Vital Spurs Debate Section

A Non Match Thread – Brighton Follows Rennes In Covid Postponement

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Tottenham Hotspur fans will know that last night’s Europa Conference League clash with French Ligue 1 side Rennes was postponed following the Covid outbreak we’ve had at the club and it’s also now been confirmed that this weekend’s clash with Brighton and Hove Albion will also have to be rescheduled.

Rearranging Brighton isn’t so bad, although it’s inevitably going to lead to more of a fixture crush for the club as we’ve still got fit Burnley in after that cancellation following heavy snow, but there is a more immediate concern over the Rennes tie as that has to reach a conclusion prior to December 31 under UEFA’s rules as I understand it. There’s little give in the Premier League fixtures between now and the New Year, so we might have to bounce the West Ham EFL Cup tie to fit it in. That itself could be problematic owing to final Ligue 1 games before they break for Christmas, so it’s all eyes to UEFA.

With eight players and five staff testing positive, the training ground was closed on Wednesday so hopefully, we can draw a quick line under this and start getting back through games so there’s not a bigger pile up, but as things stand, next Thursday’s clash with Leicester has to be in some doubt as well.

Glad I haven’t got to try and work this out but the way forward should be clearer after the weekend.

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  • Allan says:

    Well looks as if we are out of the Conference
    Apparently no alternative date can be found !!
    The matter is being passed over and I just hope that we will not be penalised for acting unilaterally .
    If we didn’t follow correct procedure and abide by the rules as it appears we didn’t then we could be fined and possibly worse

  • wentworth says:

    Mixed blessings here. We have such an embarrassingly poor second string, I don’t think we would have progressed any way. This epitomises the current state of our squad with no decent back up players and no young players stepping up.Drastic pruning and buying needed if we are ever going to compete with the top 4 and Europe again. Conte has a massive job on his hands to convince Levy. “You have to speculate to accumulate”.

  • Niall D says:

    I’m with you there WW, a poor 2nd stream indeed.
    This time however may help AC to focus on targeting some new recruits and loaning or ridding ourselves of those who haven’t quite made their mark.
    I see us heavily linked with Kessie, for me a very decent acquisition, but given we have Skippy and Hoj, is he the “play maker” free kick taker we need.
    Also Aaron’s is again mentioned, I thought he has regressed just a bit from a season ago, but may still be a very good player.
    We are listed with Rodon out, on this I agree, I thought he was younger than 23, he hasn’t forced his way into the main set up and for me when he plays, he just kicks into touch too many times, need to move on, similarly Dele now needs to go, he hasn’t found his stride (unfortunately) and for his own sake a move to Newcastle or Wolves may be best, similarly Winks I think now will be limited to cameos and game management performances.
    N’Dombers hasn’t reached the expected heights and may be better placed in an easier European league, similarly Bergs hasn’t stepped up and never looks happy or settled playing for us.
    Lo Ceslo has taken over the Lamella “sick note” roll needs to go.
    Clarke can go as well, hasn’t made it will do well at Stoke or the likes.
    Dave I’m still on eggshells every time the ball goes near him, hasn’t progressed.
    Doherty not sure if last year’s COVID attack hit him hard or is he just c*ap.
    So still in reality we are no further on than last season.
    Sholud we have let Kane go for 100 mil +player, you decide.
    Still need a playmaker, RB, and LCB, and a Striker or CF.

  • jod says:

    To me being “penalised” in the joke of a European competition would be to be forced to play the game. I’ll be much happier if we are simply taken out of the competition. Let Conte focus on what matters, that possible fourth place. The fixture pile up in the league is to me slightly irrelevant. If we play more games later in the season but avoid European games and the insane Christmas/New Year fixture pile up then we are no worse off. I suspect we won’t be the last club this season to have problems like this.

  • DW says:

    Has anyone read yet ‘how’ the panel will decide the result of the game? I can’t remember this happening before?

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    How would you feel as a Vitesse fan if the panel gave us a win? Can’t see it happening.

  • Niall D says:

    Hi folks hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to the Christmas holidays.
    Thanks Danny for the “non” thread.
    Unfortunately this scenario happened to us last year against Villa and may have cost us 5th place with that COVID cancelled game coming in May when we were at a very low ebb in morale and fitness, probably due to the fact that we had played qualifiers in the Europa league and had by this time played around a dozen games more than Villa, though it was Regs’ OG that cost us.
    BTW I don’t blame Villa for this, I just feel that if a match has to be cancelled for the likes of this reason, it is in reality no different to bad weather postponing a game and our match should be rearranged,.
    I do feel that Rennes to a degree are playing “Silly Bugers” over this and whilst it isn’t what anyone wanted, the match should be rescheduled,. But I suppose we don’t know the internal debate over prospective dates.
    I agree that Vitesse could and should feel robbed if we were given a 3-0 win however, could they progress knowing that they truly didn’t win their place.
    There is no right answer for this other than to play the game.
    Just hoping tha, Thursdays match goes ahead.

  • Niall D says:

    On the up side, we have more points currently than this time last year having played two less games, if we were to win our games in hand it would see us in 4th position.
    However that is the quandary actually winning those games in hand.
    But with a “sub standard” team we aren’t doing too bad and we are still in the top 4 conversation.
    Hopefully we can strengthen focus on the league and get into the top 4 and remain there.
    But the gods will probably conspire against us and we’ll end up playing those “in lieu” matches at the worst possible time.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Seems rather coincidental that United have been hit by a covid outbreak following their game with Norwich, same as we did after last weeks game.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    We may yet continue in he ECL depending on how UEFA rule it, but I wouldn’t mind being rid of it. In a way this is very convenient because we can exit while holding our heads up high, claiming we were robbed by UEFA…

    It’s ashame we couldn’t play Brighton though, as they are depleted by injuries and would have likely been an easy 3 points. Watch them turn into Bayern when we play them in 2 months…

  • BelgianSpur says:

    On another note, plenty of chat about Alli being allowed to leave in January. For me, that’s the right decision.

    Thanks for the memories, I hope you get your career back on track, but THFC needs players who can be counted on all of the time. Good luck.

  • 123spurs says:

    Just a thought with CL knock our stages, instead of a 2 legged game, why not have a 3 team group instead.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Surprised to see us still in the conference league draw.

    Agree re: Dele, he needs to move on and restart his career elswhere.

  • Allan says:

    Is it definately confirmed that Ali is going ?
    I haven’t seen any info . Enlighten please . Cheers

  • 123spurs says:

    Allen, Ali left the club years ago.

  • Allan says:

    123
    Is he one of the players who let the adulation, playboy status and money in his early years go to his head . However sure he has made enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life ?
    Will Levy still put a stupid price on his head and we will still be lumbered with him come Summer ?
    We need to move players and Levy is the prime problem . Money Money Money

    • wentworth says:

      Just hope this lull has given Levy chance to find his wallet and rid the moths. We are desperate for some fresh faces to invigorate a tired squad. I for one would be sad to see Dele go. He has far more potential than Bergweijn, Lo Celso, Winks, Doherty. These 4 have nothing left to offer. 3 of them were massive mistakes and Winks is a nothing player. We need to aim higher and not go for the bargain buys. Levy are you listening?

  • jod says:

    Allan – It’s easy to sell at the buyers price and buy at the sellers. the trouble is it pretty much guarantees you will always be short of cash and never able to compete with the clubs funded by oil money. Liverpool compete with City on a quarter of their net spend because they manage transfers better than anyone else. If we want to be competitive we need to do the same.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    jod – is holding out for unreasonable fees, all the while remaining on the hook for the player’s wages, better business? And that’s even before factoring in the opportunity cost of missing out on the contributions of a replacement player which could be paid with the money currently used to pay Alli…

    At some point you have to be able to cut your losses, accept a mistake and move on. It’s not about getting max value on every deal, every time – it’s about getting it right on average, and not having dormant money tied up in depreciating assets.

    At this stage, with Alli, we’re never going to get anywhere near what the top of his market was – that ship has sailed. The good news, however is that because we paid so little for Alli, breaking even shouldn’t be that hard. That’s what the aim should be.

    Unfortunately, if Levy wants to hold out for a valuation only he has, and not go by fair market value, we can expect to be stuck with Alli for a while.

    You mention Liverpool as a benchmark but they have had no problems moving on from disappointing deals at a loss (Shaqiri, Lovren, Benteke) or letting expendable players leave for free, no matter what they cost at the time of purchase (Clyne, Lallana, Markovic, Wijnaldum…).

    I liken this situation to Levy holding out for the biggest naming rights deal he can possibly get for the stadium. Several journalists have claimed that if THFC wanted to sign for the going market rate (about 20 million per year), the deal could be signed tomorrow. If we’d taken such a deal when the stadium first opened, we’d be close to 60 million better off. The longer we wait, the bigger the opportunity cost is, and the bigger the deal we eventually do sign has to be to make waiting worthwhile.

    Are we even going to be able to recoup the 60 million in lost potential earnings at this stage? Or is Daniel Levy’s ego again getting in the way/making him “lose track of priorities”?

  • Niall D says:

    Good points there BS. On both Dele and the ECL.
    Unfortunately Dele’s ship has sailed.
    And I do think his issues (to a degree) are listed by Allan above.
    However I will add that perhaps his attitude at this time prevented him form returning from injury at the 2018 WC and I feel mentally he couldn’t cope with this and the subsequent “drop” from the England squad,
    Like many of these young men to whom the cash, the adoration, the skill came all too easy, when a fall comes its often hard for these players to adopt an attitude to come back.( See Best, Gazza).
    However I do hope it changes for him even if it isn’t with us, he has just lost that bit of skill and the little nasty streak.
    But regardless I do feel he is worth much more than we paid for him, we should cash in for a reasonable amount and let Dele and us go our separate ways amicably.
    However the issue is that there are several other players who need to be gone.
    Now we know that many of them are under performing in a Spurs shirt
    So getting our money back on Doh, Bergs, LoCelso, Rodon, Sanches, Clarke, N’Dombele seems a daunting task,as all the “bidding” clubs are in a strong position knowing what these players have been and can be but however aren’t currently showing it at Spurs.
    At a loss really about how we progress except to sell the above with Ali for a decent sum that would be 8 out and use the dosh to get 5 good players in. 🙄

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Niall – I think the likes of Clarke, Doherty and Rodon were all bought for less than 15 million each and there’s every chance we can get our money back. The sheer fact that they’re homegrown and have some PL experience will always mean they hold some value to promoted clubs.

    Bergwijn and Lo Celso cost more, but although they aren’t pulling up trees at THFC, they’re still playing well in other contexts (Lo Celso with Argentina in particular) and retain value as well. I’m sure some clubs out there would be willing to gamble on those players rediscovering form with a change of scenery

    Sanchez and NDombele are overpays and will be tough to move on without taking a loss. But then again you have the likes of Winks who cost nothing and may yet generate some sort of transfer fee to offset those losses.

    Again it’s not about winning on every individual deal, but it’s about making money on average.

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