Forward thinking should not hold us back
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 8:25PM With the transfer window now a distant memory along with the additional depressing low ebb that consumed us in the aftermath, what with Jim White’s head failing to fully explode in decapitating HD, how best to look back with the aid of hindsight and pose the question: Could we have done better in our endeavours had we bulked up our forward line with far more assured and proven quality?
I think, probably not. I know, I know, considering I was spitting blood for an injection of the world class to lead our march forwards in Europe and our gleeful skip and trip domestically. The first apparent flaw is that for all the hype and stories at the time, there was no definitive true target. Even the players the club might have pencilled in as possibilities were not (looking back at it all) the type of players we perhaps should have been flirting with. Forlan has hardly been in inspired form this season and his price tag is perhaps too steep for his age.
The other targets appeared like after thoughts and misinformation disguised as apparent bids and keen interest. Which the club might have allowed the media to play out to make us look busy, a suspicion you could easily agree with when you delve deeper into the supposed bids for half of La Liga’s strikers when the reality was, at least in the case of Sergio Agüero, that football politics at Atlético Madrid was the main reason behind the story unfolding in the manner it did.
Roman Pavlyuchenko was once upon a time meant to be the answer, out of desperation from the failure to grab some Arsh(avin) from Zenit. Looking at how that one panned out (the Russians wanted £20M in the end having over-stepped the mark countless times during negotiations asking for more each time) with the player finally going to Arsenal for a snip and hardly proving to be the dynamic tongue show-off he was expected to be – I’d say lucky escape.
That’s lucky until you count the pennies spent on Roman who spent the first year tired and struggling with his English and every year since playing the role of the cameo. And still struggling with the English. Hardly worth the £14M in terms of how we’ve (not) implemented him into the side. The white Darren Bent. Scores goals, actually scores far better goals technique wise that Bent, but doesn’t play consistently enough for us to truly know just how good he could be. Did score important goals last season. An expensive super-sub, hardly the answer.
When you do look back, it appears to hurt less now that we failed to sign a forward back then when we were quite obviously not one hundred percent in love with one. Other targets were hardly fitting into the required template. We have a template, right?
Luis Suarez wasn’t quite the type of footballer we needed when we were looking for a striker rather than a partner for a striker. Although with the way we play (ideally with vdV pushing up into the pen area) you could say players like Suarez and Agüero would complement our style. Complete clever crafty inter-linking with the forward running midfielders. But then again, we play with width mostly and simply want a player that can knock’em into the onion bag without a seconds thought.
Yeah, so no template.
Andy Carroll, I fancied a bit and is a candidate for the one player that the club might have wanted above and beyond all others. Love or lust for Andy? He's sort of old school Bobby Smith battering ram with ponytail. Direct, touch of skill, but plenty of physicality. Can shoot, can get on the end of a cross and can head. Questionable balance, but thankfully no bar stools out on the pitch at the Lane. Questionable transfer price too. I cite Kenwyne Jones as evidence. The Trinidadian Andy Carroll. £20M Sunderland wanted for him. Now if we’re talking lucky escapes that’s a peach. But something tells me Carroll won't disappoint disappear and end up at a lower level side.
I’m not suggesting taking a risk is the wrong thing to do. Considering we usually just splash the money out without thought (Bentley anyone?). Some of our risks have been stunning with success. Modric and Berbatov in the season he used us to display all his worth to Ferguson. I’m not sure what I’m suggesting. Other than perhaps some type of tangible focus on the exact ilk of forward we actually want/need that can adapt to perhaps playing up front on his own or as one part of two.
A Lineker. A Greaves. A Bobby Smith. A Klinsmann.
Brilliant players who would fit into any side with minimal fuss simply because of the talent they possess.
Okay, so we’re screwed. But if our scouts can find a composed unfazed kid like Sandro for our midfield (be it a kid that has experience in the robust Copa Libertadores de América) then surely we can find a hungry marksman that can spearhead the swashbuckle?
This doesn't need to be complicated, yet somehow it is.
The players I cited are obviously all Spurs legends. All different in their manner and footballing style but all the same when in front of goal: Ruthless. And all sadly unavailable.
The new Berbatov was quite obviously Dzeko if you wish to compare goal scoring antics in the Bundesliga. Neither were unknown commodities when they transferred to their new clubs. But what chances of us competing with City and their hordes of riches? Although looking at his first touch, you wonder again - lucky escape - or maybe just another foreigner finding the grass in Blightly a little tricky to play on (but will come good in time).
Perhaps all our targets could have fitted into the side without too much trouble, if you are in agreement that each target was an upgrade to the players who have at the minute. Maybe I'm the one complicating things and that our apparent erratic money flashing policy to just bid for anyone would result with a quality signing - no matter the one signed.
Yeah, that doesn't quite stick does it?
What is unquestionably evident, as predicted and known amongst all, is that upgrades are needed. Agreed? Players to match the likes of Modric, van der Vaart and Bale in impact to give us more options than a hoof and a knock-down. That isn’t a dig at Crouch, he serves his purpose and does so well. But we need something more to edge closer to the sides above us. We need a defined Plan A to go with the collection of Plan B's we have.
At the moment we are doing our very best with one boot lace untied, losing our footing every so often with said boot left behind stuck in the mud trying to kick the ball with a sock. Could we have done better in our endeavours had we bulked up our forward line with far more assured and proven quality? You’d like to say yes to that question, but we’ll never know because there’s no real way of knowing how the signings would have turned out. Out of form, injured, new country – plenty of potential hiccups for the bedding in period for most of the players we were linked with.
Tactically, Harry has changed the way we play a few times to accommodate a player, famously with vdV. The way we line-up in Europe tends to be different to the way we’d prefer to line-up in the league. A new player up front that was like-for-like in style (but an improvement) than our current crop might not have given him any further headaches. Say we lined-up with a fit Carroll up top. Or say an in-form Torres (just pretend) or a twenty-six year old Drogba (really pretend). We'd hardly need to change our style of play. I guess our desperation in wanting a new forward (just sign someone for the Love of God!!) was because new blood would most probably give us a refreshing rejuvenation and goal revival because that type of thing happens. Probably. Maybe.
Hindsight is hardly helping me here.
There was no such luck with a galvanising last minute shock signing. You tend to forget our gaffers more favoured signings (Bellamy, Parker, Cole) when the opportunistic one out shined them all. The great thing is, Harry always finds a way even if it sometimes feels like he gets away with a wing or two. And perhaps issues concerning money and progression at both at home in the Premier League and away in Europe has left the chairman thinking about other battles that need to be fought first in the summer to retain key players before building on key areas.
So, like I said at the start. Probably not, no, in reference to 'could we have done better?'. We’d probably be sat where we are sat at the minute. Fifth within touching distance of fourth and in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Not bad considering our deficiencies, which are only such because of our new founded ambitions. That's just my opinion. You might disagree and suggest a top drawer forward would have scored the goals to have us sitting in third. Or better.
Conclusion from this messy ramble of thoughts? No massive shocker: the right player has to be available for the right price. Consolidation is always a risk if you spend big in the belief that the seduction of a new striker would equate to success on the pitch. That and there’s always the argument that if our current strikeforce took us to the Champions League and that same threesome remain present then that same three can perhaps strike their lightning emphatically a second time. Even if they are doing their utmost to be out-scored by the midfield.
My personal thoughts are that we need to sign a young player who we can truly blood in at the deep end. ‘The future’. We need to sign a world class technically gifted striker who has enough savvy and intelligence to link up with the midfield as well as goal-poach and goal-create. There has to be someone out there for the Lilywhite shirt.
At the moment, I’d say Roman is the player the club will let go. Leaving us with Defoe, Crouch and <someone new> + <young kid for the future>.
Upgrades on Defoe and Crouch can follow post-Harry for England.
For the moment, much like when the the Jan window shut, all we can do is support the players we have and hope that Harry has his best players available for selection and that he mixes it up a bit in the run-in and the quarter final. Let’s not pretend that a side with a full-pelt of Bale, Modric, van der Vaart and Huddlestone wouldn’t carve out goals for anyone of the players we have.
Defoe has had a stop-start season what with his injury and his red card and the fact that we don't play a consistent forward line-up in terms of one or two leading from the front. Crouch does a job, one that is much maligned and confusing and frustrating because of his not so amazing goal ratio. Pav continues to flatter to deceive. A scorer of great goals, not a great goal scorer.
We'll see how it pans out in the coming weeks because if there was ever a time for someone to lace up that second boot, it's now.
I have faith, as ever.
Reader Comments (53)
Great article as always Spooky....ive a feeling Defoe will go on a wee run of goalscoring after his exploits against wolves
I fear we'll live to regret not pushing the boat out and gambling on Carroll fir years to come. I'd like to see us this summer, no matter where we finish, take the gamble on Wickham. Silly money for a payer his age and it might go tits up but no more so than the players we've spent large amounts on in the past. It worked alright with Bale.
A name we seem to keep being linked with is Huntelaar. I have a feeling that this time, he will sign.
I think he would do great with our midfield in support of him and has a good strike rate of 3 goals every five matches.
Wanted us to sign someone but Carroll at £35M? Not sure we could have afforded that to be honest. Also not sure he would have made that much of a difference this season. Which is what Levy probably considered.
Forlan would have worked I reckon. More so than what we have at present but no chance of us spending £15M or whatever they wanted on someone hitting thirty. Spurs need to be smart with their money. Wickham will do for the 'kid' category for the future. Not a clue who we should look for other than perhaps Benzema if Madrid let him go in the summer.
I fully agree with your observations and believe we are in contention with City for the final C/L position. We deserve to be here, no better , no worse..........can we turn a superb season into a fantastic one?.......Yes of course, we`re stuck with what we`ve got, a much improved keeper, a solid back four when all fit, the most creative midfield in the country, wingers who terrify the opositions back four and 3 strikers who couldn`t hit a barn door from 6 yards, Defoe rarely passes to better placed team-mates and needs 6 shots to get one on target (boots he used against Wolves must be in a glass case by now), Crouch fumbles about arms and legs everywhere (Abbey must be black and blue) giving away free kicks regularly. (Congrats on the new arrival, you`ve been firing that many blanks on the pitch something had to come right). Pav crying out for an extended run in the team, stop bleating about wanting away, get your head down and show some loyalty and spirit for i believe with the right attitude you could yet be our hero...................Les it`s your job to help motivate these guys, now is the time to stand up and be counted, Tottenham Hotspur expect every man to do his duty.
Would like to have seen Suarez playing for us. I don't think he looks right playing for the pool!! COYS
Cheeky bid for Eto'o in the summer?
Oh and Wickham too...
Job done!
Can we draw Inter Milan in the QF's?
Just wondering whether you could have made your point in half as many words? These readathons are not too inviting.
When 100 words will do, I write 5000. Sorry. I could blog a couple of paragraphs a day five times per day like the old days but then someone will complain I'm spamming. Can't please everyone, right?
Can we look forward - we can't change anything by all this wallowing - we gotta fight the cause we have front of us - just to remind you we're still in CL and we're still in with a shout for CL 2011-12!!!
Come on folks be positive....
COYS
Don't read them then grammarnazi. Jesus, some people are such pricks on the Internet.
The world we live in today where too many words make people dizzy because they need to rush off to read something else. Ever since I was online the most common trend on forums and newsgroups has been about length of post. It's the only time when small is better than big.
Keep up the good work Spooky. Cheeky bid for benched Berbatov?
Eto'o will do'o nicely.
Hoping Inter would be knocked out for that reason, but when we beat them again, he will see which team he wants to play for next season.
What about Kane? He certainly knows where the back of the net is. And he's that future player. Have to give him a run in team soon or he could be wasted.
I could do with an editor.
Wenger moved Henry from left wing to forward didn't he? Got to be worth a shot with Bale surely? Even for one game?
+1 for Wickham, rough diamond but something natural about his shooting I like.
And I think we can draw anyone from now on including Inter.
Re: Kane
Good shout, I tend to not excited about our youngster any more mainly because of the way the OS hypes up their academy development and loan spells only for us to never see them play for the first team, like they're trapped in the perpetual pit of potential unable to escape until they're released from contract.
Four players in the U21 team - those four might just have a future, in fact I'd say they all should have a future for us. The next level down is the one I'm keen to see how it plays out. The kids at Orient, Kane included. Sometimes you look at other clubs who blood youngster early who take to Prem life with ease and you look at our kids forever loaned out.
Fingers crossed.
As if I have the time to read these ever increasingly rambling posts... as entertaining and thought provoking as they may be
'Could we have done better?'
We should have at least done something rather than nothing at all.
The CL run is currently papering cracks; I hope it continues.
TMWNN - who mate? What player would you have signed? I think Spurs have lost the work DC did when he was DoF and it's left for Levy to go knocking on doors and Harry to make British suggestions which is probably why we had no viable nailed on target as Spooky said.
A million words before bed? jeez...
I agree. I wouldn't be adverse to a however-old-he is Drogba for next season. Maybe he'll do a Gallas and want to stay in London.
Hardly one for the future tho. I wanted Fabiano, Dzeko...
If Carroll is a £35m player then we should be paying whatever the Belgians want for Lukaku. He's not worse.
'TMWNN - who mate? What player would you have signed? I think Spurs have lost the work DC did when he was DoF and it's left for Levy to go knocking on doors and Harry to make British suggestions which is probably why we had no viable nailed on target as Spooky said'
FFS! Give me a couple of million a year in wages and I'll guarantee I'll find you a better striker who is available than the current wasters.
If it's broken, fucking fix it! Don't just sit there with your finger up your arse hoping it'll fix itself. We haven't found a half decent striker since the rat left. We can't keep missing windows and watching our strikers fail miserably. They are the worst performing group of strikers in the league. something had to be done - ANYTHING! JUST CHANGE IT! I'M SICK OF THESE CUNTS!
First I want to remind that the rule”the right player is available for the right money” applies mainly to the clubs that spend a lot of money to buy players who have proven already their talent and value. But those players were already playing for a club. Mostly that is the club which has discovered their talent and value in an earlier stage. So if you don't have the money to buy established players then what you can do is to establish an adequate and efficient scouting system and try to find young talented players. In this case of course you must absolutely know by experience and by using all scientific criteria available in this sector how you can distinguish in an early stage a talented player. Spurs, as a club, is somewhere between those two categories of clubs. It has above average money to spend and every season in the PL there are only 1-3 other clubs that can spend more money than Spurs. There are also some differences in salaries but this is purely an internal budget problem. The main problem for Spurs, according to my opinion and the experience I have, is that they luck for decades now a well scheduled transfer policy based on certain play styles which the team would follow and the certain qualities that all new players should accordingly fulfil. This is the reason that in every transfer period so many players are associated with Spurs. A serious club announces his targets only in the final stage of the negotiations or after they have been concluded. There are many other clubs which have define the qualities of the new to buy players and they follow strictly this line (see MU and others). Mostly these criteria are set up by the trainer and the technical staff and the president and the board are acting according to that line. Only if you follow such a well programmed transfer policy you can expect to achieve successes after a period of one to two years.
The more words the better. It's either this or reading through 20 short and concise rumour articles that might as well been copy and pasted from the back page of The Sun.
My two cents? Lukaku in a heartbeat.
You know, ever since Crouch's mother went online and made up this ridiculous 'he contributes something' argument for the two-goal-a-season striker, some fans of the great ,always attacking, push and run tradition, Tottenham FC suddenly seem to have lowered their ambitions and settled for this level of relegation fodder long ball crap. Not me though. I'll never be fooled. I'd rather the team loses than suffer through another naenderthal knocky-downy from Crouchy. I hate that kind of football with all my heart.
And if VDV can only score from hoofs and knock downs, then...he's unnecessary. Bring back Keane.
Pav and Defoe till the end of the season for me. Besides, Crouch's last 'assist' must have been in October 2010. So much for the hype.
i kinda like the article as its proposed 'the aftermath of the transfer window' and i thought it was a travesty that whatever happened we were not given the ammunition of a new striker...
but having watching pretty much every game since the closing of the transfer window and going back through a few MOTDs pre-2011 on my hardrive we dont play to out strikers strengths (apart from when we need the direct ball to a 6'7" striker that when he jumps is only 6'2")
We have a busy running athletic midfield that just run into the opposition box with the ball (which inevitable they will have a crack at goal) or without the ball (in which they are anticipating where the midfielder is going to place the ball., which is generally slightly backwards waiting for the on-rushing midfield to latch onto)
if you have VDV/Bale/Moddie/Lennon doing this all the time,whats the point of having a striker(s)??
Defoes 2 goals against Wolves were MIdfielders goals...he came to collect outside of the goalscorer/poacher/striker area and made them...no-one would flinch if that was our midfielders score that (not that we seen many midfielders score goals like that this season), Pavs goal the same....neither were on the end of low struck crosses from wide into the box of which both Pav & Defoe live for....
So...get whatever striker at whatever price you want...makes no difference...re-incarnate the youth of a certain Lineker if you like, when did you ever see him score outside the box??? but he certainly got the ball where he wanted it in the box.......
ha ha ha ha@tmwnn.......keane became crap n we got rid of him..defoe has become dodgy...roman has always been consistently unconstistent...crouch is remarkably unremarkable...i would have liked us to sign suarez and carrol but could they club afford to gamble its money on them?for example break our wage structure? we spent 16 mill on bent? 15 mill on bentley?14 mill on pav?.. plus having players like suarez and carroll would lift the team morale....it looks good on paper anyway if you have gomes kaboul dawason gallas bae bale modric sandro lennon carroll suarez ha ha ha...coys
I almost always agree with the general theme, if not every word or your posts Spooky, but I'm with TMWNN, loanX and Ronnie's first paragraph on this one.
Making lemonade out of lemons is one thing, but closing your eyes, sticking your fingers in your ears and going "la, la, la," is quite another. And this post smacks more of sour grapes than lemonade.
On one hand, I think an overlooked aspect of our recent success has been the stability within the squad over the last two years. Prior to that, there was a revolving door of players coming and going. I remember three seasons ago watching Pompei play Fulham and there was a full team's worth of former Spurs players on the pitch. But on the other hand, we have an undeniable problem in that every single one of the 40 top scorers in league have more goals than Crouch and Defoe COMBINED. Link: http://www.premierleague.com/page/Statistics.
But it seems you're okay with that: "Probably not, no, in reference to 'could we have done better?'." Well, I'm thinking at the very least we would have the standard Spurs contingent of 4 strikers, instead of 3, one of whom, the most productive, evidently isn't allowed to play two matches in a row because he isn't fluent in gaffer. I have to wonder how 'Arry would have got on with Berbatov.
To echo IoanX's post, either you spend the money for an established player or you get a decent scouting system in place. Evidently we have neither money nor scouts and that is purely and simply unacceptable.
Yes, and I agree in terms of the wider picture. Did you all miss the point I made about not having a genuine target/template for a player to fix the issue concerning lack of 'world class quality' up top?
I'm not making excuses. I'm saying that in the Jan window, it reeked of desperation and we were better off not signing anyone because we didn't actually know what it was exactly we needed and had we done it might not have made a blind bit of difference.
Throwing shit at the wall and hoping some of it will stick is hardly transfer tactics 101.
IoanX nails the reason why there is no template.
If some of you are honest, there was a time when you would have thought (hoped) Defoe would get the goals and Crouch would be his perfect foil. Not that I'm excusing the problem at hand. Just pointing out that we've done very little than wait to see if it improves.
Spooky @10.07 pm.
Need an Editor? Yesterday I couldn't even spell the word, and today I are one.
Andy Carroll was 'the' target... the bindippers went all in as soon as they secured £50m for Torres and we couldn't compete with their offer. Hence the panic and desperation in throwing bids to la liga in the final 24 hours of the transfer window.
Yes we probably should've had a realistic and getable plan b up our sleeve, but from the looks of it Carroll was in the bag until an unforeseen ridiculous bid from the Chavs prompted an equally ridiculous bid from Liverpool for Carroll... poor planning or bad luck? Probably a bit of both.
There was, imho, no other realistic striker target available that we could've signed in Jan, please enlighten me if any of you think there were? I just hope that the powers that be have learnt from that debacle and we're not in the same desperate situation come 31st August 2011... our striker options have to be addressed in the summer, no ifs no buts, Levy and Harry have to deliver or we'll start to go backwards.
Joni @ 9.40 pm
The rules are that we can draw any of the survivors from now on.
DY@9.57 am
The amount of money that was paid for Carroll puts him in Berbatov class, and Berbatov he isn't. I have a feeling he will be more like Rooney, without the talent, than he will ever be like Berbatov.
For £15 mill, he represented a fair gamble, but for £30 mill plus, let someone else take the chance.
We are strongly being linked with Huntelaar for £16 mill. At that price, compared to the prices paid for Suarez, Carroll and Torres, he is going to look like a bargain. I think he is another VDV just looking for someone to revive his career.
Ronnie @ 12.07
Do you mean the Keane who is now playing for West Ham Reserves as a sub?
Harry`s target was identified as Spanish, approx 35mill and we were told the funds were avail. What happened ? Fernando Llorente has a 35mill euro buy-out clause, the best and most VERSATILE striker in Europe, given the outrageously inflated end of window valuations he would have been a bargain. Did the purchase depend on offloading our surplus ? Was it dependant on reducing the squad wage bill ? Did the player refuse our advances with the prospect of Barca and Real tempting him in the summer recess ? Or did Harry sit on the fence too long........hoping to do a VDV like deal in the closing minutes ? We`re on this fantastic roller caoaster ride and whatever the ups and downs i don`t see any one of us getting off, now how many other clubs can say that ?
It's really nice to read a lengthy article, with some good English, rather than nonsense rumours copy and pasted. How do not have time to read DML, it ain't War and Peace!
We won't pay the wages(rightly) for someone ready to hit the ground running, so the winter window was never gonna bring us anyone. I think H Kane is our best hope for this season - bring him back!
(btw spooky, do you post on BBC tv/religion boards - if it is you, loved the post about not watching a show cos you were, err, busy with the Mrs!)
Not me. Probably because I was too busy with the Mrs to post on the BBC tv/religion boards.
Because we don't have a Comolli type figure head there is probably dithering on the part of both chairman and manager although I do think Levy tells Harry 'X player is available, do you want him?' It's one thing saying we're interested in Llorente and then bid for him (or not) but I dont think the player would have agreed to sign for us any way. Scouting is the key. Look at Chico at United. How much did he cost?
C'mon SpurredoninDublin, I was just referring to Keane to highlight my new/creeping apprehension for the long-ball merchant (formerly legend in the making) that VDV is turning out to be. Our entire attacking strategies/tactics have been modified to suit him - which apparently means long balls to the tall one in anticipation of a horrible, could-go-anywhere, knock-down...VDV was on record before the CL talking about how "if its long-ball...then its long-ball" in response to taunts from the AC guys. I don't want Spurs to develop such a reputation because before long it becomes a tradition. (Just look at how the goons have tranformed themselves from the perenial long ball merchants to a free flowing game which they ironically refer to as the 'Arsenal way'...What is the 'Spurs way'? Long ball sh*t?).
Has VDV really proven to be worth dismantling our very effective 4-4-2 from last season, that got us into the CL and delivered famous victories over the goons and Chelsea? I'm sorry but someone had to say it. I know we are all thinking about it.
As for whom we could have signed. I say any striker that would not be too expensive. Man U came up with that Chicarito (or whatever his name is?), cost them 6m. The guy is worth all our strikers combined. So much for the argument that 'foreigners need time to adapt'. If he's good, he will adapt in days. Get us someone from anywhere in the world. The current crop of English players cost a lot and are usually not very good (35m for Carroll is a joke). If we must sign English, it has to be a youngster, the next generation (the Wilshire's and the Lennon's), they seem to understand how the game should be played. No more Heskeys, Crouchys and Ricketts...for Spurs and for England too. Its about time both teams got what they deserve. A serious title. The likes of Crouch, their two goals, defensive clearances and all, need to go play for Stoke and Blackburn and other relegation types...so that we can defeat them constantly.
Again, my apologies for stating what everyone is afraid of stating...in regard to VDV.
Spooky -
"we were better off not signing anyone because we didn't actually know what it was exactly we needed and had we done it might not have made a blind bit of difference"
My point entirely.
I still believe we have two quality strikers in Defoe & Pav...the 'template' is not about financial setups its about the tactical unit as a team and utilising the qualities in our strikeforce. If we had spent £35million on a new 'world class striker' for the sake of argument Torres, he would still be looking like Defoe/Pav/Crouch lumbering about in a Spurs shirt being totally passed by our onrushing midfielders. VDV is a midfielder that pops up as a striker, almost stepping on Defoes toes everytime, but whos going to argue against VDV doing that!?
We do need a change of tactics when we play the likes of AC Milan one week and then get consecutively overrawed by justabout any club in thats been in the bottom 3 in the past 2 seasons, who constantly outbattle us.
Ronnie...you beat me by a minute regarding the 'whos going to argue with VDV'!!! but very true about the dismantling of the 4-4-2 system.
"Not me. Probably because I was too busy with the Mrs to post on the BBC tv/religion boards"
!! Fairs do's!
This is now the 4th time BBC Tv/ Religion boards have been mentioned, are we seeking devine intervention in our search for a striker, Champions league assault, top 4 finish, if so i`m on my knees.
Ronnie @ 11.37
Wasn't looking to have a row. Just wanted to make the point that of our strikers who have not particularly impressed this season, Keane is the least impressive, and is probably now playing at a level that is probably correct for him
I am not too sure if you are taking the view that we have gone backwards or forwards this season. I think we have improved and play much better football than we did last season, and the only thing missing is a consistent goalscorer.
I think VDV brings something to the team as well as problems. I think that prior to his arrival, we already had the most talented M/F in the PL, and we have now added VDV, Piennar, and Sandro, when the likes of Krancjar, and Jenas, Palacios cannot get on the bench. The problem that VDV brings (IMHO) is that we have several players that you can build a team around, but if you start to build around one of these, then you will probably act to the detriment of another whom you could also build the team around.
Spooky,
Actually I did read the entire article. Skimmed it first, with increasing confusion, then went back to the top and read the whole thing. Read it again today. It's still an apologia for a failed transfer policy.
You respond "we were better off not signing anyone because we didn't actually know what it was exactly we needed." Why don't we know? There have been five, count'em, 5 windows since we lost Berbatov and Keane. How freaking long does it take to determine the outlines of your template?
Your point is that we have no clue what kind of player we need so we should be grateful that we're not actually buying any players? Erm...what?!? Dude, don't piss on me and tell me it's raining!
"Throwing shit at the wall and hoping some of it will stick is hardly transfer tactics 101."--what the hell is that supposed to mean? Expecting the club to have the resources to either pay for or scout out someone capable of filling the fourth striker spot is throwing shit?
PS I threw up in my mouth when I heard Defoe was coming back. Since he can't be arsed to stay onside and is often too selfish to pass to a team mate, no, I was not anticipating a productive partnership with Crouch. I was hoping to see Keane recover or Pavs come good, but it appears Mr. Man Management had already written them off.
I was talking about this past window mostly and I'm not making up excuses, I'm just saying that we appear not to have a clue with how to go about fixing this issue and rather than just hit and hope (which is what I meant by throw enough shit at the wall) I'd rather the club and manager and scouts spend and spend well, not necessary over the top, but if need be, let it be over the top. I dont know what happens behind the scenes, none of us do - which is why we can only go on what we see and hear via Harry and the press.
We have had no plan for ages. We agree on that right? We needed forwards last season, didn't sign anyone got away with it. Perhaps we've degraded further up top this year.
I guess you'd handle anyone being signed simply because its someone different to what we have. I'd rather just have the vibe from the club that they have a target and want that target and then sign that target. Rather than just sign someone for the hell of it.
I'm not excusing the lack of template I'm saying there isn't one. It's cool though, if my thinking is wrong - and Spurs could have got away with any of the targets we outlined - then fair enough, my hand will be held up.
Look at Fabiano - and where he's ended up. And he was meant to be a firm target at one point.
"It's still an apologia for a failed transfer policy"
Also this. I'm not apologising on behalf of the clubs fuck up. I'm just pointing it out. Signing Rafa was almost a fluke. And yet we needed something in midfield, but more so upfront. And yet you look at the subsequent formation re-shuffle and you wonder what the heck our template for the team is.