Roland Beurre
Tony Parks
I don't know about "Intergrated" but it is nice to see the squad "reJuvenated".
I'll get m'coat.
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Squad Assessment - Spring 2022
- Thread starter Gutter Boy
- Start date
I don't know about "Intergrated" but it is nice to see the squad "reJuvenated".
I'll get m'coat.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
- HG - homegrown. Need a minimum of 4 out of 25-man senior squad, as per UEFA rules, and their qualifier is a player who has spent three years in England between the ages of 15 and 21.
- CG - clubgrown. Need a minimum of 4 out of 25-man senior squad, as per UEFA rules, and their qualifier is a player who has spent three years at Spurs between 15 and 21.
Lloris is eternal, so no worries on the first-choice GK. Second choice? Think we can move Gollini on in the summer (ending his loan) for one of Sam Johnstone on a free or Nick Pope on a relatively cheap deal if Burnley go down. Would give us one more HG player towards the minimum, and both Johnstone and Pope are better (imo) than Gollini.
RBs: Emerson, Doherty
Big shame in this window is not binning Doherty to whichever Champo side would have him, but whatever. Think we'll see an RB come in this summer to replace him - Emerson is still very young, and I expect he will improve.
CBs: Romero, Dier, Davies, Sanchez, Tanganga (HG, CG), Rodon
Shame we couldn't move on Rodon, either on a permanent or a loan. He needs to play, badly. Think we will move him on in the summer and bring in a left-footed CB to play alongside Romero and Dier, dropping Davies to the bench - possibly Attila Szalai, Evan Ndicka or someone relatively higher profile like Mario Hermoso. Pau Torres, Alessandro Bastoni et al are probably out of our reach.
LBs: Reguilon, Sessegnon (HG)
No changes needed here. Both young, both talented, fine to keep both in the summer and beyond.
CDMs: Hobjerg, Bentancur, Winks (HG, CG), Skipp (HG, CG)
A pretty functional midfield, but very, very lacking in forward-thinking players and overall quality. Think Winks will move on come the summer and we'll aim for a top-class deep-lying midfielder for the 'Brozovic' role - hoping for Ruben Neves or someone similar.
RWs: Lucas, Kulusevski
Good options at this point, no change needed in the summer.
LWs: Son, Bergwijn
Good options at this point, no change needed in the summer.
ST: Kane (HG, CG)
As always, we have decided to forego a backup and play Harry until his legs explode. Sad to see - aim has to be to get a backup for him come the summer, imo. Or if he leaves, get two STs, not one.
Random Yoof: Pape Sarr, Bryan Gil, Jack Clarke, Harvey White, Alfie Devine, Dane Scarlett, Nile John, Alfie Whiteman, etc.
Send them all on loans come the summer, except for one or two of the academy lads who we might need to keep around to hit HG/CG quotas
Summary: We'll need movement in the summer - a lot of it. Ideally, we end the window with five new players - HG second-choice keeper, left-footed first-choice CB, new first-choice RB, new first-choice CM, new second-choice striker.
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
Maybe the whinge should be appropriate backup for Kane, Son is an option too but at the expense of his own position and like Bergwijn doesn’t really offer the same outball as Kane. I get Kane is unique but I think a lot of people would like us to have an alternative physical presence.I don’t exactly how many times Conte has to say Bergwijn is the backup striker for Kane before people are going to stop whinging about us not having a backup for Kane….
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Good summary there....
I think I pretty much agree with you where we're short.... My thoughts with options:
1. A keeper (back-up for now but one who could be good enough to be number 1 within 18 to 24 months)... Likakovic from Dinamo Zagreb would probably be my choice as Lloris' long term successor.
2. A right wing back. I'd like Nahitan Nandez from Cagliari as he is a natural right midfield player that I think would fit Conte's tactics well, otherwise perhaps we could get Serginho Dest from Barcelona if they take Mazrouii from Ajax on a bosman as seems to be the rumour. Left field choice, who would have benefit of counting as homegrown, would be Isiah Jones from Middlesboro if they fail to gain promotion.
3. At least one centre back, left footed as you say. Badiashile would be my preference but not sure we have the money. Romagnoli is the free transfer option but I'm not 100% convinced he would be a hit in the PL. If Badiashile is too expensive or has suitors at a higher level than us then I'd love to see us go and get Lloyd Kelly off of Bournemouth, which might only be doable if they don't get promoted.
4. Another centre midfield option. Like you, I'd love Brozovic on a free. He would allow us to properly control games.
5. Another centre forward option. Brereton Diaz from Blackburn for a tribuneral fee would be a sensible signing and not take up an overseas spot. But my ideal player would be Andrea Belotti on a free from Torino, who I think would fit in to the PL and a Conte team really well.
Icing on the cake would be a truly creative wing forward/number 10 type player. I'd love to see us get De Kettelaere
And also with one more centre back (Sule, Ginter, Luis Felipe and Zagadou are all out of contract).
But I can't see us bringing in anywhere near 7 first team squad players in the summer and, assuming all 5 of the priority position signings are overseas players then we'd be full for overseas players so would then have to shift existing overseas players to bring any more in.
----------------------------------------Lloris/Likakovic
-------------------Romero/Sanchez-----Dier/Rodon--------Badashile/Davies
Nandez/Royale-------Brozovic/Hojbjerg----Bentacur/Skipp----------Sessegnon/Regulion
-------Moura/Kulusevski------------Kane/Belotti---------Son/Moura
Is quite a strong squad overall where Conte should be able to rest 1, 2 or 3 players without too many problems, allowing us to be competitive in the Cups as well as the league. The above gives us an advantage that we have quite a few players able to play in different formations as well.
Most obvious weakness there is probably Rodon. Though we'd need to find an association trained player to replace him - Tarkowski could be an option?
That leaves the 17 overseas players as:
1. Lloris
2. Likakovic
3. Royale
4. Nandez/Dest
5. Romero
6. Dier
7. Badashile
8. Sanchez
9. Regulion
10. Hojbjerg
11. Bentancur
12. Brozovic
13. Lucas
14. Kulusevski
15. Son
16. Bergwijn
17. Belotti
The 8 association trained squad places are made up of:
1. Homegrown 3rd choice keeper
2. Rodon
3. Davies
4. Sessegnon
5. Skipp
6. Winks
7. Kane
8. White/Clarke/Parrot (whichever is considered the most ready)
That leaves Tanganga and Doherty as being surplus and needing to go, as well as needing both Ndombele and Lo Celso to remain away from the club.
Gill and Sarr will both still count as under 21 players so could pad the squad, though it may be better for their development if both remain out on loan.
Conte says he has the qualities appropriate to play there and it’s a small sample size because of his injuries but he has had three games up front. Against West Ham 1 goal 1 assist, ten minutes against Leicester up front with Kane 2 goals, and against Chelsea where he didn’t do anything but neither did anyone. This big no.9 type some people expect as the backup barely exists for top teams - We will see for the rest of the season, but it appears Conte always intended him to play that role this season and either it goes well and he will remain that option or we will find someone more appropriate in the summer….
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
Love to be wrong but I just don’t see it. Unless Leicester has flicked a switch historically his biggest weakness for me was that he brick the bed one on one. I do like the idea of someone playing off Kane and happy to try Stevie in that role while Son is out but I still feel we would be very one dimensional should Kane get injured and he’s unlikely to get subbed even for a rest due to us not having even an average CF who could come on to see a game out.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
How many back up players have we tried for the CF spot, Soldado, Jannsen,Llorente( have i missed any?) and all have been slagged off by a large majority of fans. I doubt not many top players will come here to be sat on the bench waiting for Kane to sit out games. IF Conte thinks Bergwijn can fill in there when needed then i trust his judgement.
Kandi1977
Garth Crooks
For goodness sake NO! Dest is the worst Barca player I've ever seen! The 2nd worst we already bought from them! Dest is a catastrophy, and gets dingdonged around by every player he faces in every game.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
TBH when I still read spurs fans saying we need a creative CM I kinda despairI don’t exactly how many times Conte has to say Bergwijn is the backup striker for Kane before people are going to stop whinging about us not having a backup for Kane
Bishop
Nick Barmby
Usually ppl just want someone who can progress the ball consistently to a good standard. They might say creative CM but that's the real meaning. That sort of player has always played and I think will likely play here once he is happy that the roots of his system are embedded.
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RunTMC
Steven Caulker
Honestly, i think people are just hung up on the word 'striker'. Bergwijn came into the club as a 'wide forward', i reckon if he came in with the title 'striker' and produced what he has done when played in that position then there'd be less whinging. We have Bergwijn and Son who can play up front, Kulusevski has also played up front for club and country at times. We have enough to tide us over until the end of the season. In the summer we can look for a proper challenger to Kane, that level of player is generally not available in Jan.I don’t exactly how many times Conte has to say Bergwijn is the backup striker for Kane before people are going to stop whinging about us not having a backup for Kane
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
No people have been saying we need an eriksen. That’s a player conte has never really played part form his last season at inter
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
I think we need someone like Locatelli. A deep sitting allrounder, but who is solid yet really adept creatively, both in terms of passing and carrying the ball. Long term that might be Sarr (I don't know what type of player he is). But I think in midfield that's what we lack short-term to complement Skipp, Bentacur and Winks. But quick transitioning and line breaking, rather than lock picking
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
I think with his goal return if he came in as a ‘striker’ there’d be even more whinging!
Agree Jan was a difficult window to address so we make do now but the fact we never sub or rotate Kane tells me that the lack of authentic back up remains a risk that has this be addressed in the summer.
We have had several managers accept this though and the challenge is finding a player who can ideally play with Kane or instead of him and maybe Conte will be the first one to be more forceful over managing Kane’s minutes. I always felt that was a little trade off we made with him, you can play every minute and take free kicks because you are by far and away the best player and would walk into any CL / title challenging team. After the summer I think we need to tweak this approach to allow succession planning and the ability to not have to change the game plan if Kane gets injured.
Back up striker issue for me is simply that managers when told they have a budget simply decide to sacrifice that particular need for starting positions that requires improving instead and make do with WFs that can do a job - Mourinho an exception who wanted (and subsequently never trusted) a back up CF as a priority
RunTMC
Steven Caulker
Haha true. But to be fair i did say when he's played there. West Ham, Leicester, Chelsea - 3 goals and 1 assist i think?
But i agree to your general point, as a wide forward his goal return has been hopeless.
Bishop
Nick Barmby
Do you think so? I've mostly seen ppl asking for a CM that has a good passing range and uses it progressively. Not quite an Eriksen but some like Brozovic or even a functioning Ndombele (if played successfully in CM).
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