Johnstone just makes a lot of sense, especially if we don't sign Gollini permanently, which it has to be said is looking doubtful at the moment. Nketiah isn't rated by Arsenal fans one bit so I wouldn't put him too high up the list of second striker targets. Dele going should be a priority, replacing him can come in due course and doesn't need to be a quick panic thing just because he's HG. We could've easily not selected him yesterday and likely been stronger for it, Lo Celso in the ten with White/ John/ one of the Craig's sitting deep with Winks would've given us better balance in midfield (yes, as I said last night I genuinely think Dele's worse than Winks now... it's that bad). Whilst Lo Celso is no great player himself, Scarlett probably would've had a better chance at getting the ball from him than he did Dele all night. Sooner we bin the guy the better, not only is he shockingly bad he's also adversely affecting Lo Celso's chances of impressing by not being allowed to play in his preferred role. Jose got a lot **** wrong but banishing Dele for the most part and trying to sell him was certainly not one of them.
Not sure why everyone’s dragging Gollini, sure the goal yesterday was a little disappointing but it came through a bit of a crowd and he’d be far from the first GK to be caught out by that. Backup GK is a very difficult position to play and it’s difficult to get a sense of his true ability when he’s not getting regular games behind a sensible team. I agree with a lot of what you say though, Johnstone would be a sensible pickup if we decide that Gollini isn’t going to be worth it and/or if we decide that Austin and Whiteman need games elsewhere. With Hugo potentially leaving soon we need to plan for it properly. The likes of Cantwell (didn’t realise he was going to be on a free) or J-Lingz would be sensible HG pickups to replace Dele. I think last night was the final nail in his coffin, for me. To be so completely anonymous against that level of opposition is unforgivable.
I've just not been convinced. I've already said playing sporadically never helps but some of his decision making worries me, especially when the ball's at his feet. Keeps it for far too long then either misplaces a pass or just punts it to nowhere. In terms of shot stopping he's not bad but he's not "holy ****, how'd he save that?!" either. As most know I've been done with Dele for years. I don't know why the club have persisted with him for so long, nor why some fans still think he'll come good - albeit I think that's now down to a very, very small section, if at all. Spurs still peddle him on social media too which really irks me, even during the game they posted him on Insta and let's just say the replies weren't a surprise. Overload the pages with Son, Kane, Hugo, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Reguilon... Not that useless prick.
It remains to be seen if he can replace Hugo as 1st choice, who all things considered has been a phenomenal GK and is still very, very good. They’re big shoes to fill. I agree that I’m not sure that Gollini is more than decent yet, but it’s hard to tell with such a small sample size. Dele is done here, IMO. Needs to move on for his own good and ours.
He hit a very poor period for about 18 months but other than that he really has been world class and his form since 2020 hasn't been too far off of his first six or so years for us, back then I had him at around third best keeper in the world, typically though just like Modric he never got the recognition he deserved being a Tottenham player. Offering him a new deal - and ensuring a testimonial is on the cards - should be high up on the club's priorities. Dele going is especially good for us. Like I said to HBIC, he's not only costing us with poor performances but he's also costing Lo Celso's chance to impress by occupying his preferred spot whilst also exacerbating Scarlett's struggles. It's a huge fall from grace from a guy that at one point would've been worth around £100m but he's becoming poisonous to the team's fortunes.
only if we can get James Collins (Cardiff) as a back-up striker at the same time! Could be the genesis of a new line-up. I think people would womad - er, sorry - go mad at the prospect!
Bit of a niche joke, but I know what I like. Just off to Foxtrot to the Politics thread to complain about the Govt Selling England by the Pound.
Bale may choose he wants a retirement deal in the MLS albeit he still has at least a year or two of top football in him in my opinion. I’d love to see him back here (again!) though. The one thing I can never forgive Jose for was ruining his return, we were robbed of a consistent front three of him, Kane and Son. The ironic thing is if Jose played him more he probably wouldn’t have lost his job when he did, Bale’s goals per minute ratio was the best in the league. I think we’d still very much appeal to the others, none of them will have the elite after them (or I don’t think they will anyway) but I guess it would depend on who else went in for them or more importantly - how much they got offered by other parties.
You're talking to a geezer who's got Epping Forest pretty much right ouside his door! (Fortunately no Battles right now!)
Rüdiger is in talks with Juventus, Man City, Tottenham and even PSG, who still need a defender. It is difficult for him to sign a new contract. He will join one of the 4 teams mentioned. - Di Marzio. I don't see any of those clubs going for him, for a variety of reasons. Rudiger's agent trying to put some pressure on Chelsea?
Yeah I don’t know why we keep being linked, the rumoured issue at Chelsea is that he wants more money and parity with some of their highest earners. We’re hardly going to offer him more than what Chelsea can.
Presumably because it would be a bad thing for Chelsea if he left for free and joined us. It's a worse threat, from his agent's perspective, than him going to Madrid, for example.
In other words, he's going to falsely accuse at least three clubs of racism when he doesn't get the contract offer he wants...
Harsh by you to say that. "I felt as if I wasn't a human being, but an animal. A monkey. I think if you haven't lived such situations you can't imagine how I felt. Against Tottenham I felt incredibly lonely."
Do Spurs fans have a chant which ends "Who, who, who, who?"? Yes, yes they do This leads to two separate issues: the first being that Rudiger believed he heard monkey chants and nobody explained to him the possibility that he simply misheard a chant as monkey chants, the second being a few days afterwards he and a few of his Chelsea teammates doubled down on the allegations including at least one teammate who was at the other end of the pitch when the alleged chants were made, even though they weren't picked up when the match was on TV - and for context of the last part, TV crews have picked up those chants loud and clear in matches in Italy, Spain, Russia and Serbia in the past few years with large and noisy crowds, yet the Sky/BT cameras failed to pick up anything which backed up Rudiger's claim puts it on much shakier ground
Rudiger didn't falsely accuse spurs fans of racism. Being wrong is not the same as lying. Making a false accusation is. Rudiger was absolutely wrong to continue to accuse spurs fans and the club and the fa and the old bill and all the recorded media of lying when they found there was no evidence of racism. But that does not mean his original complaint was false...it means he misheard. And to suggest he will make false allegations of racism if other clubs do not sign him is outta line imo.