Transfer speculation

[Bedfordspurs]

I don't really think so - as I said, you have to look for unique situations to exploit in terms of contracts running out in 2018 and so on, but thankfully there are a load of those this summer that we could exploit. Michael Keane's Burnley contract runs out in 2018. Stefan De Vrij's Lazio contract runs out in 2018. Terence Kongolo's Feyenoord contract runs out in 2018. One or more of those could definitely be had for 20-odd million, I feel.

McGuire at Hull would be a great signing IMO

Completely contradict myself with my earlier comments about ready made proven players but if we're on the search for centre back McGuire has IMO been better than Keane in a far less organised side

 

[DubaiSpur]

McGuire at Hull would be a great signing IMO

Completely contradict myself with my earlier comments about ready made proven players but if we're on the search for centre back McGuire has IMO been better than Keane in a far less organised side

I agree, I've been impressed with him the few times I've watched him, but he seems slow to me - great in the air, good with the ball at his feet, but slow. It's something even the Hull tabloids seem to have picked up on and accepted as a fact (they were referring to him as such the last time I had a gander to see what the hype was over him).

We play a line high enough that pace is an absolute necessity - not necessary to be some sort of speed demon, but any CB in our system needs at least a bit of pace to be able to get back in the face of breaks down the flanks or Lloris looking for an option when on the ball. Toby has that necessary pace, as does Verts - Dier's actually quite quick for his size (faster than either of his centre-back partners, I reckon).

Keane seems a bit more mobile from what little I've seen of him - I could very well be wrong, though.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I agree, I've been impressed with him the few times I've watched him, but he seems slow to me - great in the air, good with the ball at his feet, but slow. It's something even the Hull tabloids seem to have picked up on and accepted as a fact (they were referring to him as such the last time I had a gander to see what the hype was over him).

We play a line high enough that pace is an absolute necessity - not necessary to be some sort of speed demon, but any CB in our system needs at least a bit of pace to be able to get back in the face of breaks down the flanks or Lloris looking for an option when on the ball. Toby has that necessary pace, as does Verts - Dier's actually quite quick for his size (faster than either of his centre-back partners, I reckon).

Keane seems a bit more mobile from what little I've seen of him - I could very well be wrong, though.

Keane is quick and deceptively so

But for me McGuire is a better defender and reads the game well, he reminds me of a certain racist captain

 

[DubaiSpur]

Keane is quick and deceptively so

But for me McGuire is a better defender and reads the game well, he reminds me of a certain racist captain

Could have just said Toby and not had me feel like retching instead, you know.

Ultimately, Toby is the man in our game who reads situations and marshalls the defense with an almost fanatical devotion - he looks so effortlessly classy when he does it, but you notice how scarily committed he is to never being caught out at times. There was a clip floating around of Dele getting angry at some Watford player close to our box after he was brought down - it was funny because Dier strolls over, grabs Dele by the scruff of his shirt like some protective dad and firmly removes him from the scene of the crime before he loses it. But what a lot of people didn't notice in that clip was Toby - the entire time Dele was remonstrating and both our and Watford's players were jogging on to the scene to separate the two, Toby just has his eyes down, fixed firmly on the ball (which is just lying there - nobody's touching it). Toby just keeps staring at it with a fanatical intensity as he walks up to it, shoving the Watford guy out of the way multiple times as he strides up to it like some monomaniac. He picks it up,walks back (eyes still glued to the ball in his hands), and waits for the free kick to be taken all while the fracas is still ongoing. This is late in the game at 4-0, mind - not like we desperately needed the concentration to take the points.

Here, I found it -

https://my.mixtape.moe/prqtez.mp4

I guess my point is, it evidently takes that sort of single-minded understanding of the defensive game to keep our defense the way it is. If Maguire is that sort, great - but I don't think we'll find another Toby. Ergo, I think making the trade-off between a little bit of defensive nous and the pace needed to recover after a mistake is fine by me, because it's unlikely that Maguire is *so* good that his recovery speed is irrelevant because he will never have to track back.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I don't really think so - as I said, you have to look for unique situations to exploit in terms of contracts running out in 2018 and so on, but thankfully there are a load of those this summer that we could exploit. Michael Keane's Burnley contract runs out in 2018. Stefan De Vrij's Lazio contract runs out in 2018. Terence Kongolo's Feyenoord contract runs out in 2018. One or more of those could definitely be had for 20-odd million, I feel.

Probably true but United, Liverpool, Woolwich and possibly City will also be wanting CB's and we can't pay the money they will.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Keane is quick and deceptively so

But for me McGuire is a better defender and reads the game well, he reminds me of a certain racist captain

Should have got him for a song as I suggested when he was with Sheffield Utd.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Could have just said Toby and not had me feel like retching instead, you know.

Ultimately, Toby is the man in our game who reads situations and marshalls the defense with an almost fanatical devotion - he looks so effortlessly classy when he does it, but you notice how scarily committed he is to never being caught out at times. There was a clip floating around of Dele getting angry at some Watford player close to our box after he was brought down - it was funny because Dier strolls over, grabs Dele by the scruff of his shirt like some protective dad and firmly removes him from the scene of the crime before he loses it. But what a lot of people didn't notice in that clip was Toby - the entire time Dele was remonstrating and both our and Watford's players were jogging on to the scene to separate the two, Toby just has his eyes down, fixed firmly on the ball (which is just lying there - nobody's touching it). Toby just keeps staring at it with a fanatical intensity as he walks up to it, shoving the Watford guy out of the way multiple times as he strides up to it like some monomaniac. He picks it up,walks back (eyes still glued to the ball in his hands), and waits for the free kick to be taken all while the fracas is still ongoing. This is late in the game at 4-0, mind - not like we desperately needed the concentration to take the points.

Here, I found it -

https://my.mixtape.moe/prqtez.mp4

I guess my point is, it evidently takes that sort of single-minded understanding of the defensive game to keep our defense the way it is. If Maguire is that sort, great - but I don't think we'll find another Toby. Ergo, I think making the trade-off between a little bit of defensive nous and the pace needed to recover after a mistake is fine by me, because it's unlikely that Maguire is *so* good that his recovery speed is irrelevant because he will never have to track back.

Genuinely have no idea how good he could be but think he is worth a gamble

Martin keown raves about him and he is an old school centre back that knows that side of the game. He believes he is better than Keane and has been quite vocal on the matter

I'd love to add more pace to the team even if it's in defence as it's such a strong weapon but it can't be at a sacrifice of football ability

It's why I suggested Lacazette as a signing. Very rapid with a true football brain and a very good finisher

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Should have got him for a song as I suggested when he was with Sheffield Utd.

Never heard of him myself before this season

 

[Bedfordspurs]

A player I like before was KONE at Sunderland but he has gradually got lazier and lazier

 

[DubaiSpur]

Probably true but United, Liverpool, Woolwich and possibly City will also be wanting CB's and we can't pay the money they will.

Three teams. Three CBs with contracts expiring in 2018. I'm sure I could find more if I devoted an hour or so to transfermarkt. Point is, I'm sure you'll agree, that there are situations out there in terms of expiring contracts that we can utilise to our advantage in terms of keeping transfer costs down. We're unfortunate in that we're pretty hamstrung in terms of exploiting contracts - we're not the sort of club that can afford to buy a relatively renowned player on a long contract of any sort, and we're not the sort of club who can afford to offer the huge wages that players arriving on a Bosman generally demand (look at Kolasinac and *rse - apparently he's being paid 160k a week to shack up at the Emirates).

But that sweet spot where contracts are close to entering their final year and thus necessitate the sale of that player to recoup whatever you can - we can (and should) be committed to exploiting those situations.

Here's the list of expiring contracts in 2018 for La Liga, for example - http://www.transfermarkt.com/la-liga/endendevertraege/wettbewerb/ES1/plus/?jahr=2018

Musacchio (a former target of ours) and Jose Gimenez (wildly promising centre-back at Atleti) both have contracts that expire in 2018. Now, add that up to the three I already mentioned, that's five possible players we could target - and even if City, United, Liverpool and Woolwich go for one each (which is unlikely because they can afford to buy players on longer-term deals), that still leaves one for us. And that's without mentioning the Bundesliga, Serie A et al.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Never heard of him myself before this season

I saw him play for England U21's and Sheff Utd. The boy Saudi Sportswashing Machine got from Forest is good.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Genuinely have no idea how good he could be but think he is worth a gamble

Martin keown raves about him and he is an old school centre back that knows that side of the game. He believes he is better than Keane and has been quite vocal on the matter

I'd love to add more pace to the team even if it's in defence as it's such a strong weapon but it can't be at a sacrifice of football ability

It's why I suggested Lacazette as a signing. Very rapid with a true football brain and a very good finisher

Fair enough, didn't know Keown called him quick (apparently he thinks he's quicker than a lot of Prem teams assumed he would be). I agree, ability is perhaps the second most important thing we need in our signings (first being attitude, of course). Pace is pretty important in certain areas, but if a defender's good enough to avoid being exposed much (if at all) he won't need that pace too often.

Maybe we should look at Ben Gibson too if we're going down the route of Prem-proven CBs, although I don't know anything about him apart from the fact that he's related to Boro's owner in some way.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Fair enough, didn't know Keown called him quick (apparently he thinks he's quicker than a lot of Prem teams assumed he would be). I agree, ability is perhaps the second most important thing we need in our signings (first being attitude, of course). Pace is pretty important in certain areas, but if a defender's good enough to avoid being exposed much (if at all) he won't need that pace too often.

Maybe we should look at Ben Gibson too if we're going down the route of Prem-proven CBs, although I don't know anything about him apart from the fact that he's related to Boro's owner in some way.

He is his nephew and is a very good centre back but would cost silly money for a player who has only played for one side

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Genuinely have no idea how good he could be but think he is worth a gamble

Martin keown raves about him and he is an old school centre back that knows that side of the game. He believes he is better than Keane and has been quite vocal on the matter

I'd love to add more pace to the team even if it's in defence as it's such a strong weapon but it can't be at a sacrifice of football ability

It's why I suggested Lacazette as a signing. Very rapid with a true football brain and a very good finisher

Hopefully Daws and co can tell him he won't regret choosing us ?

Watched Lyon the other night and Lacazette looked very very good. Can handle being the man on his own up there. Quick , physical but just as interested in linking play.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I saw him play for England U21's and Sheff Utd. The boy Saudi Sportswashing Machine got from Forest is good.

Lascazzeles

He is now their captain

We were linked with him a lot

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Hopefully Daws and co can tell him he won't regret choosing us ?

Watched Lyon the other night and Lacazette looked very very good. Can handle being the man on his own up there. Quick , physical but just as interested in linking play.

And can play wide as well as forward so is very flexible

 

[DubaiSpur]

He is his nephew and is a very good centre back but would cost silly money for a player who has only played for one side

Ah, that's the connection. I'll take your word for it - we'll see if we go Prem-proven with either Maguire or Keane, or look further afield come the summer.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Ah, that's the connection. I'll take your word for it - we'll see if we go Prem-proven with either Maguire or Keane, or look further afield come the summer.

Gibson I like
Proper body on the line player
Strangely we have gone as a country from having shocking options like Jagielka and Smalling to having players like Keane and and Gibson who are the right age and profile

 

[Kandi1977]

If we were to buy another striker, I would like Mauro Icardi. He's strong, works hard, got decent pace, skillful and chips in with a good amount of goals and assist, and at 24 he's the right age. Would probably cost around €40 Mill. and I can't imagine we'd spend that amount on another backup striker.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

If we were to buy another striker, I would like Mauro Icardi. He's strong, works hard, got decent pace, skillful and chips in with a good amount of goals and assist, and at 24 he's the right age. Would probably cost around €40 Mill. and I can't imagine we'd spend that amount on another backup striker.

Never seen him play but a 1 in 2 record in italy isn't too shabby