Saha

[DublinSpur]

What proof exactly do you have we even had primary targets?
...

Do you have knowledge of other strikers we looked at apart from Louis Saha?

Please - do share

Not looking for an argument, I'm just genuinely interested in what kind of "proof" you're looking for. Certainly there was plenty of paper talk, but that hardly constitutes proof. So are you honestly suggesting that Levy should hold a press conference during each transfer window and announce the players we are interested in buying? Quite aside from being pretty unethical from a "tapping up" standpoint, I'm sure you would - quite rightly - lambast the club for showing our hand in a competitive market.

It seems to me that the "proof" you're talking about could never (and should never) exist. So it hardly seems fair to criticise either the club, or other board members, for failing to provide it. Paper talk, ITKs, message board rumours... it's *all* pure speculation. Which is exactly how it should be. I'm confident that Spurs had transfer targets back in January simply because it makes sense from a business standpoint that the chairman would ask the manager to keep a current list of preferred targets in case any of them become available. If that's *not* happening, then clearly there's something wrong - but it's extremely likely that it is happening. On top of that, it's almost guaranteed that such a list would not be available to us lot on an internet message board for use in backing up our arguments.

EDIT: Having said all that; I'm not too put out that Saha is being released and feel confident we'll secure a longterm upgrade this summer.

 

[milo]

I would suggest that Saha being released this week is a positive sign. We would not release him unless we were confident that other deals were going to come off and certainly not a week before we needed to do so. This plus the positive comments from Ade suggest that maybe he is close to signing (a lot earlier than I thought it would be done). If this comes off, it would leave us with Adebayor, VdV, Defoe and Kane. OK but probably one short of where we want to be.

 

[ArcspacE]

Not looking for an argument, I'm just genuinely interested in what kind of "proof" you're looking for.

Soundbites from players, managers, directors, chairmen indicating at the very least - some kind of enquiry had taken place. Happens all the time in football, often in subtle ways - i.e. Player X - Yes, there was interest from Club A last summer but I felt it wasn't the right time for me to move, etc. Arry in addition loooooooves to mention names of players whom we've apparently looked at after they sign for someone else.

In addition - the January before last - it was well documented we had enquired / placed bids for various players across Europe (mostly strikers). Indicated (for better or worse) some kind of intent whereas this year we were in a very similar squad situation and a much better PL position, yet we eneded up with very, very little. As a result of that it was automatically assumed that all our primary targets had failed so we ended up with Saha in order to paint Arry as the poor victim yet again while in turn removing all responsibility from management as to why the fudge we ended up weaker after January's transfer window.

 

[braineclipse]

Soundbites from players, managers, directors, chairmen indicating at the very least - some kind of enquiry had taken place. Happens all the time in football, often in subtle ways - i.e. Player X - Yes, there was interest from Club A last summer but I felt it wasn't the right time for me to move, etc. Arry in addition loooooooves to mention names of players whom we've apparently looked at after they sign for someone else.

In addition - the January before last - it was well documented we had enquired / placed bids for various players across Europe (mostly strikers). Indicated (for better or worse) some kind of intent whereas this year we were in a very similar squad situation and a much better PL position, yet we eneded up with very, very little. As a result of that it was automatically assumed that all our primary targets had failed so we ended up with Saha in order to paint Arry as the poor victim yet again while in turn removing all responsibility from management as to why the fudge we ended up weaker after January's transfer window.

Wasn't Tevez our primary target?

Personally I don't think having a primary target that wasn't gettable is any excuse for Harry. However I also think that it's very difficult to assign blame from the outside in these cases as we won't know what actually went on behind the scenes.

 

[africanspurs]

still dont know why people are dingdonging on saha

 

[ArcspacE]

Wasn't Tevez our primary target?

I hope this is a joke

 

[braineclipse]

I hope this is a joke

Harry certainly talked about him in the press. If he was or not I don't know. I agree that if our list went Tevez; Saha then that does look a bit silly to say the least.

 

[braineclipse]

still dont know why people are dingdonging on saha

He wasn't great and has now left the club...

I agree with you that he wasn't that bad. We only had the league and FA-cup to deal with and had Ade, Defoe and VdV already so adding someone like Saha wasn't the worst idea ever and he did alright. No worse than Pav, but not good enough to stay either. Stop gap defined I suppose.

 

[ArcspacE]

Yes, I read that interview myself - my comment was about the fact that if we really hoped for Tevez as our primary realistic target then words fail me.

 

[braineclipse]

Yes, I read that interview myself - my comment was about the fact that if we really hoped for Tevez as our primary realistic target then words fail me.

I agree, like I said: "Personally I don't think having a primary target that wasn't gettable is any excuse for Harry"

 

[africanspurs]

He wasn't great and has now left the club...

I agree with you that he wasn't that bad. We only had the league and FA-cup to deal with and had Ade, Defoe and VdV already so adding someone like Saha wasn't the worst idea ever and he did alright. No worse than Pav, but not good enough to stay either. Stop gap defined I suppose.

he wasnt great was he, fair enough. but tell me...who was exactly? in the time frame that he was playing for us significantly..who was 'great'?

 

[braineclipse]

he wasnt great was he, fair enough. but tell me...who was exactly? in the time frame that he was playing for us significantly..who was 'great'?

Friedel, Modric and Lennon were quite consistently 'great'. Ekotto, Gallas, Kaboul, Walker, Parker, Sandro and Ade were at least great at times.

Saha was just a bit 'meh' all around after a very bright start. Coupled with his injury problems that really makes him not good enough for us and like others in this thread I'm glad he's gone just because I think that means we will be bringing in someone who will be quite a bit better than 'meh'.

 

[africanspurs]

Friedel, Modric and Lennon were quite consistently 'great'. Ekotto, Gallas, Kaboul, Walker, Parker, Sandro and Ade were at least great at times.

Saha was just a bit 'meh' all around after a very bright start. Coupled with his injury problems that really makes him not good enough for us and like others in this thread I'm glad he's gone just because I think that means we will be bringing in someone who will be quite a bit better than 'meh'.

i'm calling amnesia on this mate . the reason i asked is that saha featured during our bad run...yes thats when he was getting minutes. the WHOLE team was playing sub standard, void of direction, decisiveness, penetration and killer instinct. where you managed to find not one, two, three or even 6 players that apparently played great for us...you found TEN . all i can say is wow.....players playing great during that miserable stretch? I'd be very interested to hear what you have to say about the 9 or 10 game bad spell where 10 starters played great but we looked bad and low on confidence and second guessing ourselves overall

i'm not saying saha wasnt 'meh' by the way8-[...i just find it curious how the brain works. we have 10 outfield guys that are great and one guy thats 'meh' which leads me to think that saha was like a stand out outlier in the negative (nw7 and sheihk taught me this. Much love guys).....didnt look like that to me.

how was lennon great during that spell? i thought he was injured...might have imagined that tbh but i think he was:?:

 

[braineclipse]

i'm calling amnesia on this mate . the reason i asked is that saha featured during our bad run...yes thats when he was getting minutes. the WHOLE team was playing sub standard, void of direction, decisiveness, penetration and killer instinct. where you managed to find not one, two, three or even 6 players that apparently played great for us...you found TEN . all i can say is wow.....players playing great during that miserable stretch? I'd be very interested to hear what you have to say about the 9 or 10 game bad spell where 10 starters played great but we looked bad and low on confidence and second guessing ourselves overall

i'm not saying saha wasnt 'meh' by the way8-[...i just find it curious how the brain works. we have 10 outfield guys that are great and one guy thats 'meh' which leads me to think that saha was like a stand out outlier in the negative (nw7 and sheihk taught me this. Much love guys).....didnt look like that to me.

how was lennon great during that spell? i thought he was injured...might have imagined that tbh but i think he was:?:

"At times" for 7 of them. Two important words

There were plenty of games in that run where we played quite well, or even very well, but just didn't get the results. And in those games several of those players did very well, or were great.

Yes Lennon was injured for a stretch of that, but not all of it if my memory serves me right. Can't be bothered looking it up though.

I agree with you about the whole spacegoating thing though, much easier to find one person to blame, or a couple of people rather than having to accept a bigger problem.