoZA
Well-Known Member
- Aug 2, 2013
- 889
- 4,801
It’s not really fickle though, is it? Because it’s a couple of goals to top off some tidy pre-season performances. Plus a decent loan season at Villarreal. Plus (most importantly) reports that Ange rates him.
Similar threads
