Tottenham Hotspur - Official thread

[EJG1980]

And don't let him offer a drink to any waitresses who work at any club restaurants and such like

[dcmk]

who's bigger club in your opinion spurs or 'castle?

[Del Boy]

Spurs of course, only way the Toon are bigger is in the stadia.

[EJG1980]

It's probably pretty similar really. Newcastle have the bigger stadium, and in several areas I'd say we are level pegging (spending power, worldwide fanbase, income, etc.), but Spurs have won much more than Newcastle in terms of trophies over the years.

Especially in the post war period, Spurs have only had a couple of seasons outside the top flight, won the double, won two leagues, three league cups, six FA Cups, two UEFA Cups, and a Cup Winners Cup. In comparison Newcastle have been up and down quite a bit until the last ten years or so and have won one trophy since the 50s, I think.

In terms of how the general public see it, I'd say more people would probably pick Newcastle as they've done better in the league the past decade. But in overall terms, throughout their whole history, Spurs have done much more than Newcastle have.

[Del Boy]

It's probably pretty similar really. Newcastle have the bigger stadium, and in several areas I'd say we are level pegging (spending power, worldwide fanbase, income, etc.), but Spurs have won much more than Newcastle in terms of trophies over the years. Especially in the post war period, Spurs have only had a couple of seasons outside the top flight, won the double, won two leagues, three league cups, six FA Cups, two UEFA Cups, and a Cup Winners Cup. In comparison Newcastle have been up and down quite a bit until the last ten years or so and have won one trophy since the 50s, I think.

Our fanbase worldwide is much greater as is our income.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Spurs. It's not even especially close.

[EJG1980]

Actually according to the last football "rich list", Newcastle actually pulled in more in terms of income than Tottenham by about ?10 million (we were 13th in the world, they were 12th) but that's just income, doesn't say anything about profit, and I suspect we make a better profit than they do. They also have a huge amount of debt whereas we're almost debt free.

You're probably right about the ww fanbase though, as we're been considered a big glamour club for most of the post war years whereas Newcastle have only been seen as a big club since the mid 90's really.

[Del Boy]

Ah ****.

Ledley King out for 6-8 weeks with knee injury.

Worse news possible with season just 3 weeks away.

[NW2013]

Beat Inter 2-1, I know a couple of people from the thread went to the game so it'd be nice if they'd fill in some details when they return from the match! I know pre-season friendlies don't count for anything but I'm enjoying the results we've had so far anyway.

[Del Boy]

Good goal by Tainio and lucky opener.

Apparently Huddlestone played well too.

[PH]

Just got back from the game.

Quite entertaining overall. Possession wise Inter had the edge. Chances wise it was fairly even, we just about had more chances i would say.

Davenport filling in for Ledley was very solid. Benoit A-E is defitnely an upgrade from Lee at LB. On this performance he will be the No.1. Very good 1-on-1 defensive wise. Routledge again started at RB.

Apart from a little error within the first 5 minutes Huddlestone played well. He played the Carrick role and to be honest, and i'm not just saying this, we will not miss Carrick. We will take the 15-19 million quid thank you. Tainio and Davids were their usual bustling selfs. Tainio's first goal had a fairly big deflection off an Inter defender giving Toldo no chance.

All three strikers looked sharp. We played 4-3-3 btw at the start (a pattern emerging there.) Berbatov certainly has a bit about him. Looks good.

Into the 2nd half we switched to 4-4-2 with Routledge pushing forward and Tainio filling in at RB. Routledge didn't impress me to much to be honest. Never seemed to beat his man and ALWAYS trying to get the ball onto his right foot. Tainio's second goal was very nice. A good run to the edge of the box where he bent the ball around Toldo into the goal.

Ziegler and Ghaly were also introduced. Both did nothing wrong and Ghaly (first time i've seen him live) looked decent enough. He had a good run in the last few minutes where he put Ziegler in on goal but he shot wide. If he had looked up Berbie was completely unmarked for what would have been a tap in.

Murphy came on at the end and we switched to 4-5-1.

All in all i was very happy with the performance.

Both teams were missing players btw, which for Spurs included Lennon, Robinson, Jenas, Zokora and King plus other squad players.

[Del Boy]

Kit look any better in the flesh?

Also when are the first and second strips out?

Ive not even seen the away kit.

[PH]

Well, brown is brown, i mean chocolate of course.

[EJG1980]

Yup, not a brilliant match today, as both teams played at pre-season pace a lot of the time, but there were enough good passages of play to make it a decent match that was well worth watching.

Got to agree that Beniot A-E (that's gonna become a standard abbreviation!!) looked very good today. He did little things that let you know he's a class player, like at one point when he received a pass on the edge of the box he took a quick glance behind himself to see if there were any Inter players nearby. A lot of players won't do little things like that and end up getting robbed of the ball.

Huddlestone was very good and he certainly showed enough today to suggest that he could become a first team regular. My favourite player Tainio was great as always, and Davids was good too, although I think he's getting a bit slow. He can be annoying sometimes when he dwells on the ball and plays stray passes. I think he may be on the bench with Jenas or Murphy starting in his place when the full season starts.

Got to agree about Routledge as well, he really didn't look like he was on the same level as the rest of the team. He worked hard, and kept on running, but as PH said earlier he either runs straight into the defender and loses the ball or he does a wayward pass that loses posession for us. I don't think he'll be at Spurs for long unless he really ups his game.

Of the subs Ghaly looked the best, and Reto did okay. Murphy didn't do too much but then he really didn't have too much time to properly influence the game.

The three strikers system looks like it might work, and all three had decent enough games. The one thing I'm wondering about is this: if we play a 4-3-3, where are we going to fit Lennon in?

All in all, it was a decent enough performance and we can be happy with a win over a very decent side. Maybe if Inter cock it up in the Champions League we might meet them again in the UEFA Cup, then we can see our full strength sides go at it The only bad thing about the day was all the repair works on the London Underground! Ended up making it a much longer and hotter journey than normal

By the way PH, where did you sit? I had a lovely view from the front row of the South Stand upper tier

[PH]

The three strikers system looks like it might work, and all three had decent enough games. The one thing I'm wondering about is this: if we play a 4-3-3, where are we going to fit Lennon in?

Lennon will defitnely play as one of the front three in that formation. I think it would be near suicidal to play three strikers PLUS Lennon. Probably Berbatov (in as the only tall front man) with two from three of Defoe, Keane and Lennon.

I should think midfield wise it will be Jenas and Zokora plus one other. Take your pick.

By the way PH, where did you sit? I had a lovely view from the front row of the South Stand upper tier

Same stand, lower tier.