If he could be a natural leader, he has the perfect position for it. That gets me excited more than anything. I truly think the one giant squad piece we are missing is the guy yelling at others on the pitch to keep their heads in the game in the 80th minute.
-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
ochbye:
Definitely. Says a lot that a Liverpool fan who idolised Gerrard wants to come to Spurs, I think every young player with a bit of sense would want to work with Poch.
I think Bentaleb is well on his way to becoming that guy. He's always shouting at players who are even more experienced than him, encouraging them as well instructing.
I too have noticed that and I get stoked. If this kid is going to be playing next to Bentaleb and we have two strong voices in the mid, that's nothing but a good thing for us.
Love Bentaleb's passion. That roar at the end of the Chelsea game was absolutely incredible. Mason is also a bit of a fiery character not backing down from a fight. If developed right, these two could become stalwarts in the middle for us for years! Think we can pretty much get rid of Capoue, Paulinho and Holtby. Maybe even Carroll if we don't see him as a good enough backup. Mason, Bentaleb, Stambouli, Dembele, Winks and Alli are enough in the midfield for the next 7-8 years. So that's like 20-30 million for us to invest on other team areas.
Who'd have thought it would have taken an Argentinian to kick-start a new era of young English football.
Clyne, Lallana, J-Rod...
Now...Mason, Kane, Dier...
potentially Onomah, Alli etc.
Long live Poch.
Clyne, Lallana, J-Rod...
Now...Mason, Kane, Dier...
potentially Onomah, Alli etc.
Long live Poch.
I think I'd keep Carroll even though I don't rate him too much but he knows the club, passes the ball well and would be good depth to have. I dont really want to see Dembele play central midfield ever again, he's better further forward in my view.
Carroll reminds me of Joe Allen.
It's a good comparison. Perhaps even a Leon Britton.
Which begs the question, would you want Allen or Britton. I wouldn't.
Well, I wouldn't say no to having Carroll in the first team squad.
We have a 25 man limit including 3 keepers. So 22. Bentaleb, Mason, Alli, Dembele, Stambouli all better than Carroll. There's no room for him and we can get decent money for a kid we'll never use.
It benefits us more imo, to sell him for a good price than keep him and inevitably waste him. He deserves better.
As cover? Absolutely
I wouldn't, no. But as I've mentioned on the site before, if they are the type of players who will come in and play in the exact same way, I'm all for it.
We need players who will come in and slot straight into a system. I feel we have this with Mason, Bentaleb and Stambouli. Not quite with Dembele, Paulinho or Capoue. I think Carroll as fourth choice central midfielder would be fine. Unless of course we get a Cabaye or a Schneiderlin then in which case we sell.
Dembele, Capoue, Stambouli. We are more than covered at CM.
Dembele clearly isn't suited to playing in the central paring, we've seen that he's far better further up the pitch, so I wouldn't list him. Stambouli, Mason, Alli, Bentaleb and Carroll could be our central midfield players with Dembele, Eriksen, Lamella, Townsend, Chadli (and possibly Pritchard) competing for the 3 behind the striker.
We do have to shift Capoue, Paulinho and Holtby first obviously.
I'm listing him as cover. As ill-suited as he may be, I'd still prefer him to Carroll. He's doing well at Swansea, but not exactly getting rave reviews like Allen was there. I'm afraid he's just not good enough if we want to get to where we're going. I'd rather invest the money in someone better, as it appears to have been in Alli.
No, I understand that. Carroll hasn't exactly been amazing while at Swansea, but if it were a case of having him or Paulinho in the squad, I know who I'd pick!
That, I can agree with.