This year edition is brilliant mate. And barella is a star as well.
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This year edition is brilliant mate. And barella is a star as well.
I'm guessing Italy might have a few wonderkids on there.
Chiesa, Barella, Donarrumma, Pellegrini, Tonali, Locatelli, Pellegri and Kean the most well known.
Regarding central midfielders, if Spurs are after anyone it should be Tonali, as opposed to Barella. Would cost less and he's going to be even better than Verratti and would allow us to then develop him to what Pochettino requires (With less pressure of a price tag etc)
If Dembele is done, we need a fucking beast in there. Not some little fella who “plays like Winks”.
The only little fella type we should be looking at is if there is a Kante clone out there somewhere.
Winks is class. But he won’t be a destroyer type midfielder. That’s what we really need.
The only little fella type we should be looking at is if there is a Kante clone out there somewhere.
Winks is class. But he won’t be a destroyer type midfielder. That’s what we really need.
If it's a replacement for Dembele, I agree.
But we don't need to replace Dembele, we simply need to just change our formation to 433 and Dembele isn't needed. Someone capable of turning and taking the ball from defence to attack is definitely needed though. You don't need to be a beast for that, just someone who can play football very very well.
What Dembele gave us at his peak was a rarity we aren't going to be able to replace. He basically done two jobs in a midfield 2 and done it very very well. I haven't seen in any player in world football play the way he does in terms of his dribbling technique so signing someone to replace him like for like is borderline impossible
Signing a player like this isn't bad if we change to a 433 but we would also need a player like Ndombele, Haidara, Diawara, Kondogbia to compliment him and the other (Winks? Dele? Wanyama? Dier?)
I think we're slowly moving into a 433 but I don't think Poch has all the right components for it and I don't think even HE knows who to play where. He's tried Dele deeper, he can't seem to get Eriksen to fit in, he doesn't know whether to play Winks as a holder or not etc. - but we'll get there and it's better to start now to get the players we have used to it for when we sign the right personnel.
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433 all the way, but we def need to shop to get the pieces. As of right now I think we really only have 2 in Winks and skipp. Dembele would be but he is past due. So if we could get two of Diawara,Paredes, De Jong I would be pretty happy. Don’t like the mentality you mentioned about Paredes albeit a brilliant looking player.
I'm not sure if Dembele can play in a midfield 3 successfully.
Don't ask me why I think that haha - I remember him playing there once or twice for us and not looking the part. Pius whenever he's fit we tend to play 4231 as opposed to 3 in midfield. Even when we played 5 at the back and 3 in midfield last season we preferred not to play him.
Could also explain why he never plays for Belgium.
Dembele is an enigma, the closest thing to him in Europe is Lyon's N'Dombele who is slightly less skilled but better passer of the ball.
In all honesty, I see zero similarities to Dembele and N'Dombele besides their names sounding similar.
The closest I have ever seen to the way Dembele dribbles is Milenkovic-Savic at Lazio. And it'd be impossible for us to sign him so it's pointless trying to even find a replacement, we replace Dembele's importance to us via a change of formation/style.
NDombele would be an excellent signing to help transition us to that. I think he's out of our radar now though so anyone similar to him like Diawara, who we have been linked with, would be great. Also a better passer than Dembele (whos passing to be fair is underrated)
I personally think we can do better than Dembele. I don’t want to say he wasn’t or isn’t a gifted player, but for me is ball retention and slalom runs, albeit fun to watch, are less effective than a forward pass. I think he has been an amazing servant to the club, but we can find a more complete midfielder.
Dembele is a huge reason we’ve been successful the past 2 years. He clearly had weaknesses but his ball retention/dribbling/ball winning ability was such a huge strength that it overshadowed his weaknesses.
Now that he’s no longer the best ball retention player in the world, it’s clear how 1 dimensional he is.
There is clearly a similarity in how both dribble and and shield the ball from opposition player.
The biggest difference is N'Dombele is more mobile/dynamic.
And Ndombele being not as good at it as Moose, granted Tanguy is also almost a decade younger. Moose is a physical powerhouse that Ndombele just isn't (yet).
And their playing styles are also fairly different. Ndombele is much more direct, drives the ball forward so he can let the ball move on to a teammate where as Moose is much more about long term retention of the ball. Moose is going to dribble a lot more before handing the ball off.
I think that is rather a gaint porky or rather a superb exaggeration.
Been very good with limitations but has been obvious since last season a truly quality replacement should have been found .
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Ndombele is a good dribbler but his dribbling style is nothing like Dembeles. He doesn't shield the ball with his standing leg and move it onto the leg that's away from his opponent like Dembele does which is the big difference in why no one can get the ball off him.
Ndombele just has very good close control. Ships sailed with him anyway so no point talking about him like he's a possibility
I wouldn't be certain of that. Poch had no problem doing it with Trippier vs Walker, and Davies vs Rose. When Dele came in he knew the deal. Poch is clearly more scared of upsetting Kane than pleasing a back-up like Wilson. I love Poch but I'm not buying the excuse of they won't take a seat on the bench. You don't want to be signing players that do want to take a seat on the bench. Poch does better with understudies than established or older first team players anyway. Janssen and Llorente clearly haven't adapted to English football. Wilson, or okay yes, someone younger or from lower leagues or even academy out on loan would be a perfect option. Failing that, having no one at all and using Son as a #9 is better than having two deadwood players holding up squad numbers or wages with no sign of progression. But in all honesty the problem with them both is that they were happy with being on the bench, and it could be risking the same with a signing like Arnautovic in my opinion, only difference being a couple more PL goals.
I agree in large but Llorente scored 15 goals for Swansea and was a major part in them remaining up that year. Difference being that he went from a starter at Swans to a rarely used substitute with us. I am certain he was promised more playing time here than he has received.
I forgot about Barella and would be happy for the price.
If we're talking 433 then I think he'd fit in well. He's not a DM or a destroyer of any sorts but, like winks, is up for a scrap and doesn't let his size bother him getting stuck in. He can move the ball fat and into dangerous areas. Him and Winks with a dedicated DM would make us very dynamic and quick on the turnover imho.
Agree with
Totti
on Toneli but I think he might be out of our reach alreasynhes got a lot of coverage and hype around him right now saying he's the new pirlo but better than he was at that age. Bery high praise indeed.
If we're talking 433 then I think he'd fit in well. He's not a DM or a destroyer of any sorts but, like winks, is up for a scrap and doesn't let his size bother him getting stuck in. He can move the ball fat and into dangerous areas. Him and Winks with a dedicated DM would make us very dynamic and quick on the turnover imho.
Agree with
Totti
on Toneli but I think he might be out of our reach alreasynhes got a lot of coverage and hype around him right now saying he's the new pirlo but better than he was at that age. Bery high praise indeed.The point is improvement. If we could somehow ship LLorente and Janssen, finding someone homegrown, i.e. Wilson or younger would be worth it. Probably saving money long-term.