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    Serious talk of us, as I predicted earlier this year, unloading Richarlison in January. Some Saudi Pro League clubs are interested in him.

    Spurs apparently won't let him go for less than they paid.

    I know he's just back from injury but last night's game was the sort of fixture we needed a primary attacking player with his shooting boots on. Yet again he failed to deliver what he's primarily there to do. I feel time is running out for him at Spurs but unless we can bring in someone better (Ivan Toney?) I think he'll remain with us until the end of the season.

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      That chance he missed last night, a free header from six yards out... a real head in hands moment (especially as West Ham went 2-1 up pretty much right after that, if I'm remembering correctly). I really want him to succeed but the worry is that the longer he stays without finding form, the harder and harder it'll be to move him on for anything like a decent price.

      Despite those reports I'd think that if a Saudi club offered a decent percentage of what we paid for him, say 70% +, it's gonna be very tempting to accept, even if it leaves us a bit short for the second half of the season. Young Alejo Véliz has come off the bench four of five times so far this season, so maybe we'd be willing to let Richarlison go and give Véliz more time off the bench.

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        I saw the highlights of the WH match on BBC Football Focus a couple of hours ago for the first time and they showed that Richarlison miss. For a player of his skill that should have been on target but stuff like that happens I guess.

        Just look at my old Spurs favourite Kieran Trippier at Newcastle and his defensive howlers in the game against Everton this week, dawdling on the ball not once but twice and he gets his pocket picked both times leading directly to a goal.

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          Yeah, even the best can miss big chances (we saw what Haaland did against us last week) but when someone who's been having a tough time of it keeps missing chances the feeling of "Ohh, they're not gonna turn it around, are they?" grows a little bit with each miss.

          A similar situation to when we had Soldado; you can't fault the work rate, they can have very good games as a team player, and you really want them to succeed, but the more matches they go without scoring the more you wonder if you need to cut your losses before they lose too much of their market value.

          Fingers crossed he gets something (tomorrow would be nice!) that sparks his confidence and he suddenly goes on a nice goalscoring run!

          A nice bonus result for us today with Man Utd getting spanked at home by Bournemouth. It makes tomorrow an even bigger match as it's now a chance to gain three points on both of the two teams directly behind us in the table. Maybe Trippier will be kind to his old club and be as generous as he was against Everton :-)

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            Hope so, there are not many current Spurs players who will have played alongside him but if Ben Davies is playing he might rib him about that and also remind him that his (Davies) first goal for Spurs was in a 2 - 0 win against Newcastle.

            Here's hoping for a similar result today.

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              Well done Spurs, another good performance but this time with much better finishing.

              Brilliant to see Richarlison grab a couple of goals. Interesting to note that Ange said that Richarlison's movement and fitness had been restricted prior to his recent surgery, and that he can now see a big difference in the freedom and ease with which he's moving. Hopefully that can make all the difference and Richy can now start bagging goals on a regular basis.

              Lots of other great performances all over the pitch. I thought Sarr was fantastic in the middle (and his presence makes Bissouma better too, it was his best game since that Luton sending off), Porro and Udogie had great games (and have both generally been excellent all season), Kulu had another very good day in the James Maddison role.

              We got a classic Son performance out wide (poor Trippier will have a few Son based nightmares after that match), and Brennan Johnson was very unlucky not to come away with either a goal or assist. It's a shame that his shot in the second half hit the post and came back out, because the football before it was so good that it would have been a goal of the season contender had it gone in.

              I didn't notice it at the match yesterday because it all happened so fast, I thought Newcastle had simply missed the ball, but that little touch Ben Davies got on the ball to deny Newcastle an almost certain goal at 0-0 was fantastic. Finally realised he'd done it when I watched the highlights.

              One slight bit of good news on the injury front, Manor Solomon (according to reports from Israel) is ahead of schedule and should be back for the FA Cup match at the start of January; previously he'd been expected to be back by the end of January at best.

              Edit: saw a tweet from Alasdair Gold saying that we're about to announce a contract extension / upgrade for Destiny Udogie, which is great news. I was saying to myself as I read that tweet "I hope they do Sarr next," so I was extra happy when I read the full article that the tweet linked to saying that Sarr is indeed expected to follow suit.
              Last edited by EJG1980; 11-12-2023, 18:57.

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                Yes, great performance and great result. Particularly good to see Richarlison had his shooting boots on, should do his confidence a world of good even with the, by the look of it, bad miss which denied him a hat-trick.

                Now we need to put Nottingham Forest to the sword too - we're lucky the fixtures have given us, potentially, that very winnable game which will do a lot to keep us in touch with the top four over the Christmas/New Year period.

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                  Not the best performance tonight, a drop off from the Newcastle match. Started very well in the first ten minutes with a really good chance for Son. Then we did one sloppy pass that led to a Forest attack, and from that point on the sloppiness just stayed in our game. Too many misplaced passes stifling our buildup play and letting Forest have the potential to hit us on the counter (though to be fair, Vicario didn't have any saves to make).

                  Got a moment of quality at the end of the half with the brilliant Kulu cross and Richarlison header. Great to see Richy getting another goal, and it's was the first time he's scored in consecutive matches for Spurs. It'd be fantastic if he can keep it going an end up with a decent amount of goals by the end of the season.

                  The Brennan Johnson injury didn't help with our rhythm either. They said it was a nasty cut to the head, so not a long term thing, you'd expect that a week of healing and a stylish head covering and he could probably play next week against Everton.

                  Second half was similar-ish with us having most of the ball but not quite being on our game attacking wise (and Forest had an attack or two they'll think they should have done better with), until we had a little five minute spell where we stepped on the gas at the end of which we got the second goal. It came from a keeper mistake, but it was caused by the hard work of Son closing him down that forced him to rush his pass.

                  It looked like it was going to be a game we could then comfortably see out, until Bissouma stupidly got himself sent off again. He caused his own problems with poor control and then went way too high when trying to win the ball back, caught the Forest player just below the knee, clear red. And just like against Luton, he's done it in a game where we were on top and in a position you'd expect us to win the match from.

                  I think Bissouma has been very good for most of the season, but this is his second silly sending off already and I wonder if that lack of discipline could see him lose his place when everyone is fit. Bentancur is a quality player who was very likely to get back in the first eleven regardless, so Bissouma doesn't need to be giving the coach extra reasons for him to be the one that gets left out.

                  Udogie picked up a fifth yellow of the season too (which I think was harsh considering some of the stuff the ref didn't book Forest players for), so he and Bissouma will both be out of the Everton match. As you'd expect Forest's possession went up once we went down to ten men, but for the most part we did a good job of seeing it out, with only one or two iffy moments. There was one amazing save in there from Vicario with his leg, as he was falling backwards into the goal, which ended up actually being the only save he needed to make during the match.

                  Overall we certainly deserved the win. With 11v11 it wasn't a great night but we had the moments of quality to make the difference and get the goals, and 11v10 we worked hard and did enough not to have a "squeaky bum" ending. Generally it was one of those typical "bigger team who's not at their sparkling best, but does what's needed to get a decent win away from home" type of performances.

                  Edit 1: Ben Davies and Kulusevski were the men-of-the-match last night. Ben has done really well at adapting to playing as a centre back in a back four, something he's never done before, and has been very solid and dependable. He's a perfect squad player, never complains when he's not in the team, Mr. Reliable when he's called upon.

                  Kulu is quietly having a standout season so far. He's covered more distance on the pitch than any other player in the league, and created more goalscoring chances from open play than any other player in the league, and that was before kick-off last night. Just needs to find the back of the net a bit more often himself and he'll be a really top drawer player.

                  Edit 2: well done to Tottenham Hotspur Women for getting their first ever league win against Arsenal! Fantastic result considering the gap between the two teams, and the fact that Spurs had shipped eleven goals in the past two matches. It was a great goal to win it too, passed it all the way up the pitch from one penalty box to the other:

                  Last edited by EJG1980; 16-12-2023, 14:29.

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                    I watched the highlights BBC Football Focus an hour ago and it confirmed what the BBCR5L reports on the match were saying about Kulu; outstanding and playing at his best again after, last season, drifting out of form and injury. They also said Bissouma deserved the red and looking at it in slow motion you could not disagree - a real leg breaker sloppy tackle.

                    If Spurs have finally found Richarlison's on/off switch I'll be very happy. As said earlier here he still has time to turn his season/career around and he could carve out a very successful time at Spurs if he keeps on putting them away like he's done in the last two games. I smiled when one of the pundits on Football Focus mentioned after he'd scored the goal against NF that he still has not seen Richarlison smile - something I mentioned here even before Spurs bought him. He does need to smile more.

                    The Everton match will certainly be 'interesting' not least to see how he handles that and the crowd, particularly if he scores.

                    If we can keep in touch with the top four before, hopefully, we get Maddison back up and running I might start to believe we can be in a Champions League place at the end of the season.


                    Sunday Edit

                    Should have also added that myself yesterday, against current form, Spurs Women beat Arsenal Women 1 - 0. Great goal and they should have had a second right at the end too but the player did not shoot at the empty goal, instead tried to get closer and was caught before she could pull the trigger (see from 3' 57"). The ball should have been played earlier so it was marginal but I'm pretty sure she was, just, onside too (see 4' 09").

                    Martha Thomas' goal gives Tottenham a first Women's Super League victory over north London rivals Arsenal, who squander the chance to move top of the table.


                    I suggested you should have chosen that Spurs' Women's game to go to.

                    Both Levy and Poste were there as well watching and celebrating the win too.
                    Last edited by fallenangle; 17-12-2023, 15:44.

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                      Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
                      I suggested you should have chosen that Spurs' Women's game to go to.

                      Both Levy and Poste were there as well watching and celebrating the win too.
                      Yup, would have seen a historic win against Arsenal instead of an annoying late draw with Everton! Them's the breaks though

                      Luckily the men didn't repeat the trick against Everton and we (just) managed to hang on to all three points today. I dunno what happened as we started very well, deserved the 2-0 lead, and then we just... went off the boil a bit. Plus Everton started playing better, they sat off much less and started pressing us higher up the pitch, which flustered us a bit. But I think a part of them starting to do that was because of us looking like we were taking our foot off the gas, that gave them a bit of encouragement to up their game. Not saying we were awful or anything like that, but it went from a cruise to a back and forth battle, where we couldn’t build up a proper head of steam.

                      The players aren't machines though so it's going to happen sometimes, and once the match turned into more of a grind and a fight they managed to do enough to hold on to the win. A couple of brilliant saves from Vicario at the end to thank for that too.

                      Liverpool and Arsenal drawing was a good result for us, leaves us only four points off the top of the table. Man Utd and Newcastle both losing also increase the gap to the teams just behind us, so a very good day all around. Another tough match coming up against Brighton, but let's hope we can keep our current good run of results going. And can Richy keep his scoring run going too? Three in a row for him now, long may it continue.

                      Edit: I was just reading about today's other matches on the BBC and was happy to see that the goalscorer in Luton's win against Newcastle was Andros Townsend. Nice one, Andros

                      I also just saw that after the final whistle, Richarlison went over to the travelling Everton fans to applaud them, and he got a decent reception in return. Nice to see stuff like that happening for a change, rather than the usual booing and needling we get in football.
                      Last edited by EJG1980; 23-12-2023, 22:39.

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                        Yes I saw AT had scored against Newcastle - with Kieren Trippier's recent defensive mistakes, two ex-Spurs favourities doing us a favour.

                        Now if we had somebody at Aston Villa............................................. .........that would help.

                        We also have to worry about West Ham now too who indeed did us a service in beating MU but it puts them up there as potential top six contenders.

                        A bit lucky for us yesterday against Everton after that excellent start. We just sort of faded and it was only thanks to Vicario, who is turning out to be a very good buy, that we didn't give away two points.

                        Happy Christmas and the same to any other Spurs/football fans here too.

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                          Another one today, with Matt Doherty scoring what turned out to be the winning goal against Chelsea just now.

                          At the moment it looks like Poch is our "secret agent" at Chelsea. 14 points behind us after 18 games is crazy, especially as they picked up three points against us!

                          Originally posted by fallenangle View Post
                          Now if we had somebody at Aston Villa............................................. .........that would help.
                          Not sure if it counts as much as the others as it was only a loan, but Clement Lenglet who spent the season on loan with us last year, is on loan at Villa this season. His first start in the league was the other night when they dropped points to bottom of the league Sheffield United, so hopefully he's going to start wielding his influence to help us get back ahead of them!

                          Yup, merry Christmas, and hopefully a happy Boxing Day + 2 for us against Brighton

                          Boxing Day edit: one more to add to the list, Nuno Espirito Santo managing Forest to a 3-1 win against Newcastle. Good old Serge Aurier is a regular there too, although didn't play today as he's injured.
                          Last edited by EJG1980; 26-12-2023, 14:35.

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                            I saw that Matt Doherty Wolves goal - really well constructed and finished; Poch I think may be in trouble if Chelsea continue to lose like that to sides they should be beating.

                            Hopefully Spurs will rip Brighten a new one. I have a relative who has now adopted Brighton as his team because he lives in East Sussex and started going to some of their home matches.

                            He's a real butterfly supporter: started with Leeds just because they were top of the First Division at the time, lost interest when they were demoted so adopted Norwich when he was studying at UEA. Lost interest when they went down and then started being a Brighton supporter when they went up to the Premiership and began winning.

                            In short I'd really enjoy it with a cherry on top if Spurs beat Brighton 'handsomely'.
                            Last edited by fallenangle; 27-12-2023, 14:17. Reason: Typo

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                              Just looking at quotes from Ange's latest press conference, to be heartened by the news that Mickey van de Ven might be able to make his return from injury by the time we play Man Utd in mid-January.

                              That's good news, we'll finally be able to play our first choice defence agai.... oh, hold on, what's this next quote? The injury that forced Christian Romero off at half time against Everton is expected to keep him out for four to five weeks....



                              What a bloody season this has been for injuries! January is going to be quite a challenge with all the injuries plus Son, Sarr, and Bissouma being away on international duty (although Bissouma would have been suspended anyway). I guess that at least one very slight silver lining is that we only have two league matches in January. Hopefully we can get past Burnley in the FA Cup and then get a kind draw in the next round.

                              I have to say that with the challenges faced, massive credit to the manager having us only four points off the top of the league pretty much half way through the season.

                              I thought that even in ideal circumstances, it was going to be a tough transitional season, with the players having to learn a new style of play that's basically the opposite of what they've been doing for the past few years, but the manager and players have done very well in far from ideal circumstances.

                              Fingers crossed they can keep things going well enough that we're still in a decent position when we finally have a fully fit squad (if that magical event ever happens ).

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                                Well, Vicario again proving what a superb keeper he is, could be about four or five behind Brighton if it wasn't for him.

                                Worst half I've seen from us this season, beats the Wolves match, such a lack of intensity and drive. We can't use the injuries as an excuse today as Brighton have just as lengthy an injury list as we do, and our whole eleven has been poor, not just the "reserves". Brighton playing with all the verve, zip and intensity that is missing from our game.

                                Gonna have to be a massive, massive upgrade in our performance in the second half if we're to get anything out of this one.

                                Full time: gah, a spirited push at the end but Brighton were the better team for a good 85% of the match. When they went 4-0 up it wasn't an undeserved scoreline.

                                At least we made it a bit more respectable looking with the late goals, and it was very close to a real grandstand finish when Hojbjerg curled a brilliant effort onto the post. There was still about 6 minutes of injury time to go at that point, it would have been really interesting to see what would have happened had that gone in.

                                One nice moment at least was seeing young Alejo Veliz getting his first goal for the club. Even though it bobbled into the net a bit it was actually a really good finish; as he's setting himself up for the shot the pass to him takes a deflection and it goes slightly behind him, but the way he quickly readjusted and still got his shot away was very good. Hopefully the first of many.

                                So, yeah, a good little burst at the end but we weren't at the races for most of the night, a shame as we'd just started to get a bit of momentum going again with three wins in a row. Need to bounce back and up our game against Bournemouth, which will be tough as they're in great form at the moment.
                                Last edited by EJG1980; 28-12-2023, 21:44.

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