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Left wing: chadli isn't good enough, he was never going to be, you get what you pay for. And he's 8m.
Right wing: Lennon was/is more than good enough. Now we have to wait for lamela to bed.
Holding mid: Sandro and Parker were ample first choice back up, Capoue...the only point in his signing was cock blocking the scum.
Attacking mid: This is where we should have spent BIG. A real modric upgrade, instead we got a youngster....more potential that may / may not come good.
Defence: no replacement for BAE, no backup for Rose and Walker. Now we have four decent CBs...two wasted each week.
It's a mess alright.
#baldiniout
Right wing: Lennon was/is more than good enough. Now we have to wait for lamela to bed.
Holding mid: Sandro and Parker were ample first choice back up, Capoue...the only point in his signing was cock blocking the scum.
Attacking mid: This is where we should have spent BIG. A real modric upgrade, instead we got a youngster....more potential that may / may not come good.
Defence: no replacement for BAE, no backup for Rose and Walker. Now we have four decent CBs...two wasted each week.
It's a mess alright.
#baldiniout
This is getting ridiculous. THREE FUCKING GAMES. I have almost stopped coming on here all together because of all the knee jerk reactions and I won't come back regularly until we've won a game easily. If you think Chadli is bad then you do not know football. If you think Capoue is not good, If you think that Scott Parker and THudd are adequate back ups after this past year, If you think that Lennon is a better player than Lamela, then you do not know football. These types of posts are insane.
This thread basically translates as:
How we fucked this window
"Woolwich singed Ozil and Im going to cry like a bitch about it forever"
How we fucked this window
"Woolwich singed Ozil and Im going to cry like a bitch about it forever"
If you really want to judge the new players that have been brought in, you really should be judging them on the roles they have been given within the team. Paulinho and Capoue have been brought in to supplement Sandro and Dembele in the middle of the park, to ensure that we control the midfield battle and retain possession, pushing us up the park. Last season, our average possession was 53% (8th best in league), while the ratio of time that the action took place in the Spurs half/middle of pitch/Opposition half was 26%/46%/28%. So far this season, they’ve done excellently. We have dominated possession in each of our 3 games so far, averaging 54.2% possession (6th best in league) despite playing in 2 of those games against the #1 and #5 teams last season in terms of possession. The action areas in those 3 games was 22%/48%/30%. Again, bearing in mind the calibre of 2 of those teams we’ve played, those figures are impressive. Also in those 3 games, we’ve taken the 2nd most number of shots per game, 17.7, bettered only by Everton. Bearing in mind that Everton have averaged 64.1% possession, and have played Norwich, West Brom and Cardiff to date, you would expect them to take a lot of shots against that opposition with that much time with the ball.
Chadli and Soldado have been brought in to supply opportunities and to convert some of them. Bearing in mind Soldado’s reputation as a goal poacher and an instinctive, one-touch finisher, it is rather disappointing that only 4% of our shots to date have been from inside the 6-yard box, with 42% inside the penalty box, the remainder being potshots from range (this may be a legacy from last season, when our solution to not being able to break teams down was for Bale to lash one in from outside the area). In fairness to Soldado, I can’t think of any big chances that he’s missed yet, and he converted his 2 penalties with aplomb, something both Defoe and Adebayor have been unreliable on in the past. Chadli has shown flashes of what he can do, and in his 3 PL games to date has had 9 key passes, the same number as Walcott and only bettered by Marveaux, Hazard, Baines and Cazorla with 10 each. Where he could do with some improvement is with some wayward shooting to date, with 0 shots on target out of 8, but his stats from last season are very good – 18 goals was a massive goal return for FC Twente from only 26 appearances, 3 as substitute. It’s still early days but if this guy can find his shooting boots or get off the mark early this season to get the crowd off his back, he could be a very valuable asset to have.
Onto the newer arrivals, Eriksen and Lamela will be the ones who will be given responsibility for “picking the lock”. Our midfield will be dictating the game, gaining us the lion’s share of possession and pushing us up the pitch, which will force opposing teams to get more and more men behind the ball and force us to be a bit more clever about finding a way to goal. This is what we’ve been missing in the games so far, but we can’t really blame these 2 yet, as they were only brought in after the season had started. It is worth bearing in mind, though, that in the space of a couple of years we’ve gone from a team which was probably more comfortable to invite teams onto us and then hit them on the break with sheer pace and powerful running to exploit spaces in behind teams, to a team which tends to dominate possession and push high into the opposition half. Last season we had a get out of jail card when teams chose to defend deep against us, as Bale had the ability from distance to find a yard of space and subsequently the top corner, or alternatively use dead balls to punish teams for fouls in and around the area, something we’d been missing for years. But last season we also sorely lacked a playmaker, especially since the departures of Modric and Van Der Vaart. Bale went from being a creator of chances to a scorer of goals, and we suffered through missing out on Moutinho, who could’ve given us the guile we needed in tight games. I’m very excited by the arrivals of Eriksen and Lamela, both definitely have an eye for goal and can pick a pass, whether they can replicate their form in other countries to the Premier League remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – negativity from the crowd and unrealistic expectations won’t help. These guys are young, talented footballers, they may hit the ground running or they may take a while to settle, or perhaps one or both will never live up to their promise, but they should be allowed the chance to show what they can do. Even the best attacking player will occasionally lose possession or pick a stray pass, but the great ones will continue trying and will eventually get there. Destroying a player’s confidence during that bedding in period, however, is completely counterproductive. Modric took half a season to start turning in decent performances for us, Bale took a couple of years, these guys have come with big price tags and expectations but they may need our support rather than our disdain to make it in this league.
Chiriches, by all accounts, is an accomplished young defender, versatile, skilful and pacy. He probably faces the biggest step up of all to this level, as he’s come from the weakest league of all of our 7 recruits. His reputation meant that he was being chased by a host of Italian teams, who tend to be able to spot a defender, which would lead me to believe that he’s probably got all the right attributes. It remains to be seen whether he will be a first team or squad player, but my guess is he’ll be happier than most to gain experience this season and be one for the future. If he comes good a bit earlier, great, but as a replacement for Caulker, I’m happy to wait and see how he turns out. I never thought Caulker was anything more than 4th choice for us, and since rumour has it that he burned a lot of bridges with his behaviour in pre-season, then I think Vlad will appreciate this chance at a big club a lot more than Caulker did. He could also provide competition/backup for Walker/Naughton, which can’t be a bad thing.
Our performances to date have shown that our midfield can now dominate possession (probably even more so in upcoming games than we’ve done to date, given the opposition thus far) and give us plenty of time in the opposition half, we have several goal threats from several positions in the attacking third, and once we can get some of our creative new players, plus the likes of Holtby, on the pitch, we should be able to open teams up a lot more.
Chadli and Soldado have been brought in to supply opportunities and to convert some of them. Bearing in mind Soldado’s reputation as a goal poacher and an instinctive, one-touch finisher, it is rather disappointing that only 4% of our shots to date have been from inside the 6-yard box, with 42% inside the penalty box, the remainder being potshots from range (this may be a legacy from last season, when our solution to not being able to break teams down was for Bale to lash one in from outside the area). In fairness to Soldado, I can’t think of any big chances that he’s missed yet, and he converted his 2 penalties with aplomb, something both Defoe and Adebayor have been unreliable on in the past. Chadli has shown flashes of what he can do, and in his 3 PL games to date has had 9 key passes, the same number as Walcott and only bettered by Marveaux, Hazard, Baines and Cazorla with 10 each. Where he could do with some improvement is with some wayward shooting to date, with 0 shots on target out of 8, but his stats from last season are very good – 18 goals was a massive goal return for FC Twente from only 26 appearances, 3 as substitute. It’s still early days but if this guy can find his shooting boots or get off the mark early this season to get the crowd off his back, he could be a very valuable asset to have.
Onto the newer arrivals, Eriksen and Lamela will be the ones who will be given responsibility for “picking the lock”. Our midfield will be dictating the game, gaining us the lion’s share of possession and pushing us up the pitch, which will force opposing teams to get more and more men behind the ball and force us to be a bit more clever about finding a way to goal. This is what we’ve been missing in the games so far, but we can’t really blame these 2 yet, as they were only brought in after the season had started. It is worth bearing in mind, though, that in the space of a couple of years we’ve gone from a team which was probably more comfortable to invite teams onto us and then hit them on the break with sheer pace and powerful running to exploit spaces in behind teams, to a team which tends to dominate possession and push high into the opposition half. Last season we had a get out of jail card when teams chose to defend deep against us, as Bale had the ability from distance to find a yard of space and subsequently the top corner, or alternatively use dead balls to punish teams for fouls in and around the area, something we’d been missing for years. But last season we also sorely lacked a playmaker, especially since the departures of Modric and Van Der Vaart. Bale went from being a creator of chances to a scorer of goals, and we suffered through missing out on Moutinho, who could’ve given us the guile we needed in tight games. I’m very excited by the arrivals of Eriksen and Lamela, both definitely have an eye for goal and can pick a pass, whether they can replicate their form in other countries to the Premier League remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – negativity from the crowd and unrealistic expectations won’t help. These guys are young, talented footballers, they may hit the ground running or they may take a while to settle, or perhaps one or both will never live up to their promise, but they should be allowed the chance to show what they can do. Even the best attacking player will occasionally lose possession or pick a stray pass, but the great ones will continue trying and will eventually get there. Destroying a player’s confidence during that bedding in period, however, is completely counterproductive. Modric took half a season to start turning in decent performances for us, Bale took a couple of years, these guys have come with big price tags and expectations but they may need our support rather than our disdain to make it in this league.
Chiriches, by all accounts, is an accomplished young defender, versatile, skilful and pacy. He probably faces the biggest step up of all to this level, as he’s come from the weakest league of all of our 7 recruits. His reputation meant that he was being chased by a host of Italian teams, who tend to be able to spot a defender, which would lead me to believe that he’s probably got all the right attributes. It remains to be seen whether he will be a first team or squad player, but my guess is he’ll be happier than most to gain experience this season and be one for the future. If he comes good a bit earlier, great, but as a replacement for Caulker, I’m happy to wait and see how he turns out. I never thought Caulker was anything more than 4th choice for us, and since rumour has it that he burned a lot of bridges with his behaviour in pre-season, then I think Vlad will appreciate this chance at a big club a lot more than Caulker did. He could also provide competition/backup for Walker/Naughton, which can’t be a bad thing.
Our performances to date have shown that our midfield can now dominate possession (probably even more so in upcoming games than we’ve done to date, given the opposition thus far) and give us plenty of time in the opposition half, we have several goal threats from several positions in the attacking third, and once we can get some of our creative new players, plus the likes of Holtby, on the pitch, we should be able to open teams up a lot more.
How about Gareth bale? Only payed like 8m also, so was his value 8m? How about Vertonghen? We only payed about 10m for him, does that mean he is a 10m value? Both Bale's and Vertonghen's prices have skyrocketed. That point is complete bullshit, similar to your whole post. Chadli just turned 24 and moved to a new league. We haven't even come close to seeing his best.
Our 20 year old prospect LB isn't good enough and our 24 year old backup right back isn't good enough. Sorry we can't have a WC player in every single position. We aren't bank rolled by a Russian billionaire, we can't afford to have a great player at every single position and backup. We have the most complete squad we have had in recent time, yet you bang on about our LB prospect and our backup RB.
Whatever I say you'll just end up telling me I'm buried or a zoid or something equally embarrassing. I actually don't know why I bothered addressing your post.
Stop talking shit for a change.
If I could I'd give a gazillion thumbs up. THREE FUCKING GAMES indeed