Rival watch

A phrase he no doubt heard a lot of times in his career when his various clubs were compiling their retain/release lists...

 

So Virgil Van Dijk has taken John Aldridges advice and pretty much gone on strike - training on his own and wants to leave. I know that Southampton can't do this but wouldn't it be great if they said no you were happy to sign the contract and you can play either train with the first team and be considered for selection or train with the kids and not play. One things for sure if he ends up at Liverpool then the FA must surely take action on the tapping up which they have already admitted.

 

There is more chance of the away team being awarded a penalty at Klanfield.

 

"We apologise to the owner, board of directors, and fans for any misunderstanding regarding Virgil Van Dijk.We respect Southampton's position and confirm that we have ended any interest in the player."

Quint in Jaws had it about right........

"For 44 days they kept their integrity,
Not a bad record for that vicinity."

 

Time for City to put a bid in.

 

Pretty sure Manchester is where he'll end up. Not so sure if it'll be city or United though.
Think Liverpool have ****ed Southampton around so much that they will simply tell them to feck off.

 

Bless Frank De Boer! As the new manager of Crystal Palace he took on the Premier League's MMA Champions, West Bromwich Albion, in what was loosely termed a 'pre-season friendly'.

Clearly in shock at some of the assaul........sorry, challenges on some of the Palace players, particularly Wilfried Zaha, the most horizontal player ever, Mr De Boer said

"They were looking for him, to injure him."

Yes, Frank. You wait until you play them on a wet Wednesday night at The Hawthorns!

Mr Tony Pulis, when questioned regarding a particularly late and blood curdling assaul........sorry, challenge by Chief Thug, Alan Nyom, rolled out the the old line.........

"Alan likes defending. He got there as quick as he could.....just not quick enough."

Oh, Tony! Really?

 

If only it was Diego Costa...

Coincidentally that sums up their afternoon, given they got tonked 3-0.

 

Looking forward to the ****show that is going to be Evertons season. Shades of us in 2013/14:

Good season, mostly down to talisman attacker: Check!
Sale of said talisman attacker for big money: Check!
Influx of new exciting talent: Check!
Included amongst that talent:
Dubiously £30m rated star
Highly rated Dutch league attacking midfielder
Highly rated Spanish league striker: Check Check Check!!

Compounded by the hype they're now recieving in the media, when things initially get off to a slow start as they realised the difficulty of bedding in 5 big name/money signings at the same time, whats going to happen? They don't have the luxury of sacking Koeman like we could with AVB, because who better is there? How long until the media force a declaration of confidence from Kenwright? How long will the fans put up with the bedding in period?

Now, I could be wrong, and Everton could end up kicking on to where we are at the moment, and good luck to them. But if they don't, I really wouldn't be surprised.

 

Terry has his heir at Chelski:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40698900

 

Somebody should point out there's no such thing as the "right" Manchester club for nurturing youngsters...

 

Pure gold

 

It seems the Man Utd academy produces players who are
most likely to remain with them or ply their trade with other
PL clubs *** :

https://www.sportskeeda.com/footbal...-most-minutes-2016-17-premier-league-season-1

*** The figures don't give the split between the minutes

 

I'm trying to work out the biggest flaw in that list: pretending that Paul Pogba wasn't a product of Le Havre's youth system, or pretending that the truckloads of players the Chavs loaned out weren't poached from clubs all over Europe.

 

So which Spurs youth have made it (that you didn't get from other teams)?

 

By "academy" we really mean 'from various stages of an academy' .
Even then you would have to set a minimum number of years a
players was in an academy pipeline.

Very few players enter one PL academy from beginning to end and
then have a senior career at that club with some longevity.

 

For the purpose of that list, Kane, Winks, Onomah, Townsend, Smith, Mason, Carroll, Daniels, Livermore, Crouch, Stewart

 

Oh yeah, I forgot Kane was "one of your own", apart from Arsenal and Watford of course.

 

One season in Arsenal's academy
Two months in Watford's academy
Five years in Tottenham's academy

That's quite a few facts you need to "forget" in order to say something so patently wrong...

 

Jealousy will get you everywhere,sir.By the way,did you notice San Diego was 100 degrees.