please log in to view this image Wednesday 9th November 7.45pm EFL Cup 3rd Round City Ground Not sure about injuries, though Richarlison may feature, apparently. Son and Romero are out. Neither side has any suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Dier, Lenglet, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Bentancur, Sessegnon; Kane, Perisic. Subs: Forster, Doherty, Sanchez, Tanganga, Skipp, Sarr, Gil, Kulusevski, Moura. League form: WWLLWL. Forest: Henderson; Aurier, Cook, McKenna, Williams; Gibbs-White, Freuler, Yates; Kouyate; Johnson, Dennis. Subs: Hennessey, Boly, Worrall, Lodi, Mangala, O'Brien, Lingard, Awoniyi, Surridge. League form: DLDWLD. Ref: Peter Bankes. VAR: Not in use. TV: Not televised. How would you like to line up for this one?
Forster Tanganga Lenglet Davies Spence Skipp Bissouma White Gil Kulu Lucas Couldn't give a flying toss about this tournament. Even if we do reach the final we inevitably lose to one of Chelsea or City. I'd make more changes but those are the players I'm intrigued to give a start to, with Richy replacing Lucas as soon as he feels ready to (this could be 10 minutes in as far as I care, Lucas is useless).
Got a feeling this will be our only game in this tournament and whilst it does represent an opportunity to win a cup, I don't think that in the bigger picture of this congested season that will be a bad thing. I expect Conte to name this team - Forster, Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies, Spence, Bissouma, Skipp, Doherty, Lucas, Kane, Gil.
I hope Kane is left out the squad entirely. The Leeds game is tricky and a must win or we'll go into the break outside the top 4. No doubt Waistcoat will play him every game too so even though I think it is more than too late to avoid a knackered Kane returning in December, we should at least take this small opportunity to give him a breather. He has played every game this season - 20 fixtures in total!
Whilst Stellini muttered some absolute nonsense about Spence being young and needing time - as if he’s a teenager who’s never played men’s football before and not a 22 year old with over 100 games who made the CTOTY - it does sound like there’s a chance he’ll actually start tonight. Saddest thing is he’ll be so rusty that I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t play too great and that will then just give Conte/ Stellini ammo to say “see, we told you he’s not ready”, similar to what they were doing with Bissouma. Forster Tanganga, Lenglet, Davies Spence, Bissouma, Skipp, Sarr, Doherty Gil, Lucas Hopefully White gets some minutes before a much needed loan in January. Kulu and Richy to come on at HT all being well. Hard to say how I think we’ll do. We’ll be rusty and lacking a goal scorer but Forest simply aren’t great and if they make changes too then they could also be rusty. Our B team is probably as good as their A, and significantly better than their B… so I guess 3-0 Forest.
Have to be a large swing in GD for this to happen. I would like to see Kane rested but I want to progress so I would play him . He won't be playing two games a week for England, and once England get knocked out , he will be able to rest.
This 'he's too young / inexperienced' bollox is ridiculous. If you're good enough, you're old enough. Not drawing direct comparison but Pele won a WC at 17 and Dele (who he?) was kicking up trees in the PL at 18. OK so maybe the 2nd one didn't go so well long term...
I think Dele is actually an excellent example of 'too much, too soon' after a big jump in levels going disastrously wrong. This is a player who not long ago had the world at his feet and was valued at close to £100m. At the ripe old age of 26 having suffered zero serious injuries in his career, he is yet to complete 90 mins in the Turkish league. It is a cautionary tale of a young man who had no idea how to handle the pressure, expectation and fame. If Conte and his staff have similar concerns about Spence, I welcome the cautious approach they are taking with him. In the long run, it will reap dividends.
You're right in that example, although it was 4 years before the cracks started appearing with Dele. And there are others, no doubt. But there are probably other precocious talents who may have thrived had they been given a chance. That's the skill I imagine, but should be a decision in the hands of a psychologist not a football coach.
Dele was roughly 3-4 years younger than Spence when he started playing for us and he’d played less than 100 league games in League One before coming here. Spence is 22 and played over 100 league games in the Championship. I don’t think Spence is what we’d consider a prospect/ youngster quite like Dele was, he’s young but he’s at an age where players would want to at least be featuring in some capacity. As I type he still doesn’t start in the lowest priority game of the season for us so far (nor does Gil or Tanganga) against the club he spent a season with last year. I don’t think we’re gonna be reaping anything the way he’s being treated to be honest, I wouldn’t blame him if he were halfway through writing his transfer request.
