who would be a definite starter against the so called big teams. I am afraid there are very few, and therein lies the main problem. Able to flat track past the average sides, but up against any decent side, just absolutely no quality. Of the current squad, I reckon only these are nailed on starters if Spurs are to really move forward.
Lloris
Regulion
PEH
Son
Kane
So that is only five players that I would consider good enough to be first picks. You could throw in Romero, although I have not seen enough of him to be totally convinced. Dier I have not put in. Yes he has had an OK season, but Spurs need better. Same with both Moura and Berwijn, decent enough, but not top notch. All OK to come off the bench, but need better players starting, those that can influence from the off.
Midfield needs seriously upgrading as a priority, need a really big spend in that area. It won`t happen this window, but it has to be a priority this Summer. Winks, N`dombele, Dele, Lo Celso all need moving on, as do Sessignon, Doherty, Rodon, Davies, Tanganga at the back. Gil probably needs loaning out.
Another commanding CB is essential, yet another goal conceeded from a set piece. How many goals have Spurs conceeded from corners, freekicks this season? Keep Sanchez as back up, so Romero maybe with a new CB. Emerson needs to be allowed to play in his natural position as a full-back. Maybe if Traore comes in he can play as a wing back.
Spurs may nick a top four place, but doubtful. Expect 6th at best, even though they have all those games in hand, they still have to win them.
It is not going to be simple, but at least half a dozen players need to come in, not as squad players, but to be first picks. And that is not going to come cheap. But it is obvious that Spurs will not be winning anything with the current squad. Even if they have a decent FA Cup run, we all know as soon as they reach a semi-final and get drawn against a decent side, they will lose.
Hopefully Conte is seeing the squad as I see it, and knows that he needs at least half a dozen new players to really compete. I am sure he does, but does Daniel Levy? Time for Joe Lewis to open his wallet.
COYS
OK assessing the current squad, and
posted on 23/1/22
Kessie doesn’t want to come to Spurs🤣 Can’t blame him
posted on 23/1/22
comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 22 minutes ago
Hopefully Russia will invade Ukraine, and the West will then seize all the assets of all the Russian Billionaires laundering their money through Football clubs, that would put paid to Abramovich and could bankrupt Chelsea.
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It’s a close call sandy but I think I’d probably prefer to avoid the risk of nuclear Armageddon than see Chelsea go bankrupt.
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Nah Chelsea banrupt all day long.
posted on 23/1/22
comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 26 minutes ago
£400m in the black on FFP let’s not forget - Lewis could cut us a cheque or an interest free loan to rebuild the squad but no, he’d rather get the gold plated rims for the portholes on his yacht while we fack about trying to sell before we buy in this poxy 4 week window. I hope that cuunntt does bloody soon.
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Problem is even if Spurs were to spend £400 million, the financially doped duo would find a way around FFP and both spend £600 million. The ship has sailed and I don`t think any club has a cat`s chance in hell of competing with the Financially Doped clubs now, unless FFP and some other financial rule changes are really made to be enforced. Flouting them would mean points deducted or even demotion.
The playing field has to be levelled up somehow, otherwise football as a competitive sport will be finished if the same three or four clubs just keep winning everything year on year.
posted on 23/1/22
A couple of weeks back we would have said Moura is a definite starter, and while he has had a decent season, for us to truly bridge the gap on the top teams above us, he isn't a first team starter longterm. If we're looking at players from our team who would get into the other top teams, then we only have 3 and that's Kane, Son and Lloris...players who have been consistently good over a long period of time. Someone like Skipp is young and showing potential for that. Others are older and more inconsistent or merely good but never great, which is the standard we need to reach.
posted on 23/1/22
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 23/1/22
We have the same old discussions year on year, nothing will change until ENIC fack off. The competition just has too much financial clout.
posted on 24/1/22
The OP's a massive over reaction.
posted on 24/1/22
"Winks, N`dombele, Dele, Lo Celso all need moving on, as do Sessignon, Doherty, Rodon, Davies, Tanganga"
ffs !!!!
Davies and Winks are doing well. Rodon's not had a single chance.
posted on 24/1/22
comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 14 hours, 45 minutes ago
comment by sandy, golden boot winner fa cup 1901 (U20567)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 26 minutes ago
£400m in the black on FFP let’s not forget - Lewis could cut us a cheque or an interest free loan to rebuild the squad but no, he’d rather get the gold plated rims for the portholes on his yacht while we fack about trying to sell before we buy in this poxy 4 week window. I hope that cuunntt does bloody soon.
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Problem is even if Spurs were to spend £400 million, the financially doped duo would find a way around FFP and both spend £600 million. The ship has sailed and I don`t think any club has a cat`s chance in hell of competing with the Financially Doped clubs now, unless FFP and some other financial rule changes are really made to be enforced. Flouting them would mean points deducted or even demotion.
The playing field has to be levelled up somehow, otherwise football as a competitive sport will be finished if the same three or four clubs just keep winning everything year on year.
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A £200m cash injection over the next 12 months and we’d still be £200m clear of breaching FFP Sandy and could transform us into a team Conte could do big things with. It’s not necessarily how much is spent, it’s how you spend it, Liverpool have spent very wisely on some well scouted signings that haven’t broken the bank - only Alison and VVD were huge money buys but again they were well considered ones that massively elevated the quality of their squad. From 2014 to 2019 we got 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and 4th and reached a CL final on a net spend of £25m. Effective recruitment is key, not just throwing crazy money at the problem.
Problem is our recruitment started going downhill in 2018 and we’ve never recovered a sense of strategy. Fack knows what Steve Hitchens role is or has been but the man ought to be spending his days in the job centre. Paratici has one job but I’ve got concerns about how well qualified he is to do it - he wanted Gatusso and then recruited Nuno, and we’ve seen nothing this window to suggest he’s been tirelessly working on a strategy. Jan 24th tomorrow and all we’ve done so far is flog Markanday, a promising academy player, to Blackburn for what amounted to about 3 weeks worth of Ndombeles salary. There is so much potential at this club when you look at the facilities, the location, the manager and even the CEO and the man that (by proxy) owns us. But Lewis and ENIC just treat Spurs like a column on a spreadsheet and as long as that continues we will never be able to compete.
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Ace, I agree the recruitment is absolute rubbish. Problem is players are not being recruited in the right positions. It is so obvious Spurs need a new CB and at least one, probably two new midfielders, and all we keep hearing is Traore could be incoming. He is a luxury player, not a necessity, and certainly not in a priority position that needs strengthening. I wish they would try to address the problem areas as a priority rather than just decorating positions that whilst they could be upgraded, are not absolutely essential at the present time.
posted on 24/1/22
comment by Spurtle (U1608)
posted 14 hours, 53 minutes ago
A couple of weeks back we would have said Moura is a definite starter, and while he has had a decent season, for us to truly bridge the gap on the top teams above us, he isn't a first team starter longterm. If we're looking at players from our team who would get into the other top teams, then we only have 3 and that's Kane, Son and Lloris...players who have been consistently good over a long period of time. Someone like Skipp is young and showing potential for that. Others are older and more inconsistent or merely good but never great, which is the standard we need to reach.
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Agree about Moura, he should not be considered a certain starter, and therein lies the problem, standards have dropped so much. Players like Davies, Dier and Winks are now considered starters, when in reality all should just be squad players at best.