ITK Thread

[Keithd]

Ronaldo, Bale, Modric all overseas based and with PL experience, would you say no to any of them?

Haha nope but known levy and the big power wigs at Spurs it will be Micah Richards , Alex song and javier Hernandez lol ... We wait till top clubs have signed and picked off best players and we gamble on a few players next level down .. Some come good but majority fail cos simply not good enough !!! For once I'll like to see a statement of intent.. That summer of 2013 with that bale money was average for me .. Not one singing had me convinced to be honest and fact is we probably made a profit that summer so net spend wasn't much at all not that it has to be to be successful but all I'm saying is sign sone bloody top players that make a difference .. They might be expensive but so what .. With new TV money we can afford to take small gamble not that it would be for those players . I can guarentee a snderlein and benteke added alone to what we have could get us 70 points let alone a couple of really good wingers with a brain .. It's not rocket science .. Fact is united Chelsea arsenal and even Liverpool get the picks and players wait as long as is needed till those options are gone then it's us

 

[Raziel]

Haha nope but known levy and the big power wigs at Spurs it will be Micah Richards , Alex song and javier Hernandez lol ... We wait till top clubs have signed and picked off best players and we gamble on a few players next level down .. Some come good but majority fail cos simply not good enough !!! For once I'll like to see a statement of intent.. That summer of 2013 with that bale money was average for me .. Not one singing had me convinced to be honest and fact is we probably made a profit that summer so net spend wasn't much at all not that it has to be to be successful but all I'm saying is sign sone bloody top players that make a difference .. They might be expensive but so what .. With new TV money we can afford to take small gamble not that it would be for those players . I can guarentee a snderlein and benteke added alone to what we have could get us 70 points let alone a couple of really good wingers with a brain .. It's not rocket science .. Fact is united Chelsea arsenal and even Liverpool get the picks and players wait as long as is needed till those options are gone then it's us

Mate, so much nonsense in this post ...

- Liverpool gets the picks? Lovren, Lallana, Balotelli, Markovic, Moreno, Can, Origi = 110M+ of absolute garbage, which of those did you want?
- summer of 2013? really, the revisionist history is getting tiresome, 25M+ for one the most proven strikers in Spain, 30M+ for one of the highest rated young Argentine players who was tearing it up in Italy, 10M+ for Eriksen, who easily had been the player to watch/next big thing in Holland. The fact that the two biggest signings didn't work out does NOT automatically equal to lack of ambition
- MS & Benteke? you mean the players their respective clubs sold to no one? that's Levy's fault too?

Here's the facts, and why the "small gamble" concept is actually nonsense

Cheat$ki - wages & spend in last 5 years -> $1.2B
Scum - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 900M
Pool - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 800M
Spurs - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 400M

One 25M/30M player is not going to make a difference, fact is despite Pool outspending us at about a 2:1 rate, we have finished above them every one of those years but 1. The idea that we lack ambition because we keep the club in the black when our competitors have the ability to spend 2X & 3X our wages/buying and have been doing so for over a decade is just childish

 

[braineclipse]

Mate, so much nonsense in this post ...

- Liverpool gets the picks? Lovren, Lallana, Balotelli, Markovic, Moreno, Can, Origi = 110M+ of absolute garbage, which of those did you want?
- summer of 2013? really, the revisionist history is getting tiresome, 25M+ for one the most proven strikers in Spain, 30M+ for one of the highest rated young Argentine players who was tearing it up in Italy, 10M+ for Eriksen, who easily had been the player to watch/next big thing in Holland. The fact that the two biggest signings didn't work out does NOT automatically equal to lack of ambition
- MS & Benteke? you mean the players their respective clubs sold to no one? that's Levy's fault too?

Here's the facts, and why the "small gamble" concept is actually nonsense

Cheat$ki - wages & spend in last 5 years -> $1.2B
Scum - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 900M
Pool - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 800M
Spurs - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 400M

One 25M/30M player is not going to make a difference, fact is despite Pool outspending us at about a 2:1 rate, we have finished above them every one of those years but 1. The idea that we lack ambition because we keep the club in the black when our competitors have the ability to spend 2X & 3X our wages/buying and have been doing so for over a decade is just childish

Excellent post, although I have to point out that I do think a £25-30m signing could make the difference. The difference has been small enough on several occasions that a player much cheaper than that could have made the difference. When we did get 4th players much cheaper than that did make the difference.

But calling for an increased spend is just not the answer, the main point of your post I believe. The focus should be on smarter spending...

 

[We are Tottenham]

Paulinho ..he was the first in the string of players we bought when Bale left. He was supposed to be a new power house in midfield..but turned out to be a bit of a powder puff.

Even looking back now at all of those signings I can't believe the amount of flops we had among them! Only two have been outstanding at times ..Erikson and LLoris.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Paulinho ..he was the first in the string of players we bought when Bale left. He was supposed to be a new power house in midfield..but turned out to be a bit of a powder puff.

Even looking back now at all of those signings I can't believe the amount of flops we had among them! Only two have been outstanding at times ..Erikson and LLoris.

Pedant alert: Lloris was bought BEFORE the summer of 2013...

 

[Raziel]

Excellent post, although I have to point out that I do think a £25-30m signing could make the difference. The difference has been small enough on several occasions that a player much cheaper than that could have made the difference. When we did get 4th players much cheaper than that did make the difference.

But calling for an increased spend is just not the answer, the main point of your post I believe. The focus should be on smarter spending...

Two points

- I'm really cautious re any single signing actually making the difference (as an absolute/guarantee), do we not think everyone of our competition is going to buy at least 1, if not multiples of 20-30M players?
- There are no small gambles, the media is horribly biased, but quite honestly the hit rate on really expensive signings in the PL over the past few years is quite fudging awful and not just Spurs .. Ozil, Di Maria, Falcao, Lovren, Balotelli, Markovic, Soldado, random 3-4 Cheat$ki/City players that cost stupid money and most people can't even name

Let's look at the makeup of arguably our best side of the PL era

- Built around King (when available), Modric, VDV, Bale as the main quality in side
- Homegrown WC, smart mid tier gamble, bargain proven player, smart youth purchase
- today's -> Kane for King (Kane still had to improve), Eriksen as Modric type buy, add in Lloris (if we can hold on to him) and you are missing?

- decent priced proven performer (should have been Soldado), +upcoming youth purchase (should have been Lamela)

consider Dier/Bentaleb/Rose all potentially have yet to reach anything close to their ceiling, I actually don't think our buying strategy is as brick as people like to make it out to be.

 

[braineclipse]

Two points

- I'm really cautious re any single signing actually making the difference (as an absolute/guarantee), do we not think everyone of our competition is going to buy at least 1, if not multiples of 20-30M players?
- There are no small gambles, the media is horribly biased, but quite honestly the hit rate on really expensive signings in the PL over the past few years is quite fudgeing awful and not just Spurs .. Ozil, Di Maria, Falcao, Lovren, Balotelli, Markovic, Soldado, random 3-4 Cheat$ki/City players that cost stupid money and most people can't even name

Let's look at the makeup of arguably our best side of the PL era

- Built around King (when available), Modric, VDV, Bale as the main quality in side
- Homegrown WC, smart mid tier gamble, bargain proven player, smart youth purchase
- today's -> Kane for King (Kane still had to improve), Eriksen as Modric type buy, add in Lloris (if we can hold on to him) and you are missing?

- decent priced proven performer (should have been Soldado), +upcoming youth purchase (should have been Lamela)

consider Dier/Bentaleb/Rose all potentially have yet to reach anything close to their ceiling, I actually don't think our buying strategy is as crud as people like to make it out to be.

Agreed that there are absolutely no guarantees.

But more signings like those you highlight as important will surely be a good thing.

And I also agree that our buying strategy isn't crud. I think we agree on most things here. Just disagreeing with the way you phrased it that a signing like that won't make the difference. I think one signing could be the difference, but it wouldn't have to be a player that expensive necessarily.

 

[stinkfoot]

Paulinho ..he was the first in the string of players we bought when Bale left. He was supposed to be a new power house in midfield..but turned out to be a bit of a powder puff.

Even looking back now at all of those signings I can't believe the amount of flops we had among them! Only two have been outstanding at times ..Erikson and LLoris.

We would have been a lot worse off without Chadli this year.

 

[Raziel]

Agreed that there are absolutely no guarantees.

But more signings like those you highlight as important will surely be a good thing.

And I also agree that our buying strategy isn't crud. I think we agree on most things here. Just disagreeing with the way you phrased it that a signing like that won't make the difference. I think one signing could be the difference, but it wouldn't have to be a player that expensive necessarily.

A good DM (who can recycle ball quickly) or RW could make a difference .. you would have me there

 

[Keithd]

Mate, so much nonsense in this post ...

- Liverpool gets the picks? Lovren, Lallana, Balotelli, Markovic, Moreno, Can, Origi = 110M+ of absolute garbage, which of those did you want?
- summer of 2013? really, the revisionist history is getting tiresome, 25M+ for one the most proven strikers in Spain, 30M+ for one of the highest rated young Argentine players who was tearing it up in Italy, 10M+ for Eriksen, who easily had been the player to watch/next big thing in Holland. The fact that the two biggest signings didn't work out does NOT automatically equal to lack of ambition
- MS & Benteke? you mean the players their respective clubs sold to no one? that's Levy's fault too?

Here's the facts, and why the "small gamble" concept is actually nonsense

Cheat$ki - wages & spend in last 5 years -> $1.2B
Scum - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 900M
Pool - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 800M
Spurs - wages & spend in the last 5 years -> 400M

One 25M/30M player is not going to make a difference, fact is despite Pool outspending us at about a 2:1 rate, we have finished above them every one of those years but 1. The idea that we lack ambition because we keep the club in the black when our competitors have the ability to spend 2X & 3X our wages/buying and have been doing so for over a decade is just childish

This is not a compare and contrast post between Liverpool and spurs first of all .. No nonsense in post .. Fact is we we were given 85 million or whatever it was for bale .. Yes Soldado was good in Spain yes Paulinho was a good player for Brazil but this is what I'm talking about .. Paulinho was a joke in Europe before returning to Brazil to play locally .. Soldado was and is a player who requires creative midfielders to seea pass and with the ability to cross early to give him a chance to score . He got this in Spain who was going to do that at Spurs ?? We never had those players .. That signing so reminded me of signing lineker but selling waddle all those years ago .. This was same thing .. Who was the creative players who would set him up summer he signed .. Asking way too much ... Lameka wasn't tearing it up in Italy either what rubbish .., if he was then top clubs in England let alone Spain would have been all over him ...fact is no one wanted him and we paid over the odds, end of and it was a baldini signing in the hope it wud pay off ... He is improving very very slowly but there is times when he can't even pass ten yards without giving it away .. Bolasie at palace is just as good and wud have cost a million quid compares to his 30 mill at time !!! Tearing it up my arse ... I never said lack of ambition either , my point is simple .. Spurs talk the talk but fact is top teams in England get the pick of the players available in the main and no one not even avb baldini etc could guarantee that Soldado Lamela Chadli chirches etc in that summer with bale money wud be a success .. They should have as a club and a committee or whatever or whoever signs players for Spurs said right , we are getting 90 million for bale lets re invest that in players who will guArentee Us success and at least be top top players who hit the ground running and not players that need the bones of three years before they show signs of coming good ...We didn't cos no one of that quality wants to join us and it's the same as this summer and Every summer until we get champions league ...we gamble !!! IMO the Southampton lad , benteke and any top centre half u can think of won't join us until all opportunities to join a cl club are exhausted .. Hence my hope that Mitchell and poch can sign a wimmer type signing and be an absolute star .. Those players signed were all wrong in 2013 ..I knew that then .. They weren't even players In positions we needed ... It's not about ambition it's about the ability of those in power to see what u need and sign decent hungry replacements .. These sort of people are worth weight in gold not the players themselves ..

 

[AberYid]

So... This is the ITK thread huh?

 

[glasgowspur]

Sorry Keithd but NO signing guarantees success. Look at RM or Man U, what have they won this year?

 

[Keithd]

Sorry Keithd but NO signing guarantees success. Look at RM or Man U, what have they won this year?

I agree , every signing is gamble but we never thought those signings thru . These were players on the market and IMO no thought process was put in by whoever in terms of team gelling and what qualities they had to succeed in a tough league and hit ground running ... Not good enough at all considering we had 90 million basically to spend ... It was quantity over quality and it still is .. Too much of a muchness at Spurs .. Three or four top first team players like I said a benteke , a snderlein , a stones , and a top goal scoring winger would bring the rest on massively .. Spine of team strengthening is badly needed

 

[Armchair Expert]

This is not a compare and contrast post between Liverpool and spurs first of all .. No nonsense in post .. Fact is we we were given 85 million or whatever it was for bale .. Yes Soldado was good in Spain yes Paulinho was a good player for Brazil but this is what I'm talking about .. Paulinho was a joke in Europe before returning to Brazil to play locally .. Soldado was and is a player who requires creative midfielders to seea pass and with the ability to cross early to give him a chance to score . He got this in Spain who was going to do that at Spurs ?? We never had those players .. That signing so reminded me of signing lineker but selling waddle all those years ago .. This was same thing .. Who was the creative players who would set him up summer he signed .. Asking way too much ... Lameka wasn't tearing it up in Italy either what rubbish .., if he was then top clubs in England let alone Spain would have been all over him ...fact is no one wanted him and we paid over the odds, end of and it was a baldini signing in the hope it wud pay off ... He is improving very very slowly but there is times when he can't even pass ten yards without giving it away .. Bolasie at palace is just as good and wud have cost a million quid compares to his 30 mill at time !!! Tearing it up my arse ... I never said lack of ambition either , my point is simple .. Spurs talk the talk but fact is top teams in England get the pick of the players available in the main and no one not even avb baldini etc could guarantee that Soldado Lamela Chadli chirches etc in that summer with bale money wud be a success .. They should have as a club and a committee or whatever or whoever signs players for Spurs said right , we are getting 90 million for bale lets re invest that in players who will guArentee Us success and at least be top top players who hit the ground running and not players that need the bones of three years before they show signs of coming good ...We didn't cos no one of that quality wants to join us and it's the same as this summer and Every summer until we get champions league ...we gamble !!! IMO the Southampton lad , benteke and any top centre half u can think of won't join us until all opportunities to join a cl club are exhausted .. Hence my hope that Mitchell and poch can sign a wimmer type signing and be an absolute star .. Those players signed were all wrong in 2013 ..I knew that then .. They weren't even players In positions we needed ... It's not about ambition it's about the ability of those in power to see what u need and sign decent hungry replacements .. These sort of people are worth weight in gold not the players themselves ..

I'd be more tempted to read that closely if there was a paragraph or two chucked in.

But from what I did read I couldn't really pick out the argument in there. What was the main point? We should only sign players that are successes?

 

[Robspur12]

Come on give us some itk. It might all be gonads but at least it will cheer me up on cup final day.

 

[Rorschach]

Blue and yellow.

 

[AuroRaman]

Come on give us some itk. It might all be cobblers but at least it will cheer me up on cup final day.

Leandro. Done deal.

 

[Lemonade Money]

Come on give us some itk. It might all be cobblers but at least it will cheer me up on cup final day.

Moutinho's signed, just some third party ownership details to sort out.

 

[Hashegotthesackyet?]

Where's AGENT_ITK when you need him

 

[thfcsteff]

Paulinho ..he was the first in the string of players we bought when Bale left. He was supposed to be a new power house in midfield..but turned out to be a bit of a powder puff.

Even looking back now at all of those signings I can't believe the amount of flops we had among them! Only two have been outstanding at times ..Erikson and LLoris.

Paulinho is a tragedy because the guy is quality. He was coming off over a year of solid football, and he came into a situation which was (at best) turbulent. Personally, I would persevere, but I understand that his time has probably arrived. He will prove a fine player for someone...