Football

If the reports of our being in for Lamela, as well as having signed Willian, it would mean we have virtually revamped the squad in two seasons. If we do sell Bale and bring in Coentrao as a makeweight, we could have a starting 11 of:

lloris

walker kaboul verthonghen coentrao

dembele paulinho/sandro

lennon lamela willian

soldado

Which on paper looks like a strong team, with enough creativity to unlock some of the massed ranks of defenses we'll face against some of the teams below us, and hopefully enough nous to take on the teams above us without being overawed...

Been reading some of the comments below the line in the plethora of Tottenham articles which are out there, and there seems to be a split with those fans who think we lack creativity and guile, and after our performance against Palace pine for 'Arry and the swashbuckling we'll score more than you approach we had then, whilst opining that AVB is building a solid, uncreative team full of defensive midfielders, who whilst being tough to break down won't excite, and that AVB himself is a timid safety first coach who has no interest in producing a team to thrill the hearts.

Then you have those fans who see the Palace game as a good way to start the season, not a great performance but a win from a team which has potential, but all the constituent parts haven't had time to gel, but still think we need some more creativity to produce goal scoring opportunities. They are resigned to the fact that Bale will probably go, but are happy as long as the transfer windfall from his sale provides the long sought after creativity and shores up a couple of areas of need.

I'm actually astounded that we have splashed this much cash. But if the players above are brought in, then we'll have competition within the squad from front to back. With replacements of a similar quality so an injury to one player won't derail our season..