Really want to see Gray play in his preferred position at CM. Just one more reason to be angry at Spence's omission from the squad. I can't see him being used anywhere but FB for the rest of the group stage.
Gutted they couldn’t give you a birthday win, Smithy. Here’s hoping they make amends on the weekend. Need to as well!
In game like lastnight the team needs leadership on the pitch , Sonny is a terrific ambassador for the club but not a leader on the pitch ,on top of that he is going through an injury and form problem now , Romero and Maddison both vice captains but to me do not have the leadership make up , the club has not had a leader on the pitch since Dawson IMHO
I think the club’s philosophy of largely looking to sign young players to develop as well as competitively never really striving to be winners plays its part in us rarely having leaders/ mentality monsters. Though I also wouldn’t completely throw all the blame at the club, football culture has changed drastically over the last 10-15 years, players are a lot softer mentally and physically nowadays. Countless times, not just at Spurs, I see players in rivals/ derbies before and after games hugging, shaking hands and being far too pally with opposition players. Long gone are the days of a Keane-Vieira death match on (and off!) the field and players who really do rally their troops in games with a “win at all costs” mindset. Sergio Ramos was one of the last of that dying breed I’d say, Chiellini another and Puyol before them. There’s plenty of world class and great players who lead by example as professionals and who are capable of producing moments of magic but I really would struggle to pick natural born captains/ leaders in today’s modern game. The best alternative/ substitute would be adding experience but it doesn’t really seem like Ange nor the club are too focused on that at the moment.
Romero at least has the kick-you-up-the-ass personality to offer a form of on-field leadership, though he lacks the immunity from bookings offered to the likes of Roy Keane or Sergio Ramos to offer the kick-the-opponents-off-the-pitch style of leadership The midfield in general is lacking on-field leadership, which is something Hojbjerg did offer prior to his legs going, and we definitely need to look for someone who can grab games by the scruff of the neck in the middle of the pitch for that reason as Maddison doesn't really offer that
I can see Romero's kick you up the arse persona but we don't see enough of it transfered to the other players often enough , a punch or slap to a team mate in a goal celebration is different to taking them to task during a match and I don't mean the red mist that we often see which leads to bookings and red cards , I've seen his leadership when playing for his country but not enough in our shirt , I agree with what you said about early Hojbjerg he seemed to have it and would have made him skipper over Hugo
I don't think the human body was went to play so many games in a year.I wonder if they have time to train,relax and enjoy it?
At the end of the Villa game there were a couple of close-ups on our big screens of some of their players smiling and laughing with ours. They'd just blown a 1-0 half-time lead and got absolutely battered in the 2nd half, losing 4-1. I'd have been fuming if it was the other way round. I doubt it sat well with the remaining away fans as they were getting ready to trek home on a Sunday.
He didn't look fully fit to me from the start and was strolling about at times, though that's part of how he plays normally. I suspect they'll probably just switch their system a little and either play Osimhen up top on his own or stick Batshuayi in. Insane depth for a side in the Turkish league.
It wasn’t. I know they earn obscene money but that doesn’t mean you can expect top level athletes to play at that level without proper rest. Ultimately the quality of the game will suffer
I suspect a lot of the talent will pool at the clubs with the most money and they'll also pack their academies. Those playing the most games will largely have the most revenue and they'll use it to have squads big enough to rotate heavily. Managers will also have to adapt to having tons of players, a la Chelsea, so we may see more coaches heading to them, too.
That's what the off-season is for Where they have lengthy pre-season tours on the other side of the planet And international tournaments
...and on top of everything else, footage of Galatasaray fans being racist towards our Asian fans has come to light
Gala goal #1 brilliant.Numbers 2 and 3 bloody awful defence by Spurs players.Spurs goal # 1 very well worked.# 2 very neat individual goal.Do we need a defencive coach with experience?Their center forward must have thought it was Christmas!!!
