I think you are overrating our midfield.
I think you are under-rating it
Well, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Van Der Vaart On The Move
- Thread starter Drifter
- Start date
I think you are under-rating it
Well, the grass is always greener on the other side.
But can't you see how close it is? It's hardly an outrageous statement.
I'd easily have their midfield in the top 4 in the league (certainly when you consider its depth) so someone saying they think it's the best is hardly laughable imo.
What makes a great midfield ? I don't think just because an x number of good/decent CM it automatically makes your midfield one of the best in the league.It's FM logic
I think they have the best midfield, in terms of a ratio of numbers to quality. But they don't have any truly outstanding player like a Fabregas, Essien, Gerrard, even an aging Scholes and Lampard are considerably better than anything Spurs have 1v1. Same with their defense.
I think they've done well to build a squad that should consistently finish between 4th and 7th, depending on whether City ever get their act together or not and Gerrard/Torres' fitness.
I think they've done well to build a squad that should consistently finish between 4th and 7th, depending on whether City ever get their act together or not and Gerrard/Torres' fitness.
Come on, where are the likes of Huddlestone and Palacios ? Sandro is still an unknown so to put him in that starting line-up is premature
He cost them £10m, hardly premature thinking they intend to start him.
If they go with two DM who are they going to leave out? Will they shift Bale to LB when hes has been spurs best player for the last 8 month? and stick Modric on the left?
A move that I surely would not comprehend.
I think, once he was moved to the left side of midfield - from left-back -, Bale has really shown why many top clubs were keen on signing him.
Defoe/Crouch
Bale - Modric/Van der Vaart - Lennon
Palacios - Huddlestone
Plenty of other options to change the system and rotate between players.Bale - Modric/Van der Vaart - Lennon
Palacios - Huddlestone
Either Huddlestone or Palacios will regularly feature for Spurs, that's a blatant certainty.They need a bit of steel in midfield and experience next to this Sandro to help him if he will get many games.
Modric is the one who will have to make way for VDV as he isn't that essential for Spurs
I'd say their midfield is already performing pretty well and they've just added a good player.
the BBC report carries a pic of Iniesta with a caption about how Van der Vaart (not in pic) failed to stop him scoring in the World Cup final.
BBC Sport - Football - Tottenham clinch £8m Rafael van der Vaart deal
Bizzare.
More bizarre still is the other pic on that page which shows a bent over bloke who has apparently just suffered from a ball in the face that was struck by the not in pic Van Der Vaart.
BBC Sport - Football - Tottenham clinch £8m Rafael van der Vaart deal
Bizzare.
More bizarre still is the other pic on that page which shows a bent over bloke who has apparently just suffered from a ball in the face that was struck by the not in pic Van Der Vaart.
Yeah it's performing but it's not close to being one of the best in the league.
These "one of the best, the best.." tags are issued way too easily these days on the caf
Best formation I've seen offered to get the most out of Spurs. Will be interesting to see if 'Arry will let it happen.
They've also got a few handy subs: Sandro, Dos Santos, Bentley, Kranjcar, Pav, Keane.
I think the key thing to understand is not that their midfield is better than Chelsea's, ours, Arsenal's, City's, but for the first time they're able to properly compete with anyone's in the PL. They will go out to win games, even if it is against us and that's huge for them.
Even when Everton snatched their top 4 finish, you never felt they could properly compete. Spurs have bought well.
Van der Vaart's best position is support striker, not central midfielder.
I don't see how you can't see it as being among the best. They finished 4th in the league last season with that midfield and have added a very good player to it in VDV.
I disagree with Scholsey in that I don't think it's the best, my argument was I didn't get why people were laughing at it when it's fairly obvious they have some very good players in that area.
I think too many people discredit their midfield because it's "only" Spurs.
A midfield that will allow to fight for the title is a midfield I'd consider among the best.
I don't consider it (Spurs' midfield) as one of the best in the PL but that doesn't mean I don't rate it.
I have seen him play well in a three-man midfield for Holland as well as for Hamburg. His prefered position seems to be right behind the strikers, ''playmaker like''. Which doesn't mean, that he won't be able to play as a ''support striker''.
He can too though operate on either side of midfield.
Van der Vaart also holds a Bundesliga record for Hamburg - he managed to score in seven successive league matches for the Northeners.
I would put our midfield as above average with the exception of the oldies, and its our defence and attack that rescue us on most occasions.
It's a stone cold certainty that Modric will not be dropped to make way for anyone. Depending on the match circumstances, one of the following will happen:
In a 4-4-2:
1) Bale as LB, with a midfield 4 of Modric (LM), Lennon (RW), VdV (central attacking mid), plus one of Huddlestone, Palacios or Sandro as deep-lying playmaker or DM.
2) VdV as 2nd striker playing in the hole behind Crouch (say), with a midfield 4 of Bale (LW), Lennon (RW), Modric (central attacking mid), plus one of Huddlestone, Palacios or Sandro as deep-lying playmaker or DM.
In a 4-5-1:
1) A midfield 5 of Bale (LW), VdV (central attacking mid) and Lennon (RW), with Modric and one of Huddlestone, Palacios or Sandro all playing deeper in CM.
2) Bale as LB, with a midfield 5 of Modric (LM), vdV (central attacking mid) and Lennon (RW), plus Huddlestone and one of either Palacios or Sandro playing deeper in CM.
All with Kranjcar, Bentley, Dos Santos and Jenas as replacement/cover where needed.
It will take a while for VdV to settle and adjust, but I'm willing to bet that he (and Modric) will eventually start pretty much every match when fit and not needing a rest.
Bale at LB is a disaster waiting to happen as seen before. Modric should be given creative license to roam ahead of the midfield and behind the striker/forwards. VDV is just a luxury item at the moment.
Could be very important for spurs in their Champions League campaign.
--------------------Palacios-------------------------------
-----------Modric-------------Van Der Vaart--------
Lennon----------------------------------------Bale
------------------Defoe/Crouch---------------------------
Not bad, mind you neither forward strikes me as well suited to a 4-5-1.
--------------------Palacios-------------------------------
-----------Modric-------------Van Der Vaart--------
Lennon----------------------------------------Bale
------------------Defoe/Crouch---------------------------
Not bad, mind you neither forward strikes me as well suited to a 4-5-1.
I've only just realised what a great goal-scoring record VdV has.
According to wiki he has a career total of scoring in 37% of appearances. Lampard is rightly considered to be prolific goal-scorer for a midfielder, but his equivalent percentage is 29%.
According to wiki he has a career total of scoring in 37% of appearances. Lampard is rightly considered to be prolific goal-scorer for a midfielder, but his equivalent percentage is 29%.
Well, Harry would disagree with you (and so do I). He's said that he sees Bale's long-term future being at LB.
I also very much doubt that Harry will see VdV as merely a luxury item.
Nice setup Lynk. The strikers will place no fear in opposing CL or the top PL sides. The midfield will have to score a bulk of the goals to win which they are capable of.
Instead of signing VDV, they really needed to find another forward. Mind you I have no clue who they could have signed this late but they had all summer to identify one. Especially if 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 is they way forward for them. Hell, even Klose would be good for that setup.
Crouch, Defoe, Keane, Pav are all decent strikers but not top class. Compare to Rooney/Berbatov, Drogba/Anelka, Tevez/Adebayor/Ballotelli, RVP, Eto'o, etc. Maybe City would have offloaded Adebayor to Spurs just to get under this 25 man squad thingy.
Instead of signing VDV, they really needed to find another forward. Mind you I have no clue who they could have signed this late but they had all summer to identify one. Especially if 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 is they way forward for them. Hell, even Klose would be good for that setup.
Crouch, Defoe, Keane, Pav are all decent strikers but not top class. Compare to Rooney/Berbatov, Drogba/Anelka, Tevez/Adebayor/Ballotelli, RVP, Eto'o, etc. Maybe City would have offloaded Adebayor to Spurs just to get under this 25 man squad thingy.
He's crap at LB. Maybe when he's 28 he'll be good at it. I doubt SAF would see him as a LB. SAF is better than ol' Harry btw.
We do need another striker, that's true, to replace Keane.
Take it with a pinch of salt if you wish (I personally am confident this is all correct), but the inside word is that Harry tried hard for Fabiano, only to have the deal break down over his wage demands after after an £18m fee had been agreed with Sevilla (he wanted 90k a week on a 5 yr deal .... for a player who is nearly 30!).
And apparently Harry wasn't interested in Huntelaar (which I can sort of understand).
Suarez was really a non-starter, especially after Ajax also qualified for the CL, so that didn't leave too many other realistic or obvious options in terms of available strikers who would stand a good chance of being an upgrade on what have already.
I would have quite liked Fabiano for 18m, but adding on the wages over 5 years would have pushed the effective price up to over 40m, which is ridiculous for a player that would have little re-sale value. IMO if he'd have agreed to 2 years at 70k, or even 3 years at 60k, then maybe .... So I'm not too fussed about this all in all.
So, Spurs haven't gotten all they wanted this window, but we'll soldier on with Crouch, Defoe, Pav and Keane, which isn't so bad ... I've seen worse quartets of strikers. And with VdV, Gallas and Sandro, plus another backup GK, I still reckon we're a fair bit stronger than last season.
That would be a big waste of his offensive talent.When you have a great talent on the wing, why restrict him to play as a LB ?
Bale looks much more natural and better as a LW
Why does resale price matter? If Spurs are truly in the business of winning trophies and becoming a regular top 4 and CL challenger, this kind of attitude shouldn't exist. And who cares about the fee and cost if Fabiano is firing in the goals?
He was playing LB for S'Hampton when Spurs signed him and all the original hoo-hah about his promising abilities - including Fergie's rumoured interest - had already come to the fore.
It's only since then, at Spurs, that he's been playing LW on a regular-ish basis, interspersed with spells at LB. So IMO it's foolish to rule out his eventual return to LB, and probably sooner than many think given VdV's arrival in a squad that already has Modric.
I hope Harry puts him at LB when United play them... Valencia/Nani can again rip his ass.
And we'll find out about where SAF sees him when United once again go shopping to their feeder club.
Levy knows that Spurs top4 finish was a fluke so he doesn't want to saddle them with bills they can't pay.
You are effectively saying that money shouldn't matter - but of course it does matter, especially to a club that has not had the benefit of regular CL income and which is planning to finance a new stadium, not to mention currently financing the construction a of brand new training complex.
Levy can hardly be criticised for a lack of ambition: he's invested a lot in players (net spend) and facilities for players, and has managed to keep Spurs finances on an even keel whilst doing so. And I don't want to see Spurs racking up huge debts like Liverpool and Man. Utd ... because sooner or later those chickens come home to roost.
So of course it would have been silly for Spurs to commit 40m+ on Fabiano: much better to take bargains like VdV when we can, and keep our powder dry for the January window.
He's been absolutely brilliant as a left winger. The one player I would want from your team. And you'd move him to LB? why? I don't see why Modric or anyone else should start in that position ahead of him.
Yep, beating Chelsea, Arsenal and City (away), all in quick succession when push came to shove at the crunch end of the season .... that was such a fluke.
... as was being in the top 4 for the vast majority of the season, and never out of the top 6 at any stage of the season.
United's debts have nothing to do with transfer fees and wages.
What are you on about?
What are you on about?
I'm disputing your crazy notion that money shouldn't matter to a club that's seeking to progress ...
And I'm saying that, regardless of how your debt arose, the debt "chickens" eventually come home to roost ... as many clubs have found to their cost.
Sure, Spurs could have found the money to commit 40+m on Fabiano (fee + wages on a 5 year contract), but then we'd not likely not have had the money to spend more sensibly later on ... except by borrowing it or selling off a key player. And then what would we do in January or next summer if a player like Suarez (for example), suddenly does becomes available?
First time in PL history and won't be repeated any time soon.
Agreed.
Sylvie
I'm not a fan of the bags under the eyes...