Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

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Yep, MC and Chelsea have been mentioned as possible targets for the same sort of punishment or worse. Somebody was actually suggesting MC could be docked 30 points for their, alleged, multiples financial breaches applying the same scale used to dock Everton's single one.

With several clubs involved that could ruin the Premiership season entirely. So even though such punishment might benefit Spurs (assuming we're all above board too) I hope that some sort of fine would be a more sensible way of dealing with these matters rather than points deducted, if proven.

[EJG1980]

I can see not wanting to have a really weird season with lots of points deductions, but at the same time, you can't really give teams a more lenient punishment for cheating for that reason. If giving teams an appropriate punishment for their transgressions is a messy looking league table, then I think you just have to put up with that.

Also, with the scale of what Man City have supposedly done, over 100 financial rule breaches over many many years, you've gotta be looking at relegation for something like that (if found guilty), ala when the Italian FA relegated Juventus back in 2006. What makes it especially egregious to me is that their takeover instantly made them one of the richest teams in the world, and yet they STILL went outside the rules to give themselves an even bigger advantage? If guilty, some book throwing needs to be done, imo.

Also also, I don't think it'll affect this season anyway (in Man City's case at least, not sure about Chelsea) as the case is so big and has so many charges, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes another year or two before we even hear what the final final verdict and punishment is.

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On the subject of Spurs finances I see there are some historic shenanigans being dragged up about Spurs/Portsmouth/Jemain Defoe deal in 2008 dues to breaking agent rules. Apparently the agent used was not officially licenced.

Points deduction is being mentioned, mainly by speculative journalists it appears.

Smells fishy that that should be dragged up now following so closely on Everton claiming their financial state, which lead to their breaching the financial rules, can partly be blamed on Spurs for not giving them what they wanted for Richarlison. It sounds like desperate mud slinging to me by a club in serious trouble.

[EJG1980]

It's just from a single journalist in The Times, any mentions of it elsewhere are just reprinting snippets from his article.

A lot of it is sensationalism and deliberately misleading. The FA looked into it back when it happened but decided to take no action, but apparently have said they would look into it again IF new evidence was presented, but I can't see anything saying there actually IS any new evidence.

The most misleading part seems to be the potential punishment; the journalist who wrote the article was interviewed on Talksport radio and he said that Luton Town were punished with a ten point deduction for using an unlicensed agent in 2008, so this could be very serious for Tottenham. What he failed to mention is that Luton were deducted 10 points for FIFTY different financial irregularity related charges, including FOUR uses of an unlicensed agent. Which, I think, is a somewhat important bit of context!

It's like saying that someone might go to jail for speeding because "A few years ago a man found guilty of speeding was sent to prison for 30 years" and neglecting to mention that at the same time as the speeding, he was also found guilty of armed robbery

I did see that Arsenal have been found guilty of using an unlicensed agent for a single transfer, a couple of times: the first time they were fined £10,000 and the second time they were fined £60,000 and that was it. So there we have an actual direct comparison with what we've potentially done, yet the journalist made no mention of it at all... I guess that "Spurs might have broken a rule that would probably result in a small fine" isn't quite as catchy a headline.

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Not looking good with 15 minutes to go against AV but still time to get at least a point.

Need to mention the sad news about Terry Venables dying yesterday. Spurs player, manager and England likewise. Football and celebrity legend.

[EJG1980]

Need to mention the sad news about Terry Venables dying yesterday. Spurs player, manager and England likewise. Football and celebrity legend.

I just missed Terry's time at the club when I was young; my first season as a "proper" Spurs fan where I watched every match was 1993/94, and Terry had left the club the previous season. So my biggest memory of him is from being England manager, culminating with Euro 96, which was a great time.

I didn't actually find out about his death yesterday until I got to the stadium and saw it on the screens they have dotted around the concourse. Very sad, but it was nice to be there to hear from ex-Spurs who had played with him in the 60s and players who had been managed by him in the 80/90s, pre-match and at half-time.

Not looking good with 15 minutes to go against AV but still time to get at least a point.

It was a shame we lost the match yesterday but it was one of those days where we just couldn't convert all the big chances we made, hitting posts, missing sitters, three goals ruled out for offside, etc.. On another day where we're a bit more clinical in front of goal we'd have won the match fairly comfortably, I think. FAR better performance than against Wolves though, especially as we had six first choice players missing.

I think the main takeaway from the season so far is that if we can build Ange a strong squad, and not just a strong first eleven, we could have a very bright future with him at the helm. Central defenders are a must in January; Dier doesn't suit Ange's style so with VdV and Romero both out we're resorting to playing two fullbacks as centrebacks.

One more random note, Bentancur was doing brilliantly yesterday and it was great to see him back and looking so good so soon, and then he takes that nasty challenge and had to go off!! I will be so gutted if he's out again for any length of time, only a few games into his comeback from an eight month layoff.

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After seeing the highlights on MoTD it is really frustrating that we did not convert at least one of those other excellent scoring opportunities. A fair result would have been 4:3 in our favour. AV, unfortunately for us, played exceptionally well and made the game a good watch but had similar problems converting chances into goals too.

More points gone, another important player injured; it just is not going our way at the moment.

Just to add some more woe Spurs Women were humiliated yesterday 7 - 0 by MC.

Not a good weekend for Spurs - it can only get better.

[EJG1980]

another important player injured

A scan has shown that the challenge on Bentancur tore his ankle ligaments, and it'll be another two and a half months on the sidelines for him

Must be so gutting for him to spend eight months out injured only to be put on the shelf again with a new injury almost straight away. I was also thinking that with Sarr and Bissouma missing in January for the African Nations tournament, at least we had Bentancur coming back to soften that blow, but nope.

So that's now Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Micky van de Ven, James Maddison, Ryan Sessegnon, Manor Solomon, Richarlison, and Pape Sarr currently injured, with only Richarlison and Sarr slated to be back before the new year. Even the young defender we bought, Ashley Phillips, who you thought might have got a chance with our defensive problems, is out for a month!

If nothing else, at least the current situation will show Ange who has the determination to roll their sleeves up and fight when things are going against us.

[EJG1980]

Something a bit more upbeat, a fun video showing the debut goal (and in a few cases, the only goal!) of all 168 players who have scored for Spurs in the Premier League era.

Nearly 50 minutes long, but it's something to help pass the cold winter nights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAl5ByDkmg

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I'll watch that later, thanks.

[EJG1980]

What a match! Well done Spurs, that's a great point earned, especially with all the players we had missing.

I think Ange's post-match comments summed things up pretty well:

"Yeah pleased for the players that the effort they put in they got a reward for it because sometimes you don't. First half we were lucky to still be in it to be honest. City could have blown us away during that period. They certainly had enough chances to do so. We had no real conviction or belief in what we were doing, we were giving the ball away a lot.

We had to just calm down at half-time and the effort the boys put in during the second half was outstanding. Again it's very easy to get blown away at this arena against such a great team, but we hung in there and we made it uncomfortable for City I thought in the whole second half.

They never really got total control of the game and that's the key to getting something out of it. We scored three quality goals which you have to against a team like that. So pleased for the players that the effort they put in in the second half they got a reward for it.

I thought Pierre was excellent in the second half. His experience out there, I thought we just as a group had a lot more conviction about our football, just passing it and not second guessing ourselves and being hesitant with our passes like we did in the first half. I said to them at half-time, whatever fallout or bad outcome there is, I'll take the responsibility.

I'm the one that's putting them out there. Let's at least show a little bit more conviction about the kind of football team we want to be and I thought they did that in the second half. You're never going to totally dominate a game of football here but in the second half I thought we were very much in the game against a very good football side.

I always feel that if you can get through these tough periods in the manner of staying true to the team you want to be then you come out of it stronger, irrespective of the knocks you get along the way.​"

I totally agree with Ange for sticking to his guns and always trying to play the same way, regardless of the opposition. If every time we go into a match against a top side the manager says "Okay, they're too good, we're not going to play our normal game today," then the players learn nothing and are in the same position after the match as they were before it.

But by sticking to our guns the players will have learned so much from that match today about how and where they need to improve. You've gotta take the risk of falling flat on your face, into order to learn and progress.

I'm really happy to see Lo Celso doing well since he's come into the side. I thought he'd be the kind of player who could thrive under Ange's style of play, and he's looked very good in the past couple of matches. His goal today was superb (better than the one against Villa) but his all around play has been very good, knits things together in the middle of the pitch very nicely. Brennan Johnson has done pretty well since coming into the side too, a goal against Wolves and a great cross for the last minute equaliser today.

A bit of an off day for Bissouma, culminating with the really sloppy play for Man City's third goal. He hasn't managed to recapture his form since being sent off against Luton, and then being banned again for collecting five yellows. Hopefully he's just been disrupted by the stop start nature of his recent appearances and he can play his way back into form, because he was a big part of our great run of results before all the injuries and suspensions hit.

Today's match should be a nice confidence boost, but another tough couple of matches coming up with West Ham in midweek and then Newcastle at the weekend. Romero is back from his ban on Thursday, so at least we'll have one of our first choice central defenders back in the team.

Edit: forgot to mention the FA Cup draw was made today and we're at home to Burnley in the third round. A fellow PL team but you'd expect them to be resting quite a few in that match to save their players for the relegation battle, and even if they didn't it's one you'd expect us to be winning.

England also got a pretty favourable draw for their Euro 2024 group.

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Good ^ quote, summed up the match.

Really enjoyed matching the highlights on MotD after listening to the last 10 minutes on BBC5L just crossing my fingers that nobody made a mistake. But somebody did: the referee.

We were lucky with that but I'm not convinced Grealish was as well through on goal as some commentators/pundits have said. Not sure who it was but our defender to the right of Grealish was closing him down even before the whistle blew. He'd also have had to beat Vicario​, so it was not a certain goal scoring chance.

[EJG1980]

But somebody did: the referee.

We were lucky with that but I'm not convinced Grealish was as well through on goal as some commentators/pundits have said. Not sure who it was but our defender to the right of Grealish was closing him down even before the whistle blew. He'd also have had to beat Vicario​, so it was not a certain goal scoring chance.

Yup, it was Ben Davies, and the flight of the ball was curling towards Davies too. There were also two other defenders a fraction further back who both stopped running due to the refs whistle before the ball had even landed, so you can't tell how well they would have kept up if the whistle hadn't gone. It's certainly not a clear cut "if the ref doesn't whistle, Grealish is clear with only the keeper to beat" situation.

I think the most likely outcome is that Davies would have probably put in a tackle where he was either getting the ball, or wiping out Grealish and taking a red for the team, but making sure that one way or another Grealish went no further.

Of course, having said all that, it was a shockingly bad decision from the ref and I'd have been setting records for swearing at the TV had it happened to us! I think our second half display warranted a bit of luck going our way though, so I applaud the ref for having a nightmare on that occasion

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Important game today I think.

If we can beat WH it will solidify our position in the top six ahead of MU with the same number of games played. It will also keep us in touch with the top four even though we'll still be in fifth behind MC, but only on GD.

COYS!

Friday Edit:

Well that went well.

Dominant first half and then we basically just let WH back into the game. They score twice and we couldn't even get a draw.

Badly need a win against Newcastle this weekend, who themselves were given a bit of a wake up call by Everton last night.

[EJG1980]

Yup, it was almost a carbon copy of the Villa match (except in this match we were even more dominant!). We play brilliant football, dominate the match, create a load of chances, but the one crucial thing missing is putting those chances in the back of the net. And after our dominant period we end up only a goal ahead when it should be three or four, the opposition create (or we gift them) one chance and they level the scores. That setback seems to make us lose belief and we can't get playing at full tilt again, the opposition take advantage and we end up losing the match.

We had 23 shots last night, 7 on target, but the West Ham keeper never had to make any wonder saves to keep out our shots. So many were great positions where our player would then do a tame shot that was straight at the keeper (or a wild swing that missed the target completely).

Must be a difficult one for the manager to solve, as I'm not really sure you can have the player do shooting training 24/7 until they stop missing chances. It's down to the player to have the ability, the ruthless mindset, the belief that they're going to score. I think it's very much on the players to step up and start putting away far more of the chances that we've been creating. Even being 2-0 up in some of these matches instead of just 1-0 up would have made a big difference.