Eastfield Lodge wrote:Yeah, we were pretty much screwed once we left the Nolan/Carroll/Cabaye era. We didn't have a goalscorer up front, and no creative players behind them. Sissoko isn't that creative, he's a more attacking version of Yaya Toure in that sense - just gets the ball and powers his way forward. The problem with the club is that there was no ambition to win from anybody - it's pretty toxic to just aim for survival every season without any ambition to win trophies or place higher in the table. Not to mention that a few players may have seen Newcastle as a stepping stone to catapult their careers like Cabaye's did, and thus didn't really care about the club itself, then getting disillusioned when things didn't go well.
Barring the loan that the club owes Ashley (or something similarly stupid), the financial situation is actually really good - or at least was, until last season possibly. But yeah, wouldn't be surprised that Ashley and Levy would do something like that.
As for Alonso, he apparently played for Bolton in the Prem as well around 2010 (albeit poorly, I hear), before moving to Fiorentina. He must have done well there over the past couple of years, so...
After Cabaye, the closest thing to a creative player you had was... Shelvey... Scary thoughts. Maybe Wijnaldum a bit but it's really weird seeing him in the centre of midfield; I think he's better in the attacking midfield, either from the centre drifting outwards or vice versa. More attack mindrd than actually creative. Who am I to know though, in his PSV days I seem to recall him playing as a holding midfielder a few times.
I think Mitrivoc could be a great goalscorer if given the proper support. Probably not Aguero/Kane levels, but maybe more like 15 goal range. He's tall and strong, not the smartest or most lethal but he'll learn. Did he stay? Perhaps a year against chpionshio defended will work like a loan, sharpen his skills a bit, be ready for an attempt at a return.
Sissoko is different than most players at Spurs. Our AMs are incredibly creative, Sonny is a bit more direct, N'Koudou was brought in to get pace off the bench, whereas Sissoko would just charge in head first and probably knock John Stones all the way back home to Manchester when taking him on in The Lane. He could also cover for Moose as a strong, powerful player with decent ball skills, and in an emergency in some freak case where Wanyama and Alderweireld were injured and Dier had to drop into defense, he could be utilised as a DM. Though I might trust Wimmer a bit more to that role, I think.
I've looked a bit more, According to Transfer market, Sissoko was valued at €13 million, likely if he was still a PL player it would be higher, and the fee was €35 million. His performance at the Euros show that he's a £30 million player. Retaining that form and he's totally with it.
Meanwhile, Alonso was valued at €9 million, and the fee was more in the range of €27 million. Look I know these days you have to beat the market value by quite a bit to buy a player that isn't necessarily for sale (Luiz wasn't for sale, PDF really wanted to keep him, said no price could buy him, then changed their minds at last minute, and he was €28 million value and a €39 million fee, that's not even 1.5x value)but triple their stated value? That's utterly, utterly insane.