Toby Alderweireld

[alekaras]

Out until the new year, gutted.

Sauce?

 

[Spursman]

Bloody gutted, always something that destabilises us. Dier will slip in fine but Wanyama needs to return asap as Dembele is never 100% fit nor can he play 2 games in a week. What a shame

 

[Lemonade Money]

Can i be the first to say............He will be like a new signing if he comes back

 

[AdamB]

Said throughout the summer that we were a CB short. Now look at us - one injury and suddenly if we want to play 3 at the back, we dont really have any senior cover for Dier, Verts and Sanchez. Davies could perhaps play there, but really think we need another senior CB, or be very confident about Foyth stepping up

 

[milo]

Said throughout the summer that we were a CB short. Now look at us - one injury and suddenly if we want to play 3 at the back, we dont really have any senior cover for Dier, Verts and Sanchez. Davies could perhaps play there, but really think we need another senior CB, or be very confident about Foyth stepping up

Any sixth choice CB is unlikely to be of sufficient quality to be trusted in the scenario anyway. Poch would almost always change formation if that happened.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Said throughout the summer that we were a CB short. Now look at us - one injury and suddenly if we want to play 3 at the back, we dont really have any senior cover for Dier, Verts and Sanchez. Davies could perhaps play there, but really think we need another senior CB, or be very confident about Foyth stepping up

'Now look at us'

I'm looking, and i'm not that worried.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

'Now look at us'

I'm looking, and i'm not that worried.

I agree
We lose Toby and still have the best defence

 

[AdamB]

Any sixth choice CB is unlikely to be of sufficient quality to be trusted in the scenario anyway. Poch would almost always change formation if that happened.

Who's your 6th choice? I was meaning either 4th or 5th! Top 3 are obviously TA, JV and DS. After that, you get into the dangerous territory of double counting players, which if you extrapolate that suggests you can get by with a very, very small squad. For example, Davies is primarily a LB and Dier is primarily a DM though both can play at CB to a good enough extent...however in the extended time when Rose was out, you couldnt move Davies to CB as he was needed at LB.

 

[alekaras]

Who's your 6th choice? I was meaning either 4th or 5th! Top 3 are obviously TA, JV and DS. After that, you get into the dangerous territory of double counting players, which if you extrapolate that suggests you can get by with a very, very small squad. For example, Davies is primarily a LB and Dier is primarily a DM though both can play at CB to a good enough extent...however in the extended time when Rose was out, you couldnt move Davies to CB as he was needed at LB.

That's the whole point of having players who can play in more than one position. So you do not need to go buy "specialists" for the just-in-case scenario. Think of it in terms of bandwidth needs: if you are going to have spike 2 days out of the entire year, you do not purchase bandwidth for the whole year based on that 2-day spike. Same here, you do not buy a quality CB (because that's what you would have to buy, not just a squad filler) for the off chance one of your senior CBs get injured, especially if you already have cover in the form of say, oh I don't know, Eric Dier. Who, by the way, is better at CB, according to Poch, than in midfield.

 

[milo]

Who's your 6th choice? I was meaning either 4th or 5th! Top 3 are obviously TA, JV and DS. After that, you get into the dangerous territory of double counting players, which if you extrapolate that suggests you can get by with a very, very small squad. For example, Davies is primarily a LB and Dier is primarily a DM though both can play at CB to a good enough extent...however in the extended time when Rose was out, you couldnt move Davies to CB as he was needed at LB.

We have five recognised CBs; Alberweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Dier and Foyth. If we had signed another CB in the summer, it is likely that the only player they could've got ahead of in the pecking order is Foyth and then it wouldn't make sense signing him and offering no game time.

I think that two areas where your thinking is out of sync with Poch is that he values flexibility in players and he is less wedded to a fixed formation.

 

[90291Spur]

We have five recognised CBs; Alberweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Dier and Foyth. If we had signed another CB in the summer, it is likely that the only player they could've got ahead of in the pecking order is Foyth and then it wouldn't make sense signing him and offering no game time.

I think that two areas where your thinking is out of sync with Poch is that he values flexibility in players and he is less wedded to a fixed formation.

Or maybe we need 6 world class players for every position so injuries wouldn't have any impact. Come on, Levy! Get with it!!!!

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Or maybe we need 6 world class players for every position so injuries wouldn't have any impact. Come on, Levy! Get with it!!!!

Shut up Pep

 

[billyiddo]

Adamb and I were getting plenty of opposition in the summer to the idea we needed strengthening in the CB positions - plenty of posters were quite happy to stick with last season's options and to rely on Carter Vickers as first reserve. I think Wanyama and now Alderweirelds injuries go some way to vindicate our position in the summer.

 

[milo]

Adamb and I were getting plenty of opposition in the summer to the idea we needed strengthening in the CB positions - plenty of posters were quite happy to stick with last season's options and to rely on Carter Vickers as first reserve. I think Wanyama and now Alderweirelds injuries go some way to vindicate our position in the summer.

I just don't see how we can carry six centre backs in the squad and really doubt that the sixth choice would be of sufficient quality to be of any use. Even with those injuries, it looks likely that we will be putting out a very strong side tomorrow.

 

[the dza]

We have five recognised CBs; Alberweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Dier and Foyth. If we had signed another CB in the summer, it is likely that the only player they could've got ahead of in the pecking order is Foyth and then it wouldn't make sense signing him and offering no game time.

I think that two areas where your thinking is out of sync with Poch is that he values flexibility in players and he is less wedded to a fixed formation.

Davies can also play on the left of a back 3, like he does for Wales. So 6 at a push.

 

[DeleHarry]

Adamb and I were getting plenty of opposition in the summer to the idea we needed strengthening in the CB positions - plenty of posters were quite happy to stick with last season's options and to rely on Carter Vickers as first reserve. I think Wanyama and now Alderweirelds injuries go some way to vindicate our position in the summer.

Poch out!!!

So what kind of player should we have signed? Keane? Maguire? Van Dijk? Mawson? All 30 mill plus and PL proven signings

Or should we have signed someone unknown from the continent?

Or maybe not sold Wimmer and not loaned out CCV?

Plus why do you think we signed Foyth. Surely he should be given a chance?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Poch out!!!

So what kind of player should we have signed? Keane? Maguire? Van Dijk? Mawson? All 30 mill plus and PL proven signings

Or should we have signed someone unknown from the continent?

Or maybe not sold Wimmer and not loaned out CCV?

Plus why do you think we signed Foyth. Surely he should be given a chance?

We wanted Maguire to be fair and I still think we would have gone for Sanchez as the potential there is huge

But I’ll add I think we’re well set for Centre Backs

 

[billyiddo]

Poch out!!!

So what kind of player should we have signed? Keane? Maguire? Van Dijk? Mawson? All 30 mill plus and PL proven signings

Or should we have signed someone unknown from the continent?

Or maybe not sold Wimmer and not loaned out CCV?

Plus why do you think we signed Foyth. Surely he should be given a chance?

this was all before the signing of Sanchez and Foyth - we were saying we needed additional players in defence, which is what we got... there were plenty of people saying that Alderweireld Vertonghen CCV was enough as we had Dier and Davies who can play there as well as their other positions.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Adamb and I were getting plenty of opposition in the summer to the idea we needed strengthening in the CB positions - plenty of posters were quite happy to stick with last season's options and to rely on Carter Vickers as first reserve. I think Wanyama and now Alderweirelds injuries go some way to vindicate our position in the summer.

This always happens when we get an injury, people will claim we now need another player. But it's not really true - there's a few things. Versatility in the players that we have. And squad harmony. You can't have a player that will expect to start, never starting. Not to mention the idea that we won't be able to convince them to join. Sanchez joined us because he will play. Foyth joined us because he was happy to be patient.

 

[billyiddo]

This always happens when we get an injury, people will claim we now need another player. But it's not really true - there's a few things. Versatility in the players that we have. And squad harmony. You can't have a player that will expect to start, never starting. Not to mention the idea that we won't be able to convince them to join. Sanchez joined us because he will play. Foyth joined us because he was happy to be patient.

Mate you've done the same thing as the previous poster and ignored the fact that Sanchez and Foyth were new signings that people thought we didn't need because we were already well stocked in defence - Adam and myself argued that we needed strengthening, which we did do by buying Sanchez and Foyth.

The fact Sanchez has been an almost ever present in the side which has allowed Dier to cover Dembele/Wanyama in midfield whilst keeping the same setup going is a perfect example of what we were saying back in the summer