Shak

God I hope we don't just sign one player this summer. Hard to fault much he's done to this point, the summer is massive for him though obviously. Cook Pass Pardew for now though.

Tbf it's not a good comparison on my part, if only for the fact that Spurs this season are light years ahead of where we were at the time we bought Duff. Still, the point is that when you have a very promising young talent who has burst into the first team and looks mint you don't immediately go and try and find someone else to come in and take his place, especially when your team as a whole is more or less rubbish. N'Zogbia was one of about three good first team players we had, and yet he was the only one we looked to bring in a replacement for that summer.

What like Pienaar? Aye, same exact thing.

Spurs must be kicking themselves for not bringing in someone more experienced to start on the left ahead of Bale this year.

It wasn't hindsight, some of us knew he'd be a good player. Well, those of us without psychic powers are wrong sometimes. Anyone who couldn't see that he had it in him to be a quality player after his first year in the team for us is a bit thick tbh.

WANT.

The Balotelli thing is class btw, really hope he just burst into the room while class was going on and started screaming maniacally at the bully while slapping himself in the face and foaming at the mouth.

FYP?

Best and Shola should be competing for the role of backup center forward next year, with Best hopefully showing that his good run of form earlier this year wasn't just a flash in the pan and winning that battle. We need someone with genuine quality to replace Carroll as the man leading the line though, and I hope we're willing to spend the money to get him.

I do reckon we'd need someone with a bit of physicality to lead the line like. Sure having HBA back and adding someone like N'Zogbia would allow us to play some pretty neat stuff on the deck, but we're not going to become the new Barcelona. I don't want us going out buying some big battering ram or anything, but we'll need someone who can operate with his back to goal and give us a more direct outlet to act as a focal point for the likes of Jonas, HBA and N'Zogbia to work off of.

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This forum.

There's clearly been times this year when Jonas, Barton and Nolan in particular have looked knackered and in need of a rest, and we need to be able to give them that without having to rely on the likes of Lovenkrands, Smith, Guthrie and Ryan Taylor to come in and replace them. If we could sign N'Zogbia we'd essentially have him, Jonas, Barton, Ben Arfa and Nolan competing for four spots (Tiote will start as DM, and we'll need a real center forward too) it's hardly a massive traffic jam, and whichever one we leave out we can still field a good side. Out: N'Zogbia LW: Jonas CM: Nolan RW: Barton Free Role: Ben Arfa Out: Jonas LW: Zog CM: Nolan RW: Barton FR: HBA Out: Barton LW: Jonas CM: Nolan RW: Zog FR: HBA Out: Nolan LW: Jonas CM: Barton RW: Zog FR: HBA Out: HBA LW: Jonas CM: Nolan RW: Barton FR: Zog We need depth in our squad, and signing N'Zogbia would be a great first step in building it.

Maybe the idea is to try and give ourselves options in case of injury/poor form? Outrageous, I know, but the competition for places might actually be a good thing in some bizarre, twisted way.

I think the whole idea that "we mismanaged him by signing Duff" doesn't hold any water at all. We needed competition in that place and we weren't going to have him be the only left winger in the squad. Duff for 5m seemed like a a good deal at the time. Instead of relishing the challenge he decided to pout and let himself go just because he didn't get to be a guaranteed starter at age 20. Duff left Chelsea because he wanted first team football. He wasn't coming here to compete with N'Zogbia, he was coming here to replace him. Considering that N'Zogbia was the very last person we should have been looking to replace after that season (where he got 5 goals and 7 assists as a teenager playing in a rubbish team), it was a truly stupid signing when so many areas of the team needed upgrading before we could afford to go spending money on "competition" for the left wing spot. No doubt N'Zogbia had a poor attitude about the whole thing, but it doesn't make the decision any better from our end.

You're making two positions weaker though, it doesn't make any sense at all. We should be looking to bring in a squad player who can play both CB and LB tbh. Someone like Kadar, only not made of biscuits.

He's a terrible left back man.

Don't get me started on how woeful a job we did with this lad first time round.

He's a quality player and I'd be delighted to see us bring him back in the summer. He would immediately be the best winger at the club, and he can play either side which is a real bonus. He'd also be someone we could move into the free role we seem to have earmarked for Ben Arfa is HBA is injured or struggles next year. With a squad as thin as ours, that versatility is definitely very attractive in a signing IMO.

I wouldn't miss any football manager, that's not the point. What would you miss about Alex Ferguson - his whiney face or his intimidation of referees? Doesn't stop him being brilliant. I'd miss the football his teams produce. Same with Wenger. There's nothing about Mourinho I'd miss at all.

If he left, what about him would you miss?

He's still only 23 though. At the same age Zidane was playing for a pretty average Bordeaux side and wasn't exactly dragging them to success was he? I'm sure he'll take on more of a leadership role as he gets older.

Some of the stuff Busquets and a few others do is on another level though. I don't support it but I can understand and even empathise to an extent why players dive and try to win free kicks with the game the way it is now. But the falling down clutching your face and screaming in agony when nothing has happened, and while you're on live TV being watched by millions of people around the world no less... I could never bring myself to do it, and I'd wonder about what kind of men the people who do it are. Do they have no dignity at all? I'd be mortified at the thought of it, sitting there at Christmas dinner or something with your brother in law or some shit at the other side of the table, him knowing exactly what kind of miserable little fairy of a man you are.

You can almost see him changing his mind about what part of his body to pretend had been injured.

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