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[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by Murrr

To be honest, of all the players you've listed there I'd say Elmander and Hutton (does the management not like Chimbonda or something? I think he's a canny player) are the only ones who wouldn't improve the Spurs team. I don't think Woodgate is as good as King but I do think that on his day he's top class; a clean tackler, good leader and a cool head, pretty similar to Ledley in fact. Of course his injury record is pretty abysmal, but he did manage to stay fit for the vast majority of last season anyway. I still rate him highly after his Newcastle spell; he managed to turn around a defence that included Andy O'Brien, Titus Bramble and Olivier Bernard, that's gotta be worth something.

Out of curiosity, why do you think Urby Emanuelson is sub-par? Every time I've seen him he's been absolute class, especially going forward, and he's only 21. If you had him and Bale I think you guys would be sorted at leftback for the next 10+ years.

I was talking to a Spurs fan the other day and he reckoned you guys needed a goalkeeper, leftback, centreback, central midfielder and a left winger, what do you reckon of that assessment? Sounds about right to me, but obviously I'm not a Spurs fan *shrugs*.

You've got a great manager in though, I'm sure Tottenham will be at least sniffing around the UEFA cup places this season.

Urby just doesn't look the part for me, Chimbonda is better. I think there are better right backs out there that would be more useful than him to be honest.

I think we need an experienced centre back and left back and a good young left winger with a bit of pace. A natural left footer would be much more appealing as all we have at the mo is Malbranque who only seems capable of cutting into the centre, though he is a good player.

I don't think we need another central midfielder really, freeing up Malbranque from the wing would add him as another option for midfield and we've already got a glut of young solid midfielders. And we don't need another goalkeeper, Robinson just needs to have a little bit more faith in his ability again as he certainly is the part on his best days in goal.

I think we should ditch bent and promote a youngster from the reserves to act as cover for Defoe, Berbatov and Keane. Tomas Pekhart would be the obvious choice, but i'm sure Simon Dawkins or Andy Barcham are more than capable too given the chance to shine.

[Jim Stax]

Originally Posted by calum

On an infinitely more important note...

Zander stays! | Aberdeen | News | Club News | Club News

YAAAS.

(I know this probably just means we'll get money for him in the summer, but still)

Pipped me to the post with some good news, for a change, other than Clark leaving that is

Can see him staying for a another year or so at least. Wise decision given his age and experience. Langfield or Diaomond for Vice Captainship?

Boost

[Murrr]

Originally Posted by Alkaline

Urby just doesn't look the part for me, Chimbonda is better. I think there are better right backs out there that would be more useful than him to be honest.

I think we need an experienced centre back and left back and a good young left winger with a bit of pace. A natural left footer would be much more appealing as all we have at the mo is Malbranque who only seems capable of cutting into the centre, though he is a good player.

I don't think we need another central midfielder really, freeing up Malbranque from the wing would add him as another option for midfield and we've already got a glut of young solid midfielders. And we don't need another goalkeeper, Robinson just needs to have a little bit more faith in his ability again as he certainly is the part on his best days in goal.

I think we should ditch bent and promote a youngster from the reserves to act as cover for Defoe, Berbatov and Keane. Tomas Pekhart would be the obvious choice, but i'm sure Simon Dawkins or Andy Barcham are more than capable too given the chance to shine.

Fair enough; I rate Chimbonda pretty highly, thought he and Emanuelson played on opposite sides through (Chimbonda at RB, Emanuelson at LB)? Could be wrong.

I think I'm actually one of the few non-Spurs fans around that actually still rates Robinson; after the Croatia game his confidence just looks totally shot. I think a spell on the sidelines could do him well and give him the kick up the arse he clearly needs, because I do think he is a top class keeper on his day.

Pekhart is the big Czech lad, right? Not bad in FM

What do you reckon of Jenas, how's he doing for your lot? He was pretty poor in his last couple of seasons for us, Gary Speed was carrying him in the centre, but I imagine he's improved a bit since then?

[Stichman]

Originally Posted by idol_wild

The £16.5 for Bent would have been better spent persuing Owen Hargreaves.

Can somebody please explain to me the mystery that is Own Hargreaves?

He was the absolute laughing stock of English football before the Word Cup. Remember the scenes of him getting booed by his own fans at the airport?
Then, at the tournament he has a couple of good games against - let's face it - pretty average opposition. I think I'd fancy my chances of putting in a good shift against Ecuador. Then, suddenly, he's one of the best midfielders in Europe.

Don't get me wrong, he's a decent player, but I'd pay about £6m absolutely maximum for him.

As for £16.5m for Bent, that was always a piss-take. Everyone in the whole world thought that was a stupid price for hime, and that's been proved the case. He's a poor man's Defoe. The only reason Spurs want rid of Defoe is because they're far too proud to admit Bent was an astronomical mistake.

[idol_wild]

Originally Posted by Stichman

Can somebody please explain to me the mystery that is Own Hargreaves?

He's a well disciplined holding midfielder. And a very very good one. As good and as effective as Claude Makalele in my opinion, only more versatile and solid in the air.

He's an almost flawless footballer. I'm a big fan of his.

[Stichman]

Originally Posted by idol_wild

He's an almost flawless footballer. I'm a big fan of his.

Almost flawless? Really?
There's not a chance he's as good as Makelele. He's not the best tackler in the world and he's pretty poor on the ball.
Sure, he's pretty solid, but he definetely lacks consistency. He's basically a poor man's Gattusso.
That said, he's a lot better than Carrick...

[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by Stichman

Almost flawless? Really?
There's not a chance he's as good as Makelele. He's not the best tackler in the world and I wouldn't say he reads the game particularly well.
Sure, he's pretty solid, but he definetely lacks consistency.
That said, he's a lot better than Carrick...

He was pretty consistently good for Bayern. I rate him highly as well from his Bayern days, but he's been blighted by injury for the last year or so, so it's no surprise he's lost his consistency. And he was only a laughing stock for England before the World Cup because he was played well out of position (usually right back) until that particular World Cup.

[Stichman]

Originally Posted by Alkaline

He was pretty consistently good for Bayern. I rate him highly as well from his Bayern days, but he's been blighted by injury for the last year or so, so it's no surprise he's lost his consistency. And he was only a laughing stock for England before the World Cup because he was played well out of position (usually right back) until that particular World Cup.

Wasn't Martin Demichelis the first-choice holding midfielder for Bayern?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's woeful - just not worth £17m any day of the week.
He can't pass to a particularly high standard, and he can't read the game as well as Gattuso or Veira.

[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by Murrr

Fair enough; I rate Chimbonda pretty highly, thought he and Emanuelson played on opposite sides through (Chimbonda at RB, Emanuelson at LB)? Could be wrong.

I think I'm actually one of the few non-Spurs fans around that actually still rates Robinson; after the Croatia game his confidence just looks totally shot. I think a spell on the sidelines could do him well and give him the kick up the arse he clearly needs, because I do think he is a top class keeper on his day.

Pekhart is the big Czech lad, right? Not bad in FM

What do you reckon of Jenas, how's he doing for your lot? He was pretty poor in his last couple of seasons for us, Gary Speed was carrying him in the centre, but I imagine he's improved a bit since then?

Yeah, they play on opposite sides. I'm not keen on another young left back though. We have Bale for that, we need someone with more experience to take the pressure off Bale and give him time to develop a la Walcott at Arsenal, who is coming on leaps and bounds with every game he plays.

Robinson needs to have the management behind him, not belittling him in the manner they are at the moment. The players are certainly behind him. He just needs people to stop criticising every thing he does on the pitch. He must hate watching Match Of The Day etc as all they say regarding Robinson is that he flaps at corners and crosses, he never used to. You drum into someone that they're useless on a regular basis and they start to believe it themselves. If it wasn't for McLaren's ineptitude Robinson would definitely be the main focus for England's lack of Euro 2008 qualification which is a very unfair assessment of his involvement in the campaign.

Jenas is a lot better than he's given credit for, he's tireless and is good at getting forward and dropping back. He was poor at Newcastle but he's totally turned his game around and looks more like the player everyone thought he would develop into while at Forest.

Pekhart is very promising (something like 19 goals in 20 games last season for the Academy) and he's been looking good in the reserves this season too. He needs a bit of a chance though and as a target man he offers an option that Spurs lost when they sold Mido.

Dorian Dervitte is a promising centre back as well and should maybe be looked at out on a loan spell to a Championship side when he's fully fit again.

[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by Stichman

Wasn't Martin Demichelis the first-choice holding midfielder for Bayern?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's woeful - just not worth £17m any day of the week.
He can't pass to a particularly high standard, and he can't read the game as well as Gattuso or Veira.

No, Demichelis couldn't get a game in midfield past Hargreaves and Ballack. Hargreaves, after he recovered from his injury, directly replaced Ballack in midfield. Ballack played a holding role for Bayern, not as far forward as he plays for Chelsea.