The all new Striker thread..

[Jurgen the German]

N'jie played as a striker for Lyon alongside Lacazette and from what I have read played the forward role in his youth so I guess that's our natural striker right there...

When was the last time he played? Is he even still alive? If he comes back within a couple of weeks then great.

 

[Jordinho]

When was the last time he played? Is he even still alive? If he comes back within a couple of weeks then great.

He's still contributed more than Welbeck.

Lamela or Campbell as 5th choice though?

 

[billyiddo]

Someone claimed that our backups for Kane are no different to Arsenal's, I pointed out that I believe they are not.

They may not be as good, but essentially they are the same - Sanchez is no more a forward than Son is - he's just a better player, Walcott played as a striker in the youth teams before he turned 17 and became a winger - N'jie played as a forward in his youth and for Lyon before signing for us where we have used him on the wing primarily (and as a CF funnily enough) before he got injured.

I don't really know how to classify Welbeck he's more of a work horse than a striker, not the type to attack the 6 yard box like you was after in previous post - a good player to have in your squad though, wouldn't want to bank on him for goals

 

[Hashegotthesackyet?]

Look, we're getting plenty of goals from other positions and we have the best defense in the league. We don't need to blow teams out of the water every game. 1-0 or 2-1 wins will do just fine to keep us on track to pursue our objectives.

I've not analysed what direct or indirect influence Harry has had, and some of this will be impossible to quantify, on any of the goals that the others of scored, but just by him being on the pitch and his overall contribution, will have had some influence, whether that's him holding a ball up before the ball before the final ball, or two.
It's not as simple as someone slotting in, from an AM position, imo.

I hope we get this right.

 

[Jurgen the German]

They may not be as good, but essentially they are the same - Sanchez is no more a forward than Son is - he's just a better player, Walcott played as a striker in the youth teams before he turned 17 and became a winger - N'jie played as a forward in his youth and for Lyon before signing for us where we have used him on the wing primarily (and as a CF funnily enough) before he got injured.

I don't really know how to classify Welbeck he's more of a work horse than a striker, not the type to attack the 6 yard box like you was after in previous post - a good player to have in your squad though, wouldn't want to bank on him for goals

All I can say is, I hope the club know what they are doing. I don't believe we can win the league, but given how below par Emirates Marketing Project have been and the fact that Leicester are where they are, who knows where we can finish. I just pray that Kane doesn't pick up an injury, and I'm an atheist.

 

[Craig_J]

All I can say is, I hope the club know what they are doing. I don't believe we can win the league, but given how below par Emirates Marketing Project have been and the fact that Leicester are where they are, who knows where we can finish. I just pray that Kane doesn't pick up an injury, and I'm an atheist.

It is a concern and I think we have to just hope our luck carries on till the end of the season. Like you, I don't expect us to win the league (I don't even expect us to finish top 4, anything else is a Brucie bonus) but if we end up missing out narrowly there will be a lot of what ifs just like there were back when Redknapp was in charge.

 

[Kandi1977]

It's not only that we have limited options if Kane gets injured, there are many other benefits of having a really good second option that is just a little bit behind in the pecking order. 1) the team doesn't get too affected when you need to replace your main man. 2) you get that little bit of extra intensity in training from both. The #1 knows he has to perform to be in the team, and the #2 will try to catch up. As it is atm, Kane is the clear #1, and there is no clear #2.

You want your "second choice" to be as good as possible, and maybe add something a little different when/if needed. When you have a strong team, as we have, your backup needs to be of good quality. And as we all know, quality isn't cheap, so to get someone in that is close to Kane in quality, we need to be willing to fork out quite a significant amount of cash. That's just how it is! As I see it, the club is not willing to spend that kind of money at this moment, and we are relying on not needing that 2nd option or that option #3 has what it takes.

 

[DubaiSpur]

This is the mother of all gambles, now. Going into the second half of the season with just one (ONE) striker, having also offloaded two centre-backs and one attacking midfielder for reasons uttely, comprehensively unknown (not like we tried to replace them, after all).

If we turn the promise of this season into ashes, as we did the 2011/2012 season...if Leicester City (who did buy players, incidentally) finish ahead of us and we fail to achieve anything of note....
..no amount of pathetic , quivering bleating about how ickle, young and thin our squad is will help, or save anyone at all, I fear. Because that has ceased to be a circumstance of our situation, and has become a conscious f*cking choice.

F*ck off. Just for once, I thought we'd make an effort, give ourselves a real boost and aim for things.

Ah....well.

And on that note, I think I'll move on and make peace with this predictable f*ck up before it spoils my mood for the next four f*cking months.

Edit: Everton bought Oumar Niasse for 13.5 million. From Russia. F*cking Middleborough, a Championship f*cking team, bought Jordan Rhodes for 11 million pounds.

But ickle little Tottenham struggled mightily, and ultimately failed, to sign a 19-year old from thw Championship, with six months of first-team football to his name, with six months on his contract and a desire to come to the club.

Fantastic job, guys. Top class work all around. Levy, Poch, Mitchell, buy yourselves some champagne to go with those onanistic 'at least we tried' self-congratulating cards.

Sigh.

Moving on, moving on....

 

[E3zzle]

1 striker, 3 comps...

 

[E3zzle]

Then if that's the case and presumably they don't have those skills (which they do posses to a certain extent), they shouldn't be good enough to even fill in for a game or two. So the question remains the same: if they're good enough for a game or two, as you claim, why not for more games?

If Poch didn't rest Kane against Colchester, when do you think he will rest him? He clearly sees Chaldli and Son only as emergency solutions, and expected us to sign someone this window.

 

[alekaras]

This is the mother of all gambles, now. Going into the second half of the season with just one (ONE) striker, having also offloaded two centre-backs and one attacking midfielder for reasons uttely, comprehensively unknown (not like we tried to replace them, after all).

If we turn the promise of this season into ashes, as we did the 2011/2012 season...if Leicester City (who did buy players, incidentally) finish ahead of us and we fail to achieve anything of note....
..no amount of pathetic , quivering bleating about how ickle, young and thin our squad is will help, or save anyone at all, I fear. Because that has ceased to be a circumstance of our situation, and has become a conscious f*cking choice.

F*ck off. Just for once, I thought we'd make an effort, give ourselves a real boost and aim for things.

Ah....well.

And on that note, I think I'll move on and make peace with this predictable f*ck up before it spoils my mood for the next four f*cking months.

Edit: Everton bought Oumar Niasse for 13.5 million. From Russia. F*cking Middleborough, a Championship f*cking team, bought Jordan Rhodes for 11 million pounds.

But ickle little Tottenham struggled mightily, and ultimately failed, to sign a 19-year old from thw Championship, with six months of first-team football to his name, with six months on his contract and a desire to come to the club.

Fantastic job, guys. Top class work all around. Levy, Poch, Mitchell, buy yourselves some champagne to go with those onanistic 'at least we tried' self-congratulating cards.

Sigh.

Moving on, moving on....

Thin squad? Really?

I think @galeforce said it best: if the lack of one signing for a backup position is what will make or break our season, then were clearly on a very wrong path.

In any case, I'll stop commenting on what we did or didn't do this window, because it looks like the people who thought we fudged up are so entrenched in their position that no amount of sane and rational arguments are going to change their mind.

 

[alekaras]

If Poch didn't rest Kane against Colchester, when do you think he will rest him? He clearly sees Chaldli and Son only as emergency solutions, and expected us to sign someone this window.

What makes you think he needs or even wants a rest? Ronaldo plays every game, whether it's La Liga, CL, or Copa del Rey and he's 30. I don't think he's any kind of superman. Just takes care of himself and trains hard, which is exactly what our entire team does.

As for how Poch sees Son and Chadli, the evidence so far suggests that presuming to know what he thinks and second guessing him guarantees you'll be wrong.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Thin squad? Really?

I think @galeforce said it best: if the lack of one signing for a backup position is what will make or break our season, then were clearly on a very wrong path.

In any case, I'll stop commenting on what we did or didn't do this window, because it looks like the people who thought we fudgeed up are so entrenched in their position that no amount of sane and rational arguments are going to change their mind.

What happens if we lose Toby?

What happens if we lose Kane?

In the former scenario, we move Dier back into defense to partner Wimmer, a partnership that hasn't been tried before and also will strip us of a dedicated DM.

In the latter scenario....well, doom doesn't need describing.

I'm not going to comment on what we did this window either: I spent three years pointing out Levy's f*ck-up in 2012, and I'd rather just swallow my disgust, move on and hope that we're absurdly lucky and finish without any major injuries and without Toby or Kane (to name just two of our lads) suffering burnout. I will say, however, that I really thought we'd changed this summer: but it seems we've just transferred the f*ck-ups from just Levy to the staff as a whole. Who couldn't do what Stoke, Leicester City, Everton and Middlesbrough in the Championship managed to do, apparently.

 

[alekaras]

What happens if we lose Toby?

What happens if we lose Kane?

In the former scenario, we move Dier back into defense to partner Wimmer, a partnership that hasn't been tried before and also will strip us of a dedicated DM.

In the latter scenario....well, doom doesn't need describing.

I'm not going to comment on what we did this window either: I spent three years pointing out Levy's f*ck-up in 2012, and I'd rather just swallow my disgust, move on and hope that we're absurdly lucky and finish without any major injuries and without Toby or Kane (to name just two of our lads) suffering burnout. I will say, however, that I really thought we'd changed this summer: but it seems we've just transferred the f*ck-ups from just Levy to the staff as a whole. Who couldn't do what Stoke, Leicester City, Everton and Middlesbrough in the Championship managed to do, apparently.

Do you really think we could have gotten another Toby in this window, if we wanted to? Arguably the best CB in the league right now? Or a backup to Kane who could do just 50% of what he does (which would probably have put him behind Chadli and Son in the pecking order, so what would have been the point!)?

If you do, then please tell me who they are, how much they would have cost, how long it would take to bed them in, and if they have the character to gel with the rest of the team with limited training time, due to the congested fixture schedule, and no easy games to get them game fit.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Do you really think we could have gotten another Toby in this window, if we wanted to? Arguably the best CB in the league right now? Or a backup to Kane who could do just 50% of what he does (which would probably have put him behind Chadli and Son in the pecking order, so what would have been the point!)?

If you do, then please tell me who they are, how much they would have cost, how long it would take to bed them in, and if they have the character to gel with the rest of the team with limited training time, due to the congested fixture schedule, and no easy games to get them game fit.

You disagreed that we had a thin squad: I put it to you that an injury to either Toby or Kane will spell utter disaster. Two players out of 25 that we cannot replace in any way, shape or form, other than pretending Chadli's a striker or hoping that Son gives us the same physicality, passing range and power Kane does.

We needed backups for both those players heading into the window: fine, buying cover for one was impossible given his unique circumstances (partnership with Jan magnifying both their plus points), but we could, and should have bought cover for the other.

Instead, not only did we sit on our hands, we also sold two more center backs and loaned out Pritchard, cutting down our squad still further.

We didn't buy cover for Kane in the summer. We were doing something wrong to begin with. We have now compounded that problem. Pray to lady luck that it doesn't bitd us in the a*se, but know that Tottenham Hotspur is not in her good books.

 

[alekaras]

You disagreed that we had a thin squad: I put it to you that an injury to either Toby or Kane will spell utter disaster. Two players out of 25 that we cannot replace in any way, shape or form, other than pretending Chadli's a striker or hoping that Son gives us the same physicality, passing range and power Kane does.

We needed backups for both those players heading into the window: fine, buying cover for one was impossible given his unique circumstances (partnership with Jan magnifying both their plus points), but we could, and should have bought cover for the other.

Instead, not only did we sit on our hands, we also sold two more center backs and loaned out Pritchard, cutting down our squad still further.

We didn't buy cover for Kane in the summer. We were doing something wrong to begin with. We have now compounded that problem. Pray to lady luck that it doesn't bitd us in the a*se, but know that Tottenham Hotspur is not in her good books.

You must think that the Spurs hierarchy are completely incompetent. Funny, because I would tend to think that finishing no lower than 6th (and that was in our worst year) in the past 6 years, while keeping the club debt free, with the best training facilities, the best stadium in Europe only two and a half years away, and an exciting young team challenging for the title would indicate that they're doing something right.

 

[DubaiSpur]

You must think that the Spurs hierarchy are completely incompetent. Funny, because I would tend to think that finishing no lower than 6th (and that was in our worst year) in the past 6 years, while keeping the club debt free, with the best training facilities, the best stadium in Europe only two and a half years away, and an exciting young team challenging for the title would indicate that they're doing something right.

I tend to think they're too long-sighted for their own damn good, that's what I think. Ignoring the now in favour of the ever-verdant future, as they did in 2011/2012: we had a great thing going, and we blew it because we didn't push out when we could. And unless the sparkling new training ground can up sticks and play at number nine should Kane get injured, I'd suggest that they've done it again.

Be thankful you weren't around two years ago, when I thought they were actively malicious and just a notch above being tried at the ICC for crimes against humanity. I've mellowed since then, if you can believe that.

They impressed me with how they conducted the summer's business: they have bitterly disappointed me now.

 

[Kandi1977]

I wonder what kind of person it is they are looking for! Because as I understand it, it's not the footballer that is difficult to find, it's the right personality.
Who are they fudging looking for? It seems like it Is fudging Jesus himself, or a mix of Messi and bloody Mother Theresa! It's ridiculous!

 

[Baleforce]

I wonder what kind of person it is they are looking for! Because as I understand it, it's not the footballer that is difficult to find, it's the right personality.
Who are they fudgeing looking for? It seems like it Is fudgeing Jesus himself, or a mix of Messi and Mother Theresa! It's ridiculous!

well we've found 23 of them already so they must be out there

 

[Finney Is Back]

Thin squad? Really?

I think @galeforce said it best: if the lack of one signing for a backup position is what will make or break our season, then were clearly on a very wrong path.

In any case, I'll stop commenting on what we did or didn't do this window, because it looks like the people who thought we fudgeed up are so entrenched in their position that no amount of sane and rational arguments are going to change their mind.

Personally I would say that now have a thin squad in two positions.

1. Centre forward. In fact our squad isn't "thin" here it is non existent. There isn't another centre forward in the squad after Kane. Of course this was also the scenario in the first half of the season, so there is no change in this respect, let's just hope that our luck stays in with Harry staying fit.
2. Centre half. We started the transfer window with 4 centre halves with first team experience. We have ended the transfer window with 2 (fit) centre halves with first team experience.

I don't think this has been a good window for us. Irrespective of whether they were getting games or not we transferred 4 squad players, we have also had one of our two first choice centre halves ruled out for what is likely to be the rest of this season. Our overall squad is undoubtedly weaker overall coming out of the window it was going into it.