I dunno mate I think your at risk of loosing them both to be honest. How Rafa treated Alonso in his pursuit of Barry is obviously not lost on the player and Madrid are obviously courting him. As for Masch a few of the hacks have said that his missus has problems getting in and out of the UK which makes it difficult for him to settle. In Spain they would have no such problem. The problem you have is simillar to ours in that the clock is ticking and the season is fast approaching. Money may come in but the quality replacements that we respectively need will be harder to find without paying an over inflated price.
**Summer Transfer Thread: News, Rumours and Speculation**
- Thread starter daz.wallace
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I dunno mate I think your at risk of loosing them both to be honest. How Rafa treated Alonso in his pursuit of Barry is obviously not lost on the player and Madrid are obviously courting him. As for Masch a few of the hacks have said that his missus has problems getting in and out of the UK which makes it difficult for him to settle. In Spain they would have no such problem. The problem you have is simillar to ours in that the clock is ticking and the season is fast approaching. Money may come in but the quality replacements that we respectively need will be harder to find without paying an over inflated price.
Funny thing is that I'd take keeping both of them over signing anyone else! I want the window to close NOW!
Caporegime
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Boro have accepted a bid for Mido from an un-named club.
Probably Spurs.
Probably Spurs.
The closest one, based on all the media speculation at least, was Lorik Cana, but he went to Sunderland today so that's left us with a few issues if we do lose Xabi
To be honest, I disagree with your assessment that we don't need an Alonso type player. For me, Xabi is the player who makes the entire side tick, as well as freeing up Stevie. Without somebody doing his passing work, the whole team seems to fall apart.
I still think that Sneijder could fill that role, but he's about the only person that springs to mind. Possibly Baraja as a very short term solution? Probably last a season at most though.
Cana's not in the same league as Alonso and from what i've seen, he's nothing like Alonso either.
Not that I am suggesting it but I'm sure that we could go back to playing a traditional 4-4-2 with Gerrard and Masch in the middle without drastically weakening the team (if at all). With Gerrard and Masch around, Alonso isn't indespensible.
My point was the job he does isn't as important as Masch's or Gerrard's and that we could sign another player with slightly different qualities that could replace him (albeit, maybe not to the same standard) and improve the team as a whole with the rest of the money.
As far as I know, Riera's not going anywhere so signing another winger/attacking midfielder would be as well as not in place of Riera. As for Silva/Riera; Riera's a steady player who'll do a job and won't let you down but he won't do something out of nothing that will unlock a defense and change a game. We dropped too many points at home to teams that parked the bus and Silva is a type of tricky player that may do nothing for 85mins but will then create something that could win us those games. We've been lacking that type of player since Luis Garcia left and it's no suprise that our record at home vs the smaller teams when he was around was exceptional.
Personally I don't think 1 season meeting the criteria, and 10 seasons not proves him have a lot of games in him, but I suppose fans like to give arriving players a clean slate
Tell you what, fancy putting your money where your mouth is? £10 says King and Woodgate don't manage over 80 appearances for Spurs in official competitions this season.
I think that going 4-4-2 is a massive mistake for a few reasons.
One, we don't have a second striker aside from Torres! Two, you would be taking Gerrard out of his best position. Three, we would need to find a right midfielder. I like Kuyt on the right wing of a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, but don't trust him enough for a 4-4-2. I agree that we could play 4-4-2, but taking Gerrard out of his support striker role strikes me as foolish after last season.
I got what your point was, I just disagree
If anything (and I know this is almost sacreligious), Gerrard is the most "dispensable" of the three. Not because he's the worst player (he's the best), but because other players could play in his position; Benayoun filled in fantastically in that position last season. Name one player who might be available who does somethign even similar to Xabi's role? The only one I can think of is Sneijder, and putting him in there would still change the whole shape of the team to being much more attacking.I know that Riera's not going anywhere, but you couldn't play him and Silva at the same time
I agree with your point about dropping points to average sides, and that we do need a player to unlock them, but for me that player isn't Silva. Like I say, he would wreck the left side of our team by coming too narrow. We'd be better off with a tricky out-and-out winger than a left sided attacking midfielder, hence why I'd rather have Cazorla.
Oh, and I can't stand Garcia. Most frustrating player in the world!!!
Soldato
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2006-07Personally I don't think 1 season meeting the criteria, and 10 seasons not proves him have a lot of games in him, but I suppose fans like to give arriving players a clean slate
Tell you what, fancy putting your money where your mouth is? £10 says King and Woodgate don't manage over 80 appearances for Spurs in official competitions this season.
Prem Apps = 30
Total Apps = 36
2007-08
Prem Apps = 28
Total Apps = 33
2009-09
Prem Apps = 34
Total Apps = 44
That's the last 3 seasons, I think that's a decent return for any footballer?
80 appearances? LOL! Is that that expected average for every teams first choice CB's then?
EDIT - Just had a quick look and over the same period Woodgate has made 7 more Prem apps than John Terry, the same as Rio Ferdinand.
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Sorry, i shouldn't have mentioned 4-4-2 it's just confused things. All I meant was that we could play Gerrard alongside Masch. Like you say, Benayoun could always fill in behind Torres. Again, not that im suggesting it, just we could do that without being particularly weak in 1 area.
When Gerrard doesn't play we lack goals and when Masch doesn't play (more so in big CL games) we're vulnerable at the back (first leg vs Chelsea as a perfect example). We need Masch and we need Gerrard, we don't need Alonso imo. He's important to how we currently play however regardless of the system we play we're always going to need a Gerrard and a Masch.
£35m from selling Alonso could be spent to improve the whole side imo.
I know that Riera's not going anywhere, but you couldn't play him and Silva at the same time
I agree with your point about dropping points to average sides, and that we do need a player to unlock them, but for me that player isn't Silva. Like I say, he would wreck the left side of our team by coming too narrow. We'd be better off with a tricky out-and-out winger than a left sided attacking midfielder, hence why I'd rather have Cazorla.
Oh, and I can't stand Garcia. Most frustrating player in the world!!!
For a start, for what it's worth I do think Silva's a much better player than Riera. As you said previously, there is a slight worry whether he could handle the EPL though.
Anyway, of course they both can't play but football's a squad game and one area where we're lacking is attacking midfielders/wingers/creative players. Silva can play anywhere across the front (off Torres that is) and as above, is an improvement on what we've got.
I don't understand your point about ruining our left side though; our best form of the season came towards the end of the season when Benayoun was playing on that left hand side and was coming inside.
And yes, Garcia was the most frustrating player ever but no matter how many poor passes, bad touches or crazy attempts at goal, he would always come up with something. There was an article a while back that said something along the lines of, we only dropped 4(?) points from home league games vs the 'bottom 16' in his first 2 seasons.
Soldato
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I don't mind of we keep Bent because he will score goals that much is guaranteed. Doesn't bring much else to the team though and that's the problem... Unless we can get at least £14m then keep him in todays market. Unless we can get Huntelaar of course
Bentley just needs to sort his head out, pull it from up his arse and get back to basics. I'd hate to see him sold for peanuts... £12m or keep him.
O'Hara is a decent squad player, £5m or keep him.
Chimbonda can leave for free for all I care.
Hutton should stay unless we get offered silly money like £10m. If he stays fit I think he'll establish himself as a favourite at WHL... not sure where that leaves Naughton though?
Caporegime
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I don't mind of we keep Bent because he will score goals that much is guaranteed. Doesn't bring much else to the team though and that's the problem... Unless we can get at least £14m then keep him in todays market. Unless we can get Huntelaar of course
Bentley just needs to sort his head out, pull it from up his arse and get back to basics. I'd hate to see him sold for peanuts... £12m or keep him.
O'Hara is a decent squad player, £5m or keep him.
Chimbonda can leave for free for all I care.
Hutton should stay unless we get offered silly money like £10m. If he stays fit I think he'll establish himself as a favourite at WHL... not sure where that leaves Naughton though?
Well we'll know soon enough if it's true or not. If they travel to China then it's a load of testicles.
No I wouldn't say it was the expected average, the point I was making is that it's something I'd NEVER expect to see from that pair, i.e. Spurs shouldn't rely on them and need adequate cover. Whereas for example Ferdinand and Vidic have done it for the last 3 seasons in a row.
Sounds like a load of crap to me, he joined in 2004 and Liverpool failed to beat the likes of Portsmouth, Spurs, Blackburn, Boro etc at Anfield in the league that season.
If the stat only counts matches he played it, well, that's a bit of a stupid stat because you may as well say the same for someone like Itandje or whoever.
edit: a moot point anyway as I just checked and he played in the matches against Portsmouth, Spurs and Boro.
Come to think of it apart from this one being incorrect, any stat which only counts home games against the lesser opposition is basically saying "flat track bully" to me anyway
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I have no idea, I can't remember exactly. However if it is just the games he played in or started then it's not the same for somebody like Itandje. Garcia played a large proportion of our games and if his record is that good, then it's counts for quite a bit.
edit: Found the article. It was his last 2 seasons and we only dropped 2 points per season from games outside the top 4 at home when he started.
Can't link because the original article doesn't exist and I found it via a forum with LOTS of sweary's.
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Soldato
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Well you said it mate
That's down to King's career threatening injury, something that's common knowledge tbh. Unfair to lump Woodgate in there, I think we can rely on him to be fit for the majority of our games just as much as any other player.
Maybe; as you've said he's not done too badly in recent years, I just think looking at his career record the concern would be "when King is out, is he going to be available?". From what I've heard, they're both out injured at the moment, right?
I don't have anything against the guy (I wanted Arsenal to buy him), I mean I'd say the same about RvP and Eduardo, can we be sure of getting 80+ games out of them (although of course some people would think that we don't need 80+ games out of them)?
Personally I don't think 1 season meeting the criteria, and 10 seasons not proves him have a lot of games in him, but I suppose fans like to give arriving players a clean slate
Tell you what, fancy putting your money where your mouth is? £10 says King and Woodgate don't manage over 80 appearances for Spurs in official competitions this season.
Thats a tall ask for any defensive pairing if you exclude European competitions considering Spurs arent in one.
In order to achieve this they have to play every league game, and hope Spurs progress past the 2nd round of the Carling Cup and 3rd round of the FA Cup.
In fact, excluding Europe, I doubt any CB pairing in the big sides managed this last season.
Soldato
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Any Spurs fan would give their right arm to get 80+ games out of Woodgate and King next season. Gives us that solid base and we'd be a force, especially without Europe to stretch our resources.
Any idea how many he started?
I'm not necessarily saying that we shouldn't get Silva; he's a quality player (although I'd question how he'd cope in the Prem.). However, I'd rather see him in the Gerrard role if we did get him. Unfortunately, that would mean Gerrard, who is best in the Gerrard role, leaving the Gerrard role, which would be foolish!
All I'm saying is that if you're suggesting we look for competition for Riera, I wouldn't go the way of Silva. I may be wrong, but they're my thoughts on the matter!
Any United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal fan would give the same to have their 1st choice CB's play 80+ domestic league/cup games next season.
Is it just me or did anyone else think O'Hara looked clumsy and out of shape yesterday?