Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Lads, It's Tottenham....

Despite Lamela's antics, that was a great performance. Should have been 3-1 up before the red and took over after that.

Much will be made of Utd's defensive mess, but Spurs deserve better than for the match to be overshadowed by that.

Yeah, the only downside of the match was that for the final sixty minutes or so it was 99% Neville complaining about Man Utd, their board, stuff like that, you'd have been forgiven for not realising Spurs were even in the stadium. Still, I suppose I can put up with it in return for a 6-1 win!

In the Amazon documentary, Jose said that he thought the Spurs players were too nice and they needed to be ***** on the pitch if they wanted to win things... I bet that was music to Lamela's ears! He clearly didn't need to go down from the Martial hand to the face, but as a Lamela fanboy I'll argue that he was just making sure the referee noticed what had happened

Speaking of Jose, I have to say I've been enjoying some of his sarcastic post match comments. Good one today where he said that it was a shame Spurs have such a defensive coach like him, only scoring 5, 7 and 6 goals, with an attacking coach maybe we could have got 8, 10 and 9

Blimey, and as I write, Liverpool have just gone 2-0 down to Villa. Something in the water today!

5-2 to Villa with half an hour left, what is going on today?

Edit: six

[Mayhem]

Yeah someone pissed their Wheeties, it’s been a mad day score wise...

[Mayhem]

Evidently it was Grealish’s cereal with the added urine, as he’s on fire.,, and now 6-2!

[EJG1980]

Evidently it was Grealish’s cereal with the added urine, as he’s on fire.,, and now 6-2!

Make that 7!

[fallenangle]

Spurs - truly excellent win only to have Aston Villa (Aston Villa!!!!!!!?) steal our thunder and after watching both highlights on MotD you can't really complain.

Weird, weird weekend results all round.

[EJG1980]

Ryan Sessegnon has joined Hoffenheim on loan for the rest of the season. He wasn't going to get too many minutes here this season with Davies and Reguilon ahead of him at left back and Son and others ahead of him for a left sided attacking role, so it's a good move for him (assuming he gets a lot of playing time). A great experience for him playing in a foreign league too. He's still got five years left on his contract with us so plenty of time for him to go out on loan, really develop as a player, and come back and challenge for a starting spot at Spurs.

Juan Foyth out on loan too, to Villarreal. Unlike the Sessegnon loan they have an option to make the deal permanent next summer for £13.5 million. From his "Thanks and goodbye!" post on Instagram, it doesn't sound like Foyth expects to be back at Spurs next season. Shame as I think he could become a very good ball playing defender, but he always had a mistake in him that made Poch reluctant to risk him for anything more than sporadic one off appearances. If he plays every week at Villarreal maybe he can iron out the mistakes and fulfil his potential.

[EJG1980]

https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2020/october/rodon-signs-from-swansea/

Got a nice "bonus" signing today with central defender Joe Rodon signing from Swansea (for £11 million + £4 million in potential addons, according to most journalists).

I hadn't seen him play until the recent England vs Wales match so I know very little about him, but he had a decent match (and Wales didn't let any goals in until after he went off) and all the articles I've read say he's the best defender in the Championship and has tons of potential. Big bloke, 6'4", supposedly would "head a brick" so a no nonsense defender, but also very good at playing the ball out from the back.

The Swansea fans seem to be very upset by it; a lot of them see him as their best player and can't believe their board have let him go for such a low fee and see it as an amazing deal for Spurs.

[fallenangle]

Lets just hope he delivers but it seems like a good deal for any halfway decent player.

[EJG1980]

It'll be interesting to see how ready Mourinho thinks he is. The assumption with a young player from a lower division is that he'll be backup at first and make a few appearances on the bench here and there, play the occasional cup match, but Dele Alli came from the third division and was starting Premier League matches straight away, so you never know.

If he is going to make any appearances any time soon it'll have to be in the league as we had to confirm our Europa League group stage squad a week or so ago, so he can't play in that until the knockout stages. I think he's cup tied for the League Cup too.

[fallenangle]

FA Cup perhaps.

The player I'm most interested in seeing in the side regularly is Sergio Reguilon. From the limited evidence we have so far he looks to be up for it and intent on showing his worth. I'm wondering if he is going to turn out to be the even better part of the Bale package.

The Spurs squad is certainly changing quite significantly under Mourinho.

[EJG1980]

Yup, I think we’ve had a really good transfer window. Lots of holes in the squad filled in and competition for places / backup in just about every position.

Mourinho said the other day that he’s very happy because the players are both excited and scared following the transfer window. Excited for the improvements in the squad and our chances of doing well, but scared for their place because they know there’s so much competition to get a starting spot, and he hopes that atmosphere will make everyone raise their game.

Reguilon is definitely a very exciting player, loved what I saw of him during Sevilla’s Europa League run, I was really happy to see us buying a player of that quality. He definitely has the potential to be of the best full backs in the league.

Though I still think Bale will surprise a few people; getting away from the toxic situation he had in his past couple of years in Madrid, to come back to a club where he’s loved and really wanted... must be a big relief and could have a real rejuvenating effect on him. Once he’s up to full fitness and got his rhythm back I wouldn’t be surprised if he absolutely smashes it this season.

[EJG1980]

Oy vey. First half excellent, obviously, and... I wouldn't even say the second half was that bad on the whole. We dropped off and West Ham stepped it up, but we still created chances and before their first goal they'd only had one decent chance. It was comfortable, one of those typical matches where one team scores a load in the first half and then the second is a bit pedestrian and just fizzles out with no more goals.

But once West Ham got what should have been a consolation goal, we only have ourselves to blame for throwing it away. Poor header from Sanchez for the own goal second, although there was nothing we could do about the third, a sensational strike. A real shame that Kane's earlier chance that hit the post hadn't gone in, or Bale's chance when it was still 3-2.

I think it's safe to say that the defence is definitely the weakest part of the team at the moment (though that seems to be a problem for a lot of top teams at the moment). It's a long season though, a long long way to go, and hopefully Jose can sort out the defence as the season goes on. One to take on the chin, accept that we messed up, and try to make it right in the next match.

It was brilliant seeing Bale back on the pitch again though, a shame the result had to take a bit of the gloss off, but still really exciting.

[fallenangle]

That was indeed a very annoying result.

I forgot it was a later starting match and when I heard the half time score I thought it was the result. Doh! Then when I saw the actual final result and that their goals had all been scored in the last 12mins of the game I was.............a bit upset.

Watched on MotD and indeed we could have easily had two more goals from those HK and Bale chances.

Sloppy; just the sort of game that should have been over at the end of the first half and in a professional way just seen out in the second. Never mind though.

Really enjoyed the discussion on MotD comparing HK to Teddy Sheringham, who HK himself has mentioned as the type of Spurs player he wanted emulate. I still still think he is more Martin Chivers than Teddy Sheringham but some of the recent goal assists with Son immediately bought to mind the latter's exceptional strike partnerships with Klinsman, Shearer and, best of all IMHO, Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

That's something I've wanted to see at Spurs for years: two attackers who know how play like this. It's special when that sort of natural chemistry happens.

[EJG1980]

Yup, Kane has definitely gone up a level with his recent performances. He's always had the passing range in his locker, and every now and then he'd bust out a sublime crossfield pass etc., but now he's doing it on a consistent basis and has increased the range of his passing too. Combine that with Son's form an ability to read those Kane passes before he plays them... devastating stuff. As I said before too, if you can add a fully fit and motivated Bale to that you've got a mouth-watering front three, with very good backup in the form of Lamela, Moura and Bergwijn.

I saw a crazy stat from... I think it was just after the Southampton game, that since Mourinho had been appointed no player in the league had more goals + assists than Kane (he had 30 iirc, Son about 28, then Man City and Liverpool players just below them). What made it all the more astounding was that that included the two and a half month period from January to the middle of March when Kane was out injured.

It's been a frustrating start as we've played some brilliant football but been held back by the hiccups in our home form, but if we can iron those out I'm really optimistic that we can have a very good season. I don't think the defence is too far away, it's mainly set pieces where our problems lie, I never feel fully comfortable if the opposition have a corner or free kick that they can swing into the box. Could be what Joe Rodon was brought in for, 6'4" and good in the air, would certainly help with defending those situations.

[fallenangle]

Just watched the highights of the Lask game.

Spurs barely needed to get out of second gear to win by the look of it but they certainly didn't just coast. They were all up for it with some very pleasing build up play and goals. It could have easily been 5-0.