A Striker, my kingdom for a striker. ( or 2 )

The couple of signings made so far certainly show that Poch is making sure our defence is shored up and not liable to leaking goals as we have over the past few seasons. Our ability to self destruct was still very much in evidence last season and it is something that must be eradicated for us to progress.

However, the priority now, MUST be the capture of a striker , or possible even 2. There is of course plenty of time left in the transfer window so no need to panic just yet, although I do still think we need to make our moves soon, but we are running out of options.
As it stands, we have Kane, Adebayor and Soldado still on the books. It looks increasingly likely that Soldado will move back to Spain, and no doubt score a hatful, Sherwood is desperate for Adebayor with Benteke looking certain to leave for Liverpool and so that leaves just Kane.

Kane will have defenders giving him one heck of a ride next season because they will now know more about him and how he adapts could be crucial to our season but he needs a foil, a strike partner to share the burden and to share the goals.
He will have to work harder than last season to hit the heady heights of his breakthrough season And we cannot expect him to carry the team as he did last term.

I still do not believe that Lamela is good enough so who do you think we can turn to? Benteke looks to be yet another player linked with Spurs heading elsewhere, so who is left out there? Charlie Austin is available but he maybe too similar to Kane for it to work, but I think we could get him at a decent price, so why not?

I am interested in your thoughts on who we should be getting in. I think we have missed a trick by not signing Delph and Benteke already, so can we get a striker to help Kane out?

My view is, if we don't, we could struggle for goals in the new season and If we struggle for goals, we will struggle for points and that's doesn't bear thinking about.

 

How about Llorente? He might be expensive and in the autumn of his career, but he's behind in the pecking order at Juve, he's got 2 maybe 3 great years left in him and he would provide some class and experience to the side. If ever Levy needed to splurge on player...
An exciting young alternative could be Batshuayi from Standard Liege.

I still believe we are in much greater need of at least 2 decent wingers. We're looking very, very thin with only Chadli and Lamela as real options. Any thoughts 'cause I'm racking my brain to think of someone in the right price range? Juan Irtube or Jean-Paul Boetius perhaps?

 

we need a young Defoe salt of striker that's hungry to play !

Towsends ,got to go , useless

 

Chadli could be useful upfront but I agree we need a decent striker or two to assist Kane. El kouma babacar might fit with what poch is trying to do. Would love tevez or dzeko to sign.

 

Austin all day long. Its a no brainer, except apparently if your name is Levy or Pochettino. We're supposedly looking for english players, premiership proven, no more than 15million, ie Austin. But if we are to believe the media, we're, looking at just about every foreign striker going. Yes, those players that take 6 seasons to perhaps, very nearly, come to terms with this league before buggering off with loads of dosh in their back pocket. Have we not learnt a thing over the past 2 seasons ?? Austin comes with no 'baggage', no attitude problems, is London based, is English and most importantly scored 18 goals last season. Am I missing something here that makes him of no interest to us ?

 

I think Austin and berahino. Both young English and hungry..

 

Yep, Austin is the man. The similarity does not trouble me at all. There will be plenty of games with just one striker. Kane cannot do it all. In fact the similarity may help, with little need to adapt.

Here are some stats for 2014-15.

Kane
21 goals
1 goal in 1.6 games
shot accuracy 58%

Austin
18 goals
1 goal in 1.9 games
shot accuracy 67%

The likes of Benteke, Ings and Berahino are nowhere near as good. BTW, I am not interested in assists and other stuff. I want strikers to hit the target and score goals. If they hot the target ad don't score, someone else might get a crack. That is how they should assist.

Berahino took nearly three games for each goal, BUT there is a big BUT. He has scored 10 goals in 13 games for the England Under 21 team. He has played well with Harry Kane. He was in a very poor Burnley team. This makes Austin's performance all the better. 18 goals playing in a dire QPR side.

Verdict? Buy Austin and Berahino. That assumes both Adebayor and Soldado go. If we cannot sell just pay them off.

 

I think Spurs are going to have trouble signing any more decent strikers because they Know they will behind Harry Kane in picking order. This I fear will mean it will solely come down to the lure of megamoney and this attracts the the likes of Adebayour who will take the money and put in less than optimum effort (to put it politely).

 

Lamela should go. The sooner the better. It was a big mistake. I keep seeing stuff about him being young and needing nurturing. Please! You do not pay £30 million for a player that cannot yet perform. It is not his fault that was the fee. It is an error and the quicker it is rectified the better. He is not a first team player and should not even be in the squad. I would much rather have Yedlin playing on the right.

 

Hernandez is a top quality striker we should really push to get him in. If Man U want loris we should do a swap deal taking Hernandez,Januzaj, and a young.

 

Got to be Berahino for me.. We already know he can play with Kane. Just as important is a midfield general to play next to Nabil and help him develop.. McCarthy is the man i hope for. Just those 2 signings, along with clearing out the rest of the deadwood (massively reducing our wage bill) would be an excellent window. I'd like to give Dembele and Andros another season to try n fit in with 'new Spurs' before we give them the elbow.. A much more balanced happy enthusiastic squad could be what they both need! COYS

 

I don't think that will be a concern. Last season Spurs played 38 PL games, 8 EL games, 6 LC games, and 3 FAC games. That is a total of 55 competitive matches. I would expect and want us to do better in the coming season, so let's say 60 games. In addition, there are maybe 10 or so friendlies of various sorts, so 70 or so games, nearly double the total to play in the PL. Also, players will be called up for international duty and will need to be rested from time to time. Having a squad that can be rotated with full confidence in the replacements is vital. If players get those opportunities there will be no complaints, and for the reasons given they will certainly get the chances. Our replacements last season were Soldado and Adebayor. Sadly, especially for Soldado, neither were up to the mark, with woeful performances.

 

As you said, Soldado seems to go back to Spain. He's a good player, nobody doubt that. I think the BPL isn't just a competition for him, so it's better for the team and the player to leave. I hope Ade will leave as well. Despite I loved him doing the "salute" celebration, he's just not good enough for making it to the top 4.

So we do need 2 strikers. Kane can do everything. He's a decent header, can strike from long, is a good finisher, etc.. So we need strikers with "typical" specialities, to compare with Kane. Spoken about Austin, maybe not. He's a player with qualities, but is it already good enough for our target? The target is making it to the top 4 and becoming a "bigger" club, I think.

Then I think about the "smaller" players, like a Berahino, Batshuayi, Jovétic, Emineke, Lacazette. Those players are options. My first choice will be Lacazette, my opinion is we've to try and spend money on a good player with a lot of qualities, which he showed already. Not because he's heavily linked with Arsenal, but because he's a good player that could compare with Kane and make it happen for us to achieve a top 4 spot.

Other options are the box-players, then we could give Kane the chance to play around a good center forward. The option I think are Liorente, Dzeko, Higuain. Those are players that could compare with Kane too. But we must have the ambition to spend and make it all happen.

This was my opinion, I hope it's a meaningful reaction.

Twitter: @DBrauwere

 

Austin is more than good enough.

I would be cautious about any players without proven PL experience.

 

We need to get Vargas from Napoli he is what we need lots of pace ,skills and passion may also be cheap

 

Do you really think he's good enough? He has a lot of qualities, that's true. But I think it's maybe to early for him. He has scored 19 goals last season, which is enormous. It's just one season, that's how I'm thinking. We've seen it more:

- Remy had 2 great seasons at Newcastle -> Signed for Chelsea, didn't play much.
- Lambert had a great season at Southampton -> Signed for LFC, didn't play.

Those are just a few examples. What I'm trying to say is, I would prefer to spend more money on a striker of which we're sure to score.

 

Personally, I don't like Austin - similar playstyle to Kane but less influential - and the Scousers will overpay for Benteke. Delph is no better than anything we already have. I'd love to see at least one of Dzeko, Llorrente or even Negredo sign, they'd strengthen our squad and give me even more reason to be optimistic heading into the new season

 

I have shown the stats in the previous post. Here are some more.
2008–2009 Poole Town 42 (48)
2009–2011 Swindon Town 54 (31)
2011–2013 Burnley 82 (41)
2013– Queens Park Rangers 66 (35)

Scoring 28 for QPR last season in a woeful side tells me a lot. He has done it for every club at every level and remains at 1 goal in less than 2 games. That is proven quality and at £15 million a bargain. The other key factor is his shot accuracy. At 67% it is exceptional. As mentioned, the chances team mates might get from saves, deflections and bounces of the woodwork just add to the pot.

The fact that two players you mention did not play much does not seem to me to be relevant. If we sign Austin he has to be played, as would anyone else we signed in that position. With 70 or so games there is room for two top quality strikers and I would say we need three if we are serious about getting in and staying in the Top 4. With the new stadium coming in what is a matter of months, we need to be up there and competing and players will want to come to Spurs. Austin fits the bill and Berahino would work well too. There would be very few teams that would have a strike force to compare with Harry plus those two.

 

Scoring 28 for QPR last season ...

Ooops! Typo - I meant 18.

 

Warning do not rely on Kane.He is young and the pressure will be much greater this time round.We should get a Striker from Germany,Spain,Italy,or a Nordic.They play with their Hearts & their Heads.They must have more experience than Kane.It is vital that both Strikers must have respect for the other.Selfish players we do not need.