What are our needs?

So many people keep talking about what Spurs “really need” from multiple podcast analyses, sports news anchors, radio analyst.. you name it. Perhaps they know better, perhaps they read stats better than us fans but we also pay attention to games and from there we can throw some ideas around. Not sure how much good it does since our Chairman could probably careless about who we think the club needs, he is probably concerned about who he can bring for a cheap price, develop and send out for big money… maybe it isn’t a bad idea to have new ownership and perhaps a new chairman. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Levy has some good business acumen, he has a vision but the pieces of the puzzle he needs, aren’t the ones he is willing to invest on. At the end of the day he has to keep the books in check and make sure he doesn’t ruin the club but I’ve always believed that in order to make money (by playing champions cup etc.) you have to spend money (new stadium- state of the art; money spent on players that will deliver that caliber of football needed) so you can continue to bring success. No I am not writing out our academy talent, if anything we have some great players in the senior squad (hence Kane, Mason etc.) and some great ones that will be the future of this team, but you still need to get caliber players that are needed by the coach to fit his technique. Ok so with that said, allow me to share some thoughts on players I feel we need in our team; players I feel fit MP style of play. Some are my personal choices, some I have heard other people discuss in their angry calls to radio stations:

Goalkeeper: highly doubt Lloris is going anywhere, he is our captain, our blood and center piece. He is Champions football caliber player, he should not be sold unless it is his wish and to my understanding he is very happy at WHL so I don’t think we need to look at this area at all. I have read and listened on the radio about other teams wanting to take Vorm; if such is the case we will be hurting for a good back up, Vorm to me is a starter, not blaming him for coming to such a club as Spurs and giving up his place at WBA, he made a good decision and he was also made aware of what role he will be playing at Spurs but if we do indeed lose him, we need to look at options that can help back up Lloris should injury occur, especially with all the matches coming up for league, cup and Europa play. So if this indeed happens who could we look at, honestly and not to pick on WBA but Luke Daniels would be a nice option, he’s young 26, I’ve seen play at Southend United when he was on loan, yes that was about 2-3 yrs ago, I also saw him play in the Capital One cup ties, he has talent and he is out of contract at the end of this season. He looks to be a good starter, at best a nice back up in a few years. He will come very cheap as I know he is looking to be more than a 3^rd GK, he wants to be a backup or get more playing time somewhere else, why not take a shot and get him…. But again, only if Vorm decides to leave, otherwise I am happy with our back up.

Defense: gee where to start… first of all I want to give credit to Fazio and Vertonghen, both have come around nicely, Vertonghen is hopefully settling in after some not so great games this and last season, I still think we can upgrade should Jan decide to leave for Champions League football. Rumors are that Ajax is looking at him again, as well as some La Liga teams, he didn’t want to sign a contract extension because “he wants to keep his options open and just play out his current contract” that’s sign for “I am not happy here, I want to go elsewhere” so if someone comes knocking and paying the high tag Levy has set on him, (18 mil I think—maybe higher, this is the last figure I had heard he set on him)then let him go, if he doesn’t want to play at WHL then why keep him so here’s where I know some people would disagree with me; bring Aymeric Laporte! At age 20 he has proven to be a stable and very physical defender, many have even gone as far as compared him to legend defender Marius Tresor, who by the way was the fear of many strikers, his ability to read the situations and always be very physical on strikers and never allow them to take easy shots, very solid defender anyway you get the point…so what would keep us from getting him, his release clause of about 27.5mil. I don’t foresee our chairman letting go of such amount, unless he sells Vertonghen for the 18 mil and someone else for another 10 mil so he at least comes out on the positive… because we all know Levy will not settle for coming out even, he wants to gain. Bilbao will not even listen to offers, so we would be almost obligated to trigger that release clause. This young man is a tremendous star, he would bring some stability to the CB issue, I know Lloris would be more than happy with this move, wouldn’t be surprised if he has already talked to MP about this. This wouldn’t be enough for me to say our defensive problems are solved, I think we need two good CB’s that will help off the bench, good subs we can rely on, multiple options are out there but it really comes down to what Levy wants to spend on subs, or what MP thinks fits his style.

Midfield: not sure how much Levy wants to spend in this area, I think we have some great players here, some are starting to come around, but some need to go. I know many like Dembele, Capoue, but I just don’t see in them, I don’t see what they can truly offer anymore. Capoue lost it after Stambouli was signed. Capoue seems lost when on the pitch, he doesn’t try hard to be defensive, he loses the ball and doesn’t try to retrieve it… maybe it is just me but I just don’t see how he fits. Dembele is not motivated, 1 game does not make up for the lack in the rest of the matches he has played, he has a bad attitude on training (or so they say) and wants to do what he wants to do… why keep someone like this around.
Paulinho is on his way out and seem like either going back home or to Serie A… whichever, let’s get some money for him and move forward. I would like to see a true Left Midfielder. I like Chadli a lot and he has done a good job for us but he needs some back up or some competition. While I do foresee some future academy players in this role, the team needs someone that can fill in. There are too many options out there but someone who sticks out to me is Ibai Gomez from Bilbao. He has the ability to be a scorer, can play the wings or up front if needed, looks for the whole, and has a nice shot that can be deadly from outside the box. Between him and Lamela we could have some good creative players on the wings, plus you add Eriksen and Mason/Bentaleb to this mix, I think we are in top shape in the middle. Are there better cheaper options? Yes but I am looking for long term solutions, I feel this is a good midfield… good not great… I’d like great but I am keeping in mind who is sitting on the top seat splashing out the money. Otherwise I will be bringing up names like Bale, Reus, and Rodriguez etc.

Attack: good heaven I never thought I’d get to this topic, we all know what we need here. Kane is our leader up front and he needs a good partner, someone like Cavani, (this is an example people.) that will help create options and someone he can feed the ball to and can FINISH. As much as I want to see some money spent in the other areas, I am with everyone on spending most of the money here. I do think Ade and Soldado need to go, add some cash and let’s get Ings plus 1 or 2 more sub strikers that can help with the long schedule we have ahead.

These are my thoughts and ideas… trying to be a chairman for the day if you will.

Happy New Year~ COYS!