Friday evening’s tie only returned a point for Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho, but it was 90 minutes back in the tanks of players, and Tuesday evening’s clash with West Ham United was another opportunity to pick up a win and close that gap on the Champions League places.
Back at White Hart Lane this evening we certainly started the brighter.
For a change, we dominated possession in the first half and certainly created good chances. Son Heung-Min did have the ball in the back of the net, but the Video Assistant Referee ruled it out for offside. There were reasons to be positive though, especially as the visitors had been restricted to only one chance of their own. Onto the second half, where hopefully we’d seize the advantage properly.
West Ham did step up more in the second half and created some chances of their own, but Lloris was untested largely and our stream of missed efforts continued, until we forced a credited own goal by Soucek with 25 minutes remaining on the clock.
Harry Kane proved Jose Mourinho right as he hit a second in the 82nd minute and game over – three points and Champions League hopes remain alive and the result certainly wasn’t unfair given the times we should’ve tested Fabianski but fluffed it.
Given everything this season, we’ll certainly take that though.
Unused Spurs Subs:
Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sessegnon, Gazzaniga, Ndombele, Gedson Fernandes.
Unused West Ham Subs:
Yarmolenko, Wilshere, Ogbonna, Ajeti, Costa Silva, Randolph, Johnson.
Previous Article:
White Hart Lane
Premier League
23/06/2020 9:15 pm
Attendance: 0
Referee: Craig Pawson
| Tottenham Hotspur | West Ham United | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soucek (og 64), Kane (82) | |||||||
| Lloris | Fabianski | ||||||
| Aurier | Fredericks | ||||||
| Sanchez | Balbuena | ||||||
| Dier | Diop | ||||||
| Davies | Cresswell | ||||||
| Sissoko | Noble | 71 | |||||
| Lo Celso | Rice | ||||||
| Lucas Moura | 72 | Soucek | |||||
| Alli | 59 | Bowen | |||||
| Son Heung-Min | 86 | Antonio | |||||
| Kane | Fornals | 71 | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Lamela | 59 | Felipe Anderson | 71 | ||||
| Bergwijn | 72 | Lanzini | 71 | ||||
| Winks | 86 | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 15 | Goal attempts | 10 |
| 4 | On Target | 2 |
| 9 | Corners | 4 |
| 12 | Fouls | 7 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 65 | % | 35 |
BelgianSpur -“But some clubs backed by mega rich owners willing to throw personal money at the project (Chelsea is one of those clubs) will just continue as they have been.” Doesn’t that rather depend on the outcome of City’s appeal ? Under FFP a rich owner cannot pump money into a club. City and PSG have been doing it anyway, I’m not aware of anyone accusing Chelsea of doing the same thing. If City win the appeal then football becomes the wild west and any semblance of rules will vanish. If they lose FFP will be properly enforced going forward. You come out with these statements which just don’t bear close scrutiny.
El Jefe – You do realise the “fortune ” Liverpool spent on their defence was just the money they got for Coutinho ? Its net spend you need to look at not gross as its the net that tells you how much has actually left the bank account.
HT – good interesting post there – thought provoking indeed! I agree fully on keeping HK10 for as long as possible especially at the moment and I also back you up fully on Dele – think he is top notch and regularly proves it and fully deserves his place in the 1st team IMHO! Dier I can back-you up a bit aswell (I remember our discussion back in November LOL) in that he is decent and can cover several position’s and now being back to full fitness I think and playing relatively well “out of position” (he did start at Sporting as a CB but we converted him largely into a DMC) should be a good solid squad member! Trippier was decent for sure but had a terrible last season quite possibly down to not being fully fit and I’m not sure what the thinking was to get rid off him without an adequate replacement being brought in so again I’ll have to back you up there! There seems to be a lot of people talking up selling to buy and that was my main argument for wanting to sell the likes of Dier and Winks etc in November but you helped convince me that they were needed as decent squad players at a minimum not to mention they are still relatively young but already fully established international’s and offer an English core to the squad and club so I think I succombed to your argument at the time and conceded and now accept they are necessary and should not be sold hence why I’ve only got 5 on my sell list even though I feel we need several signings and it seems we will only be able to make those if we sell first and for decent money at that especially as I think we’ll be looking as discussed for atleast a couple of players to come straight into the 1st team – not easy to find on bargain budgets lol!
You make a valid point on JM further – it is indeed upto him to prove his coaching credentials and get the best out of the squad at his disposal – which in the main is a very good one especially attacking wise. In terms of defence I guess there is only so much left for old stalwarts like Toby, Jan, etc to learn from him or even be able to adapt and take-in but the likes of Davy, Tanganga, Sessegnon even Aurier and Davies certainly have plenty to learn and here like you say JM should be earning his corn outright! That said we are in desperate need at a very minimum of competition and cover at RB – we only really have Aurier at the moment so the position has to be up for discussion surely. As I’ve said before I’d be willing to keep him as a squad player in that we need to have 2 players to every position and Aurier would allow for this at RB. He is too error prone and rash in the tackle for my liking – he’s pretty decent going forwards though as JM has clearly tried to exploit – decent cross, decent shot, etc. Aarons who I’ve been mentioning is young and already has some decent Prem experience from this season with Norwich and I feel would be a good buy at the moment for a relatively cheap price one hopes of say £25-30m (similar to Sessegnon who you also speak of). Cancelo cost City some £60m or so if memory serves to sit on the bench, Walker was over £50m and even Wan-Bissaka a top prospect based on 1 good season at Palace cost Utd some £50m last summer so a decent young English prospect like Aarons for £25-30m I think is reasonable and worth pursuing. He is quick and is decent going forwards also so should appeal to JM given what I’ve heard him say regarding Tanganga and also how he has employed Aurier since arriving. Even if not Aarons, a RB is needed and for me it should be one with prospects to make the 1st team role his own.
I also feel we need Hojbjerg who again I’ve been mentioning or someone similar to sit in the DMC position and help protect the backline, etc – at the moment we only have Dier really to do this but he is being moved back to CB so I think we need to make a purchase here ASAP as then we only really have Sissoko to cover the role and he’s not ideal for it especially in games against the top 6 where we will not always be a constant dominating force in matches and will need to defend and soak up pressure furthermore all our other CM’s are not very defensive in nature and much more prone to moving forwards and setting off attacks like Winks, N’Dombele, Fernandes, Lo Celso, etc.
I agree we’re not going to be buying world beaters straight up – we can’t afford them and would they want to come anyway – very valid and realistic points you make for sure no doubting (that said we were still able to attract top prospects like N’Dombele, Lo Celso and even Sessegnon last summer so worth taking into consideration/context to a degree here I think all the same). That’s why players like Aarons and Hojbjerg who are still pretty young at the moment yet are already relatively proven in the Prem especially Hojbjerg thus who should now be looking for the step up to the top 6 – of which we are one and hence we should be looking then to take full advantage of them.
The same could be said of many a player regarding will they ultimately improve us or are they better than what we already have – heard it many a time before on here – examples like Henderson and Robertson at Liverpool, Grealish now compared to when we were linked with him a year or 2 back in that they do not really look like much of an improvement on what a club have and are a risky bet in terms of taking up transfer fees, wages, , etc but then end up turning into top, top class players – you just have to keep taking the risk(s – it’s the nature of the beast) and hope for more positives than negatives. Sonny and Dele for example for us help prove this – do not have to be top, expensive signings all the time in order to get great players.
Furthermore I bang on about signings especially defensive one’s because we can’t keep clean sheets, we have lost a lot of games over the last 18 months and are now for the first time in 4 year’s are dropping out of the CL which was/is vital for us and our plans especially with building the new stadium largely on credit. The youth squad is not producing anywhere near the quality or number’s needed so we have to look to the transfer market and that is what I am trying to do here! You are of course right that at the moment we have to concern ourselves with what we have – the season ain’t over yet – but it soon will be and the summer transfer window will soon open also and thus we need to be considering purchases as they are clearly needed IMHO especially defensive one’s for reasons I’ve already explained. So I’m open for discussion on these matters and am chucking in my opinion already LOL!
Finally on Sessegnon and N’Dombele – let’s wait and see and give it another season especially under the tutelage of JM and see what happens and then discuss further at that point – I think they are both top prospects and with a worldie like JM in charge and coaching them one would hope that the potential is fully realised eventually.
JOD – point taken but they invested quite a bit more than just the Coutinho money – indeed how much of that was up front in the first place with the rest being dependent and paid in instalments?! Alisson and VVD cost over £140m I think and no way did Liverpool get that straight up for Coutinho nor will they receive anywhere near that now with how things have panned out so dependent payments and instalments being revoked I suspect, then there was also Keita first and then Fabinho later…..! My main point being though and not taking money necessarily into account that they had the attack in place but could not win anything so they went back to basics and concentrated on defence and that is now reaping the rewards! Fair play we can’t do a Liverpool based on money but we can on principles – the attack is more or less sorted, now it’s time to concentrate on defence and back up a defensive expert in JM with what he needs especially if he feels it is essential. Let’s wait and see how it plays out but would be surprised if there are not several defensive signings this summer – I certainly am hoping for such – Aurier by himself for a season at RB for starters is already a major, major concern…..! If Jan goes we need a new LCB. Dier stepping back as a CB in the main opens up a necessary space for a DMC and in my opinion arguably a specialised 1st team DMC! n Potentially we need 3 defensive signings IMHO – definitely 2 atleast at a minimum – will be very disappointed if these do not happen!
EJ, Spurs have taken a hell of a lot of “risks” with cheap young players these past few seasons. Most of them failed. It seems you have to buy 10 to get 2 decent ones… Even some of the more expensive decent ones have often failed.
As far as Sess and Tanguy are concerned these are two players that have been and are still highly rated. And yet they are not yet good enough to step up. This tells me that many of our players are indeed underrated by many of our supporters. And that it’s not so easy to replace them and upgrade them. We have still bought pretty well over the years but all I’m saying is, that we haven’t the cold hard cash right now to really get those upgrades… We really need some class not potential. Right now we do have some potential class but can we afford to wait on them to show it? Actually it looks like we can’t afford not to wait… It looks like we will have to wait a while… I’m patient but, are you?
Hojbjerg is not a bad player and I like him. But I don’t think he’s any better than any midfielder we already have. (And we have a few) Max Aarons is also a good player. But is he really ready to challenge Aurier? I do think we need a better RB than Aurier. (I think Aarons would be on the bench for a while, keeping Sess company). But who that RB is, I don’t know. One that’s for sale of course. And not just a player I think is alright. 😉 Maybe Tanganga is that player? It doesn’t look like it’ll be KWP.
I’m not being negative here. I’m actually being positive. I’m saying I think our players are much better than you think they are. 🙂
Many of our players are players that Jose coveted when elsewhere. And Jose prefers proven players when buying in. I don’t think he’ll want to replace any of our established players with young, potentials… He hasn’t the time or patience, I don’t think. I think he proved that at Man U.
We’ll see. Maybe Levy can beg, borrow or steal a player or two when Barca or United ain’t looking….
Just watching the Norwich Man U game. Same ref who gave 2 “pens” against us has now sent a Norwich player off. Was a foul but for me not a red card. Always thought this guy gives United the little advantage. Now waiting for their free pen in extra time.
PY.. your player description… a mix of dave mckay and modric…. 🙂
b108s….so you get my drift, what a player DM was, one of my most faves and will always be the 1st name in my all time Spurs team, plus LM wasn’t too bad either! lol! imagine a combination player of them 2. COYS
Hi HT – agreed we definitely need a RB – I have thrown Aarons into the ringer for various reason’s as explained above including the constant links to us and he has done OK this season for Norwich from what I’ve seen/heard and as a RB specifically (unlike Sessegnon who made his name at Fulham more as a LW yet we are in the main looking at him to be a LB so has masses to learn for now – luckily still extremely young and by most accounts very talented so hopefully will make it with us eventually – JM to earn his corn here?!) so I would be OK with taking him on – especially for a similar price as Sessegnon – I think the future could be very bright with these 2 as our full-backs eventually – I take your point on needing class in the here and now but that is going to be very, very hard to find as you clearly state yourself both in terms of price and availability including our own attractability (JM’s pulling power could help here though) so the next best thing is to buy up emerging talent especially if British and available at a reasonable enough price – £25-30m I would say is relatively OK given how the markets have operated for a while now and I don’t think that CV will have that big an impact – football is in it’s own little world – a big ginormous bubble in fact completely separated from reality unfortunately!
Who could have foreseen the impact of the likes of Maddison, Grealish, Mount etc on the Prem – 1 constant though is that they did perform in the Championship and I would remind that Aarons was last season’s player of the season down there, then again so was Sessegnon in his super season at Fulham just before coming up but like I say he now has to adapt to a new position, came seriously injured, still extremely young, our defence being all over the place not helping either for him to settle, etc, etc, etc. For me Aarons is a decent/good fit at the moment for a position that needs filling so I would happily take him on! Let him fight it out with Aurier for the 1st team spot – I can live with that! KWP not the answer from the look of things – needs to be sold ideally and neither does Foyth so again one for sale also!
I agree we have a plethora of CM’s at the moment but apart from Dier none that play effectively especially against the top 6 and in the CL as a defensive minded DMC. Sure we can put Sissoko or Winks in there but we’ve tried that already quite a few times and in the top games I think we’ve been found wanting and suffered for it – I like Sissoko actually driving forwards with the ball and not being restricted as a defensive player solely – he carries and shields the ball very well to actually set up attacks, Winks also does this well and has good link up play (read a stat yesterday that he’s one of the top forward passers in the Prem) but neither is really of a solid defensive mind/nature nor will they get stuck in defensively/tackling – in Wink’s case recently highlighted in the Man U game letting Pogba get 1 on 1 with Dier down the wing for example. Looking at the top team’s they have Fabinho/Henderson, Fernandinho/Rodri, Kante/Jorginho, N’Didi, etc so it’s about time we found our’s – maybe Hojbjerg is that man – he is a top performer at Southampton and they do have history in uncovering top talent recently – but I trust JM to find the right man and get the job done there aswell!
If JM deems Vert’s worthy of staying for another season and he is OK with it then so be it – otherwise we’ll need a quality LCB for me. Don’t know who so will not really start naming name’s (save to say Upamecano sounds interesting but never really seen him play so would have to reserve judgement and apparently would cost a fortune anyway lol) but given that I think we need a RB and a DMC as per above, we may well have to settle for keeping Vert’s another season as long as he’s willing to stay and put back the LCB recruitment for another year!
GK is another position that’s going to need looking at in 12-24 months times as Lloris gets older – just saying that it will need looking at sooner rather than later also unfortunately!
The recurring theme for me is that we need defensive players brought in – I think defence is now our weak point as proven by the lack of clean sheets, many losses in the last 18 months and subsequent drop out of the top 4 – but importantly as we agree HT – where does the money come from to buy these players, can we afford them even if money is available and do they want to come anyway, etc?! I rate our attacker’s – who doesn’t, CM we have a plethora of player’s but in defence I think we are ultimately lacking quality and even number’s especially compared to several season’s ago when we had one of the best defence’s in the Prem with Walker, Toby, Verts and Rose and good back up with the likes of Trippier and Davies, etc! Trippier and Davies would be 1st team these days indeed Aurier (Trippier’s successor now) and Davies are 1st team – there’s something wrong there for me not to mention who backs them up?! Sessegnon is a prospect but a tough one because we want him to perform and prosper in a postion and league largely unknown to him, Aarons on the other hand is used to playing regularly as a RB and has been constant in that position all season for Norwich so for me is less risky a buy than Sessegnon was and we still went through with the Sessegnon signing, that said Davies is decent and better than Aurier so Sessegnon has more time to adapt – Aarons would be needed almost immediately to challenge Aurier so there are question marks but I’d still take that risk for sure at the moment! Hojbjerg saving a better buy out there again I would take the risk on!
Finally HT I do rate and respect most if not all of our players but there is much room for improvement – even at Liverpool and City they feel there is always room for improvement and they constantly win these days so with us even more so especially as we are dropping in standards especially at the back. If a defensive expert like JM can’t get them to perform and given Poch in his last 12 month’s or so couldn’t either you have to question the players and start looking for replacements I think!
Also as regards our defensive players I am willing to give a good chance to but how long do you wait for the likes of Davy to iron out mistakes and errors which are persistent in nearly every game, same for Aurier who was actually already an experienced and established RB on arrival, how long do you accept that Toby and Vert’s are past their best and need to be reserved as best possible and when do you call time on the likes of Rose who is past it, KWP and Foyth who have not shown anything at all and thus highly unlikely to be good enough, etc, etc, etc!
Sorry for the long post and it’s late aswell but it’s just something that I feel needs serious addressing – will leave it there for now – hope it’s not all redundant lol by us not even looking at any of those discussed but so be it – the fact is the position’s definitely need filling for me so even if the option’s discussed do not turn out to be viable, other’s will still be needed to fill these gaps and I sincerely hope that this summer we start addressing them as best we can – I think next season rests upon it quite frankly!
EJ, you do come up with some very comprehensive and clear answers to my questioning.
Of course my point of view is just that. My personal opinions. So, you may well be right on many of your own points.
I will just say that I’m not in any way saying that we can’t improve on what we have. This is a given. Football clubs always have to look ahead and plan for the coming seasons. And being the best they can be. But with managers it’s always a dilemma. They have to concentrate hard on it being right, right now… They have little chance to experiment and thoroughly rebuild. They are always under pressure to have an immediate impact and improve what they already have whilst having a close eye on the future but, knowing that their time will be limited if the team take just a couple of steps backwards, under their watch.
This is why I prefer to mostly just sit back and watch what happens. I do what most managers say they do but can’t ever be fully true, with the old cliche; I tend to “Take it one match at a time”. But then always predict the best outcome. Just in case… Just in case we do actually win something, that is. 😉
Your talk of football being in its own bubble? Bubbles Burst! Or, like our dreams they fade and die… Ask a Hammers fan… 🙂
I see MU had there 12th man reffing their game again yesterday. COYS
El Jefe – ” but they invested quite a bit more than just the Coutinho money”, no they didn’t. Coutinho was sold for £142m. Van Djik cost £75m, Allison £67m . Which comes to £142m. Financial illiteracy is not something to be proud of.
EJ, some good points there, I think most of us have been “banging” on about a new RB, LCB, CF, and as PY says “kick yer Granny” Defensive midfielder. It may Eventually get thru to the powers that be. I no I was talking on about our campaign against Leicester the year they won it. And, how a lot of luck and the wee decisions go your way. What I forgot about that season was that they were given a record number of penalty decisions for the premiership that year (I think 16).Its that and pens awarded in the fist minute of CL finals that sometimes win you games. Man U both this season and last have been given the most pens of any team in the Prem, if these (a lot of soft ones) were removed they’d be 14th. We need to build from the back there are good players out there. Eduard for Celtic good CF, wouldn’t cost a fortune, RB And CDM we’ve already mentioned, I think we need two CB LCB this incoming season and RCB for next season Toby can’t go on for ever. I think we need to forget about looking at the French league for players, I would argue that we’ve had our fingers burnt a few times there. Why can’t we go for Ake from Bournemouth, or, Tyrone Mings fron Villa. Let’s push the boat out and get some solid proven players in. So here’s my suggested new buys for Spurs. Aarons, Hojberg, Ake, or Mings, Eduard, or Josh King.
JOD as I understand it they only got around £105m up front – the rest was based on staggered payments depending on appearances and performance, etc – money which now given the outcome of his stay will not be most likely forthcoming – over £35m outstanding and unlikely payable. On top of this I believe they also bought the likes of Fabinho – primarily a defensive central midfielder who helps out a lot in defending by protecting the back 4 (a type of player I believe we are in desperate need of at the moment) – he cost atleast £40m so that takes the total to over £180m of which they only got £105m up front for Coutinho!
That said, my point was as I stated above about the principle of having moved to concentrate on defensive players and now reaping the rewards. They had Mane, Salah and Firmino in place even Coutinho so were playing good attractive football and scoring goals, yet could not win anything – close but no cigar. So they concentrated efforts solely on defensive players and low and behold they’ve started winning trophies and namely the major one’s!
We’ve got the likes of HK10, Sonny, Dele and Lo Celso at the moment – which I think could be good enough to challenge for the Prem possibly (one has to believe surely) – I could be wrong but HK10, Sonny, Dele and Eriksen were our main attacking threat when we chased Leicester and Chelski for 2 season’s in a row and came relatively close to winning it (3rd and 2nd not to be sniffed at and certainly something to build upon at a minimum and we still have 3 of the 4 attackers not to mention they are now more experienced and still perfectly capable of contributing heavily goal wise in any given season – ideally though we need both HK10 and Dele fit and firing for a whole season like was the case back in those 2 season’s, indeed HK10 being golden boot for example – a massive contribution) not to mention getting to last year’s CL final!
What I feel we need to do now is improve our defence and start to match the attack with similar quality at the back. We cannot go out and buy top dollar finished articles like Alisson or VVD unfortunately and we all know that but we can certainly still make moves and look to get some quality in to bolster the back-line (Leicester had and have quality defender’s like Maguire, Soyuncu and Ricardo with NDidi to help protect at DMC but did not pay big fees to get them – all under £20m or so I believe so perfectly reasonable prices) – I’m sure or at the very least hope JM, Levy and the board are doing just that and scouting for top young talent to bring in this summer transfer window ready for next season. I say young because we cannot afford or likely attract the finished article such as an Alisson or VVD, not to mention I’d like us to build for the future (last year we brought in only young players like Lo Celso, N’Dombele, Sessegnon and Clarke)!
I might add that this youth policy continued in January already under JM with Bergwijn and Fernandes being brought in – on Fernandes I very much doubt we’ll cough up anywhere near the reported fee of atleast £50m to make it a permanent deal in a year’s time – it will be much less or he goes back simple as for me!
HT – very good point made as usual there – manager’s are rarely given time and have to live in the here and now and JM does like to go for proven quality as you stated already yesterday – I’m happy to back him up with whoever he goes for – as I stated several times now for me he is a worldie (LOL) and this is proven by his track record – so like you say best to probably sit back and see what he comes up with – just hope that Levy and the board can back him as much as possible and personally I want to see defensive targets brought in ASAP as I feel that is where we need to strengthen based on what I’ve seen for the last 18 months or so as I explained much more in depth in a couple of previous posts!
PY – agree on your DMC mate – much needed for sure lol! Also would be nice to have the decision’s going in our favour regularly like both you and ND point out regarding Leicester and Man U – helping hand never hurt anybody lol!
ND – thanks for the compliment and good reply there! Going to keep it as short as possible as this is my 3rd or 4th attempt at trying to reply to you as my posts keep getting wiped mid-way through writing and fed up of it lol!
RCB – we’r e covered with Toby, Davy, Tanganga and Dier. Toby pick his games worst case to get best out of him as reasonably possible, Davy cut out the errors finally and become a top defensive beast lol, Tanganga keep progressing steadily as has so far and Dier doing OK at CB so far so keep on the same.
LCB – big problem here with only having Vert’s really lol! We may well need him to stay for another season to be perfectly honest – not ideal but that is how it is! Ake would be a great replacement – only true gripe is he’s a tiny bit short at 5ft11 but I guess you can’t have everything lol! Big battering rams up front a rare occurence these days in the Prem so a more sophisticated approach like Ake is fine – great left foot, very pacey, solid Prem experience, pretty regular Dutch international, JM knows him well, etc, etc, etc! Big problem is he will cost atleast £40m and that’s if Bournemouth get relegated and Chelski don’t want him back. Assuming we can get him and he wants to come can we really afford to spend £40m on 1 player this summer – the jury is out unfortunately!
RB – Aarons for £25-30m so similar to Sessegnon fine by me and really needed also to challenge and hopefully take over from Aurier ASAP!
DMC – Hojbjerg definitely of interest, solid Prem experience, regular Danish international, good solid experience also as a Prem captain so a leader for our CM, etc – will though cost around £30-35m – can’t see Southampton budging much from there – maybe use KWP to reduce down to just £20m?!
STR – can’t see it myself – we simply can’t afford to simple as. King Kane all the way basically with Sonny, Moura and maybe if does not go out on loan young Parrott to rotate if HK10 needs a rest, etc. With Bergwijn now we can have 2 fast nippy wingers in Bergs and Moura and still be able to put Sonny up front not to mention Lamela on the bench to freshen things up during a match if necessary!
I would happily take Ake, Aarons and Hojbjerg this summer and would certainly improve the squad no doubt especially defensive wise – all good solid Prem proven players now – problem is can we afford the 3 of them together in 1 transfer window?! We’re talking around £100m comfortably and just can’t see it myself unfortunately.
Rose – £5m apparently, KWP – £10m or so apparently, CCV – £5m apparently and same hopefully would go for Amos. Foyth is an interesting one – regular full Argy international – perhaps £15-20m if interest comes from Spain/Italy, etc (good favourable exchange rate for the Euro against Sterling at the moment could bump the price up a bit more easily lol) meaning we atleast double our initial £8m outlay – not bad for someone who has never gone on to prove themselves in the Prem so far unfortunately! Taking the minimum for each that’s around £40m which will certainly help in building a kitty! Problem is just Ake would swallow the whole lot up, same really with either Aarons or especially Hojbjerg also……!
Difficult summer lies ahead! Maybe like HT stated – sit back and see what comes of course always hoping for the best naturally!
EJ…….If we are looking for a LCB on a budget I wouldn’t mind us taking a punt on Tyrone Mings, he is so much better than our current incumbents when it comes to defending crosses into the box, an area we have been very vulnerable to for some time now! He has a good turn of speed, decent reaction times, and has good awareness and composure on the ball.
Hi TQ – how you doing mate? Hope all is well with you and your’s first of all – hope so! Mings as ND had also already thrown up over the weekend is a decent shout but personally just can’t see JM going for him – he’s 27 and still only has less than 50 Prem appearances to his name, 44 to be precise – I also think we need much better to be honest especially to replace Vert’s! Ake would be suitable if we could afford him and Chelski leave him be which I hope they will but I have my doubts here to be honest all the same – JM knows him well also so that’s another bonus and at only 25 already has well over 100 Prem appearances (much better than Mings even if not that spectacular compared to other Prem 25 year olds lol) – like I say the only gripe is that he’s 5ft11 so a tad short. Also for around £27m we could take a punt on this very highly rated Brasilian Magalhaes from Lille whose only 22 and attracting much interest all over Europe – I reckon Mings would cost similar as Villa will likely want atleast their money back having invested around £20-25m last summer and experience wise there’s not that much difference between Mings and Magalhaes – of course Magalhaes’ experience being in Ligue 1 and not the Prem but Mings is hardly a veteran of the Prem and is already 27! Furthermore Eddie Howe choose Ake over Mings always and that for me is confirmation enough already really! Budget or no budget – we need to look to buy quality and I don’t think Mings is actually good enough for us even if available for only £25m or so – would rather take a punt on the Brasilian especially if JM is interested but then again that’s just my opinion – could well be wrong and Mings forced his way into national recognition this season aswell so has to be respected at a very minimum!
EJ…I did say ‘if we are looking for a budget option’ 🙂
Of all of those CB’s mentioned guys, do you honestly think that they are better players than Dier? I think Eric is a better player than them all. (Well, he certainly ain’t a worse one, imo)….. And he looked very sharp vs MU and WHU.
Personally, I was very pleased to see Eric back as a centre back for the 1st 2 games of the PL restart.
He is strong, reliable and calm. Good with his head, a neat passer of the ball (both long and short) and a firm tackler. He is a very vocal leader, whenever and wherever he plays. He is also probably our most versatile and most flexible player. Being competent in multiple positions.
With Dier alongside Sanchez, I see two very capable players that compliment each other very well. I also see them as both being perfectly good enough to play at either the right or left central defender roles. Dier is just 26 and Sanchez is only 24. And yet both are very experienced PL players as well as being top Internationals that have both played to a high standard in the last World Cup.
And yet here we are talking about less experienced defenders coming to Spurs that are currently at clubs that are looking at PL relegation and are also not yet to be respected at a top, International level.
This is what I mean about too easily overrating some players at other clubs whilst underrating our own. All in my own opinion of course but I am being factual with their relative experience and International standings. But when I use my eyes, I really can’t see any of them being better than we have. And anyway, I don’t understand why the price they are valued at actually matters when judging their relative talents… Are they good enough or not?
Sanchez wasn’t bought because he was cheap (because he wasn’t cheap).. Dier wasn’t bought just because he was cheap. There are lots of cheap, cheap players… But they have to be at a very good or potentially better standard than we currently have at THFC. And if they are overpriced and/or too expensive for the club, then we have to simply ignore them.
Meanwhile, we still have 7 PL matches left to play and a CL place to play for. So, unfortunately, we can only play the ones we already have at the club. And to me they are good enough to get us that CL place. It is of course also dependent on the results of those above us. But if they falter we just may be in a good position to pounce. If not, then even 8 post lockdown wins and a draw won’t be enough. So be it.
Mings, Aarons etc., have their respective relegation battles to fight. And whoever else that is currently not a Spur ain’t werf F all to us right now! 😉
And if it’s true that both Chelsea and City are fighting over Ake right now, then all talk of him coming to Spurs is just bollocks anyway…. Haha!
Up the Eric and up the Davinson
Up the Spurs
And let’s be ‘avin’ some!
HT….I’m not sure anyone is suggesting the names being put forward are better than Dier, the fact is that if Verts goes we will need to replace him as he has been our only specialist LCB for ages now, probably since Wimmer went! We will need an alternative to Dier for rotation and to cover for injury if nothing else.
But no one had said that TQ.
Anyway I did follow it up on the next page, with the same point about Jan. And now I have just read your post saying the same… 🙂
Sorry HT, I was just replying as I was going through the thread and hadn’t got to your comment on the next page! 🙂
Well, because of this delay in posts appearing, I didn’t see your comment before posting mine and then my comment was delayed by about 2 hours or so… But yours was posted before I posted mine… If any of that makes sense?