The Weekend ITK Discussion Thread 26/27 July 2014

[JJetset]

Graham Roberts!!

 

[Indisguise]

Quite relieved that both JJ and Gards have poo poohed Shawcross...

 

[Greenspur]

Which doesn't mean I haven't watched them (and by definition Shawcross) at all. Does anyone on here go out of their way to watch Stoke?

I go out of my way to watch their fans on SSN on deadline day. I put a hankie on my head and shout "my head hurts".

 

[THFCSPURS19]

1. Gareth Hagarty ‏@grafinoz 48m
   @Gards44 any chance a CB will come in before the spammers game? dawson out and MS in before the 1st game?

Gards‏@Gards44 Protected Tweets
@grafinoz trying

 

[absolute bobbins]

Graham Roberts!!

Bit long in the tooth, no?

 

[Marcus_spur]

When did they show up?

Well, I just got here. Dunno where the other one is.

 

[buckley]

mabbut legend

 

[Gedson100]

mabbut legend

Oh come on!
He's such a legend but you can't remember how to spell his name?

 

[Barry Mead]

Don't mean to be pedantic Barry, but I had a great Aunt called Eunice. The French bloke who plays CB for us is called Younes.

I know, but I've always called him Eunice, I ain't changing now

 

[Japhet]

I know, but I've always called him Eunice, I ain't changing now

Fair play!

 

[prawnsandwich]

Do we really know this? The time a player's time with us is up is when you have better players. Frankly I'm not sure if Eunice will ever get back to his best form and on last seasons form wasn't better than Daws and Vlad was a long way short of PL level.

There are better CB's around than Daws, but then there's better CB's around than Verts, but we have to get them and that isn't always that simple

I have no issue if we can get a better more suited CB than Daws but I can't see any point in selling him whilst Vlad looks a long way short of stepping up and there's big question marks still over Eunice

It's also worrying that we showed a serious lack of leadership, character and desire in anything like enough depth last season and yet the players that provide the bulk of that, Daws and Sandro, we are supposedly thinking of selling.

I hope we have some strong targets in mind if we do, because youthful enthusiasm isn't going to be enough to get as through the tough games we will invariably encounter this coming season

Great post.
But I think Daws is out and I would not be surprised if he is joined by Kaboul and Vlad.
Kaboul dropped and MoPo trying other players at CB last night.

 

[Spurs Lodge Kittens]

I think Dawson might have played the full 90 just to ensure that the CB he's keeping - Kaboul, doesn't pick up an unnecessary injury

 

[Barry Mead]

No one mentioned Phil Beal and though not truly a CB, in the days of centre halfs and half back's Phil was a fantastic defender and a great servant to the club. Something of an unsung hero but for me an excellent player

 

[Barry Mead]

I think Dawson might have played the full 90 just to ensure that the CB he's keeping - Kaboul, doesn't pick up an unnecessary injury

You can't wrap players in cotton wool and if anything Eunice needs more playing time than most because he missed so much.

 

[Good Doctor M]

You can't wrap players in cotton wool and if anything Eunice needs more playing time than most because he missed so much.

Younes needs a certain amount of protection, I would agree, but you're right also. There's little point in having a player on the books who is a constant injury concern, unless of course they're Ledley.

 

[Kaboul'sForehead]

Someone at some point suggested molding Sandro into a CB. I think that could be worth a shot. Defensively Sandro is one of the best around. Offensively not so much. Why not focus on his strengths? It would solve our CB problem and appease all the Sandro lovers who want him to stay. This is just my opinion but I think after the injury he could benefit from playing in a less athletic role in defense as opposed to the midfield.

Was me

 

[Ghost Hardware]

I'm starting to get the felling that Davis and Vorm might be the only business we do this window. Altogether tho I am just fed up of doing last minute transfers, surely the more preseason a player has at a club the better, never understood the mentality of bringing in players last minute in summer.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

I'm starting to get the felling that Davis and Vorm might be the only business we do this window.

Poch has basically already confirmed we want to sign more players...

And that's also forgetting the truck-load of ITK which contradicts your statement.

 

[St José Dominguez]

You can't wrap players in cotton wool and if anything Eunice needs more playing time than most because he missed so much.

If this was what we were doing that would be extremely worrying. Huge question marks over Kaboul for me, one of only ones who wasn't involved in all 3 games. We desperately need a new CB and quickly imo.

 

[Good Doctor M]

I'm starting to get the felling that Davis and Vorm might be the only business we do this window. Altogether tho I am just fed up of doing last minute transfers, surely the more preseason a player has at a club the better, never understood the mentality of bringing in players last minute in summer.

I think in general, it gets easier to get players signed towards the end of the window because agents begin to run out of options the longer the window goes on.

An agent is in a very strong bargaining position at the start of the window, he has time, can wait to see or cook up counter offers and try to get the very best deal for his player. The less time left in the window, the more desperation kicks in and clubs begin to get an upper hand.

I think ideally, yes, early deals are better all round, but from a business point of view, it makes more sense to conduct business when you're in a better position to negotiate.

And we have Levy... if Levy can shave some pounds off a transfer or a wage by holding out for an extra fortnight or month, does anyone think he'd be wrong to do so?