It’s been a strange old season and it’s been a strange calendar year for Tottenham Hotspur. The highs of the Champions League Final and then the lows of seeing our form and usual performance levels fall through the floor – but Crystal Palace this Sunday is a final chance for some joy before we tick quickly into the 2020/21 season.
What kind of performance we see from Jose Mourinho’s charges is absolutely anyone’s guess, but the first half showing against Leicester City certainly gave some cheer and fans would welcome more of that, but there is also the Europa League question to answer and it will go down to the final day’s results with us currently sat in seventh place in the table and a point behind Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Whatever Sunday may bring, the curtain on 2019/20 comes down and we all know we need to strengthen further in the summer, we need a decent pre-season and we need to hit next year running, otherwise fears that the wheels have truly fallen off the Spurs bus will grow.
We can’t allow all that progress and a nice and bright shiny new stadium to fall away as our Champions League hopes did this season. The only question is, will we?
Until then, Palace and all three points, please!
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“To Dier Is To Do” “A Step Back” – These Spurs Fans Have A Mixed Reaction To Contract News
ND, I have never thought of Troy as a Spurs player. But when I thought about it, I was thinking in terms of who is being gossiped about, who might Jose want and who may become available. And, If an ideal back-up for Kane is easily and readily available right now, I’m wondering why I don’t know his name. In a way Troy does kind of fit the bill as far as I can see. But it is just gossip…
Ironically, for a club like Spurs (but not a club like Man City), the ideal cover for Kane is not that too realistic for us right now. Because a player good enough to fit the bill as an ideal, should actually be good enough to be a starter and not a reserve.
And anyway, it’s not about what I or any other supporter wants or prefers. It never is. That’s where we as supporters come unstuck. We don’t get to choose…
I never wanted Jose, precisely because of his more negative style of football. But Jose’s football is more of an updated “Crazy Gang” Wimbledon of the past than it is Pep’s modern, progressive style, for instance. Or, what is seen as a traditional Spurs style of football. More Troy of the Hornets than Roy of the Rovers. Or indeed, Harry of the Hotspurs, from a couple of years ago…
I also found it funny your mention of Deeney. Because us Spurs supporters keep complaining about having no back-up for Harry but then are never satisfied with the ones we do buy or are ever associated with. Which in a funny sort of way proves how difficult it must be to actually find this suitable candidate
I’ve read many times over the past 5 years or so that we have never even had back up for HK. But we have.
First it was Janssen, then it was Llorente. Both ends of the spectrum really. Janssen was young and pretty inexperienced, playing in the Dutch League. But had just had a record breaking goalscoring season there. And so he did look promising. Then there is Llorente. Experienced, mature and kind of reliable.But never a record-breaker. But also, not ever gonna complain about being a sub but will do his best when required. Okay, to many, his best wasn’t good enough…
The middle ground of these two is probably an already established PL striker who is just about in his prime, is scoring regularly and has the right attitude and style for Jose. But who is this guy that will sit on the bench when he is the top guy at his current PL club? That is unless we double his wages and can also guarantee him some winners medals. Oh and in the process make his agent all the more wealthy! Well, we are not in a position to do that. And so his best bet is to hope for Man City, Pool or Barca or, to just stay put.
Spurs are really more beggars than choosers when it comes to this TW. And the only way to get a really good, solid first class back-up for Kane would come from selling Kane…. But then we will need back-up for the new guy. LOL Or, we get lucky!
Kanes main back up has really been Son. Maybe we need another Son too!
What I wanna know is; Who’s our back-up manager?
The way I look at is that TD would not be considered good enough for Man C, Lpool, Man U, Chelsea, Arse, so in my humble opinion, why would he be good enough for us. HT re your analogy with JM’s tactics to “the Crazy gang”. You don’t win what he won without some tactical nouse.
Not just a lump it up and bully the other team.
So afraid I won’t be convinced that TD will “improve” our team.
I can accept an established older stop gap CF. But again I say for me he is not a Spurs player.
As you say who are we to pick who comes and goes from the team.
However without posts about transfers who we want, who we don’t, who would improve us.
A bit of closed season speculation.
If we don’t discuss this. Then what.
It pissed with rain nearly all month here, how was your weather?
Hello ND…
Isn’t what your’e saying, exactly what I have been doing? I was speculating about transfers.
I even suggested to EJ that he put up a TW article for these discussions.
I’m not sure what the weather has to do with anything. Since you asked though. It’s sunny and warm in London today.
I was referring to the crazy gang because you did. I was talking about a modern style of negative football that I think is in a way like that of the old Wimbledon team in as much as they were a bunch of bullies and very defensive minded… Jose kind of likes his players to be a bit cynical and bullish, if not bullies. Luckily for us Spurs supporters, football has moved on a lot since then and we have much better players with a bit more class. Even so, what you say about a more negative style working for Jose is of course true. It also worked wonders for that old Wimbledon team. It’s why we remember them now.
But I wasn’t having a go at Jose, just making an observation that he might actually be able to use a player like Deeney. That was all I was saying. I’d prefer someone else but he is part of the speculation that you have referred to… So, I was also speculating.
Referring to El jefe’s comment about tweeking our squad. It needs far more than that . It is a weak squad short of top class players. We have Kane, Son and Lloris. No one else would get anywhere near the top 5. We have a very poor midfield (maybe N’Dombele will come good if he stays but not sure Jose likes talented midfielders any more.) We need a strong attacking midfielder who can score goals; we need a strong defending midfielder who can pass forwards and make runs. It is the midfield that will determine our future; they will tackle, dominate possession, tidy up, spray passses, create chances, take free kicks, corners and score goals from free kicks and outside the box. (Eriksen at his best; Modric, Dembele of late) And ,of course ,we still need that illusive striker to relieve the knackered Kane. Yep, the full backs are mediocre and Toby is aging but it really is the midfield where we are so weak. Lo Celso and Winks will never reach the heights. They are bench players at the most but hardly super subs.Watching the transfer window from behind the sofa. Any cheapies going anywhere?
I agree with the general sentiments of this post Wentworth regarding midfield but would take issue with your choice of Dembele as an example, let’s be honest, he wasn’t too good at many of the traits you mention we need from this area of the pitch.
Agreed TQ25. I had not meant to include Dembele in the goalscoring/ passing. But he was a joy to watch and almost impossible to knock off the ball. He did offer us something going forward that no one does currently. He could dribble and withstand tackle after tackle. Lo Celso falls over a lot and Winks makes short passes sideways. We need some stronger players in midfield. Skipp is of the same ilk. Busy but not very effective. I think N’Dombele is the only hope if Jose will play him.
Morning HT & ND, regards TD, agreed he may not be quote “a Spurs player” for whatever that actually means, but like I said earlier he will give it all, run his socks off and add the fact he would/will bully the oppositions CB’s thus leaving space for others, but the main thing is he is prepared to play 2nd fiddle, thus giving Our Arry time to rest, esp in cups/home & Europe v the lesser teams we may encounter.
I note that our ex-player Dembele is getting the accolades for his m’field performances, I did love him when he was on song, ie…hard to get ball off, driving forward, but are we forgetting his downfalls ie…failing in the end of the drive forward, poor pass, poor shooting and last but not least his goal scoring ability which lets be honest was pretty damm poor, do not get me wrong I loved him if only for entertainment value.
EJ & ND, your couple of post really give FOOD for thought, Jesus am hungry again lol! COYS
I always thought that Dembele was very overrated for many reasons. But people will suggest that he wasn’t expected to score and create goals PY as a DM’er. They seem to forget that he started out as an attacking midfielder. Jol used him in a creative role at Fulham and he was initially used in different attacking roles for Spurs.
The funny thing is that the things that Dembele was not particularly strong at, is what other players at Spurs now are criticised for but are strong at. And yet he is praised. whereby they get slated. What Winks does now is what Dembele didn’t do much of, then. Which is move the ball on quickly to advance it. Mousa did the opposite so many times. Often just dribbling around the same player 2,3,4 times before releasing the ball. But not always advancing the play. He was also not great at tracking back and getting goal-side of the opposition. He was too slow. Often having to pull players down that got past him with some ease. Giving away numerous free-kicks around the edge of the penalty area.
He had skills for sure. Technically good with the ball at his feet and he was strong and difficult to get off the ball. But he wasn’t ideal, imo. And he was often injured and then laboured and slow when he returned from injury. Other than all that, I liked him. 🙂
Just on JM’s old Chelsea teams. If they were so bad and negative. How come we signed at least 3 of their former players and actually wanted at least another 4.
Back to the TD discussion, I was under the impression that we Tottenham supporters almost demand a certain style of cavalier swashbuckling attractive football. Some posters here have mentioned Ginloa, Gazza, Bale, Klinsmann, Hoddle, Waddle, the list goes on.
These are/were Spurs players.
I don’t disagree that Deeney may be available(so much for Mr WATFORD). and, he may be prepared to play 2nd fiddle to HK10. And I also agree that he is available for little to no money. He also may run his socks off. But IMHO. He doesn’t improve us.
And regardless of the “not a Spurs” player quote, this is my main thrust. I feel no matter how much we spend, If the player doesn’t improve us, I don’t want him. If he ain’t good enough for the other top 5/6 then why us? If we want an older striker let’s go for Cavani.
Still pissing 40/50MPH winds 4 sunny days this month.
Hey ND, where do you live, is it up Norf! with the weather your having, we down Souf, gods country lol!, are having very regular sunny and hot days, wishing at times for rain if only for the grass/plants in out gardens.
The pro and cons by yourself and HT are very good, in someways both are right, I do not believe signing TD is to improve us, it would probably be for Kane’s fitness/well being, to help keep it in check, because the signing of TD for me would benefit Kane alone, which in turn is very important to the squad/team, and yes Cavani but for how much because of his rep’ alone. COYS
I didn’t mention Jose’s past Chelsea teams ND. I’m talking about his current Spurs team. And individual players abilities have nothing to do with the coaches tactics. Jose currently has the same players that Poch had. But we see two very different styles of football.
All I am talking about is seeing things from JM’s point of view, not mine. And it is him that matters in this. Even so, I don’t even know if Jose would even give Deeney a second thought…. So, I’ll say no more on the subject of Troy.
Having back-up to Harry doesn’t mean that we are instantly improved. How can it. Surely we would need a better striker than Harry to do that. It’s about having a decent alternative that is not a 1st choice. And that is a difficult thing to have at a club like Spurs. This is the reality of the situation. ……………
I remember thinking and saying on here, when Man City bought Bony from Swansea that it wouldn’t be good for a young Bony in his prime, to be mostly sitting on the bench at City. Which is what happened. Although City bought him on the back of him being one of the PL’s top scorers, he was never gonna be good enough to displace Aguero. And I’m sure that Bony knew that himself.
And after just 1 1/2 seasons at City, Pep turns up and Bony finds himself on loan to Stoke City and then soon after returning back to the Swans. He never recovered his goalscoring form that first saw him move to City. So what I predicted for him was for him unfortunately true.
And we may not be City but any young talented striker coming to Spurs that has proved himself elsewhere, knows that he is second to our Aguero. HK! And so the reality of the situation is that it’s not easy to find a Harry K reserve that we all see as a talented and proven striker. Because there’s no two ways about it. if it was so easy to find one, we’d already have one. Whoever that guy may next be, he will be a punt. Whether he costs Spurs £50m or £5m.
But then again if he did cost £50m, supporters would be up in arms, seeing him sat on the bench…. And if he only cost £5m, supporters would be up in arms for Levy being an F’ing cheapskate! 🙂
We have many views posted on here as to HK10 back up. IMO… we need a llorente type of player who is the wrong side of 30 (32) has ability and PL exp. T Deeny is what I have thought as back up… he scores penalty kicks as good as HK10, and has presence in the box to worry defenders, make space for other strikers.
As to not improving spurs… Of course he does, as we don’t have ANY BACK UP FOR HK10.
Troy Parrott will return from millwall a better striker and if HK10 still with us, troy can go back out on loan and return to WHL age 20 with much more ability.
Hey Block, basically what I said only a different way, very true regards TD. COYS
HT
Was only referring in general to JM’s Chelsea teams and general comments from posters. Not particularly your self. As at one time I said in an earlier post. Chelsea weren’t that bad to watch. In fact in thinking about his time at Man U, the rot had already set in b4 he arrived they were playing terrible negative football under Van Gaal.
No m8 you put up cogent arguments. May not agree but this is what this is all about.
Speculation, badinage, banter, agreement, disagreement.
Block its exceptionally rare that I disagree with you, however I’d rather have no one than him.
If how ever if he comes I hope he scores 30+ for us next season. Lol
PY Much further North and across the sea. Dismal wet hole.
Hence the posts if it were warm and sunny we could sign who we wanted I would give a feck as Id be in the garden sunning my boll#cks.
Hey ND, thanks for that, much further North, no wonder you love the Blues lol! it might stop raining as the Blues sometimes says.
Keep up the great posts and your head. COYS
Liking the sound of Hoj for £15m – definitely a heavily discounted price given the touted £35m that he would surely normally have cost at a minimum one would have to imagine!
Add to that KWP supposedly going the other way for £12m – not at all bad given he’s a youth product and cost us nothing but formation costs, etc! Would have loved to have got a full £15m for him (then again Mason went for £13m or so and was a full England international already at the time and Bentaleb went for £17m and was a full regular Algerian international also, to name but a couple, etc – and both had much more 1st team experience with us already if memory serves and were central midfielder’s also who tend to command higher fees than full-backs in general)!
Also given that Hoj is only costing us the said amount of £15m can’t really complain at all on either deal (indeed thought we might have to fork out anywhere from £25-30m for Hoj and I still would have taken it given I think we need a solid DMC desperately so to get him for roughly half of that – impressed indeed) – well done Levy here on both count’s to be fair I think!
Hopefully both deals get wrapped up ASAP and we can move onto the next, etc!
To be honest I think we’ll hopefully be looking for better but I would accept Troy Deeney if JM thinks he’s a worthwhile option all things considered, would not want us paying a transfer fee for him though given he’s now 32 and only has 1 year left on his contract – hopefully Watford might release him for free to get his wages off the bill, etc – that’s the only way I’d be interested!
Indeed was not really happy when we paid over £12m for Llorente, again at 32 and even though he’d just come from having a great scoring season at Swansea City with 15 Prem goals in 33 appearances overall – he didn’t really get upto much for 2 season’s for us and then we had to let him go for free on top of 2 year’s of what would have been pretty decent wages of around £100K a week – waste of over £22.5m in total for me (maybe I’m being a bit harsh – he did help us in the CL away games against Man City and Ajax but 2 games hardly justify’s a £22.5M+ outlay in total)!
Come on the Fulham – welcome back to the Prem for sure – I’m a local resident so am very happy for them indeed – can’t believe they had the likes of Steven Sessegnon, Le Marchand, Cavaleiro, Knockeart, Mitrovic and even Bettenelli all on the bench and Mawson missing on top lol – what a result!
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/manchester-city-transfers-why-nathan-ake-actually-is-worth-40m/ar-BB17xDvE?ocid=msedgntp
Given our discussion about him on here the other day – just read this and it’s half decent – fair play he’s not the best in the air (not surprising given he’s a bit short lol) but apart from that has a hell of a lot going for him! If nothing else, will be brilliant cover for Laporte at LCB and even serious competition for Mendy/Zivchenko at LB and you need 4 good CB’s in a squad like City’s and great on top if your defender’s are versatile enough that can play various position’s comfortably like he indeed is – would have been an excellent signing for us almost certainly especially at around £40m as the article goes on to describe fully (not that we’re mentioned of course)!
Anyway just thought it added some balance to our “on the side \”discussion from the other day on here and might be of interest – does tend to back me up though in general lol!
Might just add that one of the first main points about Ake is that even having played nearly 150 Prem games for Bournemouth and despite them being a lower level side and indeed this season having been relegated – he has never committed a mistake/error leading to a goal being conceded – something that we have discussed quite at length on here as regards the likes of Aurier especially but also even Sanchez and further the fact that everyone makes mistakes/errors even the very best – but it’s an interesting stat here as regards Ake himself – perhaps in part 1 of the major aspects that attracted Man City in the first place and why they saw fit to pay £41m in total for his services – it does tend to back-up my recent arguments on these matters as I’ve already stated above!
I’ll leave it here………….. LOL!
PL errors leading to a goal stats from the PL site: In the total matches that all of these players have played in the PL.
Nathan Ake: 0
Davinson Sanchez: 1 (Serge Aurier: 1)
Toby Alderweireld: 1
Jan Vertonghen; 7
Harry Maguire: 1
Virgil VD: 2
So does this mean that Ake is the best CB from those 6, Jan V by far the worst and VVD the second worst CB? Of course it doesn’t.
Of course they all make errors EJ. That stat is not the only way of making a mistake in football. But I have used the word perceived a lot when talking errors. For instance recent ones by Aurier and Dier that I said I wouldn’t call errors as such. But lots of others did. But if we just look at stats or, specifically just that one type of stat above. It doesn’t tell me anything about what I have actually seen and perceived as errors from all of those guys.
I am certain that Aurier has been blamed on here for far more errors leading to goals than just the 1 stated above. But it is an official PL stat, so it must be true… 😉
We just need to use our eyes a bit more and stop seeing players as just a whole bunch of stats. Stats need context and can also be seen subjectively. It is not a pure science when it comes to football… And an individuals stats tell us little in the context of a team sport and in relationship to their team mates, coaches tactics, iffy VAR decisions etc etc…
How on earth did us supporters ever watch and enjoy soccer when the only stats we mostly ever talked about were games played, goals scored and goals conceded, cups won etc? What else did we talk about before 500 action replays have told us that Sons left boot was 5mm’s offside?! Blah blah… . Players haircuts? The tightness of their shorts? Knobbly knees? Trembly knees!
You know EJ I have looked at those stats before a couple of times in the recent past. But, I didn’t ever mention them on here because they don’t really say very much at all to me. Or, prove anything, imo…
I can’t honestly take those stats seriously, even though my instant memory recall is slowing down with age I’m pretty sure I remember goals conceded by Bournemouth which could attributed to Ake either through a direct mistake or an indirect one such as being out of position. As HT infers, how could anyone believe JV is 7 times worse than Sanchez?
Fair play HT even TQ – must say Aurier already made 2 direct one’s against Arsenal and Newcastle recently IMHO so don’t know whose keeping tally or their criteria lol – it was just an interesting “fact” that helped back up my argument on Ake, also that was just a small part of the overall argument in favour of Ake in the article/report and summed up and backed up well my arguments on here about the matter so I thought I would post it lol – just nice to see the supposed pundits/experts offering a similar line to myself also (not that I had read it at the time of my postings last week and at the weekend obviously)!
Stat’s although not everything are still a valid and vital input into a player’s performance record – I tend to find them very interesting and helpful also indeed so will not really knock them too much but that’s just me!