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    Yes, bad result but all the reports on the match said Brighton were the better team for most of the game as you've said.

    Luckily the result does not affect our position in the table, a few teams below us closing the gap but with Arsenal losing too we're still in touch with the top four. But that Bournemouth game needs to be won or I can see Liverpool, Arsenal and, probably, MC as well pulling away to a points lead that will be very difficult to claw back.

    Sunday Edit

    End of an era with Hugo Lloris confirming leaving Spurs for LAFC - at his best arguably the greatest keeper we've had since Ray Clements. Apparently there will be a half-time tribute to him at the game today; well deserved.

    As for the game COYS!
    Last edited by fallenangle; 31-12-2023, 13:27.

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      I was really happy we had a home game today so Hugo could address the fans in person before he left, and that I was able to be there to see it.



      In his own way, it's just as big a thing for him leaving as it was for Kane to leave. It'll be very strange to have a "Hugo-less" Spurs. Definitely the best goalkeeper at Spurs in my supporting lifetime; there were others who had top notch spells, but Hugo was consistently one of the very best keepers around for virtually his whole time at Spurs.

      Merci, Hugo

      Good win today as well, although a lot of hard work as Bournemouth played really well, you could see why they had a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in their last 9 matches before today.

      We did something we've done a few times this season at home since the injuries started piling up, starting off playing lovely football and getting ourselves the lead, but then going off the boil and ending up being under the kosh for a lot of the first half. Bournemouth definitely did enough to at least equalise during that period, but thankfully they didn't take any of their chances.

      I think we dealt with it better in the second half, Bournemouth still playing well but we didn't let them though as much as we did in the first half, and were creating chances of our own to get a second and make things more comfortable. It was much more even. We had couple of big misses (especially Richy at the start of the half, and a few situations where Son didn't make the right decision from a good position) before we finally got the second and third goals to give us breathing room. A shame we let in one to spoil the clean sheet, but bouncing back to get three points after the previous match was the important thing.

      More injury woe with Papa Sarr going off in the first half. He looked very emotional as if it's anything that keeps him out for more than a week he'll miss the African Nations tournament, terrible timing for him. Even the youngsters can't escape our current injury curse with young Veliz coming a cropper after we'd used all our subs. He's got some guts though as Ange and Lo Celso were both screaming at him to just stay down so he could come off and get treatment, but he was just limping around trying to carry on as he didn't want to leave his team mates in the lurch. Hopefully him and Sarr aren't too serious.

      That lead to one of the worst ever decisions I've seen on a football pitch when we had a late breakaway, with Hojbjerg having the choice to pass the ball through to allow either Veliz, who had been barely able to move for a couple of minutes, or Son, to have a probable one on one with the keeper... amazingly he chose to ignore the fully fit speed merchant and played the ball into the path of the man with one leg! I'm so glad we were 3-1 up so I could laugh about it

      At least we did have one really good bit of news on the injury front with a surprise return for Bentancur. Originally he wasn't expected back until late January or early February, so to see him not just back in the squad today, but to start and manage an hour, was brilliant.

      But yeah, good recovery win after the Brighton loss. As Ange said after the match, it had a bit of everything, some good play from us, some sloppy play, a little bit of luck, but also some very good determination and fight. I wouldn't bet on it, but if Newcastle could beat Liverpool tomorrow, we'd only be 3 points off the top of the league.

      Happy new year!

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        Originally posted by EJG1980 View Post
        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.
        We are delighted to announce that Pape Matar Sarr has signed a new contract with the Club that will run until 2030.

        Lovely stuff, two excellent young players now both with six year contracts.

        ----------

        Nice article here about our 3rd round tie with Marine a few years ago, and the lasting effects it's had on the club:

        Marine manager Neil Young remembers every kick of their 2021 FA Cup run, which saw Jose Mourinho, Gareth Bale and Tottenham visit Rossett Park in a transformational third-round tie
        Last edited by EJG1980; 05-01-2024, 10:41.

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          Talking of the FA Cup Spurs v. Burnley is being shown live on ITV tonight.

          Just hope it is better than the Crystal Palace v. Everton game last night on ITV4 which was dull as ditch water.

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            Yup, that was a terrible match! The kind of match where if you're a fan of one of the two teams, you'd almost prefer to go out rather than risk having to sit through all that again in a replay

            We actually played Burnley in the third round in 2015 in Poch's first season. We drew 1-1 at their place, and then the replay at our place was a very memorable sounding match, with us going 2-0 down after seven minutes, getting it back to 2-2 by half time, then scoring two quick-fire goals at the start of the second half to seal a 4-2 win. And, for some reason, despite the fact that I went to it, I have absolutely no recollection of the match at all. I had a read of the BBC match report thinking it would jog my memory and make me go "Oh yeah, THAT match" but nothing.

            Hopefully we can get the win again tonight, although I could do without the going 2-0 down in seven minutes part!

            I hope we pick a very strong starting 11, no need to rotate players with the big gaps between each game this month. Give everything tonight and you've got over a week until the Man Utd match for players to rest and recover.

            Edit: a pretty average performance by the standards we've been capable of this season, but I think it we deserved the win, even if we had to wait a while to finally get the goal. And what a goal it was from Porro! I love those 25 yard thunderbolts that are so good the keeper doesn't even move He deserved that moment as he's been excellent this season.

            With Son away though, we need all our other forwards to step up and become more ruthless with their finishing.

            Every single time I say "it's great to see player X back from injury" (tonight was van de Ven, even if he didn't make it onto the pitch) it always seems to come with a fresh injury to take their place in the treatment room; I saw on Twitter that Ange mentioned after the game that Ben Davies has damaged his hamstring and is going to be out.

            It was good to see Ryan Sessegnon back too, he's had such a torrid time with injuries ever since he joined us, must be a huge relief for him to finally be back on the pitch after nearly a year out.
            Last edited by EJG1980; 06-01-2024, 15:04.

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              Agree with all that ^. Great result, fantastic goal but the rest of the game: a bit meh.

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                Ooof, tough old draw in the FA Cup. On the plus side, you’re likely to have to face Man City at some point if you want to win the cup, so at least we get to do it at our own stadium. It’s a shame it’ll be before Son, Sarr, and Bissouma are back from their international duties though. Still, if we can get through, that’ll be a great confidence booster for the team.

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                  We are delighted to announce the signing of Timo Werner on loan from RB Leipzig, subject to international clearance.

                  A good bit of business there, I think. Good cover for Son’s absence while he’s away at the Asian Championships, and then gives us better squad depth and competition across the attack when Son is back.

                  As it’s a loan with an option to buy we’re not risking any money, if he doesn’t play well, he just goes back to RB Leipzig, if he does do well then we get him for a bargain price by today’s standards. If Ange can get the best out of him and he rediscovers the form he had before his move to Chelsea, it would end up being a fantastic bargain.

                  We are delighted to announce the signing of Radu Drăgușin from Serie A side Genoa, subject to international clearance and a work permit.

                  And a new central defender too I'm very happy about that, it was the area of the squad that most clearly needed reinforcement.

                  I've seen him play a few times as I watch Serie A quite a bit, and he's a very good young defender, and now we have another centre-back who's suited to the way Ange wants to play. He won't be an instant first choice but I think he'll get plenty of game time as Ange will now be able to rotate him in whenever Romero or van de Ven need a rest / are suspended / are injured (hopefully not too much more of the latter).

                  One area where he'll definitely add something to our defence is his ability in the air, I think we'll be much better at defending set pieces when he's on the pitch, he'll be very useful against teams who whip in loads of crosses or depend on set pieces.

                  If we can bring in one more centre-back (lots of rumours we'll try and get Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth this month too) we'll very strong in that position with four players who can swap in and out as needed.
                  Last edited by EJG1980; 11-01-2024, 19:17.

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                    As he's been such a great servant to the club he gets his own post: Eric Dier has left to spend the remainder of the season on loan at Bayern Munich, and as his contract is up at the end of the season he's now played his final match for Spurs.

                    We have reached agreement with Bayern Munich for the loan of Eric Dier for the remainder of the season, with an option to make the move permanent.


                    A regular in the first eleven when we qualified for the Champions League four years in a row and had the best period in the club's history for many years. I think that season he spent as a defensive midfielder in 2015/16 he was especially good, and we got a "last hurrah" from him when he was excellent at the back when Conte came in and we got back into the CL for the first time in a couple of seasons in 2021/22. His form was up and down after Poch left, but then again, the whole club has been up and down since Poch left.

                    Considering we paid just £4 million for him it was money very well spent and great value for money. Never gave less than 100% on the pitch, always looked like he cared and really loved the club, and he seemed like a level headed, top notch bloke, whenever I saw him interviewed.

                    Good luck to him at Bayern, luckily I think he has a mate there that can help him settle in

                    There's a lovely couple of quick videos the club have put out:



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                      Seconded all you said about ED. At his best an important part of the best Spurs' line ups in the last decade. Sorry to see him sidelined but I'd imagine that if he keeps his defensive 'mistakes' to a minimum at BM it could be a very good deal for them and his career too.

                      The Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner signings I hope are going to be good ones; potentially they add more quality depth to the squad.

                      The thing I'm most enthusiastic about is Spurs continuing their pursuit of Connor Gallagher from Chelsea. I think he'd be a good fit at Spurs if we can get him at a reasonable price.

                      SATURDAY EDIT

                      Chelsea playing tough on a Connor Gallagher deal apparently, saying they'll refuse to let him go in this January's transfers window but I'm sure if Spurs offer them enough they might rethink that.

                      It is surely better to pay more for somebody you genuinely want for a particular position than, potentially, going for a player who who can play in the same role but you're buying them more to fill an empty squad space not because you particularly wanted them.

                      There are happy accidents where you buy somebody like that and it works.

                      Meant to mention the tough FA Cup draw too and we have an undoubtedly important game tomorrow against that other Mancunian side. We need to beat or at least get some points from our top six rivals, which I'm sure MU will still be at the end of the season, to have any chance of a top four finish.

                      If we beat them that puts us right back up there into the top four mix again. So here's hoping it turns out well.
                      Last edited by fallenangle; 13-01-2024, 14:00.

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                        I think Conor Gallagher would be a very useful addition to our squad, and I thought he looked superb when he was on loan at Palace. I don't think he's looked quite as spectacular since going back to Chelsea, but I think that's more to do with Chelsea being in the doldrums last season and this season, than him personally regressing. Great work-rate too, never stops running and pressing, which I think is a must with the way Ange makes the team play.

                        You'd think that there's no way that Chelsea would sell one of their academy products, and current captain, to Spurs, but from what I've read they need to raise money to meet FFP rules and selling a homegrown player is the best way to do that as they paid nothing for him so any sale is 100% pure profit.

                        If it were to happen I think it's the kind of transfer that happens right at the end of the window, with a bit of brinkmanship from Spurs; Chelsea need sales to balance the books, the longer they go without selling him the more his value goes down, and we'll be saying "this is what we're willing to pay, take it or leave it, and if you leave it, good luck balancing your books", hoping that they give in and accept it to avoid getting nothing. It feels to me like Spurs would see getting him in January as a really nice bonus, rather than a huge necessity.

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                          They were bigging up CG on MotD yesterday, deservedly so as his role was key to Chelsea's otherwise unconvincing performance.

                          I don't know whether that was good thing to hear with Spurs interest in him. It highlighted his current importance to them not just his recognised more general qualities. That might persuade Chelsea to either ask more or stick to their refusal to sell him, at least in this month's transfer window.

                          Comment


                            Ahhh, I think we should have won that match today, we were the better team than Man Utd for the majority of the match and the goals they scored were very preventable. 64% possession, almost double the number of shots that they had, does feel a bit like a missed opportunity.

                            I’ve seen us play worse and win though, it’s just one of those things. We had longer sustained periods of good football in today’s match than in most of our recent wins.

                            At the same time I’m happy that with a team that was missing Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, and Son, we were still able to go there and be the better team. There was apparently a sickness bug going through the camp all week in the build up to the match (that was the reason Kulu was missing) so hardly ideal preparation. Really great effort from the lads with players fighting the bug, players just coming back from injury, etc..

                            Another goal for Richy, that's six in his past six games now, really good to see him going on a run. If he can get up to say, 14 or 15 league goals by the end of the season, I think that'll be a really good return for him. Hopefully his confidence keeps growing. Top notch all around performance from him today.

                            Pretty good debut for Werner, he hasn’t started a match for 2.5 months so I didn’t expect him to be sharp as a tack, but he played a good part in our lovely second goal and got the assist, and had some good movement and link up play aside from that. He should really benefit from the nearly two weeks of uninterrupted training coming up.

                            I thought having to play both Skipp and Hojbjerg might hinder our buildup play today as that's not their speciality, but I thought both did very well. There were of course some moments where you thought a more creative player would have helped, but they both had their moments with some nice forward passes (especially Skipp in the build up for the second goal, and he hit a Kane-esque pass out to Werner in the first half).

                            Still had a chance to almost soil myself when we gave them a free header in the last second of injury time! It would have been gutting to get nothing from that match. Thankfully we got away with that one.

                            Hopefully when vdV went off at the end it was just a case of cramp (that’s what it looked like but the injuries this season have scarred me for life I think!!) and not a new injury. If it is just cramp I expect Ange will be able to tell the press straight away. Really great to see both him and Romero back though, that was the first time we've been able to play our first choice back four since the Chelsea match!

                            Anyway, three points would have been great, but can’t complain too much about a point away to Man Utd, and the quality of the football we played with so many first choice players still missing was really encouraging.

                            Onwards and upwards!

                            Edit: Phew, just watched Mickey vdV getting interviewed on the Spurs web site, no problems at all, just cramp at the end.
                            Last edited by EJG1980; 14-01-2024, 21:36.

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                              Being able to hold MU to a draw at OT is a decent result but, as you say, we could have won it with a little more luck in front of goal and being a bit less disorganised at the back for their goals. As they said on BBC5L the score could easily have been 4:3 in Spurs favour.

                              One point is better than nothing but if only Newcastle had done all the aspiring top six sides a favour and held onto their 2:0 lead against MC it would have put us only one point behind both them and AV.

                              MC do have a game in hand though. That is against Burnley but then it is the same as us: Brentford and Everton. So if they beat Burnley, as they are likely to do, they'll be six points ahead of us and it is going to take some luck with the results to close that gap. A loss for us in either of those games will consign Spurs to a battle with Arsenal and Aston Villa for the third and fourth places, at best.

                              But who knows, we might have some luck particularly with our first choice players slowly becoming available again. So think positive and it might happen.
                              Last edited by fallenangle; 16-01-2024, 12:59. Reason: missing word

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                                Watched Ghana v. Egypt from the ACN yesterday - first half just as boring as an earlier match I'd watched, can't remember which. But second half was a pretty good watch for any neutral. Ended up 2 - 2 with some good goals and fun to see defensive howlers.

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