TOTTENHAM ARE STILL A BIG CLUB!

http://watchtottenham.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/13996cc84fch-001.jpg.jpg

Lock thread forever if they lose in the CL qualification against HB Tórshavn or whoever.

them losing in qualification to the random european team schteeeve takes over is gonna be joeks.

i know tax evasion and robot dance and eurgh but of all the spurs teams I can remember, this is def. the one i'm ok w/ being (moderately) successful.

For decades the debate has raged about who, Spurs or Man City, are the biggest bottlers. Now we know.

oh I think that debate has only just started tbh.

i thought Arsenal ended that debate a while back

Arsenal are still a big club.

There are two teams in North London.

Other big clubs who finish 4th in England: Everton, Newcastle, Leeds.

Bottlers, Matt? Wasn't it just that we were beaten by the better side last night? I don't think the players choked at all - they gave it a right go, but weren't good enough.

Well done, Spurs.

^ the kind of thing that means I don't hate City, yet

Bottlers is one of the most overused bits of jargon in football imo but yeah I think Spurs had fourth place for a decent enough chunk of 09-10 for it not to be the issue at hand here

"Bottlers" seems tied in to that weird desire to make out like footballers are morally deficient for not being good enough to win matches sometimes.

I guess so many of Spurs' standouts this season being old hands is belated redemption for the weakness of their digestive tracts during Lasagnegate.

Don't think the City players choked, but Mancini's tactics were pretty reserved in the second half.

But tbh either team were good value for CL spot this year ahead of Liverpool and boring boring Villa

"Bottlers" seems tied in to that weird desire to make out like footballers are morally deficient for not being good enough to win matches sometimes.

Yes, and some people accuse footballers of "lacking passion" when they're not up to scratch in a given game (or in general).

Some teams do lack passion. Newcastle last year were, player for player, easily good enough to stay up, they just didn't care enough.

Adebayor, for both Man City last night (maybe in other games? I dunno) and whenever I saw him last season for Arsenal.

They looked short of ideas in midfield as well without Ireland. You're not going to get much in the way of incisive passing with De Jong and Barry in there, especially compared to Modric/Huddlestone. There were times when Kolo Toure seemed like their best attacking midfielder.

The persistent talk of them selling Ireland just confuses ever more after a performance like that, it's true.

Adebayor, for both Man City last night (maybe in other games? I dunno) and whenever I saw him last season for Arsenal.

― scrappy dyaoo (darraghmac), Thursday, 6 May 2010 11:18 (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Dunno... the guy did get shot at for playing football. He looked like he was kinda getting back to form before that. 'bottlers' to me are more about the Berbatovs and lol Bordeaux this season, when there is really no excuse why supremely talented top of the table types (lol hungover alliteration) just chuck it in for no reason.

and yeah newcastle a prime example.

Other big clubs who finish 4th in England: Everton, Newcastle, Leeds.

... Arsenal, this year

Well lets hope Spurs follow our achievements in being 1 of 3 teams to qualify for the CL every season for a decade.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aCRBiOhWuQw/R-hq74Wr9WI/AAAAAAAAAW0/Jz1xMOZdvRQ/s320/hulkwarrior3-wm6%28obsessedwithwrestling.com%29.jpg

Adebayor hadn't been shot at while playing out his last 6 months in an Arsenal team that badly needed a leader from the front last season.

Maye those guys were actually gunners, ifyagetme.

Berbatov- another example of Ferguson's tactical shortcomings. Players either work or they don't, and if they don't then it's their fault.

wait, that picture holds like a million questions...

berbatov was supremely talented when Spurs were last as well tbrr

If Spurs had drawn with Man City and then lost to Burnley, that would have counted as bottling.

yep.

if jol had dropped robinson at any stage over 2 years, it wouldn't have been counted as bottling.

not rocket science- when you don't bottle you're not bottling.

beating city, arsenal and chelsea in the last 5 games to seal it is basically anti-jol/bottle stuff.

sam- yeah berbatov was supremely talented when spurs were bottom! don't understand where yer goin with that tbh.

fergie likes his players to huff and puff, berba was never going to fit in. the only successful stroller of the fergie years was Cantona.

i dunno tbh. not really up to thinking today.

anyone done a list yet of who else might be in the qualifying pot? i vote martin lol reunion with ajax.

vs martin jol in a one-off, vital match?

bring it on. we'll loan them jenas.

even luis fabiano is beginning to believe

Usually that's the sort of thing players say when they're trying to attract Arsenal's interest but hey, we're a Champions League club now.

well, in fairness it's only two weeks since we got not much more that a disdainful sniff from him, but we've gone and got our hair done in a metaphorical sense.

L-R Spurs, Fabiano

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/ultimateseason/files/2010/06/grease.jpg

Other way round isn't it?

eh i dunno i'm not really a grease fanatic tbh. but i don't think so. or did they both oh i don't know

Both sing the chorus but it's Danny doing all the chasing.

http://www.mattscdsingles.com/acatalog/gibson%20craig%20one%20that%20i.jpg

The Craig McLachlan & Debbie Gibson version is probably more apt for a not big club.
(also note url mattscdsingles.com almost has a Spurs fan in it)

http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/resources/images/1362187/?type=display

is it too much to ask that the sponsor's blue matches the rest of the kit?

Is it just his shorts that come with the knee bandage or do they all get them?

oh dear

not feeling it :/

could grow on me, it's kinda german club team in style.

No you don't understand, Ledley's injury has got so bad he's got a job in a leisure centre.

Or maybe as a holiday rep.

shorts mightn't be helping but is top half don't fit on his bottom alf proper

Actually that shirt might be quite cool if it didn't clash massively with the sponsor. Any news on who our ground-breaking, innovative second sponsorship deal is with?

i like the home kit, more than the other 2 anyway

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5m5mkJlGR1qc2np2o1_500.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5m5o2BrXO1qc2np2o1_500.jpg

hate that puma collar that uruguay et al had.

Why do we need another striker again?

Autonomy Corporation PLC (LSE: AU.) is an enterprise software company with joint head quarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and San Francisco, USA. The company uses a combination of technologies born out of research at the University of Cambridge. It develops a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications using adaptive pattern recognition techniques centered on Bayesian inference in conjunction with traditional methods. In March 2009, it acquired the enterprise content management firm Interwoven, now Autonomy Interwoven and Autonomy iManage.

It is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.[2]

the kids'll be all over it by October, you'll see

seeing my first spurs match tonight in NJ. got seats 5 rows behind their bench, what should i yell to Arry and the lads?

guys is there a 2010-11 premiership thread yet or

think the thread title has to go to committee first, so it should be ready in January.

vuvuzelas make for noisy neighbors: man city won't be on dis ting

Yell abuse at the team non-stop, basically - Harry once sent a particularly abusive fan on as a half-time substitute

that's pretty great.

awesome

kick a ball at his head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOgTCbz-XmU

also premiership thread traditionally doesn't start till... the premiership is anywhere close. still a month and a few hundred million away. And that's just what man city do in july.

what should i yell to Arry and the lads?

He's got a twitch
He's got a twitch
Harry Redknapp, he's got a twitch
How he got it we don't know
How he got it we won't care
All we know is he has got a twitch.

couldn't see the bench as it turned out.
spurs started 4 right backs as their back four (and didn't even play kaboul):
naughton walker corluka hutton
hutton was clearly the worst player on the pitch.

I think he may have picked up the twitch in the 1990 car crash.

Those new strips are dire.

Yes it was a car crash alright. Definitely a car crash.

Great chant tho lol lol.

hutton was clearly the worst player on the pitch.

this has never not been true of him in a spurs shirt.

When, if ever, did you stop thinking Liverpool were one of The Big Clubs? Premier League 2010/11

When, if ever, will Joe Cole start thinking Liverpool is a Big Club With Problems? Premier League 2010/11

^^^ Winner.

I'm happy with that.

Yeah ticks all boxes

That'd suit ilx's conversion to spurs fan site.

hahaha YEAH COME ON YOU HOTSPURSES

Lol twitch

Lol a goal

whass going on

http://api.ning.com/files/r0zx0h92UNDVobUK9MAKOpv-rFbHMfEp6Pvh6LaZGK3cohtnukFwHERDjphbe3Gg*v3pRokbvedGpBhGu6OF75xkUFwjdgBT/Radge.jpg

That'd suit ilx's conversion to spurs fan site.

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Friday, July 23, 2010 10:11 AM

no mention of spurs whatsoever?

http://imgur.com/3iaps.jpg

Do Tottenham fans care that one of their players thought so little of their beloved shirt that they swapped it at half time with an Arsenal legend making his debut for a makey-uppey US team?

no

Which player was it?

Kyle Walker, I think.

Generally speaking if we have a great pre-season we have a shit start to the season and vice-versa, so I am heartened by this defeat. We were unstoppable in pre-season under Ramos and then look what happened.

yeah i'll never trust a preseason again tbh

wait who'd we lose to?

This is America son, winning and losing isn't about the score
http://images.newstatesman.com/new_york_post.jpg

i'm thoroughly lost.

That'd suit ilx's conversion to spurs fan site.

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Friday, 23 July 2010 10:11 (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this has never not been true of ILX

(in a Spurs shirt)

Generally speaking if we have a great pre-season we have a shit start to the season and vice-versa, so I am heartened by this defeat. We were unstoppable in pre-season under Ramos and then look what happened.

― Matt DC, Friday, July 23, 2010 6:26 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

spurs haven't lost yet

whats "big club with problems" from...? mustve missed that

think i prefer cozens anyway, more elegant

Big club with problems came from Hodgson himself I think.

(Also for some reason I read the Red Bulls result the wrong way round)

Maybe it was the heat but Spurs looked pretty sluggish when I saw them play against the Quakes.

think the heat and humidity must be a factor. seems like that would be terrible to play in when you're not used to it.

xp oh right. yeah on second thoughts go for it then.

thought i heard it was modric henry swapped shirts with?

Hodgson said that? It seems accurate. He is unusually good at being scrupulous.

Suggest Ban Permalink

hutton was clearly the worst player on the pitch.

this has never not been true of him in a spurs shirt.

― "It's far from 'lol' you were reared, boy" (darraghmac), Friday, July 23, 2010 4:56 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Jenas took the honors today. terrible decision making and passing.
Thudd missed an open net from about 40 yards, even his miss made my heart skip a beat, though.

So if tickets at their 36,000 capacity stadium for Tottenham's first home game of the their most important season in 50 years against Man City, their biggest rivals for membership of the Big Four, don't sell out and go on general sale, why do they need a new toilet bowl-looking 60,000 seater stadium?

Is it going to be like this for every club, or is it just some proven early-season ennui effect that I don't remember from any other year?

'arry's got ideas for new owners:

Redknapp is not critical of the way moneybags City are dominating the transfer market.

And he said: "Man City fans don't care about the money being spent. Football fans don't care. The players don't care, either, because it's not down to them.

"Saddam Hussein could own your football club and, if he's putting millions into it, they'll be quite happy.

"They'll be singing 'There's only one Saddam'."

this ticket issue hasn't been a thing before, i don't think.

mind you, just about everyone has been expecting it to crash and burn with a few years now, really? maybe these are first indications.

At least you can rely on Saddam not to interfere in footballing matters.

o shit forgot abt that aspect of the saddam thing.

Any other club change the ticket prices depending on how good the team they're playing is? £44 to watch Citeh at WHL vs £29 for the Stoke City game.

i thought it was common practice? i knew spurs did it alright.

I've just tried to buy tickets on the Spurs site and although they were technically still available, the entire stadium was blocked out as unavaiable. General sale my arse.

you will beg for those tickets, beg i tell you

Uday interfered in football matters all right

i thought it was common practice?

Yeah, most clubs divide games into category A, B and C with three different price bands.

Yeah City went straight into category A almost as soon as the Sheikh's money came in. B will get you yer Villas and Evertons and whatnot and there are quite a few teams in category C now.

This does not happen at Ashburton Grove, probably because about three games a season go on general sale.

'b' games sound like the best ones anyway tbh, barring the boring boring villa obviously...

fire sale at city

New rules force Man City to sell 12 players

Manchester City will have to offload around 12 players before the transfer window closes at the end of next month - otherwise they will be left with players they are unable to play.

New Premier League rules state that a club must submit a squad of 25 players on September 1, and only those players will be eligible to be named in a matchday squad. Clubs can supplement that list with an unlimited number of players aged 21 or under, but in Manchester City's case they are currently well over the 25-man limit.

Players such as Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy, Jo, Felipe Caicedo, Micah Richards, Michael Johnson, Vincent Kompany, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland, Nigel De Jong, Kelvin Etuhu, Pablo Zabaleta and Nedum Onuoha could find themselves out in the cold if they are still at Eastlands when the transfer window closes. Robinho is also officially still a City player...

i was wondering why this '25 man squad' rule hadn't been a factor in transers thus far- thought either everyone hsd forgotten it or i'd flat out misunderstood/imagined it.

city will have at least one toppish-level player left unregistered come end of august

Hope Arsene's got first dibs on De Jong, maybe Richards.

fuckin hell thought of arsenal with de jong isn't a happy one

but yeah, arsenal, spurs, villa, everton could all be doing a lot worse than sniffing round that partic table for scraps.

Given that City haven't yet spunked hundreds of millions on top level World Cup stars I think the idea of of Micah Richards, SWP and Stephen Ireland being left out of the squad is a bit fanciful, to say nothing of Nigel De Jong.

New Premier League rules state that a club must submit a squad of 25 players on September 1, and only those players will be eligible to be named in a matchday squad

I was about to flip out over this and call it the worst rule ever, then I saw the bit about the unlimited number of kids you could call upon.

Still think it's a dodgy rule though, it means clubs are more likely to offload a promising-but-risky 20-year old to a lower league club rather than give them a chance.

would be an improved rule without the unlimited kids aspect imo. either unlimited kids, 15 man squad or 25 man squad, minimum say 8 homegrown

Given that City haven't yet spunked hundreds of millions on top level World Cup stars

??

xp it may have that effect matt, but it'll hopefully do something to address the stockpiling of young talent to sit on the bench. maybe not.

xp not this week

Vieira and Gareth Barry != "top level World Cup stars"

I meant this summer. They've signed Silva, Kolarov and Yaya Toure but going from that to a load of first teamers rotting in the reserves is a very big jump.

they kinda had a p big squad before that, though, not really let enough players go since last year.

31 players on their site, and i left out 4 or 5 i didn't recognise tbh.

did roy hodgson really say 'beef' wrt torres/lfc? amazing!

have they signed balotelli yet?

city? still btwn them and chelsea it seems

bradford's grant gets 25 years for murder

this ever happened before?

No, pretty sure that's the first time he's been sent down for it.

Give Joey Barton time.

25 years of it

man city now the biggest net-spending club since premier league began according to f365 mailbox

They don't seem to make much money selling players - their biggest sale must be SWP to Chelsea right?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/26/manchester-city-liverpool-fernando-torres

i mean okay if pool got offered 70m for torres i think they should take it. but that said, where is the quote to back up the headline? the actual mancini quote seems to suggest if anything, city WOULDN'T be prepared to pay over the odds.

yeah, that's a bit of a reach from his quotes alright.

i can't see a 70m bid materialising for him from anywhere though, not with his injury runs the past year or two. one year under roy to both see how things work out at lfc and to prove he can do a full campaign again and then we'll see.

Get this small club shit off the Tottenham thread.

ha

70m would be a great deal for pool, tho ideally would prefer if he left the Prem.

70m would be a great deal for anyone unless it was Xavi/Messi leaving Barca.

Especially for a player who only plays half a season at a time. Hell you can buy a whole new team for that, or 4 superstars.

sell Torres, replace with Forlan, Aguero, Suarez, whynot.

exactly, he is brilliant but if he's going to be injured all the time you can't rely. plus i think these messiah will he stay will he go oh god if he goes we're fucked things are just bad for a club in general. and good strikers aren't that hard to find...sure they won't be as good as him but if you spent that 70m on a new left back, a right winger, a centre back, a striker, you'd get a fairly good set of players imo.

i think these messiah will he stay will he go oh god if he goes we're fucked things are just bad for a club in general

Exactly. If this wasn't the Tottenham thread I would say that Liverpool were over-reliant on Torres but that's because the squad is very poorly-balanced and spending that £70m wisely should help correct that imbalance.

I love Torres but I'd take £70m for him too. You could basically cure the first XI for that - Bridge, a centre back, Santa Cruz, Zamora if Roy wasn't such a gent, and probably still money left over. Gerrard would've been more useful sold too.

I am quite concerned that Mascherano is supposedly to be allowed to go, though, just cos he's exactly the player I'd want to build a team around and he wouldn't fetch as much. But even that should allow them to buy Bradley or similar, and they could even get by with just Lucas to an extent.

Isn't Masch just ignoring Liverpool until they sell him?

I expect so. Don't know where he's supposed to be going, but I guess most sides could use a guy like him.

Masch was back in training today. Well, at the training ground. Probably hiding in the toilets refusing to come out until they've sold him.

i like masch but i'm not sure he's a 'build a team around him' player either- 25-30m would be a good amount.

torres- i honestly think 45m would be about his real value, but with the clubs that are chasing him and his political importance to liverpool, it could well go much higher than that. i'd trust hodgson (if he gets to make the call, indeed) to work out at what stage it becomes preferable to let him go.

what is nando's contract? if it 3 or more years then yeah, 45+, 2 or less years and take any offers imo.

I think it might be 4yrs - pretty sure he signed a 5yr deal when there was takeover-imminent chat, which is why he feels aggrieved now. Can't remember exactly when that was though.

lol this dude was on the flight from ny to london with the spurs team and had this to report: Charlie was quite funny actually, some flight attendant asked why he was in NYC he just replied ‘for the women’.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs109.ash2/38772_424957037560_508902560_4669824_7768599_n.jpg

Tottenham Hotspur is interested in making a bid to takeover the Olympic Stadium in east London after the 2012 Games.

glory glory stratford hotspur

well they still don't have planning permission for naming rights.

Do you think this is a ruse to make Haringey council more amenable to granting permission for the Naming Rights Arena? (i.e. if you don't let us build it, we'll leave the borough - didn't Arsenal do something like this with Islington?)

yes, they've "threated to leave the borough" about a million times before. but i think the council are totally on board though - they're already helping to move local businesses off the site and relocate them - so it's probably more about getting them to put pressure on the police to sit down and iron out any problems with safety etc in time for the meeting in two months or something.

0925 BST: Ajax's £30m-rated striker Luis Suarez is one of three names on Tottenham's summer shopping list. Boss Harry Redknapp also want Micah Richards and Craig Bellamy before the start of the new season.
Full story: Goal.com

Suppose Bellamy needs to put in a season at Spurs at some point.

...before going on loan to Celtic with Robbie Keane.

Would like Bellamy tbh! Micah Richards has potential, if Arry can work is magic then he'd be good (for CB I assume).

Concerned at lack of LB talk.

I'd take Bellamy but I'm not sure he'd gel properly with any of our strikers, or get in our first team. If we're moving to 4-3-3 with Lennon further forward than maybe.

Would love Suarez but so not gonna happen.

Micah Richards could be good but I think another exciting young but error prone defender is not really what we need right now, especially after Woodgate's unfortunate death. Old experienced pro to partner Dawson please.

I'd like any left-back we sign to be of the reliable-but-unexciting school, don't see the point in signing a third adventurous attacking LB who can't really defend.

Bellamy usually described as a left winger these days, but yeah it would be on the understanding of replacement for Keane I'd have him.

Agree 100% on LB, I want a dour, experienced LB-by-trade, and not a frustrated 'footballer'.

I think we're not too badly off at CB if King can play once a week- huge IF obviously. Bassong, Dawson are prone to gaffes, but both much improved? Woodgate, King- yeah great nominal CB pairing but can't rely on them ever being available.

But buying in another first team player in that position leaves us with 5 'first team' CB's- At that stage Woodgate's gotta be let go and let someone in on a clearly understood 'first choice' basis- there's enough messing around with King's situation as is.

Yeah if you think about it our best period defensively was with Bassong and Dawson, they went four or five games without conceding IIRC. Maybe another centreback would be overegging the pudding.

just acknowledge that pair as the first choice centre halves, I think- give them that much in recognition of their work last season, not as punishment to woodgate and king or anything (I'd have let King go a year back, and I've been proven comprehensively RONG on that one)

Bellamy to Celtic rumours still not going away (didn't he say he wouldn't play in the Prem any more?), and I would take him over Keane as well (Bellamy's half-season up here was as good a half-season I've seen out of anyone, way above what Robbie Keane's done this year), but I think my expectations are being somewhat mucked about with, since we're actually signing dudes from Scunthorpe* and Sunderland.

* supposedly really good though

signing up prospects from lower league would seem like a good way for Celtic to go, too- is it somethign they've been doing much of ailsa? (i've fallen off the SPL wagon in a big way this past two years tbh)

If by lower league you mean "Hibs", then yes :-)

Difficult to put a pattern on it over the last couple of years, tbh with Strachan aware he was leaving and not spending any money accordingly (Willo Flood doesn't count), then Tony Mowbray flinging money and loan deals around indiscriminately like a drowning man scrabbling for lifelines. Couple of of "prospects" came from Ireland - Paddy McCourt and Niall McGinn - both bought for next to nothing, McCourt is genius but unfit, McGinn's useful but probably not quite good enough yet. We've got a training ground full of worldwide-sourced prospects, of those, I certainly think Thomas Rogne looks the real deal (if someone can sellotape his hamstrings back together), jury's still out on Morten Rasmussen.

Only English "lower league" player I can think of off the top of my head just now that we've bought recently was Marc Antoine Fortune (jury out for so long they might as well stop deliberating), who could never really be described as a bargain or a prospect.

(am quite happy to take this over the SPL thread to stop the Liverpool Tottingham chat getting taken over)

With Ledley and Hooper I get the feeling the strategy is to buy guys who look like they have the potential to catch the eyes of an English Premier League team and are young enough they'll have a good resale value if they put in a good season or two (Ledley was reportedly subject to a failed £8m bid last year). Same probably goes for Juarez.

McCourt is genius but unfit

I've yet to see the evidence of this lack of fitness - he's looked the best player in the country to me and never seems to be struggling (though only playing once a month gives you plenty of time to get your breath back).

The fact they only let him out for 20 minutes a month suggests unfitness to me.

Also Paddy looks like old school tanner-ba' players are meant to look and should therefore always play.
http://i35.tinypic.com/303cw0o.jpg

suggests unfitness to me

and if he's been training with Celtic for two year why the fuck isn't he fit? You maybe accept a guy coming from the Irish league might not have the same fitness levels when he arrives but they've had a fuckload of time since then to train him.

(sorry Spurs, you are still big, carry on)

Same probably goes for Juarez

Neil Lennon quoted as saying almost exactly that (that he has potential resale value). After years and years of running players into the ground rather than capitalise and replace, I think someone's finally sussed out how everyone else with any sense does it.

xposts, aye, that an' all. 20 Paddy minutes are generally more productive than a whole month of MAF.

other xpost, no idea why he's so allegedly unfit. Same as I have no idea why Celtic can't keep anyone's hamstrings intact for five minutes.

http://i35.tinypic.com/303cw0o.jpg
looks mentally unfit to me

rename thread to CELTIC ARE STILL A BIG CLUB

Course we are, huge stadium, regularly competing with Europe's elite in pre-season friendlies.

I'm not old enough to remember when tottenham were a big club

shouldn't celtics strategy just be to sit back and laff at rangers going bust?

is, afaik

shouldn't celtics strategy just be to sit back and laff at rangers going bust?

Yeah we've been doing that for two years and they seem to be doing all the laffing :(

You maybe accept a guy coming from the Irish league might not have the same fitness levels when he arrives

I don't! If they irish league guys don't have stamina and workrate then they don't have anything tbh.

Paddy mcCourt has been a prospect for a long, long time. 'mentally unfit' is probably very close to teh truth of the matter here.

Agree 100% on LB, I want a dour, experienced LB-by-trade, and not a frustrated 'footballer'.

does this include wayne bridge?

nah he's actually attack minded, just shit.

At the same time if you have a player like Vedran Corluka (solid, hardly ever fucks up, no pace whatsover) on either side that limits your attacking options somewhat.

The idea of playing Bale week in week out and making sure his defensive awareness improves seems like the way forward, if he can be developed to Ashley Cole level (and I absolutely believe he can) then that's enough. Maybe a dour experienced leftback as backup but how many of those are there in this day and age? I can't think of many particularly good LBs in the Premiership.

lbs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> rbs

Corluka is a very good footballer, just not pacy. He is, imo, about the best partner for Lennon that we could wish for in terms of his movement and passing.

I don't think Bale will ever match Cole defensively, but IMO he's already better going forward. I don't think he'll ever be a good LB defensively, really. Heart's not in it, the poor tot.

It's easy to forget that Ashley Cole was seen as a bit of a defensive liability during his first through years at Arsenal. I'd give the boy Bale a bit more time meself.

hey i'm not advocating dropping him or anything

Maybe a dour experienced leftback as backup but how many of those are there in this day and age? I can't think of many particularly good LBs in the Premiership.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, July 27, 2010 9:50 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This is my point. BAE is near the top, surely?

BAE improved a lot this year, but I mean every game he'll Phil Babb.

BAE has improved both in attack and defence but he just has these stupid rushes of blood to the head that result in conceded penalties and near misses. If you could cut that out of his game he'd be fine.

yeah, like I said he'll Phil Babb

Noticed that Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League tonight. I was expecting Spurs to have to play a qualifier - I guess the "co-efficient" or whatever its called means English fourth placed clubs now qualify automatically - right? Or have I missed something?

As a BITTER LFC fan I was looking forward to the possibility of them not making it - just like Everton when they pipped us a few years ago!

there's another round of qualifiers after tonight's- draw takes place friday

ah - well that was the other explanation. Thanks.

who cares about the champions league? the lads brought the eusebio cup back to the lane

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/Dawsontrophy415.jpg

ha that's classic

Dos Santos! Is he any good? Thought he looked a tricky little thang in the World Cup.

classic ability vs reported attitude probs

+ inability to get any of his 12 shots a game even on target.

Dos Santos will never make it in the Premiership, we should cash in on his decentish World Cup now.

hasty imo.

his tasty flick brought spurs the eusebio cup glory!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQwLpEZ1D-8&feature=player_embedded#!

around 4:20 in

aw cheers for that, watching this second

i gotta pause that for a sec and just say- wow benfica

and now i gotta reload wtf

didn't get to see all of it it kept skipping on me, but from what i caught there's no way we should have won that one.

;_; for sub waiting to come on when we scored

benfica looked amazing in that

yes but they do not like it up them iirc

Haha yeah from those highlights it looks like Spurs got ripped up for 90mins and somehow still won.

BTW

Forgot completely about Kaboul in our discussion of 'do we need another centre half' so the answer is a definite 'no' cos I <3 that dude.

we're goin to the CL folks

prayers for young boys answered.

glad about this btw - got the makings of an absolute egg-on-face classic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Sutter

and here's your instrument of fate

I don't see any way that this can't happen. Only compunded by this: "In the autumn of 2006 Sutter stated that he no longer wished to be considered for selection for the Swiss national side as he wanted to play for the Three Lions"

Young Boys at the Wankdorf stadium!

u r kidding

Got tickets for the WHL leg! Best day ever!

:D

that's class.

young boys' away strip looks familiar

http://www.bscyb.ch/cgi-bin/dynamisch/homeaway2010.jpg

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq99/javinspencer/tupac_west_side.jpg

for my second ever premiere league match i'm going to see fulham vs wolves at craven cottage. i'm bringin my 74-yr-old dad. i don't think the supporters will be particularly rambunctious but i guess we should probably sit w the neutrals?

Neutrals?

Yeah Craven Cottage has a neutral area, FSVO "neutral". In the very unlikely event that anything kicks off its more likely to happen in the neutral area than anywhere else because it's only nominally neutral, you'll get both sets of fans in there.

I'd go in the Fulham seats myself, you'll get the best atmosphere in there.

Never heard of a neutral area before.

i hadn't thought of it like that, but that makes sense!

I always try to sit in or beside the away fans myself. The seats aren't normally that great but you get good songs and a bit of banter. Wolves fans are alright, I've seen them a couple of times. Wouldn't've thought there was any chance of trouble myself.

do any other parks have a neutral area?

Alternatively, the main stand at Craven Cottage (the one on the side away from the river anyway, I think it's the main stand) is very tight to the pitch, and it's pretty cool to be sitting right down the front and get the occasional bit of action literally a dozen feet away from you.

wikipedia:

Fulham is the only club currently in the UK to have such an area. Fans can wear whatever shirt and support either side in this area, leading to friendly banter.

lol

do any other parks have a neutral area?

― cozen, Friday, 6 August 2010 18:41 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Any seats at Ashburton Grove above the cheapest ones...

Yo, Ismael - I got two tix in the second row of that stand. Psyched!! They are "uncovered" but whatever, w'ell just bring raincoats.

Great stuff, hope it works out well.

Full-blooded challenges are awesome from that range, let's hope that having beaten relegation Wolves don't decide to try playing like Spain.

please unlock that other thread, Spurs are BACK

not trolling here, honest, but: they better enjoy their stint in the champions league because they've as much chance of being there next year as Celtic.

i.e. none.

Didn't see the first half, but their second half was as dismal as you'll ever set eyes on. Somehow only compounded by the fans getting on their backs from about 55 mins - justified as it was, it's still a bit like Villa getting all over-entitled a couple of years ago.

The brief flurry of knockout blows from Wigan made me think most of all of the Rumble In The Jungle, actually, except that Foreman put on a far better show that night.

blissfully sunbathed my way through this

when if ever did you stop thinking of Man City as one of the big clubs?

http://imgur.com/t0Ogt.jpg

why do his tears please you so?

I'm hoping he'll tell his father to "fuck off bollocks you're a cunt".

....

srsly what sort of edmonton kebab shop owner buys glasses like that for their kid? pretty sure you'd be hating on one of yr own

That's Ben Mitchell from Eastenders isn't it?

wasn't bothered about result tonight wanted to see some new players.

found it hard to tell livermore from sandro (tv at an angle in pub) but he looked good

thought the young cb looked mostly good better than bassong? was actually having a late dinner for the penos so only kinda looked up resignedly at them.

naughton looked v good on ball and when near his man, but positioning was woeful enough. that'll come though and he looks a prospect

bentley didn't move for a teammate all night, and his passing was designed for his own personal glory and nothing more- even though his effort was there and he showed some nice touches, i've given up on him ever being a part of a functioning team with us.

lennon was terrible when he came on, keane was pretty good. pav got no service but wasn't great besides.

sandro looked good, i think i'd have him ahead of palacios for a while, because the latter didn't cover much ground again tonight and never really showed for the fullbacks to get an out ball.

all in al, an excellet performance and i cant wait for the next round.

I'm sure we did this but just in case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utUyha0wjSE

ha that's pretty untypical, tbh

So sad the time has passed for a DJ Martian/Pompey version ;_;

So yeah, Darragh, about that not playing with a defensive midfielder thing? Really needs to be sorted out sometime soon, FC Twente were just able to run straight through Modric and Huddlestone last night...

More problems caused by not playing with a centre half alongside King imo, Bassong looked allergic to challenging for the aerial ball all night. He was really poor.

The fact that neither centre forward wanted to play up front as a focal point, they both kept coming back (and Pavlyuchenko went down under every touch too, instead of using his strength to hold up play) also meant that the benefits of having the passing/movement provided by a Modric/Huddlestone/VdV centre were wasted. You don't need two guys running from up front to add creativity there, you need them stretching the centre backs and holding the ball up intelligently.

Not sure I ever advocated not playing a DM in the CL though! Maybe in home PL games where we'll be stonewalled, but usually I'd be happier with a destroyer type in there.

Still have high hopes for a possible 352 when we get some centre halves back, but again the form of our strikers makes 2 up front a very hard sell at them moment, because the obvious choice for Harry right now is to pick only one up front to accommodate VdV, Modric, Huddlestone, Lennon and Bale (or four from that lot and one destructive presence, as I said).

that's got to be my most properly-typed post all year, and i dunno why

Don't think either Pav or Crouch (or Modric for that matter) have learned to play with VDV properly yet, they didn't seem to be getting in the right space for him. That'll come with time, but it was telling that most of our joy last night came from crosses pinged in from wide positions.

Just don't trust Bassong any more, hope he can pull it together but I think the Young Boys game has left in permanent "MUST NOT FUCK UP" ticker tape paralysis.

I'd like him removed from the firing line for a while, he's a good 'go straight for the tackle' defender in the Dawson mould, but right now yeah he's definitely suffering. Without King last night we'd have suffered too, but nobody else fit at the moment.

Pav/Crouch- I don't think it's a new problem that Crouch doesn't stay up front or hold the ball up properly (particularly for his height) but Pav would definitely want taking aside and a word had (I love football grammar) about running wide and also about hitting the deck so easily.

Thought most of our joy last night came from running down the wings directly at full backs, not through the actualy delivery (Bale put in some good early balls, but again Crouch and Pav weren't anywhere near the penalty spot (Crouch six yards to the right of the 6yd box for one cross, wtf)

bTottenham Hotspur
* Rafael Van der Vaart has had 17 shots in just four league games since joining Tottenham. Peter Crouch has had just nine in seven games.

* No Premier League player has created more chances (20) than Gareth Bale this season. But he is yet to be credited with an assist.

* Spurs have kept just two clean sheets in 12 games in all competition this season.

Bale stat is blowing my mind. CMON STRIKERS GET ON THE END OF IT FFS

Have assists actually become an official thing then? I thought they were strictly for fantasy footy.

nah they've been keeping official stats as far back as the utd team of late 90's at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2HWUbFGHMU

I was watching this ridiculous George Best footage from 1981 last night. "One goal and THREE assists!" quoth the announcer.

Looks like we'll be getting rid of Kranjcar then. He's worth at least 10m imo, but I doubt we'll see anything like that amount.

I read that as "worth at least 1 onimo" - need to get over myself

^ fancies himself a bit of a player imo

http://imgur.com/NpH9h.jpg

modric absolutely aghast there.

obviously arry's indicating the number of midfield slots available for vdv and luka, so get yer finger out lad.

modders deserves that, he's looked complete pony the last few games i've seen of him

should make some FREE NIKO shirts really

Man management, Harry style. Almost as funny as when Gomes rolled his hands to indicate he needed to come off and 'Arry gave him a thumbs up and left him on the pitch.

And then he was injured for three weeks during which time we weren't much cop at the back.

i don't know if modric is just off-form or if he's struggling to find a role between VdV and Bale.

really hope it's the former

Might be a bit of both.

i'd love to inhabit your complicated world, tbh, but i'm just not that guy

well, i guess we'll be a big club when we get a pet ref like cuntyberg

This is presumably United's pet ref who didn't give United a penalty when Nani was pulled? You'd think if the referee was biased to United / against Spurs, the easy (and far less controversial) thing to do would have been to give the penalty, rather than give Spurs the advantage and then send misleading telepathic signals to Gomes that caused him to place the ball then stand and watch while Nani asked the referee if it was OK to score (and then scored).

here's a stat: not only have Spurs failed to win here since 1989, not counting the time they did thanks to Pedro Mendes but weren't allowed to, they've also failed to register a victory in any of their last 67 away games against the Traditional Big Four

Things you can guarantee will happen every season:
1 Spurs will roll over for Man U.

uh didn't Chelsea fans call it Three Point Lane for a while? They were undefeated there for years.

more worried about our recent form against wolves and wigan tbph

nb&s i'd rather he didn't give a soft peno for your famous diver, hadn't booked our two centre halves for nothing as early as possible, booked your famous diver for grabbing and holding the ball, listened to his linesman instead of overruling him, not booked our captain for repeated protests while not allowing your captain to hold a fucking conference with him and his assistant.

i'd rather all of that.

arry's wrong, handball is not a yellow card

deliberate, sustained handball on the ground after not getting a penalty isn't necessarily a yellow card, but should be though- right?

when did yellow cards for diving stop, on a not-unrelated subject

They haven't stopped, have just seen a Kilmarnock booked for it not fifteen minutes ago.

+ player

There was at least one classic "dive or penalty" moment in the Barnsley - Hull game last night, neither given of course, sick of chickenshit cop outs like that.

a handball is only ever a caution if it's "unsporting conduct". unless the ref thinks nani was diving, he has to assume nani handles because he thinks he's got a penalty. players handball after tackles all the time. to penalize nani would be inconsistent with how this is refereed.

tbf he had a pretty shitty view of the penalty claim

Nani wasn't seeking to gain advantage by handling it. It was hardly an Henry v Ireland type incident. He thought he'd got a penalty. Once he realised he hadn't, he let go of the ball (and threw himself on his back in a ridiculously over-the-top show of exasperation) while Gomes picked up the ball and walked off with it. He didn't gain anything from that.

I can understand your frustration, Darragh. Spurs worked hard, showed flashes of brilliance and, but for that bizarre incident, could well have left Old Trafford with just a 1-0 defeat.

ha fair point, and i've acknowledged that tbf also

would ask you why nani didn't play to the whistle tho :)

exactly...everyone is criticising gomes for not playing the whistle but neither did nani. the only diff is the ref didn't see nani's behaviour=bad refereeing. picking up the ball after a tackle before the whistle is petulant bullshit anyway, sort of thing someone does in the park when you're 9.

defoe's position troubles me. Doesnt play well pivoting off a big man, much better working predatorially against defenders rather than as part of an ttacking unit.

As well to discount him from tactics altogether when picking him treat him as joker in the pack rather than yr usual small, tricksy creative attacker.

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Thursday, 4 November 2010 11:10 (35 minutes ago)

Carrying this on here but I think this is wrong fwiw. Defoe would be great as the tip of a 4-4-1-1 that's based on keeping it on the ground, as the current Spurs team is. If he had another foot of height he'd obviously be perfect but he can actually finish regularly, which helps, he gets himself into good positions and he's strong enough to hold defenders off. Could work well in front of VDV I'd say. Better than Keane at any rate.

well yeah, i would love to see him in exactly that position, my point was more that including him in your strategy (as harry clearly does crouch, for instance) isn't a goer- and going back to sheringham through keane and berbatov we've almost turned away from picking a player purely to get on the end of things (it's why defoe was sold before and why bent never got a fair crack, imo)

I think pav holds it up and passes better than any of our other strikers, but crouch vdv have hit it off, and with defoe back fit there's maybe a bit of tinkering to be done.

I would expect Redknapp to put Defoe straight back in the team when he's fit. The man fucking loves him.

central attacking unit of modric vdv and defoe in a 4411 would definitely merit a run of games.

noted on another thread, but modric's comments have made my day.

He's such a dude.

the obvious choice for Harry right now is to pick only one up front to accommodate VdV, Modric, Huddlestone, Lennon and Bale (or four from that lot and one destructive presence, as I said).

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Thursday, September 30, 2010

visionary imo

are we running a book on which bolton player will break bale's leg? #steinsson

steinsson yeah

thugg

^ onimo said this in the pub today (and then said lol amirite). When real life and ILX collide.

Heh, very good. Didn't think he was, um, that kind of player. Has he lashed out before?

yep, he's got a very short fuse

yeah he elbowed someone in the twente game, i think. avoided a ban for that one.

he's had a few incidents. eng u-21's once or twice too. he's not actually that sort of player, but he reacts very badly, very quivckly if he thinks someone's had a go.

figured out the bale.gif btw. his balls are obv rattling about in there, that's a phantom dingus #PD

lollin @ #PD #balllols

#Imayhavebeendrinking

Amazingly enough, Tottenham's most lethal goalscorer over the past three seasons is none other than Roman Pavlyuchenko.

SuperPav has scored 32 goals in all competitions over the past three seasons from 4,179 minutes playing time, giving him a strike-rate of a goal for every 131 minutes played

His record during 2010-11 is an even more impressive goal for every 106 minutes played.

Closely behind Pav is new signing Rafael van der Vaart, who's 7 goals this season have come from 930 minutes played, giving the Dutchman a strike-rate of a goal scored every 133 minutes on average.

In third place comes the pint-sized assassin, Jermain Defoe with 29 goals from his 4,166 minutes played - a strike-rate of 144 minutes per goal.

Danny Rose only goal for Spurs came from 157 minutes played so far.

Darren Bent, now with Sunderland, managed 17 goals from 2,790 minutes played, which gave him an average of a goal scored for every 164 minutes played.

Tottenham Hotspur's Goalscorer's Strike-Rates in Last Three Seasons:

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Spurs_Strike-Rates_Last_3_Seasons.html

"

not in any way amazed tbh. our best striker, and the sooner we get him and defoe to start playing together the sooner our consistency will cease to be such a major issue.

I can imagine Harry already figuring out wheezes to get his average up by no early baths from now on, subbing him on as an auxiliary CB in games long-won, etc

Thudd out for several months, by the way :(

Ideally that means playing a proper defensive midfielder from game to game. Realistically, it means a lot more Jermaine Jenas.

You live in a Sandro world now, it'll be ok.

yeah sandro or palacios to pick up the slack. ideally. But i'd share matt's reservations as to whether that'll happen

or harry can go mental, notice his shit defense is going to concede no matter the situation and just think fuck it, we'll go back to the ozzie days and play 4 creative midfielders and two strikers...

tbh three and two or four and one respectively aint far off that, with attacking full backs to boot

Pav's league goals 2008/09: 1 vs Bolton, 1 vs Liverpool, 1 vs Blackburn, 1 vs Boro, 1 vs West Ham
Pav's league goals 2009/10: 2 vs Wigan, 1 vs Everton, 2 vs Blackburn
Pav's league goals 2010/11: 1 vs Wolves, 1 vs Fulham, 1 vs Bolton, 1 vs Blackburn

I don't think goals per minute tells the full story (otherwise, iirc, Mark Burchill > Henrik Larsson) - you have to look at the opposition.

when a player never seems to get a fair run, i dont know if it still isnt a good stat to look at.

Pav's never scored more than five?!

remember when carlton cole had the best gpg record in the world? good times.

not in the league - a few against better teams elsewhere of course - vs Man U in the league cup, vs Inter in the CL.

All of his 2008/09 league goals were at home.

Not calling him out as a flat track bully or anything - to score against the top teams you need to play them and Harry's ignored him for a few big games.

not like our other strikers were filling their boots away from home or against yr chelsea in the same period.

No club going for cl spot can do without a flat track bully, if that's even what he is

^^^i call bullshit but all the examples that come to mind have a midfield that scores a lot more than spurs's.

Spurs now have a midfield(er) that scores.

g bale and vdv both

Oh aye, keep forgetting Bale is no longer classed as a defender. VDV looks like deal of the season so far.

chamakh up there too before sam hops in

nah vdv is a lock for signing of the season (along w/ zlatan + ozil)

I almost consider him a second striker but I can't remember the last time Spurs had a midfielder who had a serious change of getting 20 goals a season.

But yes, a big physical striker much needed at the moment. I'm a little disappointed that Sunderland got Asamoah Gyan, who'd be ideal.

srs, a cheeky bid for lou ferrigno and porto would let him torture english defenses instead.

lennon/modric need to contribute more goals, there's no doubt. Pav/defoe are always lookin to shoot early and occupy centre halves in a way crouch/keane dont/wont. You'd be sacrificing a certain amount of participation in buildup play playing the former as a partnership, but giving modric/vdv room in the centre. Worth trying over a period of time imo.

"Harry is a very special man, that's why I already feel at home at Spurs. It feels like I'm back on the street.

"There are no long and boring speeches about tactics, like I was used to at Real Madrid.

"There is a clipboard in our dressing room, but Harry doesn't write anything on it. It's not that we do nothing - but it's close to that."

Starting to think that it's Lennon who's going to make way in a 4-4-2. If you've got Bale firing on all cylinders you can sacrifice Lennon and play Rafa on the right, drifting in with Hutton overlapping.

lennon off form, sure. But straighter swap for modric, who by the same token can play naturally cutting in from the left.

Vdv may well turn out to be a striking option in 442 anyway

Niko Kranjcar made it five goals in three games for his country as Croatia defeated Malta 3-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Wednesday.

The midfielder struck twice before Blackburn's Niko Kalinic rounded off the scoring in a comfortable win on a rain-soaked night in Zagreb.

I'm still not certain Niko shouldn't be considered an inside forward like we've been playin VdV in the 451. He's not good on the right nor centre, hit-and-miss on the left until he's in sight of goal. Better finisher than Robbie (this past two years, anyway), and I think we should've seen more of him while Defoe was out in a more advanced role.

Judging by quotes he'l be gone in Jan anyway- hopefully not to another CL/UEFA chasing prem club.

If I'm honest he'd stand a good chance of getting more games at utd/chelsea than at us this weather.

ok

what's a fair price for 30-yr old proven premier league & international goalscorer robbie keane?

i'd take 5m, but then i want rid. if we were looking at buying a player of his career stats/profile/talent i'd prob be happy for us to spend twice that.

dunno who can afford to spend 5m on a player that has sucked for the past 2 years - brum maybe?

personal hunch is some sort of p/ex with west ham for c.cole - gold & sullivan might be the only ones stupid/desperate enough to try and match keano's lol colossal wages come january

but yeah the whole thing would depend on whether dude's willing to take a pay cut and for how much. be surprised if you got more than 2.5m for him tbh

villa £5.5m

he's still yr best forward if he's not dead

tho he may be dead

yeah, given and keane are both gonna have to make a call on pay-cut vs games in january, they were talking bout it on rte last night. richie sadlier- 'tbh, i don't think robbie's that good anymore, maybe sunderland'. he's a good pundit.

can see everton, sunderland, villa all paying ~5m for him, but definitely he'll be taking a 30k paycut to move, cos we'll not be paying him.

he'd be our best fwd if he'd never played for rafa. but now he's shite and we pay him 80k

he's bound for the celtic glue factory surely

it's like the highest-stakes pass-the-parcel ever

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9258302.stm

"Harry Redknapp is a great manager," added Horne.

"Tottenham are playing great football and to qualify well for the Champions League knockout stage from a position of being fourth favourites in the group is huge testimony to that." ]

what? fourth favourites my ass. good to know you've got someone who knows football picking the next england manager.

'arry will 'ave to go back, meet up with the FA for a couple of days and have a chat and say, "You should be voting for me really. I'm a sexy bird, I'll get my gear off for you".

do u reckon arry like a tart or two

not talkin baht david bentley neever

Might as well go to Engerland, he's got nothing left to achieve in club football.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/incoming/article303941.ece/ALTERNATES/gallery-large/redknapp.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nsXBhkK4bWE/TQdV9RmUAyI/AAAAAAAABBc/3o9SZt3hMfY/s1600/Mins+per+team+goals.jpg

Spurs daring to dream - haven't seen this linked anywhere, it's a top explanation of their finances

TL;DR - The loss of Champions' League revenue next season will be offset by the huge fee from the sale of Gareth Bale to Citeh.

only Manchester City, fuelled by the Sheikh’s billions, have spent more than Tottenham in the last five years. With a net £91 million, Spurs have spent twice as much as Liverpool, four times as much as Chelsea, nine times as much as United, while Arsenal have actually generated a surplus from their transfer activities.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jLlqDrcSYeQ/TPZjU5e-usI/AAAAAAAACmo/Muaw20kC9Qs/s400/15%

top top

all in order, tbh.

always wondered where exactly amortisation of transfer fees gets recolved after an outgoing transfer. stadium questions are big ones.

wonder where we are in the table of transfer fees brought in? near the top i'd guess.

According to that chart it's

Man Utd
Liverpool
Tottenham
Arsenal

(xp to self) City, of course, have spent four times as much as Spurs during that period (or 35 times as much as United), and about 90% of that spending has come in the last three seasons.

xps I had a long, unwanted train journey tonight and read that consecutively with this takedown of redknapp. Can't really recommend it as such, but was a fun way to pass an hour.

reading Why England Lose has confirmed what I already knew, clubs that spend anything at market price are suckaz. Or p much anything on transfers tbh. or: loooool that harry article.

"I've never deemed us to be a selling club if you look at the big transfers which have taken place since I've been chairman. Gareth has got a long contract and I can assure you he will not be sold."

no doubt we've been a selling club wrt our top players since sol campbell. Not sure if thats changed since cl qualification, but prob not much. We get value from most forced sales tbf.

i'm not rly big into 'north london rivalry' tbh, but tbph not sure how far an arsenal fan can go on this subjet.

Maybe buying/selling club status should be on number of players out the door as opposed to the grand total value? Like how the above shows Man U to be the biggest selling club of the past five years but most of that is down to the Cronaldo transfer?

Arsenal have sold 25 players over the past four seasons whilst Tottenham have sold 39. All mostly kids from both sides rather than big players but still.

i'd narrow it down further, i think. Players sold against manager's wishes is really where the 'selling club' tag comes in.

Liverpool, whatever else about them this past decade, only ever caved to mascherano, and that was with the club at a particularly low ebb.

tbf to Spurs re Berbatov I recall that he spent his last while there standing around looking sullen not trying very hard not playing very well. See also E Adebayor when it comes to Arsenal as a selling club. Arsenal generally less a selling club than a letting players go for no particular reason club.

i remember that being the accepted wisdom at the time re berbatov, and disagreeing with it. All seemed to centre on his body language and lack of rooneyesque charging, neither of which had changed in the previous two seasons. 102 games, 56 goals in a pretty awful spurs unit

sorry, 46 goals

Yeah but the last few months, when he'd decided he wanted to go to United, he really did just stand around flouncing petulantly.

Part of the problem with Spurs in previous years has been that the best players wanted to be playing in the Champions League. Now they are, so you'd expect it to be theoretically easier to hang onto them. A lot depends on whether or not we finish fourth this season obv.

Depends on Bale's attitude as well. Can see Spurs pricing him out of the range of Man United or Arsenal. He might go to Man City for the money alone.

we might sell him to them for the money alone.

Flouncing around petulantly - berbatov mo

Arsenal generally less a selling club than a letting players go for no particular reason club.

i'm not even sure i know 1 player this refers to. gilberto maybe?

bale will totally be sold for wads and wads and wads of cash and possibly and oil reserve. what is the aulas thing, 'no player is for sale until someone bids way higher than the player could ever conceivably be worth'?

will settle for that tbh, 55m would get us a left back and replacements for king and woodgate.

55m will get you a well scouted team plus a superstar

tottenham are still a big drinking club

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/16/article-1339076-0C8098C8000005DC-51_468x561.jpg

also, thank god footballers can't design their own kits

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/16/article-1339076-0C809BB8000005DC-552_468x507.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/16/article-1339076-0C809908000005DC-758_224x619.jpg

i'm not even sure i know 1 player this refers to. gilberto maybe?

vieira, flamini, maybe hleb? decent transfer fees for the first and the last, sure, but still pretty happy to let first team players go for what seems like no particular reason.

have you never seen hleb play? being fucking frustrating and essentially pointless (remember we bought him to replace the super effective pires and replaced him with nasri who is looking like he will win poty) also vieira was shit in his last season and even if he may have been at winning sides in italy, was shit for them too.

noone was exactly happy to see flamini run down his contract.

I'm eagerly anticipating the Arsenal tantrum when Bale beats Nasri.

Should probably be Malouda over both, but he's faded a bit recently.

oh come on, bale would win it for some very good european games, he has been p average in the league

ah, forgot that nasri's entrance coincided with hleb's exit. i accept that hleb is pish obv, but i was thinking that he left with no particular replacement.

http://friendly.no/thorstvedt.php

This is Erik Thorsvedt's daughter...

omg

http://charlotteblogg.no/files/2011/01/DSC05094-630x418.jpg

Real life Photoshops!

She is repping for 1x awesome Jamie Lloyd/Quarion track and one lame James Blake song.

"There'd be nothing worse than, five years down the line, for a failing club not being able to meet its obligations because it's not getting 60,000, fans saying there's no atmosphere," he said, pointing out numerous problems with football being played in athletics stadia.

Love the strategy of 'well we'll pull down the olympic stadium if we get it to build our proper one' line of shocking the government into just sorting out naming rights instead. Of course this all falls apart if West Ham get relegated though. Or maybe QPR could have it.

The stats they've pulled out for this are quite sobering though - nearest seat something like 45m from the pitch, 20% of seats 190m+ away. If West Ham do get it, it'll be the worst ground in the country.

Charlotte Thorsvedt played a few minutes from my house the other week, headlining what appeared to be a night for Norwegian students - can't tell you how delighted I was when I saw the poster and Google confirmed the blood link a few minutes later \0/

Or maybe QPR could have it.

nah we're having tv centre once the beeb fucks off oop north.

is thorsvedt daughter one of the only ever natural blondes to look way better as a brunette? i'm calling it.

http://www.kickette.com/tottenham-hotspur-manbag-musings/

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/48791000/jpg/_48791836_fritschx475-1.jpg

Huge blue cockerel set for fourth plinth and champions league place

This AND the year ending in a one. IT IS A SIGN.

"I couldn't say they (United) are on another level and are going to walk away with the title. I can't see them going the year unbeaten. There are lots of teams who could beat them on any given day."

they could they just don't wanna, just to piss off mcnulty

The unbeaten run is getting perplexing. Spurs were pretty decent yesterday yet never really looked like laying a finger on them. It's not even like there's a conspiracy or United have an invisible force-field around their goal or anything - it's more like a collective failure of imagination, or consensus to settle for draws as some sort of danegeld.

can't wait to read a run of play article on it

It's been easy to forget how good Ferdinand and Vidic actually are over the last couple of seasons, when one or the other has mostly been injured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKCm5uWwtaQ

Can Spurs maintain their current level of spending? Been looking at the figures, and over the past five years their gross and net spends are huge. I imagine wage bill is also rising. But the capacity is the same and the prize money won't have gone up until this year's CL money comes in. Is there a danger they are overstretching? How important is repeated CL qualification? Can they keep this up while building a new stadium? Where's all the money coming from?

These are the questions I've been asking myself, and am now asking you.

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/league-tables/2006-2011.html

revenues have always been high, and i think an increase in wages and transfer spend both are inevitable consequences of cl participation.

Not particularly worried, and i'd hope they're not banking on cl every year because that wont be happening.

Damn.

my word's not gospel or anything, there's hope for you yet

I think it's already been established that that Transferleague site is not particularly accurate but yeah if Levy's let Harry off the leash then it's worrying in the longer term.

Redknapp's not actually spent that much on players overall but the wage bill could be growing at an alarming rate. £6.6m loss on turnover of nearly £120m is not great though.

xp

Am sticking voodoo pins on relevent grid of A-Z as we speak.

I wrote this about London football history this week by the way, maybe of some interest to some of you.

http://greatwenlondon.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/how-the-london-football-map-might-have-looked/

The big spend was Ramos, wasn't it?

Was looking at player turnover as well. Chelsea signed just 18 players in last five years; Spurs 43.

signs of flawed policy either way there though

Think Chelsea are more at fault. No idea on average player turnover, but I bet 18 is right at the bottom end, and the staleness shows.

pienaar at 3m could have been a staleness steal. Eh? Eh?

Most of the Chelsea first XI were there five years ago. Apart from Lennon, King and Dawson, none of ours were. Well, Defoe as well, but we sold him and bought him back in that time so I assume he counts as one of the 43 signings.

king?

feel like arry's hit rate transfer wise has been strictly ok, tbh. First team-wise, arry successes numbered as vdv, palacios?,

Those who were there already- bale, lennon, modric, dawson, gomes

Current first team not rly all that- crouch, bassong, hutton?

? Where i was unsure bout signed under arry innit. Defoe, kaboul resigned, i suppose you could count em if you wanted

I wrote this about London football history this week by the way, maybe of some interest to some of you.

http://greatwenlondon.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/how-the-london-football-map-might-have-looked/

Talking of which, Chelsea actually play in Fulham rather than Chelsea, don't they? (I assume this as the ground's right next to Fulham Broadway tube). When that MP was saying that Spurs shouldn't be allowed to keep the 'Tottenham' part of their name if they move to Stratford, I wondered how far they should take this line of argument. Maybe Chelsea should be called Fulham, Millwall should become Deptford, and Queen's Park Rangers probably need their name sorting out as well.

East Ham United

trafford united

Yeah, Chelsea are in SW6 and the Fulham town hall is right opposite the station. They nearly called themselves London FC, which would have been great.

But Crystal Palace moving back to Crystal Palace is clearly a step in the right direction.

Interesting article Pete, and a nice set of comments too. What about Chelsea planning to move, is that still on? Do they have the fanbase for it? It may be the horror stories of ultralow numbers at the Bridge in the 80s, but Chelsea crowds seem more precarious than others somehow

Current first team not rly all that- crouch, bassong, hutton?

Hutton was a Commoli signing.

I remember Ramos was asked about the prospect of signing Hutton during that transfer window and he said he'd never even heard of him. He made his Spurs debut two weeks later.

Harry signings:

Van Der Vaart - Success
Palacios - Qualified success
Gallas - Success
Kranjcar - Successful before he fell down the pecking order
Two Kyles - too early to tell
Sandro - too early to tell
Gudjohnsen on loan - we barely knew you
Cudicini/Pletikosa - decent sub goalies

Re-signings:

Defoe - Success
Keane - FAIL
Kaboul - Doing okay
Chimbonda - lol

That's not actually that many and it's a pretty good return.

Oh and Crouch. He got us into the Champions League and for that I will love him forever but he's not the solution to our current striking issues and never will be.

someone better would have got us there quicker, and would have us in a better position this year already

I wasnt putting kranjcar in there as i was really trying to go on first team only, but yes great signing.

Jermaine Defoe opined, having seen Everton’s Steven Pienaar turn down a move to Chelsea to join him at Tottenham, that it marked a shift in power. And he’s right, I suppose. No player in their right mind would have chosen Spurs over Chelsea 12 months ago.

Now it doesn’t seem so utterly mental. It speaks to the improvement that Spurs have made but also to the way Chelsea have imploded.

What he’s trying to do is obvious, fill his team with small players and hope they can click. Rafael van der Vaart, Modric, Defoe, Keane, Krancjar, Lennon, Palacios and now Pienaar. Sure, he’s got a couple of weirdly big lads like Crouch and Kabul to beef things up but they’re sideshow freaks and not at all integral to how Spurs play.

Dude called Gareth Bale. Tall lad, kind of important to the team?

I just can’t help thinking that in order to progress they could do with a bit more height and British height at that. Less Pienaar, more David Howells, less Modric more tough goalscoring bustle like Chris Armstrong.

There isn't a single Spurs fan in the country who agrees with that.

Also, Christian Gross?

The "more like Chris Armstrong" bit rather than the "more height" bit.

less Modric, more Armstrong - Chris Armstrong's mum wouldn't even agree with that

if you want to play quick, passing football based on movement then you need a few small lads able to pass and move.

Have no issue with the idea of big men up front and at the back, nor with eg bale being 6ft if he can play a bit.

No crouch.

But with VDV playing so far up the field he should be more than able to feed Defoe. They've played about 20mins together so far all season.

british bulldog arry as to send out a bigun and a littleun innit

'arry might be onto something. The smallest team in any major European league are currently Champions of Spain and half of them have WC and CL medals.

http://celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=4481

From the sample of 534 clubs, the one with the oldest average squad is European Champions Inter Milan, at 29.61 years, whereas the club with the shortest average players is the previous year’s European Champions, Barcelona, 177.38cm.

Clearly short old guys = the way to go.

The persistent talk of them selling Ireland just confuses ever more after a performance like that, it's true.

― Get fourth and multiply (darraghmac), Thursday, 6 May 2010 11:13 (8 months ago) Bookmark

What the hell happened to this guy at villa?

Interesting read about Damien Comolli's time at Spurs:
http://transferpriceindex.com/2010/10/damien-comolli-at-spurs-a-tpi-case-studyt/

But it overlooks one of the most important things - a squad needs to be appropriately balanced, both by position and age. By the dog days of the Ramos era we were anything but - short on options upfront, useless in defensive midfield, over-reliant on inexperienced centrebacks and with a surfeit of attacking, right-sided midfielders and not much with any experience down the left.

Interesting article Pete, and a nice set of comments too. What about Chelsea planning to move, is that still on? Do they have the fanbase for it? It may be the horror stories of ultralow numbers at the Bridge in the 80s, but Chelsea crowds seem more precarious than others somehow

It's very hard to judge because pricing is quite sensible these days, but I don't think there's demand for a capacity of more than about 55k. Whether it's worth moving for an extra 13k is, I guess, the sticking point. The ideal thing would be to redevelop the Bridge, especially the shitty Shed/hotel, and put in something bigger because it is a vast site, but there are problems with crowd dispersal on to Fulham Broadway.

I'm sure it's something they'd like to do eventually because capacity is on the small side, but the benefits aren't so obvious as to make it a must-do as it is with Spurs.

They may just be content with filling the ground, waiting for the right opportunity and building megastores in Singapore and Los Angeles.

http://img.skysports.com/11/01/496x259/StevenPienaarTottenhamHo_2553216.jpg

The former Portsmouth and West Ham manager said: "I'm walking round the outside of the stadium, it's a fantastic atmosphere, there's all little stalls there selling sweets.

"I got some sweets, me and Kevin, and it was so packed. The next thing there's two guys on their knees in front of me and I felt someone pull my overcoat.

"I thought 'what are you doing?'. The next thing he's got my keys on the floor.

"I thought 'is he a blind man or someone having trouble walking properly?' What are they doing, these two blokes?

"I'm going 'let go of my trousers', pushing them away. While I'm doing that they're rifling my pockets, there were about six of them. And then they went.

"I thought 'what are they doing?' I went to put my hand in my pockets and realised what they'd done.

"They took everything. All my money, credit cards, everything really."

The Spurs manager said he did not believe the muggers knew who he was.

"I just probably looked stupid or something, and they thought 'here's one here, he's not Spanish, obviously and we're looking for a foreigner'."

this is highly convincing

Spurs Desperate For A Striker
I'm going to use some statistics to make a point. Here goes:

- I've looked at the games played over (roughly) the last year by Spurs in the Premier League - 23 this season, 15 last season - 38 games in all.

- I've then looked at the number of goals Spurs' strikers have scored in this time. VDV is not a striker.

- It doesn't make pretty reading.

- Defoe has 4, Crouch has 4, Keane has none, Gudjonson got 1 and Pav, the pick of the bunch, has 10. So I'm not sure why he didn't even make the squad on Saturday.

- That's 19 goals between the lot of them. Over 38 games. Meaning on average a Spurs striker will get you a goal every other game. So not only do we not have a 20-goal-a-season striker. All of them put together won't get you 20 goals.

There can be no doubt as I'm constantly reminded that it's a good time to be a Spurs fan. But all the press we've been getting lately, and bloody hell there's been a lot - Bale, VDV, moving house, a bit about Modric now, lovely sweets but blimey I've had me wallet pinched - doesn't cover up the fact that we are desperate for a goalscorer.

Desperate.

Dan Levy is obviously a very busy man, but I would implore him to take his eye off the long term, especially now that the bid has been submitted and do something for the short term this week. I fear that we're going to miss out on the top four as it is but signing a goalscorer now might just save us.

Andrew, Woodford Green

No that is entirely correct with the caveat that Defoe has been really unlucky with injuries in that time, and we seem to be undermining all of their confidence by chopping and changing every game. Either Defoe or Pav should have a sustained run and we probably need to be playing 4-4-2 against a few more teams.

Rossi has said he's not interested and i'd be surprised if Forlan will move. The big spending is a worry but the fact that a move for a striker appears to be reliant on Bent's fee being paid in full and kicking Keane off the wage bill would indicate that there's still a measure of control in place.

It's unfortunate as this should all have been settled weeks ago. It's not surprising that Pavlyuchenko and Crouch aren't in great form when they're both constantly being linked with Birmingham and Sunderland. If there isn't a first-class alternative lined up, they both need to be told they've got a long-term future at the club.

kinda depressing how good taraabt is doing. lovely goal (number 13) and assist (11) against coventry on sunday. hopefully next year he proves that the championship is his level.

don't know what to think about strikers.

even i'm beginning to find this ridiculous

they're gonna fuckin win it.

go on the spurs!

let's do em at home first

YEAR ENDING IN A 1

Has there been a greater plucky underdog run the CL since... Porto in 2004?

Chas and Dave's 'Together Again – The Final Tour 2011' appears to finish on Apr 21 - time to record one last cup final rockney banger before walking into the sea imho

Has there been a greater plucky underdog run the CL since... Porto in 2004?

Liverpool 2005?

cuntish underdog tbf

you know times are changing when the vietnamese shirt seller sites start stocking spurs strips

Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips
Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips
Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips
Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips
Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips
Siamese shirt sellers start stocking spurs strips

lol good spot

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/9402117.stm?

they're gonna fuckin win it.

― The referee was perfect (Chris), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 22:04 (3 weeks ago0

Do you ever hear Leeds fans talk about their sole season in the CL?

real talk, but tbf we're not in danger of total collapse either

I think Leeds fans might have mentioned it once or twice in that season and the couple that followed it. They got to the semi-finals FFS.

Also Leeds were in the first Champions League in 92-93 as well.

if I were a Leeds fan it's all I'd talk about

leeds were quite good.

Think going "we were in the Champions League" might have lost its lustre somewhere between financial meltdown and their second relegation.

Actually hope we go out to Copenhagen rather than potentially play Spurs, my most hated club, at any point in the Champions League, my most hated competition.

I can't help but agree with you

yeah i'll second that

I'd take any draw over playing utd or chelsea. Barca in a cl qf is not my idea of a worst-case scenario

hate all english games, though i'd rather see it in qf/sf rather than potentially in the final. would be a disgrace

Yeah all English is just boring, don't want to play teams we play at least twice a year anyway.

Actually hope we go out to Copenhagen rather than potentially play Spurs, my most hated club, at any point in the Champions League, my most hated competition.

― isn't house rubbish and Pete W mental (Pete W), Thursday, 10 March 2011 16:13 (27 minutes ago) Bookmark

the fuck is shit

meshug

Want Real. Never played them at the Bridge.

Grudgingly have to accept that Spurs were very decent in the second half, but fortunate to be playing Ibrahamovic, who takes the worst elements of both Berbatov and Bendtnar.

the fuck is shit

meshug

I have absolutely no idea what this means, insinuates, implies or infers.

as in, yr post is mental

altho parsing the elements

hoping u lose to copenhagen = pretty far out challops but dmac goes there often enough

rather than play tottnham = as in play a lesser team at a time when you are possibly 'in a good moment' (c) ancelotti and in a game in which tottenham lose their main asset in the cl, ie foreign teams aren't used to playing them

most hated competition = yeah well enjoy the uefa cup

I'm a pessimist. I always assume we will get beaten so before any cup draw I don't think, 'Who are we most likely to beat', I think 'Who would I least mind losing to'. Have done this for as long as I recall.

How do other people approach cup draws? Do Spurs fans ever WANT to draw Arsenal in the FA Cup? And vice versa?

I miss the ECWC.

Spurs fans fucking LOVE playing Arsenal in cups. If we lose, no one expects us to win, if we win, they get enormously pissed off and we can crow about it for the rest of the season.

United are the team we hate playing in knockout football, for the obvious reason that we always lose to them.

Yeah, I remember getting Spurs in the RUMBELOWS CUP in 1991 and being quite pleased for a similar reason. You had Gazza and Lineker and were favourites, but we won and won well. (Was thinking about this game last night listening to Andy Townsend and thinking how great he was at WHL that night and what a cock he is now.)

I think even when we used to draw Arsenal a lot in the 90s I quite enjoyed it, even though we always lost, because I expected us to lose and there was always a slim chance that we wouldn't.

It's probably a hangover from the 5-1, but also the expectation that has come from the last few years which makes defeat appear to be so much more humiliating than it used to be.

I know Arsenal friends hate drawing Spurs for the same reason. How do Liverpool feel about getting United?

But this isn't just me - every chelsea fan I know and others on twitter and web are bricking themselves about getting Spurs. Some are saying they won't go to the Lane because they couldn't take losing. *winning mentality*

Re: cup draws, I always want United to get drawn away to a team they never usually play (say Rotherham or Bristol City or Northampton) to provide a bit of variety, or to get drawn at home against a hated rival so that the game means something. You risk being very pissed off if you lose, but them's the breaks. I can't stand home ties against clubs that we've played loads already but who don't really mean anything (e.g. Middlesbrough or Portsmouth or Aston Villa).

Can we draw another English club in the quarters? I always forget how these things work.

I think so. I think you can get anyone next time, and they draw it all the way to the final.

ya

seeding protection only in first and second rnds

So I'm basically a wuss who takes it all too seriously. Fair do.

ur just assuming a loss. Same meself tbh

Not sure this has been posted, but fuck me it's gorgeous. Gareth Bale v Inter in animation.

http://www.runofplay.com/2011/03/10/bones-like-ghosts/

wow that's great

neato, dude is so g-d explosive, u can really see it

wow, that's beautiful

Ramon Ramon! Ramon Ramon! Ramon Ramon Raaamon VEGA! is on SoccerAM.

Zinged the fuck out of us when he left Celtic for Watford because they were "more ambitious". 18 games in Scotland and walked away with league, cup and league cup medals. Must be some kind of record. There seems to be no record on the Internet of him modelling in a silver mini-skirt.

some ridiculous rumours today. next year's lineup will look like this

gomes
g johnson dawson terry bale
lennon lampard modric j. cole
van der vaart
drogba

why would we sign cole, and nothing against lampard but that midfield doesnt work.

Terry is pretty unbeatable, but on his wages and at his age i'd rather not.

Drogba ditto

Bale at lb- there's a reason nobody called him one of the world's best when he played there.

Really, thats a massive expenditure for an improvement that is arguable at best. One class striker and one class cb, a better lb. Done.

what's gonna be done with all these cbs?
dawson
gallas
king
woodgate
kaboul
bassong
khumalo

caluker coming along well in the championship, too

king woodgate write-offs
Gallas not as good as has been painted, though vital this past while tbf. Not getting younger.

Have always liked kaboul. Bassong can be anywhere between great and a total nightmare. Both good second choice options.

Dawson pretty inarguably the future

Khumalo i dont know much about tbh.

interested to know whats happened all the midfield talent, yr obikas and the like, that came in in one tranche there a few years back.

obika's a striker, iirc.
you mean dean parrett and john bostock? they are both still 19, but have stalled recently it seems. harry kane seems to be best bet along with caulker.

bostock looked a genuine prospect alright.

dean parrett update

Midfielder Dean was making his home debut for Charlton against high-flying Southampton at the Valley, who took the lead through Radhi Jaidi on 64 minutes.

But Dean capped a Man of the Match display with a sublime chipped through-ball for Bradley Wright-Phillips to equalise four minutes from time.

The 19-year-old was substituted and replaced by former Spur Gary Doherty soon after to a great ovation from the Charlton faithful.

I would quite happily take the Drog for one season and that's the only one of those three Chelsea strikers that's even remotely plausible, and even then so not gonna happen.