Toby Alderweireld - Is he any good

comment by NotSoMagicJuande (U1913)
posted 4 minutes ago
Some of your points are true. But I don't know how you can say

-Kane won't be at the same level.

This is based on absolutely no fact. He may well be, he may even be better.

- our defence will still be woeful

Again, how do you know? We've signed two new CBs, one of whom is proven in the PL and featured in one of the best defences in the league. Dier has a season under him and is improving. Walker has competition from a good young player with PL experience. Rose was fantastic the back end of last season. And crucially, labour and ciriches won't be anywhere near our team. And poch will have had a summer to work with all of them. Not saying it's going to be perfect but it's a step in the right direction.
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There isn't that much time now until the season starts, so we will soon see if I'm right or wrong on the points you mention.

I can see you're a glass half full guy so I can't tell you not to be positive, as you have mentioned the reasons why you believe we're moving in the right direction.

But, there is a much higher chance that the signings we make will struggle, Kane won't offer the same quality as last season and Pochettino will end up being fired.

If we look back to the performances under AVB, Sherwood and Pochettino, for the large majority the football was dire, dull, aside from a few excting matches.

Avb had Bale.

Sherwood had Adebayor and Eriksen.

Pochettino has Eriksen and Kane.

We have been managing to produce a decent league finish on the back of crap performances with one (or two) outstanding performers gaining points for the team.

I believe this season will be a major, major disappointment (for the fans that are looking to the positives) and after our low points tally (last season), we're moving backwards, we're boring to watch and we have a manager that is out of his depth.

And yes, that is all just my opinion, yet football is a game of opinions and we have another season ahead of us to see whos opinion has turned out to be right (or wrong).

True, it will be interesting to see who they go for. A fair few teams looking for a CB.

U20532

And pep had messi
And Wenger has Sanchez and Cazorla

I fail too see why people use the fact that a team has one or two exceptional players as an argument.

U

Not having a go, and you're right everyone is entitled to opinions. Some of what you say makes sense, we got very lucky in a lot of games last season and possibly our final position flattered us after some very very average football.

But it is odd to state your opinions as though they are facts - that Kane won't be at the same level for example. There's no reason to assume this.

I have hope for this season, and that hope is that it is more entertaining than last. But it does feel like we're going the right way - (hopefully) improving our defence, ol investing in youth, and prioritising scouting and academy. We'll see.

It's opinions that keep his board going so please don't think I'm arguing for the sake of it

comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 3 minutes ago
U20532

And pep had messi
And Wenger has Sanchez and Cazorla

I fail too see why people use the fact that a team has one or two exceptional players as an argument.
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Pep had Messi but the team was still outstanding and played outstanding football.

Wenger has Sanchez and Cazorla but Wenger has a history of winning trophies, winning the league and building great teams.

So you have looked at this from a different angle as I'm not saying its a negative for a team to have one or two outstanding individuals, I'm saying its a negative if the team also has a manager out of his depth and a plan which is flawed, and AVB, Sherwood and Pochettino all had (have) plans which are flawed and where lucky to have outstanding players to help hide the issues, and Pochettino will soon to found out, much like AVB and Sherwood.

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

Think he looks like a very good player for you guys but its all about tactics. Saints are a very good defensive team, they play with Wanyama and Schniderlin in the middle as 2 rocks so they are obviously going to concede alot less.

You guys play abit like us as in the whole team attack apart from the 2 CB and maybe 1 MF player if your lucky.

I diagree Patr1ck, I don't think we have exceptional players at all. I think our team is the 5th or 6th best in the league, so despite a few players picking up other players slack I don't think they have carried the coaches performance.

comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 3 minutes ago
I diagree Patr1ck, I don't think we have exceptional players at all. I think our team is the 5th or 6th best in the league, so despite a few players picking up other players slack I don't think they have carried the coaches performance.
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We have finished 5th/6th by having most of the squad under-perform, with one or two expectational players (in terms of their form) carrying the team so if the majority are playing to an average standard and one or two players are playing to an exceptional standard then you need to look at the manager/coaches as its their team. their setup and a good manager will have the majority of the team playing to a high standard.

So the point was that because the performances on the whole have been average and Kane/Eriksen have carried the team, my view is that the manager is out of his depth and will get found out, much like Avb or Sherwood or even Ramos who was found out in the end.

Have they though?

I think Kane has been exceptional, Rose had an exceptional second half, Eriksen exceptional first half, Lloris has been great throughout the season. Bentaleb has been brilliant, Chadli has been consistently productive throughout, Lamela & Townsend have chipped in with a few good performances, Mason has been alright.

I wouldn't say many of those players have been carried, our issue was just a poor back line and little contribution from the bench.