...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[TheSantader25]

Yeah I don't think Garcia is gonna solve our defensive problems. We can't get Upamecano or Soyuncu this window so I think it's best we give Araujo a chance. 

 

Can someone count the number of pens given thus season? I think they'll be more than goals scored in open play lol. 

Edited September 27, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Laker23]

This season has got off to a really weird start.

[Jason]

I'd love to know what Pep and Southgate see in Kyle Walker. I'm fine with Pep sticking with him, but England have multiple better options.

[Eutyphro]

I think everyone is struggling due to no preseason.

  

1 hour ago, Lonely-Martin said:

I know you're no fan of Jose, but we're on the right track I feel. We look more keen going forward and if anything, just need to sure up the defence.

I still think his approach is too negative, and him giving interviews about "not giving anything away second half" is an indication of this style of thinking. They did well first half, but second half they did not do enough. I simply don't believe this mindset works in current top football. I think the only place where Mourinho still fits is Inter. It would be the right place for him to end up. It's not as if I'm not a fan of Mourinho, sometimes I like his punditry or interviews, but his ideas don't work anymore.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Eutyphro

[Jason]

Mourinho suits underdogs, Spurs these days aren't expected to be underdogs.

 

Also, his teams style of play is so poor that when things get bad, he loses the dressing room quick. No one can be arsed defending deep playing turd football when you're losing every game. He's a square piece in a round hole at Spurs for me, but he may lay the foundations for something good, which he did at Madrid and in some ways did at United.

[Len Lfc]

The f*ck happened to Wolves!?

[Eutyphro]

On 9/18/2020 at 1:51 PM, TheSantader25 said:

@Eutyphro

 

I've seen a friendly and it seems like Griezmann is gonna play behind Messi(interchanging their roles a lot during build up though). This means Messi is gonna be the false 9. Dembele at the right. Fati/Coutinho at the left with Griezmann being the CAM(Van De Beek). 

Seems Coutinho at 10 and Messi and Griezmann switching between right wing and striker.

Btw, Barca is looking good in the new system. Busquets is looking fit. Might have to change my opinion on him.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Eutyphro

[Lonely-Martin]

2 hours ago, Eutyphro said:

I think everyone is struggling due to no preseason.

  

I still think his approach is too negative, and him giving interviews about "not giving anything away second half" is an indication of this style of thinking. They did well first half, but second half they did not do enough. I simply don't believe this mindset works in current top football. I think the only place where Mourinho still fits is Inter. It would be the right place for him to end up. It's not as if I'm not a fan of Mourinho, sometimes I like his punditry or interviews, but his ideas don't work anymore.

Definitely an entertaining chap when it comes to interviews etc. I'm not to much worried about his tactics as much but rather more what Jason eluded to here..

 

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Mourinho suits underdogs, Spurs these days aren't expected to be underdogs.

 

Also, his teams style of play is so poor that when things get bad, he loses the dressing room quick. No one can be arsed defending deep playing turd football when you're losing every game. He's a square piece in a round hole at Spurs for me, but he may lay the foundations for something good, which he did at Madrid and in some ways did at United.

... The groundwork, our longer term mentality really. We're soft and have been for decades.

 

I've mentioned it before but the culture at Spurs for so long has been too easy going with players often able to not take responsibility and enjoy a comfy run of it at my club. There's no consequences for near misses or failing and no pressure to succeed. 

 

But with players like Kane and Son, Bale now too, and that stadium, we need to grow up in that way. Jose is a manager that won't accept that easy going lifestyle and will call out any that don't look to push themselves or be part of something that can go on to better things. Alli is a good example of the type of player we all too often let off for it.

 

Even with Poch we saw just how we're only ever gonna be nearly men with the softly softly over-friendly approach to the point it all fell apart big time and really hampered the team before any real success, more-so silverware.

 

I'm hoping Jose shows Levy and the club to take more responsibility and give us more drive to succeed longer term that way. The way we seem to be investing more in wages and being shown that loosening the pursestrings will be needed too.

 

And beyond Jose's run, as I'm sure like most we Spurs fans don't expect it to last too long, we then go for a manager that will also push us more to be more ruthless that way too and the club grows into a squad for men rather than boys as our reputation grows into something a bit different.

 

At least that's my hope. We need a real spark, drive and ambition ground into us more, and Jose could be the catalyst for it with us. I hope, lol.

[TheSantader25]

30 minutes ago, Eutyphro said:

Seems Coutinho at 10 and Messi and Griezmann switching between right wing and striker.

Btw, Barca is looking good in the new system. Busquets is looking fit. Might have to change my opinion on him.

Yeah. Nice performance. Messi, Coutinho, Griezmann were interchanging a lot. They don't seem to have a fixed position.  I still think we're too reliant on our left side. Hopefully Dest can surprise us at the right side. 

Edited September 27, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

I only saw second half and missed the best football they showed to be honest, but this is encouraging. Messi doesn't look happy though.

[TheSantader25]

Yeah. Hopefully he'll come around. But tbh it's getting kinda lame without the fans. Even celebrating goals feels lame when no one's around. Seems like bundesliga are letting small amounts of fans in. That's small but definitely needed. They have lower corona cases v Spain and England though. 

[Jason]

Meanwhiile, numerous journos are saying we're going back in for Sancho this week after a few days of murmurs around it. Supposedly we're going to test Dortmund's resolve.

 

Two years and we leave it to the last week or so of the transfer window - a window which ends in f*cking October. Peak Woodward.

 

I don't have much hope, honestly.

 

Also, can I just say, and I've thought this for a while now, but if Ole aint the man then I would take Brendan Rodgers in a heartbeat despite his Liverpool past. I think that job came a bit too soon for him but in a year or two he'll be ready for a top club, fantastic manager IMO.

[Lonely-Martin]

Given how lame the first half went, quite pleased we nicked it tonight. Much better 2nd half and a confident penalty shootout. Chelsea never looked comfy defending and would have been disappointed had we limped out like it looked in the first 45. Just put pressure on Chelsea at the moment and goals will come.

 

Think Jose was telling Levy he wants that back up striker too, lol. Trouble is, with a fit Kane guaranteed to start, who's gonna want to come in knowingly as back up? Aside an up n coming youngster or an old dog on his way back down, neither are ideal if it comes to a longer run in the team really.

[TheSantader25]

44 minutes ago, Lonely-Martin said:

Given how lame the first half went, quite pleased we nicked it tonight. Much better 2nd half and a confident penalty shootout. Chelsea never looked comfy defending and would have been disappointed had we limped out like it looked in the first 45. Just put pressure on Chelsea at the moment and goals will come.

 

Think Jose was telling Levy he wants that back up striker too, lol. Trouble is, with a fit Kane guaranteed to start, who's gonna want to come in knowingly as back up? Aside an up n coming youngster or an old dog on his way back down, neither are ideal if it comes to a longer run in the team really.

Barca have players for sale for any team in the world right now. We are the big market of Europe this season. Come and get your share.

We have so many rejects some even are f*cking free. 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Lonely-Martin]

1 minute ago, TheSantader25 said:

Barca have players for sale for any team in the world right now. We are the big market of Europe this season. Come and get your share.

Some even are f*cking free. 

 

We've done some solid business this window which I am pleasantly surprised with. But a striker and centre back ideally should help us out well.

 

I'd be happy if we got Troy Deeney if I could choose someone that knows the prem and offer us some good strength. Though seeing us linked with Rudiger from Chelsea made me giggle. Only last year he was suggesting Spurs fans were racist toward him, if he came in he'd have to be an immediate beast to win us over I reckon.

 

Heard the commentators during tonight's match mention us being linked with Diego Costa too. First I'd heard of it but as with Bale, it's nice to see my Spurs linked with some bigger names though and the potential they could actually happen. Maybe we should see what the really big clubs like Barca have available. 

[Jason]

Troy Deeney is well below Spurs standards. He talks a big game, like when he was saying he's still good enough for the Prem by comparing his goal scoring numbers (which are heavily inflated by pens) to the worst strikers in the league. Like you said, you will struggle to get a good second striker in that's happy to be the permanent second fiddle without going below your standards I think, like us with Ighalo. Aint no one good enough available for a good price that wants to sit on our bench right now. If we were Liverpool level, maybe, but we aint.

[Lonely-Martin]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Troy Deeney is well below Spurs standards. He talks a big game, like when he was saying he's still good enough for the Prem by comparing his goal scoring numbers (which are heavily inflated by pens) to the worst strikers in the league. Like you said, you will struggle to get a good second striker in that's happy to be the permanent second fiddle without going below your standards I think, like us with Ighalo. Aint no one good enough available for a good price that wants to sit on our bench right now. If we were Liverpool level, maybe, but we aint.

Yeah, probably hadn't thought it through too well, lol. I was more thinking his hold up play than goals though as tonight in the first half we really lacked an out ball and just thought of Deeney as one that could do that when needs must.

 

It's a tough nut to crack though and can definitely see Harry miss a few games this season given how busy ours has started.

[Jason]

@TheSantader25

 

Talk swirling around now of us (panic buying) Dembele, from typically reliable sources as well. Not at all convinced my self, given his injury issues and mentality problems. Seems like a big what if for me. Sounds like he doesn't want to leave really as well and we'd need to convince him to join, though it sounds like Barca aren't against letting him go.

[TheSantader25]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

@TheSantader25

 

Talk swirling around now of us (panic buying) Dembele, from typically reliable sources as well. Not at all convinced my self, given his injury issues and mentality problems. Seems like a big what if for me. Sounds like he doesn't want to leave really as well and we'd need to convince him to join, though it sounds like Barca aren't against letting him go.

Probably only will be sold if a good offer arrives. I personally think there's a chance he may succeed elsewhere despite his injuries.(though it's a big gamble) We're just cursed at the moment. Everything literally turns to sh*t when it arrives at Barca. But I'm not against letting him go for a good price. Other than his injuries, he has a high salary that he doesn't deserve and lacks discipline despite being talented. It'll be impossible to sell him next season if he gets injured again. This is our last chance to let him go for a good price and put this disaster of a transfer behind us. I'll take a 70 million deal. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

I think Barca would be dumb to sell Dembele, because he does have potential, and he's a useful sub, eventhough his mentality might be bad.

Also, the f*ck what happened to Umtiti? Why don't Barca start using him again? I don't get it.

[TheSantader25]

Just now, Eutyphro said:

Also, the f*ck what happened to Umtiti? Why don't Barca start using him again? I don't get it.

Injured all the time. He refused to fix his knee via surgery after the world cup and destroyed his career. Now he gets injured(from the same area) very often and has made horrific errors every time he has played because he's completely out of form. Like I said, we're cursed. 

[Jason]

It reeks of Sanchez 2.0, which is what worries me. We supposedly are having to convince him to come, he would cost a lot cause I can't see Barca loaning him out as that's literally pointless for them, and he would be on a high wage for 5+ years. It seems like a pure panic buy and us deviating from our actual plan, Sancho, because we royally f*cked that one up and now Woodward and Judge are under immense pressure to sign a big name right winger so they're trying everything. We supposedly submitted a loan offer for Federico Chiesa, which sounds ridiculous to me, why are we trying to loan what would be first team players? Why are we trying to loan players that are important players at other clubs? Why the F*CK would any team agree to that? Cause our board is deluded, that's why.

[Guns a-Blazin]

There are so many great UCL group games this season. It'd be interesting to see what Man Utd can do against teams like PSG and RB Leipzig.

[TheSantader25]

Uefa have tried so hard to get Messi and Ronaldo to play against each other in past seasons in the knockouts. Didn't happen so they went for the group stage this time lol. Getting Juventus though helped us avoid a difficult draw from pot 3 ( Lazio, Inter, Atalanta)

 

United are in a tough group. If they keep playing like this they won't go through, Group D is the most entertaining with Liverpool, Atalanta and Ajax. All play fantastic football. Atletico are the ultimate champion killers so I hope they keep the trend against Bayern. 

Edited October 1, 2020 by TheSantader25

[TheSantader25]

It's practically getting impossible to win this league with these refs. It's clear Madrid are spending their entire f*cking budget on refs. That's why they don't buy any players. Two similar fouls from both sides(soft ones). Ours gets sent off. Theirs doesn't. Not to mention how the ref has been looking to send someone off from the first half. We need to hold off for 45 minutes on this lead and it's gonna be hard. But I'm gonna say this is really getting ridiculous. 

 

EDIT: I'm proud of the team. They showed incredible fighting spirit in the second half. Something that's been missing for long. This win will be remembered as a valuable one in the road to the trophy. 

Edited October 1, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Eutyphro]

That second yellow for Lenglet haha, he barely touched him.

[Lonely-Martin]

A good night tonight. Comfy win, striker in it seems that'll hopefully add to the team, and Stoke in the league cup quarter finals of the cup. Could have been worse.

 

The Everton/United and City/Gooners matches could be good watches too. 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Lonely-Martin

[Girish]

Ahh, a much needed win against a defensive Palace team. I'm actually more happy about the clean sheet than the 4 goals.

[Jason]

P A N I C  B U Y  S E A S O N  B O Y S

 

Cavani's a huge step up from Ighalo, but at the end of the day he's a strong on the wrong side of 30, will be on high wages, high signing bonus and a rumoured €10m agent fee. Can't pony up a few extra million for a left back we sorely need though, can we?

 

Who's next on the panic buy list I wonder? Can't wait to find out!

 

[Laker23]

Absolute classic Woodward buy, f*ck sake.

 

On another note that Leeds/City game was highly entertaining. Fair play to Leeds for weathering the early storm and then taking it to them for large parts of the game.