with the potential addition of Capoue.....

"I think our position last season was false."

Our position was totally in line with the strength of the squad over the past 4-5 seasons, and the improvement in away form.

comment by Doovdé - BALE WILL STAY! GEOFF IS NEVER WRONG! (U2996)
posted 1 hour, 41 minutes ago

He's not a central midfielder. He's a DM/CB who can fill both positions comfortably

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A defensive midfielder IS a central midfielder .

Most teams have two immediately in front of the back four, and there are several styles is all. They play in exactly the same position, just the roles vary slightly in any particular partnership

If you stopped bale you stopped spurs, this was most apparent when he was out with ankle injury, when we struggled to score goals.

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Not true - I believe we scored more goals per game without Bale in the side than with him

I think to finish with that points total with our squad plus major injuries/lay offs is nothing short of miraculous - dont get me wrong... It's just that I do feel Bale carries us.. It's not just the amount of goals he scores its timing and sheer importance of them. Aside from assists his involved in everything good going forward, his runs on/off the ball, he draws players to him, creates space. Teams set up differently just to cope with him - its too simplistic to look at goals. He's our talisman - taking him away from that side is massive and will take us a fair while to recover from.

Back to my original point.. We need a more rounded attacking unit. A team that works in unity to break teams down, not just sideways passing, then rely on Bale magic.. If we couldn't break a team down last year we got bale to rifle one in. We need invention.
Dembele further forward may help but who's the guy to run the game ? Unlock a door with a slide rule pass ? It's all pace power and physical presence at the mo.. It's like AVB and co and are taking a too simplistic view on the prem.

How many times did we win a game by more than one goal last year ? It can't be many.

We may need to score more than ever this year so more creative spark is needed, especially with Soldado requiring service.

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They apparently still owe 12-15m for Modric.
Thinking they will get similar payment terms for Bale (spread over a longer period) is one of their big mistakes it seems.

Reminds me of burkinshaw era. Need a cb buy a midfielder. Need a cf buy a midfielder etc...

Keithy bought the right players.
Actually thru the 80s the buying activities of the club was good.
With the odd parallels to now (selling Roberts when we had just bought Gough etc) .