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Would you be happy to stick with what we have (players) for next season?

I am very surprised that no one would replace Lennon. We need pace and Aaron has lost it. The guy's stats are dreadful: neither goals nor assists. I'd sell him and Siggi before either could sneeze.

I have him in my secondary 11.. He is a handy backup in short.
 
My own view is that he struggled with the physicality of the league as well, something, on the face it at least, Paulinho should be better equipped to adjust to.

Trouble is, you don't see the face of it; you see the back of it as he turns round to avoid getting hit by a ball.

(Sorry; still angry at the West Ham free kick!)
 
Yeah ok but Paulinho clearly can't cope with the physicality he looks so weak all the time, he gets closed down quickly and clearly doesnt know what to do, he gets brushed off the ball so easily and his professionalism is questionable.

Didn't Sherwood question his attitude in training and his attitude on the pitch stinks.

The guy is rotten.

Agreed. When you read the sort of criticism some other people at Spurs get I can't believe some are still defending this joker. I would never slate Soldado because despite his lack of goals you can see in his attitude he really wants to succeed at Spurs and has always given his all in the shirt. Pauline on the other hand has stunk the place out since he got here and I'm not having this crud about the physical side of the PL. He's a bottler plain and simpler. I'd sell him for a packet of crisps and a can of coke the c***!
 
Agreed. When you read the sort of criticism some other people at Spurs get I can't believe some are still defending this joker. I would never slate Soldado because despite his lack of goals you can see in his attitude he really wants to succeed at Spurs and has always given his all in the shirt. Pauline on the other hand has stunk the place out since he got here and I'm not having this crud about the physical side of the PL. He's a bottler plain and simpler. I'd sell him for a packet of crisps and a can of coke the c***!

:) it seems I'm ploughing something of a lone furrow with my attempts to defend Paulinho so moving on...no one appears to have commented on Capoue yet. Understandable though as, I think like me, many forget that even plays for us. Lamela has been conspicous by his absence whereas this guy's just been absent!
 
Soldado has had games where he has been equally as lethargic as Paulinho but he doesn't come under as much stick because it's not as visible.

I don't think anyone defending Paulinho is saying that he's had a good season, he obviously hasn't, but I think he's shown glimpses of talent that show he deserves at least some patience. How many Brazilian players have come to English football and immediately succeeded? Sandro didn't even get into a squad until he was here for six months. I think the best comparison to make would be Lucas (a player that appeared built for English football). Liverpool fans despised him once he first arrived but over time became one of their most influential and popular players.

My personal is that Paulinho would have performed better in a settled team, with a defined role and a familiar manager. He's probably the player (along with Lamela) that has had the most challenging circumstances with which to adapt and he's obviously struggled. If we can give him time, he's only 25, then I think he'll come good.
 
If its not visible then what evidence do you have for it? Or can only you see it? A bit like an imaginary friend perhaps?

He's spent some games just wandering about looking ****ed off. I empathise with him somewhat considering the lack of service, but Adebayor hasn't had as much trouble finding himself in goalscoring positions so why has Soldado?

By visibility, it's more visible when a midfielder lacks application than a striker because it's a more combative area of the pitch
 
I still believe in the squad we have, bar left back. Need to stick with what we have with one or two additions, see what a new manager can get out of them.
 
The signings we made were arguably the best players in their positions in their respective leagues and all part for Soldado were young. When they were all signed no one complained and low and behold most have struggled to adapt to the league, not to mention the constant change at our club

I personally would like to see all of them given a season more at least. None have lost any really value other than Soldado possibly but at 28 he was hardly brought for selling on. Lamella needs to play to show his worth naturally and the rest will at least be money back buys.

But in practical terms it was a huge transition and it didn't work as well we had hoped

This summer we need no more than 3 first team players in and maybe 3 or 4 out. Who comes and goes will depend on the manager and how he wasn't to play. We do no genuine competition at left back so that Rose either shapes up or loses out. I feel that we need a dearie centre mid too to compliment eriksen. I've liked the look of Clasie and he would come too as a reasonable price. Maybe a new centre back if be lose one but 4 is enough IMO. I wouldn't argue with an additional striker in on a like for like basis

We should however sign a young keeper for back up and ideally one that accepts that's for a few seasons at least.

Too many more changes and we will be in a worse place IMO
 
^^

That last post most closely sums up my feelings.

We've had a period of much change. A new manager during the season, seven new players and losing our best player last summer, following on from losing three influential players and the manager the summer before. Given all the change, it's not surprising we haven't progressed. A plus is that we haven't regressed as badly as the last time we went for massive change.

Apart from Eriksen, none of the new players have been an overwhelming success. On the other hand, I find it hard to call any flops in their first season in the PL and most have had their moments where they show potential. I think any changes should only be where an incoming player is a substantial upgrade on the player he is replacing, with less trading for the sake of it (or just for financial reasons).

I hope any new manager sees his job as part of an evolution, not a revolution.
 
------------Ade---------------
-Eriksen---Lamela---AT/AL/New
--SR/EC or NB/New-P/MD------
R/New--Verts---Kaboul--Walker
-----------Lloris--------------

In an ideal world we would sign a new first choice left back, a new CM who is primarily a deep-lying playmaker a la Modric/Bentaleb, a new right-winger to improve upon Lennon, and a back-up for Walker who can provide more width than Naughton.

Then we would have a balanced and competent defence capable of providing dangerous overlaps (we have struggled this year first with the injury to Rose, then to Walker), someone to 'make us tick' in the middle (mentor to Bentaleb, complementing the destroyers [Sandro/Capoue] and the box-to-box CMs [Paulinho/Dembele]), and a consistent winger who likes to go outside/hit the byline/deliver a good cross (what Lennon is meant to do, complementing Townsend, but fails at achieving with any consistency).

Also: After reflecting on what little we've seen of Lamela prior to his injury, I think he'd be more suited to playing off the striker (he played there for River if I'm not mistaken). He doesn't really have the pace to play on the wing in England, and Eriksen offers more coming in from the wing. Playing centrally might afford him more chances to use his clever flicks and vision to unlock the defence, while he could also make the in-to-out 'central-winger' (to use Michael Cox's terminology) runs that would both create confusion and space centrally and allow him a bit more time on the ball to utilise his undoubted technical ability.

From Eriksen, Lamela plus 2 of Chadli/Sig/Holtby we would have a pretty diverse pool of players to pick the inside-left and attacking midfield positions outlined at the start of this post.

In short: No, I would not keep the same squad for next season. We do not need much other than time, but 3 or 4 signings could revitalise our squad and begin to form a coherent team out of the mass of individuals assembled last summer, which have begun to gel in parts this year but clearly need further additions to fully utilise.
 
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