The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - THE POST MORTEM EDITION

SlunkSoma · Sep 3, 2013

This special relationship equalled one thing, and only thing only: first option on our players.

Levy knew that well have bigger clubs being interested in our players, better to sell them abroad than to domestic teams. Can you imagine if Bale was kissing the badge of Manchester United? Be so much worse.

coypu · Sep 3, 2013

Like I said last night, excellent work by our Chairman, first team upgrade for no financial outlay. Hopefully transfer kitty/Lewis loan/tv money gets ploughed into the stadium so we get it earlier. Levy wanted to keep Bale but bale wanted to go. Everyone said the closest player to replace him was Lamela, Levy went and got him. We bought the best Brazilian central midfielder, a Spanish striker with outstanding goal stats, Lamela is widely regarded as the best young talent on the market, and Eriksen (for a pittance) who's goal/assist someone said matches £42m Ozil. Plus three solid internationals. Boy am I looking forward to this season.

MightyModric · Sep 3, 2013

Fantastic window.

Levy and Baldini really did us good.

Now we've got a fucking international break so we can't see our new signings play for another 2 weeks :cry:

bomberH · Sep 3, 2013

Some thoughts...

Paulinho - first choice midfielder for one of the best countries in the world. Will be our Lampard once he settles.

Capoue - our new Sandro. Interceptions galore and has an eye for a pass too.

Chadli - shown glimpses of promise. I think he'll need at least half a season to get used to the PL.

Soldado - one of the finest strikers available in Europe. Once our team clicks, he'll score bundles.

Chiriches - generally thought of as one of the top young defenders in Europe. Will push Daws for a start especially with Kaboul's ongoing injury situation.

Lamela - again, one of the hottest talents in world football. Once he adapts to the PL, he could be frightening.

Eriksen - A steal at the price we paid. His vision is exactly what we're currently missing. And yet again, one of the hottest young properties in world football.

Sandro & Kaboul back and involved. Awesome.

I expect the team to pick up points against the likes of Norwich (our next match) without playing to their full potential. In the meantime, the more they play together, the better we'll become. By Xmas, we could be really fucking good. And a worst case scenario would be that if we don't do as well this season, after having a full season together, next season we could truly be amazing.

LB - it would've been great to get one and it was obviously on AVB's list of priorities, but if the player doesn't want to come, there's nothing we can do. I'm sure he had back up plans but they might not have wanted to come either. He obviously doesn't rate BAE and hasn't even put him on the bench. Not ideal but there is still cover in Verts & Naughton, which is better than nothing. He obviously didn't want to buy a player for the sake of it & hopefully we'll sort this out in January.

£0 net spend - I've seen people moan about this. Ridiculous. Bale was massively overpriced and we took full advantage of it. If Madrid had paid £350m for Bale and we bought 7 £50m players in with that money, would people still be moaning? We've bought 7 excellent internationals with that money. We may have had more to spend but AVB obviously doesn't want to spend for the sake of spending, he has ideas and only wants players who fit that. Bearing in mind Levy could've used half of the Bale fee towards our new stadium, I think we've done well to use it all on players.

Adebayor - This will probably be his last season for us in which case he'll be playing for a move, so hopefully we'll see a bit more of the on loan Ade from 2 seasons ago. He'd be unplayable if he had the attitude of someone like Dawson or Parker. If the rumours of clear the air talks with AVB are true, then him staying could be a blessing.

Madrid - all this rubbish about Madrid getting one over on us. What? We just sold them a player for around £35m more than he's worth. That fee has paid for most of our 7 signings. Arsenal were always going to buy a worldie or two because they promised that at the beginning of the window. We didn't fund that sale. The fact is, if Madrid hadn't got Bale, they probably would've got Suarez instead, which still would've freed up a player like Ozil.

Arsenal - they have signed a world class player but I genuinely can't help thinking he's not going to make too much difference to their team. They are already excellent going forward. Their problems have always been defensively. They needed a (top) goalie, a central defender, a defensive midfielder and probably a striker. They've just bought a player ago they have around 5 of already, albeit he's the best one. The record fee will in my opinion cover the cracks which are still there from last season. They're still a very good team though and I expect it to go down to the wire, even if they hadn't signed anyone, due to their experience and attacking quality. Personally, I think we'll do it this year.

All in all, an unbelievable window soured by the fact we couldn't get anyone in on the last day. If we'd signed Eriksen and Lamela on the last day, everyone would be creaming. Some of the posters on here yesterday were so ridiculously negative you'd have thought we hadn't signed anyone. All because Arsenal signed someone and we couldn't get a LB we wanted.

Thank fuck the window has closed. I can honestly say I'm really fucking happy.

Maxtremists · Sep 3, 2013

commodoreLUNGE said:
I have to say that this transfer window has been epic. The players we have bought in will be fantastic for the club.
The only point I would make, is that maybe the board got the announcement of some timings wrong? Friday was an incredible day for Spurs fans, and I think we all knew the Bale deal would be announced on Sunday, after the derby, but to lose 1-0 to the Arse, and then lose Bale was tough to take within a couple of hours. Add to that, that Arsenal then go an get Ozil, meant that despite all of our business, the window ended on a bit of a downer. This is probably why some people are complaining about LB, LWF etc. Perhaps if the board had held off on the Eriksen announcement until yesterday, we could have ended on a high and people might not be (unjustifiably) moaning?! It might also suggest that there was a degree of confidence that a big signing would materialise yesterday, that for whatever reason, didn't come off in the end.
Still, despite Deadline Day being quite the anti-climax, I'm happy with the squad we've got. Both FB positions are weak, but every team in the (assumed) top 6 needs to improve somewhere within their squad, and we still have a bit of money in the bank for January if Walker/Rose don't step up to the plate.

Onwards and upwards for the mighty Spurs!

I get your point but I do have to disagree. Whilst it was tough having us lose to Arsenal and lose Bale on the same day, timing wise it meant that most people were talking about Bale than us losing so I think that is a fairly smart move. Especially since we couldn't really delay Bale any longer.

As for Eriksen, I guess we announced it Friday seeing as we were tryig to see if we could register him in time and just couldn't do it. I know the announcement and signing don't take place at the same time but if he had signed on the Friday why would we wait so long to announce it?

I really like our squad at the moment. And I think if, at the start of the window, if people said that Walker would be our RB NO-ONE would have complained. It's only now that we've strengthened nearly every other area people are starting to have a go at him. End of the day it's been a terrific window.

FreddieYid · Sep 3, 2013

dricha1 said:
Disappointed to see Bale leave, but boy
did Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho, Eriksen, Capoue, Chirichies (sp) and Chadli make up for that!

Important to note if the Bale sale had happened earlier those 7 players would have cost at least 50% more, so a great use of money. Zero net spend?..so what! I expect to see some news on the stadium soon then. That is just as essential as the quality of the squad. Once again we show other clubs (Liverpool, Utd, Arsenal - yes they bought Ozil but they needed a gk, FB, ch and DM) how you can improve a squad without breaking the bank.

A few gripes; LB position is weak, but I have faith in AVB to work on Rose and improve him. AVB requires high work rate and commitment, unfortunately he and BAE were never going to get on. Also if Tom Carroll was to go on loan would have hoped to a PL team to aid his development quicker but maybe none were interested?

But consider this;

League team

Lloris,

Walker, Kaboul, Verts, Rose

Capoue, Paulinho, Holtby

Eriksen, Soldado, Lamela

Cup team

Friedel

Naughton, Chiriches, Dawson, Fryers

Sandro, Dembele, Siggy

Townsend, Ade, Chadli

And there's still Gomes, Defoe, Lennon....

That is one hell of a squad!...

[edit] and for those having a moan about the RM partnership...what if the players don't want to come?

Go and stand in the corner for not putting Sandro in the league team. How quickly people forget, well he's back now to remind you.

Scottish Spur · Sep 3, 2013

We've done superbly, no question.

Kept to our MO in the main, signing young talent with the ability to grow into world class talents. We've added a couple of proven big talents. We've strengthened nearly every area of our team. We've made money and can now hopefully put the rest towards the stadium and get that announced ASAP. The club evidently have faith in Rose and that's admirable. I had my doubts prior to the weekend but I thought Rose did pretty well against Walcott, who for all his weaknesses is probably the biggest one on one test in the division for a LB. I think he can become a more than capable LB. Worth noting that its also crucial that we show faith in our youngsters in order to not lose them. We have to provide opportunities.

Anyway, when all done I think we'll end up in a 4-2-3-1 generally this season.

Lloris

Walker
Kaboul
Vertonghen
Rose

Capoue
Paulinho

Lamela
Eriksen
Chadli

Soldado

That leaves Chiriches/Dawson/Naughton/Sandro/Dembele/Holtby/Lennon/Townsend/Sigurdsson/Defoe/Adebayor. No doubts I've missed somebody off that list but one thing it demonstrates is the undoubted depth we now possess in this squad. I don't think I've seen a stronger squad in my life time at the club. Kudos to Messrs Levy, Baldini and Villas-Boas.

Tucker · Sep 3, 2013

So do we get any clarification on all the ITK that didn't come off? Like the "Jaws" ITK? or does it all quietly get swept under the carpet in the hopes no one dares mention it?

arunspurs · Sep 3, 2013

I see Chiriches as competition to Walker - plays at times for his country in that position. If he can show composure & skill & abilty to cross, he could be good replacement/upgrade/competition for Walker

Scarlet57 · Sep 3, 2013

Mods, is there any ITK you can now reveal or expand on ITK already shared that you weren't able to while the window was open?

Rob · Sep 3, 2013

Tucker said:
So do we get any clarification on all the ITK that didn't come off? Like the "Jaws" ITK? or does it all quietly get swept under the carpet in the hopes no one dares mention it?

The "jaw dropping" ITK stated that weren't given the player's name.

ryantegan · Sep 3, 2013

see you all in january

coypu · Sep 3, 2013

Sorry mods, appreciate its not ITK but as the pace has now slowed in here(?), can squad numbers still be reallocated or is it too late. Wondering if Lamela will change to 11 from 33.

Rob · Sep 3, 2013

Squad numbers get resubmitted at the end of the window so presumably today.

Escher · Sep 3, 2013

We had the best TW, Everton second.

Man U provided the laughs (Fradsters representing the club at Bilbao and failed on Coentrao after Madrid refused to finalise paperwork at the last minute)

Newcastle, like us, had zero net spend.

Arse got just one good player, not the madrid trio that was widely reported in the previous days.

Assuming no injuries on international duty, we should be very strong, Norwich is a good match for us to practise scoring from open play - once that clicks I reckon we'll demolish some of the weaker teams.

freerob · Sep 3, 2013

bomberH said:
Some thoughts...

Paulinho - first choice midfielder for one of the best countries in the world. Will be our Lampard once he settles.

Capoue - our new Sandro. Interceptions galore and has an eye for a pass too.

Chadli - shown glimpses of promise. I think he'll need at least half a season to get used to the PL.

Soldado - one of the finest strikers available in Europe. Once our team clicks, he'll score bundles.

Chiriches - generally thought of as one of the top young defenders in Europe. Will push Daws for a start especially with Kaboul's ongoing injury situation.

Lamela - again, one of the hottest talents in world football. Once he adapts to the PL, he could be frightening.

Eriksen - A steal at the price we paid. His vision is exactly what we're currently missing. And yet again, one of the hottest young properties in world football.

Sandro & Kaboul back and involved. Awesome.

I expect the team to pick up points against the likes of Norwich (our next match) without playing to their full potential. In the meantime, the more they play together, the better we'll become. By Xmas, we could be really fucking good. And a worst case scenario would be that if we don't do as well this season, after having a full season together, next season we could truly be amazing.

LB - it would've been great to get one and it was obviously on AVB's list of priorities, but if the player doesn't want to come, there's nothing we can do. I'm sure he had back up plans but they might not have wanted to come either. He obviously doesn't rate BAE and hasn't even put him on the bench. Not ideal but there is still cover in Verts & Naughton, which is better than nothing. He obviously didn't want to buy a player for the sake of it & hopefully we'll sort this out in January.

£0 net spend - I've seen people moan about this. Ridiculous. Bale was massively overpriced and we took full advantage of it. If Madrid had paid £350m for Bale and we bought 7 £50m players in with that money, would people still be moaning? We've bought 7 excellent internationals with that money. We may have had more to spend but AVB obviously doesn't want to spend for the sake of spending, he has ideas and only wants players who fit that. Bearing in mind Levy could've used half of the Bale fee towards our new stadium, I think we've done well to use it all on players.

Adebayor - This will probably be his last season for us in which case he'll be playing for a move, so hopefully we'll see a bit more of the on loan Ade from 2 seasons ago. He'd be unplayable if he had the attitude of someone like Dawson or Parker. If the rumours of clear the air talks with AVB are true, then him staying could be a blessing.

Madrid - all this rubbish about Madrid getting one over on us. What? We just sold them a player for around £35m more than he's worth. That fee has paid for most of our 7 signings. Arsenal were always going to buy a worldie or two because they promised that at the beginning of the window. We didn't fund that sale. The fact is, if Madrid hadn't got Bale, they probably would've got Suarez instead, which still would've freed up a player like Ozil.

Arsenal - they have signed a world class player but I genuinely can't help thinking he's not going to make too much difference to their team. They are already excellent going forward. Their problems have always been defensively. They needed a (top) goalie, a central defender, a defensive midfielder and probably a striker. They've just bought a player ago they have around 5 of already, albeit he's the best one. The record fee will in my opinion cover the cracks which are still there from last season. They're still a very good team though and I expect it to go down to the wire, even if they hadn't signed anyone, due to their experience and attacking quality. Personally, I think we'll do it this year.

All in all, an unbelievable window soured by the fact we couldn't get anyone in on the last day. If we'd signed Eriksen and Lamela on the last day, everyone would be creaming. Some of the posters on here yesterday were so ridiculously negative you'd have thought we hadn't signed anyone. All because Arsenal signed someone and we couldn't get a LB we wanted.

Thank fuck the window has closed. I can honestly say I'm really fucking happy.

Agree with most of above

We feared Bale would go when we didnt get CL however couldnt have hoped to get world record fee and enough money to fund all these fantastic "potentially" world class players. We broke our club record three times and surely if we had been offered all these players on July 1st we would have snatched your hand off. Obviously, quiet last day but fantastic window!

Tucker · Sep 3, 2013

Rob said:
The "jaw dropping" ITK stated that weren't given the player's name.

The Goat said:
The identity of the other he asks that we keep to ourselves. Although he has agreed to allow an A&C cryptic.

No, it states you were given the name but couldn't share it at the time. Sorry to be a pedant. And what happened to A&C's cryptic? He threw a fit any time someone mentioned it.

coypu · Sep 3, 2013

Rob said:
Squad numbers get resubmitted at the end of the window so presumably today.

Thanks for that, be nice to move on and get that shirt back in use. Great handling of the forum by all the mods, and thank you to all the ITKer.

Olé · Sep 3, 2013

Stupid like a fox said:
No not at all, I just thought that the partnership might have benefitted us in some way by now.

It is benefitting us. A) with a truckload of cash we can use to bring the club forward B) by exchanging Marketing and commercial ideas with the club which has the highest C) exchanging coaching experiences with a club who is one of the biggest talent factories in the world; Raul, mata, negredo, soldado, guti to name a very very few, not to mention the world stars they've had om their books through all time; di stefano, puskas, Hugo sanchez, Zidane, figo, Ronaldo etc etc

How is that not beneficial?
For players if it was Barca who wanted Bale I believe Real would have the option to offer the same price but we decide the price and the player Choose where he wanted to play! The same goes for us and Özil. Özil decided he did not want to stay at Real but at the same time he wanted to go to a club in the CL and has been in the top flight in an attractive league over time. He Chose Arse for a good fee to Real.

Get it into Your heads. We screwed RM not the opposite. RM payed 30m more than PSG for Cavani and almost twice as much as Barca payed for Neymar! Fuck, they only payed 46M for Zidane, the arguably biggest player since Maradona though that is 12 years ago it is pretty sick to think about his stature!

Can we please, pleaaaase stop whining about this..

dav3j · Sep 3, 2013

bomberH said:
Eriksen - A steal at the price we paid. His vision is exactly what we're currently missing. And yet again, one of the hottest young properties in world football.

bomberH said:
Arsenal - they have signed a world class player but I genuinely can't help thinking he's not going to make too much difference to their team. They are already excellent going forward. Their problems have always been defensively. They needed a (top) goalie, a central defender, a defensive midfielder and probably a striker. They've just bought a player ago they have around 5 of already, albeit he's the best one. The record fee will in my opinion cover the cracks which are still there from last season. They're still a very good team though and I expect it to go down to the wire, even if they hadn't signed anyone, due to their experience and attacking quality. Personally, I think we'll do it this year.

Completely agree with both these points.

Eriksen is going to be absolutely world class. The lad is only 21 but has been the standout performer in what is the best team in the Eredivisie - a league which, by the way our own Jan Vertonghen also plied his trade - for years. Modric only ever played in the Croatian league, took a while to get settled, and was rejected as being too lightweight for the PL, and look how he turned out.

Regarding Arsenal, two points really are clear. Ozil is (really annoyingly) bloody good, and will cause defences all kinds of headaches. The other is that despite this, they still have the same issues remaining unresolved that will be their undoing - an absolutely pisspoor defence, a cocky goalie who doesn't have anywhere near the ability to back it up, and worst of all, one injury to Giroud away from playing Nicklas Fucking Bendtner up top!

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