ErwinK1961

A pretty good summary overall there - though for me, one of the key areas we need to strengthen is the Number 10 roles. Redmond hasnt been good enough for a long time. Tella is a good prospect, but wouldnt want him starting every week. Djenepo offers very very little. Walcott - I was quite keen to retain, but the last few weeks I've flipped on that. If he wasnt an old academy product, then I don't think many people would want to keep him, he's not really done a great deal. Minamino - offered very little. Armstrong has been very good, but we are let down badly by any other source of creativity / goals, which I think has a knock on effect to how we want to play. Because of the serious lack of quality, it feels like we have to commit so many numbers forward to try and look a threat, we leave ourselves badly exposed at the back. When we try and be solid defensively, we offer absolutely nothing going forward because the front 3-4 cannot create anything out of the limited opportunities they would get. But as mentioned, we don't have a pot to p*** in, so no chance we'll strengthen anywhere like we need to. Can't see anything other than a relegation scrap next year, and we know how good we are in a scrap.

This.

Strange.

Indeed, will fit right in.

1 year left on his contract in the summer - Leipzig, Frankfurt, Nice and Brentford were interested in January apparently. 5 goals in 31 games.

Tottenham (a) L Leicester (h) L Liverpool (a) L Fulham (h) W Leeds (h) L Crystal Palace (h) D West Ham (a) L

Think you’ve mentioned “9-0” and “record defeat” more times than pundits and commentators. Impressive.

If you were a Spurs fan, losing Kane and replacing with Ings, plus bringing in Vestergaard hardly screams top 4.

Wasn’t that the issue with Sangare summer just gone?

Pretty poor if we haven’t got scouting networks in place already in South America. This has only been in the pipeline for 5 years.

This second half of the season is basically a write-off. I guess we're just working out who of the U18's are worth keeping for next year, whilst letting go a number of the current 'U23's'. Also getting to grips with the new 'playbook' style. Clearly lots of work to be done at the lower ages - hopefully the U14's, 15's 16's have got some talent, which we'll see coming through in the next few years. Wouldn't be surprised if we see some focused investment in the U18's & 23's this summer.

Imagine it comes down to length of contract - something like he wants 3/4 years, we will only give 2.

They have the same agent. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.footballtransfers.com/2021/01/premier-league-target-patson-daka-fully-committed-to-rb-salzburg-according-to-agent/amp

😂

In Walcott - Free Balogun - Free Williams - Loan Henry - £12-£15m Out Lemina Hoedt Obafemi Long Wouldn't be a disaster? Then if/when Ings goes, whatever we get for him goes towards a replacement?

Not opposed to Theo on a permanent deal, if wages are similar to what we're paying now (think £50k a week mentioned) - 2 year deal seems reasonable. Especially if it coincides with Long leaving. An upgrade, with a slightly younger player and not much difference in wages.

More than we could afford.

Agree, but not sure when we could have offered a contract sooner on this occasion. First year of contract he was here on loan and was generally poor. Last season he started on the bench, it was only after the Skates game he started to step up. Seems we've been trying to get him to sign a deal for the last 12 months, so not sure what else we could do? To maximise his value would have meant selling him in the summer window last year, which after his excellent form at the end of the season and the short turnaround to this one, was never going to happen. Similarly on Vestergaard - lets be honest, until this season most people thought he was a waste of money and were willing to drive him up to Leicester for a move. Think it's safe to assume that we've probably been trying to get him to sign a new deal for most of this season, but he hasn't. Unfortunately we can offer all the contracts we want, but as a club we're hardly the most appealing option right now.

In the pond we'll be fishing in (out of work managers and cheap) there isn't anyway that inspires me or I think that could polish the turd that is our squad. Add to the fact that we cannot physically afford to sack Ralph, plus the fact we are building the club and the future around Ralph and his 'playbook', it's all a bit moot. Perhaps it's time to write chapter two of the playbook, 'Plan B'

Didn’t Klopps time at Dortmund come to an end with them completely imploding and ending up in the relegation zone?

Holy shit!

Agreed - £100k a week for next 4-5 years is looking more and more like it could be a burden. Last season is starting to look like the outlier from an injury perspective. Probably best to cash in while we can in the summer.

A lot of our attacking intent relies on full backs getting up and down the pitch, overlapping etc. With no KWP, the oppo know that nothing much is going to come down our right. They can then double down efforts on the left and nullify any sort of threat we may pose. Add that to Bertrand clearly showing signs of decline, it doesn’t make for pretty viewing. Not signing full back cover in the window is one of the single most bizarre decisions we’ve made for some time.

This is true, but in the (all be it limited) game time Fraser has had back in the team since, he looks to have been working really hard on his weaknesses (coming off his line, distribution etc). McCarthy's distribution/ball at feet has always been iffy, but doesn't seem to get the same stick for it as Fraser did. Up to Fraser really, if he has a great game on Thursday then I don't see any harm in sticking him in for Prem games - might as well see if he's got anything left to offer. Ultimately though, I suspect if he does get a run he will revert to type eventually. I agree with Lighthouse, I think both are pretty average and could easily be improved on.