Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
Man of the match in a CL final. Bossed Modric and Kroos against Madrid. Confident and alongside the right partner, there's a strong player in there
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Squad Assessment - Spring 2022
- Thread starter Gutter Boy
- Start date
Man of the match in a CL final. Bossed Modric and Kroos against Madrid. Confident and alongside the right partner, there's a strong player in there
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
I think he is decent player
And when playing with better players he plays better
He did play CM when we got top 4 and that was playing alongside sissoko who couldn’t pass to save his life (but was playing as good as he ever did here)
You can see under Conte the difference with him having a chance to play someone in moving forward and laterally
Let’s see what conte chooses to do with him now
What I’d like to see is skipp and Bentacur
Form what I’ve seen of both they are comfortable receiving the ball and also keen to drive with the ball
Hojbjerg fades a lot and can struggle with his ball control (had some good moments today though)
Winks always has the meant when someone gets past him in every game. Invariably it’s a poor pass or though and he is exposed.
bentacur IMO plays quite similar to Moussa Dembele with his ball retention, just not his dribbling. But his passing is more creative
Skipp I think can be our rice. He has a bit of everything
When i mentioned needing another cm i was refering to conte aiming to win the league. Not getting top 4.
If we want to win the league we need to be better than city. I'm sorry but winks isn't good enough for that and neither are a few other players in the squad.
Doesn't mean i think he's brick or not useful now.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
Neither are 9 players in our first 11
Then we need to upgrade. Although i think 5 are good enough.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
To win the league?
I'm not saying next season. Or we'd do all the work in the summer.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
You ain’t beating city by outspending them
You need them to have a blip and to generate a massive run of wins
This is what conte said and what i'm referring to. I'm not saying we will outspend city.
“My first target, I repeat, is to try to create a foundation for this team and for this club. The results are later,” he said.
“If you don’t have a good foundation, if you don’t create a good structure, then we speak about nothing. You can only hope.
“In this moment we have to work a lot. Compared to the past, I think we are now a bit better because we are more complete as a squad but the path in front of us is long.
“And it’s important to understand this, that we want to start to go on this path… this is the most important thing for me.
“To speak about to win the league, if you ask me about the race for the Champions League, my ambition is to win league. Not to go to the Champions League.
“My ambition is to be competitive, to fight to win. At this moment I know very well that the situation is different.
“And we are working very hard to try to improve the situation, to reduce the gap and also … the mistakes of the past, to try to make good solutions. To continue to improve.
“But I repeat to win and [have] a place in the Champions League, you can dream this, yes. But then you have to prepare the situation, to have this target … not only to start the season and say, ‘Ok, I hope to win this, I hope to win this, I hope to win this.’
“But do you have the structure to do this? Yes, you are ready. Or not, we are not ready.”
“But we will do everything to reach the best result,” he added. “For sure, we will do everything, from now until the end of the season to reach the best result for Tottenham.
“Because I think the fans deserve this. To see a team in every game give 100 and more per cent, to try to win and give satisfaction to our fans.
“But it would be very important that we know we have a long path in front of us, it’s important to have enthusiasm, all the environment must have enthusiasm because it would be very important especially for me.
“Because if I see enthusiasm and want to stay together from the start until the end, then I’m ready to fight against everything and to bring Tottenham in the best position.
“To bring Tottenham where Tottenham deserves. It’s important to create and that there is the right atmosphere.
“I know very well that our fans can be disappointed for many reasons. But I can tell them that we are working very hard to try to build a good future.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
January business paying off already.
Kulusevski perhaps a bit more up and down, but also showing some real quality. Bentancur right into the thick of things with a very solid sub appearance.
Say what you want about the players leaving, there's quality there, but would have expected less from them in this team, this system if called upon in similar circumstances.
Kulusevski perhaps a bit more up and down, but also showing some real quality. Bentancur right into the thick of things with a very solid sub appearance.
Say what you want about the players leaving, there's quality there, but would have expected less from them in this team, this system if called upon in similar circumstances.
Bishop
Nick Barmby
We are more likely to generate that run of wins with higher quality players in general. I can't see that happening with a midfield comprising a mix of Skipp, Winks and Hojberg. That's pretty mediocre if we are honest.
Betanncur may be a bit of wild card and hopefully adds significant quality and competency to the midfield but the rest are just kinda meh. I'd love to be wrong about them but all the evidence suggests otherwise.
I will say though Conte has done a remarkable job good making them look competent but that just makes me think what can he do with actual quality in midfield. Then I look at his previous title wins and that's what he can do, so let's try and get the quality in that reflects the quality of the manager.
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You have kessie and borozovic out of contract this summer. Tielemans, aouar, kroos, bissouma entering their final year. (Just to mention a few). We have the opportunity to upgrade this summer. At fairly low cost. With so many out of contract or entering the final year and clubs being in financial difficulties (all down to covid). Wages shouldn't be astronomical either.
Lemonade Money
Les Medley
I think we need CL though, together with Conte and our stadium, to make us attractive and compete with the best.
Cl would be massive no doubt. Especially after the start to the season we've had. It would also hamper utd and arsenal in their rebuilds.
As conte said though it's a long path to close the gap. This summer i think we have a great opportunity to do so.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
You could be right of course but what is that old saying " Two out of three aint bad" good song title that.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
He won the league at Chelsea with kante (world class) and Matic (doenst excel at anything) flanked by Moses and Alonso …
The right coach (which we have) knows what his players excel at and makes the use of that. He is happy with functional players that can play to his plan which so why I think right now he is happy with his options.
I do expect an additional midfielder in the summer because I’ve read enough lately to suggest that was something he thinks he needs… although that was pre Bentacur
Bishop
Nick Barmby
He had Kante, a Matic who was at that time still very mobile and had great use of the ball and pass selection, along with Cesc who is fantastic on the ball, even Oscar who eventually was surplus to requirements not even mentioning Hazard as a playmaker from the wing. That's far and away better than the options we have in midfield. I disagree that he just likes functional players, he doesn't require super creative mercurial midfielders but he does want players good on the ball and he's usually had them of a significantly higher standard than he has here right now (Betancur not included).
I very much think he will be adding more midfield quality assuming Sarr isn't quite ready yet. I'd love to be wrong and the guys we have are capable of causing a shock and winning the PL but no, that just isn't going to happen with those guys.
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Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
Oscar, hazard and fabregas never played in midfield or in a 2. The first 2 played in the son and Moura roles. Fabregas did come into midfield in the second half of the season in some games but it was a small number. He did start i midfield before he went 3-4-3 though
and matic was and always was bang average IMO. I said it then and I stand by it
you can win the league with a functional midfield if they all do their jobs. Pool showed that too. None of their midfield was great with the ball. What they did was complement the system and keep the ball moving whilst covering the attacking full backs.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
No doubt a high quality midfielder could make a big difference. That's also true about several other positions too.
Some compromises will have to be made I think. Functional midfielders that fit the system is a great base from which to add quality, be it in central midfield or elsewhere. For me central midfield isn't the top priority, but it's somewhere we should be looking for that one real quality signing if it can be made.
Worth noting that we're seeing much better from Winks again. Skipp is very young. Hojbjerg starting to push on again. Then Bentancur. Let's see where Conte gets them by the end of the season.
Bishop
Nick Barmby
Liverpool's midfield was indeed functional, yet i'd still argue that they were as a three superior to Skipp, Wijnks and Hojberg. Put them in the Liverpool system and yes they might up their levels, but still they won't quite match what Liverpool's midfield produced due some missing attributes that they lack. Forgetting of course the fact that Liverpool have two genuinely creative wide attacking forwards in Salah and Mane, its not a like for like comparison, we don't play the same system or with the same type of attackers.
The point with mentioning Hazard is that you can afford a more functional midfield if you have a world class playmaker playing in your forward three who also drops into midfield at times. We don't have a world class attacking forward playmaker, its not quite the same scenario. We also deffo disagree on Matic, considering he started off as an AM you'll notice every now and then he would play a very cute pass, hes better than you are giving him credit for. Add all of these players together and you get a team that has higher quality in midfield as well as more creativity in the attacking three. If we get a Hazard like player than a purely functional midfield has more chance of success, but has been noted multiple times, Conte has never had a midfield that has been purely functional. He has always had a degree of quality and passing quality in there. I expect he will want the same here as that is what has been succesful for him in the past.