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General Transfer Rumour Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Sandman
- Start date
The cech transfer in iteself does not worry me. because indiviudual players simply cannot win the extra number of points that has been suggested. if he wins them an extra 3 points, he has done very very very well. thats the reality of football.
however, their recent trend of being able to attract top players (like cech), in addition to not losing their best players is worrying. we were able to challenge them during the period when they were losing a top player every year. if this trend continues, they will just get further and further away from us. if arsenal get away from us, realistically, there is no top 4 spot for us to play for.
Realistically speaking we have no chance of top 4 already - Arsenal are the weakest of the four and have a wage bill far higher than ours and can
think nothing of spending in excess of 50m net every summer. Even during their austerity years they out spent us, now that's over they are well out of reach.
We need to focus on making the best of what we have and and hope that one or more of the 4 financial powerhouses underperform (same as the last ten years really)
youre right, but i just felt that during the 'austerity' years, we were making up the ground little by little. but in the past 2 years or so, it feels like they have suddenly moved the goal posts
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
Disagree with both your primary points there I'm afraid. Firstly I think an excellent goalkeeper can "win extra points" for a team. If you have a genuinely excellent shot-stopper between the posts, there's a decent chance he will make a number of saves that most "good" keepers wouldn't. It only takes a handful of such exceptional saves to win or draw matches the team otherwise would have lost. IMO.
As for the notion that "if arsenal get away from us, realistically, there is no top 4 spot for us to play for", I couldn't disagree more. I think Arsenal are nailed on for a Top Three finish until Wenger leaves (he just injects too much damn stability into that side)... at which point who knows? They could have a terrible transition season and suddenly go into free-fall (or not!) On the other hand I think Man Utd are there for the taking this season. For all their big money signings, I'm still not convinced by LVG.
^ yeah i think United and potentially City are the sides most likely to falter in the coming seasons, Uniteds team isn't as good as what they pay/have paid for it and Pellegrini appears to be treading water imv until next summer when they will go for Guadiola (imv) so if they have a bad start and the pressure is ramped up can't see him or the players digging in to turn it around. However they are both in a better position than us going in to the new season and are massive favourites to finish in the top 4, imv
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
Oh don't get me wrong; I still think - on balance - United are more likely than us to finish fourth (though I wouldn't say they were *massive* favourites). I just think they are currently the most vulnerable of the teams that finished above us last season, and the most likely of the four to have a poor year. Realistically though... who the hell knows!?
people overestimate the importance of individuals in football. football is more of a team game than the average person thinks. think back to when we lost vdv, bale, keane, modric, carrick, berbatov etc. we all thought our club would go into a big decline. but the reality was that we were pretty much the same team with or without those players ie. we are a top 4 contending team that will often finish around 5-6th.
the same was the case at arsenal when they were losing rvp, fabregas, nasri, hleb, henry etc. they were just about a top 4 side with those players, and without those players. in addition, even with the signings of 2 world class players over 2 years, they are still roughly at the same place as they were 5 years ago. ie. being favourites in a top 4 race, yet still being a distance off title winners.
compare arsenal with chelsea and you will quickly see that the gap isnt that arsenal are missing one or two players here and there. they basically need a squad overhaul if they want to compete with chelsea. coutois/cech are better than any arsenal goalkeeper. ivanovic/azpilicueta/luis are better than all arsenal fullbacks. john terry is still probably miles better than mertesacker. matic is better than anyone arsenal can offer in dcm (coquelin,flamini, arteta). chelsea can spend £23m on a top winger like cuadrado and never play him because they have william, ramires, hazard and oscar. those wingers are probably marginally better than arsenal's wingers: alexis, walcott, ox, ramsey. up front chelsea can afford to speculate at the very top level of the transfer market. taking big money gambles on the likes of drogba, crespo, shevchenko, torres, costa, (falcao?) whilst arsenal have been in the giroud, welbeck, podolski, chamakh market. at the moment, arsenal can probably only match chelsea in acm with ozil and fabregas both being on a similar world class level.
do the same comparison with our players and arsenal's, and it becomes obvious why we struggle so much to finish above them, even when we had bale. one player alone is nowhere near enough.
moving specifically onto the subject of the goalkeeper winning points with saves that other goalies cannot make. well, this can be said about any player. defenders could make great last ditch blocks or tackles. midfielders could make impossible passes/assists. strikers could score goals that others cannot. if cech(or any other top keeper) really was so great compared to other keepers, that he could win x number of points on his own, why is he moving to arsenal for only 10m (+100k wages)? there are other top teams missing a top keeper who could surely do with cech. and if he really could win those points with such ease, surely these clubs could come up with a super financial incentive to make cech come and play for them.
the reality is that cech is obviously a great keeper. but he is only one small step for arsenal in their journey to be more competitive with europe's very elite teams. he is not the x-factor that is suddenly going to propel arsenal to the next level alone. no-one is. not cech, not alexis, not ozil. that is not to say arsenal cannot win things next year. but if they do, it will be the result of a good team effort, and some luck.
Mauricio Pochettino plans to reaffirm Tottenham Hotspur’s determination to try to keep hold of Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane by offering the pair the club captaincy positions for next season.
Goalkeeper Lloris is in line to be given the full captaincy, while Kane is poised to be made vice-captain with the promise of taking the armband full-time if and when the Frenchman leaves White Hart Lane.
Manchester United are interested in both Lloris and Kane, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has promised head coach Pochettino that he has no intention of selling either player this summer.
Pochettino took the surprising decision to make Younes Kaboul the Tottenham club captain last season, with Lloris and Emmanuel Adebayor joint vice-captains.
With Kaboul and Adebayor among a host of players Spurs are hoping to sell, Lloris will be offered the chance to take the full captaincy after wearing the armband for most of last season and Kane is expected to be handed the vice-captaincy.
Kane captained Tottenham when Lloris was injured at the end of last season and proved his leadership qualities over the course of his incredible campaign.
The 21-year-old gave dressing-room team talks and became the public spokesman for the squad, carrying out numerous commercial and media responsibilities.
It remains to be seen whether the captaincy positions will be enough to keep Lloris and Kane at White Hart Lane, and whether or not a huge United bid for either or both players would tempt Levy into a rethink over his current stance.
Spurs, however, have rejected claims from France that Lloris has a verbal agreement with Levy that he can leave if the club receive a bid of £18 million.
Along with Lloris and Kane, Tottenham have told winger Andros Townsend that he is not for sale and that he is very much part of Pochettino’s plans for next season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ptaincy-positions-by-Mauricio-Pochettino.html
Goalkeeper Lloris is in line to be given the full captaincy, while Kane is poised to be made vice-captain with the promise of taking the armband full-time if and when the Frenchman leaves White Hart Lane.
Manchester United are interested in both Lloris and Kane, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has promised head coach Pochettino that he has no intention of selling either player this summer.
Pochettino took the surprising decision to make Younes Kaboul the Tottenham club captain last season, with Lloris and Emmanuel Adebayor joint vice-captains.
With Kaboul and Adebayor among a host of players Spurs are hoping to sell, Lloris will be offered the chance to take the full captaincy after wearing the armband for most of last season and Kane is expected to be handed the vice-captaincy.
Kane captained Tottenham when Lloris was injured at the end of last season and proved his leadership qualities over the course of his incredible campaign.
The 21-year-old gave dressing-room team talks and became the public spokesman for the squad, carrying out numerous commercial and media responsibilities.
It remains to be seen whether the captaincy positions will be enough to keep Lloris and Kane at White Hart Lane, and whether or not a huge United bid for either or both players would tempt Levy into a rethink over his current stance.
Spurs, however, have rejected claims from France that Lloris has a verbal agreement with Levy that he can leave if the club receive a bid of £18 million.
Along with Lloris and Kane, Tottenham have told winger Andros Townsend that he is not for sale and that he is very much part of Pochettino’s plans for next season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ptaincy-positions-by-Mauricio-Pochettino.html
Who knows if there's any truth in that last report, but it does sound very encouraging. I'd be more than happy with selling our deadwood, promoting some youngsters, keeping Kane & Lloris, and signing a CM, Alderweireld, and a wide forward.
Would be an excellent summer IMO.
Would be an excellent summer IMO.
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
But Fans were complaining about last season after we had finished 5th!
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
I admire your optimism and hope you are right. But as you have said football is a team game and the team is about fitting pieces of a jigsaw. Cech represents another piece of their jigsaw and makes them stronger there than their current options. There are numerous reasons why teams may not feel cech fits their jigsaw but that doesn't make his signing any less important for Arsenal. Of course we have no idea which other jigsaw pieces they are going to add to their team which will strengthen them even more. I don't think we can underestimate Arsenal anymore.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
We released him last week, so no fee for us
We still beating the drum of all and sundry leaving !!? I know it's only few weeks but will be shocked if any have left by last week in augest !! All about da money with chairman players we want out ...would not surprise me if no one left , players have all the power and signs don't look good to me ..all we hear is media talk and supposed talks .. I mean seriously what club in right mind will bid 5 m fir adebayor or even half it for what levy wants .. It will who blinks first and desperate clubs scratching for players that we will only get rid in last few days of window ... I don't believe for one second levy has ok'd a huge clear out and is prepared to take hits on players , he will want money back .. It's needed but never happens
I
indianspur
Guest
i just hope Levy is open to bringing in the players Poch desires without wanting to get rid of the deadwood first. Wimmer and Trippier have come in, now if we can snap up the midfielder and striker that poch wants asap then Levy will have the rest of the window to sell the unwanted players.
milo
Jack L. Jones
The transfer window doesn't open for another week, it is open for two months and a day and 90% of deals are done in the final few days, so I see no reason to be so despondent. Levy has also been quite happy to offload players in the past, for example the bulk sales to Portsmouth.
SpursNorway
Ilie Dumitrescu
I think the sale of Cech to Arsenal is a decision taken over Joses head, and it could potensially cause problems for the relationship between Abra and Jose IMO. Mourinho is fully aware of the decision is stupid, Chelsea is about to strenghten a rival.
Officially yes I know start of July .. We will see .. Like someone said I hope poch gets a wheelbarrow of money to buy proper players he wants ... I have no doubt players within squad have been told they have no future or at least to get new clubs but what does that mean really ? Players won't budge living the good life at a good fashionable club but If not then something seriously wrong .. IMO there should be almost a team of players that should be training with youth and reserves come start of pre season cos they have no use to first team . Our first 17/18 is so predictable as it stands and first 11 even more so .