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The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 19th July 2013

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Huddlebone

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2012
1,393
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Just how many times are we going to make the same mistake over and over again by not strengthening our attacking options?

Paulinho, while looking an exciting player, isn't exactly what we've been crying out for. In fact I'd wager the only reason we signed him was because we needed a boost in our midfield options as highlighted last season with the loss of Luka, mediocre Dembele and Sandro getting injured. Even with that, for me, we still lack a bit of creativity in there that I don't see Paulinho as a particularly great answer to. We failed to sort Moutinho and still haven't replaced Modric as it stands, one could argue a case for Holtby or Sigurdsson, but I still don't feel they're near lacing Luka's boots for the role he played. You could say we're changing formation so need a different type of player, but can't help feeling aside from Tom Carroll, we haven't enough players who will try to force the play and create something. I hope he breaks through this year, might be too soon for him though.

We still haven't replaced Berbatov though with the same quality, it's been an issue for far too long now and we've been linked with possibly every professional striker at one point or another over the past 3 years and you have to wonder why we haven't gotten anyone besides Ade over the line (and even that was a saga that resulted in him turning up unfit before coasting his way through a season at 100k per week). The price may have been value for money, but we didn't witness much of that value last season by any means.

We've had our first preseason game and still not improved in the right positions yet again, the season is around the corner and we've all been here before.

Far too many times.

Enough is fucking enough. Invest in the squad, back the manager and get some fucking shit done, it's well overdue. Patience is running out along with time at this point wrt a settled squad for the FIRST game of the season.

Luka is pretty hard to replace. And there is not meany players that are able to do what he did. If you look around the is maby Pirlo, Xavi, Luka, Xabi-Alonso and Paul scholes that had/have the ability to totaly controll game tempo by there passing ability. Nothing u find everyday on Ebay sadly
 

gibbospurs

SC Supporter
Aug 28, 2010
4,978
6,576
Luka is pretty hard to replace. And there is not meany players that are able to do what he did. If you look around the is maby Pirlo, Xavi, Luka, Xabi-Alonso and Paul scholes that had/have the ability to totaly controll game tempo by there passing ability. Nothing u find everyday on Ebay sadly

Found a nice outback bbq tonight tho, only paid £66 too. result.
 

TriXed

Well-Known Member
Aug 19, 2011
489
637
So just because Hottie is a girl, she gets a special mention from ITK??! This is outright sexism, and I for one and having none of it!!! :joyful:
 

Mouse!

Fookin' Legend in Gin Alley
Aug 29, 2011
6,303
19,260
Hey Snarf!

Do you know anything about Elkeson of Guangzhou Evergrande? He's up there with the top scorers in 2013, granted it's the Chinese League but I've watched a few videos and he seems to have great technical ability. Seeing as we're into our Brazilians now I was just wondering if he was worth a look.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
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I just don't see Levy paying £20m+ for Soldado. It is totally against his business model to spunk that much on a 28 yr old


I tend to agree and really do find it hard to believe.

I personally hope we do, all things considered. He's a generally sturdy player who has played in 30+ matches for the past 3 seasons and the best thing moving into his later 20's is that he's not the type of striker who relies on a physical attribute such as pace. He's an intelligent player that makes good runs off the ball and simply knows how to find the net.

3 years or so of 18+ goals from our main striker would go a long way to getting us into the Champions League. And, I really think we're just a solid striker away from accomplishing that.
 

EnfieldYiddo

Silence
Aug 6, 2012
15,505
26,871
It's only July 19th. We'd love to have our squad settled before Hong Kong, but, I think we all know that while we'd love for it to happen, it just wasn't going to be the case. There's still a hefty crop of wide forward types, and despite the doom and gloom, there's a few striker options remaining.

Lewis Holtby came to our side at the worst possible time. He came here right as Bale came into his own playing in the hole, Holtby's best position, and as a result Lewis really never found his place in the squad. He can play in front of Sandro with a player like Dembele/Paulinho and function as the creative passer. See: Any match he played in for Schalke before his move to us or in the U21 Euros. We need Paulinho because both Dembele and Sandro have big injury red flags and if one goes down, we're officially not dicked over and can still use the favored 4-3-3.

I also can't recall a time we were ever settled before the season started. You'd wish Levy would realize that a strong start can make all the difference (2 points in the first 3 matches last year against mediocre competition). Unfortunately, he's almost too concerned with saving some money right now. Focusing on saving a mil right now can end up costing the clubs tens of millions by the end of the year.

Snarf, what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

I genuinely think you could make it as a scout... Even in your spare time the amount of research you dedicate to players is more than most staff as professional cliubs do.

I thought I knew football in terms of players in a global context but you've made that belief redundant.
 

gibbospurs

SC Supporter
Aug 28, 2010
4,978
6,576
Hey Snarf!

Do you know anything about Elkeson of Guangzhou Evergrande? He's up there with the top scorers in 2013, granted it's the Chinese League but I've watched a few videos and he seems to have great technical ability. Seeing as we're into our Brazilians now I was just wondering if he was worth a look.

Very random.... but a good find, he looks pretty good. sign him up .
 

scat1620

L'espion mal fait
May 11, 2008
16,280
52,488
Anyone who isn't worried by our current forward options is either naïve or can't remember how toothless Ade and Defoe were last season.

Anyone who is confident in Spurs of adequately addressing the deficiencies in our current forward options is both a supreme optimist and also not a student of recent history. (And by "Spurs" I don't just mean Levy; I mean the entire chain of people who would be involved in the various processes needed to bring a quality new striker into the club - from the scouts, to the coaching staff/manager, all the way through to the Board and the owners. There's blame to be laid at Levy's door for our previous and current striker failings for sure, but there's plenty of blame to go around, folks, and Levy should be sharing that with the others who have been and continue to be involved in this debacle.)

A proportionate sense of worry is the correct response to our striking situation at the current time.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
71,934
Snarf, what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

I genuinely think you could make it as a scout... Even in your spare time the amount of research you dedicate to players is more than most staff as professional cliubs do.

I thought I knew football in terms of players in a global context but you've made that belief redundant.


Thanks for the praise and I'm just lucky the internet is a vast place with plenty of *completely legal* streams available. I actually work with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Setting them up with services/supports in the home/community and all that jazz.

The truth is, while I love to watch all levels of football across the world, I'm sure just about every scout in this sport is well aware of any player that I talk about on here. It really does have to be one of the best jobs, however. Traveling the world, looking for talents in the most obscure places and hoping that you do find that one talent that symbolizes your career/success.
 

Andy

Staff
Mar 21, 2005
7,833
418
Yup -just saw we scored a blank against mighty Colchester and some rumours about Arsenal landing Bernard.

We are fast becoming the laughing stock of PL.
serious?
lol
we just finished with record points ever, we just broke our transfer record and signed an international midfielder, we have strengthened and have around seven weeks left of the window to address the striker problem,
united and Arsenal are struggling to buy players, liverpool are buying average players, City and Chelsea can throw money around which they are doing on good to average players.

yes we didn't get Benteke, his agent must have got him a nice juicy payrise but guys ffs chill out a bit, go watch some porn and cheer yourselves up.
we have a while left of the window and the club are trying to address the striker issue, Adebayor can't be anywhere near as bad as last season,

oh and for the record pre season means fuck all, it's a training game (y)
 

gibbospurs

SC Supporter
Aug 28, 2010
4,978
6,576
Thanks for the praise and I'm just lucky the internet is a vast place with plenty of *completely legal* streams available. I actually work with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Setting them up with services/supports in the home/community and all that jazz.

The truth is, while I love to watch all levels of football across the world, I'm sure just about every scout in this sport is well aware of any player that I talk about on here. It really does have to be one of the best jobs, however. Traveling the world, looking for talents in the most obscure places and hoping that you do find that one talent that symbolizes your career/success.

Or if your a spurs scout you dont even need to leave the sofa on a sat evening at 10.20.
 

Andy

Staff
Mar 21, 2005
7,833
418
and another thing, did we actually even bid for benteke? was there any proof of this? and if someone posts an article from the star or mail then i'll set A&C on them! lol
 

arunspurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,807
35,543
I just don't see Levy paying £20m+ for Soldado. It is totally against his business model to spunk that much on a 28 yr old



Dont want to sound pessimistic - but reality is, we already missed out on Villa, Benteke, Negredo, Aubameyang, Bony. Damiao & Soldado left still - Damiao is injury prone & expensive.

Soldado looks unrealistic, as you say. If we do not go for Soldado, who else is there ?

That's why I said I will take Cisse and you didn't agree with my opinion. Fair enough

With still Arsenal, Liverpool (if they sell Suarez), Chelsea, United (if they sell Rooney) all after forwards - its hard to see where we go now - given the kind of player Levy is after.

One thing is clear - if we really want to get a proper striker, we need to break free of our current mindset and take a gamble with finances.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
71,934
Hey Snarf!

Do you know anything about Elkeson of Guangzhou Evergrande? He's up there with the top scorers in 2013, granted it's the Chinese League but I've watched a few videos and he seems to have great technical ability. Seeing as we're into our Brazilians now I was just wondering if he was worth a look.


To be honest, I kind of forgot about him. I remember watching him over a year ago for Botafogo and always thought he was a good player that had plenty of talent and a ton of great attributes (intelligent off the ball, constantly looking to get behind defenses, capable of really squaring up the ball on the shot). But, I haven't seen him since his move if I'm completely honest.

It sounds like he's continued to do well, so I'd imagine he could do a job for us at least as depth if not as our first-choice striker.
 

cranester

Active Member
Jul 31, 2006
184
254
Hi guys

I'm proud to say that today was the first time I've actively been involved in a SC meltdown. I'm left now with feelings of anger, guilt, frustration but most surprisingly there are feelings of pure joy. I guess it's because now I can look forward to the next striker we are linked to and fawn over them for a couple of weeks, it'll be like falling in love all over again.

My donation of £15 for the Benteke signing has been washed away but I'll flirt with the idea that I could make a £20 donation in the future for ANY striker that signs.

Take care xoxo
 

gibbospurs

SC Supporter
Aug 28, 2010
4,978
6,576
To be honest, I kind of forgot about him. I remember watching him over a year ago for Botafogo and always thought he was a good player that had plenty of talent and a ton of great attributes (good dribbler, intelligent off the ball, capable of really squaring up the ball on the shot). But, I haven't seen him since his move if I'm completely honest.

It sounds like he's continued to do well, so I'd imagine he could do a job for us at least as depth if not as our first-choice striker.
Hopefully JJetset will read this and report back to levy with his name, only YouTube but one of his goals was unreal, he smashed it to the top corner after some really quick shifting of the ball.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
71,934
I'm wondering how much Real Madrid would want for Morata :unsure:.


I'd imagine he would cost a pretty penny. I'd love to have him as he's one of those rare youngsters that has a much more seasoned approach to the game than his age would suggest.
 
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