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Have we got a deep enough squad?

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
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Llorente or Lukaku or Sturridge or giroud

Lamela or Sanchez or shaqiri or Willian

Skipp or fred or Henderson or kovacic

I think we are far weaker than City, United Liverpool or Chelsea in terms of our 2nd or 3rd choices.

Disagree you take Liverpools front three out and another top 6 they’d all struggle playing any top 6 at full strength . We’ve suffered badly this season with injuries at key stages bar yesterday result we were in all competitions and 9 pts off First .

The media and some fans that have lost focus will sight trophies so that will always be a beating stick as for me I still believe trophies will come along I’m also happy we’re competing
 

rio bryan

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2006
547
350
Llorente or Lukaku or Sturridge or giroud

Lamela or Sanchez or shaqiri or Willian

Skipp or fred or Henderson or kovacic

I think we are far weaker than City, United Liverpool or Chelsea in terms of our 2nd or 3rd choices.


Why are you putting Skipp in there when he is our 6th choice ?
 

DCSPUR

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2005
3,918
5,415
The squad thing is a misnomer. We need to add some better players to the starting XI. This letter to Football 365 sums it up for me...

https://www.football365.com/news/spurs-squad-can-win-the-title-pochettinos-xi-cant

this comment to that letter (from a non Spurs fan) is important, particularly the reminder of the petro fueled records...

…No doubt there’ll be plenty on Spurs “bottling it” last night. But looking at this as on outsider with some objectivity, this narrative seems rather wide of the mark once you delve past the opportunistic trolling.
In the 10 years since Spurs last won a trophy, transfermarkt shows them having invested just 9 million net on player transfers. That’s the least of all clubs in the Premier League which is both surprising and also shambolic for a club with real aspirations. Even miserly Arsenal have invested 274 million in that time, and they themselves trail the remaining top 4 by some distance.
By comparison, City couldn’t win a trophy for 34 yrs prior to 2011. Chelsea won 1 league 3 FA Cups in 100 yrs before Abramovic. Both clubs regularly win now because of investment, and it had absolutely nothing to do with them suddenly learning how to stop “bottling it”.
 

DCSPUR

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2005
3,918
5,415
Disagree you take Liverpools front three out and another top 6 they’d all struggle playing any top 6 at full strength . We’ve suffered badly this season with injuries at key stages bar yesterday result we were in all competitions and 9 pts off First .

The media and some fans that have lost focus will sight trophies so that will always be a beating stick as for me I still believe trophies will come along I’m also happy we’re competing
we have had 35 significant injuries this season!
And they have been all sorts with lots of bad luck.
Just take poor Big Vic, first season he dominates Pep's city midfield and the amazing Kante in two comprehensive wins.
Can't catch a break since then.
Last night Dier was clearly not 100% fit and match sharp but had to come into a semi; we get injuries to both left backs etc etc.
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,572
22,394
I think at moment we’re just terribly unlucky to have Kane, Dele and Son all unavailable to is at same time, our three biggest goals threats.

Midfield-wise we obviously did fuck up big time not getting at least one more in given Dembele and Wanyama were knackered, but then maybe Sissoko wouldn’t have been given chance to step up and finally make his mark?
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
17,270
It always feels like we have a lack of game-changers when it comes to subs compared to other teams.
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
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I don't think we can use the cop out of injuries regarding the midfield, it was well known that Wanyama, Dembele and Winks have had injury problems over the last 2 seasons and the knowledge that Dembele felt he wasn't fit enough to cope with the demands of the prem. We decided to renew Vorm which was a frankly stupid decision considering the problem we have with quota and that was before Gazaniga stepped up to be a great 2nd choice keeper. We also should have seen that consistently Kane has suffered an injury after christmas to his ankle for the last 3 (now 4) seasons so how the powers that be couldn't come up with the hypothetical scenario of Son leaving and us being short if Kane suffered an injury I don't know. Was obvious we needed another forward who could also play across the line to be back up to Kane/Son, we needed another class midfielder. The top 2's fullbacks are also significantly better than our options especially given Rose injury problems.

We have depth but there's glaring injury issues within the team that decimate that depth very quickly and have done so for the past 18-30 months. If we ignore the injuries then we still lack a top class midfielder although Winks has a very high ceiling and is on a great trajectory but we need quality next to him.
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
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58,007
It always feels like we have a lack of game-changers when it comes to subs compared to other teams.

And Rose said the same didn't he, before the summer with his interview he was on BBC radio saying during the semi final you look at Chelsea bench vs our bench and the gulf in quality was there for all to see, 2 years later it's still an issue. Lamela is a great option but you need more than him.
 

Hakkz

Svensk hetsporre
Jul 6, 2012
8,196
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And Rose said the same didn't he, before the summer with his interview he was on BBC radio saying during the semi final you look at Chelsea bench vs our bench and the gulf in quality was there for all to see, 2 years later it's still an issue. Lamela is a great option but you need more than him.

That was a prime example. Having two elevens that can be replaced like for like is all well and good, but when you are in a situation like yesterday you may want to switch things up. Taking off one central midfielder and putting on another central midfielder normally won't change the dynamics of the game.
 

vegassd

The ghost of Johnny Cash
Aug 5, 2006
3,498
3,770
We have plenty of opportunities to improve the squad. And once those have been improved upon we can make a new list of players to improve. And again and again and again.

Liverpool's bench in their last Prem game was; Mignolet, Moreno, Camacho, Lallana, Shaqiri, Sturridge, Origi. Would anybody call that a bench of a league champion? Probably not. But there they are at the top of the table and looking very good.

My point is that there's no magic number in terms of squad "strength" that will provide success. If you suffer the wrong injuries at the wrong times you will be under pressure (unless you have an endless pot of money). If you don't suffer those types of injuries then you can do very well on a smaller squad that would be deemed inferior to others.

We can definitely improve on our squad and it's what we should be aiming to do. But replacing a crap player with an average player probably won't have much of an impact to our success.
 

rio bryan

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2006
547
350
He’s our third, or fourth if you put Dier ahead of him. Winks, Sissoko first two. Dembele gone, Wanyama finished.
Lol, If you put Dier ahead of him ?? of course you do, where else would you put him, Wanayama finished !! i don't think so, plus Amos will be in front of him when fit, so i make that 6th choice !
 

SpursDave88

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
2,193
5,831
Lol, If you put Dier ahead of him ?? of course you do, where else would you put him, Wanayama finished !! i don't think so, plus Amos will be in front of him when fit, so i make that 6th choice !

Ok so replace it with Amos who has even less first team experience the point remains.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

Yes it's deep enough in players, no, it's not deep enough in quality at various positions. (onion)
 

Sanj

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2003
1,680
1,130
Squad quality can be argued, but i don't think squad depth is an issue.
We are sitting in 3rd this season having had to play (not chosen to play) our 4th and 5th choice centre backs together, and have also had to play our 6th choice centre back (Davies) this season. Along with this we have also been without our first choice full backs at times.
We have had to play our 5th and 6th choice centre midfielders this season, whilst also having to drop Eriksen and Dele into the deeper holding midfield positions.
would the other teams in teh top 6 cope with so many key players out? We have been unlucky with the volume of inuries this season but we are still in 3rd - which is testament to our squad depth and overall quality, although there are some area's we can definately strengthen.
City struggled this season when just their main CM was missing - Fernandinho. Would Liverpool cope if their main CB was injured? let alone their main striker.
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,575
RB, LB, CM, DM, backup forward - all our needs. Then throw in the potential of Eriksen & Toby leaving, could really add up.
 
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