which nationality would prefer.....?

[Quinny]

i was just curious about which nationality of players you guys would prefer to see a bit more of in the spurs team?

i would like spurs to buy a couple of germans, i was talking to my friends (spurs fans) and when watching the world cup, i found they gave 100% and always seemed to show skill and grit in their matches (non of this fatigue thing that seems to only affect english players) and they seemed to be a jack of all trades.

defenders: seemed to be able to tackle, header and were strong and pretty fast.

the midfielders: seemed like they could defend well as well as attack with skill at taking ppl on and werent afraid to shoot as well as pass

strikers: header, shoot, skill, take players on and pass

cos our strikers seem to each have on a couple of good things:
defoe: can shoot and is fast - not good in the air and is offside most of the time :-)
crouch: can header - not fast, not really strong and cant shoot
keane: moans too much, but has the skill
pav: can shoot, header and pass - i like pav :-)

anyway lol

as i was wondering, a couple of players from which country would you prefer?

[AmericanHotspur]

I'll take a striker from Colombia...

[BlueCrew LA]

Don't care, if they can play and we comply with the home grown players rule then I'll take anyone.

[StPaulSpur]

Well, it's a hard question. First off, I think you're hard pressed to find any country with a thoroughly fixed footballing identity. I mean, right now, Germany and Spain come the closest. Spain plays tikki-takka, Germany plays a fast paced, aggressive, open attacking style. But those are both relatively new for those nations. Before this generation of Barca, that wasn't Spain's game. And before Klinsmann and Lowe reorganized German football, that wasn't Germany. Actually, Germany was always thought of as the poster boy of anti-football - or at least that's how the Dutch (who could ironically, be seen as the new poster boys of anti football) wanted them to be seen.

In most cases I think we really overplay the ways that nationality shapes footballing culture. The ideals that so many nations are said to embody just don't really seem to be functionally true anymore. The Dutch starting midfield is Van Bommel and De Jong. That ain't total football. The top English striker is Wayne Rooney - hardly a traditional long-ball loving tower up front - esp. w/ the way he's now being used at United as a SS. One of the top young Brazilians in the world is our Sandro - hardly the embodiment of jogo bonito. The most creative, exciting player for Real Madrid this season, save Ronaldo, was a German. So going into the discussion I'm really really leery of painting with too broad a brush.

That said, I do think it's fair to say that in the last 15 years the Italians have tended to produce some phenomenal defensive players (given their catenaccio history, that isn't surprising), the English have produced sturdy, versatile midfielders (Lampard and Gerrard being foremost, but even Nolan, Parker, Barton, and Barry fit that def. to some extent), the Dutch have produced several of the most exciting attacking players from northern Europe (Sneijder, Van Persie, Rafa, Robben being foremost, but you could also mention Huntelaar and, perhaps in a couple years, Afelay too), the French have produced mercurial strikers whose creative brilliance is only matched by their unpredictable but usually volatile behavior (Cantona, Henry, and Zidane are obviously the lead examples here, even if Henry isn't quite as insane as the other two, but Anelka, Nasri and even Drogba could be mentioned too, although Drogba is technically Ivorian but cut his teeth in the French league), and the Spanish produce players whose skill and sophistication is astonishing but who somes lack the physical prowess necessary to thrive - and avoid injuries (see: Fabregas, Cesc) - in a league like the Premiership (Xavi and Iniesta are the biggest examples, but Alonso, Fabregas, Liverpool Torres and Villa have to be mentioned as well).

So to answer the question, I'd say for the Premiership, I think Germany and France tend to produce very solid players on a regular basis. England can as well, although I'd say this year's Manchester United is the best a mostly-English team will ever be: Sturdy, mentally tough (and for English teams, even that quality is unusual), workmanlike, but lacking a certain flair (the so-called "Ronaldo factor"). Aside from those countries though, I'd say the track record is very mixed. Brazil, Spain and Holland - three of the main purveyors of "beautiful" football these days have really mixed results in England. I think the physicality of the game can be very hard on players who rely mostly on skill and finesse. Ditto on skilled players from east Europe. I think most people, including many Spurs fans, were surprised by how remarkably well Modric has done, for example.

Point being, I'm not sure how to answer this question b/c the relationship between nationality and individual footballers seems to complex and multi-faceted to make statements like "I want Spurs to get a bunch of German players."

[AmericanHotspur]

Completely agree @StPaulSpur . Because a player represents Germany does not mean they are the same as the other Germans they play on the National team with. For example, Schweinsteiger has that excellent workrate, tough tackling, powerful shots, a lot like Ballack. That would be the "typical German" for me if there is such a thing. But at the World Cup the German sensation for me was the creative attacking midfielder Özil. Muller was good as well but I would say that Özil really pulled the strings and opened things up with his skill/passing. He scored a great goal as well.

And then the Italians.. Balotelli represents Italy (granted not that often) and he is nothing like Luca Toni or other Italian forwards. He is big and strong, good in the air, very high energy, which is new to Italian football. By the same token, an Italian such as del Piero probably wouldn't start for a Ghana simply because that is not their playing style. Llorente isn't even 2nd choice for Spain but he would be our savior apparently. Does that make him a bad player or us a bad team? No, it simply means that a player's nationality does not determine how they play anymore.

But too much of a change from the traditional style has also proven to be a bad thing. Dunga made Brazil stop playing beautiful football and look what happened to them, knocked out in the quarters even with all their stars. Now Menezes has started them playing that beautiful football again and they are winning- but they have the new steel of Sandro and Ramires in there to provide foil.

As a club, we aren't looking for national teams. We are looking for players who fit our style, and our biggest concern is a center forward who can score headers, hold the ball up, and provide a tall, strong presence in the box. I've heard a Spaniard, a Uruguayan, a Colombian, a Brazilian, even a Ivorian (Drogba) been mentioned on here. Does that mean that all those countries produce strong target men and they all play that way? Of course not. If a kid who can do what we need him to do is from England, Spain, Brazil, or fookin Somalia I do not care, as long as they put on a Tottenham shirt and represent us as a club out there.

[P UNIT 1980]

English.

But only the very best. And most arnt good enough.

[harrys lovechild]

i dont care if there French Russian or Martian, as long as they are good enough,wear the shirt with pride, give %100 and have respect for the clubs history,

[P UNIT 1980]

We need homegrown players. Not just to comply with FIFA policy, but for our national team.

[brainiac]

Americans!!!!

Worked with them in the USAF ....always get well worked up for a game/fight/challenge, we could use a bit of OOOOORAH in our mentality

Columbians!!!!!!!!!

I thought i would mention it as Radamel Falcao Garcia Zarate or plain old ‘Falcao’ is a pure columbian................. I can see him being a fookin wonder signing ...... would love it if we managed to land him. He would give us an air of arrogance & he looks like he aint soft



Irishmen & geordies

If you want a fookin dressing room full of laughter ..... then get some of these lads in.... cant underestimate the importance of a buzzing dressing room.

Failing all of the above

Scandinavians ........... at least when there wives come to drop off the players sarnies they could get the teams blood pumping eh

[Jammy_Jae]

i'd like see 1 or 2 NEW Brazilians after seeing Sandro.

['Nixspur]

i dont care if there French Russian or Martian, as long as they are good enough,wear the shirt with pride, give %100 and have respect for the clubs history,

Fookin' Martians, coming in and stealing our jobs.


KEEP BRITAIN HUMAN!

[BlueCrew LA]

Fookin' Martians, coming in and stealing our jobs.


KEEP BRITAIN HUMAN!

Wow what an extraterrestrially insensitive thing to say @'Nixspur .



.... I'm not sure that's a word.

[Javi]

Fookin' Martians, coming in and stealing our jobs.


KEEP BRITAIN HUMAN!

+ =

[Glenjamin]

Im certain marlin harewood is being tracked by the M.I.B.