If this ain't the right type of post for the board I apologise but wanted to share something. Have mentioned in the past that my son died at birth an near the anniversary is a real mind **** for me. November 13th is the anniversary (tomorrow) so this has been a very difficult week. He'd be 28 tomorrow. I ain't slept well and when I did I've had awful nightmares. I obviously never got to take him to a match and there is usually an international break around the game week of the anniversary. In 2008 we played Liverpool in the league Cup on the night before the anniversary, winning 4-2 and I was lucky enough to get a ticket and as stupid as it sounds, it felt a little like taking him. The following day I went to see a tree I got planted in Greenwich Park in memory of my son. It has a bench beside and I sat their reading reports of the games in the pissing rain looking a tad special tbh Today is the first time since 2008 that I have had a game to go to near the day. Again (as weird as it sounds) it was like taking him. I am going to his tree tomorrow with Mrs RCL (happened before we were together) who got the tree for me as there was no funeral...back then still borns got no birth cert, so didn't get a death cert, so didn't get a funeral ... thankfully that changed. I will again read the reports in the paper and smile at the memory of feeling like I was with him. I am very lucky to have two great daughters and a fantastic better half but never being able to hold, speak to or save my son is something I have never been able to get over...I have learned to live with it though. The singing and joyful release of the goals felt like I was celebrating a moment in time with him. I ain't religious but it felt very spiritual...I this sounds weird too Today brought me a joyful memory about my boy and as Mrs RCL is away (and my girls live elsewhere) I thought I'd bore you lot with it! Apologies if this is a bit of a downer or inappropriate... I won't be offended if it's deleted. Thanks to all for making a small corner of the net feel a good place to share my son.
Thanks for sharing your story. An awful thing to happen that parents never really recover from. Best wishes to the family and yourself.
I am surprised Dier is being blamed for any of the goals. For the first one Hojbjerg sold himself on the wrong side and then made a weak challenge and the Leeds player then threaded a perfect ball through a tiny gap. For the second one it was Lenglet's man that got free.
Emerson Royal didn't play at all well but he wasn't our worst player. He effectively created our second goal by a really good throw in and didn't make any defensive mistakes. The crowd need to get off his back.
The crowd were a bit naughty towards him. He may not be suited to the WB role but he can’t be faulted for his effort. Us fans are supposed to worship those players that puts in a good effort regardless.
Royal was treated abysmally by a significant minority of the crowd...shameful in my opinion .. as was the booing at ht...I fully understood it in the United game last season when Nuno was sacked but as frustrating as spurs can be I don't get it this season. I enjoyed the first half (other than the score). Mocking of players at games and booing during the game does nothing other than destroy moral. It's one thing chatting on here or with your mates to doing that ****e. I am very critical of Royal and I thought that Dier was shaky today, that lloris was poor along with Royal but got behind the team when we fell behind. It's easy to make noise when you're winning but as fans I think that getting on the players backs during the game is pointless. Those involved today need to give their heads a wobble imho. Also...thanks to the kind responses to my earlier post...shows what a great board we have imo
It felt inevitable it was going to boil into the stands sooner or later. The chants on trains and growing discontent was only ever going to go one way. It was similar for Winks a year or two back, fans started jeering or “uuhh”-ing his passes. Conte’s thrown the poor guy to the wolves when he really hasn’t needed too, there’s three RWBs at the club, one’s barely had a kick, the other’s had limited game time mainly off the bench, all while the poorest option has continued to play and disappoint whilst regularly get subbed off. I feel for the guy, he’s trying but he’s evidently so out of of his depth yet the manager keeps advertising it to the world. For his sake even more than ours, I hope he can find a move in January.
This 100% I have criticised the lad on here as he has been dreadful, but the blame lies with Conte who had the options to shield him. He's a trier and seems a popular lad - and you have to assume there's a player in there, so maybe just needs to build up some confidence in the background. He may (probably) still not be the ideal fit for us, but could at least provide cover for a while. However, my view of Leeds first yesterday put some onus on his poor positioning. (Although Hojbjerg and Dier were certainly also not exempt from blame.)
It really is one of the bizarrest things I’ve seen in a while and being a Spurs fan we’ve seen some stuff! Lol. I don’t think anyone in football bar Conte understands the reasoning for this persistence with the lad. He’s a trier, as everyone acknowledges but if the quality isn’t there it’s never gonna work. I don’t know what Doherty or Spence are doing or are not doing in training but it really is crazy to me that both aren’t getting a look-in when Emerson keeps playing like this. I don’t think Doherty is that good as well but he’s been a noticeable improvement in most of the games he’s played and when Spence came on against Forest he looked really exciting, even if understandably lacking a bit of cohesion with team mates. Dier’s hit a really awful patch, literally since his recall to the England squad he’s looking like the player that was making mistakes every week under Jose. Overall he’s been pretty good under Conte but these mistakes and poor positioning are too costly in the grand scheme of things. Lloris has also had some bad moments, yesterday included, could’ve/ should’ve saved at least two of those Leeds goals in my opinion. Though I don’t think it’s such a huge surprise that our defensive players are making a lot of mistakes, when the tactics are to allow the opposition so much of the ball and soak up waves of attacks, eventually you’re gonna break. This was happening under Jose too, only difference with Jose and Conte this season is that we’d often start sharply under Jose, score, then sit back for the rest of the game and draw or lose it.
Yes, no player deserves to be booed (for performances, being a rapist is another matter), no matter how crap they are, it will only ruin their confidence further. Royal is simply not good enough for the role he is being asked to play, I think we can all see that, but it`s not his fault he is continually picked and there is no trusted competition for his place.
I appreciate you sharing this and I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to share something so intimate and poignant with a bunch of anonymous people online. Thank you for telling this story and I’m terribly sorry for your loss. I’m 27, not married and not got any kids, so I can’t pretend like I can understand what this particular feeling is like (no matter how much I try to sympathise). But, from a young age, I have lost a lot of people close to me and the pain never really goes away. You learn to live with it and try to keep going - partly for the sake of the current people in your life who still love and care about you, but also for the sake of the person/people who aren’t with you anymore that would want you to be the best version of yourself. We all die at some point, so it’s important to try and create a life worth living. I hope you both get reunited one day
This is why I’ve really gone off Conte. He’s been there a year now so knows the quality and limitations of players, he was quite ruthless with the likes of Rodon, Reguilon and got rid (I actually agreed with him) but has given the likes of Emerson and Sessegnon way too much game time with no obvious improvement in their poor performances. He’s a top manager so must know you can’t have a defence that soaks up a lot of pressure when you have the personnel that he currently does but he seems to keep persisting with it.
