What does AVB and the board need to do to make us better callengers next season?

[onlyme]

How about just sign Villa and keep Ade?
Long is a 1 in 3 striker at Premier League level,
will turn 27 during the coming season so not likely to up his game much.
Hard working ok player.

More like 1 in 4. I could see him being more effective for the team than Defoe and maybe getting double figures in the EPL. 4-4-2 with Ade would be interesting.

He is reminding me a bit of Mark Hughes. Hang about, I am going on the turn.

 

[clevelandspur]

I like Long a lot and like others have said surely he will score more in our team. He's a clever player and works very hard. Another player I thought we should have been in for was Steven Fletcher but with his injury and what Sunderland paid probably not an option anymore.

 

[raboner]

fudge me! If the players we're aiming at are Shane Long and Steven Fletcher, we may as well give up on the Top Four right now.

 

[Nigeyman]

fudge me! If the players we're aiming at are Shane Long and Steven Fletcher, we may as well give up on the Top Four right now.

not my ideal 'wet dream' partnership ill admit but they would give alot more to us at present than those current wastrels.

 

[rosenthal]

A poor season from our current strikers isn't any worse than Shane Long on his best.
Our aim isn't just to improve on our current strikers,
we're in a great position to sign players and must look for players that can become top international class if they aren't already.
Potential, talent, extreme qualities.
Not just go for mr average lower table because he can do a job.

 

[Hully]

First of all AVB needs to get a lot more out of the rest of the squad. Who other than Bale played their best football this season? Verts, Sandro and Lloris I reckon.
The board need to instruct AVB to prioritise the league, his fixation on the EL cost us this season. I want to see some of the U21s step up in the EL.
We do need to strengthen too, we need a right sided centre back to replace Gallas.
We need cover on the right, Lennon provides balance but often little else, 4 goals and 7 assists isn't good enough in a largely injury free season. MacManaman would be a great addition.
We need some bite in midfield, as Sandro won't be back until well into the season. McCarthy maybe?
Two new strikers needed, Villa would be good signing, his work rate would inspire a few of our players.
I'd let Livermore and Rose go. The rest all have a part to play.

 

[DubaiSpur]

A poor season from our current strikers isn't any worse than Shane Long on his best.
Our aim isn't just to improve on our current strikers,
we're in a great position to sign players and must look for players that can become top international class if they aren't already.
Potential, talent, extreme qualities.
Not just go for mr average lower table because he can do a job.

Perfect. And I suppose we'll chase Damiao until the 31st of August and then scratch our heads when Internacional turn down our last-minute bid yet again. And consequently end up with Ade and Defoe for another season.

Long works extremely hard, has great movement and finishes well. 10-14 goals a season is definitely his level. And before you turn your nose up at that paltry return, neither of our current strikers seem capable of getting to that target anymore.

no one's suggesting that we just buy Long or Fletcher and then call it quits. But these players will get us goals when called upon and will freshen up our currently-mummified attack. And considering that we can't buy world-class player after world-class player and stick them on the bench, Long or Fletcher plus one other (Who can be your magical cure-for-all-evils kind of striker, by all means) would seem to be a perfectly reasonable solution to our striking problems.

 

[rosenthal]

Perfect. And I suppose we'll chase Damiao until the 31st of August and then scratch our heads when Internacional turn down our last-minute bid yet again. And consequently end up with Ade and Defoe for another season.

Long works extremely hard, has great movement and finishes well. 10-14 goals a season is definitely his level. And before you turn your nose up at that paltry return, neither of our current strikers seem capable of getting to that target anymore.

no one's suggesting that we just buy Long or Fletcher and then call it quits. But these players will get us goals when called upon and will freshen up our currently-mummified attack. And considering that we can't buy world-class player after world-class player and stick them on the bench, Long or Fletcher plus one other (Who can be your magical cure-for-all-evils kind of striker, by all means) would seem to be a perfectly reasonable solution to our striking problems.

There's a lot of other strikers out there. Not my favourite, but as an example I'm not sure Bony would be any more expensive than Long and he at least has a potential to him.
Long's best return in the Premier League is 8 goals. Defoe only performed for half a season last year but got 11. Even Adebayor was only 3 goals behind Long, with a far better goal ratio - remember that Ade has struggled throughout the season both physically and mentally. Not to mention that we know they both can be 18-20 goals players, which I doubt Long will ever be.
I'm fairly sure that if we sign Long he'll sit his ass on the bench most of the season while Adebayor is ever present up top.
Agree that we can't expect to have world class players on the bench, but that doesn't mean we need to have mediocre players neither.
And if we want someone like Long, to be honest, I prefer us to give that opportunity to Harry Kane who's our own promising academy boy, key player for England U20, and still have potential to become good enough.

You don't buy ok players to sit on the bench, that takes you nowhere fast.
You buy players either better than your current players, or with potential to become so.
If we then get players that are too GHod to sit on our bench that doesn't get a place in the team, then great, we're stronger and we can sell someone after they've added depth for a season or two.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Tottenham head coach Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that there are aspects of Spurs’ play that he wants to refine for next season.

The Lilywhites missed out on a Champions League spot after a run of bad form cost them in the race with Arsenal, who finished in fourth.

“There are always things to refine,” Villas-Boas said.

“It can be difficult sometimes because the nature of the Premier League means it is driven by passion and emotion, it is a game that can be influenced more by aspects of motivation and mindset than any other league in the world; this is what makes the Premier League the product that it is.

“So, sometimes it can be difficult to set out your philosophy but like every other team we have had great games and bad games, and games where we should have expressed ourselves better. In the end, however, we have always been recognised as a team that has always been very driven, that wants to score and that is the Tottenham way.”

When Villas-Boas was at Chelsea, it was alleged that the senior playerswere unhappy with his methods.

However that does not appear to be the case at White Hart Lane as Spurs, although they finished in fifth, picked up more points than they have done in many seasons.

He explained: “It becomes easier when the players are willing to commit to your ideas, they need to be able to take something from learning new things and also enjoy learning new things that they can use in their game.

“All the players have received me well and when you receive that sort of openness you can create a good environment.”

 

[DMac]

To challenge for the title? We need a big clear out first. Parker, Huddlestone, Livermore, Ekotto, Naughton, Defoe, Adebayor, Gallas, Bentley, Friedel and Dempsey need to be sold or let go imo (not good enough). That frees up space on the wage bill and brings in funds to buy proper quality players. That would be about £40-50 million generated from player sales. Before anyone says we aren't going to sell and buy this many players, last summer we sold or let go of 15 players, totaling £66.5 million plus whatever we sold Jenas for in sales, and we bought 8 players, totaling £60 million. So these sort of figures have precedent.

We need a net spend this summer, which should be easily possible due to the additional £30 million in TV money we should have, increased gate revenues from Europe league fixtures, and a lower wage bill compared to last season.

So I'll give us a budget of 20-30 million net, so 70 million to spend.

Villa - 10 million
Leandro - 15 million
Bernard - 15 million
Belhanda - 8 million
Coentrao or Alex Sandro - 15 million (basically money for a top quality left back).
Sergi Roberto - 7 million
Emre Can - loan

Then we would be title challengers I think.

Defense - Walker, Smith, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Dawson, Caulker, Coentrao, Rose
Midfield - Sandro, Holtby, Carroll, Dembele, Belhanda, Roberto, Can, Sigurdsson
Wide Forward - Bale, Lennon, Townsend, Villa, Bernard
Strikers - Villa, Leandro

Might even need to get another striker as a cheap option or loan though, or keep Adebayor.

 

[DubaiSpur]

There's a lot of other strikers out there. Not my favourite, but as an example I'm not sure Bony would be any more expensive than Long and he at least has a potential to him.
Long's best return in the Premier League is 8 goals. Defoe only performed for half a season last year but got 11. Even Adebayor was only 3 goals behind Long, with a far better goal ratio - remember that Ade has struggled throughout the season both physically and mentally. Not to mention that we know they both can be 18-20 goals players, which I doubt Long will ever be.
I'm fairly sure that if we sign Long he'll sit his ass on the bench most of the season while Adebayor is ever present up top.
Agree that we can't expect to have world class players on the bench, but that doesn't mean we need to have mediocre players neither.
And if we want someone like Long, to be honest, I prefer us to give that opportunity to Harry Kane who's our own promising academy boy, key player for England U20, and still have potential to become good enough.

You don't buy ok players to sit on the bench, that takes you nowhere fast.
You buy players either better than your current players, or with potential to become so.
If we then get players that are too GHod to sit on our bench that doesn't get a place in the team, then great, we're stronger and we can sell someone after they've added depth for a season or two.

Firstly, I rate Bony high enough to fit into that bracket of 'world-class' players you mentioned. I do think we should at least inquire about him, if we can. But, returning to Long, sure, he hasn't scored too many in the Premier League so far, but I don't think that can be attributed entirely to him. He plays for West Brom, a side prone to favouring solidity over penetration, and also prone to large dips in form where they can't score for peanuts. With his movement, work rate and finishing ability (all good, in my book), he could do a lot better if put into a side that stretches the opposition enough to allow him room to close down, harry and drift into dangerous positions.

Comparing him to Kane is just disingenuous. And Ade and Defoe do not have it in them to be 18-20 goal players, not after the seasons they've had, Defoe's declining agility and Ade's infuriating propensity to blow hot and bitterly cold.
Ade and Defoe, in my view, are good for about 10-12 goals a season each, no more. If we sold one of them (probably Ade, given Defoe's apparent comfort at the club and consequent desire to see out his career here), and bought Long and one other striker who is or has the potential to become world-class, then I cannot see how that would be a bad thing.

And while buying a great player for squad depth may be fine for City and Chelsea, it will not work for us. Him not playing will mean his value will drop like a stone, and the inevitable resale will lead to us incurring a significant loss in terms of the wages we would have paid him to mope around and the reduced transfer fee we'd be selling him for. Not sure if that is worth adding a bit to the squad depth when someone like Long would be a cheaper, more 'humble' (in terms of willingness to ride the bench for a while) objective with less potential to disrupt squad harmony.