A Look at Tottenham’s 2015-16 Squad
Which players will be a part of Tottenham’s 2015-16 season?
All four position groups that Tottenham has — for the most part — look good on paper, except for one group. The striker position still needs to be improved before Tottenham can make a bigger impact in the 2015-16 season.
Let’s begin a position-by-position breakdown.
Strikers:
With Mauricio Pochettino saying that Roberto Soldado is a part of this upcoming season, the strikers currently are Harry Kane, Roberto Soldado and Shaquile Coulthirst.
This is a decent trio to say the least; not good or bad.
While Kane is great, Soldado is okay (could be better if he returns to his Valencia days) and Coulthirst is an unknown at this point. Signing someone would definitely help but keeping Roberto Soldado could be a blessing in disguise. At the same time, he could help and/or ruin Tottenham’s season which is dependent on his finishing.
Midfielders:
Dele Alli, Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Dier, Ryan Mason and Harry Winks are likely the core group in Mauricio Pochettino’s central/defensive midfield pairings. With Sven Bender potentially staying with Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham hasn’t looked at anyone else. Now that Dier is being played as a defensive midfielder, does that stop the club from pursuing a player for this position?
The top three midfield group, from left to right, of Joshua Onomah, Tom Carroll, Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembélé, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Alex Pritchard — possibly Andros Townsend — is a good blend of established starters and backups for depth.
Certain players overall don’t have much experience (Alli, Carroll, Onomah, Pritchard and Winks), but for the most part a lack of experience for five youth players, who have just recently shown to be ready in these pre-season games makes the midfield position the most stacked in Pochettino’s squad.
Defenders:
At the backline, Tottenham’s defenders boast the most experience out of the entire squad. Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose are stalwarts, with Federico Fazio becoming a veteran at 28-years-old despite signing last summer.
Newcomers like Kevin Wimmer, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld, plus DeAndre Yedlin — not to mention Ben Davies who also signed last year — round out the defensive position with young talent, minus a 26-year-old Alderweireld.
If the midfield was the deepest position group, then the back-four is the second deepest. It also has the added bonus of having the most experience.
Goalkeepers:
Hugo Lloris is the unquestioned starter with Michel Vorm the definitive backup.
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For a third choice keeper? It looks as if that’s Luke McGee’s position to lose.
Tom Glover still has a way to go but if he improves there’s a chance that next season, depending on Lloris’ situation, Glover could be Spurs’ third keeper.
For now, this isn’t a position that is in need of another signing — not yet at least. In due time, sure. But with Hugo Lloris staying for another season (he signed a five-year contract extension) this group of keepers is already set.
Final Thoughts:
Up and down this squad, Tottenham has plenty of depth, the experience is lacking because of every youth player’s age. Due to Daniel Levy’s way of handling the transfer window, there’s a good chance that more deals won’t happen until the last day.
With that said, let’s take a look at Tottenham’s 2015-16 squad.
Goalkeepers (3): Hugo Lloris, Luke McGee, Michel Vorm
Defenders (8): Toby Alderweireld, Ben Davies, Federico Fazio, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker, Kevin Wimmer, DeAndre Yedlin
Midfielders (10): Dele Alli, Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli, Tom Carroll, Mousa Dembélé, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Érik Lamela, Ryan Mason, Joshua Onomah, Harry Winks
Strikers (3): Shaquile Coulthirst, Harry Kane, Roberto Soldado
This would become a 24-man squad and is actually just player more than what was brought over to Munich, Germany. If any player(s) happens to go on loan this season, then the squad becomes even smaller. Twenty-four players is a decent sized squad. Adding a couple more players might make this group even better.