Tottenham 2018/19: Transfers? Who needs transfers?

DJnVa

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That's true, but it seems like a guy playing for a mid-table League 2 club is probably just excited to be on the field with these guys and taking out some guy like that would be heavily, heavily frowned upon.
 

Zososoxfan

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Back in 2007 and likely into more recent years, Barca felt compelled to play Dinho and now Messi. Now, those are very different circumstances. Dinho was a party animal in 2007 having already achieved all of his sporting goals and asking him to play was likely deleterious to the club's performance on the field, whereas Messi is a competitive animal who gets upset if he doesn't start 60 matches a year. But I digress. It's very unusual to us in the US, but I think there is a certain amount of merit to the 'paying supporter' perspective, even if I don't agree with it. In Barca's case, 'Mes que un club' should be '[Messi,] Mas que el club'.
 

DJnVa

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Spurs with a 1-0 win at home over Chelsea in the League Cup semis. They were probably outplayed, but a Kane penalty got them the win and will be in good shape to advance if they can knick a goal in second leg.
 

Kliq

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Spurs beat Chelsea 1-0 at home in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Kane converted a first-half penalty to score the only goal of the game. City will play League 2 side Burton tomorrow in the other semi-final.
 

Gunfighter 09

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I'll take a largely undeserved first leg victory. They are going to need to play much better at Stamford Bridge to advance.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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VAR employed, and to great effect. Determined Harry was onside (lino flag went up) by the finest of margins and that Kepa fouled him for a penalty (which was pretty obvious).
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Oh... Mousa Dembele!

Sale of Dembele to a Chinese team confirmed for 11 million pounds.
My favorite Spur and player overall for some time. Shame he never got in the Belgium side more regularly. On his day, and when healthy, an absolute beast and a joy to watch.
 

Gunfighter 09

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Stating the obvious, but I really feel like this midfield needs significant reinforcement. Some will come next week when Dier is back, but they are getting run over in the middle by good teams.

I must admit, there is a transfer fee number for our beloved Hugo that would make me perfectly fine with Gazzaniga as the #1 going forward. I love the Captain, but I my untrained eye has been very impressed with Gazza this year.
 

DJnVa

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Tottenham announces that the new stadium will not be ready for matches until March, so no Dortmund match there.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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As I understand it, if the Dortmund match is played at Wembley, so will any/all remaining CL matches be required. Even if New WHL is opened and available.
Major bummer.
 

veritas

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If they don't make a big purchase at midfield or striker, their slim CL chances are now 0, and top 4 isn't nearly as much of a lock as it was. This is a big problem. This does suck.
 

DJnVa

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Also, Serge Aurier was arrested and released, so yeah, bang up week.

Park the bus against Chelsea, run out kids against CP in FA Cup, hope for points against Watford, Newcastle, and Leicester.

Feb 27 and Mar 3 against Chelsea and Arsenal are the big ones. We need to maintain a gap.
 

coremiller

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Kane out until March:
Sissoko out for a month: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/moussa-sissoko-injury-tottenham-star-set-for-a-month-on-the-sidelines-a4040731.html

Plus the Aurier thing.

A really bad few days for Spurs. Current fit Spurs midfielders (career PL starts): Winks (23), Skipp (1). That's it.

If Moura is fit I don't think they need to spend a lot on a striker, they can patch things together with Moura and Dele until Kane gets back. As long as Kane is around the team is always going to depend on him and there's never going to be a good Plan B, that's just a fact of life.

Midfield is another story. They needed to buy at least one CM last summer, they probably need two now. Even when everyone is healthy a Sissoko/Dier/Winks/Wanyama rotation is not good enough, now that everyone is hurt they just need bodies.
 

veritas

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Kane out until March: Midfield is another story. They needed to buy at least one CM last summer, they probably need two now. Even when everyone is healthy a Sissoko/Dier/Winks/Wanyama rotation is not good enough, now that everyone is hurt they just need bodies.
I think they have enough flexibility that they just need another good player or two in the front six, not necessarily a CM. Alli and Eriksen in front of Dier is a very good midfield 3 with Winks/Wanyama/Skipp as depth. Of course that leaves huge holes up front.
 

scott bankheadcase

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Would be super helpful to have the second best goal scorer on the team, who can play well in a false nine and has at times carried the team in the past be available and not at the asia cup for the exact month that Kane is out.
 

DJnVa

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Couple rumors:

Giuseppe Rossi

Well, Rossi is without a club since he left Girona Genoa at the end of last season, and has spent the past while training with Manchester United, a club he spent three seasons at in the mid Aughties. With the transfer rumor machine being what it is, and with Harry Kane out for the next few weeks with a bum ankle, Rossi is being linked with a return to football with Tottenham Hotspur by Tuttosport (as reported by Sport Witness) and the Manchester Evening News.

Malcom

Cast your mind back to this past summer when Spurs were heavily linked with Brazilian winger Malcom, then at Bordeaux. He didn’t sign with Spurs, obviously, and ended up signing for Barcelona, becoming their most expensive summer signing at €40m. He was then promptly sidelined, playing a grand total of 363 minutes for Barca this season, and you can generously say that he’s not in Ernesto Valverde’s plans.
Enter Spanish daily Sport, which is now reporting as of this morning that Barca is willing to let him already go this month, and that his agents are currently in negotiations with... you guessed it, Tottenham Hotspur. The report states that the transfer would initially be a six month loan, but that Spurs would compete a permanent signing this summer. The report goes as far to say that Malcom “probably” will be wearing lilywhite by the end of the month.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Murmurs around Timo Werner, too.

None solve the CM issue, esp with Mousa officially off to Beijing, but any of the three would fill a short-term need (and Werner & Malcom long-term) up front. Werner being the gem of the group.
 

veritas

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Given the current state of the squad, if they don’t buy someone by like tomorrow, they need to throw in the towel in the cup matches right? I don’t see how they can honestly try to compete in one, let alone four competitions with the depth they have right now. Their front three is George-Kevin, Llorente, and Lámela right now, right? And their entire bench is U23 guys.
 

scott bankheadcase

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Looks like Lucus is back in training, but overall you’re right. I thought they could get by with lucus and lorrente up front, but that also requires dele in the midfield. This is going to be a rough stretch.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Dier back (he looked good in his return) allows Eriksen to push further forward. Lucas a little more depth up front. Still need signings, but I'm not without hope of staying alive in all 4 comps (priority = top 4 in PL).
 

Zososoxfan

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Looks like Lucus is back in training, but overall you’re right. I thought they could get by with lucus and lorrente up front, but that also requires dele in the midfield. This is going to be a rough stretch.
Since he's the only player that can consistently finish, I would put Dele up top. Have Lamela play one wing and have Eriksen play further up, which you can do now that Dier is back. Even if Aurier is still out, you could put Davies, Trippier, and Rose out there and have Davies play RMF. You could also get back to the 3-4-2-1, since that gets our best players on the field at onece. Llorente can get shot to the moon--he's useless.

Lloris
Rose-CB1-CB2-Trippier
Davies-Dier-Winks
Eriksen
Dele-Lamela

Lloris
CB1-CB2-CB3
Davies-Dier-Winks-Trippier
Eriksen
Dele-Lamela
 

scott bankheadcase

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Since he's the only player that can consistently finish, I would put Dele up top. Have Lamela play one wing and have Eriksen play further up, which you can do now that Dier is back. Even if Aurier is still out, you could put Davies, Trippier, and Rose out there and have Davies play RMF. You could also get back to the 3-4-2-1, since that gets our best players on the field at onece. Llorente can get shot to the moon--he's useless.

Lloris
Rose-CB1-CB2-Trippier
Davies-Dier-Winks
Eriksen
Dele-Lamela

Lloris
CB1-CB2-CB3
Davies-Dier-Winks-Trippier
Eriksen
Dele-Lamela
Unfortunately I don't think Dele is going to see the field for a couple weeks at least. But maybe Lucas can slot into that spot. Llorente had a terrible game, but I'm willing to give him a couple before I claim he's another Jansen. He actually has scored in the PL before and has showed flashes in limited time even with Spurs.
 

coremiller

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Dele out until at least March:


Dele and Kane are both now likely to miss the crucial stretch of the season from Feb. 15 - March 5, where Spurs play Chelsea, Arsenal, the League Cup Final (if they advance), and Dortmund x2.
 

veritas

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Dele was the player that gave them some flexibility with Kane/Son out. They're really in big trouble the next 2 months. Their best 11 is pretty shaky and they have 0 depth. A best case lineup right now is probably something like:

Toby-Sanchez-Jan
Trippier-Dier-Winks-Rose
Lucas-Lamela-Eriksen

With Davies, Foyth, and Wanyama (if healthy) the only remotely proven backups. That's not a *terrible* 11 in terms of overall talent, but who is going to score goals? They're really not in a position to be playing for 0-0 draws and eek-ing out 1-0 wins.
 

scott bankheadcase

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Dele was the player that gave them some flexibility with Kane/Son out. They're really in big trouble the next 2 months. Their best 11 is pretty shaky and they have 0 depth. A best case lineup right now is probably something like:

Toby-Sanchez-Jan
Trippier-Dier-Winks-Rose
Lucas-Lamela-Eriksen

With Davies, Foyth, and Wanyama (if healthy) the only remotely proven backups. That's not a *terrible* 11 in terms of overall talent, but who is going to score goals? They're really not in a position to be playing for 0-0 draws and eek-ing out 1-0 wins.
You're going to see Son, Dele and Kane on the pitch before you see Wanyama.
 

DJnVa

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That's not a *terrible* 11 in terms of overall talent, but who is going to score goals?
Oh, I don't know if he's gonna score them, but Lamela is likely frothing at the mouth for the opportunities he's going to get.

If one of these guys steps up and pots a few he's going to become a club hero.
 

Zososoxfan

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Oh, I don't know if he's gonna score them, but Lamela is likely frothing at the mouth for the opportunities he's going to get.

If one of these guys steps up and pots a few he's going to become a club hero.
I'm the biggest Lamela homer out there. I named my pub team after him - Lamelatonin. But the dude is just not capable of finishing with any consistency. He's frankly lucky to still be getting minutes due to the injuries. He's likely behind Moura in the pecking order, so 5th attacking option. I hope he steps up, but not holding my breath.

Spurs are in big trouble and they really need to try and scour the market for some low cost reinforcements stat. I'm thinking of guys playing in Germany, France, and Spain who are on expiring contracts with mid-tier clubs. The names I'm looking at are Max Kruse (Bremen), who's a 30 year old striker with 4 goals and 4 assists for 9th place Bremen. Adam Szalai (Hoffenheim) is a 31 year old striker having a decent season (4 goals, 2 assists) but he's blocked by Kramaric and Wunderkind Nelson. Sergi Enrich (Ye Mighty Eibar) is having a solid season (5G, 1A) but Eibar are stuck in 11th. A younger target could be Rachid Alioui (Nimes) who has 4 goals in Ligue 1 for 12th place Nimes. He's only 26 and this could be an exciting proposition. Time to take a limited Levy gamble and just get another option into the squad.
 

scott bankheadcase

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Looks like I was a tad pessimistic on Wanyama (He basically hasn't played all season, so I didn't expect him at all this year). Sounds like both he, Lucas and Sissoko are in training, and, Poch said that Waynama won't be fit for tomorrow, but could play against Palace on Sunday.

If Lucas and Sissoko are available for Chelsea, Spurs can send out a decent squad, with the 1 goal advantage already.
 

DJnVa

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I'm the biggest Lamela homer out there. I named my pub team after him - Lamelatonin. But the dude is just not capable of finishing with any consistency.
Oh, I know. But he's gonna go balls to the wall to try.
 

coremiller

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I'm the biggest Lamela homer out there. I named my pub team after him - Lamelatonin. But the dude is just not capable of finishing with any consistency. He's frankly lucky to still be getting minutes due to the injuries. He's likely behind Moura in the pecking order, so 5th attacking option. I hope he steps up, but not holding my breath.

Spurs are in big trouble and they really need to try and scour the market for some low cost reinforcements stat. I'm thinking of guys playing in Germany, France, and Spain who are on expiring contracts with mid-tier clubs. The names I'm looking at are Max Kruse (Bremen), who's a 30 year old striker with 4 goals and 4 assists for 9th place Bremen. Adam Szalai (Hoffenheim) is a 31 year old striker having a decent season (4 goals, 2 assists) but he's blocked by Kramaric and Wunderkind Nelson. Sergi Enrich (Ye Mighty Eibar) is having a solid season (5G, 1A) but Eibar are stuck in 11th. A younger target could be Rachid Alioui (Nimes) who has 4 goals in Ligue 1 for 12th place Nimes. He's only 26 and this could be an exciting proposition. Time to take a limited Levy gamble and just get another option into the squad.
I think you are being too hard on Lamela here. Lamela has turned into a very useful player that's just very different from what Spurs thought they were getting when they signed him. He's not the goal-scoring wide forward Spurs had hoped for, but instead he's a very good ball-progressing attacking midfielder who is good in possession, can create for others, and is excellent at pressing. His lack of goalscoring + Spurs' midfield weaknesses that have led Poch to abandon the intense pressing from the front and play more on the break means that Son has largely replaced him in the first team, where Son's pace on and off the ball and finishing are more valuable. But that's more a system thing and shouldn't obscure that Lamela is still quite good.
 

Zososoxfan

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I think you are being too hard on Lamela here. Lamela has turned into a very useful player that's just very different from what Spurs thought they were getting when they signed him. He's not the goal-scoring wide forward Spurs had hoped for, but instead he's a very good ball-progressing attacking midfielder who is good in possession, can create for others, and is excellent at pressing. His lack of goalscoring + Spurs' midfield weaknesses that have led Poch to abandon the intense pressing from the front and play more on the break means that Son has largely replaced him in the first team, where Son's pace on and off the ball and finishing are more valuable. But that's more a system thing and shouldn't obscure that Lamela is still quite good.
Damn that's some good analysis. And you're right that a big part of Lamela's game is his willingness to press and do it effectively. He's a tough sumbitch and I'm sure defenders hate seeing him on the pitch. As you pointed out, they had to relax on the pressing with the weakness in MF. If Sissoko and/or Wanyama get back soon, a hyper aggressive press might actually be Spurs' best bet to weather the injury storm. They will still have to figure out some tactics for the key matches against clubs who can break a press and possess (Chelsea, Dortmund, etc.), but it may help keep them in the Top 4.
 
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