With Tottenham Hotspur putting in two poor performances against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea side in our EFL Cup semi-final defeat earlier on this month, no doubt manager Antonio Conte would love a dose of revenge as we make the trip to Stamford Bridge this coming Sunday.
Confidence and spirits should’ve been massively boosted given the dominance we showed over Leicester City in midweek, particularly the euphoria that would’ve come from the manner of our late victory with Steven Bergwijn’s Stoppage time brace.
Covid permitting, Chelsea should only be without Reece James (injury), Trevoh Chalobah (injury), Edouard Mendy (AFCON), Andreas Christensen (Covid) and Ben Chilwell.
Spurs’ own injury situation has eased with the players who have now returned, and it shouldn’t be too long before we have Son Heung-Min, Eric Dier and Cristian Romero back in contention either.
What Sunday actually brings though is open to debate. More recently in the league we edge ahead in the form guide for the last five and Chelsea have struggled, but whether we’ll perform in a way that sees us take advantage will only be truly known at the full time whistle.
Cross everything, as a positive result here really means we can take advantage of our games in hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP-wWgJEQfM
Traore.
Re Traore,
I suppose its how he performs in a Spurs shirt, if he comes, I do think he has very good qualities as a strong player who is very hard to shake off the ball.
I suppose we could all look at compelations of footballers’ best bits and pass judgement, and I suppose that in many ways is what we have to go on, if we look at N’Dombele’S Vids fek me he’s brilliant, but has struggled in a Spurs shirt to really impress.
I do think Traore has something, and I also think that Conte can improve him with that “last pass” if he comes, I will reserve comments until he has played a few games, but I think he will do well for us.
Re today I think we can get a result, we aren’t still Dancin on the Ceiling after Wednesday nite but will have, a bit of confidence particularly after Chelsea’s result against Brighton.
2-1 Spurs Kane both goals.
Wentworth, In the space of 10 mins, that video highlights pretty much his entire career.
What I have noticed from watching these highlight videos of Adama, is how so much of his running, skills and moves that are shown, are then swifly cut off in the edit. Which means that there was nothing to show of what happened next. 🙂
I haven’t once said that he’s not exciting to watch. But I’m willing to bet that Andros Townsend has better ‘end-result’ stats than he has. And he used to be quite fast too. If not quite as exciting.
I just can’t see how he fits in at Spurs as a wing-back. And, Conte doesn’t use wingers that aren’t also defenders. Can Troare defend?
Anyway, as I’ve said, Conte should know better than I do. And I will support him if he does come to Spurs.
Traore is a classic example of the problems of scouting. In his 159 games in the premier league he has managed just 8 goals and 14 assists. Liverpool with their moneyball approach would just run the numbers and say forget it. But we, supposedly, are trying to buy him. Why, how is he going to improve a side that already has pace up front from players with a much better end product ?
Conversely looking at Walker-Peters goal against City I do wonder if we gave up too soon. Back when he went to Southampton he basically wasn’t strong enough but the ability was there. Now he’s a lot stronger and looking a decent defender and a real threat going forward. If he keeps improving we will have to mark it down as an error.
There’s the additional concern that we could spend the next two or three windows buying players for Conte who then leaves, as is his usual practice, and we bring in a new manager who wants completely different players for a different formation. Either you keep the same manager for a long period or you don’t allow the manager to choose the targets. He gets a veto but but doesn’t control the process.
Jod, I agree with you on all that.
But I’m thinking that Traore has more to to do with Paratici rating him highly to start with, and then convincing Conte that he’s a good prospect for us. (I might be wrong). And of course we have to presume that Conte is also convinced of Adama.
But hopefully the continuity we need at the club, going forward, is less to do with whover the current head coach may be, and more to do with the Managing Director of Football that is currently Paratici. As long as he does well of course.
Hot Tottingham – The theory is the DOF makes the everything work but I’m not convinced. Personally I’d be a lot happier with the Liverpool approach where its about sophisticated data analysis, number crunching not gut feel. They seem to avoid mistakes like N’Dombele and get value for money pretty much every time.
Jod 100% re the Liverpool analysis.
Re Traore whilst not my choice for much the same reasons as HT, there is no doubting that he is, a handful and very hard to tackle when in possession often gaining free kicks and usually needing more than one player to double up on him, but his end product is still in doubt.
If that is fixed he would be some player.
Re scouting I’m hoping that by brining in Paratici we have started to improve our process, our issue used to be targeting on player only and if we didn’t get him Poch didn’t want another, I believe that Paratici scouts several at any given time, probably why we are listed with Mckennie, Kessie and several other mid fielders, I believe he then picks form those whom he wants.
With that said, I’m not sure Royal or Gollini were good choices. 🤔
Yes jod… And it was Pools thorough data analyses on Klopp while at Dortmund that convinced them that he should be their manager at the time. Despite Dortmunds poor form the season that he left them…They got that anlaysis right for sure.
Going back to a players speed, running and also end product etc. I remember reading not so long ago that Messi more often than not gained more space to play on the pitch by simply standing still and simply jogging around than most players do that run a lot… I think we can all see this to be so when watching Messi all these years. And it will also account for him still performing to a high standard in his 30’s. He hasn’t worn himself out as much as some of the more energetic others…
I’m certain that Spurs do use data anayitics too as part of their recruitment. But perhaps Spurs also still rely too heavily on the old-fashoned form of physical scouting and scouting opinion that is now being left behind somewhat by the more scientific approach of Liverpool and other clubs.
Re Traore ….. From what I’ve seen he has some amazing skills although, as HT points out, he can be greedy and he often makes wrong decisions. But with the right coaching, and if he is willing to listen and learn ….
Well, I know that messi was fast too of course. And could dribble around an entire team when he chose to. But the analysis on him was as an older player that could just find space without needing much effort… And then he could run with the ball and do his magic.
But, nobody can compete with him can they…. He has to be the very best of the best!
Now Poch gets to work with him. Will Poch improve him yet… 😉
Imagine Messi at Spurs… Just for one game only! I dream!
Here’s a line up I wasn’t expecting…
Hugo
Sanchez Dier Tanganga
Doherty Winks Hojbjerg Davies
Bergwijn Kane sessegnon
Chelsea’s Formation today is:
4-2-2-2!
Well….Tuchel is a pupil of the Rangnick school.
Arsenal 0-0 Burney! Nice!
Shocking line up, here’s to another spursy day as we submit to Chelsea again and again…..0
No Deli on the bench. Sayonara time?
Messi cant even score in the French farmers league, yes Peters looks better, but you can say that for all players, sadly the weak mentality we have at the club, the culture and living in the good life of london says it all.
Dele is a waste of space. Simple as that. Disgraceful attitude.
Being dominated again. Why are we afraid of them.
Bunch of bottlers
Why is tanga playing.
Why is DOH playing.
Why is winks playing.
Why is sess playing.
Conte is lost tactically.