Tottenham 2017/18: Suck it Arsenal

DJnVa

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Thoughts on Douglas Costa?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-interested-30million-move-bayern-10257820

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/transfer-talk/79/post/3135736/transfer-rater-alex-oxlade-chamberlain-to-liverpool-douglas-costa-to-spurs

Having failed to build on an exceptional maiden season in the Bundesliga, Douglas Costa could leave German champions Bayern Munich for Tottenham Hotspur. The Brazilian winger will be hoping to get his career back on track in 2017-18, and he could do so in the Premier League, where his pace, skill and directness would fit right in. However, Mauricio Pochettino's side will face competition for the player's signature from Juventus. According to Italian outlet La Stampa, the Champions League finalists have already lodged a €25m bid for the 26-year-old.

Sissoko likely on the way out, and rumors of Walker moving on as well.
 

Zososoxfan

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I approve of the thread title. As for Douglas, I think he's a helluva player and would be a fantastic addition to any side. However, Spurs are pretty full at attacking wingers, no? Alli, Son, Eriksen, Wanyama? Also, is there a plan for Lamela? With UCL next season and seeing how the team did when Kane went down, finding a suitable backup CF should be a higher priority. Also, presumably a Walker replacement.
 

coremiller

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Goal #1 for the summer is to keep all the key players, especially the young core: Kane, Alli, Eriksen, Dier, etc.. Spurs are well positioned to do this -- they are on the up, they have CL football, and their key guys are all under contract for several years. Hopefully Real Madrid or Barcelona don't come in and offer some ridiculous fee for Alli or Eriksen.

Sissoko should definitely be sold, especially if the rumors are true that his transfer fee was actually five annual installments dependent on him still being on the team. He should probably never have been bought. Getting rid of a mediocre player who doesn't fit the system while also erasing a 24m liability would be a huge win.

The team's biggest need is central midfield. They need another passer/distributor type in the spot Dembele plays. Dembele is great but his continual fitness issues mean he can't be counted on to play twice a week, and he turns 30 next month and has only two years left on his contract, so Spurs should be looking for a long-term replacement there. The Dier/Wanyama pairing doesn't have enough passing + makes it hard to play 3 at the back. Maybe this could be Harry Winks down the line, but he's coming off a season-ending ankle injury and has minimal experience at the top level. Spurs should be able to find someone better.

The next need is an attacking option behind Kane who offers something that Alli/Eriksen/Son don't, preferably a pacey guy who can run at players on the dribble to give them more tactical options I think this is what they wanted Sissoko for, but Sissoko turned out to suck. Costa could be this guy if the rumors are true. If Lamela finally gets healthy, he would help here too. Maybe N'Koudou or Onomah or N'Jie could make a step forward, but neither has shown much yet.

They also need another striker to back up Kane. I'd be ok with giving Janssen another year if the leash is short, but if an upgrade is available they shouldn't hesitate to move on it. But it's going to be hard to sign anyone really good when that player knows he's not going to be first choice.

They probably need another CB, especially since they like to play the back three so much. Wimmer + CCV is not enough cover there. And they could look into upgrading the backup FB spots. Davies got exposed at times this year (like at Anfield). But it's going to be hard to find anyone obviously better for a clear backup role.

I suspect Walker may leave. I'm ambivalent -- Walker is better than Trippier but not better than Trippier + 35m to invest in other players, and Walker has no leverage so Spurs could get a big fee, although I'd prefer if they didn't sell domestically.

Ultimately this is already a really good team that doesn't have any gaping holes. It's also a young team that could improve next year even with the same core of players. I think their first XI when healthy is as good as anyone's outside the Barca/Bayern/Real/Juve group, and there aren't any obvious upgrades that wouldn't cost a fortune. Potential signings are more about building depth, creating competition for places, and adding more tactical options that allow them to match up better with a wider range of top opponents.
 

Zososoxfan

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Goal #1 for the summer is to keep all the key players, especially the young core: Kane, Alli, Eriksen, Dier, etc.. Spurs are well positioned to do this -- they are on the up, they have CL football, and their key guys are all under contract for several years. Hopefully Real Madrid or Barcelona don't come in and offer some ridiculous fee for Alli or Eriksen.
I wouldn't worry about this...
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Son broke his forearm in a South Korea match. Hopefully means a restful summer and health, fit start to the pre-season.
 

Zososoxfan

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That's a nice chunk of change. With Lamela still out, have to think they'll splash a bit of this on some young French players to place some bets and bolster squad depth.
 

Merkle's Boner

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Don't love the idea of counting on Trippier as one of your core backs. I would think they'd be in the market for some depth there.
 

veritas

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Trippier is a fine depth player, but a huge dropoff from Walker, especially attacking. If they're going to continue to play a back 3 they definitely need to upgrade the right wingback spot.
 

DJnVa

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N'Jie to Marseille on permanent transfer: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2017/7/16/15977942/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-rumors-clinton-njie-marseille-permanent-purchase-option

Fazio sold to Roma (was there all last season on loan)

Spurs trying to get Pereira from Porto: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2017/7/15/15976848/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-rumors-ricardo-pereira-porto-haggling-kyle-walker-peters

Either way, if Pereira is coming its imperative that he joins the team sooner rather than later. While Trippier will go into preseason as the first choice right-back, Ricardo — if he resembles the player he was for Nice — can push Trippier for that spot and might be the better option as a wing-back in the 3-4-3.
 

coremiller

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The Walker sale is a boatload of money for a 27-year-old pace-dependent fullback, but it's tough selling to a direct rival, and whether the sale turns out to be a good move depends on what they do with the money. If they can sign a guy like Pereira to replace Walker and use the surplus to strengthen other areas of the squad, then it's the right play. If they go into the season with Trippier as the first choice RB and blow the Walker money on Barkley (gak), then it's an awful move.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Anthony Georgiou? Impressed.
I also thought CCV looked as good as one can while giving up a penalty (bullshit) and getting carded (also bs as he got ball).
 

coremiller

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So I wasn't really expecting any big signings this summer, but the season starts in 11 days, and Spurs haven't signed ANYONE. They are they only PL team with zero incoming transfers so far. No depth, no loans, no cheap fliers, no nothing. And of course they should have plenty of money to spend having sold Walker for 50m.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Well, they did finally get wonder-kid Marcus Edwards to ink a new deal. He's exactly the type of signing I'd hope they'd be making (if coming from another club).
That's my glass half-full view...
 

Kliq

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What does Sissoko's future look like with the club? I thought he was terrible and the team was significantly better once a less-than-100% Son got on the field. Once everyone is healthy I don't see him as anything more than a frequent substitute and if Barkley comes on, forget it.
 

DJnVa

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Rumors that Chelsea is about to offer 62 million for Danny Rose...
 

caseumsd

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Rumors that Chelsea is about to offer 62 million for Danny Rose...
This is so depressing, so we sell Walker for $45 million, now we are going to sell Rose for $62 million? Unless Sanchez or Aurier are coming in before the window closes, this is terrible for the teams outlook this season. All the teams around them in the table improved drastically this offseason (minus Chelsea) so I do not understand selling off two of your top defenders without bringing someone else in. I guess in Pochettino we trust?
 

DJnVa

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Well, a few posts up it talks of possibly bringing Davinson Sanchez in...he'd replace one of the defenders.
 

caseumsd

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Well, a few posts up it talks of possibly bringing Davinson Sanchez in...he'd replace one of the defenders.
It would be great if it happened, I take all the rumors with a grain of salt (just like Rose). Until I actually see the player on he pitch, I don't believe any of them.
 

coremiller

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Sanchez is a centerback, he couldn't replace Rose. He would be a long-term replacement for Aldeweireld and Vertonghen as they get older.

Spurs have also been repeatedly linked with Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon, who I think Spurs do envision as Rose's long-term replacement. But Sessegnon is only 17 and while he's already broken into Fulham's first team, he wouldn't be ready to replace Rose right away.
 

DJnVa

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Eh, brain fart. I was just referencing they are looking at help across the backline.

Anyway, EPL transfer rumors are usually crazy so we'll see what happens.
 

scott bankheadcase

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Even if they do sell Rose I'm not sure it has a huge effect in the short term. Ben Davies has been their starting left back since January and Trippier was splitting time with Walker.

It's a killer for depth though. With the amount of games in Champions league as well as the EPL season, they are paper thin. Davidson fills the Wimmer role, assuming he moves on. but KWP and, Sissoko are the backups at this point? That's a disaster waiting to happen.
 

Kliq

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Love getting another young, high-quality player that will be in his prime as the rest of the attacking bunch are still in theirs.
 

coremiller

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Well that was frustrating. I thought Spurs played well enough to earn at least a draw, but Alonso scored a great free kick and then they had a total team breakdown on the second goal.

That said, as decently as they played, this game exposed some real weaknesses they need to address.

- It creates problems to play both Dier and Wanyama in midfield together. They don't have enough distribution and ball progression. They end up with Dier making simple sideways and backwards passes and Wanyama trying to dribble around guys and giving the ball away. Wanyama had a run last spring where he offered more going forward, but he was a liability on the ball today. They either need to play Dembele more centrally or find another central midfield option. Things got a little better in the second half as Kane and Eriksen started dropping deeper and wider and Spurs stopped trying to play through the middle as much, but that naturally meant there was no one to get on the end of the buildup.

- When Davies and Trippier are the wingbacks they lack pace and dribbling on the outside. Rose getting healthy will solve that on the left, but the drop-off from Walker to Trippier is significant. Teams don't fear Trippier running at them and getting around the outside. Trippier is a decent squad player but I'm not sure he's good enough to be first choice for a team that wants to win things.
 

eddiew112

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Frustrating indeed. Chelsea, as they always seem to do, punished Spurs for every mistake they made. I wouldn't have minded seeing Winks come on for Dier.

Kane was very good and was unlucky not to score. Eriksen and Dembele (although it looked like he pulled up lame on the 2nd Alonso goal) were very good as well.

Smash Burnley next week.
 

Dummy Hoy

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My fault guys.

I was running Falmouth this morning and I see this one older gentleman sitting in a law chair in his yard watching the race and he's wearing a Chelsea shirt. We make eye contact, he starts clapping at me, and I howl at him "C'MON YOU SPURS!!!"
He doesn't even blink, just keep clapping at me and gets the tiniest hint of a grin. I got all cocky for you guys and pushed sister Karma too far.

Sorry, I owe you.
 

Zososoxfan

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Not only did he let in a very savable shot - it was his throw that put Wanayama under pressure and ultimately created the turn over.
I didn't really have a problem with the throw. They were going for the points and a tired player had a bad first touch and Luiz made a great play. The howler was the non-save IMO.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Wanyama was at fault for the goal, with much help from Hugo. Wanyama was terrible the entire match on the ball - worst I've seen him at Spurs.
 

Zososoxfan

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Fook me that was a brutal draw. Likely need to play for the draw against Madrid, but Spurs could hit them on the counter. Will be very contrary to the usual press. Dortmund matches should be riveting. Have to get 6 points off Apoel.
 

coremiller

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I'm looking on the bright side. There's a lot less pressure to go through, the matches themselves will be fun and good tests, and the Spurs away supporters get some great venues to visit.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reception Bale and Modric get from the fans.

One of the worst parts about drawing Real Madrid will be all the "Kane/Alli/Eriksen are auditioning for their new team" jokes.
 

DJnVa

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Fook me that was a brutal draw. Likely need to play for the draw against Madrid, but Spurs could hit them on the counter. Will be very contrary to the usual press. Dortmund matches should be riveting. Have to get 6 points off Apoel.
Read one of those winner/losers of the draw articles and it said something like:

"This is the Spurs--if they beat Madrid, they will be guaranteed to lose 1-0 at Wembley to Apoel the next game."
 

DJnVa

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Jimy Hendrix

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How do we feel about Aurier?

Probably a good move from a purely on-pitch perspective, particularly after watching Trippier's defending in that game.

Seems like a real asshole though.