Summer Transfer Gossip

Deep Thought

Defoe......10M to Newcastle ?

Possible swoop for Barcelona star Ibrahim Afellay.

Hatch99

Deep Thought wrote: »

Possible swoop for Barcelona star Ibrahim Afellay.

He's a left sided player isn't he, strange one

everdead.ie

Hatch99 wrote: »

He's a left sided player isn't he, strange one

Think he played on the right when he played against Real Madrid in the champions league(at least I remember him playing the cross from the right for a messi goal)

Deep Thought

Thought he was left but not sure

"Ibrahim Has Been A Long Spurs Fan And Had Said He'd Do Anything to play for Tottenham"

Antisocialiser

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/07/27/2592792/tottenham-close-in-on-15m-deal-for-romas-mirko-vucinic

Goal.com reckon we are going to sign Vucinic in the next few days :cool:

SuprSi

Affelay is very quick and can play as an attacking midfielder or winger, so I'd be surprised with that one, especially considering his comments here;

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3277/la-liga/2011/07/26/2592253/ibrahim-afellay-eager-to-prove-himself-at-barcelona

"I hope I stay fit and that I will do like last season and play as much as possible," he said to the press after the match.

"I can only do my best, work hard every day and show what I can do."

I guess he could cover or replace Lennon, like Adam Johnson, or perhaps if Bale is injured or rested.

everdead.ie

Harry Kane training with the first team today pics on twitter.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

If we got Affelay I would be over the moon! Not gonna get my hopes up tho, he only went to Barca in January and saw plenty of game time.

I'm just gonna leave this here though:P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK47GWP9CrY

Deep Thought

Foster Gone to WBA

We missed out there, I'm sure he would love a stint with us, in Europe and really challening up there.

Bad Miss

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Here's a quote from one of the Barca fans over in the SF who actually lives in Barcelona afaik. I'm starting to believe:D

redout wrote: »

Seems like he has been linked with a move ever since he arrived.

If Cesc returns added to the fact Alexis has been signed then I wouldnt be surprised to see him leave.

Most memorable moment was setting up Messi against Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Bit of a greedy player at times in my opinion - still needs to learn to Barça way.

coola

THFC wrote: »

Here's a quote from one of the Barca fans over in the SF who actually lives in Barcelona afaik. I'm starting to believe:D

starting to believe what? that we may be getting another barca reject - no thanks .

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

coola wrote: »

starting to believe what? that we may be getting another barca reject - no thanks .

He is by no means a Barca reject. He came on in the second leg of the CL semi against Real (in a very hostile atmosphere) when the game was still in the balance and provided an assist. He is a very good player and we could knock a good 7/8 years out of him. It's just that Barca that have an unbelievable abundance of talent in that position and with Sanchez having arrived he won't be seeing as much game time as he'd like. And it's not like Gio, this guy could come straight into the first team and do a very good job. I'm sure Van der Vaart would welcome him. Also, we could do a lot worse than Barca rejects anyways..

coola

THFC wrote: »

He is by no means a Barca reject. He came on in the second leg of the CL semi against Real (in a very hostile atmosphere) when the game was still in the balance and provided an assist. He is a very good player and we could knock a good 7/8 years out of him. It's just that Barca that have an unbelievable abundance of talent in that position and with Sanchez having arrived he won't be seeing as much game time as he'd like. And it's not like Gio, this guy could come straight into the first team and do a very good job. I'm sure Van der Vaart would welcome him. Also, we could do a lot worse than Barca rejects anyways..

gio came straight into the first team as well and didnt last long. if barca saw anything in him then they would have kept him and brought him along. they got rid same as arsenal got rid of bentley cos wenger didnt see anything in him and wasnt he right

Kiith

I'd like to see Affelay at the club, as he's a great player. But a good striker has to be our top priority.

2nd Row Donkey

Affelay looks the part and it would be great to have a player who can come in for Bale/modric/VDV or lennon without weakening the team by much, if at all.

Having said that, its still frustrating that the only transfer of any substence is another attacking midfielder because we need 2 strikers double asap. F**k we need 4 strikers imo, but I'll settle for 2 of top quality!

Deep Thought

Why is everyone hung up on getting strikers

We can score as many as we want, but unless we have a decent Keeper and 2 solid Centre halfs, we could score 50 goals but still get beaten 51-50

Shore up the defense and we will avoid embarrassing situations like Young Boys and lost chances when Gomes decided to go loopy

Kiith

Our main problem last year was not being able to score. Hell, i'd take the days of winning 4-3 or 5-4 over drawing and losing to random bottom of the table teams like we did last year.

Deep Thought

Note sure about this

2010/2011 we scored 55 and conceded 46 = 83% conceded against scored

Utd scored 78 but only conceded 37 = 47% conceded against scored

Bring 83% to 60% and we will lose/ draw less games

Great Keeper and defense....best option imho

Leinstersqspur

Deep Thought wrote: »

Note sure about this

2010/2011 we scored 55 and conceded 46 = 83% conceded against scored

Utd scored 78 but only conceded 37 = 47% conceded against scored

Bring 83% to 60% and we will lose/ draw less games

Great Keeper and defense....best option imho

Eh..Not sure of you're right there....
In 2010 season we won 21 games and drew 7
In 2011 season we won 16 and drew 14

We played alot of teams, had an abundance of possession, but failed to make it count (particularly at home)....

From the first game of the season at home to Man City 0-0 through to the second last home game against Blackpool 1-1.

You have to have two good strikers to compete within the Big6 i.e. Rooney/Hernandez, Torres/Drogba, Suarez/Carroll, Dzeko/Aguero, Van Persie/Gervinho....

jiltloop

Deep Thought wrote: »

Note sure about this

2010/2011 we scored 55 and conceded 46 = 83% conceded against scored

Utd scored 78 but only conceded 37 = 47% conceded against scored

Bring 83% to 60% and we will lose/ draw less games

Great Keeper and defense....best option imho

I think you're thinking too deeply there (sorry!), forget about percentages. According to those figures we only conceded 9 more goals than the champions but scored 23 less goals than them. That says something glaringly obvious to me. We're not too far away defensively especially if you get Gomez out of goals but we're a lot further off in goal scoring.
I bet our possession was pretty close to Utd's all season too. We just didn't have any end product.

2nd Row Donkey

Even with the current crop of players, surely we can only improve on those stats (above) - both defensively and attacking.

With Freidel in goal and a more stable back four (remember the amount of injuries we had in first half of ast season), we will hopefully concede less then 46 goals this season.

Up front, I want us to get new faces as much as the next guy but our 4 existing strikers can only improve on last years dire return ratio.

Deep Thought

jiltloop wrote: »

I think you're thinking too deeply there (sorry!), .

Agreed..less Deep Thoughts and more good ones...

SuprSi

As has been mentioned, the problem last season was that we didn't score enough goals. How many bottom-half teams did we draw against where there were either none or 1 goal scored by each team? We turn 2 or 3 of those results (all at home) into wins, and we've another 6 points, which puts us right back up there.

From what I can see, the midfield creates the chances, yet the strikers don't finish. All you have to do is look at how few assists Bale had, compared with the amount of passes/crosses we see him put into the box.

Get a new striker, get extra goals, get more points. Simple!

everdead.ie

SuprSi wrote: »

As has been mentioned, the problem last season was that we didn't score enough goals. How many bottom-half teams did we draw against where there were either none or 1 goal scored by each team? We turn 2 or 3 of those results (all at home) into wins, and we've another 6 points, which puts us right back up there.

From what I can see, the midfield creates the chances, yet the strikers don't finish. All you have to do is look at how few assists Bale had, compared with the amount of passes/crosses we see him put into the box.

Get a new striker, get extra goals, get more points. Simple!

Bale before he was injured had the highest amount of crosses(maybe it was chances created) in the box and he only got one assist all season!

SuprSi

everdead.ie wrote: »

Bale before he was injured had the highest amount of crosses(maybe it was chances created) in the box and he only got one assist all season!

Exactly! It bugged me when people compared him to Nani (who had a great season) and used Nani's better goal and assists ratio to proclaim him the better player. The reason he had better stats was because he had better strikers to finish the chances off. You put Rooney/Berbatov/Hernandez up front for Spurs, and Bale's stats would go way up too. Or, you put Bale into the Utd team (more realistic!) and the same thing would happen.

thudd

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

With Freidel in goal and a more stable back four (remember the amount of injuries we had in first half of ast season), we will hopefully concede less then 46 goals this season.

I still think Gomes will be first choice again next season. Brad brought in to put a bit of pressure on him, although I think he may think / may have been told different. Its make or break for Gomes now.

SuprSi

Well, if Gomes could rediscover his form from the season before last, he'd be brilliant. He's well capable of being a superb keeper, he just needs to concentrate!

Sugarlumps

Gomes may well be the number one choice to start in nets, but I don’t think he’ll hold onto it with Friedel/Cudicini baring down on him. A brief glimpse in preseason where he simply had to catch the ball under no pressure and no power in the shot, he decides to chocolate fist it.

thudd

His decision making can be shambolic at times alright. I wouldn't even mind as much if he just picked an option (tip it over for a corner or catch it) if he just bloody well followed through with conviction in his decision, if that makes sense?? Always caught in two minds. Anyways, this is all a bit off topic.

In other news, Nikola Zigic's agent reckons Redknapp has his eye on him. LOL
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11675_7065920,00.html

Antisocialiser

Looks like Adebayor is away to Real Madrid! Would have been a great signing for us