And, we’re off.......2018/2019

[Tashyboy]

As I see it:

Best
Arsenal, Liverpool - both identified their weaknesses and fixed them without fuss early in the window.

Pretty Good
Everton, Leicester, Wolves - I think they've all made some good signings who should improve them if they don't all flop.

Not Bad
Chelsea - good midfield support in, but didn't address the striker issue.
Man City - only bought one notable player but their squad was already the best and they've not lost anyone.
Spurs - didn't buy anyone but didn't lose anyone either so no need to buy big just for the sake of it. Squad was already strong.
Man Utd - I think they wanted more, but Fred and the full back are decent additions.
Fulham - they've spent a lot, personally I don't rate Mawson or Mitrovic though so remains to be seen how it works out for them.
Burnley, Palace, Southampton - they all added one or two players who give them more depth in certain areas.

Jury Still Out
Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield - they all look to have spent quite a bit of money on a lot of players who I'm not really familiar with so can't judge.
West Ham - I think they've gone a bit over-the-top, seemingly chucking money around left right and centre, which has left them with a massive bloated squad, and potential gelling issues. Pellegrini has his work cut out - but he's a good manager who can make it all work for them.

Poor
Cardiff, Newcastle, Watford - looking at their signings they seem to have brought in Championship level players or unknowns really.

A lot of thought put into that post and one of the best write ups ave seen in a long time. 👍

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Todays front page from The Teeside Gazette :rofl:

 

[SteveW86]

Without having to search through the thread, do we have a fantasy football league set up?

 

[Dan2501]

Without having to search through the thread, do we have a fantasy football league set up?

Yep, details here - http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/sh...asy-Premier-League-18-19-Golf-Monthly-Classic

 

[Dan2501]

Batshuayi has gone to Valencia on loan.

Zouma to Everton set to be announced in the next hour or so

 

[PJ87]

As I see it:

Best
Arsenal, Liverpool - both identified their weaknesses and fixed them without fuss early in the window.

Pretty Good
Everton, Leicester, Wolves - I think they've all made some good signings who should improve them if they don't all flop.

Not Bad
Chelsea - good midfield support in, but didn't address the striker issue.
Man City - only bought one notable player but their squad was already the best and they've not lost anyone.
Spurs - didn't buy anyone but didn't lose anyone either so no need to buy big just for the sake of it. Squad was already strong.
Man Utd - I think they wanted more, but Fred and the full back are decent additions.
Fulham - they've spent a lot, personally I don't rate Mawson or Mitrovic though so remains to be seen how it works out for them.
Burnley, Palace, Southampton - they all added one or two players who give them more depth in certain areas.

Jury Still Out
Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield - they all look to have spent quite a bit of money on a lot of players who I'm not really familiar with so can't judge.
West Ham - I think they've gone a bit over-the-top, seemingly chucking money around left right and centre, which has left them with a massive bloated squad, and potential gelling issues. Pellegrini has his work cut out - but he's a good manager who can make it all work for them.

Poor
Cardiff, Newcastle, Watford - looking at their signings they seem to have brought in Championship level players or unknowns really.

You can’t claim spurs is “not bad” whilst ours is jury out.. spurs is a massive gamble.. West Ham’s is far less of a gamble because we added to our squad .. this league you need to buy least 2 players a summer to stand still.. so signing no-one makes you go backwards

I’d say jury’s out on spurs if this gamble will pay off

Could cost you champions league. Everyone below you has strengthened..

 

[Deleted member 15344]

As I see it:

Best
Arsenal, Liverpool - both identified their weaknesses and fixed them without fuss early in the window.

Pretty Good
Everton, Leicester, Wolves - I think they've all made some good signings who should improve them if they don't all flop.

Not Bad
Chelsea - good midfield support in, but didn't address the striker issue.
Man City - only bought one notable player but their squad was already the best and they've not lost anyone.
Spurs - didn't buy anyone but didn't lose anyone either so no need to buy big just for the sake of it. Squad was already strong.
Man Utd - I think they wanted more, but Fred and the full back are decent additions.
Fulham - they've spent a lot, personally I don't rate Mawson or Mitrovic though so remains to be seen how it works out for them.
Burnley, Palace, Southampton - they all added one or two players who give them more depth in certain areas.

Jury Still Out
Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield - they all look to have spent quite a bit of money on a lot of players who I'm not really familiar with so can't judge.
West Ham - I think they've gone a bit over-the-top, seemingly chucking money around left right and centre, which has left them with a massive bloated squad, and potential gelling issues. Pellegrini has his work cut out - but he's a good manager who can make it all work for them.

Poor
Cardiff, Newcastle, Watford - looking at their signings they seem to have brought in Championship level players or unknowns really.

How can the jury be out on West Ham when they have done the same as Everton, Fulham and Wolves which you have said is Pretty Good ? All going by your ranking should be jury out - if anything West Ham might have the edge with them having a manager who has already been very successful in the Prem - the other clubs managers are very much untested or jury’s out

And Spurs - not bad ? They finish fourth last season struggled in the KO in the CL , so to move forward they buy no one but have a few players with contracts ending soon and will go for nothing. They were clearly looking to bring players in with the chase of Grealish but maybe with the stadium they can’t actually afford the players. Spurs to move forward needed to increase the quality in the squad but they have stood still - they have a lot of players who are just returning from the World Cup with not must rest - come jan and they could be struggling , couple of injuries to the spine and it’s going to be a struggle - all the teams around them bought players to try and move forward , Spurs could easily see themselves out of the top 4 as quickly as they entered

 

[Deleted member 1418]

You can’t claim spurs is “not bad” whilst ours is jury out.. spurs is a massive gamble.. West Ham’s is far less of a gamble because we added to our squad .. this league you need to buy least 2 players a summer to stand still.. so signing no-one makes you go backwards

I’d say jury’s out on spurs if this gamble will pay off

Could cost you champions league. Everyone below you has strengthened..

Pretty fair assessment.

I've got a couple of good mates who are long-time Spurs season ticket holders - they're less than impressed with the lack of activity in the transfer market. I said to them about the cost of the new stadium but in their opinion that's no excuse - proper business planning should have still made money available for Poch.

The way they see it they had a fair few players at the World Cup on top of a long season so needed to bring in players to strengthen further. They've seen what they see as their nearest competitors - Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool all active and are worried. One of them even said he was worried about Everton too. They're not confident of finishing top 4 at all.

 

[Orikoru]

You can’t claim spurs is “not bad” whilst ours is jury out.. spurs is a massive gamble.. West Ham’s is far less of a gamble because we added to our squad .. this league you need to buy least 2 players a summer to stand still.. so signing no-one makes you go backwards

I’d say jury’s out on spurs if this gamble will pay off

Could cost you champions league. Everyone below you has strengthened..

How is it a gamble to stick with a squad we already know is good? That's like the complete opposite of a gamble. Signing no one is going backwards - complete rubbish. We have a strong squad, with young players and a good manager. Throwing 35 mil on a player for the bench would have meant improvement would it? Last time we did that we got Sissoko.

How can the jury be out on West Ham when they have done the same as Everton, Fulham and Wolves which you have said is Pretty Good ? All going by your ranking should be jury out - if anything West Ham might have the edge with them having a manager who has already been very successful in the Prem - the other clubs managers are very much untested or jury’s out

And Spurs - not bad ? They finish fourth last season struggled in the KO in the CL , so to move forward they buy no one but have a few players with contracts ending soon and will go for nothing. They were clearly looking to bring players in with the chase of Grealish but maybe with the stadium they can’t actually afford the players. Spurs to move forward needed to increase the quality in the squad but they have stood still - they have a lot of players who are just returning from the World Cup with not must rest - come jan and they could be struggling , couple of injuries to the spine and it’s going to be a struggle - all the teams around them bought players to try and move forward , Spurs could easily see themselves out of the top 4 as quickly as they entered

I felt that Everton and Wolves bought sensibly, whereas West Ham took a bit of a scattergun approach. Fulham bought quite sensibly but I didn't overly rate some of the players they got.

Near impossible to improve our starting team with our budget, so again, why throw 35 million away on another bench player? The key thing is we were expecting to maybe lose one or two players who would have been hard to replace, but we've hung onto them, which is excellent.

'As quickly as we entered'? We've been in there for the last three seasons now.

 

[Dan2501]

Quite a few Spurs players were at the World Cup for a while and Son is at the Asian Games after 1 game and could be there until the start of September, amazed they've not strengthened.

 

[Orikoru]

Pretty fair assessment.

I've got a couple of good mates who are long-time Spurs season ticket holders - they're less than impressed with the lack of activity in the transfer market. I said to them about the cost of the new stadium but in their opinion that's no excuse - proper business planning should have still made money available for Poch.

The way they see it they had a fair few players at the World Cup on top of a long season so needed to bring in players to strengthen further. They've seen what they see as their nearest competitors - Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool all active and are worried. One of them even said he was worried about Everton too. They're not confident of finishing top 4 at all.

I would love to hear who they think we could have signed on our budget that actually would have improved the squad and not just bloated it.

 

[Dan2501]

I would love to hear who they think we could have signed on our budget that actually would have improved the squad and not just bloated it.

Why's the budget so small? You've had Champions League money the past 2 seasons and qualified again for this season - where's all that money going?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

How is it a gamble to stick with a squad we already know is good? That's like the complete opposite of a gamble. Signing no one is going backwards - complete rubbish. We have a strong squad, with young players and a good manager. Throwing 35 mil on a player for the bench would have meant improvement would it? Last time we did that we got Sissoko.




I felt that Everton and Wolves bought sensibly, whereas West Ham took a bit of a scattergun approach. Fulham bought quite sensibly but I didn't overly rate some of the players they got.

Near impossible to improve our starting team with our budget, so again, why throw 35 million away on another bench player? The key thing is we were expecting to maybe lose one or two players who would have been hard to replace, but we've hung onto them, which is excellent.

'As quickly as we entered'? We've been in there for the last three seasons now.

What’s the budget then at Spurs ? Is it that small

Or are you trying to downplay the lack of signings - if the Squad is that strong why the lack of title challenge or indeed any trophy challenge ?

 

[Orikoru]

Quite a few Spurs players were at the World Cup for a while and Son is at the Asian Games after 1 game and could be there until the start of September, amazed they've not strengthened.

Trippier/Aurier
Toby/Sanchez
Vertonghen/Foyth
Davies/Rose
Dier/Wanyama
Dembele/Winks/Sissoko
Eriksen, Alli, Son / Lamela, Lucas
Kane/Llorente

Cover in every position already exists. I don't see the issue.

 

[Orikoru]

Why's the budget so small? You've had Champions League money the past 2 seasons and qualified again for this season - where's all that money going?

It's not small by a regular standard but it's much smaller than the likes of City, Liverpool & United isn't it? And to improve our team we'd be looking at 60-70 mil a player.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Spurs have a settled team so that is no worry. The only worry is the first month and season end as they have so many WC players that may impact due to the squad size. Otherwise, no players to fit in, no disruption.

I'm really pleased with the Everton signings. Unlike last year we have better balance. Gomes may be key and I get he could have a question mark over him. Hopefully we can ease him in and still allow Tom Davies to develop. At least we look more solid at the back now without have to resort to 10 at the back Sam tactics.

 

[Papas1982]

Trippier/Aurier
Toby/Sanchez
Vertonghen/Foyth
Davies/Rose
Dier/Wanyama
Dembele/Winks/Sissoko
Eriksen, Alli, Son / Lamela, Lucas
Kane/Llorente

Cover in every position already exists. I don't see the issue.

I don’t think those 4 are good enough if you actually want to challenge for things. If you want to do an Arsenal then it may well be sufficient.

A sub striker is a mare though for you guys and they obviously won’t play. Imo it’s the attacking roles you’re light on. Dier, wanyama, dembele and winks can cover the 2 needed in the middle easy eniugh. But even if Kane and Llorente play up top all season, I think Erickson, Alli, son and Lucas (not convinced by) can handle the workload without much rotation.

 

[GB72]

To my mind, the Spurs situation is not one of the quality of the current squad but rather showing the ambition to retain it. There are a number of players there that would be at the top of a number of clubs' shopping lists. What I suspect most of those players want now is success and medals. A lack of ambition in the Transfer market when other clubs around are bringing in players to improve their squad is not going to help retain players when the whales of Europe come in to try and sign them.

 

[Deleted member 1418]

I would love to hear who they think we could have signed on our budget that actually would have improved the squad and not just bloated it.

Doesn't matter what they think; plenty of other teams have made good signings and spent 60-70 million in total on players. Where have Spurs finished the last two seasons, 2nd and 3rd is it? Finished 2nd because Chelsea ran away with it in the middle of the season due to no CL football; and 3rd last season 4 points behind a Utd team that more or less everyone felt wasn't that great; and only 2 ahead of Liverpool. That's not progress.

However I assume that as Poch didn't make any signings then the Spurs transfer budget was actually zero! So you're right there - you cannot improve a squad on nothing

It's a shame that Chelsea hate Spurs so much - we could've loaned you a team full of internationals!!!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Trippier/Aurier
Toby/Sanchez
Vertonghen/Foyth
Davies/Rose
Dier/Wanyama
Dembele/Winks/Sissoko
Eriksen, Alli, Son / Lamela, Lucas
Kane/Llorente

Cover in every position already exists. I don't see the issue.

From your list of players the below are players that should have been improved on if the club wants to move forward on the pitch

Davies , Sissoko , Lamela , Moura , Llorente

No idea about Foyth because I don’t believe he has played a game in the Prem ,

Winks is a decent enough player but players out there that can improve ,

If Spurs lose Kane or Eriksen for any significant then i think there will be struggles

At the back through the middle and in the middle of the park defensively then I see Spurs being strong - attacking options very thin in quality and relying on two players