Klinsmannic
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- Jun 22, 2011
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Yup. He also didn't want Eriksen apparently lol, and doesn't know what to do with him in his system. Another Marotta buy. Not super healthy at Inter right now...
Player Watch: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg
- Thread starter THFCSPURS19
- Start date
Yup. He also didn't want Eriksen apparently lol, and doesn't know what to do with him in his system. Another Marotta buy. Not super healthy at Inter right now...
BringBack_leGin
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- Jul 28, 2004
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Agree with that final paragraph. Much as I’d like to see NDombele succeed as he’s the type of player you pay to watch, a Brozovic - Hojbjerg axis would return us to the type of great all round partnership we had in 16/17. Two very well rounded players who offer great strength, energy and aggression but also are more than comfortable enough on the ball, with Brozovic offering a bit more passing and invention while Hojbjerg offers a bit more tackling and power. Then Lo Celso will have more freedom to knit our play together and link defence to the attackers.
spurs mental
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I'm sold.
wrd
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I think one of our problems in 16/17 which didn't allow us to get over the line was that teams knew we had only one creative outlet in Eriksen and that he wasn't able to drop deeper to get more space as he wasn't inclined to get involved in the physical battle defensively when needed. I feel like the signing of both Lo Celso/Ndombele was a direct response to that and if we go back to the double defensive axis we'll only have that one creative outlet again.
emiley heskey
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Ndombele needs to show all round ability on the pitch like Lo Celso does if we want to play both of them together in front of Hojberg. I just think in big match, Hojberg-Brozovic partnership would give us edge ...
I just think having someone like Brozovic in the squad instead of Sissoko wouls give better balance to the squad.
doctor stefan Freud
the tired tread of sad biology
- Sep 2, 2013
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Amen. Getting a priority signing in early is a very good sign that Mourinho has clear ideas about how to address the weaknesses in our squad and that, crucially, Levy is backing him
TEESSIDE1
Married, new job and Spurs on the up!
- Jul 3, 2006
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Onomah is ‘currently’ playing really well for Fulham but pre lockdown he was constantly getting criticised for being poor and looking disinterested. He’s a very hot and cold type of player.
Edwards was always classed as having a poor attitude in both training and his previous loans. He’s doing well in Portugal but he’s playing at a sub level of football. You see a lot of trickery from him and he’s scoring quite a few goals but the standard of defending and goalkeeping is horrific.
wrd
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Don't get me wrong I can see the advantage of signing Brozovic and that type of midfield but I'd rather give Ndombele the opportunity to succeed with us and knowing the creativity that he and Lo Celso together would give us. Add to that the steel which Lo Celso provides and I think it has the potential to be a more well rounded midfield than we had previously where before we had an over-reliance on Eriksen.
If we signed Brozovic and didn't have to lose Ndombele then that'd be incredible and allow us to do both but I know that's not happening.
emiley heskey
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mr ashley
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Exactly. If they were tearing it up at another PL club, for example, I think we should rightly take some flak for that.
BringBack_leGin
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Yes and no. Bear in mind that during 16/17 we also primarily played with a three man defence of Vertonghen Alderweireld and Dier, which meant that we often had just Eriksen, Kane and Dele in front of the pivot.
Son started 24 league matches, many of these were the during the 10 that Kane missed, so no change to formation, and many were during the 14 that Dembele didn’t start, meaning we reverted to a 4231 but with a Wanyama - Dier axis which is totally devoid of impetus going forward. The only really exception to this was towards the end of the season when we started putting Eriksen at CM with Wanyama while Dembele was injured, which was great fun but we already had too much ground to make up,
Then you also need to consider that both Brozovic and Hojbjerg are quicker ball moves than Dembele and Wanyama, but we’d also likely be able to play just one of them with Lo Celso and have Dele/ Lamela in that link role (or another striker should we purchase one) in such event that teams would play to stifle us.
As I said, I’d far prefer Ndombele made a success of himself, but for a squad balance perspective, both Brozovic and Hojbjerg would allow us to play them together behind Lo Celso or play one with him for games where we need to attack. It’d essentially be Brozovic, Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Winks, Dele and Sissoko competing for 3 positions ranging from most defensive to most attacking depending on opposition.
Obviously I’d far prefer Ndombele in there rather than Sissoko, but for the sake of this discussion the interchangeables are Ndombele and Brozovic. Unless Levy can somehow convince Inter that they’re better off with the less talented, older french international.
matthew.absurdum
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- Aug 31, 2012
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Finally a proper DM since Wanyama. I can't help thinking about Sherwood: "I like attacking players to attack, defenders to defend & midfielders to do a bit of both.". No Tim, it is not.
joey55
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- May 20, 2005
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But Brozovic and Tanguy have very similar creativity stats, with Brozovic just edging it. Brozovic's chance creation stats are very high for a CM player who doesn't take set pieces. This season he's got 6 assists from CM, and a couple of years ago he got 9. To do that without being the set piece taker is rare. No one in the Prem has stats like that from CM. Ashley Westwood also got 6, but he takes the set pieces. Basically, if we want creativity from a deeper role, it will be hard to find better than Brozovic.
Who’s our next manager?
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Brozovic is 28 in November, no resale value for Levy.
matthew.absurdum
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wrd
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That's good to know about Brozovic and as I say I'm not against him, you could argue the touted deal of Skriniar/Brozovic for Ndombele/Sissoko would provided us an excellent spine. However As you say Brozovic and Tanguy have similar stats and considering Tanguy is still settling in I'd like to see him try and fulfil his talent. Admittedly I do think the aforementioned does make more logical sense especially with the man who is currently in charge.
emiley heskey
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Levy signed sissoko when he was 29 and that too for 30m
BringBack_leGin
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Erm... Sissoko is only just now about to turn 31. We signed him when he was about to turn 27.
longtimespur
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- Sep 10, 2014
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Shame to see him go. Think he’s right doing it as we haven’t done the best we could have for him. Good luck to the lad hope he gets his career back on track.
Japhet
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IMO, if you put 2 creative players in a CM3 you create way more than twice the problems for your opponents. A lot of our opponents knew that if they could stop Eriksen they could stop us, but it's a whole different ball game trying to contain 2 players like GLC and Ndombele. It's how City play at their best with deBruyne and Silva, or Barca did with Xavi and Iniesta. You might stifle one of them but not both.
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