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Transfer Rumour Discussion Thread

I've said for a very long time that the 'Modric type' player is vastly overrated, well in this league anyway. It is not a necessity to have this sort of player in a league that suits direct and powerful play over flair (not to say it's not important because it is). You can easily manouver around not having this sort of player at your disposal far easier than not having a good striker. Last season we didn't have a Modric type player and played far more direct but we looked more effective and dangerous than we've ever looked. We wasn't nowhere near as pleasing on the eye than in previous seasons but in terms of effectiveness? we looked damn good.

To sum it up, i think a quality striker is far far far more important than any other position.


You can go either way really. Increase the percentage of chances we finish or increase the number of chances we create.


Just depends who is available really.
 
I've said for a very long time that the 'Modric type' player is vastly overrated, well in this league anyway. It is not a necessity to have this sort of player in a league that suits direct and powerful play over flair (not to say it's not important because it is). You can easily manouver around not having this sort of player at your disposal far easier than not having a good striker. Last season we didn't have a Modric type player and played far more direct but we looked more effective and dangerous than we've ever looked. We wasn't nowhere near as pleasing on the eye than in previous seasons but in terms of effectiveness? we looked damn good.

To sum it up, i think a quality striker is far far far more important than any other position.

i disagree with your thoughts on 'the modric type player' mate, but i remember you saying it way back when so don't hold out much hope of changing your mind :p personally i look at the way we played football this season and felt what we really lacked was exactly what Modric brought to the team - of course we also lacked goals but as Spursalot hints at - with a more creative player in the team we'd probably have been creating more for the forwards (not directly through Modric himself as we know his assist stats aren't the best but indirectly through picking out the likes of Dembele further up the field, Bale, Lennon and Adebayor himself as he likes to float around and get involved in build up play)

a new forward in place of Adebayor as the only piece of business and i think we'd be likely to see a similarly frustrating goal return as the movement/creativity from the midfield just isn't good enough
 
i disagree with your thoughts on 'the modric type player' mate, but i remember you saying it way back when so don't hold out much hope of changing your mind :p personally i look at the way we played football this season and felt what we really lacked was exactly what Modric brought to the team - of course we also lacked goals but as Spursalot hints at - with a more creative player in the team we'd probably have been creating more for the forwards (not directly through Modric himself as we know his assist stats aren't the best but indirectly through picking out the likes of Dembele further up the field, Bale, Lennon and Adebayor himself as he likes to float around and get involved in build up play)

a new forward in place of Adebayor as the only piece of business and i think we'd be likely to see a similarly frustrating goal return as the movement/creativity from the midfield just isn't good enough

you both make really good points. so I will try and make some of my own.....

you have to be careful here as you could be the worlds best at picking a pass but if the strikers have poor movement the team as a whole will struggle. qdos will always be given for an assist but half the time its timing of runs...that little drop of the shoulder (J Hernandez is wonderful at this)

my point is that I think siggy and dembele would have lots more assists if the strikers movement last season was more up to scratch.....ade has a frustrating tendency to drop to deep and is not in the right place to finish moves.....defoe in my eyes is a reactionary striker....wonderful on instinct poor at creating openings through decent movement.

we need a playmaker & strikers.........no decent striker movement means we cannot smash teams....as shown last season with poor goal difference...... we seem to be linked with the right people in my eyes so hopefully we can close some deals....

would be delighted with pjanic....benitez.......soldado.......

come on spurs lets show mr bale we mean business.
 
1) First off, we need AVB to decide what formation he wants to play. If he wants a striker with Bale behind, there is no room for 3 in midfield unless we do something with the wide men yadda yadda inverted wingers yadda yadda Lennon etcetera

2) Almost every team will say "all we need is a playmaker and a great striker, then we'll be ace!" Think about it.

3) If we continue to defend corners as we did last season, it doesn't matter who we sign. Putting nobody on the posts is the same as deciding not to play a striker at all. Totally ridiculous 'coaching'.
 
I've said for a very long time that the 'Modric type' player is vastly overrated, well in this league anyway. It is not a necessity to have this sort of player in a league that suits direct and powerful play over flair (not to say it's not important because it is). You can easily manouver around not having this sort of player at your disposal far easier than not having a good striker. Last season we didn't have a Modric type player and played far more direct but we looked more effective and dangerous than we've ever looked. We wasn't nowhere near as pleasing on the eye than in previous seasons but in terms of effectiveness? we looked damn good.

To sum it up, i think a quality striker is far far far more important than any other position.

You think that we looked more direct in 2012-13 than in 2011-12? I can't see that at all.
 
You think that we looked more direct in 2012-13 than in 2011-12? I can't see that at all.

First half of the season we played direct and the second half of the season I thought we were more possession based. I think a lot of that was down to Defoe and Parker. Defoe looks good when we played direct and because he doesn't play with his back to goal you have to play that way. Parker keeps hold of the ball and slows it down. Adebayor plays with his back to goal and therefore passing into feet becomes a more viable option than early direct balls.

So I think the tactics did change during the season, but I think it was more down to the personnel being picked than a plan. I think we'll play more direct next season again than what we did last half of this season.
 
I think there needs to be a fundamental understanding of pass and move with every single one of the players. They don't need to be Modric, but they need to at least understand how to do more than run in a straight line. It's not enough to have a forward with good movement if the midfield can't create good chances near the box, and it's also not enough to create a brickload of chances through midfield if you have Pav as your striker (as we discovered in the past against Burnley, Hull etc).

OTOH, I would argue that the latter type tends to do better over a season since it is usually defensively stronger (thanks to the greater ability to retain possession, which also saves you energy in a high-pressing game) AND we have seen attacking teams with *relatively* static strikers like Lewandowski and Mario Gomez do very well because their teams create so much (and they're decent finishers, just not run-around types). What has devastated me this season is to see us struggle to create against teams like Wigan - with Modric and VdV, at least we'd create 26 chances and hit the woodwork twice in these kinds of losses .... whereas last season, we couldn't even create. We really did deserve to lose when we lost to fodder.

For me, playmakers are essential. No Mata, Silva, Cazorla etc - hell, Coutinho - and the vast majority of strikers are going to struggle here.
 
mata, silva, carzola ... they're very similar and creative, but I don't think modric belongs there with them.
we need one of them more than modric IMO.
 
You think that we looked more direct in 2012-13 than in 2011-12? I can't see that at all.

Far more direct imo. In the 2011-2012 season we played very attractive, flowing football that was fast paced but allowed for a lot of our players to be involved in play before scoring. This season we've played at a slower pace but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't direct. The approach play was slow in our half but as soon as we get into the opposition half it was basically a 'pass to Bale and let him shoot' tactic we adopted.
 
Soldado stating that he wants to stay at Valencia and Jackson Martinez's agent stating that he doesn't want to leave Porto and that they haven't spoken to anyone.
 
Long balls per game

12/13: 62 (8th in the league)
11/12: 71 (2nd)
10/11: 75 (3rd)
09/10: 79 (1st)
 
Is that right? We played more long balls than almost everyone else in the league for 3 years?!?

Easily explained by Peter Crouch

Also, do these stats all come from open play, or include set pieces and goal kicks. Dawson does try a Hollywood pass or two per game
 
Easily explained by Peter Crouch

Also, do these stats all come from open play, or include set pieces and goal kicks. Dawson does try a Hollywood pass or two per game

He has averaged 4.9 accurate long balls per game, Huddlestone 5 and BAE 5.2, but that's ACCURATE long balls. He has at least a couple that doesn't hit the target as well.
 
Far more direct imo. In the 2011-2012 season we played very attractive, flowing football that was fast paced but allowed for a lot of our players to be involved in play before scoring. This season we've played at a slower pace but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't direct. The approach play was slow in our half but as soon as we get into the opposition half it was basically a 'pass to Bale and let him shoot' tactic we adopted.

I don't agree at all. I think that our approach play was more measured across the pitch and I don't agree our tactic was simply to get the ball to Bale. Last season we played on the break, which was very direct, in fact we struggled when this tactic didn't work and teams did not give us space to break into.
 
Long balls per game

12/13: 62 (8th in the league)
11/12: 71 (2nd)
10/11: 75 (3rd)
09/10: 79 (1st)

Where did these come from? Really shocked about 11/12. I wonder what the criteria is for long balls in those stats too. Ekotto used to play a lot of long balls down the flanks to Bale to run onto I guess.
 
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