where has our squad gone?

[rabbikeane]

At least wait until the season starts/window closes before moaning about the state of our squad.

The thread isn't about the state of the squad to be fair,
it's about Harry Redknapp and wanting a new manager in.
The claim is that there's no reason to fill it with any squad players as Harry won't use them properly.

The squad is unbalanced before our summer transfer activity,
but there's nothing wrong with the size of it - as we have 2 more senior players than we can fit into the 25 man squad.

We need star players that can go straight into the starting eleven,
but there's no need for much depth as they'll only turn into the next Pienaar, Kranjcar etc.
If anything it's better to have a small squad as the only way Harry will use youth is if he's forced to - like with Gareth Bale.
Nextgen series points to us having one of the most talented youth teams in Europe,
is this the way to integrate them into our first team?

It can also be argued that in a time where we can't compete with the top teams on wages,
a way to stay competitive for the contract of star players is to pay the first eleven high,
while up and coming players from the academy play the part of squad depth.

 

[Andy]

why do people keep leaving Caulker out of their squads? plus we have only let go of Nelsen, saha and sold Krankjar whilst letting Ade go back, thats four positions and three of them were fringe players (if that), king has been struggling and we may yet be bringing a new centre half whilst offering king a new deal too..
that means we have to replace Adebayor, and get replacements for Nelsen(vertonghen and Caulker i guess) saha and Krankjar.
imo we need 1 maybe 2 midfielders(one as cover for the wings, the other for centre midfield maybe even Tommy is that player) one keeper(back up) and 2 strikers(one as third choice)
the main position we need a player in is centre forward right now.

 

[MR_BEN]

I thought you were a stalker and were going to list exactly where each of our players had gone on their holibobs. Island, Town, Hotel, Room Number... that kinda thing.

 

[Blake Griffin]

last i saw, lennon and livermore were hanging out with jermaine pennant and some fat bird in marbella.

 

[brasil_spur]

if the players were good enough they would be in the first team.

Bale, BAE, Walker, Huddlestone all put the effort in and got rewarded.

Do ANY of you work with these players day in day out? nope didn't think so. so judging the squad isn't something you can do really is it.

obviously if we had Levy picking the team we would win the league.

How can you not judge the squad as a supporter - the vast majority of us on SC watch each and every game - we're in a unique position to be very good judges of our players.

This whole 'the manager knows more than anyone else' attitude is very old and completely unrealistic. Sure they see more on the training field - but that just means they are better in training - the manager sees the same amount of actual competitive football as the rest of us, which is what actually counts IMO.

 

[eddiebailey]

That puts us 3 quality players light IMO, that's assuming we keep Corluka (doubtful). I've excluded Pienaar as he's almost certainly going back to Everton.

The obvious area is in the strikeforce (or lack of), we need at least one quality striker in if not two.

Then we need some quality defensive back-up and a GK whose not about to hit a wall soon.

Naughton can replace Corluka while Caulker and the hopefully soon to be signed Vertonghen are potential defensive cover.

Huddlestone will hopefully come back.

Not sure Harry is finished with Gomes and we have Button coming through.

We have long needed a wideman who will fit our needs better than Pienaar, Krancjar, Bentley and Giovanni have ever done.

And yes we need strikers. Apart from Ade, who we knew was on a season's loan, we have never adequately replaced Berbatov, so it is hardly a case of a hole suddenly appearing in the squad.

I still think our squad looks in pretty decent shape, but we do need two or three quality attacking players.

 

[tototoner]

How can you not judge the squad as a supporter - the vast majority of us on SC watch each and every game - we're in a unique position to be very good judges of our players.

This whole 'the manager knows more than anyone else' attitude is very old and completely unrealistic. Sure they see more on the training field - but that just means they are better in training - the manager sees the same amount of actual competitive football as the rest of us, which is what actually counts IMO.

next time Levy needs a manager send him your CV

 

[ultimateloner]

Great biz and you cant buy b4 u sell.

 

[knowlespurs]

the main issue was last seasons windows, we sold about 10 players and bought in 5, 2 of which have now left, with niko going and pienaar and gio pretty much certain to join him we are very very short in midfield, especially wide, we only really have bale and lennon

 

[Capt_Sensi]

Evening All!

Surely shedding players that couldn't get a game last season can only be good, even if the squad looks a bit threadbare at the moment. That is, of course, assuming we get in 3-4 1st team worthy players because then next years squad players are players that got us 4th last season. Now THAT would be some squad! (ok, may be dreaming just a little bit)

 

[knowlespurs]

Great biz and you cant buy b4 u sell.

we sold a shed load of players last season and in Jan, we bought in about 30m profit and about 250k per week off the wage bill, we not have another 6m and about 30k more off the bill, how many more do you have to get rid off before you can buy?
season before when in CL we only spent 15m on VDV, Sandro and Gallas

 

[Real_madyidd]

last i saw, lennon and livermore were hanging out with jermaine pennant and some fat bird in marbella.

Oi! That's JDs mrs, she is the new danielle lloyd.

 

[dontcallme]

We needed a smaller squad before we could buy and so far other than Ade we haven't lost anyone we didn't want to get rid of anyway.

Sign Vertonghen and I think we are well covered in defence.

In midfield I think we need a versatile winger then we are well set.

Our strikeforce needs a bit of an overhaul. Two signings up front and I believe our squad is where we want it to be.

Won't be doing much buying until after the Euro's anyway.

 

[Kingstheman]

The correct answer is:

For a Burton.

 

[Davo99]

A keeper, Vertonghen, one or two wide men (depending on whether Pienaar leaves or not) and two strikers and we'll be fine. Then only replacements for key players should they be sold are needed.

 

[m*****73]

Do we need to strengthen? Yes, definitely - the squad as it currently stands is not good enough to finish top 4 next season. We're especially weak up front and the centre of our defence needs strengthening. If Modric leaves, then we'll have a giant hole to fill in midfield too. But what's new? Everybody on this forum knows that.

However, to combine that point with your rant about Redknapp is simply misguided and plainly wrong in many ways...

bale is questionable and who knows whether naughton and caulker want to play backup.​

How is that Redknapp's fault? Harry is probably most responsible for making Bale into the player he currently is. Or would you prefer Ramos to be back in charge, when Bale couldn't even get a game?

As regards Naughton & Caulker - what's your point? Currently, they're not good enough to start for a team looking to finish top 3/4. The club are right to loan them out to get experience at the present time. Or would you rather have them rotting on the bench?

harry has marginalised the rest of the squad - [gomes, corluka, bassong, khumalo, bentley, jenas, pienaar, giovani] and now kranjcar has been sold, that lot cost us 55m+ in transfer fees and are probably earning 300k per week collectively and they all know they're not in harry's plans and we know that too. the squad has been horribly mis-managed and now we're left looking paper thin.

Harry has marginalised those players? Really, I thought their own performances are the reason why they're not considered for playing time. Does Gomes deserve to start? Is Corluka better than Walker? You'll hardly find many on this forum putting up a strong case for Bentley or Jenas. Truth is, those players aren't good enough to play for us, and some of them don't like it. Corluka, Gomes & Bassong want to move on. I don't think Harry would be right to stand in their way. Trouble is, other clubs aren't willing to pay what Levy wants for them. So who's to blame for that?

As regards the transfer fees and wages of those players - how many of those were signed by Redknapp? Yet you still blame him for that? What are you suggesting - that the first XI should be picked on the basis of transfer fee and salary, rather than performance?

this is what happens when you don't use your squad properly, harry can have no excuses as this is the squad he has built. we desperately need competition for our wide players, as well as at least two new forwards, our keepers don't exactly have many miles left on the clock and we're hardly stacked at full back either. but it's no use giving harry the money to buy these players if he refuses to use them again.​

Again, warped logic...

It's ridiculous to put the entire blame for the current situation on Harry's shoulders. Doesn't he get any credit for bringing out the best in Modric, Bale, Walker & Kaboul? He's largely had to work with a squad against a backdrop of (a) a chairman who won't sell players for less than his valuation (rightly or wrongly) and (b) a failure to invest enough on the playing side in each of the last two seasons. Fact is, this club's transfer record is Darren Bent. Since qualifying for the Champions League two seasons ago, the squad has been thinned out and alot of players have been sold for significant transfer fees - yet, how much of that has been reinvested? Beyond the purchases of Van der Vaart and Parker (and a loan signing of Adebayor), how much has been invested in the team? And how many players have been sold in that time?

And somehow you consider all that and blame Redknapp for failing to manage his squad which has finished higher and performed better than any Tottenham team in the last 15 years?

Crazy, misguided and biased logic.

 

[cwhite02]

Do we need to strengthen? Yes, definitely - the squad as it currently stands is not good enough to finish top 4 next season. We're especially weak up front and the centre of our defence needs strengthening. If Modric leaves, then we'll have a giant hole to fill in midfield too. But what's new? Everybody on this forum knows that.

However, to combine that point with your rant about Redknapp is simply misguided and plainly wrong in many ways...



How is that Redknapp's fault? Harry is probably most responsible for making Bale into the player he currently is. Or would you prefer Ramos to be back in charge, when Bale couldn't even get a game?

As regards Naughton & Caulker - what's your point? Currently, they're not good enough to start for a team looking to finish top 3/4. The club are right to loan them out to get experience at the present time. Or would you rather have them rotting on the bench?



Harry has marginalised those players? Really, I thought their own performances are the reason why they're not considered for playing time. Does Gomes deserve to start? Is Corluka better than Walker? You'll hardly find many on this forum putting up a strong case for Bentley or Jenas. Truth is, those players aren't good enough to play for us, and some of them don't like it. Corluka, Gomes & Bassong want to move on. I don't think Harry would be right to stand in their way. Trouble is, other clubs aren't willing to pay what Levy wants for them. So who's to blame for that?

As regards the transfer fees and wages of those players - how many of those were signed by Redknapp? Yet you still blame him for that? What are you suggesting - that the first XI should be picked on the basis of transfer fee and salary, rather than performance?



Again, warped logic...

It's ridiculous to put the entire blame for the current situation on Harry's shoulders. Doesn't he get any credit for bringing out the best in Modric, Bale, Walker & Kaboul? He's largely had to work with a squad against a backdrop of (a) a chairman who won't sell players for less than his valuation (rightly or wrongly) and (b) a failure to invest enough on the playing side in each of the last two seasons. Fact is, this club's transfer record is Darren Bent. Since qualifying for the Champions League two seasons ago, the squad has been thinned out and alot of players have been sold for significant transfer fees - yet, how much of that has been reinvested? Beyond the purchases of Van der Vaart and Parker (and a loan signing of Adebayor), how much has been invested in the team? And how many players have been sold in that time?

And somehow you consider all that and blame Redknapp for failing to manage his squad which has finished higher and performed better than any Tottenham team in the last 15 years?

Crazy, misguided and biased logic.

Agreed.

Why don't we review the squad when the transfer window shuts?

 

[tttcowan]

Oh good. Another thread to bash Harry over ifs buts and hypotheticals. Just what was needed.

Just wanted to say, you're sig is the bollox.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

In my opinion we need to go back to buying young players with massive potential. This is the only way to improve on most positions.

Our wage structure doesn't allow us to buy ready made players at the same level as Bale, Lennon etc.. And if we buy players like Kranjcar and Pienaar they are never going to be content sat on the bench at their age.

Young players are more willing to bide their time and will have more passion and hunger when they are given a chance.

 

[eddiebailey]

In my opinion we need to go back to buying young players with massive potential.

Not sure we have ever stopped, though perhaps we have been a little more discerning than tin he Arnesen days. Walker, Naughton and Sandro have been successes, Khumalo and Falque less so, but it is still a good hit rate.

The development/youth squad meanwhile has hoovered up Ceballos, Luongo, Gaulifuoco, Veljkovic, Bentilab, Vigoroux, Gomelt, Coulibally. It is not like our scouts are not putting in the miles.