• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Transfer window now shut - what do we make of our squad now?

I thought that although we lost our best player we strengthened the team overall with some really exciting young talent. But after reading this thread I might just go off and slit my wrists.
 
-------------------------------Lloris

Walker-------Kaboul/Daws/Chich--------Verts----------Rose

---------------------Sandro------------Paulinho

-------------------------------Eriksen

---Lamela------------------Soldado----------------Chadli

It's all on Eriksen really, he needs to be a Modric type genius, knitting things together.
Been impressed with Chadli's aerial prowess, he really has won a **** load in the air to make up for Soldado. Also Chaldi looks unpredictable in that he will pass or take on his man inside and out. Think he can play a quick passing game.
Think Paulinho is more dynamic than Dembele, not sure he is going to be better than Capoue long term though.
Sandro's passing's limited but he does play them quickly and doesn't fanny about.
Quite disappointed in Soldado's all round game from the first three matches. I think we all thought we needed a big, back to goal, hold up player in this formation. Shame we didn't get one (not writing Soldado off, just don't think he's ideal).
 
-------------------------------Lloris

Walker-------Kaboul/Daws/Chich--------Verts----------Rose

---------------------Sandro------------Paulinho

-------------------------------Eriksen

---Lamela------------------Soldado----------------Chadli

It's all on Eriksen really, he needs to be a Modric type genius, knitting things together.
Been impressed with Chadli's aerial prowess, he really has won a **** load in the air to make up for Soldado. Also Chaldi looks unpredictable in that he will pass or take on his man inside and out. Think he can play a quick passing game.
Think Paulinho is more dynamic than Dembele, not sure he is going to be better than Capoue long term though.
Sandro's passing's limited but he does play them quickly and doesn't fanny about.
Quite disappointed in Soldado's all round game from the first three matches. I think we all thought we needed a big, back to goal, hold up player in this formation. Shame we didn't get one (not writing Soldado off, just don't think he's ideal).


That's something that really worries me when I see everyone putting Eriksen at No. 10.

As an Ajax first teamer and CL regular there's no doubt the guy can play. No doubt whatsoever. But the problem is that by putting him at No. 10 straight away you're kinda saying: "You are Tottenham's main man, please go in there at 10 and fix all our creative problems". For a deadline day buy at a modest fee, and after we'd already spent £100m, it just feels a bit jittery to me to suddenly expect him to carry that weight.

If it doesn't work - either because of a formation problem or because he takes time to settle/find form - you may be forced into making a very public and noisy change to what everyone would know is a Plan B. So the narrative on that would run: "The mighty Tottenham spends £100m on a team, then buys a 21 year old for £9m on deadline day, builds the team around him, then drops him because he's not up to it, and puts second-choice Lamela or Holtby at 10 to rescue things." That would look a bit chaotic, like we'd spend £100m with no clear idea about who'd be the team's fulcrum.

This may be one of the advantages of Lamela at 10 in the 4-2-3-1. If he doesn't work out, you have Eriksen and Holtby who can naturally play there, and Erik could switch to the right without much fuss. And with Lamela at 10, there's still undoubtedly a place in that front 3 for Eriksen - in fact, there's some suggestion Eriksen plays a bit wider than central naturally anyway. And in any case, the front 3 of Eriksen, Lamela & AN Other will be switching around a lot anyway, so Eriksen will have plenty of time in the middle. If he shines there, switch him and Erik around. I'm just not certain about starting out that way is a great idea.

Finally, do we believe AVB thought this at the start of the summer: "I am going to spend £80m+ on Lamela, Pauly, Chadli and Soldado and have them all going through Eriksen at 10." Hmm...maybe, but I'd be rather dubious.
 
One pleasing thing is the depth of the squad, which could come in handy especially between Dec 1st and Jan 1st when we play 9 game in 32 days which includes Liverpool at home and Man Utd home AND away :eek:

December 2013

Premier League Tottenham V Man Utd Sun 1 Dec 12:00
Premier League Fulham V Tottenham Wed 4 Dec 20:00
Premier League Sunderland V Tottenham Sat 7 Dec 15:00
Europa League - Group K Tottenham V Anzhi Makh'kala Thu 12 Dec 20:05
Premier League Tottenham V Liverpool Sat 14 Dec 15:00
Premier League Southampton V Tottenham Sat 21 Dec 15:00
Premier League Tottenham V West Brom Thu 26 Dec 15:00
Premier League Tottenham V Stoke Sat 28 Dec 15:00

January 2014
Premier League Man Utd V Tottenham Wed 1 Jan 15:00

Still, we'll worry about that when we get there ;)
 
One pleasing thing is the depth of the squad, which could come in handy especially between Dec 1st and Jan 1st when we play 9 game in 32 days which includes Liverpool at home and Man Utd home AND away :eek:

December 2013

Premier League Tottenham V Man Utd Sun 1 Dec 12:00
Premier League Fulham V Tottenham Wed 4 Dec 20:00
Premier League Sunderland V Tottenham Sat 7 Dec 15:00
Europa League - Group K Tottenham V Anzhi Makh'kala Thu 12 Dec 20:05
Premier League Tottenham V Liverpool Sat 14 Dec 15:00
Premier League Southampton V Tottenham Sat 21 Dec 15:00
Premier League Tottenham V West Brom Thu 26 Dec 15:00
Premier League Tottenham V Stoke Sat 28 Dec 15:00

January 2014
Premier League Man Utd V Tottenham Wed 1 Jan 15:00

Still, we'll worry about that when we get there ;)


Looking at that, it's simply not possible for Andre to send a serious team to Russia. No way, no how.

United twice so close together is pretty nuts alright.
 
Looking at that, it's simply not possible for Andre to send a serious team to Russia. No way, no how.

United twice so close together is pretty nuts alright.

That's the home game against Anzhi, the away leg is sandwiched between our home games against Chelsea and West Ham in early October.

For some reason the 20th round in the league is the reversal of the 13th. In the 21st we play Palace again.
 
That's the home game against Anzhi, the away leg is sandwiched between our home games against Chelsea and West Ham in early October.

For some reason the 20th round in the league is the reversal of the 13th. In the 21st we play Palace again.


D'oh!
 
I wonder how much more optimistic the consensus would be if we'd signed Villa instead of Soldado, Willian instead of Eriksen and Coentrao to replace BAE :-k

As Soldado is purely a ball-to-feet fox-in-the-box, rather than the Berbatov sort of forward that can win those aerial duels or drop deep to orchestrate attacks, so we now appear to be reliant upon Eriksen, who clearly wasn't AVB' first choice for the role, to dictate play in the attacking third and lay on chances for Roberto to slot home whilst also hoping that Lamela can fill the void left by Bale.

Our squad has more strength in depth than it's had in many years with quality cover in all positions (bar perhaps LB) but we are left hoping that a couple of 21 year olds who have never played in the Premier League before and not had a pre-season with the squad are only going to need a few weeks to settle and make our first XI even better than it was last season... [-o<
 
That's something that really worries me when I see everyone putting Eriksen at No. 10.

As an Ajax first teamer and CL regular there's no doubt the guy can play. No doubt whatsoever. But the problem is that by putting him at No. 10 straight away you're kinda saying: "You are Tottenham's main man, please go in there at 10 and fix all our creative problems". For a deadline day buy at a modest fee, and after we'd already spent £100m, it just feels a bit jittery to me to suddenly expect him to carry that weight.

If it doesn't work - either because of a formation problem or because he takes time to settle/find form - you may be forced into making a very public and noisy change to what everyone would know is a Plan B. So the narrative on that would run: "The mighty Tottenham spends £100m on a team, then buys a 21 year old for £9m on deadline day, builds the team around him, then drops him because he's not up to it, and puts second-choice Lamela or Holtby at 10 to rescue things." That would look a bit chaotic, like we'd spend £100m with no clear idea about who'd be the team's fulcrum.

This may be one of the advantages of Lamela at 10 in the 4-2-3-1. If he doesn't work out, you have Eriksen and Holtby who can naturally play there, and Erik could switch to the right without much fuss. And with Lamela at 10, there's still undoubtedly a place in that front 3 for Eriksen - in fact, there's some suggestion Eriksen plays a bit wider than central naturally anyway. And in any case, the front 3 of Eriksen, Lamela & AN Other will be switching around a lot anyway, so Eriksen will have plenty of time in the middle. If he shines there, switch him and Erik around. I'm just not certain about starting out that way is a great idea.

Finally, do we believe AVB thought this at the start of the summer: "I am going to spend £80m+ on Lamela, Pauly, Chadli and Soldado and have them all going through Eriksen at 10." Hmm...maybe, but I'd be rather dubious.

My main issue is that he has only played that number 10 role for Denmark in a "he's our best player, lets built our team around him". And Denmark have been poor. Eriksen's stats for them are similarly poor (4 goals and 5 assists in 36 games).
I think most people's idea that he's a number 10 comes from watching the Euros and have completely ignored the fact he never played there for Ajax.
 
Back