Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

I was listening to it on the radio and the moment the goal went in I thought that was it even if we score they'll get another.

That bit, I disagree with. Last season they carved us open at will, and even in our two victories before that, Man Utd had loads of really good chances that they failed to take and it was nerve shredding stuff as we held on for the wins. On Saturday I felt we were comfortable at the back and really wasn't worried about them scoring, all my worry was directed to whether we could get a goal ourselves.

But as Alan Shearer said on MotD, and has been obvious to any Spurs fan, we desperately need another specialist striker ASAP.

That bit, I fully agree with. Poch did say before the match that he was hopeful a striker would be signed very soon (but, like a gentleman, refused to name names). If Kane plays constantly there's no way he can keep up his best form, we definitely need someone in to help shoulder the burden so Kane doesn't burn out.

[fallenangle]

There are stories today in the press that Spurs are after at least three different strikers. Two have been linked with interest from Spurs before: Javier Hernandez and Saido Berahino, the third is a French international I've no idea about. Charlie Austin was said to be a potential Spurs target as well which is something I predicted might be a possibilty some time ago here.

There are also not so welcome rumours that Man.Utd still want Lloris and Kane.

Probably 99% guff but if we don't get a striker or two in PDQ we're going to be relying on Kane staying and staying match fit until January next year. That would be madness so I'm betting that at least one of the rumours will actually prove true.

I like the way Hernandez plays but he's small, lightweight and not a prolific goal scorer. If we buy only him I fear it will be a significant mistake.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, even though Spurs can sometimes make us scratch our heads, I cannot see any way that we end the transfer window without having signed at least one striker.

Supposedly we're closest to signing Clinton N'Jie from Lyon (who I guess is probably the guy you have no idea about) who many are saying is the player that Poch was referring to when he said he hoped to have a striker signing completed soon. I knew nowt about him before we were linked, but he's young, very quick, quite raw, but lots of potential, according to what I've read.

I wouldn't be surprised if Berahino came in as well. West Brom have certainly been stocking up on strikers (Rickie Lambert, ?12 million on Rondon, Ganabry on loan from Arsenal) so I'm hoping that we've got a deal in place for Berahino and they've been getting the replacements signed and sealed before letting Berahino move on. A bit of wild speculation on that scenario but fingers crossed

Both of them play as the central striker but can also as a wide attacker, which I think is the kind of player we're going to go for. Cover for Kane, but also an option to play in the wide Chadli / Lamela positions too so we can mix it up in that area of the pitch too.

I'm not enthusiastic about potentially signing Hernandez either. Good player, but the way he plays doesn't really fit with teams with the way Poch sets up the team. I think that's why he's destined to spend a lot of time on the bench as nearly everyone plays one up front these days, and he's a throwback to the kind of striker that would be great in a 4-4-2 with a big man / little man partnership up front.

Austin more likely than Hernandez I think, although I reckon for the age, pace, and versatility, N'Jie and Berahino will be our first choices. Would be excellent if we could bring in both asap!

[fallenangle]

IMHO Berahino should be Spurs first choice purchase. However the way they've (the press) been reporting it Hernandez, also by far the most expensive, is the prime target. If true that's the mistake for the reasons we've both expressed here. It would be a bit of a luxury purchase. He could prove very useful when Poch wants to change the mix mid-game but he's not the type of striker we need most.

I certainly wouldn't be unhappy if we lost out on him at all and got Charlie Austin, Clinton N'jie or the some other front man instead. So any pair from those four named potential purchases OK but we're agreed: definitely not Hernandez on his own.

[EJG1980]

Agreed about Berahino, think he'd really add a new dimension to our attack. Pace and running in behind the opposition defence, two things we lack at the moment.

Yesterday the Lyon president said that he was extremely close to an agree with Spurs for Clinton N'Jie, and while he trained with Lyon yesterday, N'Jie is absent from this morning's training session.

Erik Lamela posted a photo on Twitter of himself and Roberto Soldado having dinner with the caption "I enjoyed these two years that we share, I wish you well in your new club !! Good luck my friend!!".

So it looks very much like N'Jie in, Soldado out, should be happening fairly soon.

[EJG1980]

Poor Lamela, someone from the club must have had a word in his ear as he deleted the photo about ten minutes after he posted it Obviously letting the cat out of the bag too early for the club's liking there.

I just read that this was reported on Sky Sports News as "Transfer news on the way, including a cryptic clue on Soldado's future from one his team mates." Cryptic? CRYPTIC??? Bloody hell.

I can just imagine the brain trust at SSN discussing it: "Good luck at your new club... good luck... new club... nope, can't work out what it means at all. Someone call Bletchley Park, we'll crack this fiendish code yet!!"

[fallenangle]

LOL. I thought Soldado was a sure fire sale at the end of last season. He might be a good bloke, and by all accounts he is, but when you're not doing the thing you were bought in to do, score goals, then there's only so much patience a Premiership club with ambition can afford. The only thing surprsing about this leak that he actually is going is how long it has taken to sell him off.

I guess the financial loss Spurs are taking on him and the possibility of not having any other strikers signed up in the transfer window meant they wanted to hang on to him just in case. What it does suggest is that getting in at least one of the strikers mentioned is a done deal, probably N'jie.

[EJG1980]

Yes, it's a real shame that Soldado didn't work out, especially as he does seem a genuinely nice bloke. He had such a good record before joining us. Wouldn't be surprised if he rediscovers a bit of form back in Spain.

Luckily it seems we might not actually be making a huge financial loss on him. Jason Burt of The Telegraph, who was supposedly very close to AVB, has said multiple times that the ?26 million fee was ?13 million up front and ?13 million in "performance related bonuses". One would think that not too many of the targets for the performance related bonuses would have been hit! So if we are getting the reported ?12 million from Valencia, it might turn out not to be too much of a kick in the financial balls.

With Robbie leaving I'd expect one other to come in up front in addition to N'Jie. I think N'Jie is likely to play wide for us, more often than not, so I can see us wanting a striker who predominantly plays in the middle to join as well.

[EJG1980]

New section up on the Spurs web site showing the building progress of the new stadium. Three live cameras updated every ten minutes, plus some time lapse videos and monthly galleries with aerial shots of the site.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/new-scheme/stadium-tv/

[fallenangle]

Interesting, particularly the live camera feeds. Thanks.

[EJG1980]

Soldoado out

N'Jie in

Both officially done

Edit: arse, shame about the match today though! First half was really good, well on top, deserved the two goal lead, Stoke had one chance in the whole half iirc (aside from one pants soiling moment from Lloris).

Second half started out evenly, then Stoke had a twenty minute period on top and I was worried that they were going to get one back. We came through that though and got back in control of the game and it seemed as though we were just going to calmly see out the match... and then we give away an utterly needless penalty and it all goes to hell. So annoying when we had a really good first half and were in control for the majority of the match.

Bah. Ah well, at least it wasn't a loss! Hopefully a couple more player additions aren't far away. A forward and a bit of experience for central midfield and I'll be happy with the squad.

[fallenangle]

Just finished watching it on MotD but I was ipping in and out of the BBC R5 coverage.

Couldn't believe it that we'd given away 2 points after what was a dominant performance first half. But again that penalty, like the Man.Utd goal last week, seemed to affect them mentally and the defence switched off just one too many times.

It didn't help when Kane was taken off. Poch, if I understood his barely decipherable MotD interview afterwards, said it was done because he had a slight injury. What it highlighted was just how much the Spurs' effectiveness is reliant on him and not just for goals. He did a beautiful through ball at one point to Ryan Mason which the goalkeeper parried out and I was expecting to see a Spurs' player ie. Chadhli or someone from the midfield to romp into the frame and get a shot in. But............nothing, nobody followed up and the chance wasted. Any natural attack minded player would (and should) have been busting a gut tracking in there behind Mason hoping for just such left-overs.

It just shows how badly we need a someone who thinks like that. Let's just hope when N'jie becomes eligible to play he fits the bill.

[EJG1980]

Gah. We seem to be involved in some kind of contest to see if we can throw away a win in an increasingly annoying way, each week!

First half was dull, we had lots of ineffective possession with little goal threat. Second half was much better and we attacked well and started making chances.

It was a fantastic moment when we made the breakthrough and Ali scored his first Spurs goal... and we'd barely settled down from celebrating that and it was 1-1! Both sides could have won, Hugo making a superb point blank save and us having a little spell of corners right near the end where we could have got something.

Frustrating start to the season! Still, at least we didn't lose. Great to see Ali scoring too, expecting big things from him in the future. Ah well, back to hoping that next week is the week we kickstart our season

[fallenangle]

Yep a disappointing loss of concentration allowing Leicester to get a classic quick response goal in reply. Still early days.

[EJG1980]

Indeed, only three matches in. As Hugo Lloris said yesterday, he'd rather the team make mistakes like these early on so they can work on correcting them rather than at the end of the season when there's no chance to make amends.

And it's not like we've been terrible or anything. Should have got a draw at Old Trafford, played well for the majority of the match against Stoke, and mostly a good second half against Leicester. Just annoying to know that only silly mistakes made the difference (although that Leicester goal was very good, not taking any credit away from them).

Hopefully we should get a bit of good transfer news to boost us during the week. Berahino has been left out of the West Brom squad for their match today. It'll be interesting to see what explanation Pulis gives for that.