please log in to view this image Sunday 31st December 2pm Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Romero joins Perisic, van de Ven, Maddison, Sessegnon, Solomon and Bentancur on the injury list. Skipp is due to return, but I think that we might have to wait and see on that one. Bissouma serves the 3rd of his 4 game suspension and Kulusevski is also out for one match. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Vicario; Porro, Emerson, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Hojbjerg; Johnson, Kulusevski, Son; Richarlison. Subs: Forster, Dier, Dorrington, Phillips, Santiago, Donley, Gil, Veliz. League form: DLWWWL. Bournemouth: Neto; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Ouattara; Scott, Christie; Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier; Solanke. Subs: Travers, Aarons, Mepham, Greenwood, Rothwell, Billing, Brooks, Sinisterra, Moore. League form: WDWWWW. Ref: Simon Hooper. VAR: David Coote. TV: Not televised in the UK. How would you like to line up for this one and how do you think we actually will line up?
I’d like to see Phillips or Dorrington play but it seems Ange is insistent on playing Emerson regardless of previous results. The rest of the team basically picks itself because of injuries and suspensions.
Need at least a few changes to freshen it up a bit. We were stale and fortunate to beat Everton and then stale and battered by Brighton. Phillips in for Emerson Lo Celso in for Kulu Veliz in for Pigeon Donley/ Santiago/ Gil in for Johnson
I’d be surprised to see either of the two youngsters at CB, and there must be a reason why Ange is persisting with Emerson/Davies/Dier. What that reason is, I dunno. But it can’t be “not giving youth a chance”, as he’s playing Udogie and Sarr on a regular basis, and Veliz is also getting minutes. All I can guess is that it’s down to the circumstances of the squad being depleted and it being an immense amount of pressure to put on two 18 years olds during their developmental phase. I’m no expert, but I imagine it could be down to the potential psychological damage to their confidence, rather than their playing ability. personally, I’d like to see Veliz get a start at some point soon. Richarlison may have scored a few goals, but he’s very wasteful and frequently offside. We also look a bit stale and predictable up top, so mixing things up might benefit us, especially with Veliz who’s a bit of an unknown. Harry Kane part deux, anyone?
6 weeks ago this had 3 points for us written all over it , not now , Bournemouth seem to have turned their season round , another display like our trip to London on sea and Bournemouth will turn us over , it would be nice to see some of the youth team get a run out and Veliz get time again with us in the lead not chasing the game Going out today so I will be following updates ,COYS
While Davies' lack of aerial threat was exposed against Brighton, as both Romero and Mickey Van would've dealt with the dinked balls over the top, he has proven to be a useful stopper when called upon so doesn't really deserve being lumped in with the usual suspects Emerson on the other hand is one that makes sense for one or two very specific reasons - most notably he has recovery pace and the first touch that Dier doesn't so is a better option for building up from the back - though Phillips also has recovery pace and is better in the air, so the question is what his tackling looks like in training
I think there’s a big difference between playing youth and playing young players though. When I say that so far Ange hasn’t trusted the youth, I say that with regards to our academy. He’s given a combined total of about 4 mins to Donley whilst he’s allowed Dier and Emerson to continuously stink up the place at CB over two England U19s CBs, not forgetting Richarlison who’s had umpteen chances that barring a 3 game purple patch he’s been awful in all of them. Playing Sarr, Udogie etc is a lot easier because these players have already been developed to a degree at other clubs. Sarr had about 20+ games with Metz and Udogie had 30+ games with Udinese before we signed them, then add in their seasons on loan at both clubs and there was about 50-60 first team appearances for each before returning to Spurs. I also personally don’t buy the idea that Phillips or Dorrington’s confidence would be knocked if they played and we lost badly. I think that’s more of a myth. Besides, that’s also assuming we’d lose badly if they played. I genuinely don’t believe they could be any worse than Dier or Emerson, we’re getting 3/10 performances from each when they play. For me, the lack of faith in youth at this club in general, not just Ange, has been a problem for years now. It’s being spoken about on the Brighton thread so I’ll say my piece here and won’t debate it too much but we’ve lost out on roughly £100m+ worth of talent where we’ve failed to develop them where other people then have and we’ve then wasted more than £100m on players that have turned out far worse. Considering our U21s at present are also top of the league having won 9 out of 9, to not properly reward any of them, especially when dog **** squad players are being played out of position over them, is a pretty poor piece of management in my opinion. If we’re not gonna utilise the academy now when it’s absolutely thriving, then when are we?
My take is that Ange is currently throwing the gauntlet down to Levy. Not playing Dier is the clearest proof of this. If Ange is as astute as I think he is (being the first non totally self-absorbed manager we've had in a while certainly helps his perception), he'll know that if Levy gets so much as an inkling that we can either muddle along until the summer (with Dier), or that an even longer term solution is already here (Phillips or Dorrington), he simply won't dip his hand in his pocket in January, when prices tend to be significantly inflated. And whilst it may be true that Phillips and Dorrington are better options than Dier and Royal, the reality is that we need much, much better if we are to get to the very top. And that requires a hefty outlay. I also think that Ange is under an enormous amount of pressure to deliver top 4 in his first season. He won't get sacked if he doesn't, but the pressure is probably still there and for obvious reasons: having been CL regulars for years, that revenue has dried up entirely in recent years - we've only qualified once in four years. Hitting this target requires further significant investment this window, so the ball has to be placed firmly in Levy's court and I think that is exactly what Ange is doing.
I hope the hierarchy aren’t putting that sort of pressure on him. Top 4 was never the aim this season for the fanbase, just to get back to being competitive (ideally in Europa or Conference) and playing good football, both of so far we’re on course to meet. Although what I would say is that this season has a few similarities to the 15/16 season under Poch in that expectations weren’t huge yet found ourselves in a situation where’s there’s serious potential to do something big. FWIW I absolutely do not see Spurs winning the league this season but it’s currently so open at the top and we are only 6 points away from it that you can’t help but berate the **** luck we’ve had with injuries because it really does make me think “what if” and I always try avoiding “what ifs” in football.
