With another dull and pointless international break coming to an end for Tottenham Hotspur fans, the Premier League in particular now have to work out how to bubble the players again given the positive Covid tests we’ve seen from players coming out of their bubbles to line the pockets of the domestic authorities and of course, UEFA.
With the proper game back, if we can call it that, Spurs are set to host Pep Guardiola’s struggling Manchester City side this Saturday and everyone will be hoping for another White Hart Lane based three points to keep our positive start to the 2020/21 campaign going.
If results go our way in this weekends round of fixtures, we could even top the table!
Having paid little to no attention to football for the last couple of weeks, I’ve no idea where we are on injuries but that will become clear on Thursday or Friday when Jose Mourinho addresses the press but according to PhysioRoom we have five doubts with Erik Lamela, Tanguy Ndombele, Steven Bergwijn and Japhet Tanganga all set for late fitness tests for a possible Saturday return – but Matt Doherty is out as he’s self isolating.
We shall see who is fit and ready for battle.
Man City...
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The best thing about our current situation is that we have players like Regulion, N’Dombele, Lo Celso and Bergwijn who are still getting used to Premier league football, with Gareth in the wings gradually building up match fitness. As the old song goes, things can only get better.
Good points Stan and also vinny yet to get much game time.
We probably all see pen decisions differently. I thought WBA one was a pen. Man U one on thinking was on paper a pen but he blasted the ball at the guy from 4 feet away he did try to move away. No leeway give at all BTW did any one see Martial’s dive straight out of the Man U book of try to get points however.
Back to “proper football.
Yes we are looking good as a team and better still we look hard to beat.
The goals seem to be looking after them selves and to think as Stan said Bale didn’t even get on the pitch. I’ll also agree with PY Aurier played very well. It’s amazing how a bit of competition for places focuses the mind.
We are up there now, I no its early doors but, sometimes when you are on top, the little decisions and bounces start to go your way.
Here’s hoping, just starting to feel a bit confident about this season.
Getting the sunglasses out of storage in case I need to look at our new trophy room.
Are you trying to jinx it ND? Put your sunglasses away until spring my friend! 🙂
TQ
I tempered my post with “in case”. 🙂
No way m8 would I try to extend or 11 ish year trophy drought. 😉
What a good result yesterday. And with Liverpool currently winning, it seems like we’ll finish the match week top of the table.
To be honest, I would have preferred Liverpool to lose, even if it meant dropping back down to 2nd in the table. I just don’t think Leicester have the squad depth for a title challenge, and I am much more worried about Liverpool going on run once they start getting some injured players back.
But being top is still fun, and it may give the players extra motivation.
The only downside is Toby’s injury. Sanchez has been quite bad this season to date, and Rodon is obviously still very green. Tanganga’s time to shine?
BS…..I hadn’t seen anything of Rodon prior to the recent internationals but made a point of watching the Wales games for this reason, I thought he performed really well. Considering his full international appearances I think Rodon is probably less green than Tanganga and also has an additional few inches of height in his favour.
Just to add……Tanganga is only just returning from a serious injury so I don’t think he will be rushed back.
I see the PL and broadcasters have screwed another club in europe, Liverpool play CL on Wednesday k/o at 8pm then play away at Brighton 12.30pm k/o on Saturday. At least they are at home on Wednesday.
Regarding the title race, I think Liverpool will win the title comfortably. I think they are well ahead of any other team in the league. From a Spurs point of view, I would take fourth place right now. Back in the Champions League next season (with full stadiums) has to be the priority for the season.
Interesting to see how we set up against Chelsea next Sunday. If we manage to turn them over on our least successful ground in the premier league era then even I may start to believe. COYS
Talking about who is going to win the title at this stage is premature, there’s a long way to go and a lot can happen. I think Jose has it right, just focus on winning the next game and see where it takes you when we get to the business end of the season.
It’s obviously far too early to talk about the title on the back of one good result, but December is a very testing month for us. If we can get 10 points from our next 5 PL games, I think we’ll be in the conversation for the title.
I understand that no manager wants to cope with the pressure of a title race too early, but for a team that has been waiting for success for so long, and finally has the manager and members in the squad who have done it before, it may be a spark of motivation.
I just hope we can rotate quite a bit on Thursday and go again Sunday at full strength.
Jose, the players, Levy and all at THFC would do well to be pragmatic and follow the cliche of taking one match at a time and not getting ahead of themselves.
But, we are supporters and we can dream and say what we like.
For now though, I’m sayin’ nothing… 🙂 Other than…
Up the Spurs!
TQ2Spurs – I am obviously aware that Tanganga is making his way back from injury and can’t be rushed, but where I still rate Japhet higher than Rodon is his experience at PL level.
Rodon may have featured for Wales, but against what opposition?
Several Championship players regularly make the Wales squad, which should give an indication of the standard of football.
Wales is in a Nations League group with Finland, Ireland and Bulgaria (hardly football powerhouses), and finished second in a Euro qualifying group consisting of Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.
The only decent opposition they faced recently was England’s B team, and they were soundly beaten.
The sky is the limit for Joe, but realistically, he has so far excelled at a level of football which is far lower than the upper echelons of the PL, which is coincidentally what our next PL opponents will be for the next few games.
We just don’t know how ready he is to take on the Timo Werners, Aubameyangs, Mo Salahs or Jamie Vardys of this world.
Tanganga may not have much experience, but at least he has performed at that level before (in fact, his last game for Spurs was against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup earlier this season).
I am just wary of a “deer in headlights” moment for Joe. It’s a pity he isn’t registered for the EL, because that would have been a perfect place to get a bit of experience under him.
Of course, an argument can be made that the only way to find out what Rodon is worth is to test him against better opposition. I see some truth in that and I would be 100% behind that plan if we weren’t currently top of the table. There are times to gamble and test, but I feel this isn’t one of them.
BS….. Tanganga has only made 6 PL appearances so not really that experienced, he also isn’t match fit so I don’t see him an option in the PL for the upcoming 2 or 3 games, maybe the EL would be the better option for him to gain some match fitness as Rodon isn’t registered.
This leaves Dier, Sanchez, and Rodon as the obvious choices at CB for the next few games in the PL and while Toby is out, we do of course have Davies who can fill in at LCB if we are desperate and could be an option for the EL games.
I don’t see Rodons championship experience over a longer period being much different to 6 PL appearances, I would think the top half of the championship isn’t too different from the bottom half of the PL in terms of the quality of teams he would have faced.
Then again, yesterdays performance looked like Jose, his coaches and the players had been working on it for more than just the couple of days they had to physically prepare for it. In some players cases they probably had just the one training session. It certainly didn’t look like it…
Jose may well be focussing on and talking of Ludogorets right now. But there’ll be a lot of analysing and preparing for the Chelsea match that follows just 3 days after.
I have a good feeling about the Ludogrets game, the last time I had such a feeling was before the Man Utd game! 🙂
HT….Completely agree with you there regards the MC performance, with one exception, some cases one training session, I got the impression it was only a fitness test and the squad had full on meeting regards the tactics, so whatever as you said “it certainly didn’t look like it, thus the team/squad buying into everything JM is coaching. COYS
At the moment both Rodon and Tanganga are unknown quantities. If we are lucky they could both develop into quality defenders. If we are unlucky neither will make the grade. The thing is though at the moment Jose really needs to get some minutes on the pitch out of them with Toby sidelined. All of which puts more pressure on Dier. He’s been playing well, maybe getting more credit from neutrals than Spurs fans for some reason. But it will be a test of his leadership abilities if he has to partner someone with no real experience.
Jod
On the up side both Dier and Dave have played together before in those defensive positions. And Dier has also done so at international level he is also probably 3rd choice captain for Spurs after Lloris and HK10.
Whilst it’s not Ideal and can’t wait for Tobs to get back, I would argue that we were in a worse position last season without HK10 and Sonny. We still held on.
I’m thinking (hoping) we have enough to get us through this.
Hi folks
Trust you are all keeping well and staying safe.
I’ve 2 totally unrelated questions, hope you may be able to answer.
1. Whilst we have had the likes of Roy Keane, Glenn Hoddle and a few other stepping between the sticks. Does anyone remember a reserve goalie coming on to play outfield in the Prem or old division one?
2. In the current climate of pens this season. If a player takes a pen hits the post or the bar as the ball comes back to him is he now offside?
Answers on a postcard please.