Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Dempsey's transfer has been confirmed. I agree, he could have still been an excellent first team player for loads of Premier League teams, but maybe he also felt like going back home to the States to end his career. He'll be 31 before the end of the season and he can be the returning US hero and get a ****load of cash, not a bad deal.

My powers of prediction weren't quite spot on, Chadli plays but no Paulinho today. Makes sense though, Chadli has been training with us a week longer than Paulinho.

Our starting central defence today is Livermore and Fryers... they should have a fun time up against Falcao With Dawson and Kaboul our only fit first choice central defenders (and Kaboul back from a long term injury) I guess there's no way we're going to risk them before the start of the season. Need to get that deal for Vlad Chiriches done ASAP I think!

[EJG1980]

That was fun Don't think we're going to learn too much from that line up against a strong Monaco side. Hope Defoe isn't badly injured, with luck he was taken off as a precaution rather than it being anything serious. Nice goal from Townsend.

[EJG1980]

After the Monaco match last night AVB said during his press conference that we've talked to Real Madrid but only to tell them that Bale is our player and he's not for sale, any rumours that he's on the verge of leaving are false:

Pretty funny that last Sky Sports News considered that "Bale Arrives at Training!" and "Bale Leaves Training!" were important enough to be on their breaking / top news yellow ticker at the bottom of the screen for ages, yet this big statement from AVB doesn't warrant it. It's almost as if they're deliberately pushing the side of the story they feel is more sensational!

[fallenangle]

God that game yesterday was bad from Spurs point of view. I thank the heaven's Scott Parker hasn't been sold off to QPR as rumours suggested he might be. If the first choice back row isn't available and the alternatives as fragile and niave as that we're going to need him. Same applies to Tom Huddlestone, not my favourite player, he tends to lose the ball in dangerous situations too often when defending, but he can slot in almost anywhere and do a decent job and when he's of a mind his distribution can be superb.

Postives were Danny Rose and Andros Townsend's performances, the latter looked particularly up for it and , as HE said ^^, one of the few good things to come out of the match for us.

Just hope the Spanish game next week is better.

[EJG1980]

Just hope the Spanish game next week is better.

Should be, hopefully Dawson will be okay by then and maybe Kaboul will get some minutes. I would sleep easier with the signing of a centre back or two before the start of the season though!

Still, I remember playing Villareal in the pre-season before we were in the Champions League; put out a way stronger side than against Monaco, we were at home, and they made us look inept and beat us 4-1! Still had a good season though, so, again, not reading much into the loss against Monaco.

The "American doesn't understand football" thing is pretty obvious, but I thought this was good. NBC advert for their coverage of the Premier League in the US:

[EJG1980]

Europa League playoff round draw today at midday. The draw is split up into a number of pots so we know our opponent will be one of the following unseeded teams who are in the same pot as us:

JK N?mme Kalju (Estonia)
FC Thun (Switzerland)
FC Pasching (Austria)
FC Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
FC Astra (Romania)
FC Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)

I hope we get FC Pasching as Austria isn't that far away and I like the name

Edit: ended up getting Dinamo Tbilisi, which is the most travel, but I don't suppose 3-4 hours in first class luxury will do the players too much harm!

Hopefully we can put the tie to bed in the first leg to leave us with a comfortable second leg at home (as we did against Hearts a couple of years ago). Don't want to face anything too taxing right before we play Arsenal.

[EJG1980]

The BBC are reporting that we've finalised the signing of Etienne Capoue from Toulouse for ?9 million, currently undergoing a medical and expected to be announced tonight or tomorrow. Not quite official yet but the BBC seem pretty certain it's a done deal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23620554

I can't recall having seen him play so I don't have an opinion on how good he is, but he seems to be highly rated. Plays central midfield but has also played central defence on occasion (which is useful given our injury record at the back). Should be a nice addition to the squad and really help with the strength in depth. I still think we'll want to sign a proper centre back though, I'd reckon Capoue being able to play there is more of a bonus to cover for emergencies.

Some fans are question the need for so many midfielders but I think we suffered a lot last season when either Sandro or Dembele were out and Parker / Huddlestone / Livermore had to play instead, so I'm glad we're going for quality strength in depth in that area of the team by bringing in Paulinho and Capoue.

[VR46]

Friend emailed me this opinion earlier today and it kinda makes sense, Spurs have spent a hell of lot this summer if Bale does end up staying.

I have a theory on the Bale transfer. Spurs were always going to sell Bale that's why they have splashed out all this cash, now, if they don't sell him they will be panicking so now Real will look to get the price lower. Don't be surprised if they end up selling for 75-80 million

[EJG1980]

People forget that Spurs aren't a poor club and we can afford to spend when we feel we need to, such as when we were in relegation trouble in January 2009 and spent ?45 million in that transfer window.

We've been fairly balanced in our spending since then (our net spend for the past four seasons is a tad over ?2 million) and the new TV deal kicks in this year where even the club that finishes bottom will make ?20 million more than last season which will boost the coffers.

So I think we can afford a summer where we spend a decent amount of money improving the squad, independent of whether Bale is sold or not. I also think Levy is showing some faith in the long term vision of AVB by loosening the purse strings for him.

We're also very good at selling unwanted players for decent money; offloading Crouch and Palacios to Stoke for ?20 million a couple of years ago being a good example. We've already sold Caulker and Dempsey this summer for a combined ?14 million and I'm sure there are other squad players who are likely to end up being sold to bring in more cash and streamline the squad.

I very firmly believe that Bale will be staying unless Real Madrid put in a truly insane offer, on the terms we want. Bale has three years left on his contract, our finances are sound, I don't see any good reasons for Levy to accept an offer he doesn't deem big enough.

[EJG1980]

Great to be back at WHL yesterday, even if it was only for a friendly.

There were some encouraging passages of play in the first half and the new players slotted in well. Obviously only a friendly so can't read much into it, but I thought Chadli had the most impressive showing of the new boys. The second half was a fairly patchy and dull thanks to all the subs but it was fantastic seeing Kaboul and Sandro making their comebacks from injury. Hopefully they can stay injury free for the whole season!

Parker and BAE not in the squad despite both being fully fit, possible sign that they might be on the verge of being sold? BAE made some comments on twitter that seemed to indicate he may well be off. Still not official word on Capoue yet but he was in the crowd so I expect his signing to be announced soon.

Can't wait for the real thing to start against Palace next Sunday!!

[fallenangle]

Yes, it did look better yesterday but as they were saying on the commentary with all the transfer deals still being unresolved/finalised how on earth can a manager do his job when he doesn't know what players are actually going to available?

[EJG1980]

I agree, I think in an ideal world the transfer window should shut at least a week before the start of the season so you at least get some time to work with the squad knowing the will be no more ins or outs. At the very least the window should shut the day before the first game of the season.

Of course the only problem with that is the different start times for the leagues around Europe. Do you shut the window when the English league starts, the Italian league, the Spanish league? I don't think any of the major leagues start before August, so maybe we should simply have all transfer activity limited to June and July, that's yer lot.

[saturn-gamer]

Chadli is another brilliant Belgian player. And you should check out Zakaria Bakkali from PSV, he's like a Chadli 2.0 but only 17 yrs old or so. Belgium has one of the best squads in the world, but I wonder if they realise it themselves.

The transfer window is borked. Our comp. started 2 weeks ago already, but players can still go which means a squad can completely lose its force in-competition.

[EJG1980]

Spurs will have played five matches (three in the league and two in Europe) before the transfer window closes. It's bloody stupid.

I've got high hopes for Chadli this season, he seems like a very exciting player who can get the crowd on their feet. Glad we've got a nice little group of Belgians at the club in Vertonghen, Dembele and Chadli.

I think I'll watch Belgium vs France this evening. Should be a few Spurs players on show and it's a safe bet that it'll be a higher quality match than England vs Scotland!

[fallenangle]

I'm stuck with the England/Scotland game and I share your misgivings. My Dad, who was half Scottish on his mother's side, always supported Scotland in both football and RU. So he used to take me and my brother to the Home Internationals at the old Wembley stadium back in the '70s.I can't recall any of those games being any good. Admittedly there have been exceptions I've watched on TV since then, most involving Scotland, but such games are usually pretty dire even when Scotland have a reasonably good side.