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.
BS…..I don’t think Rodon is regarded as homegrown but still think he’s been unlucky not to get more game time. He has never let us down and is a natural left-sided centre back who plays in a 3 regularly for Wales albeit in the centre. Surely he has to be a better choice rather than playing Sanchez out of position with the consequence of having a mare?
Morning BS
Very moot point, there it’s just that there appear to be so many average players.
There are actually some players in my list(above) that maybe Conte could bring on however I don’t see many of them as much more now than squad players. As WW has said.
I suppose my hope is for another “Hoj type deal” where some of these players could be used as a make weight in a transfer, ie Doherty for Aaron’s +a few mil.
With all that said we now (IMO) have the right manager at the helm and two players in over the TW could make a massive change in our squad, not forgetting as I said earlier we are in the conversation for top 4 even in our current flux, the matches we have in hand are (normally) winnable and being up and around the top 4 can make an average player step up that couple of percent more, I suppose it all just a bit uncertain at the moment.
BelgianSpur – I’d seriously question whether we, or most premier league clubs, make money “on average”. Generally if we want a player we have to pay for him as premier league clubs generally are the wealthiest in Europe so asking prices go up. The only exceptions are if a player is home grown or plucked from a lower league as Dele was. Even if a player is at the end of his contract his wages generally go up to reflect the lack of a fee. So it difficult to buy cheap and wages are high. All of this makes it difficult to move on players. The buying club will not pay the wages and the player will not take a pay cut. All of which forces transfer fees down, sometimes below zero, or the player sees out his contract. Its really about damage limitation, keeping the losses as low as possible. Of course it makes a difference if it is someone like Dele who gave seasons of good service before his loss of form or someone like N’Dombele who has been a huge disappointment from the start. In Dele’s case we clearly got our £5m back many times over while he was playing well. If you accept transfer dealings are not a money making activity then the goal is to make as few mistakes in the transfer market as possible, something I would argue Liverpool do better than anyone. Of course their statistical analysis based system is of no interest if its about spending money not buying players.
Being reported that the PL have rejected a request from Leicester to postpone tomorrows game due to covid and injuries. Could be in our favour if they are that badly affected by both.
Good ol Leicester, trying it on, Coz they had a couple of difficult games over the last few days.
Sure they’ll play us, take a couple of their usual” Dives “in the penalty area and the likes of Tierney or Moss will give them their usual soft pen, game over, they get about 15 every year, just behind Man U.
Look at CCV now for Celtic aparently one of their top players, what happens to people when they leave Spurs, I know it’s not the same standard, but it’s where both Wanyama and Van Dyke got their wings.
Re transfers:
I suppose it is BS says there are those for whom we may get our money back or close to
Not every player can be a Bale, Berbitov, or Keane. On whom we made decent dosh.
I suppose it is swings and roundabouts we lose on N’Dombele but gain on Winks or Dele.
We could break even on Bergs and Rodon.
Who knows until we see who is in the shop window, what offers come in and what’s accepted.
I am confused about Spurs just now, as on paper, we do have a decent enough squad, and I can actually why a lot of our players were signed, can Conte turn lead into gold, I certainly know some of our “golden boys” have lead in their boots currently.
Time will tell.
Just hoping for a result tomorrow night, we are better than Leicester.
They just get decisions.
COYS.
I wouldn’t read too much into CCV’s form at Celtic. No disrespect to Celtic but it’s a vastly inferior league. Making it there is no guarantee for PL success. Sure you get a Van Dijk once in a while, but how many players from the Scottih PL come to the PL and struggle?
Match off !! Our fixture pileup is becoming ridiculous
I did suggest in a previous thread that the Premier League ought to be suspended certainly until Boxing day . Hopefully the positive results could be isolated out by then allowing teams to field reasonably strong squads with negative tested players .
I guess Danny must have known we wouldn’t need a Leicester match thread. 🙂
I chanced it TQ being lazy and was just going to retitle this page if it went ahead.
lol
jod – I would argue that Liverpool’s transfer dealings are OK, but they nothing special. They’ve got a good team but they spent absolute fortunes to assemble it.
In the PL, I would point to the likes of Leicester when it comes to “bang for the buck” – they seem to be doing better than anyone in that respect.
BelgianSpur – I forgot, you work off gross spend, not net don’t you ? So in your book Liverpool have spent “absolute fortunes” whereas in reality they are going toe to toe with Man City on a quarter of their net spend.
Let’s see, This is a substitute thread for the Poo match on the morrow, no?
So:
Lillywhites 1 x 1 Liverpool
Pudlians snatch an undeserved point from us on a last minute penalty call that should have been reversed on VAR. But we gain a point a COVID strange set of players.
Funny line up, though. Kane as GK in a COVID depleted roster? Doherty as no.10? And what was 4 meter peter doing as the left center back?
Time to take the pandemic seriously so that teams can play with the right players in the right positions on the right date on the calendar.
Damed human race can’t get its act together. We could have gotten this pandemic under control if it hadn’t played out as a political morality play.
Could have gotten this mostly under control with a united people willing to sacrifice for the common good for a few months. But now it’s mutating sufficiently that we’re going to end up with one mutation that spreads like a perfumed harem, but makes the pain pleasurable, another mutation that drains the energy so one hasn’t the where with all to watch a Spurs match or to reach for a remote, and a third mutation that transports us to the next life gasping like a fish tossed off a hook onto a slab on concrete with a faint wiff of monkey urine.
Ye gods, I want a normal football schedule so that I can track the progression of building the next great Spurs team–a team that plays intelligent, skilled, and daring football and is competitive with the best week after week. How can that get built when the virus has closed down the training facilities and every gathering in the changing room is exchanging the plague?
Spurs/Pool 0 – Covid 1
At least the cricket is going well!
Well what a difference in performance
I feel the old spurs are back
That’s what I want to see passion
Effort and be in the game for 90 mins
Yes we still behind in terms of skill passing
Ball control but much better
Well what a midfield !!
Just shows with Hoj and Skip not chosen what a poor midfield reserve list we have .
Liverpool will win this at a gallop
Sorry for the gloomy prediction but will still be watching with hope in my heart !!!
Allen even with a full team they will still easily beat us.
Glad to see Dele given another chance. Just hope he steps up. I don’t want to lose him. He was such a key player in Poch’s reign.
Like Allan I don’t give us much of a chance unless N’Dombele is up for it and Winks passes the ball forward.
Always in hope of an entertaining, win. COYS
Good result even though we were outclassed. We could have won it. We fought all the way and Dele and Winks were ok.
WW dele had plenty of chances and never taken any of them. The guy is stealing a wage.
So did Kane and Son.
This match is like Australia v England test mach
Spurs being England we got no chance
Crikey 5-3-2?
almost going for my favored 6-4-0
but it’s really a 3-2-3-2, no?
Great game for the supporters. Good point, could have been more. There were a lot of positives to take from this performance.
100% agreement there Geof. COYS
Genuinely thought this would be pulled as well. Great point all things considered.