Czarnikjak

4 minutes ago, Paul33 said:

I think we've seen a lot of consistent evidence over the last year or so that what Smith says in interviews/press conferences has more to do with broader club strategies than providing the media/fans with the truth. Not saying we'll be in for anybody but Smith's comments have no value whatsoever in determining that !

He does usually talk rubbish when it comes to injuries, but apart from that he is reliable. When he says no more incomings it means no more incomings. 

1 hour ago, mallett said:

Does anyone else think that our academy doesn’t seem overly focused on results?

It's not just our academy, the same applies to all academies. Focus is on developing the players. 

1 minute ago, useless said:

A new signing would cheer me up.

Not happening. Smith said again today after the match - no more incomings.

There might be couple loans out, that's it. We are done ladies and gentlemen, accept it.

They are suffering now, but I bet they will still finish ahead of us this season.

Just when he gets his confidence and form back, here comes international break. That's his luck. No doubt he will be benched after the break.

The same thing happened last season, he was flying in December then the covid break came in and he was immediately benched for Barkley afterwards.

25 minutes ago, WHY said:

Would say it closer to £15m, will be shocked if any of the new signing are on over £75k a week. If Grealish was offered the reported £200k a week, you could argue that selling him has not only offset the net spend but also covered the wages of 3 of the new signings.

Ings is on £120k

He rejected £100k contract offer from Saints to become their top earner. We offered him a bit more and big fee to Southampton, hence it all happend so quickly.

Love him or hate him, with Bailey still injured be prepared for another Elghazi showing tomorrow.

He will definitely start, I can't see Smith being brave enough to start JPB.

15 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Decent point.

Fulham were the better side and had a lot of chances - I think we struggled with them down our left where it's really hard for a 6'4" centreback to play at left back against a quick agile winger - in midfield some of the decision making was poor and too often they ran into dead ends instead of moving the ball along. 

I thought Chukwuemeka looked threatening throughout.

Will have been a good game for the development of some of these.

Do you know the ages of Fulham players? Were they much older then ours? I am wondering why they looked so much better all over the pitch.

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Smith said we had exciting names on the list before Jack went so something didn’t happen. I guess we couldn’t get the players we wanted

Buendia was one of those names. The other one? Who knows...maybe ESR, we will never know.

2 minutes ago, est1874 said:

You're missing the entire point. It's the opposite. I clearly believe we should be more ambitious. That starts with making the right moves in the window and spending bigger than we have done. NSWE are great and all, spent £95m but in actual fact we have made a NET profit in the window by losing our best player by a country mile. You can't bring in the players we have and then say the job's done. It's not. 

NSWE spent £350m of their own money since promotion (£250m net spend) on transfers. It's easy asking people to be more ambitious when it's not your money.

27 minutes ago, est1874 said:

About what? What does that mean, "be positive"? With all due respect you've just pointed out very starkly our place in the pecking order and that we can't be expected to rival a host of clubs for transfers (including **** Spurs, as if they've ever experienced the success we have). If that's all true, what on earth are you telling people to be positive about? A crop of kids who may or may not turn into good players? Christ, I hope that's not all we have to look forward to. I'll be six feet under by the time Villa win another piece of silverware at that rate.

Like it or not we can't compete with the Big6 on transfer fees and wages.

While we were criminally neglected and mismanaged for 10 years under Lerner and Dr Tony they pulled too far away. Reality check, this won't be fixed in 3 or 5 years.

Place where we can gain competitive advantage is in developing youth and hoping for them to be good enough to elevate us higher up the table.

If the above doesn't work, the best we can do is another Leicester (nothing wrong with their model BTW), keep selling your best players and reinvest.

6 minutes ago, Genie said:

It’s crashed the man United website.

City heavily linked with Kane, Messi and Ronaldo and got none of them  

 

Emi Martinez claims that Grealish is just like right-footed Messi.

16 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Seems we are done in the market. I really hope that isn’t the case. 

We are done ladies and gentlemen. Strap in and get ready for the season.

4 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

Genuine question: why does Levy not get the respect he arguably deserves for how he’s managed Spurs?

We all look at Leicester as the model to follow but why does no one look at Spurs as a model? When he took over in 2001 they’d finished 12th in the league and weren’t seen as a major force at all. Since then, he’s turned them into a club which regularly competes for the top 4, at times has competed for the PL, and reached a CL final. And he’s done all that without an absolute ton of money at his disposal (unlike all the other money bag top 6).
 

Do people just dislike him cause he’s a tough negotiator?

Just to add to that, he also got them new stadium that is regarded as the best in the land.

They also won a trophy under him (League Cup) while teams like Villa and Everton, that were of similar statue to Spurs when he took over, failed to win anything this century.

24 minutes ago, dudevillaisnice said:

Pep on Kane: "Tottenham did not want to negotiate. They didn’t want to talk, so we didn’t talk. We tried to open the door but the big master of negotiations, Daniel Levy, who knows everything, wouldn’t. Maybe I would do the same if I had Harry Kane."   

That's quite funny actually. I'm not sure he tried to be funny there, but Pep dishes out some funny comments sometimes. Like the one on Stan Collymore

https://youtu.be/PSqMsG_MwRA

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I could equally find comments where staff have been complimentary of him.

We can paint whichever narrative we want to here, as with most things ffs.

Also, based on his comments and digs, doesn't seem he was really impressed by ANYONE in training.

If we are using a 2 year old City player " non comment " as proof that nobody at the club rated him, we really are scraping the barrel.

Not trying to paint any narrative.
I only posted it as I found it interesting. Usually you only get positive comments from staff/team members even if the reality is different. For some reason JG couldn’t bring himself to praise Wesley. Stark contrast to his interview just after Watkins joined, where JG was full of praise for how good he is.

I remember interview with JG 2 years ago, after Wesley joined.

He was asked about Wesley, if he showed in training yet how good a player he is after signing for a record £22m. Usually you get all the praises saying what a good player the new signing is. Yet JG just said he showed "few flashes". That means he didn't impress anybody in training. JG also mentioned that Wesley was always grumpy in training. 

18 minutes ago, commander said:

it would be a complete farce if we let him go for any less than £10m. Guilbert has similar stats in 19/20 as Cash did in 20/21 - Stick Guilbert in a better team and I have little doubt hed do better. The way Smith has treated him is a disgrace IMO.

He was the best defender in Ligue 1 since he joined (whoscored), and in the top 20 players overall. It'd be no surprise whatsoever if he moved for £20m in a couple years time. 

I think Guilbert is easily better than Cash, I appreciate others feel differently, but surley he could be kept and gien a real chnace to compete with Cash? 

 

Well, if he was as good as you describing clubs would be lining up to buy him from us. I don't see anybody queuing outside offering us any decent money for him right now, so what is it? Are all the scouts in Europe blind to the talent you describing?

58 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

That included wages.

I believe we paid a £5m fee to loan Axel this season though.

According to the bits of information available out there Barkley loan was £11m (including wages) and Tuanzebe is  £5m (also including wages).

That explains why Smith felf obliged to play Barkley even when he was clearly not fit and useless.

29 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Its true that we haven't seen this AEG anywhere near often enough, but we've got to take advantage of it while he's in form.

Do you think it's a coincidence that we see this kind of AEG against Barrow but not in the Premier league?

13 minutes ago, picicata said:

Is Nuno? I'd put him and Moyes at about the same level in terms of ability.

It’s not about the ability. It’s about Reputation. Ancelloti might have the same ability as Smith, but Smith won’t attract player like James Rodriguez for example ( who turned out to be shit, but you get my point ).

Just now, picicata said:

Although when you consider West Ham, the other club quoted as being rejected, can offer all those things it makes you think it's probably made up bullshit

Apart from the wages, West ham are not keen on big wages and the manager is not renown for success internationally either

8 minutes ago, lexicon said:

It wouldn't be too surprising, seeing as we can't offer European football yet - there are players who will not fancy us based on that. 

It's not just the lack of European football (which is important in itself)

You have things like wages Spurs could offer , location (players like London more then Brum for some reason), managers international reputation ( which Smith has none). Many things are stacked against us.