Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – Spurs Will Be United For The Win But Can Brighton Do Us A Favour

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With Tottenham Hotspur getting more back into the groove in last week’s London derby clash with West Ham United, this Thursday sees us make the trip to Sheffield United.

Chris Wilder’s team have been impressive in 2019/20 and proved plenty of critics wrong with their performances and results ahead of the pause in the fixture list, but it very much looks like the break has counted against them as their momentum seems shot, despite previously being in the battle for a Europa League slot.

Manager Jose Mourinho’s side make the trip with back to back defeats for United and we should be fresher having played a game less, and Harry Kane will definitely be in better confidence having again silenced his own critics in the last match.

In terms of team news only Juan Foyth, Troy Parrott and Japhet Tanganga should be out for this game, but as ever, we’ll get a more accurate update tomorrow I expect in case anyone has picked up a niggle in training.

This should be another win for Spurs really, and if Brighton and Hove Albion can do us a favour tomorrow night, that gap on Manchester United should close nicely.

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  • BelgianSpur says:

    jod – As HT and Geof have said, it’s all a question of opinion.

    You accuse others of speculating, when in fact you are doing precisely that.

    There is absolutely no way of knowing whether Wolves would in fact be doing better if they were not playing in the EL, either.

    Sure, Leicester won the league when they were not playing in Europe. On the other hand, how many teams have won the PL while playing in the CL/EL? It’s been done many times.

    My problem with your posts is that you are so definitive in your statements when in fact, they are not based on any sort of objective truth. Just personal opinion. Which is worth as much as any opinion on the internet.

    If you want to make your point, I would invite you to put a compelling case forward, with proof/numbers. If you do not/cannot, then you just have to accept that discerning people will not just take your word for it, but question the validity of your comments. Believing otherwise is what’s really ludicrous.

    • PompeyYid says:

      BS…that’s it mate you load the gun lol!

      Hope you and the family are keeping well, certainly sounds like it, back to your argumentative best lol! COYS

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Personally I would prefer to be in the Europa League next season rather than have no European football (no need to accuse me of stupidity Jod, it’s just an opinion.
    It will help the younger players develop, it is a competition we could win, it will help to attract players. The level of player we will be looking at this next window will probably be attracted by some sort of European football.
    Yes the competition can be draining but we have a large squad. Chelsea finished third last year and still won it. Wolves, despite playing strong teams in the Europa League have also preformed strongly in the premier league despite not having the strongest of squads.
    I accept the argument that just playing once a week could help us but that is not always the case. Everton, despite paying fortunes in the last couple of years can barely finish in the top half of the table.
    I would also suggest that Daniel Levy would love Europa League football, we need all the income we can get right now.
    Regarding tomorrows game I am expecting an absolute snooze fest. Despite Sheff Utd being out of form, I expect Jose to be annoyingly cagey hoping for a narrow win. I’ll go for a dull 1:1 draw.
    Jose out please

    • PompeyYid says:

      DH….am 100% with you there, we need more than anything European football, no matter which one.

      HT….we all agree to disagree and then disagree to agree a bit more, is that logical lol! COYS

  • Geofspurs says:

    DC …. I don’t think one game a week is enough for the size of squad we have. Some players would not get enough competitive games to keep them sharp enough to perform at the required level when the call comes for them.

    Given the choice, why would any Spurs player or supporter prefer no European football over playing in the Europa League. The advantages far outweigh any disadvantages, in my opinion.

  • Niall D says:

    All I know is that JM has only really had his full squad available to him for these two matches. We got a very unlucky draw (united 14th pen of the season). And a convincing win. Players are getting used to playing with each other as a team for the first time. Eg Berjwin and LoCeslo with Kane and Sissoko.Feature in a newish central defence of Dier and Dave. I’m not surprised that N’Dombele, Fernandes and Sess aren’t currently playing. We should’ve been on 6points but we have 4. I think we will win on Thurs I don’t know which Spurs will turn out. The defensive hit em on the break team or the high pressure high tempo/passing attacking team. Or perhaps anor tactic may be used. We now have more strings to our bow. 5-0 (no pens) COYS

  • El Jefe says:

    I’m actually looking at us finishing 7th – is that even good enough for EL in the first place?!

    Anyway looking forward to our last 7 matches and watching what JM does with the team/squad especially as we are not going to get relegated or anywhere near (thank fcuk – was not looking so certain back in November even though I never truly believed even then we would be but still was rather uncomfortable at best…..) and I think CL is now gone so just want to see some good football, hopefully some good results (like I said earlier nothing wrong with keeping the pressure up on those above us) and laying/setting foundations for next season especially!

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    EJ….I don’t honestly think we have any chance of making CL now, we would need to see a pretty spectacular collapse from at least two of the clubs currently ahead of us and I can’t see that happening.

    I have watched MU’s last two games and they are really looking like title contenders again with the addition of Fernandes, I said we would regret not signing him (for whatever reason), it just shows how the addition of just one quality player can transform a side! I have also been impressed by Chelsea since the break, I can see them being serious contenders next season when you look at the players that will be joining them.

    I think we are pretty well set for next season in terms of middle to front but unless we have funds to improve our defence and get in a quality defensive midfielder (Hojbjerg rumours are very strong) I fear we may end up chasing the leading pack again.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    This thread is getting back to the previous seasons of interesting posts.

    Being realistic…. Unfortunately spurs players form this season and injuries have IMO… done for our CL places, unless we get 100% of remaining points and teams above us collapse. So Europa League + PL and both cups look best we can do, and give all the squad some games.

    Jose has to get our defensive tactical shape sorted, and in the last 2 games we are improving. Watching Man utd last night destroy Brighton, we did very good in nearly beating them. So hopefully our form improves again tomorrow. COYS

  • BelgianSpur says:

    I am watching some of the transfer deals happening across Europe:

    Sane to Bayern for an initial 45 million which could rise to 55 million

    Hakimi to Inter for 36 million

    The Arthur/Pjanic Barca/Juve swap involving mad money

    Chelsea’s transfer of Ziyech and Werner

    Icardi to PSG for 45 million

    Trincao to Barca

    It seems that there’s still plenty of money going around in transfers, Covid or not.

    Now these may be the select few, and may not be representative of all clubs, but sadly these clubs will be competing in the same leagues and cups as we are in or aspire to be in.

  • jod says:

    Love these comments on the cost of playing in Europe, reminds me of religious nuts who claim science isn’t real, just some godless people’s opinion. Leicester’s fitness coach said after they won the title that not playing in europe was a huge advantage and they wouldn’t have won without it. Burnley are twelve points better off after the same number of games as last year while not in Europe. But in the fantasy football world where some of our fans live players can play any number of games without it affecting the level they are playing at or the number of injuries they pick up. In reality all midweek games impose a cost, if you are Man City with two first teams not that much of one, if you are Burnley with a much weaker squad a much bigger cost. One factor which has worked in Wolves favour this time around has been the lockdown, a chance for their players to rest and recover before the restart. Hopefully that was a one off so it won’t help anyone next season.

  • jod says:

    BelgianSpur – Depends on what you mean by “plenty of money”. The transfers you quote involve significant amounts of cash but nothing compared to Neymar, less than half even of Dembele. The test will be whether Dortmund get the £100m+ they want for Sancho. Should point out that if it turns out we are in a buyers market it doesn’t really change anything. Fees will be lower because clubs have less cash but the same players will probably be sold to the same clubs just for less than they would have cost before the lockdown. I suppose some clubs might try holding on to players in the hope the market recovers but then you have the problem of players running down their contracts.

  • El Jefe says:

    TQ – good post – fully agreed we need to find money from somewhere to invest in defensive players – RB, DMC and LCB ideally – let’s wait and see – next season depends on it for me just like yourself – further like you say Man U and Chelski look like they will get even better for next season and Liverpool and Man City are in a league of their own completely so we could end up going backwards around a decade or more and fighting for 5th again and EL entry – hope not – after the last 4 year’s or so got the taste of CL in my mouth and don’t want to lose it for long LOL!

  • BelgianSpur says:

    jod – here’s a little bit of reading for you:

    “Yes, the Europa League makes life more complicated but the perception of it as a certain death knell for your league ambitions is certainly wrong. Up to half of the (better-prepared) teams taking part do achieve their domestic targets, regardless.”

    https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog/espn-fc-united/68/post/2709321/does-europa-league-participation-harm-league-form

    “First and foremost, with a sense that you can’t definitively say that the Europa League is a “killer” (sorry, Gary). There are far too many other factors at play here.”

    https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog/marcottis-musings/62/post/3008309/the-europa-league-can-affect-domestic-formbut-there-are-other-factors-at-play

    “Conversely, the Spanish Primera League teams have one of the shortest recovery times to UEL matches, but they have still been dominating the competition over the last three seasons.”

    https://www.thestatszone.com/archive/does-europa-league-affect-domestic-form-13756

    “The CIES Football Observatory has conducted a study that suggests participation in UEFA club competitions does not have a negative impact on domestic league results.”

    https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/022b-0e93a9d22f39-322290638023-1000–study-playing-in-europe-does-not-hinder-league-form/

    “Sixty per cent of Premier League clubs in our study either do better or exactly the same after European games as they do in the rest of their matches. Of course, there are lots of variables at play – squad depth, quality of opponent and travelling time to name a few – but it is pretty clear that there is no general pattern of teams doing worse after they play in Europe. To some it is even an apparent boost to their domestic form.”

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35146716

    I hope this puts your argument to bed. See what happens when you actually do a bit of research? you should try it sometime.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    jod – the recent transfers tell us two things:

    1. The people arguing that it was going to be a dead quiet market were, in fact, dead wrong

    We’re barely into July, the current season hasn’t even ended yet, and we’ve already seen large deals. If we haven’t seen mega-deals like the ones you listed, that could also simply be due to the fact that the nature of the deals so far (skill of the players involved, age of the players, contract situation) have not been comparable. Also, there is plenty of time left for big deals to happen.

    2. You are speculating that fees will be lower because that is what you believe, but again, this may or may not be true.

    I am all for you putting together a compelling argument, backed up by examples, if you can. But the reality is that there is currently very little data available, and the little data available to us right now tends to disprove your theory.

    Until more deals happen, and we can compare apples with apples, there is no way anyone can make definitive statements about what the market will look like.

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Jod,maybe we shouldn’t bother with the Champions League then. It may hinder our premier league performances and cost us our place in the following season’s champions league!!! The advantages of the Europa League, in my opinion outweigh the disadvantages, the chance to give young players a chance, additional money, the ability to attract players. We have a very large squad and i am sure we can cope. Burnley is a terrible example as they had such a small squad and had to play at least three rounds of qualifying. I prefer the Chelsea example where they finished third and won the Europa League. Wolves were doing just fine before the lockdown with a small squad. In fact they looked a fresher and far better coached team than Spurs. Same with Man U who were on a long unbeaten run before the lockdown despite the hinderance of the Europa League. COYS – Europa League here we come. We’re all going on a European Tour. Bate Boresov – we’re coming for you.

  • jod says:

    DoncasterHotspur – In the champions league you make real money just for qualifying. which in turn means you can improve the squad. In the europa league you don’t. If you don’t get that then you really are living in a fantasy football world. Maybe its more comfortable there.

  • jod says:

    BelgianSpur – You seem to be implying that to believe if every company in a sector of business suffers a drop in income at the same time then outgoings will also drop is a stretch. Its just simple economics and football is not immune to the laws of economics (unless City win their appeal, then they are immune). As I said lets wait and see what happens, all you can describe what has happened so far as is subdued. Which is what you would expect.

  • PompeyYid says:

    DH….you let em ave it with your singing, legs in the old beast yet eh! lol! dry humour getting dryer, maybe I should go and ave a laydown lol!

    Yep! I will wake up for a win tomorrow night. COYS

  • Niall D says:

    Just to add to EJ’s players out list. I think he listed Froyth, Rose, WP, CCV, I can’t remember if he listed, Aurier but I would. I read an interesting article on Dave which convinced me to maybe list him. He still has, a mistake in him in most matches and hasn’t become the player we thought he might. If we let him go I think we may get around 40 to 50 mil,.
    We have good cover around mid field so I would also be tempted to sell Lamella. More for reasons I listed earlier he is a good player but is injury prone. I would have him in the shop window just now, try to get a good 40 mil+ for him.
    If we think on it would losing any of the listed players by EJ and I really weaken the squad too much.
    It could give us a decent transfer chest of around 100 mil to pick up a decent RB, CDM, LCB and CF.

  • DoncasterHotspur says:

    Jod, I notice the lockdown has no effect on your tolerance of other people’s opinions. Do you not accept there is an argument for the benefits of participating in the Europa League or is it the case that anyone that thinks so living in fantasy land. No one on here has suggested that it would be easy participating in the Europa League but that there are significant benefits. And please don’t accuse me of living in a fantasy world. All I did was state some benefits of the Europa League. If you can’t see that then it is clear that you are no where near as smart as you seem to think you are (you clearly seem to think you are smarter than anyone else on this site).

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    I’ll have some of what you’re on Niall…………40 mil + for Lamela? lol

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