The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - WALKING THE DOG - 7th January

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Perfect situation for me this January:

1) Carroll gets an offer to join a Premier League club this January where he will get regular game time.
2) We send Bentaleb to QPR to replace Carroll.
3) Holtby stays and becomes an option in a 3-man midfield.
4) We sell Sigurdsson - I'd like to see him in a 3-man midfield too, but I don't think he's dynamic enough for us and we already have more talented players in need of game time.
6) We sell Defoe.
7) We sell Gomes.
9) We buy defensive cover. For my money, someone like Stefan Radu would make a lot of sense. Primarily a LB (Our weakest position), but also able to play CB, and Romanian so would be good for Vlad.
10) Buy a striker if we are going to play 4-4-2. Alternatively, don't bother and play 4-3-3, which would suit us anyway.

This team should be built around a spine of Lloris, Vertonghen, Sandro, Eriksen and Lamela. They are our world class/potentially world class players.

I'm catching up with posts, just got to this one. What happened to number 8?

 

[dagraham]

Under AVB how high up the pitch was the closest person behind Soldado ? Our tactics were rigid and pretty defensive. I'm not really talking about playing one up front, rather Lamela playing as a deep lying second striker with the freedom to roam. Its an entirely different proposition to Soldado up front on his own, imo, and I think it could work

EDIT - I'd actually argue that it could work better with Soldado than Ade ( who likes to drift around himself )

Well I'm with you in terms of Lamela. That's where he should play imo. But I think in practice it would still revert to Soldado being isolated and up against more physical defenders I have my doubts whether he'd be able to bring Lamela into the game in the advanced positions. Where as Ade, although he likes to drift, is much more able to effectively bring others into play, as we saw when VDV was here ( that being in the past tense still narks me - We should never have sold him).

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Damn I miss van der vaart :-(

 

[thinktank]

I'm afraid it is 'pure fantasy land' to think that, with four CB's as well as Capoue and Sandro, that we will go out and get another CB, injuries or not. Verts has never been particularly injury prone and appears close to a return. Kaboul's long term fitness doesn't seem great, but he seems close to return. Adding more CB's is all well and good until everyone returns to fitness and there is a possibility of having 5 fit CB's on our books - great idea on an internet forum or computer games, not so great in real terms.

LB is more pressing, but again, they might feel we have personal that can do a job. In terms of man power, we have Rose, Naughton, Fryers and Verts in a pinch.

Once you actually write things out, looks more like Tim is telling the truth, unless people leave first.

Chri is still raw and dawson is the biggest liability in the team and must be replaced.

Tim can gamble...it's his head.

 

[EJWTartanSpur]

It made sense financially but it was absolutely criminal to let go of VDV who had more top level football experience than anyone else in our squad. Of course, the whole family issue muddies it because we don't know fully what went on, but VDV was one of my favourite players for about 8 years before he even signed for us, so yes, I was absolutely gutted when we sold him :-(

 

[Joeyboey]

Damn I miss van der vaart :-(

Was just thinking this exact same thing.

The only time we've managed to play one up top effectively was when we had Rafa van dar Vaart supporting either Defoe or Crouch.

Our strikers never looked isolated or suffered from lack of service when Rafa was around. What an absolute legend he was!

 

[dagraham]

It made sense financially but it was absolutely criminal to let go of VDV who had more top level football experience than anyone else in our squad. Of course, the whole family issue muddies it because we don't know fully what went on, but VDV was one of my favourite players for about 8 years before he even signed for us, so yes, I was absolutely gutted when we sold him :-(

Yep. I know it's going off topic but we should have kept him. Even if he wanted to go for family reasons, we could have said we''ll let you go but we need to keep you for one more transfer window or at least until we get a worthy replacement. Instead we took the money and bought Siggurdson. Enough said.

 

[ilikeost]

I'd call Dawson pretty fucking dramatic tbfh.

Seriously, this club just fucks me off sometimes. Fucking idiots making decisions again and again.

Sometimes? All you do is complain and call this or that player shit.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Damn I miss van der vaart :-(

Only for an hour of each game

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Only for an hour of each game

Did he ever play 90 once?

 

[lifeof...]

He joed it

 

[EQP]

So TS just said that we'll probably not venture in the market for a new forward and cited that Chadli and LAMELA can play off of a main forward. Good to know that he understands Erik's versatility.

 

[thinktank]

Sometimes? All you do is complain and call this or that player shit.

Like soldado, lamela, lloris, eriksen, capoue, carroll, sandro, chiri, fredericks, bentaleb, verts, kaboul, dembele???

Oh no, wait...those are the ones I consistently praise, not to mention my utter manlove for lamela - which is widely known - and my recent fanfaring of soldado's attributes whilst hordes of football ignorant idiots are lambasting him.

Something's not adding up here.

I defend quality and shower scorn on mediocrity; because I want the best for the club.

Suck it.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Yep. I know it's going off topic but we should have kept him. Even if he wanted to go for family reasons, we could have said we''ll let you go but we need to keep you for one more transfer window or at least until we get a worthy replacement. Instead we took the money and bought Siggurdson. Enough said.

He never left for family reasons, he, I'm actually sad to say (because I too liked him as a player) left because he was told he'd have to fight for a shirt.

"During our first conversation (with AVB) he hinted that I had to fight for my place. That in itself is not a problem. I have enough confidence in my abilities. But until that time I was 'the guy' at The Spurs."...
http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/...e-left-tottenham-because-of-bad-start-with-vi

Seriously, what sort of a manager expects his players to work for their shirt? After-all, VDV was 'The Guy'!! No wonder AVB was sacked

 

[Mouse!]

I'm catching up with posts, just got to this one. What happened to number 8?

And number 5!

It was late and I was tired...yeah that's it. I can definitely count.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Did he ever play 90 once?

Bloody hell, even the 'Eggheads' wouldn't be able to answer that one.

 

[eViL]

He certainly was 'the guy'

The guy who's legs had gone..

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

And number 5!

It was late and I was tired...yeah that's it. I can definitely count.

Shit I never noticed 5 lol

 

[lifeof...]

Bloody hell, even the 'Eggheads' wouldn't be able to answer that one.

But the non eggs have

 

[whitelanefever]

Regarding Ari Golds info, I wonder could it be Britt Assombalonga of Peterborough 17 goals in 31 games this season playing as a wide- forward can play centrally to, could be Danny Ings either.
I can't see us signing a defender, world Cup yr no one of quality will move unless they have to get first team football, probably a loan more likely, I wonder if Paolo De Ceglie Juventus has been considered, apparently he wants to go out on loan to push for a place in Italy squad, also noticed Luca Antonelli of Genoe is out of contract in summer, he's a fine fullback with a ton of pace, could b a cheap pick up & an upgrade on Rose