Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Seems Dembele may be on the move along with Alderweireld but in both cases the interested clubs are not willing to pay what Spurs are asking. No more mention of that possible part-exchange Martial deal for Alderweireld with MU that I've seen either.

I follow the transfer news less each year as most of it's guesswork mixed in with outright lies just to get clicks, so you never really know what's going on.

Yesterday alone we had a handful of places reporting that we'd received a £30 million bid from a Chinese club for Dembele, and another handful saying no bid had been received at all. Same thing with Grealish, half saying we'd bid £15 million, half saying we hadn't made any kind of bid. So having read the "news" I ended up none the wiser

I did see though, that Martial's agent was quoted as saying that he definitely wants to leave Man Utd this summer. I assume they're genuine quotes, he hasn't come out to say otherwise yet. That should be to our advantage if we are indeed interested in him.

Fixtures came out this morning and we've confirmed that we will be playing one home game at Wembley (against Fulham) before moving into the new stadium after the international break. Levy said that we could have had four away games to start the season so wouldn't have played any games at Wembley, but Poch felt that four away games to start the season was a tad too many and wanted at least one at some kind of home ground.

Which means that (barring disaster on the construction site) our first game in our new stadium will be on 15th/16th September in a low key affair against some club I've vaguely heard of called Liverpool Should be an amazing day! I like the symmetry that our final match at WHL and first match at the new stadium will have been against the two most successful clubs in the land.

[fallenangle]

Enjoyed seeing the Spurs 'love-in' during the Belgium match yesterday and ex-Arsenal TV pundit Lee Dixon pretending(?) to get a bit huffy about it. When asked his opinion he said:-

"..................they’re Tottenham aren’t they so they probably would do something strange, wouldn’t they?"

The fact was that there were eight current Spurs players in the two squads plus two ex-Spurs players (Kyle Walker and Nacer Chadli) - that surely must be some kind of record.

[EJG1980]

I've really been enjoying the World Cup, and it hasn't been a bad one for Spurs players so far; all into the second round bar Sonny, and at least he got to score and bow out with a famous win that eliminated the defending world champions. For England you've obviously got to mention Kane for the goals (shame he didn't get at least some minutes yesterday to try and extend his golden boot lead) but I think Trippier has been fantastic, England's best outfield player for me.

I think VAR has been a success, not 100%, but for the most part it has done what it should do: incorrect decisions have been reviewed and corrected, correct decisions have been reviewed and upheld. The best example was when Davinson Sanchez pulled off an outstanding tackle on Sadio Mane, ref gave a penalty, got reviewed with VAR, penalty overturned. The worst was when Kane was being rugby tackled in the box in the first England match and the VAR team didn't ask the ref to come and review it, which was baffling.

I'd say though that 95% of the time it's been used it has been used well and benefited the game, especially the times when a decision that would have unfairly cost a team has been correctly overturned; in a previous World Cup that penalty against Davinson Sanchez would have stood and there's a decent chance that Colombia would have been on the way home today instead of preparing for the last 16.

Kane vs Sanchez in the next round should be fun

Edit: forgot to mention earlier, if there's one ex-Spurs player at the World Cup who I'd take back in a heartbeat it'd be Modric. Christ he's good.

[fallenangle]

The WC has been extraordinarily good this time with far fewer of those dull, cagey games you usually get even before the third group games when there's a lot to lose or sides are through and put out second string teams. I think the competition started particularly well with the host scoring 5 goals but the match that really set the tone was Spain versus Portugal. That was a real high quality, fascinating game with everything you'd hope for from a football match.

Very much agree about Modric too. I wasn't a huge fan of him at Spurs but once he'd gone there's was an all too obvious 'something' creative missing in our midfield and it was not until Eriksen filled the gap that Spurs started to get back on track.

Modric has been one of the genuinely outstanding players of this WC and plays better and does it more consistently than many of the more lauded players who usually get the limelight.

If I were a betting person, which I'm not, I think Croatia with him on that sort of form would be worth a punt for winning the tournament.

Looking forward to the Colombia game, which England should win, but then it will probably be Sweden and that I'm not so sure about. They have a nasty habit of holding us to draws in big competitions and then one mistake in extra time or, horror, it comes down to penalties and we're going home.

Still one match at a time.

[EJG1980]

Yup, it's been excellent, and another cracking game drawing to a close right now between France and Argentina. Hugo into the next round

Edit: oops, maybe I've cursed him, last gasp goal for Argentina makes it 4-3 and a nervy couple of minutes for France!

Edit 2: phew, not quite! Hopefully Portugal vs Uruguay later today will be another good match.

[fallenangle]

It was.

Messi and Ronaldo out on the same day.

[EJG1980]

Wow, and now Spain out as well. That's what I get for looking at that side of the draw and putting a £10 each way bet on Spain to win it!

It really opens it up now though. One of Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, England or Colombia will be in the final.

Looking forward to Croatia vs Denmark. Modric vs Eriksen. Should be Croatia that win it but you never know.

Edit: Croatia vs Denmark wasn't great but was quite dramatic with the penalties, Brazil vs Mexico was decent but pretty straightforward for Brazil, but we got back on humdinger train with Japan vs Belgium

Feel sorry for Japan to go out the way they did (and they thoroughly deserved to be 2-0 up) but that Belgium counter attack for the last gasp winner was superb. More Spurs and ex-Spurs goals too with Vertonghen and Chadli finding the net.

[fallenangle]

Yes Belgium came good and the Japanese gutted, very sorry for them because they played some excellent attacking and counter attacking football. Great game and that JV header looping over the goalie was extraordinary.

Big day today - fingers crossed. If Switzerland can beat Sweden and England don't mess the Colombia game up I might start to believe we could get to the final.

[EJG1980]

Well it's Sweden up next, but I don't mind either way as long as we do get through! Gonna be a tough match though as Colombia have some bloody good attacking players. Kane, Dele and Trippier all starting for England. Fingers crossed!

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YES! Get in there Eric!!!!!! Nice seeing all the Spurs boys put their penalties away, Trippier's especially was great. Fantastic save by Pickford too.

I've really enjoyed Trippier's rise over the past few years; kept working hard when he was behind Kyle Walker in the pecking order, never complained, took his chance to claim the shirt when Walker left, and now he's in a World Cup quarter final. Good on him, he deserves it.

Commiserations to Davinson Sanchez tonight, I thought he was excellent, so often the one cutting out our crosses, blocking shots and putting in great tackles. This World Cup experience should raise him up another notch for next season.

[fallenangle]

Not quite the dominant performance I was hoping for and giving that late goal away was what I feared might happen. Clearly affected the England performance in the first half of extra time and I thought that was going to be it but with the subs it re-introduced that energy and desire to win. I'd hope we'd score and it would not come penalties but it did.

I knew Henderson was going to miss even before he kicked the ball and again I thought that was it. But their guys choked and when our man Dier put the last penalty in ............that was a great feeling. It was not a good penalty either, he was damned lucky the Ospina didn't move earlier because he would have saved it quite easily instead of just being a fingertip away. But who cares? It went in and we won and I think over the whole match well deserved to go through.

Yep, as I predicted earlier onto Sweden next. Just hope we have an answer for their defence.

I've always reckoned Trippier, as I've indicated in my posts here over the last two seasons. When Walker left I didn't see an problem with that having Trippier available to step up to the mark and take over much of his role. And boy has he exceed even my expectations - very mature in taking on his defensive responsibilities and good at the job too but in attack he's also very effective. There is also his dead ball skills too - he puts in some great corners and justifiably gets the nod for taking many free kicks as well.

He's raised his professional profile with these World Cup performances and I just hope that Spurs do not make the mistake of not recognising that because it is certain other wealthy Premiership and big European clubs will come sniffing around if there's any chance he might be lured away by the promise higher wages.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, I thought we were comfortable and in reasonable control for most of the match but without creating lots of clear cut chances (an area where we need to improve). I think Walker's back pass that was so nearly punished gave Colombia a boost and spurred them on a bit for the last ten minutes.

I thought Trippier was harsh on himself in his post match interview when he took the blame for Colombia's equaliser. It wasn't like it was a tame header that dribbled past him, it was one of those where you have to try and get something on it and if luck is on your side it stays out, if it's not, it doesn't.

We looked shellshocked for the first half of extra time but as you said, Rose and then Rashford coming on helped us refocus.

I think Henderson was a bit unlucky with his penalty, Ospina dives the other way or doesn't dive as hard and it gets praised as a good penalty. Probably the height that does him, same kick but along the ground and it would have been harder to save. Thankfully it didn't matter in the end!

I thought Kane was amazing last night. His hold up play and work rate were phenomenal: holding up the ball until he could lay it off to a team mate, winning free kicks by protecting the ball so well that the opposition players couldn't resist fouling him, and some of our best long range passes that spread the play came through Kane. Plus he had to wait a good two or three minutes before being able to take the penalty, thanks to Colombia's shenanigans, and it didn't phase him a bit and he stuck it away. An unglamorous but brilliant performance.

And yes, I've been a fan of Tripper since he signed too. I remember mentioning a couple of times during his first two seasons that he was unlucky Walker was ahead of him as he always did well when he played and would be first choice for most other clubs. Absolutely delighted to see him doing so well and getting the recognition his hard work deserves.

[fallenangle]

HK and DA were being kicked all over park last night. I gave up counting how many times HK went down to hard tackles aka blatant fouls. Putting up with that level of physical assault and still contributing, doing the, as you say "unglamorous" hold up and donkey work was a real captain's performance. Even if he faded in extra time he unquestionably deserves high praise for what he did throughout the match.

[EJG1980]

I think the fouls were taking their toll on him by extra time, and he dropped deeper so Vardy was the focal point up front. Yet it was still through balls by Kane that nearly put Vardy in on goal a couple of times. Even if England don't manage to go all the way, I really hope Kane can hold on to the golden boot.

[fallenangle]

I certainly think we can beat Sweden and not just on penalties but I doubt the game will be very attractive; I hope I'm wrong in that respect but I suspect it will be all about England having the majority of possession trying to break down a stoic, well organised Scandanavian defence but having to make sure they're set up themselves defensively to deal with the real threat Sweden pose in counter attacks.

If HK can get a sniff of a goal chance I hope he takes it because my guess is that the opportunities to add to his tally will be few and far between.

[EJG1980]

The phrase "war of attrition" springs to mind! Solid 4-4-2 from Sweden, build a brick wall, invite us to see if we can knock it down. I think I'd start Danny Rose in this one, get him and Trippier bombing forwards and whipping in crosses as I expect Sweden will pack the middle of the pitch with their two banks of four.

I think he's done well, especially considering he's been carrying an injury throughout the tournament, but I'd quite like to see Dele pushed further forwards to be the player closest to Harry Kane instead of Sterling. That's the position where he's been at his best for Spurs, scoring a load of goals himself and setting up a load of goals for Kane. Might help when we do try and go through the middle.